aMoon

About

aMoon is a global healthcare and life sciences venture fund headquartered in Ra’anana, Israel, with additional presence in Boston ¹². The firm was co-founded in 2016 by Marius Nacht, co-founder of cybersecurity giant Check Point Software Technologies, and Dr. Yair Schindel, a physician and entrepreneur who previously served as CEO of Israel’s National Digital Bureau (Digital Israel) ³⁴⁵. The name “aMoon” carries dual meaning: in Hebrew, “אמון” means “trust,” and “moonshot” reflects the firm’s ambition to tackle near-impossible healthcare challenges ¹.

Nacht was motivated to create aMoon after witnessing his father’s battle with cancer, and he and Schindel sought to bridge a critical funding gap facing healthcare companies — particularly Israeli startups that require $20–40 million for Phase III clinical trials but struggle to raise such amounts locally ⁵. The first fund, aMoon I, was a $200 million vehicle backed exclusively by Nacht ³⁶. aMoon II (also known as aMoon Growth) closed at $660 million in March 2019, making it at the time one of the largest VC funds operating in Israel and the largest life sciences fund ever established in the country ³⁴⁶. Credit Suisse committed $250 million to aMoon II, with Morris Kahn also serving as an anchor investor ³⁷.

In 2020, aMoon launched aMoon Velocity, its early-stage arm investing from venture formation through seed, which raised $60 million with a target of $120 million ³⁸. In 2024, the firm began raising aMoon Growth II, reaching an interim close of $340 million with a target of $750 million, bringing total AUM to over $1.3 billion ². Institutional LPs in the Growth II fund include Credit Suisse (now UBS), Pictet, Discount Capital, and a large Swiss pension fund ².

In 2022, co-founder Marius Nacht stepped back from active involvement, transitioning to the title of Anchor Investor due to disagreements over the fund’s geographic focus ⁹. Nacht publicly stated that aMoon was “not focused enough on Israel” and that he wanted the fund to “invest much more in Israeli growth companies,” adding: “since this is not happening enough for my taste, we parted ways” ⁹.

The firm operates with a team of approximately 50 people, including doctors, scientists, entrepreneurs, and economists ¹². aMoon also runs the StarFinder Digital Innovation Lab in partnership with Roche Diagnostics, a 3-year program that selects and funds 3 early-stage healthtech companies per year ¹⁰. aMoon’s portfolio has produced 2 unicorns, 11 IPOs, and 3 acquisitions ¹.

Stated Thesis

aMoon publicly describes its investment thesis as centered on “the convergence of technology and biology” to transform healthcare ¹¹¹. Dr. Yair Schindel has stated: “The biggest opportunity today lies in the convergence of technology and biology and the shift from care which is reactive to care which is predictive, preventive and personalized” ¹¹.

The firm says it partners with “passionate entrepreneurs who reflect our value system” and looks for management teams that are “confident yet humble; tenacious yet self-reflective; visionary yet relentlessly execution-oriented; decisive yet agile” ¹². Schindel has framed the opportunity in terms of scale: “How big is the cyber sector? $100 billion? The healthcare market is 100 times that, a tsunami of $10.5 trillion” ¹¹.

aMoon Growth targets mission-driven companies at specific inflection points: biotech and medtech companies with initial clinical proof of concept and significant efficacy readouts within two years; life science tools and diagnostics companies with breakthrough instruments in beta testing approaching commercialization; and digital health companies with initial repeat revenues ready to scale ⁸. Typical initial investments from the Growth fund range from $10–30 million ⁸.

aMoon Velocity invests from venture formation through seed in “disruptive, cutting-edge technologies” without limiting by vertical, sector, or geography ¹³.

Schindel has also emphasized a dual metric for success, stating: “In our fund, alongside traditional parameters such as returns, we assess each company by how many patients it touched” ¹¹.

Inferred Thesis

Based on 43 verified portfolio companies from the aMoon website ¹⁴ and cross-referenced with Crunchbase data ¹⁵:

Sector breakdown: aMoon is an exclusively healthcare-focused fund. Within healthcare, the portfolio breaks down approximately as follows: therapeutics and biopharma (Biosplice, Coltac, AltruBio, Nectin, NanoGhost, Ayala Pharmaceuticals, KAHR, MiNA Therapeutics, Lutris Pharma, Adcytherix, Character Bio — 11 of 43, 26%); diagnostics and life science tools (Seer, Akoya Biosciences, MOBILion Systems, PrognomIQ, MetaSight, Sera Prognostics — 6 of 43, 14%); genomics and precision medicine (SOPHiA GENETICS, Ultima Genomics, Scipher Medicine — 3 of 43, 7%); digital health and care delivery (Omada, DayTwo, Eleos, Lin Health, Connie Health, Hopscotch Primary Care, Better Life Partners, Air Doctor, Positive Development — 9 of 43, 21%); medtech and medical devices (CartiHeal, Iantrek, Theranica, GraphiteRx, Breeoot Clinic — 5 of 43, 12%); medical imaging and AI diagnostics (IBEX, Zebra Medical Vision, CAVOS — 3 of 43, 7%); computational biology and drug design (Biolojic Design, Plexium, Satellite Biosciences — 3 of 43, 7%); and other healthtech (MDClone, Lyfegen, Viracta — 3 of 43, 7%).

Stage distribution: The firm invests across all stages. Through aMoon Growth, it targets later-stage companies (Series B through pre-IPO), while aMoon Velocity covers formation through seed. Based on available round data, the majority of investments are growth-stage, consistent with the Growth fund being significantly larger ($660M+) than Velocity ($60M+).

Geographic patterns: Despite co-founder Nacht’s concerns about insufficient Israeli focus, the portfolio shows strong Israeli representation. Based on available data, approximately 20 of 31 companies with known locations are Israel-based, with 11 US-based ¹¹. The firm’s headquarters are in Israel with operations in Boston, and it describes itself as positioned at the center of Israel’s HealthTech ecosystem ¹³.

Check size: aMoon Growth typically invests $10–30 million initially, with capacity for follow-on ⁸. aMoon’s first fund of $200 million invested in 16 companies, averaging approximately $12.5 million per deal ⁷. The second fund of $660 million targeted 15–20 investments over five years at $10–50 million each ⁴.

Co-investor patterns: aMoon frequently co-invests with large pharmaceutical and healthcare strategics (Roche partnership, Novartis and J&J in Adicet Bio round) and growth-stage financial investors (Fidelity, T. Rowe Price, Credit Suisse). The firm prefers to lead or co-lead investments and take board seats ⁴⁸.

Notable pattern not in stated thesis: The portfolio reveals a strong emphasis on companies with platform technologies applicable across multiple diseases or conditions (Seer in proteomics, SOPHiA GENETICS in genomic analysis, Biosplice in alternative splicing, MiNA in RNA activation), rather than single-asset drug development companies. This platform orientation is not prominently featured in the firm’s stated thesis.

Portfolio

This table represents 43 of 43 companies listed on aMoon’s portfolio page ¹⁴, plus 2 additional companies identified through Crunchbase ¹⁵. Many year estimates (marked with ~) are based on founding dates or approximate investment timing and should be verified.

In Their Own Words

“The biggest opportunity today lies in the convergence of technology and biology and the shift from care which is reactive to care which is predictive, preventive and personalized.” — Dr. Yair Schindel, Co-Founder & Managing Partner, Calcalist interview ¹¹

“How big is the cyber sector? $100 billion? The healthcare market is 100 times that, a tsunami of $10.5 trillion.” — Dr. Yair Schindel, Calcalist interview, 2021 ¹¹

“In our fund, alongside traditional parameters such as returns, we assess each company by how many patients it touched.” — Dr. Yair Schindel, Calcalist interview, 2021 ¹¹

“Now we see things happening that we only expected to see three or five years from now. In that sense, Covid put everything on steroids.” — Dr. Yair Schindel, on the acceleration of digital health adoption during the pandemic ²⁷

“We believe the company has developed a transformative technology, which will enable the next scientific revolution.” — aMoon team, on their investment in Seer ¹⁸

“From our first conversation, my colleagues Dr. Reut Shema, Tamir Maxiner and I believed that Jurgi was a visionary the likes of which we at aMoon search every corner of the world to find.” — Dr. Tomer Berkovitz, Managing Partner, on SOPHiA GENETICS founder Jurgi Camblong ²⁰

“Omada Health’s dedication to health outcomes and mindset-driven care support was a major differentiator that stood out to aMoon in a crowded digital health landscape.” — Tomer Berkovitz, General Partner, on investing in Omada Health, February 2022 ²⁴

“Unless you crack the technology aspect of this, you’re not going to be able to provide the kind of care that is needed.” — Dr. Tomer Berkovitz, on Positive Development’s Series C, 2025 ²⁶

“Israel’s breakthrough research and digital health records make it ideal for leading global healthcare transformation.” — Dr. Yair Schindel, CTech interview, 2018 ⁷

What Founders Say

Sean Duffy, Co-Founder and CEO of Omada Health, acknowledged aMoon’s role in the company’s $192 million Series E: “With the support of our investors, Fidelity, aMoon, Civilization Ventures and others, we’re able to better support our customer growth and usher in a new model of care” ²⁴.

Mike Suiters, Co-Founder and CEO of Positive Development, stated regarding aMoon’s co-led $51.5 million Series C: “This funding allows us to continue expanding a model that’s working for families, providers, and payers. As the nation’s leading provider of developmental autism care, we’re focused on making high-quality, relationship-based support more accessible and affordable” ²⁶.

No additional independently sourced founder testimonials found. The quotes above are from press releases associated with aMoon-led or aMoon-participated funding rounds.

Sources