Published on May 7th, 2020 | by Sunit Nandi

5 Tech Startups That Are Succeeding In 2020 (And What You Can Learn From Them)

A lot of faith has been placed in the promise of tech startups in recent years.

These small-scale businesses based on big ideas have garnered a huge amount of attention and investment, promising to fundamentally change how we look at everything from education to exercise to what we eat. Unfortunately, many of these startups struggle to cross the first hurdle, whether that be because of flaws in their idea or execution, and the world misses out.

Some startups do make it though, bringing with them promise for inventive solutions to problems big and small facing the world. In 2020, there are many startups that are moving forward with their investment and developing their projects nicely. Here are five experiencing genuine success and what you can learn from them as an aspiring entrepreneur.

Image source: Unsplash

Legionfarm

Esports are the hot new spectator entertainment on the block. The last decade saw an enormous rise in popularity for virtual contests, with million-dollar prize pools for the top first-person shooter, strategy and fighting games. One of the great things about esports is anyone can get involved if they have the skills and dedication. Legionfarm is here to help you hone those skills and take yourself to the next level.

Legionfarm turns the amateur esports player’s dream of being able to train with one of the best players in the world into a reality. Covering the top competitive video games in the world including Fortnite and Apex Legends, this inventive startup has already amassed over 350,000 hours of paid training from budding professionals, giving them access to “highly-skilled, non-toxic, and extremely helpful teammates”, as explained on legionfarm.com.

The Legionfarm ordering system is simple to do through their website, with users being able to choose the time and number of pro-players they would like to play with. This freedom of choice is essential, showing a startup in tune with its target audience.

What you can learn: While not solving an everyday problem or helping the world to recover precious resources, this tech startup does show the fundamental business principle of following the money. Legionfarm have successfully latched onto one of the hottest industries in the world and provided their customers with a unique experience within it.

Breezeful

Buying a house is difficult. If you can somehow find the place of your dreams in this ultra-competitive market where first-time buyers are regularly priced out you then have to deal with the paperwork, navigating alien terms and finding a mortgage. For a first-time buyer, nothing is simple or straightforward in the world of real estate.

Breezeful is here to solve one of those problems and make sure house-hunters don’t have to settle for a lesser deal. This inventive tech startup uses machine learning technology to help its customers find the best mortgage broker in their area, getting them started on a hassle-free route to owning their own home.

For a small finder’s fee, Breezeful will not only find the best deal for its customers but negotiate on their behalf, taking the haggling and stress out of closing the deal as an inexperienced buyer. This incredibly simple process is clearly outlined on breezeful.com, and assistance is open to anyone regardless of their financial history.

At their best, tech startups help make life easier for regular people. It’s all well and good creating a world defining machinery, but does it make an appreciable difference to people’s lives, how they live and their general happiness? Breezeful takes a simple idea and applies it in a way that looks to bring joy to customer’s lives.

What you can learn: Simple ideas are the key to a successful startup. Take something that most people will have to deal with at some point in their lives and try to streamline it, that’s the key to getting noticed by customers, not just investors.

WINT

There are few commodities more precious than water. It’s the key to life and something that no matter where we are and what we’re doing we need to have and safeguard. Tech startups have been approaching clean water scarcity in inventive ways for years, but there are few looking at water in an easier to understand fashion than WINT.

WINT is all about stopping water waste. Marketing themselves as “water intelligence”, WINT is focused on reducing the amount of water businesses waste annually. They achieve this by using AI technology to highlight discrepancies in water usage throughout your business and locate where there may be a potential leak. This massively reduces time and money spent searching for breakages and allows you to locate an issue before major damage can be done.

As explained on their website, WINT is not just for companies looking to keep their buildings in good condition, but those who are concerned about their water footprint. WINT features detailed analytics around a business’ water usage, allowing them to implement sustainability measures effortlessly.

What you can learn: The best startups look at the big picture, but through the lens of solvable problems. If you want to make a big impact with your tech startup the best approach is to look at genuine changes you can implement and give businesses and individuals the power to make changes themselves.

Shape Therapeutics

As touched upon before, tech startups are often at their best when analyzing the big picture. Shape Therapeutics isn’t just looking at making a difference to part of people’s lives, they’re looking at human life as a whole.

Since its founding in 2018, this tech startup has taken a different approach to the development of cures. Healthcare and tech startups have always had a difficult relationship, with arguments around funding and the focus of projects.

Shape Therapeutics’ inventive technology is highly ambitious though and looks to modify human RNA to correct mutations or eliminate diseases. It is a business focused on developing cures for “neurodegenerative disorders, oncology, metabolic and rare genetic diseases.”

Already raising millions in funding, Shape Therapeutics looks set to bypass competitors looking for a tech cure to these life-altering diseases. Where they go from here depends on the application of their theory, a common stopping point for many healthcare startups.

What you can learn: For as much value as we put into possessions and amenities, healthcare represents an incredibly fertile ground for tech startups to grow in and develop resources for. Don’t be afraid to take on ambitious projects if you have the insight and tools needed to achieve something special in them.

Volta Trucks

Beyond healthcare and commodity usage, the hottest startup trend in the world is eco-friendly initiatives. Protecting the environment is at the heart of many tech entrepreneurs, and Volta Trucks are at the forefront of transforming one of the most polluting industries.

Delivery vehicles are always on the go. They’re out all day, every day, making deliveries in large cities and small towns and polluting them with not just emissions but noise. Volta’s solution to this is to electrify these high-usage vehicles. This Sweedish startup founded in 2019 has begun developing fully electric trucks that produce 50% less noise while in use and zero tailpipe emissions.

Not trying to slap an all-purpose solution over a complicated problem, Volta trucks are custom-made to order requirements and can even be rented by companies using their unique ‘Truck-as-a-Service’ feature. This offers fleet operators the versatility to get the exact vehicles they need without being lumped with something that takes up space and expenses out of use.

Having secured significant funding, this startup is expected to start trialing their vehicles in major cities soon.

What you can learn: It’s not enough to focus on the big issues of the time — you have to offer the major players within them a tangible reason to change. Give them an alternative that doesn’t disrupt the model too significantly and the world will make alterations.

These are just a few of the tech startups that are making waves in various industries this year. Hopefully, their lessons can guide you in your ventures and highlight the space open in the market for inventive ideas and realistic application of them

Tags: 2020, learn from them, startups, success

About the Author

Sunit Nandi I'm the leader of Techno FAQ. Also an engineering college student with immense interest in science and technology. Other interests include literature, coin collecting, gardening and photography. Always wish to live life like there's no tomorrow.