Last year was an extraordinary year for venture with $330B of capital invested in innovation spanning fintech to e-comm and crypto to cybersecurity, more than any year on record. In this hyper-competitive environment it is essential for thematic investors, like Jump, to provide clarity on the trends we are studying, on what excites us and ultimately what we are investing behind.

Below, you’ll find Jump’s areas of focus for 2022. They span fintech, entertainment, crypto, vertical SaaS, the future of work, and much more. Together, they represent our collective outlook on the most promising arenas for investment in the coming year.

The Rise of Independents

We invest in platforms that empower independent creators.

W2s have become 1099s. Social platforms have evolved from giving everyone a voice to enabling anyone the chance to grow and monetize their fanbase. Innovations in payments have helped that monetization fall even closer to the point of inspiration. And digital assets, NFTs and the metaverse are allowing creators to build businesses that don’t rely on rent-seeking middlemen. We invest in collaborative venues for commerce, investment, community and work.

• Customer evangelists tooling

• Community-driven growth platforms

• Vertical platforms for creators

• Personal finance tools for creators

• Social learning and investing platforms

• Play-to-earn tooling

The Nimble Enterprise

We invest in smarter, more efficient ways of working.

When the best talent leaves, who’s left to pick up the slack? Millions of skilled workers have transitioned to freelancing, joining startups or moving to web3, organizations are adapting to leaner teams that are remote-first.

We support tech that automates key functions, increases productivity of employees operating from anywhere, and helps managers and employees execute in a nimble work environment.

• Reskilling platforms

• Remote-first, BYOE tools

• MLOps tooling

• Low-code / no-code tooling

• Managing cloud environments

• Function and vertical specific workflow automation

The Ownership Economy

We support the transition from sharing to owning across all asset classes.

COVID has reset perspectives on the “sharing economy.” Renters are becoming homeowners; rideshare customers are buying their first car. There are new avenues for building wealth with less transactional friction. Crypto, low interest rates and democratized access to investment has brought new people into capital markets and increased this appetite for ownership. We invest in tools that enable the growing population of self-directed investors and tools to help manage this increasingly disparate & complex landscape.

• Tax automation & optimization

• 401k migration

• Access to crypto and alternative assets

• Estate planning / 529’s / life event planning

• Platforms to support rapidly growing private equity markets

• Property investment and management

• Digital asset management & convergence with traditional

Breaking the Fourth Wall

We invest in tools that transform the relationship between viewer and content.

Attention is increasingly won by entertainment that consumers can actively engage with, for example by betting on sports or modifying their virtual world. This content is also increasingly becoming a venue for commerce, given developments in payments, retail, investing and credentialing. We invest in the boldest immersive digital experiences that blur the lines across traditional entertainment, finance, commerce and gaming.

• Sports betting platforms

• Game Studios focused on F2P

• Tools that enable iGaming expansion and modding

• Tools accelerating globalization of content & entertainment

• Kid-focused content and platforms

Commerce without Borders

We invest in companies that are shaping where–and how–purchases happen

The pandemic accelerated the pace by which consumers are shopping online, in both traditional e-commerce spaces and innovative, unexpected points of purchase. We expect the next wave to involve technology that infuses commerce throughout consumer’s lives, creates a perennial rather than transactional dynamic with vendors, and brings the last physical commerce holdouts to ecommerce.

• Commerce embedded in messaging

• Circular economy—reselling tools/platforms

• Flexible and universal checkout solutions

• Embedded finance solutions to increase access

• B2B marketplaces and productized services

• Globalizing commerce

The Next Frontier of Trust and Risk

We invest in companies that help mitigate risk and enable trusted relationships between consumers and businesses.

The explosion of customer-business interactions and relationships has made both sides more skeptical, vulnerable to attack and reinforcing the need for establishing more trust. Increased regulation is lagging the market need, but it will follow. We’re investing in companies that are helping business and consumers manage that risk across cybersecurity, fintech platforms, compliance automation and legal.

• Platforms that quantify and amortize risk

• Compliance and customer identity tooling & automation

• Cyber solutions that protect the growing tapestry of data in the cloud

• Solutions that create trust through insurance-like products

• Fintech solutions that reduce the gap on customer knowledge or layers in payment flow

• Enabling trust within crypto transactions

If you are an investor or founder in these areas, please reach out – we’d love to chat! [email protected]