Venture Capital · Profile from Venture Capital Research Companion
Monashees
São Paulo's longest-running independent venture firm, founded in 2005 by Eric Acher and Fabio Igel, which backed Brazil's first unicorn exit (99), helped create the local early-stage market, and grew from a small founder-funded vehicle to paired early-stage and portfolio "Expansion" funds of ~$700m in 2021 before shrinking its fund size in the post-2022 downturn.
At a glance
- Founded
- 2005, São Paulo, Brazil
- Founders
- Eric Acher (formerly a management consultant, reportedly McKinsey) and Fabio Igel (from a Brazilian business family linked to the Ultra group (verify))
- Headquarters
- São Paulo, Brazil
- Ownership / structure
- Independent private partnership; numbered early-stage funds (Monashees I–XI) plus "Expansion" funds that invest only in existing portfolio companies
- Leadership (2026)
- Co-founders Eric Acher and Fabio Igel remain the senior partners (2026 roster and titles: verify); a partner group largely promoted from within
- AUM / capital raised
- Cumulative commitments reported at over $1bn across funds through 2021 (sum of reported closes: Fund VIII ~$150m, 2018; Fund IX plus Expansion I targeted ~$280m, 2020; Fund X ~$400m and Expansion II ~$300m, 2021). Fund XI was reported in 2024–25 to be targeting a much smaller ~$80–100m first close (verify final size)
- Stage focus
- Seed and Series A in Brazil and, increasingly, Spanish-speaking Latin America; follow-on growth for portfolio companies via Expansion funds; sector-agnostic with emphasis on marketplaces, fintech, logistics, proptech and (from 2024) AI
- Signature investments
- 99 (sold to DiDi, 2018), Loggi, Rappi, Loft, Neon, VivaReal (Grupo ZAP, sold to OLX Brasil), Méliuz and Enjoei (2020 B3 IPOs), Kovi, Vambe. Misses / disappointments: Enjoei's post-IPO decline; Loft's 2022 down round; no known position in Nubank or QuintoAndar, the region's largest venture outcomes
8 deals and moves analysed
Each one gets a full strategy file in the companion: context, the decision, the financing, what happened, and the lesson.
2012
Meliuz
Seed / Early Venture
2012
VivaReal
Series A
2013
99
Seed / Series A
2013
Enjoei
Series A
2014
Loggi
Seed / Series A
2016
Rappi
Series A / B
2018
Loft
Seed / Series A
2018
Neon
Series A