Lyn Alden, Adrian Steckel, and Ruben Zweiban launch Orange Juice – a new firm combining the acquisition of profitable businesses with a bitcoin reserve, distinguishing it from both traditional PE and pure bitcoin holding companies.
Investment firms that acquire small and medium-sized businesses have traditionally been the domain of private equity funds, which typically exit their investments after four to seven years. Orange Juice breaks from this model: the company is structured as a permanent capital vehicle with no fixed expiration date, and it will additionally build a bitcoin reserve using a portion of the earnings generated by the businesses it acquires.
Orange Juice aims to acquire profitable small and medium-sized American businesses at low multiples, optimize operations where necessary, and retain them for the long term rather than selling them off. A portion of the retained earnings from these companies will be accumulated as a bitcoin reserve on the company’s balance sheet.
The company will initially target businesses with between $1 million and $10 million in annual cash flow across various industries. The founders point to an upcoming generational shift among American business owners as a key driver: many are approaching retirement age and seeking liquidity or diversification.
According to Lyn Alden, companies emerging from private equity funds experience higher-than-average bankruptcy rates because they tend to be heavily leveraged.
“Companies coming out of private equity funds have a higher bankruptcy rate than average because they tend to be levered up. As an alternative, we want to own the companies we buy, preserve their culture, and support them with a strong balance sheet.”— Lyn Alden
Private equity funds have a defined lifespan and are designed to buy, optimize, leverage, and resell typically within four to seven years. On the other hand, pure bitcoin holding companies often have little to no underlying cash-flowing operations, making them dependent on continuous external capital raises to grow their bitcoin treasury. Orange Juice instead plans to establish a broad base of operating cash flows from its subsidiaries, making the use of external capital—whether debt or equity—opportunistic rather than a necessity.
The term “Bitcoin Equity” was coined as early as May 2025, when Sander Andersen of the Swiss company Finpeers described a similar model in an interview with Kaupr. Andersen explained that companies with ongoing cash flow first build up a bitcoin position on their balance sheet, enabling them to subsequently borrow against that asset—"Bitcoin is Private Equity on steroids," he noted at the time.
The model that Orange Juice is now launching in the US relies on the same core principle: cash flow from operating companies is utilized to build a bitcoin reserve, rather than financing bitcoin purchases through continuous capital raises.
This also distinguishes Orange Juice from pure digital asset treasury (DAT) companies, such as Strategy. Such entities issue shares or debt to buy bitcoin without operating an underlying cash-flowing business. Orange Juice and Finpeers' Bitcoin Equity model, by contrast, derive their bitcoin capital directly from the operations of the companies they own.
Ruben Zweiban, a former Navy SEAL officer with a background at BofA Securities and JP Morgan Asset Management, joins as an operating partner and will lead the company’s day-to-day operations. He most recently served as Chief Investment Officer for a family office with over $1 billion in assets under management.
Orange Juice has raised $40 million in seed capital. The founders include partners from Ego Death Capital—including Jeff Booth, Lyn Alden, Nico Lechuga, and Andi Pitt—alongside Adrian Steckel. Ricardo Salinas, founder and chairman of the Mexican conglomerate Grupo Salinas, joins as an anchor investor.
Sellers of acquired businesses will receive a portion of their consideration in Orange Juice shares, allowing them to participate in ongoing value creation. The company states that it aims for an eventual public listing—not as an exit strategy for the founders, but to provide access to public capital markets and offer a liquid ownership stake.
Sources: Lyn Alden, X, Kaupr
You have read what you can read for free. With an account you get unlimited access to all news and articles on kaupr.io — and become part of the network of investors, professionals and builders following onchain finance.