The COVID pandemic obliterated the notion that information workers need to be in an office or on-site to get work done.

Truthfully, these employees can sign on from wherever, whenever 鈥� as long as communication channels with bosses, colleagues, customers and external partners are open and active.

In other words, it鈥檚 never been easier to connect, collaborate and share work. But being able to converse at a moment鈥檚 notice doesn鈥檛 always convert to getting work done.

Quality over quantity

Everyone, from a company鈥檚 founder to its newest hire, should also be aware there鈥檚 a associated with ineffective communication powered by frequent information exchanges lacking clarity, completeness and/or context.

For example, an executive might fail to share important details about a pending merger, partnership deal or company priority with board members, fellow leaders or staff. One employee might a colleague to discover what happened during a meeting they missed and receive an incomplete or completely wrong summary.

Co-workers from different departments 鈥� product and marketing, for instance 鈥� might be tasked with collaborating on messaging a software update to users and simply never talk, email or chat about it until right before the update goes live.

Regardless of why, how or when communication breakdowns take place, they don鈥檛 happen in a vacuum. And consequences 鈥� immediate, such as a lost business deal, or longer-term, such as a nugget of unsubstantiated info that leads to a mass quitting event 鈥� could reach far beyond a break room, Zoom window or board meeting.

Company leaders must set the tone for effective communication across ranks and departments by consistently delivering clear, context-rich information.

The solution

Rather than acting like everything is urgent and for everyone to return to the office, executives need to embrace employees鈥� desire to work in ways that are more compatible with their lifestyles.

Doing so involves more than investing in platforms like Zoom, Slack and to bring people together regardless of where they鈥檙e physically located. It requires moving away from the very culture of constant chatter these platforms encourage which can in complications from a minor misunderstanding between colleagues to a mass employee exodus.

The reality is that remote work is now simply work. Platforms offer 24/7 communication possibilities, but also drain employees will to engage and introduce new pressures to work environments.

At the same time, people are to explore alternative career options if they鈥檙e not satisfied with current employment for any reason. In fact, employees hold more leverage than ever to ask for conditions and policies that fit individual preferences, lifestyles and financial needs (a good thing, if you ask me).

The kicker: Technologies created to solve ineffective work communication (collaboration platforms and tools) are now fueling the problem. Constant chatter can easily lead to everything feeling like a fire drill, priorities becoming unclear and significant time spent sending and/or responding to messages instead of getting work done.

While it鈥檚 been heading in that direction for years, the pandemic put the fallacy that people have to be in the office or have their laptop cameras on during a Zoom or to get work done and put to bed once and for all.

Against this backdrop and in the face of, industry leaders need to go beyond simply investing in collaboration technologies and embrace a culture of strategic, asynchronous communication.

The alternative path 鈥� staying with the constant chatter status quo 鈥� involves risking more than lost revenue or the departure of a few employees. It could prove fatal.

People actually developing digital collaboration solutions, meanwhile, need to take a beat. They should (re)think how to leverage innovation to help people connect, relay important information, understand nuanced context and get specific points across in today鈥檚 hybrid work environment.

听 is the founder and CEO of San Francisco-based , a collaboration tool that lets users tag anything on their screen and invite teammates to discuss in-context.

Illustration: Dom Guzman

MedGenome, a California-based startup, leverages genomic sequencing platforms to aid in diagnostics and drug discovery.

Most notably, the 9-year-old startup also collects samples from patients in and around the Indian subcontinent to better map out variations in genetic sequencing among the South Asian population. Leveraging a network of over 4,000 hospitals and 10,000 doctors around the world, MedGenome has distributed over 300,000 genetic tests. The company says it has built the largest database of South Asian genetic variants.

The fresh funding will launch the company out of South Asia and into Africa and the Middle East.

鈥淏reakthroughs and discovery are only as successful as the data on which they’re based,鈥� said Dr. , global co-lead for health care investments at in a statement, 鈥淢edGenome’s mission to expand the global genomic dataset to aid in the development of more inclusive and equitable research and drug discovery is not only inspiring, but critical to the future of global healthcare.鈥�

Leveraging the human genome

Scientists envision a genomic sequencing utopia where enough data exists to predict if an otherwise-healthy person is at risk for diseases, allowing patients to receive preventative care early on. Several countries down to the very person that hosted a new variant.

But the vast majority of genetic testing happens in high-income countries such as those in Europe and North America, leaving a large slice of the population untested. This is dangerous: Any research or patterns derived from a Europe-heavy dataset skews what treatment looks like for everyone.

Genomic sequencing technology is what allowed scientists to create a vaccine against COVID-19 without ever having a sample of it. The technology partially led genomics startups to receive a record $2.3 million in venture funding in 2021, according to 小蓝视频色情网页版 data.

Illustration: Dom Guzman

During the early months of the pandemic, I imagine buyers as a lot like that couple: Disciplined fitness buffs ready to get that cardio workout going. With gyms closed, they were also now willing to pay handsomely for that privilege.

Fast-forward a couple years, and many one-time buyers might more resemble me: Out of shape and fantasizing about reclaiming floor space. Others have since returned to the gym.

Public markets reflect this. Connected fitness isn鈥檛 the buzzy space it was a year or two ago. Shares of Peloton and are down more than 90% from their peaks. And one of the largest players in the exercise equipment space, , its IPO plans this spring as the public offering window shuttered.

Layoffs are also on the rise, with Peloton last week disclosing that it is cutting nearly 800 jobs. It鈥檚 one of several fitness equipment-makers to do so in recent months.

Yet, even against this bleak backdrop, some enthusiasm for the connected fitness space remains in startup circles. Though round sizes have shrunk from the peak of the cycle a year ago, deals are still getting done at a pretty brisk pace. We decided to take a look at where the activity is happening.

Yes, investment in connected fitness startups is still a thing

Using 小蓝视频色情网页版 data, we identified at least 30 funding rounds this year in the connected fitness space,听1 covering everything from digital coaching to connected rowing to AI strength training. Collectively, this sample set of companies brought in over $290 million in 2022.

We list them below:

We saw particular interest in fitness offerings for those who might alternate between gym visits and at-home workouts. San Francisco-based was the largest funding recipient along these lines. The company raised $75 million in a February round for its service, which connects people with fitness coaches to digitally set up workout plans, track progress and provide a periodic motivational push.

Strength training also looks hot. Companies that raised funding this year include Australia-based , which landed $15 million in April for a machine and app to optimize weight training, and Texas-based , the maker of an AI-enabled home strength-training setup that raised around $12 million.

Signs of cooling

Rowing was another popular area earlier this year, though tides have turned some in recent months.

The most heavily funded startup in this space, Boston-based connected rowing machine-maker , pulled in $55 million in a March Series D, bringing total funding to nearly $270 million. Rival , which offers short, high-intensity rowing workouts, nabbed $18.6 million in February.

Now the outlook appears choppier. Hydrow, which sells its machines for $2,500 and up and counts celebrities like and among its backers, has been scaling back of late. The startup reportedly 35% of its staff recently as demand for new home fitness equipment cools.

More broadly, investor expectations of falling or moderating demand for connected fitness products can be seen in smaller check sizes.

It鈥檚 a sharp contrast to last year, when financings of $100 million and up were pretty plentiful. Examples include:

• , maker of AI-enabled home training equipment and coaching tools, secured $250 million in Series E financing in March 2021.
• , another home fitness platform featuring personalized coaching, landed $220 million a few weeks later.
• , a unicorn maker of wearables for fitness and health tracking, landed $200 million in a -backed Series F in August 2021. It hasn鈥檛 been immune to slowdowns either. In July, the company reportedly laid off .

Record funding levels look like a thing of the past. In the wider fitness category, which also includes diet and health apps, VC-backed companies raised nearly $5.9 billion in funding in 2021, according to 小蓝视频色情网页版 data. So far this year, the category has attracted around $2.1 billion in global investment.

Now, about those lightly used Pelotons

While funding and valuations for connected fitness companies are down, and layoffs are on the rise, no one is predicting the sector鈥檚 demise. Each year, it seems, we only get more dependent on our connected devices and more open to getting things done at home that used to require going out. Fitness is no exception.

It鈥檚 noteworthy that a robust pipeline of deals is getting done this year, even against the backdrop of a steep market downturn. While consumers aren鈥檛 buying as much new fitness equipment, they have increasingly acclimated to at-home workouts, tele-coaching and connected apps for tracking performance.

For now, the trouble is probably the people (such as your author) who did not acclimate. They are with used Pelotons at varying price points, depressing demand for new models.

Fortunately for connected fitness fans, history tells us this is all part of the cycle. Eventually, most out-of-shape people decide they should get back in shape. This invariably leads to more spending on gym memberships, fitness classes and coaching.

Over time, even reclaimed floor space can start to look a bit empty. Perhaps that means it鈥檚 time for a new piece of equipment to fill it.

Illustration: Dom Guzman

Until a couple years ago, this seemed like a sensible lens for looking at data. Employees at seed through mid-stage startups tended to work at headquarters. Companies that got VC funding generally spent much of it scaling up in their hometowns.

Since the pandemic, however, this sort of geographic calculus no longer holds true. Instead, there鈥檚 a breakdown by industry. Software startups commonly operate fully or largely remotely. Companies with physical infrastructure are usually on-site.

With this shift in mind, we set out to explore a different kind of geographic funding analysis: One that separates companies in remote-work-leaning sectors and more infrastructure-heavy industries. Broadly, we call it 鈥渘on-software startups鈥� and 鈥渟oftware startups.鈥�

We broke this admittedly wonky dataset 1 down by state, to see which places lead in attracting the kinds of startups that tend to rely on manufacturing facilities, laboratories, energy installations and other physical infrastructure. We then compared total software funding for these same states.

Below we chart out the numbers for the 27 leading U.S. states for venture funding for the first seven months of the year:

So what do the numbers tell us? Here are some of the more intriguing findings:

1. Non-software startups dominate in Texas, Massachusetts and these other states: Of the six states that attract the lion鈥檚 share of startup funding, Texas and Massachusetts were the only two in which non-software companies raised a lot more than software companies.

For Massachusetts, an easy explanation is the Boston area鈥檚 historic strength in biotech, which accounts for a majority of the largest non-software rounds this year. Other sectors that attracted large rounds include energy and agtech.

Texas, known as a cost-competitive business location with a good tech talent base and room to sprawl, seems like a logical choice for infrastructure-heavy startups. So it鈥檚 not entirely surprising to see many of them pick the Lone Star State. Some of the state鈥檚 larger non-software funding recipients this year include , and .

Other states where non-software deals attracted a clear majority of venture funding include听 Illinois, Ohio, Arizona, Minnesota, Tennessee, Connecticut and Vermont.

2. Software startups dominate in New York, Florida, Georgia and Utah: A few states also stand out as places where startups operating in the digital world tend to congregate.

New York City鈥檚 prominence as a finance center is evident in the state鈥檚 startup investment. The largest software funding recipients this year include , a blockchain analytics provider,听 , an expense management platform, and , an insurtech startup.

Meanwhile, two Southeastern states鈥擣lorida and Georgia鈥攁lso saw more than two-thirds of startup funding this year go to software companies. And Utah, known as a major hub for the SaaS space, also unsurprisingly outperformed in software.

3. California dominates in everything, but leans toward software: California, the top state for startup funding, is the leading recipient of investment for both software and non-software startups.

However, the Golden State does lean a bit to the software side. Overall, software companies in the state pulled in over $50 billion in funding so far this year, compared to just over $33 billion for other startups.

4. Lots of states are in the middle: Not every state demonstrated a clear lean toward digital or physical infrastructure-focused startups. States with a fairly balanced mix included

Colorado, Washington, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Maryland and Virginia. Broadly, these are places where we do see SaaS and fintech, but also strong biotech activity.

5. The majority of venture funding goes to software startups: Software certainly does seem to be eating the venture capital industry. Per 小蓝视频色情网页版 data, over $88 billion went to U.S. software companies so far this year, compared to over $69 billion for the non-software startup category. And of course, the so-called non-software startups are also reliant on software too. They鈥檙e in that category because they also tend to rely on physical infrastructure beyond software.

小蓝视频色情网页版 Pro queries listed for this article

All 小蓝视频色情网页版 Pro queries are dynamic, with results updating over time. They can be adapted by location and/or timeframe for analysis.

U.S. non-software startup funding query:

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However, if it鈥檚 a software company whose output is fully digital, the likelihood of remote work goes way up.

Those were the findings from our latest survey of hiring practices at this year鈥檚 top-funded U.S. startups. Results showed remote hiring is the norm at top seed-stage software companies. But for the most heavily funded companies across sectors and stages, a majority are on-site or hybrid work environments.

The breakdown hews fairly closely to what we鈥檙e seeing at workplaces across varied industries, observed , a economics professor who work-from-home trends.

鈥淚t is definitely the case that tech is massively more into WFH than other industries,鈥� Bloom told 小蓝视频色情网页版 News. A big reason, of course, is that many tech jobs can be done remotely very easily, which is not the case for, say, manufacturing or retail. Beyond that, Bloom notes: 鈥淭ech also genuinely seems very open to change, and WFH is new and different and they embraced this faster.鈥�

Highest funding recipients aren鈥檛 heavily remote

The latest data dive into remote work trends at funded startups revealed a split in hiring trends that correlates with industry and company stage.

As we observed in a February survey, roughly half of the most heavily funded U.S. startups required all or most employees to be on-site. Unsurprisingly, the biggest determinant for whether a company is remote or location-based appears to be whether it requires physical infrastructure beyond computers and cellphones.

When we updated the list, the findings were similar. We sampled job listings at the and found that, once again, roughly half were fully or predominantly on-site employers. This includes 鈥檚 , AI research company , and biomanufacturing unicorn .

Once again, few shockers. Obviously one can鈥檛 bore complex networks of underground tunnels or operate a million square feet of biomanufacturing space while sitting at home in pajamas clicking around on a laptop.

Funding recipients with only digital output, meanwhile, leaned remote. This was the case, for instance, with听 , a developer of technology for building applications on the Ethereum blockchain, and , of NFT fame.

WFH rules at newer software startups

Meanwhile, at younger, software-focused companies, it looks like remote work is pretty much the norm today.

In an attempt to demonstrate this, we compiled a 1 that raised $10 million or more in seed funding this year. We then looked to see what portion of companies listed job openings as remote or .

Turns out, the overwhelming majority of companies on this list with published job openings were explicitly remote. Sure, they all have some geographic headquarters. But few expect employees to actually go there.

, an NFT platform that raised $50 million this spring, is a case in point. Per securities filings, it鈥檚 headquartered in California. But on its hiring page, the company touts: 鈥淥ur headquarters are the internet and we have employees all over the world.鈥�

, an employee benefits startup that raised $33 million in January, is another example. Although the company has offices in Connecticut and downtown Manhattan, its team is fully remote across the country.

It鈥檚 a sharp shift from the archetypal pre-COVID startup image, which featured lavish in-office snacks and big industrial-chic workspaces. The dominance of remote work among younger software startups, however, seems to indicate it is a rising trend and one that鈥檚 likely to stick.

Even firms that back hot startups are joining in. This month, Silicon Valley鈥檚 became the latest VC to embrace the remote way, that: 鈥渁16z is Moving to the cloud.鈥� The firm says its headquarters will now be 鈥渋n the cloud,鈥� although partners will听 create physical offices globally.

So seed startup staffers are staying home. Is this a good thing?

At this point, there鈥檚 no argument as to whether you can scale a startup without a physical headquarters. The unsettled question is whether it鈥檚 the optimal approach.

For Bloom, there are clearly lower overhead costs for a remote workforce and it does help in casting a wider net for hiring. On the downside, he said: 鈥淚t seems harder to innovate when you are working remotely. It is harder to mentor, and it鈥檚 harder to build company culture.鈥�

, founder of the , echoes this notion. The fund, which works with new founding teams, has mentored both in-person and remote groups, when necessitated by the pandemic. In Tang鈥檚 view, the level of camaraderie and collaboration in the in-person groups is almost incomparably greater than in the remote ones.

鈥淛obs that are very well designed Point A to B, those are amenable to remote,鈥� Tang said. 鈥淏ut for early-stage startup creation, so much is the serendipity of the right conversation with the right person at the right time.鈥�

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While travel companies, along with businesses in the live events and fitness industries, bore the brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns, Out of Office, which helps users source travel recommendations from friends, pushed through. It launched its app in August 2021 and most recently raised a $3.5 million seed round of funding in April.

鈥淚f you fast-forward to today, you鈥檙e seeing people are traveling more than ever despite the economic conditions looming,鈥� Seale said.

Seale is correct. For the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic began more than two years ago, travel spending surpassed 2019 levels in April 2022, according to a by the .

But that doesn鈥檛 necessarily mean venture investment in travel companies is keeping up, especially with as investor fears about a recession rise. Funding to VC-backed companies in the travel and tourism industry group is at around $3.2 billion globally so far this year, according to 小蓝视频色情网页版 data.

This is slightly behind where it was at the same time last year when investment into the travel sector rebounded to pre-pandemic levels. In 2021, VC-backed travel and tourism companies raised $10.7 billion. That was close to where funding was in 2019, which saw peak funding for the sector of the past five years.

鈥淲ith so much pent-up demand for travel during the pandemic, the travel sector was really recovering quickly and growing, and yet people are trying to do things a little differently as a result of the pandemic,鈥� said of of investment in 2021.

Jetblue Technology Ventures invests in early-stage companies innovating in the travel and hospitality space.

鈥淚t was sort of a reset,鈥� Taub said.

Looking back

Last year laid the foundation for the travel industry鈥檚 recovery. The widespread rollout of the COVID-19 vaccines helped restore a sense of normalcy to the world, and travel restrictions eased up.

Simultaneously, VC funding to the sector picked up, and companies in the space made big moves of their own. and , for example, both went public last year, along with aviation companies and

But volatility in the public markets have caused investors to pause. VC funding as a whole is down, and travel is no exception.

So far in 2022, about a third of the companies in the travel and tourism sector that have raised funding were seed-stage companies. This includes , Out of Office and . Several are in the travel planning space, while others are in the hospitality or aviation tech space.

What鈥檚 next

It鈥檚 too early to say if funding to the travel sector as a whole will pick up. It鈥檚 somewhat dependent on the macroeconomic environment. Many VCs are waiting to see what happens in the broader market.

Especially with a recession looming, travel in general is expected to come down following this year鈥檚 鈥渟upercycle,鈥� according to CEO . In terms of funding, 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think, travel or not, there鈥檚 a founder that can raise on an up round right now,鈥� he said

But according to Samantha Patil, founder of Los Angeles-based travel planning startup even a recession doesn鈥檛 mean that people will stop traveling altogether.

鈥淚 think as long as people can remember the point of time in their life that they couldn’t travel, which wasn鈥檛 that long ago, they鈥檒l want to travel,鈥� Patil said.

That might mean more local trips rather than a multicountry tour of Europe, she said

Seale of Out of Office, expressed a similar sentiment, pointing to the increased flexibility many people have with work-from-home policies.

鈥淧eople have had more flexibility than they鈥檝e ever had before, so regardless, people will get out,鈥� Seale said.

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Our broken supply chains are proving to be a lingering problem.

The global COVID-19 outbreak certainly brought these complex networks used to ship and track goods into disarray, but it also exposed longstanding fissures. And now that most pandemic-related factory closures and misdirected ocean carriers are behind us, we鈥檙e still seeing persistent product shortages and the resulting price hikes from the grocery store to the gas pump.

I think a lot of us expected this problem to be resolved earlier. I, like many, hoped that after a short period of instability, these knotted networks would become untangled鈥攖he traffic jams would work themselves out and the backlogs would be processed expeditiously until raw supplies and finished consumer goods were buzzing around the world again.

Instead, two years into the pandemic, we still find everything from microchips to lunch meats in short supply.

Related reading:听

• After Record Year, Supply Chain Funding Shows No Signs of Breaking Down
• Inside 3 Companies Transforming Supply Chain Management, A New Software Category Poised To Shatter VC Records

As I鈥檝e seen so many times while heading 鈥檚 startup program, when a perplexing new problem emerges, startups often take the lead in bringing to market innovative solutions. And I鈥檓 seeing that again with the current supply chain snafus.

Several young companies participating in our 1 program are taking cutting-edge approaches to not only help global supply chains recover to where they were in 2019, but also to enhance those frail networks with the efficiencies and safeguards that position manufacturers, distributors and consumers for a post-COVID world.

Blockchain

One of the most exciting approaches involves blockchain, the technology popularized by cryptocurrencies but is making a far-wider impact across finance and other sectors of the economy.

These immutable and distributed ledgers store a record of every transaction affecting a given product鈥攂e it a bunch of bananas or an integrated circuit鈥攁s it progresses through a multilayered production and distribution network. From points of origin to end users, complex chains of commerce can be carefully tracked, providing a level of security, contractual trust and quality control that was once unimaginable.

has paired that blockchain technology with artificial intelligence to deliver a powerful solution for verifying raw materials are responsibly sourced, and the products made from them are properly recycled later on. The London-based startup鈥檚 Traceability-as-a-Service offering can map even the most intricate supply chains, giving consumers confidence when they buy everything from automobiles to construction materials in the integrity of the entire product lifecycle.

Another startup we鈥檙e supporting through Oracle for Startups, , specializes in mapping supply chains for fashion brands. That D眉sseldorf, Germany-based startup鈥檚 solution makes it possible for fashion houses to certify raw textiles and their manufacturers. Those tools aid businesses by identifying supply chain bottlenecks across geographies affected by the pandemic. They also empower conscientious consumers to shop ethically with a QR code that can be scanned to learn more about sourcing and sustainability.

Blockchain technology can even help fix supply chains by eliminating the need to ship anything at all.

Paris-based is a startup that鈥檚 solving novel issues around confidentiality and intellectual property in additive manufacturing鈥攚hat most of us know as 3D printing. With the current supply chain snarls, additive manufacturing is booming as it allows parts to be 鈥減rinted鈥� on-site, removing from the equation shipping snarls, as well as the associated transportation costs and carbon footprints. But 3D printing creates unique concerns around data integrity, compliance certification and IP protection. To that end, Vistory鈥檚 flagship product, MainChain, deploys a private blockchain to instill digital trust.

While the software being developed by innovative startups will go far in restoring the healthy flow of global commerce, what鈥檚 most exciting is the potential for so many more solutions to be built with a powerful new technology that still hasn鈥檛 realized its potential. New companies, driven by creative and entrepreneurial founders, will keep experimenting with blockchain long after our supply chains have mended, and I can only imagine the benefits to all of what they come up with.

is the global head and vice president of Oracle for Startups and Oracle for Research. He has previously written for 小蓝视频色情网页版 News on innovation and entrepreneurship.

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These days, a commute is not necessarily required. At scores of venture-backed companies, the ability to work from home is already the status quo鈥攁 perk as ingrained as office-based enticements like free coffee and snacks.

But really, how common are remote work opportunities at hot startups? To get a sense, we compiled a sampling of U.S. companies1 that raised some of the largest early-stage funding rounds in the past six months. We then scrutinized job openings at each, looking to see how many were tethered to a physical location.

The findings? Only about a quarter of the 20 companies in the sample were fully or predominantly remote.2听Half of the companies required all or most employees to be on-site.

Another quarter were mixed. They have either a combination of remote and site-based jobs or are working remotely for now, with a possibility of being on-site in the future.

Quite unsurprisingly, the biggest determinant for whether a company is remote or location-based appears to be whether it requires physical infrastructure beyond computers and cellphones.

Generally speaking, desk jobs can get done from your dining room table. Thus we see remote-first as the ethos for desk job-centric companies like , a crypto payments upstart, , a provider of remotely delivered autism support services, and , a database management platform.

By contrast, companies focused on laboratory research, hardware and other areas with physical products generally need employees on-site. , which is building a 47-acre commercial fusion energy campus, wants employees to work at that campus. , which is building robotic automation systems for warehouses, also lists most positions at its HQ in Redwood City or at other locations where its technology is in use.

This dichotomy for remote and on-site hiring seems obvious in principle. Clearly, for instance, one can鈥檛 build a world-changing, zero-emissions, first-of-its-kind fusion energy facility by clicking around on a laptop at home in pajamas.

But for some reason this doesn鈥檛 exactly jive with stereotypes. Perhaps that鈥檚 because when one envisions a venture-backed startup, the image commonly features techies in front of screens furiously coding. While this is representative of many, it鈥檚 notable that a large portion of the most heavily funded early-stage startups also do things in the physical world.

Beyond fusion energy and robotics, biotech is also a space in which positions tend to be location-specific. , which has raised more than $660 million in early-stage funding for technology to analyze single molecule protein behavior in living cells, is an example. Its website lists open positions as based in Hayward, California, and features video of mask-wearing researchers wielding cutting-edge-looking lab equipment that could not be replicated in a home office.

Meanwhile, there are companies that occupy a kind of middle-ground, with a plethora of desk jobs that can be done remotely alongside some on-site positions. One that fits this category is , a fast-growing hospitality brand that recently closed on $160 million in Series B funding. Desk jobs are remote, but there are some in-field positions, such as stylist and maintenance technician, that are on-site.

Bottom line? Remote-first is definitely a thing and certainly a fundable approach. As we鈥檝e seen in recent quarters, investors are quite willing to shower massive funding rounds on startups with distributed workforces.

But much as metaverse-boosters wish otherwise, we do live in the physical world. And not every job can be done virtually.

Luckily, for those who are location-bound, in the venture-backed startup sphere that does tend to come with plenty of perks. For some of the companies in this category in our sample list, benefits beyond the usual coffee and snacks included catered restaurant meals, bonuses and unlimited vacation days.

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It鈥檚 an exciting time to be in the business of sports, and investors have an opportunity to get in on the action.

Leagues and federations have a newfound resilience to better manage COVID interruptions, there are record-breaking feats of athleticism every day, and we continue to see sports play a pivotal role in cultural progress around the world.听

But the real opportunity for investors lies in what they cannot see.

In the front offices, on the sidelines and in weight rooms, sport is changing. Digital transformation impacted everything from the way coaches planned their next game to how athletes were trained when facilities closed.听

At my company , where we provide more than 3,400 elite-level teams around the world with extremely comprehensive performance data and analytics, we saw this firsthand.

Those that had the ability to guide players remotely, measure their work loads, and optimize training schedules based on objective data were able to rise to the challenges that the pandemic created.听

The sports industry has evolved in parallel with traditional enterprises, and it鈥檚 no exception to the boom in what has become a VC darling: vertical SaaS. In 2020, a record $1.4 billion was invested in sports tech, according to 小蓝视频色情网页版 data. In the first eight months of 2021, more than $700 million was invested.

Two years into the COVID era, simply having access to athlete data is table stakes for elite teams. Today, it鈥檚 about the quality of insights and how they improve a team鈥檚 ability to make decisions.听

Teams and athletes that embrace this new way of working are uncovering a new competitive advantage. They use data to hone athletes for peak performance instead of grinding them through practices and drills that risk costly injuries. Software is helping teams work efficiently, and we鈥檙e still in the early days of sport鈥檚 digital transformation.

Coaches no longer rely on singular metrics like time, speed, or minutes played to train their athletes. For example, we provide thousands of data points a second to describe a player’s workload, a critical measurement for understanding exertion. This new level of insight helps inform training regimens and return-to-play strategies for injured players that are data-backed and objective.听

When an athlete was injured 20 years ago, they could face years of recovery, often relying on methods that were by and large the same for every athlete. Now, coaches can use individual performance data to tailor a training plan that is customized to an athlete鈥檚 injury, capabilities and position, all based on objective data.听

Just like its business counterpart, the digital data transformation in sports is powered by SaaS-based solutions enabling new ways of handling critical workflows.

As a result, the global professional sports technology market is at a rate of 17.5 percent to reach $40.2 billion by 2026, up $17.9 billion in 2021 alone. We also see the rapid evolution of sports technology go from wearable devices to SaaS platforms that provide data, analytics and insights based on machine learning and artificial intelligence.听

This digital transformation is delivering a greater level of sport-specific, team-specific and athlete-specific intelligence that vastly increases understanding of performance.听

In the future, machine learning will allow us to go beyond descriptive data and into real-time prescriptive insights for coaches and athletes. At Catapult, we consider descriptive data to be the enhanced analytics that tell coaches and athletes what happened during a game or practice.听

What was an athlete鈥檚 top speed? Are the player loads in line with historical benchmarks? Who covered the most ground on the field or pitch? Those are all incredibly helpful, but applying machine learning to these data sets unlocks the next wave of digital transformation for sports teams.听

Advances in AI, the increase of computing power for cloud applications, and the accumulation of ever-richer sets of data, are enabling applications of sports technology that were not on anyone鈥檚 radar a decade ago. We envision a future where coaches and athletes have predictive data informing their workouts and game strategies. Coaches will have personalized performance blueprints for every athlete on their team that uses predictive modeling to prescribe the best strategy for success.

In terms of 听the total addressable market, the digital transformation will not stop at elite teams. It鈥檚 going to eventually impact all levels of competition, and performance data ultimately will be democratized. We are building a future where personalized insights about an athlete鈥檚 performance鈥攖heir potential top speed, their likelihood to complete a play, their ability to return from injury鈥攁re available to every athlete and team on Earth. High schools and sports academies will have access to the same predictive and prescriptive analysis as the pros. Coaches will be able to rely on SaaS technologies powered by machine learning to hone their players and keep them healthier than ever before.听

Making the varsity team will not only be an exercise in grit and determination, but supported by performance blueprints customized to the athlete鈥檚 unique abilities, informed by a powerful data set and insights from athletes around the world.

Make no mistake, the digital transformation of sports is fully underway. As teams find ways to automate critical workflows and develop more data-backed insights to unleash the potential of their athletes, we鈥檒l continue to see them push boundaries and break records. While data and SaaS solutions are not a replacement for hard work, determination and talent, they will help teams and athletes work smarter. And the real revolution in sports tech is just beginning.

is CEO , a global performance technology company focused on elite sports, based in Boston. Prior to Catapult, Lopes was the CRO of , an company.

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A series of recent technological advances and consumer shifts have attracted the bulk of investment, from artificial intelligence breakthroughs to new candor about mental health issues and even greater consumer interest in at-home testing and preventative care.

Among the big drivers of growth in the industry are regulatory changes, said , general partner at ,1 which invests in early-stage startups.

鈥淲hen you relax, from a regulatory standpoint, the ability to see patients in video calls for instance, all of a sudden you change the modality,鈥� he said. 鈥淓ven though those technologies were available 10 years ago, if the regulation didn’t change and there was no need for it because people were willing to walk into clinics, none of those businesses boomed. 鈥� COVID finally gave that push.鈥�

It鈥檚 unlikely the advances made in the past two years will ever reverse in full. Though no one knows how the pandemic will play out in the coming year, industry insiders say that鈥檚 why they remain bullish on the strength of biotech and healthtech鈥攅ven beyond COVID-19.

Artificial intelligence

As with much of the tech world, artificial intelligence is fueling many of biotech鈥檚 advances. In particular, AI can analyze enormous troves of data with accuracy and speed that humans just can鈥檛 compete with.

And while AI鈥檚 applications in biotech are nearly boundless, scientists, founders and investors have honed in on a couple of key use cases: cancer breakthroughs and treatments.

Already, companies using AI to target cancers have grabbed the attention of investors. Biotechnology startup , for instance, drummed up $100 million in its oversubscribed Series C funding round this year, money that will allow the startup to advance its AI-driven technology that identifies and targets previously overlooked disease-causing proteins in the body so the company can figure out how best to treat the illness.

鈥淲hat鈥檚 also super exciting for us is the mixture of health care venture attention as well as the technology sector,鈥� , HotSpot co-founder and CSO, told 小蓝视频色情网页版 News in an interview this year. 鈥淚t鈥檚 having investors that are typically technology-focused investors and really seeing the value of that interface between technology and medicine.鈥�

Gene editing and cell therapy

But once technology has allowed scientists to pinpoint illnesses like cancers or other chronic illnesses, the question of treatment inevitably comes next. That is what director is most excited about in the new year.

鈥淔rom a public market standpoint, some of the largest IPOs (in 2021) were in the field of gene editing and cell therapy,鈥� he said in an interview. 鈥淭hese companies are making significant progress in advancing these novel therapies in cancer, cardiovascular disease and other key areas of unmet need, and we believe these solutions will have durable, long-term benefits to improving patient outcomes.鈥�

He and Northpond Ventures, which focuses on breakthrough science and technology startups, will be watching and investing in those types of technologies. That includes therapies aimed at 鈥渞estoring a patient鈥檚 genome,鈥� which can have implications in things like aging. The hurdles, Wieschhaus said, are in scale and distribution.

鈥淥ne of the biggest challenges for any company doing this will be the ability to scale their technologies,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e will need to focus increasingly on how we can industrialize these processes to ensure they can yield products that are available to anyone who needs them.鈥�

Mental health

Mental health has made its way to the forefront of public consciousness after people around the world have spent nearly two years isolated from loved ones, worried about jobs, money and illness. Suddenly, people are talking more openly about their depression, anxiety, trauma and other mental health issues once considered taboo.

That shift, paired with relatively new advances in technology, like wearables, brain imaging and targeted therapeutics and even chatbots that can help triage patients in crisis, make the industry ripe for growth as it races to meet new demand.

Employers are increasingly seeing the value of proactively helping workers through mental health issues, said , CEO at , which offers mental health, safety and resiliency training for companies.

That realization began to dawn on many company leaders pre-COVID, when a growing trove of data started emerging that showed mental health issues contributed to more disability claims and workplace strife or lost productivity that equated to fewer dollars for businesses. But the ripple effects became more undeniable in the past year and a half, Todd said.

鈥淲e all felt isolation, we all felt increased anxiety, and those who had diagnosable mental health issues that got worse, is what we saw on the frontline,鈥� Todd, a licensed psychiatrist, told 小蓝视频色情网页版 News. 鈥淪o that whole issue of mental health got pushed from the forefront onto people’s desks.鈥�

Fintech

When COVID-19 descended on the United States in early 2020, people flocked to hospitals en masse. Some went because they were sick with the coronavirus and needed help, others because they wanted assurance their cold wasn鈥檛 the new virus, and some because they had other emergencies.

The cracks in the country鈥檚 health care system appeared quickly, but few were as deep as the often manual and paper-based filing systems that slowed everything down, including billing.

Before 2020, it was hard for hospitals to collect money, bouncing between insurance companies and individual patients, who often could pay back medical debt. After the pandemic, it became increasingly difficult to get through the paperwork and collect money from a population that was sick and often out of work.

A growing number of hospitals started looking to tech to solve filing and billing process woes, and startups began delivering.

鈥淗ealth care is and relatively untouched by technology鈥攊t’s still very old-school in a lot of ways,鈥� Peechu said. 鈥淔inancial services was the same way, and a lot of the money and the attention went to that.鈥�

One example of that is medical fintech startup , which raised $15 million in a Series A round this year to expand its 鈥渃are now, pay later鈥� model in the United States. The company makes a platform that helps calculate a person鈥檚 health care cost and ability to pay those fees after insurance. Then it sets up a payment plan for the patient and an automated system to help streamline the billing process for hospitals.

Meanwhile, wants to skip the insurance companies altogether. The Utah-based direct health care startup offers employers a payment platform that connects directly to health care providers, which it says can save everyone money. The company launched in 2019, and closed a $110 million Series A funding round in December.

While both PayZen and Nomi founders say their companies are fairly unique in the market today and have seen enormous growth in adoption, employee count and funding, they both expect more competition in the future as the industry grows. Peechu is bullish on that, too.

鈥淭he overall health care market is very rich and diverse,鈥� he said. 鈥淢oney is going into both the traditional life sciences investments and all of these subsectors.鈥�

Diagnostics

The idea of spitting in a tube, pricking one鈥檚 finger or packaging a sample of stool for analysis isn鈥檛 a foreign concept in health care. But doing all of that at home and paying a private company to analyze it is still a relatively novel, yet growing, part of the industry that investors like Peechu say they鈥檙e watching closely.

Bellevue, Washington-based , for instance, raised $54 million last year year to research aggressive cancers and chronic diseases and, ideally, come up with early-stage diagnostics and therapeutics for those ailments. But most people know the company for its at-home diagnostic kits that exchanges a sample of blood or stool for diet recommendations and supplements鈥攁 service that boomed during the pandemic.

鈥淢ore and more people are becoming more aware of their own health, and COVID, to some extent, taught us that we actually have a say in what happens to our health,鈥� Viome founder and CEO told 小蓝视频色情网页版 News in 2021. 鈥淚t used to be 鈥業 do what I do and when I get sick, I go to the hospital.鈥� COVID taught us the last thing you want to do is to get sick and go to the hospital.鈥�

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