8 Digital Venture Trends to Watch in 2023

What do your customers need in 2023? What market niche or opportunity can you fill?

As a digital venture studio, NineTwoThree has the benefit of working with many different industries and seeing what solutions work and what problems still exist for a new digital venture to solve. This gives us some insight into what new trends to look for in the coming year.

As you look for new digital venture opportunities, either as a startup or as part of your enterprise, we’ve put together eight digital venture trends to watch in 2023.

Hybrid Workforces

COVID-19 accelerated remote working by decades and companies are still struggling to catch up and adapt to employee needs. While some believe we’re already settling into a new hybrid work model, the transformations created by this shift are only beginning. Digital ventures that support collaboration, video conferencing, project management, and even augmented reality will have huge opportunities to transform the way companies work in 2023.

Mobile Learning

The mobile learning market is expected to reach $58.5 billion by 2025 as more employees look for flexible and accessible ways to learn. Companies that provide mobile learning solutions can benefit from continuous feedback, higher engagement, and more effective training and education. With more employees looking to increase their skills outside traditional education and more companies adopting hybrid workforces, digital ventures that support mobile learning will be in huge demand in 2023.

Supply Chain

The current supply chain issues affecting many different industries shined a light on the many glaring problems that need to be addressed in our global supply chain. Companies are now looking for new ways to improve their supply chain agility and resilience. Mobile apps can be used to track shipments and improve communication. Supply chain management is the second most common business use for AI due to its potential to streamline supply chain operations.

eCommerce

In addition to remote work, the pandemic caused a major shift in consumer buying behaviors and the eCommerce industry leaped forward an estimated 4-6 years. Mobile eCommerce made up 72.9% of total eCommerce sales in 2021. While Amazon still holds a monopoly on eCommerce, other smaller players like Instacart used the new growth to establish themselves. As overall eCommerce sales still only represent a small - but rising - percentage of retail spending, there are major opportunities for mobile commerce solutions to find product market fit in 2023.

Healthcare

The healthcare mobile app development market is expected to grow from $4.7 billion in 2019 to $64 billion in 2027. What is driving the demand for healthcare mobile app development? The increase in telehealth services and smart devices, combined with the emerging demand for patient centric apps caused by COVID-19 has accelerated the mobile healthcare industry. Digital ventures that serve this demand can fit many different niches. Doctors and medical professionals are seeing an increased demand for solutions that track patient information and manage healthcare administration. Patient centric apps can offer ways to monitor biotelemetry, manage prescriptions, and help improve patient health with diet and healthcare recommendations.

Metaverse

There is no doubt that the metaverse is coming. The question is what form will it take and how will users prefer to engage with others online? Companies like Meta (Facebook) are betting heavily on virtual reality. However, spatial reality displays could offer a better alternative for the large percent of consumers who aren’t interested in virtual reality. Enterprises and startups that can build apps for the metaverse which correctly anticipate consumer needs and demands will have a leg up once this technology reaches greater adoption. While the metaverse is still in the early stages, expect 2023 to be the year where first movers enter the space and the technologies that will end up supporting the metaverse establish themselves.

Blockchain

It is predicted the blockchain market will grow from $4.9 billion in 2021 to $67.4 billion in 2026. While it has seen incredible growth in the last few years, the technology is still very much in its infancy. Applications like cryptocurrency and NFTs are rising in popularity, but they represent only a small part of where the blockchain industry could head. As the focus on the metaverse and Web3 increases, blockchain technology will be key to supporting everything being built. Expect decentralized apps to see major growth in 2023, especially with mobile commerce and P2P apps.

Machine Learning

The lack of experienced data scientists and machine learning experts has held back the machine learning industry, but new innovations that are automated and democratizing access to ML tools will push the industry forward in 2023. Machine learning - and deep learning - are accelerating innovations in the nuclear power industry, supply chain agility, and many other machine learning use cases.

What opportunities for digital ventures do you expect will rise in 2023?