# Julio Vasconcellos

> Julio Vasconcellos is a Brazilian entrepreneur and managing partner at Atlantico. He was Facebook’s first employee in Brazil, co-founded and led Peixe Urbano before its acquisition by Baidu, and later co-founded Prefer. His career also includes founding roles at Canary and Graph Ventures, entrepreneurship interviews and writing about Latin American technology.

- **Role:** Managing Partner at Atlantico
- **Organizations:** Atlantico, Prefer, Peixe Urbano, Canary, Graph Ventures, Facebook, Benchmark, Kanjoya, Monitor Group, iinnovate, Folha de S.Paulo
- **Nationality:** Brazilian
- **Education:** BS in Economics; finance and marketing; summa cum laude, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, MBA, Stanford Graduate School of Business
- **Known for:** Co-founded and led Peixe Urbano, which expanded to six countries and 1,200 employees, with more than $100 million in revenue reported in his event biography., Facebook’s first employee in Brazil., Peixe Urbano sold control to Baidu in 2014.

## Career timeline

- **2002** — Graduated from Wharton and joined Monitor Group in New York.
- **2005-2007** — Attended Stanford; co-launched iinnovate, an interview series on entrepreneurship and innovation.
- **2007** — Graduated from Stanford and worked at Kanjoya, formerly Experience Project.
- **2010** — Served as Facebook’s Brazil country lead and co-founded Peixe Urbano, launched in March.
- **2010** — Co-founded Graph Ventures.
- **2014** — Baidu acquired control of Peixe Urbano; transaction price was undisclosed.
- **2015** — Handed the Peixe Urbano CEO role to Alex Tabor.
- **2016** — Became an entrepreneur-in-residence at Benchmark and co-founded Prefer; also co-founded Canary.
- **2017** — Prefer publicly launched its trusted-referral service in New York.
- **2019** — Prefer closed its operation early in the year; returned to Brazil and began the Atlantico chapter.
- **2025** — Appeared at the Milken Global Conference and co-hosted Atrás do Retorno with Victor Ramos.
- **2026** — Published an essay on Latin America’s AI opportunity on September 22.

## Achievements

- Co-founded and led Peixe Urbano, which expanded to six countries and 1,200 employees, with more than $100 million in revenue reported in his event biography.
- Facebook’s first employee in Brazil.
- Peixe Urbano sold control to Baidu in 2014.
- Founding roles at Atlantico, Canary and Graph Ventures.
- Graduated summa cum laude from Wharton.
- Co-created the iinnovate entrepreneurship interview series while at Stanford.

## Latest updates

- **2026-09** — Published The Trillion-Dollar Prize: Latin America’s AI Moment on September 22.
- **2026-04** — Published What 100 CEOs, Policymakers, and Founders Taught Us About Investing in Brazil in The Atlantico Pub on April 8.
- **2026-02** — Participated as Atlantico managing partner in Silicon Valley Bank’s Global Private Market Trends webinar on February 25.

## Links

- Website: https://atlantico.substack.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/juliovasconcellos/
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/JulioV

---

Profile page: https://yespress.io/julio-vasconcellos
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-26