Digital transformation means many things to many people, so it’s important to segment and analyse start-ups developing foundational enabling technologies as well as key impacted applications, such as Industry 4.0 and digital health.
Lux Research’s digital transformation experts are continuously monitoring industry megatrends and events to identify innovative start-ups in the space. Lux’s new market map, “The Top Digital Transformation Startups of 2020,” identifies 20 start-ups that were awarded a “Lux Positive” or “Lux Strong Positive” rating based on evaluations of their technology, business strategy, market positioning, and leadership.
The digital space is rife with hype – by taking a methodical approach to identify technical differentiation coupled with a scalable business model and sound go-to-market strategy, we can sift through the noise and find the most promising companies in the space,” Kevin See, Ph.D., Vice President, Research at Lux Research, says.
“Many have one or the other, but it’s less common to find all three, which makes these start-ups key companies to watch or engage with.”
The start-ups are categorised into four key trends those in the digital transformation space should be tracking:
1. Foundational Technologies – Foundational emerging digital technologies like AI and IoT evolve fast and tracking evolution and differentiation here is hard. We focus on understanding what is possible with these technologies – and what’s not – in order to separate the promising from the hyped.
2. Industry 4.0 – Emerging digital technologies promise efficiency, cost reduction, and flexibility. Extracting ROI from these technologies while simultaneously meeting the varied demands of customers is challenging. We track the players and solutions for technologies that move quickly from idea to value.
3. Personalised Products and Services – AI and IoT unlock new value from the products companies build and bring health management directly to the patient. Sensing and connectivity add a unique data stream to products, and analytics and AI create additional value and generate new business models by adjusting the products to the individual.
4. Innovation Transformation – R&D and innovation are in the midst of a transformation. From NLP to informatics, digital tools can help us collaborate, find whitespace, understand trends and key players, and iterate toward the right solution more efficiently.
The named top start-ups include Cardea Bio, Tecton, Xandar Kardian, Hugging Face, Mech-Mind, C3.ai, Sight Machine, Illusive Networks, Bright Machines, Seeq, LifeNome, Molecular You, Skintelligent, Ectosense, Biorithm, QuesTek Innovations, nTopology, Nuron, Enko Chem, and Brightseed.
