Private companies in the mobile industry have seen tremendous 661% growth in funding over the past 5 years.
What are the specific industry categories that have been most targeted by investments, and where are deals more thin on the ground?
Using CB Insights data, we drilled into deals to private mobile companies broken down by our subindustry classifications to highlight more saturated areas vs. growth opportunities within mobile. The resulting heat map shows deal activity by CB Insights’ subindustry classifications.
(Note: only subindustries with at least 150 equity financings to mobile companies since 2011 were considered, since these are likely areas where mobile has shown some traction, and are more likely to be relevant in the near future.)
Here are a few of the takeaways:
- The most saturated areas are health & wellness along with social. Health & wellness encompasses apps like Doctor On Demand and mobile-enabled fitness wearables, and social includes messaging companies like Kik but also dating apps like Hinge. That these industries continue to see a lot of funding is unsurprising given their immense popularity with consumers since the beginnings of the smartphone era. Over the past 4 years, deal volume to both categories has increased by more than 200%.
- Travel, which includes ridesharing like Uber and Lyft, has also seen funding go from dark green in Q1’12 to solid red in Q1’16, going from roughly 4 deals per quarter to more than 34.
- One notably up-and-coming subindustry is the marketplaces category, which encompasses everything from mobile-lending marketplaces like JiedaiBao to used-item marketplace Wallapop. Just several quarters ago the deal volume was relatively light, but in Q1’16 the deal activity has increased by 114%, as indicated by the lone yellow rectangle.
- Accounting & finance is another category that’s seeing increasing deal volume in recent quarters. Examples of companies in this mobile space would be accounting app freee and personal finance app Wacai. Quarter over quarter, the space saw a 71% increase in deals in Q1’16.
See the full graphic below:
Want more data about mobile startups? Log in to CB Insights, or sign up below.
This report was created with data from CB Insights’ emerging technology insights platform, which offers clarity into emerging tech and new business strategies through tools like:
- Earnings Transcripts Search Engine & Analytics to get an information edge on competitors’ and incumbents’ strategies
- Patent Analytics to see where innovation is happening next
- Company Mosaic Scores to evaluate startup health, based on our National Science Foundation-backed algorithm
- Business Relationships to quickly see a company’s competitors, partners, and more
- Market Sizing Tools to visualize market growth and spot the next big opportunity