Technological breakthrough: 5 IT-trends, in which we believe investors Bashny.Net

Seventy eight million eight hundred ninety five thousand five hundred fourteen



© Kevin van Aelst

In the new issue of special investment Director at Prostor Capital Stanislav Kosorukov has told, what IT start-UPS are now the most attractive for venture capital investors.

Venture market never stands still, even when levels of investment are falling and growth is slowing as is happening now. Everything is changing quickly, after all we work with innovation, and is a very active substance. With all the desire to predict the main trends for the future in 5-10 years is almost unreal, with a maximum of two years. If you perform most notable transactions in the Russian and Western markets in recent years and to strengthen the result of views of leading analysts, you can quite clearly outline those areas which recently have been manifested and will continue to grow. Here is the list that we received the results of such work. It largely coincides with our own preferences and sympathies.

Mobile technologies and services

Global interest in this segment is heated primarily by the customers themselves, who are increasingly value their leisure time and prefer to perform most useful actions, as they say, from your couch: order pizza, pay bills, buy clothes, call a taxi, etc. Million-strong army of entrepreneurs and developers are ready to meet these needs, and even those who have consumers do not realize. The smartphone segment is growing exponentially, every day on the market produced hundreds of new applications. The screen of the smartphone quickly and correctly converted from window dial in main window of communication with the outside world, the conduit to many services and information in various fields of life. It is obvious that here, in the mobile online, because of the increased personalization will increasingly flow and advertising budgets and venture capital.

The new model of advertising

New advertising technology, based on personalization of online information in all its forms, is the next area of interest to investors. An increasing number of major online players — from search engines to social networks — concerned with personalization, the study of many factors and parameters of human behavior online (page views, likes, posts, comments, photos, etc.). The more personal data about the user can be collected in the Internet, the more precise targeting, audience targeting, and hence more effective advertising. On the level of technology we are talking about models such as lead generation (CPA), arbitration (RTB), etc., which are becoming increasingly popular and advertisers, and venture capitalists. Today, for example, more than 50% of all applications for loans in banks go online — via websites, ladogeneratory, contextual advertising. And over time these technologies will "capture" a growing share of the traditional advertising models.

Remote payments

Especially in the segments of P2P (between individuals) and microcredit. The logic here is also clear. Finance is the sphere of life, which in varying degrees is every adult, and every year it is more and more moving from offline to online. And microcredit is a tool that is available to most people, for many it increases the chances of getting a loan significantly. In Russia half of the population lives from paycheck to paycheck, borrowing monthly from one to five thousand roubles. Multiply one by the other — we get enormous in size and potential market. Today its volume in Russia is estimated at 52.5–55.5 billion rubles, while the annual demand for microloans — about 300 billion rubles. Among its main drivers — a high proportion of the population with below-average incomes (for whom Bank loans) and simplified procedure of obtaining of borrowed funds in microcredit. Who would have a couple of years ago to imagine that you can get credit (to the card) is completely online and no documents? With proper economy the profitability of such models in the West provided even if 30-40% of defaults.

Cryptocurrency

Formally, we can take this segment to a remote payments, but the potential and the degree of "venusnote" of this market (the chances and risks at the same time) are so great that deserve a separate item in the list. Not adjustable by formal financial institutions and do not have, unlike the traditional self-worth of the cryptocurrency grows in value like a rocket. In 2013 its value grew from $15 to $1000 per unit, and total market capitalization exceeded $9.5 billion However in bitcoin and various other "coin" rush to invest is not all: many people afraid of high risks, primarily due to the ambiguous stance on the part of official bodies. Some countries refer to the new currency quite loyal, for example, in Germany the Ministry of Finance has officially recognised bitcoin monetary unit in Canada already has its first ATM that can convert bitcoin, but China has imposed a ban on any operations with them. Russia is at a crossroads. What kind of bowl edge — will show time, but not so fast that this market is not yet filled with money of venture investors.

Digital medicine

It is a zone of very high expectations, here for several years actively directed global investments. The market of digital medicine is gaining momentum thanks to intensive public investment (abroad and in Russia) and the interest from large private companies (Apple, Google, IBM). For example, IBM launched the commercial operation of the Watson service, which has surpassed the average doctor as diagnosis of certain diseases. The increase in consumer demand for digital medicine, backed by propaganda of a healthy lifestyle, created unprecedented entrepreneurial activity. One flow is directed to the creation of medical start-UPS, focused on online content and services. The other on the development of special gadgets to monitor health. Today on the market almost every day produced new products in this area. The number of mobile health and fitness apps for different platforms is approaching two million, and the volume of investments in this segment is measured in billions of dollars. According to various estimates, approximately ten percent of the total volume of venture deals. And this is only the beginning.

It is obvious that the lion's share of investment absorbs and will continue to attract the technology sector. And this is logical. A business venture is not designed for long-term investments in high technology areas requiring long-term experiments, experiments, testing solutions, etc. Investors always count on a quick refund: the life cycle of the venture capital Fund is about 5-7 years max. Besides IT and Internet is an area in which you are constantly expected a huge number of innovations. And this is what interests venture capitalists.

But this is not a reason to refuse to search innovation in quite unexpected places and areas. Don't think about online businesses, it may be wise to look for something in a completely different area. There are certain business models that flourish and pay off in the certain moments of time due to the new turn of events, economic and political circumstances. And then be on solid footing, and bring in a decent income. I do not exclude that in the near future can "shoot" the companies that will benefit from sanctions in the medium term. What could it be? For example, rapid delivery of fish products from the Far East and its sales stores and restaurants at retail prices. Given the fact that exports from Latin America to us is clearly not enough in this business a very good chance to rise quickly, and investors — to have time to invest money in it and they are quick and tangible results. The most successful innovation, as you know, are born not on an empty place. Their "parents" are actual human needs.

Source: theoryandpractice.ru