The rest of the team at Ego Death Capital and I have partnered with Adrian Steckel and Ruben Zweiban to launch ORANGE JUICE.
It’s a company that acquires, improves, and permanently holds cash-flowing businesses, backed by a bitcoin treasury.
More specifically, ORANGE JUICE seeks to acquire profitable small and mid-sized businesses at low multiples, help them streamline their operations where needed to stay competitive, and compound a portion of their retained earnings into bitcoin as a treasury asset. Unlike a private equity fund that buys and re-sells businesses, this is a permanent capital vehicle (i.e., a company) that will seek to buy and hold the businesses it acquires.
(And yeah, we got the orangejuice.com domain name.)
Where it fits into the market
Privately held businesses in the United States are collectively worth trillions of dollars, and demographically speaking, they have an aging set of owners who are seeking liquidity or diversification as they explore how to pass on what they’ve built.
-Private equity funds have an expected end date, so they’re designed to buy, optimize, leverage, and re-sell private businesses within a typical 4-7 year window. In contrast, ORANGE JUICE will seek to hold the businesses it acquires for the long run, which is more like what Berkshire Hathaway, Illinois Tool Works, and other permanent capital vehicles do. This incentivizes the team to optimize for business sustainability and durability.
-Pure-play bitcoin holding companies exist, but their cash-flowing operations tend to be small or non-existent. This makes them persistently reliant on external capital to grow and adds a lot of volatility to their approach, which some investors want and others do not. ORANGE JUICE instead will emphasize building a strong and diversified base of cash flows, with a portion of the retained earnings of its businesses accumulating into a bitcoin treasury. Use of external capital (i.e., issuance of debt or equity by the company) can therefore be opportunistic, rather than persistently required.
Meet the head of operations
Ruben Zweiban is the co-founder who will be running the company’s day-to-day functions as the operating partner.
Ruben is a U.S. Naval Academy and Oxford graduate, and served for a decade as a Navy SEAL officer with five deployments. He then transitioned to finance as an investment banker at BofA Securities and subsequently an equity research analyst and investor at JP Morgan Asset Management. In his most recent role, he served as the CIO of a billion-dollar private multi-family office.
His latest article, which outlines his approach to business operations, is available here. It’s trendy for high-functioning companies and finance firms to borrow lingo and surface-level practices from elite special operations organizations, but he has actually lived that life and draws from it at a deeper level than those who merely approximate it. I’m resisting the urge to insert that Bane meme.
Here’s my favorite section of his article:
This feature is where a lot of acquisition models get too clever. They talk about partnership but then show up with a playbook that was written before they understand the company. They also talk about long-term orientation but then run the company against a 4-7 year fund clock.
I do not think sellers should accept that as the default trade. They should ask different questions. Who will be in the room after closing? Which decisions stay close to the operators? Which functions become easier because ORANGE JUICE exists? What happens when the first contingency shows up?
Our answer is not that we leave everything alone. That would be lazy. The answer is that we are very careful about what we touch. We want to remove drag, but not personality. We want to centralize what should be centralized, improve what should be improved, leave customer relationships, product judgment, and founder DNA intact unless the facts demand otherwise. Done right, the seller should feel as if reinforcements arrived, not as if an occupying force showed up with a clipboard.
Private equity funds serve a valuable role in the business community as a source of liquidity, but the industry is also rightly criticized in many ways. Businesses that emerge out of PE funds have higher failure rates than average, thanks to being saddled with a lot of leverage. Communities often have valid complaints against PE-bought businesses (“this veterinarian clinic was awesome until PE took it over”) because PE funds optimize for a 4-7 flip and typically resort to aggressive cost-cutting and near-term optimization at the cost of the “soul” of the business or what made it successful in the first place.
Instead of hollowing out companies with aggressive cost-cutting and leverage to optimize a flip within a few years, ORANGE JUICE intends to support its companies for the long run, keep their “actually give a damn” founder energy intact, and back them up with a parent company balance sheet that has more monetary assets than liabilities.
Potential investors, business sellers, or those interested in working with us can contact us via our website.
For more information, please see a copy of the press release below:
ORANGE JUICE Raises $40 Million to Launch Permanent Capital Holding Company backed by a Bitcoin Treasury
Company offers founders a long-term alternative to traditional private equity through permanent ownership, operational improvement and a Bitcoin treasury.
Westport, Conn., July 15, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — ORANGE JUICE today announced it had raised $40 million to launch a capital company that will acquire, improve and permanently own American businesses. The company combines permanent ownership, operational improvement and a Bitcoin treasury to create a long-term alternative to traditional private equity.
ORANGE JUICE intends to pursue a public listing in the future, not as an exit, but to provide a liquid ownership currency and capital market access.
“Building a business takes decades. Founders deserve more than one path when it’s time to transition ownership,” said founding partner Nico Lechuga. “We believe permanent capital offers an important alternative to traditional private equity.”
Over the coming decades, a significant wave of business successions will take place. Unlike traditional private equity, ORANGE JUICE is not constrained by fund cycles or the pressure to resell, allowing it to focus on the long-term health of its businesses.
ORANGE JUICE was founded by partners from ego death capital, a leading Bitcoin venture capital firm, including Jeff Booth, Lyn Alden, Nico Lechuga, and Andi Pitt, along with Adrian Steckel, plus Ruben Zweiban as operating partner. Ricardo Salinas, the Mexican founder and chairman of Grupo Salinas, is participating as anchor investor.
“I have built a diversified conglomerate serving millions of customers in Latin America and employing over 170,000 people. From this I have learned two things: cash flow is king, and you cannot count on governments to protect the value of your money,” said Ricardo Salinas. “ORANGE JUICE is built on both — cash flowing companies and a Bitcoin treasury. That is why I am backing this team.”
ORANGE JUICE will initially acquire stable, cash-flow-generating businesses with $1 million to $10 million in annual cash flow across a range of sectors.
Acquired businesses will maintain their company’s identity. Founders may retire, continue leading their businesses or transition gradually over time. Sellers receive part of their consideration in ORANGE JUICE equity, enabling continued participation in the long-term upside
Artificial intelligence is creating one of the largest productivity shifts in decades. ORANGE JUICE is assembling an in-house operating team to both support companies with operational improvements as well as help them successfully navigate the AI transition.
Cash generated by the businesses will be reinvested into acquisitions or the Bitcoin treasury, with conservative use of leverage and capital markets.
About ORANGE JUICE: ORANGE JUICE HODLINGS Inc. (www.orangejuice.com) (“ORANGE JUICE”) is a company that acquires, improves, and permanently holds cash-flowing businesses, backed by a Bitcoin treasury. Founded in 2026, ORANGE JUICE is headquartered in Connecticut, USA.
Brand Architect and Creative Director: Lauren Cosenza (laurencosenza.com)
Legal Advisor: Latham & Watkins LLP (lw.com)
Media Inquiries: produce@orangejuice.com
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements, including statements regarding ORANGE JUICE’s business strategy, acquisition plans, capital raise, Bitcoin treasury strategy, use of artificial intelligence, expected growth, potential public listing, and use of leverage and capital markets. These statements are based on current expectations, estimates, assumptions and projections and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied. ORANGE JUICE undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, except as required by applicable law.
No Offer or Solicitation
This press release is for informational purposes only and does not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities, nor shall there be any sale of securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful prior to registration or qualification under the securities laws of such jurisdiction. Any securities offering, if made, will be made only pursuant to definitive offering documents and in accordance with applicable law.