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- Global Blue Economy Trends
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- The Vast Potential for AI in the Blue Economy
- Why It’s Time to Invest in the Blue Economy
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The Global Startup Ecosystem Report Blue Economy Edition
Global Sub-Sector Startup Analysis
Key Findings
- Blue Economy startups that secure early investment have a much higher chance of success in comparison to other sub-sectors. The attrition funnel over 2016 to 2021 shows that 17% of recorded VC-funded Blue Economy startups that receive seed investment go to Series B, and 6% go on to exit at over $50 million.
- Although the number of early-stage deals is low in comparison to other sub-sectors, the Blue Economy has seen clear growth in the dollar amount of early-stage funding since 2016.
The bubble chart shows the growth in Series A deals, as a proxy for early-stage funding, and the growth of exits. Together they indicate the lifecycle phase a sub-sector is in.
As an ecosystem develops, early-stage funding grows rapidly while exits — a lagging indicator — follow a few years later, causing the sub-sector to move up in the chart above, later moving right as it receives more exits following a normal lifecycle. We see this happening with the Blue Economy sub-sector.
The bubble size indicates the sub-sector’s share of global startups across all sectors. AI&BD, Fintech, and Blockchain are examples of sub-sectors that are in the Growth phase, meaning that they are receiving both a healthy amount of early-stage investment and seeing a good amount of growth in exits.
As some of the earliest tech sub-sectors to develop, Digital Media and Adtech are now receiving fewer investment rounds. As such, they are in the Decline phase.
The Blue Economy is considered to be in the Introduction or Early Growth phase of its lifecycle. It has seen clear growth in the dollar amount of early-stage funding, but the number of early-stage deals is low in comparison to other sub-sectors. There is also a low number of exits in the Blue Economy — in fact, a declining number — which one can expect will grow over the next few years following growth in funding.
However, Blue Economy startups that secure early investment have a much higher chance of success in raising later-stage funding rounds in comparison to other sub-sectors. The attrition funnel over 2016 to 2021 shows that an impressive 17% of recorded VC-funded Blue Economy startups that receive seed investment go to Series B, and 6% go on to exit at over $50 million.
For more detailed sub-sector analysis, explore the Global Startup Ecosystem Report 2022 and our other sub-sector reports.