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This article investigates the factors that influence early internationalization of new ventures in the context of emerging economies. More specifically, our research builds on the theoretical and empirical literature on International New Ventures (INV) to develop an original conceptual framework and formulate hypotheses concerning the environment, industry and firm-related factors that enhance or constrain rapid internationalization of new firms from emerging countries. We tested our hypotheses on a sample of more than 23000 firms from 27 transition countries in Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia between 2002 and 2009. The empirical study shows that several factors are positively related to the probability that a firm will internationalize from inception: access to ICT infrastructure, being located in an EU country, industry competition, a better-educated workforce, networks in the home country and international networks. In contrast, early internationalization is negatively affected by insecurity and, more surprisingly, by a firm’s knowledge intensity. These results contribute to a better understanding of the specificities of the internationalization of firms from emerging economies.