Yair Schindel

Background

Dr. Yair Schindel, MD, MBA, is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of aMoon, a global healthtech and life sciences investment fund based in Ra’anana, Israel, with offices in Boston ¹². He co-founded aMoon in 2016 with Marius Nacht, co-founder of Check Point Software Technologies (NASDAQ: CHKP) ³⁴.

Schindel was born into a family of physicians; his parents and grandparents were doctors, and his grandparents were Holocaust survivors from Auschwitz-Birkenau who were on Schindler’s List ²⁵. He earned his BSc and MD degrees at Ben-Gurion University’s Goldman Medical School, and his MBA at Harvard Business School, where he currently serves on the Health Care Advisory Board ¹².

Prior to business school, Schindel served for five years as a physician with IDF Special Forces. In his final military role, he was the Chief Medical Officer (Major) for the Israeli Navy Seals, known as Shayetet 13 ¹². In 2003, he operated on an injured soldier during a commando operation in Nablus, for which he received a citation from the commander of the Israeli Navy ⁵.

During his time at Harvard, Schindel collaborated with MIT professor Yoel Fink at OmniGuide Inc., a company developing optical fiber technology for minimally invasive tumor removal ⁵³.

After Harvard, Schindel built a career spanning social entrepreneurship and public service. In 2010, he co-founded MAOZ, an NGO that trains and connects Israel’s most promising future leaders, serving as founding CEO (2011-2013) and board member until 2016 ¹⁶. He then served as CEO of Start-Up Nation Central, a nonprofit connecting international businesses and governments to Israeli innovation ¹². Following that, he became the founding CEO of Digital Israel, the State’s National Digital Bureau within the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office, focused on accelerating digital transformation ¹².

In addition to aMoon, Schindel co-founded and chairs The 8400 Health Network, a nonprofit established alongside the fund to position Israel as a global healthcare leader ¹⁷. He has served as an executive, investor, or board member at healthcare companies including OmniGuide, MDClone, Medisafe, Zebra Medical Vision, Adicet Bio (NASDAQ: ACET), CartiHeal, and DayTwo ¹.

Stated Thesis

aMoon’s publicly stated mission is to “accelerate the convergence of technology and biology to transform healthcare” ⁸. Schindel and the firm describe their focus as partnering with “exceptional entrepreneurs who harness groundbreaking science and technology to transform healthcare” ⁸.

Schindel has articulated a macro thesis centered on the scale of the healthcare opportunity. He has stated: “How big is the cyber sector? $100 billion? $150 billion? The healthcare market is 100 times that, a tsunami of $10.5 trillion” ³. He has expressed the belief that Israel’s healthtech sector has the potential to produce “at least 10 more mega-companies like Teva” ³.

On investment philosophy, Schindel has stated: “In our fund, alongside traditional parameters such as returns, we assess each company by how many patients it touched” ³. He has described aMoon’s strategic niche as targeting “companies that cannot live up to their potential due to financial limitations and are thus forced to find a buyer instead of growing independently” ³.

aMoon describes the qualities it seeks in management teams as: “confident yet humble; tenacious yet self-reflective; visionary yet relentlessly execution-oriented; decisive yet agile” ⁹. The firm’s three foundational pillars are Trust, Diversity, and Vision ⁹. The firm name itself, aMoon (אמון in Hebrew), means “Trust” ⁸.

The fund invests across all stages through three vehicles: aMoon Velocity (early-stage, from formation through seed), aMoon Growth (mid-to-late-stage), and aMoon Edge (public equities) ⁸¹⁰.

Inferred Thesis

Based on 30 verified investments in the portfolio table below, the following patterns emerge. Note: aMoon has reportedly made 61 investments total per Crunchbase ¹¹, so this table represents approximately 49% of known investments.

Sector Allocation (30 verified investments)

• Biopharma / Therapeutics: 11 of 30 investments (37%) — Adicet Bio, AltruBio, Ayala Pharmaceuticals, BiondVax, Biosplice Therapeutics, Coltac Therapeutics, KAHR Medical, Lutris Pharma, MiNA Therapeutics, Nectin Therapeutics, Viracta
• Diagnostics / Genomics / Proteomics: 6 of 30 (20%) — Akoya Biosciences, Ibex Medical Analytics, PrognomIQ, Seer, SOPHiA Genetics, Ultima Genomics
• Digital Health / Health IT: 6 of 30 (20%) — Air Doctor, Connie Health, Eleos Health, Hopscotch Primary Care, Lin Health, MDClone
• Medtech / Medical Devices: 3 of 30 (10%) — CartiHeal, MetaSight Diagnostics, Theranica
• Health Services / Behavioral Health: 2 of 30 (7%) — Better Life Partners, Positive Development
• Computational Biology / AI for Drug Discovery: 2 of 30 (7%) — Biolojic Design, Zebra Medical Vision

Stage Distribution (30 verified investments)

• Seed: 3 investments (10%) — Eleos Health, Lin Health, Nectin Therapeutics (via aMoon Velocity)
• Series A: 4 investments (13%) — AltruBio, Ibex Medical Analytics, MetaSight Diagnostics, Character Biosciences
• Series B: 8 investments (27%) — Adicet Bio, Better Life Partners, DayTwo, MDClone, Theranica, Air Doctor, Hopscotch Primary Care, Biolojic Design
• Series C and later: 11 investments (37%) — Biosplice (D), Eleos Health (B follow-on), Ibex (C follow-on), Omada Health (E), Scipher Medicine (C/D), Seer (D), SOPHiA Genetics (F), Theranica (C follow-on), Ultima Genomics, PrognomIQ, Sera Prognostics
• Controlling/Public stake: 1 investment (3%) — BiondVax

The data shows aMoon invests heavily in later stages (Series B+), consistent with the Growth fund’s mandate. The Velocity fund provides a smaller early-stage pipeline at seed and Series A.

Geographic Distribution (30 verified investments)

• Israel-based or Israel-founded: 17 of 30 (57%) — Adicet Bio, Air Doctor, Ayala Pharmaceuticals, BiondVax, Biolojic Design, CartiHeal, DayTwo, Eleos Health, Ibex Medical Analytics, KAHR Medical, Lin Health, MDClone, MetaSight Diagnostics, Nectin Therapeutics, Theranica, Viracta, Zebra Medical Vision
• US-based: 12 of 30 (40%) — Akoya Biosciences, AltruBio, Better Life Partners, Biosplice, Character Biosciences, Connie Health, Hopscotch Primary Care, Omada Health, Positive Development, PrognomIQ, Seer, Ultima Genomics
• Europe-based: 1 of 30 (3%) — SOPHiA Genetics (Switzerland)

Notable Patterns

• Heavy Israeli nexus: Despite global ambitions, the majority of the portfolio has Israeli origins, leveraging the fund’s home-base advantage in the Israeli healthtech ecosystem ³.
• Therapeutics-heavy: While described as a “healthtech” fund, biopharma/therapeutics represents the largest single category at 37%, with diagnostics/genomics a close complement at 20%.
• Follow-on intensive: aMoon frequently follows on in subsequent rounds (Ibex, Eleos Health, Theranica, Scipher Medicine), indicating a concentrated portfolio strategy.
• Board seats as value-add: aMoon partners regularly take board seats — confirmed at Adicet Bio, Biosplice Therapeutics, Better Life Partners, and others ¹²¹³¹⁴.
• Exits show strong returns: CartiHeal was acquired by Smith & Nephew for up to $330M (estimated 6x return for investors) ¹⁵. Seer’s IPO produced a reported 15x return for aMoon ¹⁶. SOPHiA Genetics went public 10 months after aMoon’s investment ¹⁷. Zebra Medical Vision was acquired by Nanox for up to $200M ¹⁸.
• Co-investor patterns: Frequent co-investors include Johnson & Johnson (JJDC), 83North, Peregrine Ventures, lool ventures, Khosla Ventures, and T. Rowe Price across multiple deals.

Portfolio

Notable exits: CartiHeal (acquired by Smith & Nephew for up to $330M, 2023) ¹⁵; Zebra Medical Vision (acquired by Nanox for up to $200M, 2021) ¹⁸; Seer (IPO, NASDAQ: SEER, 2020; 15x return reported) ¹⁶; SOPHiA Genetics (IPO, NASDAQ: SOPH, 2021) ¹⁷; Adicet Bio (merged with resTORbio, NASDAQ: ACET, 2020) ¹²; Omada Health (IPO, NASDAQ: OMDA, 2025) ³⁰; Akoya Biosciences (IPO, NASDAQ: AKYA, 2021; later acquired by Quanterix, 2025) ⁸.

In Their Own Words

“How big is the cyber sector? $100 billion? $150 billion? The healthcare market is 100 times that, a tsunami of $10.5 trillion.” — Yair Schindel, CTech interview, 2020 ³

“To me, everything has to do with zionism, and with healing.” — Yair Schindel, CTech interview, 2020 ³

“In our fund, alongside traditional parameters such as returns, we assess each company by how many patients it touched.” — Yair Schindel, CTech interview, 2020 ³

“If the world will also know that Israel is an exporter of health and longevity and of growing old in a healthy way, it will be a very strong brand.” — Yair Schindel, CTech interview, 2020 ³

“We identified a niche of companies that cannot live up to their potential due to financial limitations and are thus forced to find a buyer instead of growing independently.” — Yair Schindel, CTech interview, 2020 ³

“The regulation and openness in Israel need to change. We need to be quicker to approve drugs and devices, processes here are outdated and slow, and there is not enough manpower and resources.” — Yair Schindel, CTech interview, 2020 ³

“Better Life Partners is delivering tangible outcomes through an innovative healthtech model that is effective, scalable, and disruptive. Its commitment to addressing the scourge of addictions with such a unique approach aligns with our vision of accelerating a cure for some of the world’s largest health challenges.” — Yair Schindel, GlobeNewsWire press release, August 2023 ¹⁴

“The implication for Israel’s economy is dramatic. It is not just the people who will work at those companies, but everything adjacent — they will grease the wheels of the gross domestic product (GDP).” — Yair Schindel, CTech interview, 2020 ³⁵

What Founders Say

Roy Wiesner, Managing Director at aMoon, stated regarding Eleos Health: “Eleos Health is powering the future of evidence-based behavioral health at a time where we see a dramatic increase in the demand for behavioral care services.” This is an investor quote, not a founder quote ²⁵.

Juliana Ekong, CEO of Better Life Partners, stated upon aMoon’s Series B investment: “With this endorsement from new and existing passionate health-tech investors, we are excited to dramatically accelerate and deepen the impact of our work” ¹⁴.

Dr. Tomer Berkovitz of aMoon described SOPHiA Genetics founder Jurgi Camblong as “a visionary the likes of which we at aMoon search every corner of the world to find” ¹⁷. This is an investor quote about a founder, not a founder quote about aMoon.

No independently sourced founder testimonials specifically about Yair Schindel’s personal involvement or value-add were found through dedicated searching. The quotes above from portfolio company announcements represent the closest available statements.

Connections

• Board member, Adicet Bio (NASDAQ: ACET) — aMoon joined the board as part of the Series B financing alongside JJDC ¹²
• Board member, Biosplice Therapeutics — Gur Roshwalb, MD, of aMoon joined the board in 2021 ¹³
• Board member, Better Life Partners — Yair Schindel joined the board following aMoon’s Series B co-lead ¹⁴
• Co-founder & Chairman, The 8400 Health Network — nonprofit to position Israel as a global healthcare leader ¹
• Co-founder, MAOZ (2010) — NGO training Israeli leaders; served as founding CEO (2011-2013) ¹⁶
• Founding CEO, Digital Israel — Israel’s National Digital Bureau within the Prime Minister’s Office ¹²
• CEO, Start-Up Nation Central — nonprofit connecting international businesses to Israeli innovation ¹²
• Harvard Business School Health Care Advisory Board — current member ¹
• Co-founder relationship with Marius Nacht — Check Point Software co-founder and aMoon anchor investor ⁴⁷

Sources