monashees was founded in 2005 by Eric Acher and Fabio Igel, making it Brazil's first venture capital firm at a time the two describe as the country's 'tech winter' - essentially no local early-stage VC industry existed, and they built both the firm and much of the surrounding ecosystem from scratch, starting with just a $12 million debut fund. Organized around the thesis 'The future is human,' the firm invests sector-agnostically but stays deliberately hands-on, working directly with more than 300 founders across 150-plus companies to help build Latin America's first generation of world-class technology companies from the earliest possible stage. That patient, region-building approach has produced nine unicorns - Rappi, 99, Loggi, MadeiraMadeira, and Loft among them - and grown into $1.5 billion raised across 10 funds since inception.
99's 2018 acquisition by Didi Chuxing for roughly $1 billion - one of the earliest major venture-backed exits to come out of Latin America's ride-hailing sector