Global Startup Sub-Sector Analysis

Key Findings

• Deep Tech (Advanced Manufacturing & Robotics, Blockchain, Agtech & New Food, AI & Big Data) remains the fastest growing group globally. Fintech also has experienced substantial growth in the last five years.
• Startup sub-sectors in the Growth Phase are increasing Series A funding deals at the impressive rate of 107% over five years. Mature Phase sub-sectors have grown 33% over the same period. Decline Phase sub-sectors have declined by 28%.
• Fintech, which was in the Mature Phase in 2019, is demonstrating a resurgence in Series A funding that is more characteristic of the Growth Phase, indicating new investments and innovation in this sub-sector.
• Similarly, Edtech and Gaming, both on the edge of the Decline Phase in 2019, have experienced an increase in Series A funding that returned them to the Mature Phase.
• Series A growth rates are higher than in 2019. Exit growth rates slowed in the five-year period ending in 2020.

Global Trends in Startup Sub-Sectors

The COVID-19 pandemic has created shifts in some sub-sectors, and also revived several that were previously in decline, such as Gaming and Edtech. It caused deviations from typical lifecycle patterns, as seen in the growth of Life Sciences and — in Fintech — of insurance and lending. As sectors that directly related to tackling the pandemic grew, others experienced a decline in investment.

Within Agtech & New Food, the share of food and grocery delivery deals has climbed steadily since 2017, in part driven by COVID-related lockdowns in 2020 and 2021.

Figure 1 illustrates the current view of sub-sector phases based on our 2019 methodology. It provides a summary of global exit and early stage funding event growth and shows the relative strength of each sub-sector as a count of the global startup population in that sub-sector.

Figure 2 offers an alternate perspective on the impact of sub-sectors globally: it measures their growth based on the total early stage VC investment ($) and total in startup-related exits ($) in each sub-sector. This second graph largely reflects the growth of sub-sectors in ecosystems with higher amounts of dollar investment and the impact of large exit events on growth. The bubble size in Figure 2 represents the ecosystem value added by a given sub-sector. It indicates the size of a sub-sector and its attractiveness to global investors.

Interestingly, measured by both number of events and amount of funding, certain sub-sectors continue to stand out. AI & Big Data, for example, and Advanced Manufacturing & Robotics are experiencing high growth by both metrics. These two lifecycle views also reveal which sub-sectors are generating outsized ecosystem value compared to their peers. For example, Life Sciences, which comprises just 8% of global startups, added $183 billion in ecosystem value in 2020 — the second highest amount after AI & Big Data.