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Topic #1

Awardco (trends)

Awardco is a software platform for managing employee rewards and recognition.

The platform enables companies to celebrate service anniversaries and offer spot recognition for employees. Employers can also use Awardco to track incentives for sales, wellness, and safety goals.  

When they’re recognized, employees are given points that they can redeem for gift cards and other rewards on Awardco’s marketplace. The company calls it the “largest reward network in the world.”

Data from Awardco shows that recognition can reduce employee turnover by more than 30% and boost productivity by up to 17%. 

Awardco has more than 4.9M users across 143 countries. 

The company posted $75.2M in revenue last year.

What's Next

Awardco is part of the Employee Recognition Software meta trend.

According to a Gallup survey, just 33% of employees are engaged at work.

Gallup also reports that these disengaged employees result in approximately $1.9T of lost productivity in the U.S. every year.

However, 82% of employees say they’re happier when they’re recognized at work.

That’s why at least 70 startups are in the employee engagement and recognition software space.

Here are a few of them:

WorkTango offers an employee engagement platform that combines recognition with surveys and insights about employee engagement. More than 1,000 companies use it.

Nectar HR is a recognition software that enables companies to create specific employee challenges and milestones. The platform integrates directly with Slack and Microsoft Teams.

Work AI is an employee experience platform with seven integrated products including internal communications, hybrid work scheduling, and a social network for employee recognition and community building.  

Empuls is an AI-powered platform that provides “smart nudges” to prompt employee recognition. It also offers employee surveys, a social intranet, and HR analytics.

Topic #2

Latent AI (trends)

Latent AI specializes in optimizing the deployment of edge AI.

The company’s core product, Latent AI Efficient Inference Platform (LEIP), assists developers in creating, testing, and deploying edge AI.

Their library includes 50K pre-set machine learning model configurations.

According to company data, LEIP results in 11.7x faster inference speed and 20% power savings on edge AI devices.

One of the main advantages of LEIP is that it can process updates in the field. Adjustments and retraining can take place directly on the edge device.

Several organizations in the defense industry use Latent AI. Their product has been deployed for underwater automatic target recognition and airborne intelligence.

The startup has raised $22.5M in funding.

What's Next

Latent AI is part of the Edge AI meta trend.

Search volume for “edge AI” has increased nearly 105% in the past two years.

Gartner predicts there will be almost 12 billion edge devices by the end of 2025.

Devices with edge AI can process data in just milliseconds.

The edge AI market is predicted to grow at a CAGR of over 24% through 2033, reaching a total value of $163B.

Here are two startups driving that growth:

Edge Impulse is an end-to-end platform for deploying AI on edge devices. The company’s platform is used in industrial, automotive, and healthcare settings as well as on consumer wearables.

Axelera AI is focused on computer vision on edge devices. The startup claims to provide both hardware and software solutions with lower cost and energy consumption than other solutions. The company reportedly has more than $100M in its business pipeline.

Topic #3

Wearable Breast Pump (trends)

A Wearable Breast Pump is a hands-free pump that expresses breast milk.

Instead of plugging into the wall like traditional breast pumps, wearable pumps are rechargeable, portable, and controlled via an app. They sit in the mother’s bra with one pump worn on each side.

While each brand and style varies, the pump bottles typically hold between five and seven ounces of milk.

Convenience is driving the growing popularity of wearable breast pumps. Mothers can pump while caring for their children, doing tasks around the house, or working.

Wearable breast pumps first hit the market around 2018, and one brand sold $10M in its first year.

Demand has soared in recent months (searches for wearable breast pumps have increased by 123% over the last 24 months). 

What's Next

Wearable Breast Pumps are part of the Breast Pump Tech meta trend.

In recent months, breast pump companies have invested in new technology to make pumping more enjoyable for mothers.

New tech options allow women to customize the performance of the breast pump in order to decrease discomfort. Pumps are also being designed with suction patterns and power levels that mimic a baby’s natural sucking.

Here are a few breast pump startups that are focused on new tech integrations:

MomCozy, a startup launched in 2018, offers seven tech-forward breast pumps that are used by more than 4 million mothers. One of their pumps offers five preset modes and the option for users to program their own personalized mode via the app.

Zomee offers three models of hospital-grade breast pumps. They’ve implemented alternate mode technology into their pumps, which automatically switches pumping between breasts in order to increase efficiency.

Tsrete specializes in affordable breast pumps. They only offer one model, but it features nine levels of suction and operates at 40dB (comparable to the hum of a refrigerator).

Topic #4

Green Ammonia (trends)

Green Ammonia is a fertilizer that’s produced through a renewable, carbon-free process.

Ammonia is the chemical combination of hydrogen and nitrogen. It ranks among the top five chemicals produced in the United States and is frequently used in the agriculture industry as a fertilizer.

Traditional ammonia production relies heavily on fossil fuels like natural gas and coal. Approximately 450 Mt of direct carbon emissions are created annually through global ammonia production. That’s equivalent to the total energy emissions of South Africa.

However, green ammonia is produced by separating hydrogen from water via electrolysis and combining it with airborne nitrogen. The entire process is powered by renewable energy.

With a rapidly rising global population, ag experts predict the demand for ammonia will increase 3x by 2050. They predict that will lead to a $2.6T infrastructure investment, much of which will be directed at green ammonia production.

And, additional demand is on the horizon for green ammonia—it has the potential to be used as fuel for cargo ships.

What's Next

Green Ammonia is part of the Green Hydrogen meta trend.

Search volume for “green hydrogen” is growing thanks to its potential role in the transition to net-zero.

Green hydrogen is produced by using renewable energy to split water molecules via a process called electrolysis.

It’s one of the few fuels energy experts say will be able to replace fossil fuels in industries like aviation, trucking, concrete, and steel.

Predictions show that annual production of green hydrogen could reach 390 million tons by 2050.

In the first half of 2024, green hydrogen startups raised more than $1.4B.

Here are a few trending green hydrogen companies:

Newtrace, an Indian startup, has developed electrolyzer technology that uses fewer components and results in 30% lower production costs compared to current electrolyzers.

Ohmium, a California-based startup, specializes in proton exchange membrane electrolyzers. The electrolyzers are packaged in modular units that enable customers to scale green hydrogen production quickly.

ZeroAvia is developing a hydrogen-electric engine for small planes that will be released this year. They’ve also announced that they’ll deliver 100 hydrogen-electric engines to American Airlines.

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