Fluent Ventures Backs Replicated Startup Models in Emerging Markets

A new venture firm aims to prove that the most successful Startup Ideas Don’T Have to Be Born or Scaled in Silicon Valley.

Fluent venturesA Global Early-Stage Fund, is Backing Founders Replicating Proven Business Models from Western Markets in Fintech, Digital Health, and Commerce Emerging Markets. The More Cynical Might Describe This as a Clone Factory, But Founder and Managing Partner Alexandre Lazarow Calls the firm’s strategy “geographic alpha.”

Fluent’s Premise is that many of the world’s most Valuable Startups Are Not Entryly New Concepts that haven’s Triad Before, But More Simply, Local Adaptations of MODELS of MODELS that have alredy successed Elsewhere.

The San Francisco-Based Firm, Founded in 2023, is deploying $ 40 million across a fund, an incubator, and a structured co-infestment test with limited partners. It is written 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 Invested at Omidyar Network and Cathay Innovation. “We bellyve the world’s best innovations are not the exclusive purview of silicon valley.”

Fluent is not exactly working in a bubble: the last decade has seen a massive Decentralization in the technology industry. In 2013, Just four cities had produced a unicorn. Today, that Number Exceds 150.

And that has been on the back of rinse and reepeat, with many of the top tech players in emerging markets mirroring successful stortups Clones in Payments, and Neo-Banking Apps in Fintech. The first breakout neo-bank was tinkoff from russia. “That movement scled globally, and [it] was one of the insights that motivated my investments in chime in the US and Banco Neon in Brazil, “Said Lazarow.

Lazarow Insists Fluent Doesn Son Just Copy-Paste.

“That rarely works, in our opinion. Local adaptation is critical,” He said.

The firm points to ride-hailing as an example. Uber may have pionered the category, but in indonesia, Go-JEK Localized it by by if if you are incringing motorcycle taxis and super app functionality similar to China’s WeChat. Now uber eats is essentially chaising that evolution, lazarow argues.

To that point, fluent ventures, in addition to finding adapted models, screens for local product-market fit and founder-market alignment.

While the firm passed on Several Construction Marketplaces Globally, it Backed brkz in saudi arabiaA Localized take on India’s Infra.Market. The founder, a former Careem Executive, was a strong operator in a region with surlying infrastructure demand, lazarow noted.

Despite calling itself a global fund, lazarow say fluent does not aim for equal allocation Across every geography. Intad, it goes Deeper in the regions where it sees the most potential. Right now, that means a focus on latin america, mena, africa, southeast asia, and selective us markets.

Its current portfolio includes MinuA Mexican Employee Wellness Platform; SabiA Nigerian B2B Commerce Startup; Prima, A brazil-based Industrial Marketplace; And Baton, A US M & A Platform for SMBS.

The firm say these companies have raised multiple follow-on rounds since the fluent’s early checks. Collectively, Startups from Lazarow’s Prior and Current Portfolios Have Generated Over $ 30 Billion in Enterprise Value, with Seven Reaching Unicorn Status.

Skeptics still question the exit landscape in emerging markets, perhaps especially Since Valuations have gone up in these markets, with more unicorns than a decade ago. Yet Fluent Sees Momentum Building. IPOS of Startups Like Nubank, Uipath, Swiggyand Talabat Prove that Global Outcomes Can Emerge OutSide the US and Europe – and then, as in the case of Nubank and Uipath, Uipath, Theose Companies can still go public in the USIf they choose.

“Exit Markets are also matured in these regions,” Lazarow Remarks. “New Secondary Firms Are Rising. Stock Markets are looking to build local listing capability. Yes, The us has much more developed IPO and M & A Markets. But Under the HOOD, SOME OF UNEDER The HOOD EXITS ARE ALAREADY HAPPENING OUTSIDE. “

Fluent has also built out a different kind of network Around the kinds of founders 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 From Around the World. According to Lazarow, Many are active contributors, helping portfolio companies with talent, fundraising, and expansion.

The firm also relaes on a small group of venture partners from zenbusiness, terminal, kin, and dell, brings bot sector depth and geographic reaach.

In a world where venture capital might be retaining overexposure to the us and China, Fluent believes its approach approach offers lps someating few firms can: diversification.

“We believe the best ideas come from anyware and scale everything,” Says the partner whose firm claims a spot on Kauffman Fellows’ Top‑returner Index, Thanks to HIS EARLIER PERSONAL Stakes in Chime, Zenbusiness and Sidecar Health.

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