Made in Rio: Montage, Latin America’s First App for Licensed Tour Guides, Launches Soon

Book a licensed guide by the hour, pay in the app, explore Rio with those who live it.

(Sponsored) Rio de Janeiro just had the biggest year in its history as a destination: 12.5 million visitors in 2025, 2.1 million of them from abroad, and international arrivals in the state up another 18.1% in the first four months of 2026. Everyone who lands here wants the Rio that cariocas know. The hard part was always finding someone to show it to you.

The answer is about to come from Rio itself. Montage, a tech startup born and built in the city, is launching December 1, 2026, as the first SaaS platform in Latin America made for tour guides. Open the app, choose a licensed private guide, book by the hour in Portuguese, English or Spanish, and pay inside the app.

How It Works

Every guide holds an active Cadastur registration, the Ministry of Tourism’s official register, verified by Montage. Travelers compare guides by language, reviews and hourly rate, set a meeting point anywhere in the city, hotel included, and pay by Pix or card. The itinerary is planned together in the app’s chat, from Christ the Redeemer and Sugarloaf to hikes, boat trips, botecos and Rio by night. Joining is free for guides, travelers pay no booking fee, and in Montage Pro, their own app, guides set their rate, languages, specialties and calendar.

A Brazilian Model for Brazil’s Biggest Postcard

Brazil’s most valuable startups, from Nubank and iFood to QuintoAndar, share a model: a platform connecting supply and demand. Tourism, about 8% of Brazil’s GDP, never had one. Montage brings it to the country’s most famous city first, with nearly 38,000 licensed guides across Brazil to follow.

A Carioca’s Way of Giving Back

Christopher Benavides, Montage’s founder and CEO, is a Brazilian-American who grew up in a Latin American tourism business. A Yale graduate and MIT affiliate alumnus, he spent a decade as a software developer and has several App Store apps with over a million users between them. Four years in the making, Montage was built for tourism and for the guide, alongside partner Galaxy Vacations, a Florida tour operator with nearly 50 years in Latin America.

“I grew up seeing what a great guide does for a trip, and I saw Rio’s guides, some of the best in the world, still living on referrals and WhatsApp,” he says. “Montage is my way of giving back to the city my family comes from: technology built here, for the people who show Rio to the world. And because every guide is Cadastur-verified, travelers know exactly who is meeting them.”

Ready Before Day One

More than 1,000 guides have already registered. Montage’s Instagram, @montagebrasil, has passed 106,000 followers on viral videos about the city. Montage is an AWS and Stripe partner and has applied to Google for Startups.

What Comes Next

Montage has proposed to the city and state tourism secretariats and to Senac RJ that Escola Carioca de Turismo graduates join the platform the day they qualify, and a hotel pilot with ABIH-RJ so front desks can refer guests to licensed guides. After the capital come Niterói, Petrópolis, the Lakes Region and the Costa Verde, then Brazil’s other gateway cities and Latin America.

Be First

Montage is launching December 1, 2026, as native apps for iOS and Android: Montage for travelers and Montage Pro for guides. Learn more at montageapp.com.br, follow @montagebrasil on Instagram for launch details, and be among the first to book Rio with someone who lives it.

This is a sponsored article. It was paid for and supplied by an advertiser, and The Rio Times newsroom had no role in writing it. The views expressed are the advertiser’s and do not necessarily reflect the views or position of The Rio Times.