Afya Business Summary

Afya Ltd (AFYA) is the leading medical education group in Brazil, operating a physician-centric ecosystem that captures value throughout a doctor's entire professional lifecycle. The company generates revenue primarily through a subscription-like tuition fee structure within its Undergraduate segment, which offers high-demand medical degrees with significant pricing power and high margins. Its business model is further diversified into the Continuing Education segment, providing postgraduate and specialization courses, and the Medical Practice Solutions segment, which offers digital health tools such as clinical decision-making software (Whitebook) and practice management platforms (iClinic). As of February 2026, Afya maintains its dominant market position with 3,766 approved medical seats, positioning it as the clear leader in the Brazilian private medical education sector relative to direct competitors such as YDUQS Participações, Vitru Brasil, and Laureate Education. The company was founded in 1999 by Nicolau Carvalho Esteves and Rosângela Silveira Machado, originating from the precursor institution NRE Educacional. The current leadership team is headed by Chief Executive Officer Virgilio Deloy Capobianco Gibbon, who has led the company since 2016 and oversaw its 2019 Nasdaq IPO, and Chief Financial Officer Luis Andre Carpintero Blanco, formerly the CFO of OdontoPrev. Other key executives driving the company's digital and innovation strategy include Lelio de Souza Junior, Vice President of Medical Practice Solutions, and Julio Eduardo de Angeli, Vice President of Continuing Education and Innovation. Afya is a controlled company with Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA serving as the majority shareholder, and its board of directors is co-chaired by founder Nicolau Carvalho Esteves and Bertelsmann Education Group CEO Kay Krafft.