In 2021, the world economy was gradually recovering from the economic crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic. According to the Center for Economic and Business Research, global GDP will exceed the $100 trillion mark for the first time in 2022. However, the risk of a return to recession remains because of high inflation. In addition, the epidemiological situation on the planet will be highly unpredictable for a very long time to come. Under these conditions, launching a new startup seems crazy on the one hand. However, this is actually the best time to invest in new businesses and create new business models. The pandemic is radically changing human habits and the very structure of the economy. Those entrepreneurs who are the first to ride the wave of change will have an advantage over their competitors.
Marketplace on the Internet
What can be more banal than another marketplace? However, opening a new marketplace online only at first glance seems like a bad idea. In the next few years, Internet commerce will be growing at an unusually high rate. During the quarantine the Ukrainians developed a habit to buy necessary goods in the network. The popularity of classic shopping malls and shopping centers is gradually decreasing due to the pandemic and the departure of both sellers and buyers online. IKEA, which entered the Ukrainian market by launching an online store in our country without waiting for the opening of offline representative offices, is a good example.
Smart-offices and co-working spaces
It is known that a habit is formed in 21 days. It is not surprising that many employees have had time to get used to working remotely and now do not want to return to the offices. In addition, the massive economic crisis forces companies to save money. The quarantine showed that the majority of work tasks can be carried out quite effectively at home, so many companies are planning to substantially cut costs on rent, maintenance of offices, transferring employees to a remote mode of work. According to the CBRE Ukraine survey, after the pandemic is over, half of Ukrainian companies are planning to keep some employees at a “remote location”. This decision will allow businesses to cut costs by a third.
Service to control distant work
One of the major trends of today is an increase in the number of remote workers. According to Gartner research, in the near future, more than 50% of intellectual workers will move to telecommuting. The growth in popularity of telecommuting means that work processes will digitize and go online. Companies now more than ever need a variety of services for telecommuting, cloud data storage, employee tracking and control systems, video communication programs, CRM systems, services for file management. Startups that somehow help organize remote work will be of particular interest to investors.
Healthy Food Delivery Service.
Undoubtedly, now is the best time to launch a startup in the delivery industry. During the quarantine, Ukrainians got used to ordering food from restaurants and supermarkets at home. The food delivery market, according to the CEO of Zakaz.ua, Andrei Kursky, is growing at a crazy pace. While in 2018 the food delivery market was about $50 million, in 2019 this figure doubled to $100 million. In 2020, according to McKinsey estimates, the Ukrainian food delivery market was already $230 million. Moreover, the food delivery market still has potential for growth, because in Ukraine only 1% of all food is sold online, while, for example, in Britain 12% of all food is sold online.
Lead Generation for Business
Now more than ever every company needs hot leads, but it is very expensive to have a huge sales and marketing department. A good solution is to outsource lead generation.
Lead generation is an extremely elastic concept. Lidogeneration agency can do email marketing, SEO, promotion in social networks, setting up ads on Google, cold and warm sales (calls), creating sales pages on the Internet. Nowadays, start-ups that automate the lead-gathering have the best chances to succeed and can seriously increase the conversion rate. Lead generation is an area where the most original business ideas can be brought to life today.
A platform for virtual events
The event industry is undoubtedly in for a tremendous change. It is extremely likely that classic conferences and business events will not return to our lives soon. The educational sphere is also becoming more and more “digitalized,” going online. But the quarantine showed that the classic platforms for distance conferences (Zoom, Skype) do not cope with the tasks assigned to them. As a result, different services for remote conferences, events (for example, Google Meet) began to appear on the market.
Virtual Psychological Therapy
If you have a psychological education or are just savvy in the field of psychology, then try to organize psychological courses on the Internet. In times of crisis and epidemic people have worsened psychological problems, depression appears. For example, almost every third American was found to have signs of “quarantine depression. Hard times are coming, so people will increasingly need qualified psychological help.
Virtual apartment design
Despite the difficult economic situation, people will continue to make repairs to their homes. More and more young families want to make unique designer renovations, but they do not have time to go to a designer and discuss all the details. In such cases, a good idea is a virtual consultation with the designer. In online mode you can solve all issues, in addition, the designer can save on office rent, which in today’s environment is not unimportant.
Backpacks
Recently, backpacks have become an extremely popular trend. They are worn not only by schoolchildren, but also by IT professionals, office workers, and travelers. So if you are planning to launch a startup in the fashion industry, then it is worth thinking about the production of original backpacks. The clearest example of a successful “backpack” business is the Ukrainian startup Pix Backpack, which creates backpacks with an LED screen.
Development of chat-bots
Often customers, before ordering a product or service, ask a lot of different questions, taking time away from the customer support staff. This leads to the fact that the business loses leads and potential customers go to competitors. You can avoid this situation by using a special chatbot that performs some basic tasks of communicating with potential customers. Chatbots are necessary for any business present on the Internet. Creating a chatbot is inexpensive and the product is available to most entrepreneurs. Developing chatbots is a great idea for a startup given that more and more businesses are moving online and the demand for chatbots will only grow.
Smart-home apps
Smart-houses are popular in the West and among affluent Ukrainians. Recently, Ukrainian developers have been actively selling small-scale “smart apartments,” which have nothing in common with smart-housing except the prefix “smart. Smart-house is a “smart home”, a dwelling equipped with various applications to make life easier. A good smart-home is a whole complex of different systems. Such dwelling necessarily has a modern alarm system, automatic regulation of heating and power, and climate control system. It goes without saying that all the software for the smart-house needs to be developed, and in the area of creating “smart housing” there is a large number of opportunities for new start-ups and free market niches.
Apps for yoga, meditation, fitness
The coronavirus epidemic has made us all take our own health much more seriously. Ukrainians in the coming years will not only go to the gym more often, but will pay attention to physical activity at home. In addition, hard times are leading to the fact that more and more people will suffer from depression. The best remedies for stress are yoga and meditation. But most people can’t put together a proper exercise program on their own, so they use a variety of fitness apps. So developers of apps for sports, meditation, yoga and healthy lifestyles will definitely not be without customers.