07.12.2021
Tech Industry 2021 Overview
2020 demanded the world question and alter the way we work.
But how did 2021 react?
The summary of the tech industry in 2021:
Technology was at the forefront of the change in 2020, sustaining us through the pandemic and redefining how we work, developing a remote work culture that lived on throughout 2021. In our annual summary we highlight the trends born from or accelerated by the global pandemic, having the most impact on the tech space in 2021.
At the end of 2020, Forrester predicted 20% of Fortune 500 companies wouldn’t survive the conditions of Covid-19 that ensued into 2021. But how did the tech industry hold up?
Compared to other industries, the tech industry was fortunately in a strong position due to its ease of adaptability.
According to CrunchBase there was 42,485 funding rounds into the tech space from November 2020–November 2021. Only a 1.1% decrease on the same period in the previous year (42,959).
- 5,097 of these were Pre-Seed
- 11,427 were Seed
- 4,577 were Series A
- 2,275 were Series B
- 1,140 were Series C
Compared to 859 Series C funding rounds in the same period in 2020. A 32.7% Increase.
Investment in UK Tech start-ups reached a new record of £13.5bn in the first half of 2021, as start-ups attracted more venture capital than Germany, France and Israel combined.
AND, The tech industry is expected to reach a $5 trillion market value by the end of 2021.
These figures clearly show that the pandemic and continuous lockdowns haven’t halted the digital future. The apparent shift in business and consumer behaviour has resulted in greater adoption of cloud enabled technology, and significantly greater demand for tech enabled education, shopping, healthcare, and home entertainment.
Not to mention, the pandemic is at the heart of the remote work movement that has ensued as a result of the multiple lockdowns. Pre-Covid the focus of executives in the tech industry was on operational efficiency and developing new products. However, this has now changed to include workforce enablement.
Although the Covid-19 pandemic accelerated digitization and automation in 2021, tech businesses are at the heart of the shift in consumer behaviours. Many businesses adopted disruptive technologies and modified their business models to stay resilient against the ongoing changes.
But what were the main technologies emerging/present in 2021?
Augmented and Virtual Reality
AR & VR are two popular tech trends that have exploded in popularity in recent years, with growth expected to continue in an upward trajectory going into 2022.
Virtual reality uses computer technologies to create a realistic virtual version of the physical world. Whereas Augmented Reality enhances the physical environment using computer-generated elements. They are particularly present in the gaming, education and healthcare industries.
“The global augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and mixed reality (MR) market is forecast to reach 30.7 billion U.S. dollars in 2021, rising to close to 300 billion U.S. dollars by 2024.”
AI & Machine Learning
Artificial intelligence has arguably been the leading emerging technology over 2021. AI and machine learning’s use of data has changed the future of tech and has significantly affected how we live and work in recent years. We now rely on AI speech and image recognition technology for use in our day-to-day life. From fraud detection, to process automation, a variety of service apps, such as navigation tools, and a multitude of payment solutions.
Tools embedded with AI are going to particularly define the future of payments.
Edge Computing
Edge computing is a new technology that ensures low latency and high-speed data processing.
Edge computing bridges the gap between data and computation; eliminating long-distance communication between the server and the client, reducing processes run in the cloud, resulting in increased process speed.
Internet Of Things
An IoT ecosystem consists of web-enabled smart devices that use embedded systems, such as processors, sensors, and communication hardware, to collate data and insights and use them accordingly to influence behaviour.
IoT devices are everywhere, from smartwatches to voice assistants, and reports indicate that there will be 35.82 billion IoT devices installed worldwide by the end of 2021 and 75.44 billion by 2025.
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With thanks and research credit to the following sources:
• (2021), Crunchbase
• (Alsop, 2021), Statista – https://bit.ly/3IsU1hv
• (Commerce and Payments Report, 2021), Global Payments – https://bit.ly/3lKuwyu
• (Murfitt, 2020), PWC – https://pwc.to/31Fw4m9
• (Olechowski, 2021), Codete – https://bit.ly/3rJx7fW
• (Scammell, 2021), Verdict – https://bit.ly/3lKJAwh
• (Smith, 2021) – https://bit.ly/3dt0sTF
• (Tech In 2021, 2021), Plural Sight – https://bit.ly/3y41MG3