Gunderson Dettmer represented client Yosemite, a newly formed venture capital firm, in the formation of Yosemite Fund I. The firm is a spinoff of Emerson Collective and was founded by Reed Jobs. The firm, which will focus investments on cancer treatments, announced that it raised $200 million in a first closing from individuals including venture capitalist John Doerr and institutions including Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, The Rockefeller University, and MIT.

According to DealBook, "The firm will run a for-profit business, but it will also maintain a donor-advised fund — essentially a type of foundation that manages giving by benefactors — to make grants to scientists."

In the announcement of the new firm, Jobs stated, "We're on a mission to lead the next chapter in the fight against cancer and forming our own standalone entity provides us the flexibility to best propel great ideas until they're at scale."

The Gunderson Dettmer team was led by Partner Sean Caplice and included Associates Sally Yi and Tessa DeJong. “We are honored to have been able to partner with Reed and his amazing team at Yosemite with this successful closing,” said Sean Caplice, “and we look forward to working together as they launch such an innovative firm to assist in propelling cancer therapeutics to the next level.”  

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Yosemite