Fluent Ventures, a San Francisco-based venture firm, is on a mission to debunk the myth that the most successful startup ideas must be born or scaled in Silicon Valley. The firm, founded in 2023, is deploying $40 million across a fund, an incubator, and a structured co-investment vehicle with limited partners to back founders replicating proven business models in fintech, digital health, and commerce across emerging markets.

The concept, dubbed "geographic alpha" by founder and managing partner Alexandre Lazarow, is built on the premise that many of the world's most valuable startups are not entirely new concepts, but rather local adaptations of models that have already succeeded elsewhere. This approach is not entirely novel, as the last decade has seen a massive decentralization in the technology industry, with many top tech players in emerging markets mirroring successful startups built elsewhere.

Lazarow, who previously invested at Omidyar Network and Cathay Innovation, insists that Fluent doesn't simply copy-paste successful models. "Local adaptation is critical," he emphasized, citing the example of ride-hailing, where Uber may have pioneered the category, but Go-Jek in Indonesia localized it by incorporating motorcycle taxis and super app functionality similar to China's WeChat. Fluent screens for local product-market fit and founder-market alignment, as demonstrated by its investment in BRKZ, a Saudi Arabian construction marketplace that localized India's Infra.Market.

Despite calling itself a global fund, Fluent doesn't aim for equal allocation across every geography. Instead, it focuses on regions with the most potential, currently including Latin America, MENA, Africa, Southeast Asia, and selective U.S. markets. The firm's current portfolio includes Minu, a Mexican employee wellness platform; Sabi, a Nigerian B2B commerce startup; Prima, a Brazil-based industrial marketplace; and Baton, a U.S. M&A platform for SMBs. These companies have raised multiple follow-on rounds since Fluent's early checks, with collective enterprise value exceeding $30 billion and seven reaching unicorn status.

Skeptics may question the exit landscape in emerging markets, particularly given the surge in valuations and unicorns over the past decade. However, Fluent sees momentum building, with IPOs of startups like Nubank, UiPath, Swiggy, and Talabat proving that global outcomes can emerge outside the U.S. and Europe. "Exit markets are also maturing in these regions," Lazarow noted, citing the rise of new secondary firms, stock markets building local listing capabilities, and profitable exits happening outside the U.S.

Fluent has also built a unique network around the founders it invests in, with over 75 unicorn founders and VCs backing the fund, including David Vélez (Nubank), Nick Nash (Sea Group), Akshay Garg (Kredivo), and Sean Harper (Kin). Many of these backers are active contributors, helping portfolio companies with talent, fundraising, and expansion. The firm also relies on a small group of venture partners from ZenBusiness, Terminal, Kin, and Dell, bringing sector depth and geographic reach.

In a world where venture capital might be rethinking overexposure to the U.S. and China, Fluent believes its approach offers LPs something few firms can: diversification. "We believe the best ideas come from anywhere and scale everywhere," said Lazarow, whose firm claims a spot on Kauffman Fellows' top-returner index thanks to his earlier personal stakes in Chime, ZenBusiness, and Sidecar Health. As Fluent continues to back founders replicating proven business models in emerging markets, it will be interesting to see if its "geographic alpha" strategy pays off and challenges the dominance of Silicon Valley in the startup ecosystem.