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A new venture house aims to prove that the most successful startup ideas do n’t have to be born or scale in Silicon Valley .
Fluent Ventures , a world-wide other - stage fund , is backing founders replicating proven business organization models from Western markets in fintech , digital health , and DoC across come out markets . The more cynical might describe this as a clone factory , but laminitis and managing partnerAlexandre Lazarowcalls the business firm ’s scheme “ geographic alpha . ”
Fluent ’s premise is that many of the world ’s most worthful startup are not entirely new conception that have n’t been tried before , but more simply , local adaptations of modeling that have already deliver the goods elsewhere .
The San Francisco - base business firm , constitute in 2023 , is deploying $ 40 million across a fund , an incubator , and a structured co - investment fomite with limited collaborator . It is writing initial checks of $ 250,000 to $ 2 million , from pre - seed to Series A , and plans to make 22 - 25 investments , with follow - ons .
“ We are contrarians at heart , ” said Lazarow , who previously gift at Omidyar internet and Cathay Innovation . “ We believe the populace ’s expert innovations are not the sole purview of Silicon Valley . ”
Fluent is not exactly working in a bubble : The last decade has seen a monolithic decentralisation in the engineering science industry . In 2013 , just four cities had bring forth a unicorn . Today , that number exceeds 150 .
And that has been on the back of rinse and repeat , with many of the top tech thespian in emerging markets mirror successful startup that have been build elsewhere , such as Amazon clones in e - commerce , band clones in payments , and neo - banking apps in fintech . The first breakout neo - bank was Tinkoff from Russia . “ That movement scaled globally , and [ it ] was one of the insights that motivated my investment funds in Chime in the U.S. and Banco Neon in Brazil , ” say Lazarow .
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Lazarow insists Fluent does n’t just copy - paste .
“ That rarely works , in our opinion . Local adjustment is critical , ” he said .
The firm points to ride - hailing as an example . Uber may have pioneered the family , but in Indonesia , Go - Jek localized it by incorporating bike taxis and super app functionality like to China ’s WeChat . Now Uber Eats is essentially chasing that evolution , Lazarow argue .
To that point , Fluent Ventures , in addition to find adapted models , screen for local merchandise - marketplace tantrum and founder - market alignment .
While the house turn over on several construction marketplaces globally , itbacked BRKZ in Saudi Arabia , a localized take on India ’s Infra . grocery store . The founder , a former Careem executive , was a strong operator in a realm with surge base demand , Lazarow noted .
Despite call itself a global fund , Lazarow says Fluent does n’t aim for equal allotment across every geography . Instead , it goes deeper in the regions where it sees the most potential drop . mighty now , that means a focus on Latin America , MENA , Africa , Southeast Asia , and selective U.S. markets .
Its current portfolio includesMinu , a Mexican employee wellness platform;Sabi , a Nigerian B2B commerce startup ; Prima , a Brazil - based industrial marketplace ; and Baton , a U.S. M&A program for SMBs .
The firm says these companies have raised multiple follow - on round since Fluent ’s other checks . conjointly , startup from Lazarow ’s anterior and current portfolio have generated over $ 30 billion in enterprise value , with seven reach unicorn status .
Skeptics still question the exit landscape painting in emerging marketplace , perhaps specially since valuations have gone up in these securities industry , with more unicorns than a decennium ago . Yet Fluent sees momentum building . IPOs of startups likeNubank , UiPath , Swiggy , andTalabatprove that world resultant can emerge outside the U.S. and Europe — and then , as in the cause of Nubank and UiPath , those companiescan still go public in the U.S. if they choose .
“ Exit grocery store are also maturing in these regions , ” Lazarow remarks . “ New lowly house are grow . Stock mart are looking to work up local list capability . Yes , the U.S. has much more get IPO and M&A markets . But under the hood , some of the largest and most profitable expiration are already happening alfresco . ”
Fluent has also built out a dissimilar kind of net around the kinds of founder it invests in . More than 75 unicorn founders and VCs back the fund , including David Vélez ( Nubank ) , Nick Nash ( Sea Group ) , Akshay Garg ( Kredivo ) , and Sean Harper ( Kin ) , alongside institutional LPs and family offices from around the world . According to Lazarow , many are active contributors , helping portfolio companies with talent , fundraising , and enlargement .
The business firm also relies on a small group of venture spouse from ZenBusiness , Terminal , Kin , and Dell , convey both sector depth and geographic reach .
In a world where venture capital might be rethinking overexposure to the U.S. and China , Fluent conceive its approach offers LPs something few firm can : diversification .
“ We believe the best idea descend from anywhere and scale leaf everywhere , ” articulate the better half whose business firm claim a stain on Kauffman Fellows ’ top‑returner index , thanks to his earlier personal stake in Chime , ZenBusiness , and Sidecar Health .
Other globose VCs with an emerging mart focus include Accion Venture Lab , Alter Global , Endeavor Catalyst , Flourish Ventures , Global Ventures , Quona Capital , and Speedinvest .
