The hottest industries for startups in 2020
Deciding which idea of yours will make for the best business to start is a daunting task. And outside of your personal skills and interests, there are real factors at play that can either limit or unleash your business’s success. Determining which business is poised for growth requires looking at industry trends, such as trajectories of employment and growth in industry output, among many other factors.
Starting a business in an industry that is hot with growth is obviously better than an industry that’s diminishing. As an entrepreneur, you can’t just think about tomorrow — you need to consider the coming decades, too.
Biotech
The biotech trend will most probably escalate in the future, taking in consideration topicality of the area and potential of human resources to be discovered while demands and needs of the target audience grow, transform, and emerge. There are examples of the most promising and innovative tech startups in the given sphere:
Biohope (a Spanish startup) is dedicated to the development of absolutely unique precision medicine IVD tools, whereas BioMed X (German startup) functions in the spheres of cell biology, biomedicine, molecular biology, and consume care. The latter tech startup is a vivid example of a fruitful collaboration between academic and industrial experts. Actually, this is a significant insight to think about and eventually set as a background for your own tech startup. Cellevate (Sweden) is a startup engaged in the development of next-generation cell culture systems, and this is one more vivid illustration of the efficiency of innovative approaches.
Healthcare
The concern of health is a number one priority nowadays in advanced countries along with concerns for ecology and environmental safety.
Despite this evident prioritizing all over the world, there are so many issues and problems that still need to be addressed and solved. Hence, this field for startup activity is a double win case: the niche is open and comparatively free due to incremental tasks and challenges; this is an opportunity to contribute to society and make this world healthier and, thus, better.
For example, Sopris Health contributes to the transformation of the management of clinical documents. To be more precise, clinical documentation workflow is enhanced by means of the potential of AI and speech recognition.
GoodRx, a telemedicine platform, for example, developed their business model after recognizing the burden high prescription drug costs place on individuals. Using technology that tracks pharmacy drug prices, they are able to offer their customers lower costs that aren’t otherwise accessible.
Transportation
When you think of the recent advancements made in the transportation industry (self-driving Teslas, Uber, Lyft) it becomes clear that the transportation industry is hungry for growth and even hungrier for new talent.
Every person, company, and product relies on transportation daily—creating a powerful demand. As transportation becomes more intertwined with technology, there is a shift away from traditional services and towards startups with radical ideas.
In order to differentiate yourself from the industry giants, start asking yourself how your company could harness trends to alleviate current pain points.
Courier Pick-Up and Delivery Services
The boom in online shopping has supported the expansion of the Courier Pick-up and Delivery Services industry over the last five years. This industry has shifted away from mining, manufacturing and wholesale markets to take advantage of the opportunities within the parcel delivery services sector. As the COVID-19 pandemic persists and social distancing measures increase, demand for grocery delivery services is anticipated to increase industry revenue by 7.6% over 2019-20, to total $5.5 billion.
In addition to the increased demand for delivery services due to the COVID-19 outbreak, structural changes caused by changing conditions in downstream markets have supported industry revenue growth over the past five years. In particular, strong growth in online shopping has increased demand for industry services. This trend has also led to increased competition and spurred the proliferation of web platforms such as UberEATS, Menulog and Airtasker. These web platform-based operators have supported industry revenue growth and are well-positioned to continue expanding business operations after the COVID-19 outbreak passes.
Green products and services
As concerns about global warming and sustainability become increasingly prevalent, a more environmentally conscious population is coming into the consumer purchasing market. Green products have gained popularity in this landscape, by offering quality goods that have low environmental impacts.
50 percent of consumer packaged goods growth from 2013-2018 came from sustainability-marketed products.
One of the biggest barriers in this industry is the intention-action gap that exists. According to a study, 65 percent said they want to buy products from brands that advocate sustainability, yet only about 26 percent actually do so. Closing this gap could be the key to unlocking the market potential.
Imperfect Produce, a produce subscription box that fights food waste, has effectively closed the intention-action gap by going straight to their consumers. Instead of trying to draw people to their website, this company actively sets up booths at farmer’s markets and college campuses. Doing so provides consumers with a visual reminder to achieve their goals, without having to go out of their way to seek out information.
E-learning resources
Many parents have had to become teachers overnight as schools across the world have shut, and online learning resources have boomed in response. In China, technology was already eating into the traditional education system, with AI resources supplementing, and in some cases replacing, real-life teachers. The restrictions put in place as a result of the coronavirus have forced the education system to move online, and now that that initial step has been taken it’s possible that the traditional classroom will be altered post-pandemic and e-learning will continue to grow after schools reopen.
When asked about the future of technology in education, 63% of university leaders predicted that prestigious universities would have full university courses available for online study by 2030, according to a survey carried out by Times Higher Education.
Sport
Now that gyms and fitness studios have had to close their doors indefinitely, those in the industry able to offer their services online are reaping the benefits. But what will home fitness look like after the pandemic has passed?
Many fitness fanatics will be desperate to get back to the gym after months of squeezing a workout into their living room, but the finance-conscious and those who have appreciated the privacy and flexibility of exercising at home may be keen to stick to their new exercise schedules. Those who have bought at-home fitness equipment are likely to want to make the most of the investment too. The science behind habit formation suggests that exercising regularly over a prolonged period of time – on average between one to two months –will build it into a habit, and so by the end of lockdown home fitness fans may well keep up their pandemic workout plans.
Virtual meeting providers
Some of the online-based platforms that have brought an element of normality into our work-from-home lives are those offering businesses a space to host virtual meetings. Zoom is one of those companies that has boomed during the crisis, and it has seen its stock price surge by more than 100% in two months. Google has made the premium features of its platform Google Hangouts free until the end of September, and Microsoft saw daily users of its Teams software jump from 32 million to 44 million during March. However, they aren’t set to disappear once everyday life is back to normal, as businesses and individuals will continue to use them.
Having honed their home working space, proved they can be productive and enjoyed the lack of a commute, many workers may want to work from home more frequently and platforms provided by Microsoft, Google and Zoom are likely to still be in high demand to keep colleagues connected even when everybody is allowed back in the office.
Engineering and architecture
Construction has been deemed essential in some provinces, including Ontario, Canada’s most populous province. Building sites for projects related to critical infrastructure, healthcare, transit and residential housing remain active.
For example, shortages of affordable housing have been well-documented in cities such as Vancouver and Toronto. Those shortages show no signs of going away, especially as people shelter in their homes and the number of homes available for sale on the real estate market takes a dive. With more Canadians unemployed in the coming months, affordable housing may become an even more urgent concern. Governments don’t have the option to postpone building much-needed homes or infrastructure without causing a ripple effect that leads to greater problems in the future. As a result, a variety of construction, engineering, and architecture jobs remain in demand in some areas.
There is a list of potential narrow focus a new tech startup may contribute to in the given niche:
— environmental sensors,
— parking,
— smarter transport,
— energy solutions,
— water software, and related analytics,
— waste and disaster management.
A creative idea that is backed up by data and demand projections is well qualified to bring about profitable results, but a business plan is what will really drive your success. By following step by step you will be able to design successful marketing and distribution strategies, create a plan that is adjustable for future growth.
Good luck!