Monashees, Latin America's pioneer VC firm founded in 2005, opened its first Silicon Valley office in September 2025 to position regional startups at the frontier of AI research and capital. The São Paulo-based firm already maintains hubs in Mexico City and is now betting that proximity to the Bay Area ecosystem—talent density, research labs, GPU access—is non-negotiable for LatAm founders building AI-native companies globally.
The firm recently announced the Gama Fund, a partnership with Google to co-invest up to $2 million per deal in AI-native and deep tech pre-seed and seed startups in Brazil. Monashees deploys roughly $370 million per fund, making 8-10 new investments annually across pre-seed, seed, and Series A. Partner Fabiola Quinzaños underscored the pace: "the pace at which AI evolves is unseen, even compared with other technology paradigms in the past. If you're not here, it's very difficult to keep pace." This reflects a broader pattern: European and other non-US VCs are establishing U.S. presence to stay plugged into the AI frontier.
For architects shipping in LatAm or tracking regional tech expansion: the shift signals growing confidence that AI-native companies built in or led from the region can scale globally. Monashees plans its first Google Gama summit for later in 2026 in San Francisco, gathering LatAm AI founders to absorb best practices from Silicon Valley leaders.