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5 Hot Start-Up Industries
By Dmitry Diment
Strong revenue growth, high technological change and limited barriers
to entry will present prime opportunities for start-ups.
A transition
toward online
services has
established
the majority
of these new
opportunities
Industries with a high degree of
technological change often present prime opportunities for start-ups. This is because technology has the power to disrupt the conventional modus operandi, creating new openings in previously stable systems.
During the past decade, a transition toward online services has established the majority of these new opportunities. Both internet traffic and internet speeds have grown exponentially and so businesses from all sectors of the economy have shifted operations online to take advantage of this growth. In the 10 years to 2014, the percentage of services conducted online has more than doubled, growing 10.1% per year on average. Recently, the growth of mobile internet connections, spurred by the popularity of smartphones, has provided an innovative avenue for numerous industries. Mobile internet connections increased an astounding 36.8% per year on average in the five years to 2014.
Moreover, fragmentation and low barriers to entry also create excellent opportunities for potential entrants to compete within an industry. The absence of major players is often indicative of shifting industry standards with only limited brand
loyalty among consumers, providing new companies with opportunities to experiment and innovate. Low levels of capital intensity are also beneficial, as they limit the initial investment companies must make to compete.
IBISWorld queried its database of more than 1,000 industries and identified five that are best suited to facilitate start-ups. The following industries have strong revenue growth, exhibit a high level of technological change, fragmentation and limited barriers to entry, presenting crucial opportunities for start-ups over the next five years.
Percentage 14 4 6 8 10 12 19 07 09 11 13 15 17 Year
Percentage of services conducted online
WWW.IBISWORLD.COM April 2014 2
5 Hot Start-Up Industries
Smartphone App Developers
Less than a decade ago, the Smartphone App Developers industry was virtually nonexistent. Then emerged Apple’s iPhone in 2007 and the App Store in 2008, providing developers with a fresh market and easily accessible marketplace virtually overnight. Revenue, in turn, shot up 292.1% in 2008, followed by growth of 468.0% in 2009 with the release of Google’s Android. Industry growth has remained robust, with revenue projected to increase 49.8% per year on average to $9.7 billion over the five years to 2014.
The rising number of mobile internet connections, which increased at an average annual rate of 36.8% over the past five years, propelled industry expansion. Additionally, the smartphone’s cutting-edge capabilities and superior functionality have led to instant popularity and a high adoption rate among consumers. With internet sales expected to continue rising, the industry’s prospects will remain strong. Revenue is therefore expected to increase 28.9% per year on average during the next five years, reaching $34.7 billion in 2019.
Low barriers to entry and the prospect of staggering profit margins for successful apps will continue to encourage new developers to enter the industry. Capital costs, for one, are limited to computers and software and do not pose a significant challenge. The industry’s high fragmentation, meanwhile, is expected to persist well into the future, providing opportunities for smaller companies. With the top four players accounting for just 11.8% of revenue in 2014, new operators are expected to flock to the industry, with the number of new participants rising at an annualized 26.9% over the next five years.
Online Photo Printing
Technology has repeatedly redefined the business of photography since, in recent years, social networks and links to other
photo-sharing sites have encouraged consumers to store and print pictures through online channels. Coupled with the increased availability of affordable digital cameras, social networks’ popularity has made online photo-printing services increasingly convenient to consumers that can transfer photos to industry websites with relative ease. As a result, the Online Photo Printing industry’s revenue is expected to rise at an average annual rate of 15.3% to reach $2.5 billion during the five years to 2014.
Although the digital camera market (measured in units sold) peaked in 2008, smartphones and tablets are taking over the functions of digital cameras and provide an even more dramatic benefit to industry operators because they are connected to the internet. While the proportion of printed photos declined during the past five years, easy-to-use camera and smartphone technology significantly boosted the number of photos taken. As a result, the number of digital photos printed reached 13.9 billion in 2010, according to the Photo Marketing Association (latest data available). In turn, companies have already created a range of merchandise to meet consumer demand for creative photo applications. As a result, industry revenue is anticipated to climb during the next five years, growing 13.2% per year on average to $4.2 billion in 2019.
New entrants are likely to be enticed by widening profit margins, despite the fact that services require significant investment in capital equipment to print and package photos. Conversely, this reliance on automation has expanded operators’ bottom lines by reducing their reliance on labor. In this industry, where the four largest companies generate only a third of total revenue, new businesses will likely be lured by the expectation of heady growth and high profit.
Data Processing and Hosting Services
With companies relying more on data that exceeds internal capacities, businesses
have turned to specialized companies for application hosting services, driving demand for the Data Processing and Hosting Services industry. Following a mild downturn in 2009, industry revenue is expected to expand at an annualized 4.4% during the five years to 2014, reaching $90.2 billion in 2014. Since data processing and hosting requires the use of complicated equipment and sophisticated technical skills, many companies have moved away from internal information technology (IT) management, opting to outsource work to reduce costs without limiting performance. The continued movement of media to online platforms, in particular, has been instrumental in this transition.
Opportunities for start-ups will remain abundant in this industry over the next five years. Hampered by limited IT budgets, small operators will drive demand for cloud-computing services, which allow them to access and manipulate their own data while paying according to usage. Industry revenue is expected to grow considerably over the next five years, rising at an annualized rate of 4.0% to reach $109.5 billion in 2019. The industry’s relative fragmentation will also encourage new operators to enter the industry. Although larger companies such as HP and IBM are significant players, industry operators tend to be small, with more than half of all companies employing fewer than five people.
IT Security Consulting
The proliferation of broadband and mobile internet connections has been a boon to industries across the economy, especially the IT Security Consulting industry. Along with greater data usage and businesses’ reliance on outside operators, there have been a number of high-profile data breaches. Companies such as Sony, Zappos and LinkedIn have been victims of recent cyber attacks, thrusting IT security into
the spotlight. This factor has fostered excellent conditions for industry growth, with revenue anticipated to rise at an annualized rate of 8.2% during the five years to 2014.
Demand for industry services will remain high during the next five years, spurred by concerns from businesses and government agencies. In particular, government agencies have made the case for IT security consultants since the leak of thousands of confidential documents by the anticensorship organization WikiLeaks. With private investment in computers and software projected to increase 7.0% per year on average, along with the continued adoption of mobile and broadband internet connections, industry revenue is expected to grow at an annualized 6.7% to reach $7.9 billion by 2019. With the industry landscape dominated by small contractors and independent operators, opportunities for new entrants will be abundant.
3D Printing & Rapid Prototyping Services
The 3D Printing and Rapid Prototyping Services industry has benefited from recent technological advances and new applications for 3D-printing technology. Industry revenue has therefore grown at a robust 16.2% five-year annualized rate to $9.2 billion in 2014. New technologies are enabling 3D printing services to create products and prototypes that were impossible to produce in the past, reaching new markets as a result. Lower prices for industry services are also attracting customers that were previously
SOURCE: WWW.IBISWORLD.COM 5 Hot Industries for Start-Ups Revenue ($b)2014
Smart Phone Developers Online Photo Printing
Data Processing and Hosting Services IT Security Consulting
3D Printing and Rapid Prototyping Services $9.7 $2.5 $90.2 $5.7 $9.2
WWW.IBISWORLD.COM April 2014 4
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deterred by steep costs. 3D printing is being used to create finished products for niche applications and industries that would otherwise be too costly or complex to manufacture. Additionally, 3D printing has been used to create prototypes for the medical, dental, aerospace, automotive and motorsports industries as well as lower-technology consumer industries, including home accessories, toys and fashion products such as jewelry.
There have been a number of
startups founded over the past few years that use 3D printing to manufacture compelling and customized consumer products, sustaining demand for
industry services. For example, online startups such as Shapeways and Ponoko have developed a cost-effective way to create 3D printed products for consumers. The consumer market is still in its infancy, but has a tremendous amount of growth potential. Continued technological improvements and new markets will positively affect industry revenue, which is expected to soar to $1.5 billion in 2019 via an annualized growth rate of 31.1% during the five-year period. Industry participation is anticipated to grow as a result, as new companies try to ride the wave of rising unit shipments and growing revenue.
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