2 Key Trends Driving Investments and Business Models

Two key trends are driving new investments.  1) 3D Printing and 2) The Sharing Economy

3D Printing

3D Printing is the manufacturer and creation of low-volume and custom products.  Given the decreased price point on the technology, the 3D Printers are finding their way from the research labs and schools and into business.  Given the ability to create low-volume goods, manufacturers are trying to determine how the emerging 3D model can co-exist with the mass-production models in place.  The 3D Printers are part of a growing trend in the United States and could be an enabler to increase manufacturing.

The Sharing Economy

The sharing economy is leveraging a trend that simply observes that a lot of services and products can be leveraged and used given there is extra capacity and gaps in the usage model.  The trend started with the open source movement in software and the social network gaming model but is spreading to other industries and sectors.  From travel, examples include Priceline and RelayRides to optimize the usage of resources.  Trust using a reputation view allows for the sharing model to succeed based upon ratings in a marketplace.

When looking for future companies to invest in, 3D Printing and The Sharing Economy are key business model enablers.  If a company can demonstrate and monetize these trends, it is a solid business model to build on.

Top US Cities for VC and Investment Spend

Invested in 2012 and based on data from the Martin Prosperity Institute:

1. San Francisco-Oakland: $6.896 billion (25.6% of the top 100 cities)
2. San Jose-Sunnyvale: $3.985 billion (14.8%)
3. Boston: $3.101 billion (11.5%)
4. New York City: $2.269 billion (8.4%)
5. Los Angeles: $1.677 billion (6.2%)
6. San Diego: $1.134 billion (4.2%)
7. Seattle: $886 million (3.3%)
8. Austin: $626 million (2.3%)
9. Chicago: $547 million (2.0%)
10. Washington, D.C.: $484 million (1.8%)
11. Philadelphia: $347 million (1.3%)
12. Denver: $264 million (1.0%)
13. Atlanta: $262 million (1.0%)
14. Boulder, Colo.: $256 million (1.0%)
15. Minneapolis-St. Paul: $256 million (0.9%)
16. Santa Barbara, Calif.: $251 million (0.9%)
17. Phoenix: $214 million (0.8%)
18. Raleigh-Cary, N.C.: $184 million (0.7%)
19. Pittsburgh: $167 million (0.6%)
20. Provo-Orem, Utah: $162 million (0.6%)

7 Disruptive Technologies - Investment Focus - Angel and VC

The following 7 Disruptive Technologies will shape investments in the next 8 - 10 years.  If there are companies doing multiple technologies, they are a candidate to consider for investments at the angel and venture capital rounds of funding.  The sources include: McKinsey, Gartner, and Forrester.

1. Mobile and Cloud Internet - Mobile computing - Burstable hardware and software services to support mobile devices
2. Internet of Things and Sensors  - Wearable devices - Low cost sensors - Embedded appliance devices
3. Advanced Robotics and Autonomic Vehicles - Robotics with enhanced sensors - Augment humans
4. Next-Generation Genomics - Big data analytics and synthetic biology - Writing DNA
5. Energy Storage - The battery problem
6. 3D Printing - Advanced manufacturing - Printing of layers of materials on digital models
7. Advanced Oil and Gas Exploration/Renewable Energy - Extraction of unconventional oil and gas assets - Electricity from solar and wind - Driven by Federal tax credits