Entrepreneur & investor with a passion for early-stage startups. CEO of leAD—a leading sports & health tech investment ecosystem.

Despite continued macroeconomic uncertainties, the venture capital market has shown strong early signals in 2023, and I have increasing confidence in the outlook for the months ahead. As CEO of a leading sports and health tech investment company, I continue to track how trends in these industries can create new opportunities for organizations and those looking to enter the market.

In the sports technology space, I anticipate that fandom and the fan experience will take center stage and that 2023 will be the year that separates the pack—who will champion the next era of fan engagement in the digital age of Web3? But, I also anticipate way more novelty and disruption in the health tech space, where there is increasing attention on women’s health and testing and monitoring technology coming out of the labs and into the hands of the consumer to usher in a new era of patient engagement and remote care.

Trend 1: Women’s Health & Wellness Revolution

The interest in FemTech has been on the rise and gaining recognition of the importance of women’s health. A market that has been historically underfunded and understudied is making its way to $103 billion by 2030, according to Statista. This growth potential is in part owing to the fact that women are 75% more likely to use digital healthcare tools than men, and working-age women spend 29% more per capita on healthcare compared to men, according to data from Frost and Sullivan’s 2018 FemTech: Digital Revolution in Women’s Health Report.

In the last few years, I’ve seen funding for this area increase exponentially, with companies like Tia and Elvie raising significant rounds to take a big share of this market. This sector has the potential to create some real tech unicorns but, more importantly, drive much-needed growth and change for an under-represented segment of the market.

Trend 2: Connected Healthcare

After weathering a long, uncertain and scary last few years due to the pandemic, consumers now want more access, insights and control over the state of their mental and physical health. The healthcare market is undergoing a massive transformation, shifting from “reactive” care to a more proactive model, centered around digitization, preventive and personalized individual needs.

Thanks to the development of wearable devices and artificial intelligence that can track and monitor our health data, it has become possible to identify health problems before they become serious—yet a lot of these innovative and revolutionary advancements are not accessible to the average consumer.

I’m seeing companies like Whoop and Oura driving much of the attention and excitement around connected healthcare with their wearable technology that tracks a multitude of personal health data—from stress, sleep, physical activity and more—that gives people more control and insights into the overall state of their health.

This trend will only continue to grow in 2023. I expect to see more developments in this space with new companies and offerings that will empower consumers with personalized solutions to take more control of their health. By providing consumers with more control and insights into their own health and wellness, the current reactive model of healthcare will be flipped on its head. These new developments will make it easier for consumers to become more informed about the state of their health and even identify potentially serious problems early on. The developments in advanced wearables are helping to fuel the trend of remote patient care and will make progress toward this notion of bringing tech out of the labs and into the hands of consumers.

Trend 3: Diagnostic Biomarkers

In recent years, the evolution of digital biomarkers has helped shape the future of healthcare and offers the potential to improve the overall quality and efficacy of care both remotely and in a clinical setting. Previously only available through hospitals, today, technological advancements are enabling users to better track their health. According to Grand View Research, the market for biomarkers is expected to grow to $147.59 billion by 2028 due to the scale of testing, which has been normalized among the general and aging population.

The adoption of voice recognition and AI as new channels for patient care is helping to drive this evolution. Vocal biomarkers will be studied in 2023 and beyond and can be used to find early indicators of a patient’s likelihood of ADHD, stress profile and mental health issues—creating new potentials for remote patient care, staff monitoring (via dictation) and better understanding how a caller might be feeling on the other end of the line. Vocal biomarkers can also be utilized in clinical settings to record tests, issue orders and retrieve data after a patient visit using nothing more than their speech. In fact, survey data from Nuance shows that 94% of clinicians believe speech recognition and virtual assistant technology will improve the ability to document care. I do see a possibility for some limitations, similar to how facial recognition data is used, but I predict it to only advance further in 2023.

In 2023, these developments in the health tech industry will be the trends to watch–and potentially capitalize on—for established players and newcomers alike. In my opinion, there’s never been a more exciting time to be an investor in the sports and health tech space.

In this industry, fostering relationships with potential partners and co-investors, maintaining deal flow and accelerating startup growth all require you to stay on top of these trends—which will not only have an impact on the sports and health tech sectors but an enormous impact on the general population in the next five to 10 years. I look forward to seeing advancements across the board, and I am betting on companies working to revolutionize the way we approach overall healthcare and wellness—specifically in the women’s health, connected healthcare and diagnostic biomarkers sectors.

The information provided here is not investment, tax or financial advice. You should consult with a licensed professional for advice concerning your specific situation.


Forbes Business Council is the foremost growth and networking organization for business owners and leaders. Do I qualify?


link

By admin