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The idea of tropicalisation has been around for a while. It has already been lucrative for venture capitalists in India and China. Take Baidu, a Chinese interpretation of Google, which made early venture investors a killing; or Alibaba.com, a Chinese version of eBay, an online-auction site. Now venture capitalists are looking at other markets, including Brazil, Indonesia, Russia, South Africa and Turkey. Last year $3.4 billion of venture-capital deals were done in emerging markets, more than double the amount in 2008.
熱帶化這概念誕生已有一段時間了。這已經(jīng)讓風(fēng)險投資者在印度和中國獲利頗豐?？纯粗袊腉OOGLE——百度（讓早期投資者大賺一筆）或中國的EBAY——阿里巴巴拍賣網(wǎng)就知道了。如今風(fēng)險投資者正著眼于包括巴西、印度尼西亞、俄羅斯、南非和土耳其在內(nèi)的其他市場。去年，新興市場的風(fēng)險投資交易額達34億美元，比2008年高出一倍多。
This push into emerging markets has gained momentum because venture capital is experiencing problems in its traditional markets. Silicon Valley was once so inward-looking that venture capitalists used to say they would not back a start-up unless they could cycle to its office. But valuations in North America have risen for both early-stage and later-stage investments (see chart), making it much harder to make great returns.
這股進軍新興市場的力量勢頭正勁是因為在傳統(tǒng)市場中風(fēng)投遇到了一些問題。硅谷一度十分封閉，以至于那時的風(fēng)投者常說他們不會投資新興企業(yè)，除非該企業(yè)在騎自行車就能到達的范圍之內(nèi)。但在北美洲，前期投資和后期投資的估值都有所上升（見圖表），所以賺取巨額利潤變得更難了。
That is partly because there are too many firms; 369 of them are currently in the market trying to raise $50 billion, according to Preqin, a research firm. There is a lot less competition in emerging markets. The pressure from investors is also rising. A damning new report by the Kauffman Foundation, an outfit which promotes entrepreneurship, analysed its venture-capital portfolio and concluded that 62 out of 100 funds failed to exceed the returns offered by the public market.
出現(xiàn)這種情況，部分原因是傳統(tǒng)市場里公司過多；調(diào)查公司Preqin稱，目前傳統(tǒng)市場中有369家公司正設(shè)法籌集資金，總額達500億美元。反觀新興市場，競爭遠沒有那么激烈。在傳統(tǒng)市場中，來自投資者的壓力也在增加?？挤蚵饡↘auffman Foundation）（一個發(fā)揚企業(yè)家精神的機構(gòu)）的一份新報告給出了一些負(fù)面觀點。報告分析了考夫曼基金會的風(fēng)投組合，并總結(jié)出每100家基金有62家的未能提供高于公開市場的收益。
Most venture-capital firms do not head abroad with the sole aim of looking for copycats, but plenty of their investments end up that way. Douglas Leone of Sequoia Capital, a big venture-capital firm, reckons that in emerging markets like China around 50% of start-ups backed by foreign venture capitalists in the internet and mobile sectors are copycats, and in markets like Brazil it is closer to 70%.
大部分風(fēng)投公司進軍國外市場的目的并非只是尋找模仿者，但他們許多的投資活動最終卻只做到了這點。大型風(fēng)投公司紅杉資本（Sequoia Capital）的道格拉斯 萊昂內(nèi)（Douglas Leone）認(rèn)為，在像中國這樣的新興市場里，由互聯(lián)網(wǎng)及移動領(lǐng)域的外國風(fēng)投公司投資的新興企業(yè)中約有50%是模仿者，這一比例在巴西這樣的市場里則更接近70%。
That is not so surprising. Backing tested concepts mitigates the risk inherent in start-ups and means companies are likely to grow quickly, because the original firm has already worked out the kinks. Often the originator of the business does not have the expertise to enter new countries quickly, so copycats can get there first.
這一點不足為奇。投資新興企業(yè)本身就有風(fēng)險，而對采用經(jīng)過考驗的商業(yè)模式的新興企業(yè)進行投資能降低這種風(fēng)險，也意味著企業(yè)可能會快速發(fā)展，因為原創(chuàng)企業(yè)已將那些新奇想法實踐過了。而原創(chuàng)企業(yè)往往并不擅長迅速打入新國家的市場，所以模仿者便能捷足先登。
They can also gain an edge by tailoring businesses to local habits. Flipkart, an online-commerce site in India founded by two former Amazon employees, has received funding from Tiger Global, a New York-based hedge fund that specialises in this kind of investing, and Accel Partners, a venture-capital firm. Flipkart has taken off in part because credit cards are less common in India and it offers the option of payment on delivery.
模仿者還能根據(jù)當(dāng)?shù)亓?xí)購物習(xí)慣量身打造商業(yè)模式以獲得優(yōu)勢。由兩個前亞馬遜（Amazon）員工創(chuàng)立的印度線上購物網(wǎng)站Flipkart已獲得老虎環(huán)球基金（Tiger Global）和Accel Partners的投資?？偛课挥诩~約的老虎環(huán)球基金是專門從事此類投資的對沖基金；Accel Partners是一家風(fēng)投公司。Flipkart已開始迅速發(fā)展，部分原因是在印度信用卡普及率較低而它則提供貨到付款服務(wù)。
