It’s hard to ignore the success of technology in the markets over the past decade. The rise of Silicon Valley elevated tech companies to be the most-valued companies in the world, and because of its evolutionary nature, the next big thing in technology is always around the corner.
But gauging which innovations in tech will be able to explode is tricky. In the past it could have been none of them, but lately it seems like each innovation has its own billion-dollar market to grow.
Far easier is seeing which fields have the most attention from investors. Here at Stockhouse, we ran our own Investor Pulse Poll on the homepage asking readers which innovate technologies are most interesting from an investment perspective.
The results, and the
recent highlights from the Extraordinary Future Conference in Vancouver, offer a lot of options for investors looking for the next big thing. Here are some of the top technology fields that investors are watching, and what you should know about them.
Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) is Everywhere
There was a time when Big Data and A.I. were nothing more than fancy tech buzzwords in the minds of company executives and investors,
but that time has long passed. Now, any major company has an A.I. plan or strategy it is actively investing in, as the possibilities and results of A.I. have become more easily understood.
The big draw from an investment perspective is that A.I. is beneficial for almost every industry, from transportation to
retail. Thorough analysis of user behavior and demand forecasts are now seen as the bare minimum firms should be doing, and new improvements in the A.I. field draw a lot of investor attention.
If you’re investing in a tech giant these days, you’re investing in A.I.
Alphabet Inc. (
NASDAQ:GOOGL),
Microsoft Corp. (
NADSAQ:MSFT), and
Nvidia Corp. (
NASDAQ:NVDA) all have a major portion of their business focused on A.I. efficiencies and potential. And any company without their own A.I. division is looking for one, with A.I. related start-ups
raising US $9.3 billion in 2018 (an increase of 72% over 2017).
The Anti-Aging Hype is Real
It might be surprising to some, but the hype behind anti-aging is not going away anytime soon. As the average longevity of humans increases, Bank of America estimates the anti-aging market will increase from
US $110 billion today to potentially US $610 billion by 2025.
The biggest driver is changes in technology, and investors are paying attention. Last year,
more than US $800 billion was poured into anti-aging start-ups, more than triple the amount from 2017. The money is going into topical serums, genome sequencing, disease prevention, and everything in-between.
Earlier in August, UK-based biotech company
Juvenescence capitalized on investor sentiment by raising
US $100 million in a Series B round of financing. One of the products the anti-aging company is developing is in senolytics – the removal of old senescent cells from the body – which
recently got more attention after a successful trial by The
Mayo Clinic.
“Green” Products are Investable Products
If your technology product can help the planet, it’s going to look good as an investment. That’s the case with the “green” market for alternative products that offer solutions to reducing waste or pollution. Whether it’s public sentiment and demand driving sales for green products or government policy changes forcing business to adapt, there’s
ample money being made in green products.
Alongside the commonplace examples of electric vehicles and alternatives to plastic, markets and media alike have been buzzing about
Beyond Meat Inc. (
NASDAQ:BYND) and
Impossible Foods Inc. The plant-based burger offerings have ignited a continuing debate of back-and-forth sentiment on the products, but from an investing perspective, the opportunity is clear.
Even as some analysts have
set low price targets on shares of BYND, the reason they’re highlighting is increased competition. Traditional food giants have seen the money being made in plant-based food and
launched their own products in the space, as the market acknowledges that green products are here to stay.