Yaya Capital

Yaya Capital is an investment firm focused on identifying and developing opportunities within crypto-native assets. The firm provides strategic capital for the essential development and infrastructure of blockchain technology and the next generation of internet. It compounds short-term profits into long-term growth for foundational digital assets.

Co-founded by Juergen Wassmann and Armando Arechabala, Yaya Capital leverages deep expertise in digital finance and entrepreneurship. Wassmann offers a decade of financial management and successful Web 3 investing. Arechabala contributes entrepreneurial acumen from scaling digital businesses and active digital asset investing since 2018. Their shared insight drives investment in emerging digital infrastructure.

Yaya Capital serves limited partners seeking exposure and growth in the crypto-native asset space. The firm’s vision centers on building foundational layers that will define the internet’s future. It aims to drive innovation and value creation within the decentralized economy through targeted investments.

# Yaya Capital: A Healthcare-Focused Investment Firm

High-Level Overview

Yaya Capital is a multi-stage venture capital and private equity firm headquartered in Zug, Switzerland, with a primary focus on healthcare innovation.[6] Founded in 2020, the firm deploys capital ranging from $300,000 to $5 million per investment, targeting companies that either reduce healthcare costs or improve clinical outcomes.[5] The firm operates with a global footprint, maintaining offices across Brazil, Switzerland, the United States (Palo Alto and New York), and Portugal, positioning itself as a bridge between emerging healthcare entrepreneurs and institutional capital.

The firm's investment philosophy centers on empowering top entrepreneurs through strategic support, specialized knowledge, and network connectivity rather than capital alone.[3][4] Yaya Capital has established itself as a sophisticated operator in the healthcare technology space, with a team comprising investors, entrepreneurs, scientists, doctors, and innovation experts who bring deep domain expertise to portfolio companies.

Origin Story

Yaya Capital was established in 2020 as a healthcare-focused investment vehicle, emerging during a period of accelerating digital health adoption and biotech innovation.[6] The firm was built by Marcus Pratini (Managing Partner, based in Zug) and Beatriz Testoni (Principal, based in São Paulo), among other investment professionals, reflecting a deliberate geographic and expertise-driven approach to fund management.[6]

The founding team's composition—blending investors with scientific, medical, and entrepreneurial backgrounds—suggests the firm was intentionally structured to provide operational depth beyond traditional venture capital. This model reflects a broader market recognition that healthcare startups require not just capital but also clinical validation expertise, regulatory navigation, and industry connectivity to scale successfully.

Core Differentiators

Investment Thesis Clarity

Yaya Capital maintains a disciplined focus on healthcare subsectors including digital health, healthtech, medical devices, medtech, biotech, techbio, and diagnostics.[5] This specificity allows the firm to develop deep pattern recognition and avoid the generalist trap of spreading expertise too thin.

Multi-Stage Flexibility

Unlike many venture firms locked into early-stage investing, Yaya Capital operates across multiple funding stages, from early revenue through scaling phases.[5] This flexibility enables the firm to follow winners and build deeper relationships with portfolio companies over time.

Global Network with Local Presence

The firm's presence across four continents—with particular strength in Brazil, Europe, and North America—provides portfolio companies with geographic diversification and access to different regulatory environments, clinical trial networks, and market entry pathways.[3][6]

Operational Support Beyond Capital

The firm explicitly positions itself as providing "experience, knowledge and execution capabilities" rather than functioning as a passive capital provider.[3] This suggests hands-on involvement in portfolio company strategy, hiring, and go-to-market execution.

Track Record in High-Impact Investments

Yaya Capital has demonstrated ability to participate in significant rounds, including a $100 million Series B investment in Metagenomi (January 2023) alongside tier-one co-investors like Moderna, Bayer, and RA Capital Management.[4] The firm has made 14 investments with 2 portfolio exits, indicating both deployment activity and evidence of successful exits.

Role in the Broader Tech Landscape

Yaya Capital operates at the intersection of several powerful macro trends reshaping healthcare. The firm is positioned to capitalize on the shift from reactive to preventive healthcare, the digitization of clinical workflows, and the convergence of biotechnology with software engineering (techbio).

The timing of the firm's 2020 founding proved fortuitous—it coincided with accelerated adoption of telehealth, remote monitoring, and digital therapeutics driven by pandemic-era disruption. More importantly, the firm's focus on companies that improve clinical outcomes or reduce costs addresses the fundamental economic pressure facing healthcare systems globally, making portfolio companies' value propositions increasingly urgent.

By maintaining a truly global team with deep roots in emerging markets like Brazil, Yaya Capital also captures an underserved opportunity: healthcare innovation in regions with large populations, rising middle classes, and underpenetrated digital health infrastructure. This positions the firm as a bridge between Silicon Valley innovation and emerging market healthcare needs.

Quick Take & Future Outlook

Yaya Capital represents a maturing model of specialized venture capital—one that rejects the generalist approach in favor of deep domain expertise, operational involvement, and patient capital across multiple funding stages. As healthcare systems worldwide face mounting pressure to improve outcomes while controlling costs, the firm's thesis becomes increasingly relevant.

Looking ahead, several factors will shape Yaya Capital's trajectory. The regulatory environment for digital health and biotech will continue evolving, potentially creating both barriers and opportunities for portfolio companies. The firm's global positioning suggests it will increasingly serve as a capital bridge between developed and emerging markets, particularly as healthcare innovation accelerates in regions like Brazil and Southeast Asia.

The convergence of AI with healthcare—from drug discovery to clinical diagnostics—will likely become a growing focus area. Firms like Yaya Capital, with strong scientific teams and operational expertise, are well-positioned to identify and support the next generation of AI-enabled healthcare companies that can demonstrate real clinical and economic impact.

Ultimately, Yaya Capital's influence will be measured not just by fund returns, but by the extent to which its portfolio companies reshape how healthcare is delivered globally—making the firm a meaningful player in the broader transformation of an industry that touches every human life.