Top Growing Industries For Startups Studios This Year

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Startup Studio Insider

5 min readSep 7, 2021

Over the last two years, COVID-19 has re-defined the rules of the game for businesses. Startups pivoted their product offerings, sought new sources of funding, and, in all sorts of other ways, did their best to stay afloat, despite a climate of uncertainty. As the economy slowly but surely recovers, entrepreneurs and investors are looking ahead to next year’s startup landscape.

If the last couple of years has taught us anything, it’s that nothing is set in stone. But, as we progress through 2022, there are many new and highly anticipated innovations we can expect from the startup landscape. One of the most notable trends that have surged in the startup sphere is the rise of startup studios.

As we’ve explained in past articles, startup studios like Science, PSL, Wilbur Labs, and eFounders, can match experienced entrepreneurs with business ideas to maximize their success potential. Likewise, studios now have to look for ways to maximize their opportunities for growth and gain entrance into newly emerged industries, while also designing new ways to approach consumer needs and pain points.

As we continue to see these shifts happening in 2021 and beyond, here are some additional trends we expect to see for startup studios to build new venture opportunities and bring back the power of startups this year:

Accessible Ed Tech

Back in 2021, EdTech became one of the best and fastest-growing industries within which to launch a business. The fusion of technology and education is making headway for a better and more inclusive future.
As the pandemic spread, it forced 1.5 billion students away from the traditional classroom.
The demand for diverse digital learning tools for corporate learners and adults willing to fine-tune their skill sets started to grow as well.
There is an excellent opportunity for brands to contribute to teachers’ and students’ lives in 2022.
Some ed-tech startups and companies to look out for this year include Blackboard, Byju’s, Coursera, among others.

eCommerce is on the rise

It is no secret that the pandemic accelerated the shift toward online shopping.
According to Adobe, over the past two years, consumers have paid $32 billion more online for the same amount of goods.
All ranges of businesses are now adapting to this online setting with the help of technology and responsive AI algorithms.
For example, VacationRenter, founded by Wilbur Labs in 2017, became one of the fastest-growing travel startups in the world by focusing on offering guests contactless check-ins and becoming the first travel site to offer over 100,000 safe and socially distant RV rentals.
With their innovative platform, VacationRenter was able to reach $1 billion in gross bookings in 2020.
Since 2020, the travel site has kept their promise to continue its goal of improving its machine learning rankings by showcasing even more personalized rentals to their customers.

Demand for virtual healthcare

COVID-19 has proved that an enormous range of services can be delivered faster, more conveniently, and at a lower cost through telehealth.
According to a new Telehealth Market Size and Analysis study conducted by Market Study Report, the sector is set to grow to $16.7 billion by 2025.
Other thriving areas that make Healthcare one of the best industries to invest in include web and mobile apps for patients and doctors, Healthcare CRMs, healthcare analytics, and BI services.
We expect startups providing user-friendly wearable devices, sensors and diagnostic equipment for virtual visits, as well as artificial intelligence deployed as interactive virtual assistants or chatbots.
In fact, we’ve already seen this trend come to life successfully with the growth of Hims, which was boosted by the help and guidance of startup studio, Atomic to provide high quality and reliable personalized healthcare in a virtual way.
In 2017, Hims became the second fastest-growing startup with a valuation of $1.6 billion.

New platforms for leisure and entertainment

With the pandemic keeping people indoors, online services are taking the world by storm.
Many of us had to suddenly adopt digital technology and look for social activities, socially distanced workouts, and online dating overnight
This opened the doors to entrepreneurs looking to launch new products in these niche markets and identify new opportunities to engage consumers virtually.
For example, as gyms were forced to close, the demand for online alternatives like exercise-tracking apps began to soar.
Also, evolving virtual reality (VR) games and systems suggest a new way of working out for stay-at-home consumers. It seems like that trend will keep flying and consequently let us usher in an era of gamified fitness.
Online apps like Tinder, Clubhouse, and Bumble have seen a surge in downloads and interactions since 2021. Virtual dates and video chat services are thriving since they help users adapt to new interaction norms while under quarantine.

Increasing streaming services

TV watching and online streaming have surged during the lockdown and continue to add new subscribers and loyal fans as we proceed with 2022.
Another factor that has fueled the demand for streaming services is the popularity of binge-watching among consumers.
Analysts from Reportlinker project the Video on Demand (VoD) Market to grow immensely, with approximately 1.16 billion subscriptions worldwide by 2025.
Massive growth opportunities await the industry’s significant players, with Netflix, Disney+, and Amazon Prime gradually expanding their reach.

Startups focus on personalization

According to Deloitte, offering personalized products or services can increase a company’s sales by 10% or more.
Of course, personalized products aren’t new. Dell pioneered direct, built-to-order PC sales in the ’80s and ‘90s.
However, personalization has become a buzzword again with the introduction of AI and machine learning.
Moreover, we expect organizations to find innovative ways to leverage AI and further optimize the digital customer experience beyond the traditional use cases.
As a result, we expect personalization will serve as a core capability to help compete for customer loyalty in the upcoming year.
One of the greatest examples of customer personalization has been seen with the success of Dollar Shave Club, whose online subscription model has allowed the company to be independent of retailers, retain consumers more effectively than with discount coupons, and collect customer data.
Dollar Shave Club, which was founded with the help of startup studio, Science, offers a more personalized experience to its customers throughout the marketing funnel.

With the hopes of 2021 becoming a turning point for society and businesses to bounce back from the effects of the pandemic, we expect to see more trends arise and give a push for innovative businesses and startup studios. If you’d like to learn more about what other successful studios achieved with startups through past years, make sure to check out our blog Top Startup Studios by Website Traffic and follow us on social media for additional updates!