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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.
热带化这概念诞生已有一段时间了。这已经让风险投资者在印度和中国获利颇丰。看看中国的GOOGLE——百度（让早期投资者大赚一笔）或中国的EBAY——阿里巴巴拍卖网就知道了。如今风险投资者正着眼于包括巴西、印度尼西亚、俄罗斯、南非和土耳其在内的其他市场。去年，新兴市场的风险投资交易额达34亿美元，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.
这股进军新兴市场的力量势头正劲是因为在传统市场中风投遇到了一些问题。硅谷一度十分封闭，以至于那时的风投者常说他们不会投资新兴企业，除非该企业在骑自行车就能到达的范围之内。但在北美洲，前期投资和后期投资的估值都有所上升（见图表），所以赚取巨额利润变得更难了。
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.
出现这种情况，部分原因是传统市场里公司过多；调查公司Preqin称，目前传统市场中有369家公司正设法筹集资金，总额达500亿美元。反观新兴市场，竞争远没有那么激烈。在传统市场中，来自投资者的压力也在增加。考夫曼基金会（Kauffman Foundation）（一个发扬企业家精神的机构）的一份新报告给出了一些负面观点。报告分析了考夫曼基金会的风投组合，并总结出每100家基金有62家的未能提供高于公开市场的收益。
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%.
大部分风投公司进军国外市场的目的并非只是寻找模仿者，但他们许多的投资活动最终却只做到了这点。大型风投公司红杉资本（Sequoia Capital）的道格拉斯 莱昂内（Douglas Leone）认为，在像中国这样的新兴市场里，由互联网及移动领域的外国风投公司投资的新兴企业中约有50%是模仿者，这一比例在巴西这样的市场里则更接近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.
这一点不足为奇。投资新兴企业本身就有风险，而对采用经过考验的商业模式的新兴企业进行投资能降低这种风险，也意味着企业可能会快速发展，因为原创企业已将那些新奇想法实践过了。而原创企业往往并不擅长迅速打入新国家的市场，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.
模仿者还能根据当地习购物习惯量身打造商业模式以获得优势。由两个前亚马逊（Amazon）员工创立的印度线上购物网站Flipkart已获得老虎环球基金（Tiger Global）和Accel Partners的投资。总部位于纽约的老虎环球基金是专门从事此类投资的对冲基金；Accel Partners是一家风投公司。Flipkart已开始迅速发展，部分原因是在印度信用卡普及率较低而它则提供货到付款服务。
