However, for those who can put up with high levels of volatility, the rewards on offer can more than make these risks worthwhile.
Specialist portfolios consistently beat their more general emerging market rivals over the longer-term, and could be a good option for investors looking to liven up their portfolio.
Here, FE Trustnet highlights five recently launched frontier funds that have made a very strong start, and one up at least 25 per cent over the past 12 months:
JPM ASEAN Equity
The five crown-rated JPM ASEAN Equity fund is one of the top performers of the last year, returning 27.68 per cent compared with 18.52 per cent from its MSCI South East Asia benchmark.
The fund also has a strong medium-term track record. Over three years, it is the best-performing fund in the FSA Offshore Recognised Emerging Markets sector.
Its returns of 65.83 per cent over this period are higher than those of any fund in the IMA Global Emerging Markets sector, our data shows.
Performance of funds over 3yrs
Source: FE Analytics
Aberdeen Emerging Markets and First State Global Emerging Markets have returned 36.18 and 26.85 per cent over the period, respectively.
Approximately 95 per cent of the JPM fund is invested in the Pacific basin.
Its highest sector weighting is to financials, with Bank of Central Asia and Thailand's Kasikornbank among its top holdings.
The fund is headed up by Pauline Ng.
JPM ASEAN Equity requires a minimum initial investment of $35,000 and has an OCF of 1.9 per cent. It is domiciled in Luxembourg.
Renaissance Sub Saharan
The $164.4m Renaissance Sub Saharan fund has made 43.43 per cent in the last year, compared with 4.57 per cent from the IMA Global Emerging Markets sector and 4.22 per cent from its FSO Offshore Recognised Equity Emerging Markets sector.
The fund lost 24.64 per cent in its first 12 months, but is now up 24.98 per cent since launch; the FSA Offshore Recognised Equity Emerging Markets sector is down 3.07 per cent over this period.
Performance of fund vs sector since launch
Source: FE Analytics
It has achieved these strong returns with surprisingly low volatility: its score of 14.22 per cent over the past two years is only two percentage points higher than the FTSE All Share's.
The fund has 60.1 per cent in the Middle East and Africa.
Its biggest sector bet is to financials, making up 43 per cent of AUM; among its top holdings are Kenya Commercial Bank, South Africa's Standard Bank Group and Nigeria's Zenith.
Sven Richter has managed the Luxembourg-domiciled fund since March 2011.
The fund requires a minimum investment of $2,000 and has an ongoing charges fee (OCF) of 1.1 per cent. It is available via certain platforms.
Sanlam African Frontier Markets
Another leading fund dedicated to African markets is the Dublin-domiciled $70m Sanlam African Frontier Markets portfolio.
Over the last year, it has made 39.1 per cent compared with 4.4 per cent from its sector.
FE Analytics does not have data for the fund’s benchmark, but as a basis of comparison, the MSCI EFM Africa index has gained 4.62 per cent over the same period.
The Sanlam fund is certainly not for the faint of heart, however.
It has 45 per cent of its assets in Nigeria, a volatile market which has also been one of the highest-growers over the last year.
Nearly half of the portfolio is in financials, like most of the funds on this list. Consumer staples is the second-highest weighting.
The fund requires a minimum investment of £1,000 and has an annual management charge (AMC) of 1.75 per cent.
Schroder ISF Frontier Markets Equity
The Luxembourg-domiciled Schroder ISF Frontier Markets Equity fund has returned 29.1 per cent over the past year.
It has not been without its hiccups, but it has seen a steady and sharp rise from July last year.
Since its launch in December 2010, the fund has made 12.18 per cent, while the MSCI Frontier Markets index gained just 1.87 per cent. The FSA Offshore Recognised Emerging Markets index lost 5.26 per cent over the period.
Performance of fund vs sector and index since launch
Source: FE Analytics
The tiny $68.8m fund is headed up by Allan Conway, head of emerging market equities at Schroders, and Rami Sidani, head of Middle East and North Africa portfolio management.
The fund’s highest weighting is to financials, at 56 per cent, with the United Bank for Africa and the Commercial Bank of Qatar featuring in its top-10 holdings.
It requires a minimum investment of $1,000 but has a steep OCF of 2.73 per cent.
GAM Star Emerging Asia Equity
Over the last year, the GAM Star Emerging Asia Equity fund has picked up 32.4 per cent, beating its benchmark – the MSCI South East Asia index – by 14 percentage points.
Headed up by Camille Vergara and Michael Lai, the fund is tilted toward financials, though not as heavily as the other funds on this list, holding 37.43 per cent of the portfolio in the sector.
Its highest country bets are Thailand, Indonesia and Singapore.
Among the tiny $23.6m fund’s top holdings are Philippine casino and hotel company Bloomberry Resorts, Asian real estate giant Capitaland and Thai real estate developer Sansiri.
The fund requires a minimum investment of $10,000 and has a total expense ratio (TER) of 1.99 per cent.