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Topic #1

Zeitview (trends)

Zeitview provides inspection drones and software to monitor high-value infrastructure.

The startup specializes in renewable energy and sustainable infrastructure assets within the solar, wind, and construction sectors. They also perform inspections for telecom and utility providers.

Zeitview conducts inspections via drones and small planes that perform autonomous data collection. Assets like wind turbines can be inspected in 20 minutes or less.  

Once the data is collected, it’s immediately uploaded to the Zeitview analytics platform. The platform features a number of AI capabilities that detect anomalies, recommend maintenance steps, and perform historical data analysis.

Just recently, the startup expanded into the oil and gas industry through their acquisition of Insight M, a methane observation and analytics company.

Zeitview closed a $60M funding round last March to bring their total funding to $174M.

What's Next

Zeitview is part of the Drones for Safety meta trend.

In recent months, drones have steadily been replacing humans when it comes to performing dangerous jobs.

For example, falls are one of the leading causes of death on job sites.

The window-washing Sherpa drone from Lucid Bots is one type of drone that prevents falls.

This easy-to-fly drone carries a cleaning solution and can spray windows with 300 to 4,500 psi of pressure. And, it’s efficient—it covers 300 square feet per minute.

There are also a few drone companies, like Jouav and Voliro, that specialize in heavy industry applications like mining inspections, construction site surveys, and power line mapping.

Another popular application is using drones for police and first responder activity.

For example, Flock Safety, a startup focused on police surveillance and intelligence, recently acquired Aerodome, a startup focused on autonomous drones. The deal was worth $300M.

Flock Safety says they are expanding their aviation division to employ 100 additional engineers.

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Topic #2

Drata (trends)

Drata offers an automated compliance and security platform.

The cloud-based platform provides tools that serve over 20 compliance frameworks like HIPAA, SOC 2, and GDPR.

Users can connect more than 300+ native apps to the Drata platform to enable automated monitoring and evidence collection.

For example, Drata offers “compliance as code” capabilities that connect with GitHub and other tools in order to automatically find and fix compliance issues.

The startup reports that their automation tools make the compliance process 12x faster.
In the last fiscal year, Drata added 2,500 customers to bring their total count to more than 7K customers.

Last February, the startup announced it had achieved $100M in ARR.

Drata’s last funding round was a $200M raise in December 2022 that valued the company at $2B.

What's Next

Drata is part of the Compliance as a Service meta trend.

More than 85% of global business leaders feel that compliance requirements have become more complex in the last three years.

Manual tracking and monitoring strategies are a nightmare—they’re time-consuming and error-prone.

Nearly 60% of enterprises say coordination is critical in their compliance models.

And, with new AI features, automation can make compliance procedures even easier.

That’s why there are a number of startups providing platforms that automate requirements and integrate compliance across the entire business ecosystem.

Here are three startups leading the compliance-as-a-service market:

SumSub provides all-in-one identity verification and compliance services for fintech, crypto, and trading companies. The platform includes KYC and AML screenings as well as transaction monitoring and AI-driven behavioral analytics.

Vanta has labeled their offering as a “trust management platform.” It features 35+ frameworks and AI-powered security questionnaires and reviews. Vanta customers experience an average ROI of 526% within three years. The company was last valued at $4.15B.

Sprinto is a compliance-as-a-service platform that works with 200+ frameworks. It features more than 1K integrations so the tool can automatically check and monitor compliance controls. The startup raised $20M in Series B funding in April 2024.

Topic #3

Beef Tallow Face Cream (trends)

Beef Tallow Face Cream is a skin moisturizer made from rendered beef fat.

Some of these creams blend the tallow with other oils, like jojoba oil, or add essential oils to give it a pleasant scent. (Tallow can smell slightly beefy.)

But the ingredient lists for beef tallow face cream are purposely short. Many consumers choose it because of its simplicity and lack of synthetic ingredients.

Beef tallow contains lipids and several key skincare vitamins like A, E, and K. That’s why it helps protect the skin barrier, reduce inflammation and scarring, and improve hydration levels.

The popularity of beef tallow face cream has recently surged on TikTok and Instagram.

Plus, search interest in “tallow cream” is up nearly 300% in the past two years.

One popular beef tallow face cream brings in $746K in monthly Amazon revenue while another highly-rated tallow face cream brings in $1.27M.

What's Next

Beef Tallow Face Cream is part of the Specialty Moisturizers meta trend.

The face cream market is currently valued at $56.8B.

In the past year, there’s been substantial growth in the use of innovative ingredients that address specific skincare concerns like hyperpigmentation, scarring, and inflammation caused by conditions like eczema and acne.

Here are three specialty moisturizers that are trending right now:

Centella moisturizers first became popular in K beauty about five years ago. But centella, also known as cica and tiger grass, has been used in traditional Chinese medicine for centuries. Individuals who use it as a moisturizer say it decreases redness, heals scars, and strengthens the skin barrier.

Peptide moisturizers are known to plump the skin while smoothing out wrinkles. In fact, peptides are the building blocks of collagen and elastin. These moisturizers can also increase the skin’s ability to hold onto moisture.

Panthenol moisturizers contain the precursor to vitamin B5. These moisturizers are a favorite among people with dry skin because panthenol penetrates deep into the skin to bind water and lock it in. It can also soothe the itching and redness that come with eczema.

Topic #4

MacroFactor (trends)

MacroFactor is a nutrition app with AI features.

Users can choose from a variety of nutrition and fitness goals like fat loss and muscle growth.

After setting a goal, MacroFactor’s algorithm provides recommendations for daily macros (the percentage of protein, fat, and carbs to eat) and calories.

Users enter their body weight each week and the algorithm adjusts its recommendations. Company leaders say the algorithm is smart enough to adjust for slight fluctuations like water weight.

MacroFactor is known for its robust food tracking. The app offers a barcode scanner, a nutrition label scanner, and a verified food database with millions of entries.

Users can also describe their meals in natural language and AI will estimate the nutrition information.

MacroFactor has more than 1M downloads in the Google Play store and 12K ratings in the App Store.

Subscriptions start at $12 per month or $72 per year.

What's Next

MacroFactor is part of the AI Coaching meta trend.

In the past, personal coaching was something that was only available to wealthy individuals or high-ranking corporate officials.

But AI is drastically broadening the reach of personalized coaching.

One of the most popular sectors for AI coaches is the health and fitness industry.

For example, Apple is designing an AI health coach for launch as early as this year.

It will reportedly use data from Apple’s Health app and the Apple watch to coach people on healthy eating, exercise strategies, and more.

There’s also been increased interest in AI personal trainers that develop customized exercise routines.

There are already more than a dozen fitness apps powered by AI. Runna is one that uses AI to create personalized training plans for runners.

AI career coaching is also trending right now.

Individuals can chat with an AI career coach in order to role-play difficult situations, talk through issues, or complete leadership training modules.

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