Are You a Creator, User or Investor in MarTech? You Can’t Ignore These VC Trends in 2018

Is a 37% dip in total investments in martech from 2016 (which was a really good year at $16 billion) to $8.8 billion to 217 a good thing or a bad thing? Only time will tell. However, while compiling MarTech Advisor Annual Investscape Bumper Issue*, we found 5 other trends which are set to change the landscape as we know it. Here is a sneak peek.

1. The changing focus of investments – funding moved from the typical ‘social networks’ to more ‘specialist’ martech areas that are also point solutions. Come 2018, could we see another shift? A shift towards companies that provide integrated solutions perhaps? Or will AI/machine learning take all? In the MarTech Advisor Annual Investscape Bumper Issue, experts weigh in with their view on which way investments will go in 2018.

2. Innovation in funding -  a healthy funding ecosystem makes a healthy industry: with all the talk of the martech VC funding apocalypse, the question is – what might be the outcomes of such an event? Sure, some amount of funding will dry up, and some will shift to the more attractive martech categories (mobile, madtech, analytics and machine learning/AI). But that doesn’t mean that martech itself will face an uncertain future. In the MarTech Advisor Annual Investscape Bumper Issue, experts weigh in on what such innovation could mean to all of us in the ecosystem.

3. Unicorns and the race to $5 billion – We witnessed 18 unicorns emerge in 2017 – up from 7 in 2016. Will 2018 see the rise of the $5billion dollar martech company?  We analyze this question with industry experts in the Annual Investscape Investor Roundtable section.

4. The implications of consolidation – as the famous MarTech Landscape graphic shows, the space is getting more crowded than ever with over 4800 companies flooding the market with 5000+ solutions. But does this necessarily imply it’s also getting more fragmented and more point solution based than ever – or are there new models of consolidation that could emerge? See what the experts have to say in the Analysis section of the MarTech Advisor Annual Investscape Bumper Issue.

5. The integration wave – for seamless customer experiences, there is an urgent need for stack rationalization; meaningful integration and smoother data storage, transformation and flow across active stack components. From ‘everything you need’ platforms (which was never a realistic proposition), we are moving towards a new kind of full-spectrum platform – we like to call them ‘enabling platforms’. Is your solution ready to compete?

Interested in the funding landscape for martech? Then the unmissable MarTech Advisor Annual Investscape Bumper Issue – packed with charts, stats and commentary from the experts – is for you. Whether you are a VC, a martech vendor looking to acquire or be acquired, a startup looking for funds or just someone who is interested in how things go for martech, then you can’t miss this comprehensive, easy-to-read, research-based report exclusively from MarTech Advisor.

*The Annual Investscape is the only unbiased, credibly researched, and free-to-access report about VC funding in martech available today.