Hey,
Here’s this week’s list of rapidly trending topics, insights and analysis.
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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).
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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).
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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.
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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.
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.
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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.
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We hope you enjoyed this week's Exploding Topics Tuesday. See you next week.
Talk Soon,
Brian, Josh and Kyle
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