In today's article, we analyze in which sectors startups have managed to consolidate their products and services in the market and benefit from the Covid-19 crisis.
The situation experienced during the first months of Covid-19 caused an unprecedented economic and social crisis, during the year 2020, whose end is not yet known. The crisis has attacked companies in general and startups in particular with special gravity, due to their very nature, where lack of liquidity and revenues have been the main obstacles that newly created companies have had to face in order to maintain their activity in the post-pandemic scenario. In the same way, the crisis and the lockdown measures adopted by many governments have accelerated structural changes in the economy on a global scale. Among these transformations, digitalization stands out, above any other, which, despite having a significant weight in most sectors prior to the crisis, has undoubtedly been stimulated during this period. For this reason, startups that have been able to adapt and reinvent their business models are those that have achieved greater immunity against the consequences of the coronavirus. As for the sectors that have proved to be the most benefited by the effects of Covid-19, the following stand out:Health and WellbeingIt is not difficult to understand why, as a result of the pandemic, Concern for health has grown in a generalized way and exponential in society. The importance of health has become evident not only to the general public, but also to professional investors. It is these same professional investors who, during the last quarter of the year, decided to bet on the potential of startups in the healthcare sector, including startups dedicated to telemedicine and prevention, mental health, personal wellbeing... and increasing their investments in them. Thus, while in 2019 Catalan startups dedicated to health closed the year with a total funding of 140 million euros, the figure achieved at the end of 2020 was 226 million euros (up 61%), according to data collected in the Bioregion Report of Catalonia 2020. For its part, the growing interest in financing this type of project compared to others, has meant that important startups dedicated to biotechnology, concentrated so far in Barcelona, have established themselves in various parts of the Spanish territory, to face the challenge of finding solutions that can combat the pandemic. Several studies collect another fact that evidences the fact that health is positioning itself as one of the sectors that, as a result of Covid-19, offers the most opportunities to undertake: almost 50% of entrepreneurs would choose to start projects located within the healthcare field. In addition, applications dedicated to mental health or remote diagnosis have become especially important in recent months. La commitment to digitalization and innovation as the main tools for decongesting the healthcare system and trying to alleviate the increase in disorders such as anxiety or depression. EcommerceDuring the lockdown period, the use of electronic commerce experienced an almost forced growth, due to the impossibility of citizens to travel to shop at physical stores, a strong growth that continued during the following months. Unlike what happened during the 2007 crisis, when there were changes in the consumption model due to the decline in the purchasing power of a large part of consumers, the current changes respond to the need to meet the needs of a consumer who does not want to be exposed to risks, leaving home to buy the products you want. Until the arrival of Covid-19, being able to optimize logistics processes in terms of buying and shipping goods was one of the pending subjects for most businesses. At a time when the supply chains of traditional markets have become saturated, startups dedicated to delivery have found their market share and have been able to establish themselves as more than efficient alternatives.But not only b2c startups have a place in this sector, according to a study carried out by GoDaddy, in Spain, only 10% of SMEs have electronic solutions that allow their consumers to purchase products online, from their own homes. The data opens the door for those startups, with b2b business models, that have the necessary technology to facilitate the deployment of digital solutions in traditional companies that want to open new sales channels, they position themselves as key players in the sector.
E-sports and gaming
The growth of digital culture and all that it entails is now a reality. When traditional sports and competitions stopped completely without warning, video game consumption, which was already one of the rising trends of the pre-Covid era, increased considerably. Even the soccer players themselves and other professional athletes gave visibility to the opportunities offered by e-sports to keep in touch with the sport. In addition, in the field of advertising The e-sports sector is one of the sectors that generates the most money. Advertisers, aware of the large audiences achieved during live game broadcasts, have trusted their potential, a fact that makes it easier for startups dedicated to video games to show their attractiveness and obtain external funding. Although the concept of e-sports is not new, the current circumstances have favored its expansion and it has managed to become one of the sectors most benefited by Covid-19. As for gaming, the fact that Barcelona, which had already played a leading role to date, has just been profiled as international hub, both in terms of the number of companies and the capacity to attract talent and international investment, it represents an important point of support for startups located on the national scene. In Spain, where the percentage of gamers among the total number of users with an Internet connection exceeds the global average by almost 5 points, companies in the sector managed to increase their profits during the first months of the pandemic. According to the Goldstein Market Intelligence study “Europe Games Market Report 2030”, it is expected that by 2030 the revenues generated in the global market will have reached a size of 35 billion dollars.
Cybersecurity
Teleworking is here to stay and with it, so has the concern of companies to protect themselves from increasingly frequent cyberattacks and keep information safe and the data they work with on a daily basis. Covid has forced the digitalization of a large part of the Spanish business fabric. For this reason, as proposals to facilitate telematic work processes grow, so does the number of startups offering cybersecurity solutions, in an almost parallel way. The data support this: during the first quarter of the year, the global cybersecurity market grew by 9.7% compared to the figure for the first quarter of 2019, according to data from the consulting firm Canalys. The fact that both companies and users are more aware of the importance of protecting themselves against possible information theft explains why it is increasingly common for companies to have the figure of the CISO, Chief Information Security Office, and why many companies, despite expecting a decline in their revenues during 2021, are willing to increase their cybersecurity budgets (according to a report prepared by the consultancy firm PwC) .More: 20 startups and entrepreneurial projects that emerged as a result of the Coronavirus crisis
