Startups are known to bring fresh, innovative ideas to the market. What usually starts as a small operation funded by families and friends is often met with struggles, but those who have soldiered on have become some of the best companies on the planet.
If you want your startup to be as successful as Zomato, Flipkart, Housing.com, and InMobi (among many others), then you should consider these growing startup industry trends for the year 2020.
1. Biotech will be Booming
2020 is going down as one of the most notorious years of the decade (if not the century) due to the novel coronavirus pandemic. With the growing demand for better medical services and technologies, Biotech is expected to be the startup king of the year – and for the years to come.
The biotech industry is currently valued at $295 billion, and projections show it is about to increase exponentially in the coming years. With more and more technologies being developed every day, starting a biotech company may just be your key to unprecedented success.
2. Explore Africa
Many industry startups are usually focused on Europe, the Americas, and Asia. While it’s right to target these densely-populated continents, the competition can be quite tough in these areas – especially for young startups. So if you want to be the leader in a certain service or offering, then you should consider setting your sights on the motherland that is Africa.
For one, many African countries are very welcoming of startup companies. Many thanks to Tunisia’s lead, countries such as Senegal, Ghana, and Mali are passing bills to encourage startups that can help boost economic growth.
3. Same Business Model, New Location
Many startup industries have helped shape the world as we know it. In this pandemic, more and more people are opting for food delivery services such as GrubHub, Uber Eats, and DoorDash – driving their profits over the roof.
If you want to play it safe, then you could opt to use the same business model. However, if you want to succeed even further, then 2020 is the time for you to take this idea to a new location.
Take the case of Glovo, a Spanish food delivery startup that operates in Europe. It is planning on expanding its reach to North Africa, which, as just mentioned, is one of the hottest areas for the startup industry.
4. It’s All About Sharing
The last few years have seen the rise of ‘sharing economy’ startups.
A good example of this is AirBnb, where owners rent their homes or rooms for some additional income.
What’s great about this niche is that there’s a lot more to explore. One such example is Cloud Kitchens, which was a brainchild of former Uber CEO Travis Kalanick. This capitalizes on shared spaces for delivery-only restaurants.
With that being said, you should consider putting your thinking cap on to brainstorm on new and unique possibilities. Who knows? Yours might be 2020’s greatest ever startup coming from the sharing economy.
5. Convenience in Commerce
Many thanks to Amazon, people’s lives have been more convenient than they have ever been. There’s virtually no need to go out with deliveries being cut short to just a few hours.
While it is widely hard to trump a retail giant such as this one, you should always remember that Amazon started up as a startup. To make things even better, 2020 has proved to be the year of convenience. With the majority of people hunkering down in their homes, they are looking for services that can respond to their needs in the shortest time possible.
Although most products are delivered nowadays, you still have a lot of niches to explore. Take the case of Lensabl, which has brought online prescription lenses to the digital field. By using this program, you get to have your eye checked with the use of a certain software. Afterward, you get to choose from a wide variety of lenses that you then try at your own home.
Remember, 2020 is all about bringing your business to the consumer. You should capitalize on convenient services – before they get all filled up.
6. The Spotlight is on Sustainable Finance
Sustainable finance refers to a service that factors social, environmental and governance tenets in making business and investment choices. This concept is shaped by the United Nations Millennium Development Goals in 2000. The organization provided a framework for the business sector – and its impact on sustainability.
93% of the planet’s biggest corporations use the global report initiative standards for their performance. This has made sustainable finance increasingly popular. Now valued at $30 billion, this industry gives you a chance to pursue a unique vision – with minimal impact on the environment.
7. Focus on Financial Tech
With industries such as sustainable finance growing bigger every day, more and more companies are looking for applications that can help them with their daily operations. According to a report, fintech is growing at a rate of 43%, with the industry enjoying as much as $120 billion in capital.
With that being said, this endeavor proves to be one of the best industries to focus on this 2020. It’s all about simplifying programs and platforms to make it more accessible for the corporations – as well as their consumers. Draw your inspiration from ideas such as that of Bond Financial Technologies. To date, this has earned $10 million for its AI-powered infrastructure.
8. Low Code for Fellow Business Owners
Sophisticated codes make the process of building digital products a big problem. If you want to be part of the solution, then your startup should focus on ‘low code’. This tool focuses on the drag-and-drop interface. There is no need for codes and other programming languages. As such, this platform allows the users to easily bring their ideas to fruition.
Take the case of startup companies like Zapier, Bubble, and Webflow. The latter has even amassing a funding of as much as $75 million. After all, more and more entrepreneurs are looking for ways to actualize their business plans – without the need for advanced IT knowledge.
What’s great about the low code movement is that a lot of ideas could arise from it. One good example is Makerpad, a startup that tutors business owners about no-code platform building. With the many opportunities that entail the low code industry, you could surely find a special niche in this one.