Investor Profile: ACE Ventures — Thesis, Cheque Size & How to Apply

ACE Ventures, formerly ACE Startups, is an early stage venture capital firm based in Sao Paulo, Brazil, that specialises in supporting exceptional entrepreneurs building businesses that transform Brazil. Founded in 2012, it grew out of one of Latin America most prominent accelerator traditions and now invests with a deep bench of mentors, corporate connections and follow on investors. The firm reports that it has run more than 100 acceleration programmes, evaluated more than 25,000 startups, accelerated more than 450 startups, invested in 130 startups and achieved 25 exits, and that it has been elected three times as the best accelerator in Latin America.

Investment thesis

ACE backs exceptional entrepreneurs at the earliest stages, with the explicit aim of developing businesses that transform Brazil. Its thesis is founder first and market second: it looks for teams capable of building a company that can change how a Brazilian industry works, rather than a narrow feature or a copy of a foreign model.

Sectors and stages

ACE invests at pre-seed and seed stages, with a focus on software, information technology and internet businesses, and with fintech, ecommerce, artificial intelligence and healthtech among its named areas. Its geography is Latin America first, with Brazil as its home market and investments also reported in the United States, Germany and Uruguay. Its fund size is not publicly disclosed, and the firm does not publish a standard cheque size on its own site. Third party databases describe a wide range of historical round sizes, but founders should treat those figures as indicative only and confirm current terms directly. ACE is best understood as an early stage specialist, not a late stage fund.

Notable portfolio / track record

ACE has built a large and varied portfolio. PitchBook lists 151 investments and 61 portfolio companies for the firm, with recent investments including GigU, which raised a seed round in May 2025, iaas!, a financial software company, and Twiggy, a media and information services business. Earlier investments include Erathos, a data driven organisation platform, Eva People, a human capital software company, Speedio, a business software company, and Sinpex, a digitised compliance platform for banks and insurers covering know your customer checks and client onboarding. It has also backed Talent Academy and LeverPro.

How to apply for funding

ACE does not publish a clearly accessible open application form on its current sites, aceventures.com.br and goace.vc, and a recent fetch of those homepages returned only a cookie notice rather than an application route. Founders should therefore approach the firm through its websites and through warm introductions from its mentor network, accelerator alumni and corporate partners, rather than assuming a live portal exists. A strong pitch to ACE should show early validation: a product customers use, evidence that the problem matters in Brazil, and a team that can execute through the difficult early months. Founders should also say plainly what help they want beyond capital, whether that is enterprise introductions or follow on fundraising.