Exploding Topics - ET: February 16th 2021

Presented By:

Hey,

Here’s this week’s list of rapidly trending topics, insights and analysis.

Topic #1

Winc

Winc is Birchbox for wine.

In other words: it’s a monthly subscription service that sends customers a handful of wines each month.

Winc is one of many players in the growing alcohol subscription box category. Besides Winc, there’s also Firstleaf, Haus, and Bright Cellars.

What's next:
Winc’s growth is in part due to two intersecting meta trends.

1. New wine product categories. Surging demand for wine is leading to a slew of new wine-related products. Examples of this meta trend include canned wine, Vivino, and Shaoxing wine.

2. Subscription boxes. This category is far from dead. In fact, 25% of people in the US subscribe to a subscription box service. And we’re seeing subscription boxes for perfume (Scentbird), exotic snacks (Universal Yums), and candles (Vellabox).

Topic #2

LuminDX

LuminDX is a startup that helps doctors diagnose skin problems using a mobile app.

According to the company, 2.3 billion people look for help with skin issues each year. But 50% of skin issues are misdiagnosed.

Plus, it can take weeks to see a dermatologist after getting a primary doctor’s referral.

LuminDX aims to solve this problem by helping general-care doctors diagnose skin issues themselves.

Specifically, users take 2 photos and answer questions in the app. These photos are then used to train LuminDX’s AI diagnostic model.

LuminDX has raised $2.4M in seed funding to date.

What's next:
LuminDX is part of the growing “AI in healthcare” meta trend.

According to McKinsey, VC funding in health-care related startups reached an all-time high of $8.5B this year (up from $2.4B in 2018).

Examples of growing companies in this space include Your.md, Alivecor, and Freenome.

Topic #3

Kartra

Kartra is a website building tool.

Unlike competing services (like Wix and Squarespace) Kartra contains a built-in suite of marketing features.

For example, Karta has features for funnels, membership portals, email, checkout, support ticketing, and live chat.

Kartra isn’t a great option for users with advanced customization needs. But its all-in-one feature set and pricing make Kartra an option for the “side hustle” community.

What's next:
Kartra is part of the “side hustle software” meta trend.

Searches for “side hustle” have increased 19x over the last 5 years.

And we’re seeing a growing number of tools aimed squarely at this growing market.

Examples of startups riding this trend include Oberlo, Mangools, Teachable, and Substack.

Topic #4

Wellness Shots

Wellness shots are health food beverages in a small size (usually around 2 ounces).

And searches for “wellness shots” have increased 1300% over the past 5 years.

Because they’re dense in vitamins and nutrients, wellness shots are usually consumed for specific health benefits. Even if they don’t always taste great.

Examples of growing brands in this space include Vive Organic, Nuun Immunity, and Turmeric Time.

What's next:
Wellness shots are a part of the functional supplement meta trend.

People are increasingly seeking supplements that promise a tangible benefit, like better sleep and healthier hair.

Examples of supplements in this category include sleep gummies, mushroom coffee, and vegan collagen.

Topic #5

Skyrocketing CPG Category
(Exploding Topics Pro Only)

In this week’s Exploding Topics Pro report we shared a new CPG product category with 99x search growth.

In this week’s report we also shared a:

1. 3D printing SaaS that just hit $25K MRR.

2. Consumer product that recently 30x’d its crowdfunding goal.

3. Rapidly growing AI tool with a $125k seed round from YC.

4. New startup aiming to be “Etsy for graphic design”.

5. Emerging edtech company with hockey stick user growth.

Lots more.

Try Exploding Topics Pro

We hope you enjoyed this week's Exploding Topics Tuesday. See you next week.

Talk Soon,
Brian, Josh and Kyle

PS: Did someone forward this to you? You can hop on the newsletter right here.

Exploding Topics
548 Market St. Suite 95149
San Francisco CA 94104-5401
USA

Unsubscribe Change subscriber options

Exploding Topics - ET: February 16th 2021

Older messages

ET: February 9th 2021

ET: February 2nd 2021

ET: January 26th 2021

You Might Also Like

How are those winning sites doing NOW?

FOD#50: The Rise of Self-Evolving Language Models

💌 Who Do You Love?

Why marketers are leveraging predictive, generative and autonomous AI

The marketing strategy you overlooked

Podcast app setup

Quiet Quitting vs. Setting Healthy Boundaries: Where's The Line?

See who's speaking at SaaStr Annual this year

There Is So Much Money Sloshing Around The System

Agtech's big valuation reset