I expect 2019 will be a big year for IPOs. Unicorns are coming to market and ready to go public. If Lyft and Uber are successful offerings, I believe the IPO door will be wide open. We’ll see companies like Slack, Pinterest, Palantir, Airbnb and Chinese ride sharing company Didi Chuxing, among many others, go for it.
On the other hand, we are seeing an economic slowdown and that will impact the tech sector.
The market may need a correction, as large amounts of money have been going into companies that are barely there. We’ll see a pause on investors continually dumping big money into companies. However, a slowdown brings great opportunity for start-ups. When investors cool their large investment rounds, they tend to look for the next wave of start-ups through increased seed and angel rounds. That will present fantastic opportunities for entrepreneurs with good ideas.
Despite companies struggling with finding ethical ground and market over-valuations, I’m an investor because technology does amazing things. The breakthroughs coming will be worth it. I see the continued advancement of all types of autonomous vehicles, but we are still years away from a large market presence. Cloud Computing, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) have not reached their pinnacle and have endless opportunities ahead.
There are still sectors of industry that are primed for disruption, as well. I’m excited about Indoor Farming from companies like Bowery; Financial Services and Fintech are still booming. And believe it or not, Amazon hasn’t invented everything when it comes to Supply Chain. There is room for more improvement and innovation there, and I expect we’ll continue to see big ideas.