Highlights of the Week (Feb 26, 2021)

It seemed like only yesterday that it was January, but here we are wrapping up February and welcoming warmer weather despite severe winter conditions only just a week ago. This week’s highlights see both enterprise-related trends driving industry growth and the growth of individual companies.

• Recommerce or the idea of selling second-hand apparel is growing in popularity, especially amongst Gen Z and Millennials who prefer to shop sustainably. As the global economy consumes 100BN tons of materials and only 8.6% tons are reused, startups that are helping bridge the gap by reselling are thriving. Read more.
• Individual communication via the Internet has become an everyday task, permeating our daily lives. But communication in the cloud for enterprises is still steadily growing as the market booms. Successful startups that have gone public like Twilio posted a 65% increase in revenue YOY and the market is expected to reach $25BN in 2025. We round up a list of successful startups in cloud communication as we also dive deeper into what these companies help enterprises do. See the list.
• Most of the startups that help with data cataloging -- providing solutions to collect, store, analyze, and help enterprises use the data they collect -- are $1BN+ companies. But it doesn’t mean there is no room for growth. After Segment was acquired for $3.2BN in 2020 by Twilio, these private data catalog companies may be the next in line for multi-billion-dollar exits. Read more. 
• It shouldn’t come as a surprise that the top growth company of 2020 goes to Instacart, but what other companies had an unstoppable second half of 2020? Our top 10 is varied but here are some hints: online shopping, exercising, and driverless cars. See our list.