What technologies are venture capital (VC) firms betting on today? The top 10 industry verticals in terms of capital invested so far in 2016 are: mobile ($14.4 billion), SaaS ($13.4 billion), E-commerce ($8.7 billion), LOHAS (Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability, or green living & technology; $7.5 billion), life sciences ($6.8 billion), big data ($3.8 billion), oncology ($3.5 billion), Fintech ($3.4 billion), manufacturing ($2.4 billion) and cybersecurity ($2.2 billion).
Some headline-grabbing technologies rank lower: artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning are 13th ($1.4 billion), virtual reality (VR) is 16th ($1.1 billion), robotics and drones are 19th ($695 million) and autonomous cars are 23rd ($353 million). This analysis, through October 26, 2016, was developed for Investopedia by PitchBook, the official data provider of the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA). Note that a given deal may fall into multiple categories, if the firm being funded operates in multiple verticals.
