A new venture capital fund dedicated to mental health, brain health and longevity is closing in on $40 million in commitments, Calcalist has learned. Called Alma, it is set to become the first non-philanthropic venture capital fund in Israel built specifically around these fields, marking a shift in how the country's investment community treats an area long dominated by nonprofits and government grants.
The fund is being established by Esther Barak Landes, daughter of former Supreme Court President Aharon Barak, and Adi Ostry Matalon. Sheba Medical Center, one of Israel's largest hospital systems, will serve as Alma's strategic partner, giving the fund a clinical anchor as it evaluates startups and technologies emerging from research and treatment settings.
Private Capital, Not Charity
What distinguishes Alma from existing efforts in this space is its funding structure. The capital has been raised primarily from Jewish investors in the United States, and the fund is explicitly structured as a for-profit investment vehicle rather than a philanthropic initiative. That distinction matters: philanthropic capital typically funds research or services without an expectation of financial return, while venture capital demands it. By betting that mental health and brain health technologies can generate real commercial outcomes, Alma's founders are signaling that this sector has matured enough to support a traditional investment thesis, not just grants and donations.
Mental health technology has historically struggled to attract venture capital at the same scale as other health categories, partly because outcomes are harder to measure and partly because stigma has suppressed demand signals that investors look for. A dedicated fund with clinical backing from a major hospital could help close that gap by providing both capital and credibility to founders building in a historically underfunded category.
Origins in Crisis and Unmet Need
The fund's creation is tied directly to its founders' involvement in rehabilitation and mental health initiatives following the October 7 attacks, an experience that exposed gaps in how Israel's medical system identifies and treats trauma, anxiety and related conditions. That work appears to have crystallized a broader conviction: that mental and cognitive health issues remain under-recognized and under-resourced relative to their actual prevalence.
Research cited by the founders in presentations to investors suggests that roughly one in four people will experience a mental or cognitive health issue at some point in their lives, a figure that underscores why the founders view this as a global market opportunity rather than a niche one. Since 2024, hundreds of Israeli startups have begun developing technologies in this field, suggesting a domestic ecosystem is already forming even as dedicated capital has been scarce.
Where the Money Will Go
Alma plans to invest across a wide range of subfields, reflecting how broadly "mental and brain health" now stretches as a category:
- Mental health treatment and suicide prevention technologies
- Addiction-focused interventions
- Youth mental health platforms
- Digital therapeutics
- Brain health, dementia and cognitive decline
- Longevity-focused research and products
Matalon brings more than 18 years of experience in finance, strategy and venture building, including senior roles at Bank Leumi and Mizrahi Tefahot Bank, a partnership at the J-Impact fund, and founding involvement with the Innovation Center for Resilience and Health in Sderot. Barak Landes has more than 25 years in venture capital, with a track record that includes exits involving Playtika, Payoneer, Prolor, Orthospace, BioProtect and Storewize. She currently serves as CEO of the IMA fund, founded and leads the Nielsen Innovate fund, and has held external director roles on Migdal's Investment and Credit Committee and on boards of publicly traded companies.
Their combined backgrounds in both finance and health-sector institution-building suggest Alma is being positioned not as an opportunistic bet on a trending category, but as a deliberate attempt to professionalize investment in a field where clinical need has long outpaced commercial infrastructure.