10 Hottest Industries for New Business This Year

10 industries will be growing a lot faster than all others. Of these, 6 will accelerate more rapidly than the other 4 — but they all have a good head of steam. It breaks down like this.

The first group shows the largest increases in both need and spending. They include:

• Private Equity
• Media
• Technology
• Big Pharma
• Food/Agritech
• Biotech

These funds have record levels of capital to invest — and they are eager. These funds will look to large firms for the biggest deals and small and midsize firms for smaller deals. Look for them to be the buyers when large companies sell off non-strategic businesses.

Companies are jockeying for positions in the streaming and content-driven world. Look for transactions and deals of all sizes. Tech companies often include themselves as media companies. Content is not limited to movies, TV, and sports — add in gaming, music catalogs, education, and news.

Despite public scrutiny most tech companies will keep making acquisitions — especially at the small and midsize level. Some large-cap tech still plans large transactions to establish market position.

Big pharma companies are looking to build out their pipeline and streamline their product lines and will look to biotech start-ups and larger targets.

Advances in food technology are driving IP, regulatory work, transactions, and capital raising along with litigation. The rate of change in this arena rivals other technology markets — and brings a host of legal issues with it.

The COVID-19 vaccine race increased the pace of R&D and transactions across all drug development. These companies will be raising capital, cutting deals, and entering into transactions.

The 4 industries below expect heady growth as well:

• Financial Services
• Investment Banking
• Health Care
• Banks

Financial Services face regulatory demands, class actions, and labor actions. They also are under intense pressure to lower costs by getting larger (acquisitions) or selling off non-core assets.

Both the large and boutique investment banks are benefiting from record levels of M&A, Private Equity, and IPOs. They are big consumers of legal services and referral sources — offering double-edged growth. Investment Banking will remain robust as the M&A and Private Equity markets stay exceptionally strong.

Health Care faces regulatory scrutiny, labor issues, capacity management and the same demands for capital pre-pandemic. In addition, health care organizations are acquisitive as the industry consolidates.

Look for banks to consolidate to reduce costs and help justify the technology investment they will have to make to stay competitive. Look for more activity at regional and midsize banks.