Israel’s famed VC Jon Medved, diagnosed with ALS, backed the tech that will improve his life

Years before venture capitalist Jon Medved began backing health tech startups, he never imagined he would one day rely on those very technologies to improve his own quality of life.

Israel’s close-knit startup community was shaken in October when Medved — one of the country’s most prominent venture capitalists — announced his immediate retirement. Medved stepped down from the firm he founded, OurCrowd, after being diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.

“This has come rather sudden,” Medved told TechCrunch in an interview, his voice audibly hoarse — a symptom of ALS — in what he said could be his last public conversation.

“I had been feeling a little weird before and they didn’t know what was ailing me,” he explained. “I was in the hospital for several weeks recovering, and that’s when they tested me and said, ‘You’ve got ALS,’ which is a horrible disease, the worst you can imagine.”

ALS is a progressive neurological condition that destroys motor neurons in the brain and spinal cord, leading to loss of muscle control and, eventually, the inability to walk, speak, eat, or breathe independently. Medved said his case did not begin with the typical symptoms, as his voice was affected before his limbs. Still, he knows the disease will worsen. There is no cure; only therapies to manage symptoms.

Medved is widely regarded as one of the architects of Israel’s startup ecosystem — often referred to as the “Startup Nation,” after the best-selling book of the same name. He moved from California to Israel in his 20s, founded and sold several tech companies, and later shifted his focus to investing.

In 2013, he launched OurCrowd. While Israel is home to many powerful domestic venture firms and international players such as Bessemer, OurCrowd pioneered the crowdsourced venture capital model, allowing accredited investors to participate directly in venture deals.

The platform attracted limited partners from Asia, Europe, the Middle East, and North America, eventually building a network of roughly 240,000 accredited investors across 195 countries, according to the firm. Many of those investors are doctors, lawyers, and everyday professionals who would otherwise have been excluded from traditional venture capital opportunities.

OurCrowd’s portfolio includes companies such as Anthropic, Beyond Meat, and Lemonade. Medved said the firm now backs around 500 portfolio companies and has recorded approximately 74 exits. One of the most recent was the acquisition of infrastructure-planning startup Locusview by Itron for $525 million.

Despite Israel’s ongoing conflict with Gaza and the international scrutiny surrounding the humanitarian crisis, the country’s tech ecosystem has remained resilient. Israel remains a global leader in cybersecurity, defence technology, AI, semiconductors, enterprise software, food tech, and health tech.

“In November alone, there was $800 million invested in the Israeli venture ecosystem in one week,” Medved said. He estimates that between $15 billion and $16 billion was invested in Israeli venture deals over the past year, bringing the total number of unicorns in the country to nearly 100.

Now, some of the technologies developed by startups he supported are helping him adapt to life with ALS.

One example is a highly realistic digital avatar of Medved that preserves his voice, facial expressions, and mannerisms. The avatar was created by D-ID, an OurCrowd portfolio company, in partnership with voice AI startup ElevenLabs and other collaborators through the Scott-Morgan Foundation. The system is designed specifically for people living with ALS.

Medved recently experienced the technology firsthand during a Zoom call with another ALS patient using an avatar to communicate.

“So this stuff has become very, very personal to me,” he said. “It will preserve my voice when it goes.”

He expects to rely on additional healthcare technologies as his condition progresses. “We’ve made 60, 70 healthcare investments in good companies that help people,” Medved said, pointing to startups such as OncoHost, which uses AI to help determine which immunotherapy treatments may be most effective for cancer patients, as well as companies focused on genomic sequencing and chronic disease management.

“I tell you now, as a once-healthy person who took health for granted, once you are actually engaged in one of these nasty diseases, it changes your perspective,” Medved said.

Although he has stepped down from day-to-day leadership at OurCrowd and may step back from public life, Medved said he has no intention of disengaging completely.

“I’m far from over, ok? I want to continue to contribute, both to OurCrowd and the overall ecosystem. So I fully intend to not go off quietly into this good night,” he said.

Reflecting on his career, Medved added, “I’m very proud that in a small way, even though all we are is investors, to be part of this movement.”

A video featuring Medved’s digital twin highlights just how realistic the avatar technology has already become.