Brazilian investment firm DNA Capital has completed the first closing of its second fund to invest in healthtech startups. In this phase, it raised R$300 million of a target of R$500 million, potentially making it one of the largest early-growth vehicles focused on healthcare in Brazil.
The DNA VC II fund, as it's called, has BNDES, Desenvolve SP, BTG Pactual, and J&J Impact Ventures, the investment fund of the Johnson & Johnson Foundation, as its anchor investors. This marks its first commitment to a Brazilian fund.
The Bueno family's family office, which owns the Dasa laboratories and the Ímpar hospital network (a joint venture with Amil), also anchors the fund. Pedro Bueno is one of the founders and a partner of DNA Capital, but he does not participate in investment decision-making.
“Brazil has the scale, human capital, and problems big enough to generate good healthcare companies,” says Luiz Henrique Noronha, partner at DNA Capital, in an exclusive interview with NeoFeed . “The inefficiencies of the system are, at the same time, the biggest challenge and the biggest opportunity.”
Specializing exclusively in the healthcare sector since 2013, DNA Capital has invested over R$ 4.3 billion throughout its history in its venture capital and private equity theses and distributed over R$ 8.1 billion to its investors. Its portfolio includes more than 27 healthcare companies.
The management company maintains the strategy that marked its first venture capital fund: a concentrated portfolio, close collaboration with its investee companies, and a focus on companies with already validated business models that use technology to gain scale and efficiency in the healthcare system.
The thesis is anchored in healthcare software, artificial intelligence applied to the sector, and scalable, technology-enabled services . The logic is to treat technology as a means—and not an end—to solve system inefficiencies, such as fragmentation, high costs, and poor data integration.
“Technology only makes sense when it helps make healthcare more efficient and less expensive,” says José Eduardo Guinle, partner at DNA Capital. “We look for models that increase productivity and reduce the structural cost of healthcare.”
In its first fund, raised in 2018, DNA Capital raised nearly R$280 million and made six investments. The portfolio includes names such as Beep Saúde, a home healthcare services platform in the country valued at R$1.5 billion in its last round; Memed, a digital prescription platform used by more than 150,000 doctors; Sanar, focused on medical education; and Feegow, which was sold to Doctoralia, in the first exit from DNA Capital's portfolio.
In the new fund, the expectation is to invest in seven to nine companies, between Series A and B funding rounds, with larger checks than in the first vehicle. "In the worst-case scenario, we will write checks for R$ 30 million. In the worst-case scenario, between R$ 60 million and R$ 80 million," says Noronha.
Because it is a fund that invests in a small number of startups, DNA Capital adopts a close relationship with the startups in which it invests, with direct involvement in defining the strategy and building the business model.
One example of this strategy is Beep Saúde, which joined the portfolio in its early stages. At the time, the company operated with a model based on doctors providing home visits.
With the support of the management company, Beep redesigned its proposal, focusing on services such as vaccination, examinations, and medication infusion at home, supported by technology for route planning, scheduling, and operational control.
DNA also played an active role in opening up commercial avenues, helping to bring the company closer to large health insurance providers and bringing strategic partners to the cap table , such as Bradesco Saúde, which enabled the scaling of the model and the expansion of access to the service.
“We get closely involved because we believe that value is created in building the business, not just with the check,” says Guinle. “Our role is to help entrepreneurs make better decisions, using the knowledge we have accumulated over the years in healthcare.”
The investment comes at a time when the Brazilian healthcare market combines scale and inefficiency. Brazil is the third largest private healthcare market in the world, with spending exceeding US$100 billion annually, but only about 25% of the population has access to private health plans.
For DNA Capital, this imbalance creates room for solutions that increase productivity, reduce operating costs, and expand access without compromising the quality of care.
According to the manager's assessment, the sector presents particularly favorable conditions for the application of artificial intelligence, given the volume of data that is still fragmented and poorly structured. The opportunity, however, depends on models that can capture value without further increasing the cost of the system.
Despite this gigantic market, Brazil still doesn't have any unicorns in the healthcare sector, as startups valued at over US$1 billion are called.
According to data from Sling Hub, a platform that tracks the Brazilian venture capital market, investments in healthtech companies totaled US$168.7 million in 2025 – this figure includes equity, debt, and FIDCs (Investment Funds in Receivables). There were 42 rounds during that period. In the first three months of 2026, investments totaled US$35.1 million, in just four rounds.
“Healthcare is a sector where a lot of value is created, but it’s difficult to capture that value, which limits explosive valuations like those seen in pure software or marketplaces,” says Noronha. “In healthcare, there are more regulatory restrictions, longer cycles, and margins pressured by the very functioning of the system.”
Another explanation is that there are few venture capital funds specializing in healthcare – horizontal, thesis-agnostic managers seek startups that scale faster, with fintech being a preferred thesis for many firms operating in Brazil.
Besides DNA Capital, other companies focused on healthcare include Yaya Capital , managed by members of the Moll family, which controls Rede D'Or, and Green Rock , linked to the Salomão and Zoppi families, who sold the Salomão Zoppi laboratory to Dasa for R$ 600 million in 2017.
DNA Capital's funding round is yet another success in breaking through barriers, following a long period in which it was difficult to raise capital to invest in startups, after the market correction caused by the excesses of liquidity in the years 2020 and 2021.
Currently, there are over 40 venture capital firms in the Brazilian market raising capital, according to NeoFeed . However, most of them have either failed to raise funds or have closed their funds below their fundraising targets.
Even so, asset managers with a track record and tradition in the market have managed to attract investors to their new funds. Examples include Astella Investimentos, Canary, Valor Capital , OneVC, Big Bets, Volpe Capital , and Spectra.
