COVID-19 has hit us hard. It has disrupted nations, economies, and businesses across the world. The COVID-19 recession is said to be twice as bad as the 2009 financial crisis. Lay-offs, cost-reduction, investment reduction, and revenue decline are just the beginning.
But things aren’t totally bad.
COVID-19 brings with it several opportunities for businesses. Several firms are still booming. There are a lot of opportunities for new startups that are related to the pandemic. COVID-19 resistant startup opportunities are in the air.
In order to fully understand the current state of investment during COVID, startup funding, and what type of pandemic-related startups founders are working on, we reached out to several founders and investors to see if and how they’re investing or working on startups.
Why were we interested in finding this out?
A lot of employees, existing businesses and well-funded startups are hit hard. People are struggling to find investment during Covid-19. There is little hope with so much desperation among employees and employers.
We wanted to show people that there are startups out there that were launched during the pandemic and are doing exceptionally well. Startup funding isn’t an issue and if you have lost your job or your business has suffered from the pandemic, you need to look for the opportunities.
The response we received from founders and investors was overwhelming, and despite all the downsides of the pandemic, startup funding is pretty much on.
5 Startups That Emerged as a Result of the Covid-19
Here is an overview of the startups that emerged due to the pandemic:
1. WIRL
It is a Wellness platform created by Dr. Tasha Holland-Kornegay to help healthcare professionals. It provides deals and access to wellness products that help professionals avoid burnout, fatigue, and other mental health symptoms. She developed this platform for herself after she realized that she was suffering from burnout.
The platform helped Dr. Tasha improve her mental health. She says:
“I created WIRL that I actually needed. Having wrestled with a formidable case of burnout myself, I knew that the high-stress environment that healthcare professionals work in could really take a toll on our mental health. In the throes of my own burnout episode, WIRL was the light at the end of the tunnel — it was a way for me to help myself and my colleagues.”
The platform helps you improve wellness and work-life balance by providing you with counseling sessions, meet-up with healthcare professionals, access to the Facebook private group, and several exclusive healthcare products, offers, and tips.
WIRL is a perfect startup example that is helping healthcare professionals during Covid-19. Healthcare professionals are twice as likely to suffer from burnout as opposed to other people, and in the case of a pandemic, the probability increases significantly.
It isn’t straightforward for healthcare professionals to identify and address burnout right away. “Even though I’m a healthcare professional (and I fully understood what I was going through), I refused to address it,” says Dr. Tasha. “I kept working long hours and loading more onto my plate until my burnout symptoms got worse and worse. It started with irritability, and then I became much less productive at work and home. It took hours to finish tasks that used to take half that time.”
WIRL is helping healthcare professionals avoid stress, burnout, and work-life challenges with products, counseling, and networking.
2. Glyde
Glyde is an interesting app that is extremely helpful in fighting Covid-19. It helps you enjoy a contactless dining experience in your favorite restaurants. All you have to do is scan a QR code, order food, and pay. Glyde app handles everything. You don’t have to touch any menu cards or anything else throughout the process.
Samir Peshori, the co-founder of Gylde, says:
“We are pushing to release our contactless dining solution to many local and casual dining establishments at this time to help restaurants get back on their feet. We want to create a contactless dining experience that will also automate the ordering and payment process within restaurants. Users don’t have to touch filthy menus/kiosks or even have to worry about exchanging cards or dollar bills with the waiter/waitress.”
Glyde is a result of Covid-19. It shows how you can find opportunities during hard times. Restaurants and food chains are suffering badly all over the world as people stopped eating outside. Glyde is helping not only restaurants but also people to eat there without any fear.
3. Antibody Checks
Covid-19 testing is one of the biggest issues, especially for businesses. Corporations need to test their workforce for Covid-19. Antibody Checks is a UK based startup initiated in June 2020. It supplies businesses and corporations with antibody tests to help them make more informed decisions.
Mayur, who is the founder of AntibodyChecks, explains two benefits:
“It increases the comfort of employees in returning to the workplace (we conducted a survey which found 54% of employees would be more comfortable returning to the workplace if testing was provided). It also helps businesses make more data-led, informed decisions in the workplace.”
AntibodyChecks uses antibody tests that are more reliable, and the result is disclosed in 15 minutes. It is currently available in the UK. There is, however, a need for similar startups in other parts of the world.
As businesses are reopening and employees are coming back to their offices, it is a perfect time to provide businesses with onsite testing services with instant results. This is a great business idea that works for pretty much every part of the world.
4. Chefcipes
The hotel and restaurant sector is one of the most influenced sectors from Covid-19 as people have stopped eating out. This has put thousands of hotels, fast food chains, restaurants, chefs, and related businesses to a halt all over the world. Chefcipes, like Glyde, is trying to help this sector but in a different way.
It helps chefs and restaurants sell recipes and digital cookbooks. Chefcipes provide chefs with an earning stream where they can connect with their audience and sell recipes. People can make their favorite recipes at home without having to visit their favorite restaurants. This helps chefs keep the ball rolling during COVID-19.
Mark Rybarczyk, the chief tech guy at Chefcipes, explains the idea behind startup:
“Our platform helps chefs and restaurants can recipes, build and sell their own individual digital cookbooks, as well as a place for discovery of top recipes from restaurants and chefs. We’re trying to provide an alternative source of revenue during Covid-19 and beyond.”
5. CarbonFreeConf
Researchers and academicians are unable to attend academic conferences anymore due to Covid-19. Travel restrictions are imposed all over the world resulting in a shift to virtual conferences. CarbonFreeConf is a startup that helps universities and organizers arrange not just virtual conferences but carbon-free virtual conferences.
According to Quentin Kral, who is an astrophysicist at the Paris Observatory and a founding member:
“It provides a new way for academics to organize conferences easily (in a carbon-neutral fashion) without having to travel the world by plane and contribute to climate change.”
The platform hosts and conducts the conference and it pays Climeworks (a carbon emissions offsetting company) to offset carbon emissions produced throughout the virtual conference. The actual carbon dioxide produced is calculated based on the number of participants, conference duration, and other variables.
CarbonFreeConf doesn’t just help keep the ball rolling for academicians but it is also helping get rid of the carbon emissions (a lethal climate issue). The startup is still new, and it has a long way to go ahead. Good news? It is the result of the pandemic.
A New Startup Wave is Expected After the Pandemic Downturn
What do these five pandemic-resistant startups tell?
There is room for new startups and businesses even during the recession. Them instances above are just the beginning.
There are several opportunities for entrepreneurs during and after the pandemic. The CEO of Edge AI Technologies Shanka Jayasinha shares two reasons why a new startup wave is expected:
“Firstly, with social distancing, we have realized how much technology can help us become more productive and adapt to a more remote lifestyle. Therefore, I believe we could see a rise in tech startups catering to those needs. Secondly, I believe some people may have not had another choice. They may
have been fired from their jobs and had to create one for themselves so I believe a new wave of entrepreneurs is seeing the day too.”
If you have lost your job due to the coronavirus, don’t lose hope. You can start your own pandemic-resistant startup or help people and businesses fight Covid-19. Don’t worry about the investment as getting investors during Covid it is not more difficult than in other times, with the right business and pitch deck.
If you already own a business or a startup that suffered from the pandemic and things are difficult, you can get investment during coronavirus.
According to 4Degrees, 68% of venture capital firms said that their investment during the Covid-19 will remain unchanged and 64% of professionals said that they’re not affected by the current situation at all.
Investors are ready, are you?
Where to Go from Here?
There isn’t any time better than now to start your own business. Starting a startup now is the right thing to do because:
· Investors are already investing in the next successful startups.
· Pandemic-related products and services sell like hotcakes.
· People have realized the importance of technology and getting off with a new startup idea is much easier.
· You have lost your job and are left with no other option, creating a startup is your best bet.
Not sure where to begin and how to transform yourself from a 9-5 employee to a startup founder? Check out our virtual startup program and design with us a pandemic-resistant business. Our online startup programs put you on the right track right away.
Our virtual startup programs aren’t pre-recorded rather they’re interactive live sessions where you get to interact with the instructor. It is just like a normal class where you learn face-to-face. This improves learning and the results are phenomenal.
M Accelerator offers multiple tailored virtual accelerator programs that are equally helpful for new founders and existing businesses and startups. Since the programs are custom developed, therefore, you learn what you need.
The best part: You also can get funding through our new initiative M Accelerator Venture I.
Final Thoughts
How you’ll get out of the COVID-19 depends on you. Last March, almost overnight, (but not really) we switched to online. You can sit idle, wait for the pandemic to get over, and you’ll then rebuild your business from scratch. Or, you can find hidden opportunities in the Covid-19.
Phil Scarfi is the founder of a software development agency based in New York that received several new clients during the pandemic. These clients were looking for apps that will help them provide digital experience to their customers.
Here is what Phil says about opportunities during the coronavirus pandemic:
“One popular example is mobile ticketing systems for trains and ferries who normally do physical tickets. Now they are looking for apps that allow everything to be done virtually without the need for physical interaction. Communication is another example. More and more businesses are looking to expand the ways they communicate with their teams and their customers. We have been getting requests for various types of apps that make communication easy and efficient.”
In reality, the COVID-19 has initiated a whole new world of business and tech opportunities that didn’t previously exists. People, businesses, and investors are treating pandemic-resistant ideas seriously. Explore yourself and bring out the best.
Some of the billion-dollar companies today came out from the last recession, how are you investing your time during the pandemic?
If you are like the founders in this article, running a pandemic-resistant new business, reach out.
