Monashees: Latin America's Pioneer VC, Now a Global LatAm Platform

In 2005, when "venture capital" barely existed as a concept in Brazil, Eric Acher founded Monashees — which describes itself as "the first Silicon Valley–style venture capital firm in Latin America" and the largest Brazilian VC. Two decades on, it has become the launchpad for some of the region's most important companies, and now styles itself "The Global Latam VC," backing Latin founders from offices in São Paulo, Mexico City and San Francisco.

Thesis: category-defining companies, from the region to the world

Monashees backs bold, technology-driven founders building category-defining companies from the region to the world — one of the pioneer investors in Latin America's tech ecosystem. Sectors span SaaS, fintech, marketplaces, edtech, eHealth, logistics, healthcare and financial services; stages run pre-seed to Series A, with typical tickets of $1–5 million.

Funds

Its eighth fund closed on $150 million, with commitments from Temasek, CreditEase, Instagram co-founder Mike Krieger, the University of Minnesota endowment, Horsley Bridge Partners, S-Cubed Capital and fifteen Brazilian families and investment groups. At the time, Monashees managed more than $430 million, and its portfolio companies had gone on to raise roughly $2 billion from global investors. More recent fund sizes are not publicly disclosed. The community today spans more than 150 companies and 300+ founders.

Portfolio

Monashees' early bets read like a history of Brazilian tech: 99 (the ride-hailing platform acquired by DiDi for $1 billion), Rappi, Loggi, ContaAzul, Eduk, Elo7, Enjoei, VivaReal, Peixe Urbano and Bidu. More recent names include PetLove, Buser and AI music startup Moises.

Why founders choose it

Beyond capital, the firm is known for hands-on support in talent, fundraising and strategy — the kind of full-stack help that matters in markets where the playbook is still being written. It remains one of the region's most active investors, logging 18 deals in 2024 alone, and its portfolio founders form a tight community that shares hiring pipelines, growth tactics and fundraising introductions across the Americas. No public accelerator or credits programme is advertised; the value proposition is the partnership itself, plus a twenty-year network across the Americas.