eFounders’ predictions for 2022 — Tech

From web3 to no-code, 2022 is promising to shake up tech like never before. And with 30 startups launched, over 10 years as a startup studio and 2 unicorns under our belt, you can be sure that eFounders has a thing or two to say about the matter.

So, with the help of our partners Thibaud, Amaury, Quentin and Camille, we sought to anticipate some trends that will shape tech in 2022. Buckle up, it’s going to be a big year!

Here are eFounders’ predictions for tech in 2022:

🔮 The advent of web3

• This year will see the emergence of blockchain technology mirroring the off-chain. We will be able to replace parts of processes done on the off-chain (things like authentification and verification for instance) by on-chain web3 tools. Traditional SaaS businesses, specifically those that are regulated and who leverage data from the end-users like Ubble, will be augmented by web3 tools (wallet, NFTs…).
• 2022 will see the birth of APIs that will allow web2 developers to program within the blockchain. With the increase of popularity of blockchain technologies and the advent of web3, the demand for blockchain developers has soared but the supply has not followed. Blockchain programming is indeed very different than web2 programming (a bug in the blockchain is forever), the languages are not the same which altogether result in developers reusing the same existing blocks and templates. We will see the emergence of APIs that will enable web2 developers to use blocks to active blockchains.
• The return of bitcoin. The last couple of years have been marked by the fast development of Ethereum and its many applications (NFTs, DAOs, DeFi…). 2022 will see the revival of Bitcoin in some form or another and the increase of usage of other blockchains, like Solana. These blockchains will build layers to allow for more advanced applications, such as Lightning, and thus rival Ethereum.

“2022 will see the birth of APIs that will allow web2 developers to program within the blockchain.”

🎷 The rise of orchestration platforms

In 2022, we will see more and more orchestration platforms, especially in new sectors. The trend has been coming for the past few years, but now we’re going to see these “meta” platforms that connect others. Numeral for bank payments, but also in HR software, CRM, etc. This trend is driven by the multiplication of many software for any given task/department and now the need to coordinate all of them.

🛠 Its go time for no-code

2022 will witness an increase in vertical no-code tools. We believe that the future of no-code is vertical and industry-specific, and not generic as has been the case in the past with tools like Forest Admin, Bubble or Airtable. Each application that we know today will get its no-code equivalent. It’s already happening with website builders (Webflow & Typedream), e-commerce (Shopify), CRMs (folk)…

This trend is pushed by the need for more software democratisation so that more people can access software but more importantly so that more people can tweak their tools to their specific use cases. Think about the CRM, Salesforce is great for sales teams but if you want to tweak Salesforce to use it for stakeholders, journalists, or any other type of contact you need to activate, then Salesforce isn’t suitable anymore. Hence the need for more no-code vertical tools to help every job function excel.

“The future of no-code is vertical and industry-specific.”

🧱 Building blocks for Fintech

We predict that the second generation of fintechs in 2022 is going to be built using a majority of “fintech building blocks” (BaaS, core banking as a service, KYC as a service, payment automation, fraud prevention, etc.) instead of building most of this software themselves as the first generation did between 2010–2020.

🚀 Taking legacy tools to the next level

With open APIs and integrations becoming more widely available, a new generation of tools has started to emerge, that is built on legacy systems but bring a fresher interface, more collaboration, new features and a potential verticalization of some use cases. They bring our good old tools to the next level.

For instance, Dooly has done this for Salesforce. We believe this is only the beginning and many other tools will follow. So many legacy tools deserve to be improved and extended. This could also apply to legacy banks, by the way 😀

📈 Unpacking the implications of the PLG model

Product-led growth will continue to become the default GTM path for a lot of companies this year, with many implications on the way companies operate and organize themselves.

There are three areas where new generations of tools will emerge (or are already emerging!):

• Customer data is a mess for most companies. This must change — customer data need to become ubiquitous, available for everybody and for all tools, usable by growth teams and not only data engineers, etc. June.so, Airbyte or Higtouch are paving the way.
• CRM as we know it is dead. Customer journeys are becoming individualized, alternating sales, support, success phases, and the full notion of what a CRM is must be rethought.
  Product development tools are becoming the central hub of all teams where all the operational teams collaborate: developers, designers, customer success, sales, marketing…

“Customer journeys are becoming individualized, alternating sales, support and success phases.”

🤑 Early-stage funding transformed

Several trends (sometimes conflicting) will affect early-stage funding:

1) Flight to quality — the funding gap will continue to grow between hot startups who will raise in a few days huge Seed rounds and/or at high valuation and the bulk of the market. For this majority, the barrier to raise will continue to be high.

2) The sensitivity of founders to dilution will keep increasing (especially at Seed stage), resulting in most of the rounds ending at 10–15% dilution, excluding ESOP (compared to 20–25% a few years ago).

3) Angels, super angels, solo VCs, microfunds… will continue to get more of a share of early stage funding rounds (and often the full rounds), playing on the velocity of their decision making and their (supposed) strong operational support to portfolio companies

4) Adding all these factors and the new YC deal (investing up to 500k), running a pure seed fund in 2022 will be (way) more difficult.

We told you 2022 was going to be a big year!

If you’re ready to tackle the future of tech with us, co-found a startup with us as a Founder, or apply to one of our open positions at our studio or one of our companies. Don’t be shy!😃

Have your say: vote in our Twitter poll and comment on our LinkedIn post — what do you (yes, you!) think is going to be the next big thing in tech this year?