As a mandatory ritual, industry experts towards the end of every the year evaluate and elect the most needed trends that would extensively magnify the stature of the discipline. The year 2020 did begin with sorted technology trends which were supposed to offer significant exposer to startups in the tech-ecosystem.

Beyond one's wildest dream had anyone ever imagined this year could bring in such perilous pandemic which would change the entire scenario and the conventional up and running of the business environment that has also triggered loss of opportunities and stability. The survey analyses the effect of COVID-19 and its impact on tech start-ups.

Smart health devices are doing the the rounds as these are helping people diagnose and identify symptoms, help the patients monitor their health

A report says, over 60 per cent of them are bootstrapped and majority of them constitute early and mid-stage start-ups with revenue less than INR 1 crore. Around 40 per cent of the tech start-ups have temporarily put a pause on their operations and a lot more are on the process of shutting down.

Hence, reviving the industry and empowering these newly established enterprises was the call of the hour. The industry not only fathomed the new normal but has geared up well to enter into it. Industry experts, investors, entrepreneurs, venture capitalists, corporate executives, government officials have weighed up the situation and figured out measures to combat the sitch, encouraging the normal functioning of the sector. Few of the new trends or practices that will be observed by the startups are:

Relying and uplifting digital experiences
The lockdown situation demanded people to stay home which eventually shifted the attention to enhancing the digital experiences. Tech startups have begun concentrating on transforming the role of digital experiences so as to promote engaging strategies that aids the firms boost up their activities and stride towards the future in spite of the appalling situation.

Overseeing a collaboration between human and AI
The situation has led the companies come up with the concept of investing in explainable yet instrumental AI and its related. The social distancing theory has incited experts to think about promoting the human-AI relationship, making room for new experiences every day. On the other hand, this notion has definitely given enormous leeway for enterprising concerns to perceive new possibilities and take remunerative steps to reimagine their enterprise as well as workforce in the future.

The rise of robotics ecosystem
At the time of this crisis, the one technology that has been assisting humans to stay safe and away from the deadly infection is the greatest innovation, the robots. Tech-startups are taking this opportunity to juggle up state-of-the-art inventions to fortify the role for robotics and automation with the objective of solving all health, education, food and other domain related concerns.

Innovating smart devices
Smart health devices are doing the the rounds as these are helping people diagnose and identify symptoms, help the patients monitor their health, and provide a helping hand to healthcare centres keep track of the health data that can help researchers and governments save lives. Several robotic devices are run through acute alteration or repurposed to meet the criterions of the COVID-19 health requirement.

The Expectations
The tech-ecosystem is positive about innovating new-fangled devices that enforces safe distancing in public spaces, dispensing hand sanitizer, and more. Hence, the situation tells us that the tech-startup ecosystem has not only gained momentum in this unstable set of circumstances but also made technology vision mandatory than before.

"Tech startups which fall in the bucket of online education, remote work technologies, online entertainment, B2B2C tech startups in staples space are the ones that benefit during this downturn. They can take advantage of lower CAC and build strong balance sheets and cash reserves. They can even explore acquisition of weaker competitors. If these Tech startups beef up their tech stack to absorb higher volume with increased security and roll out more products and services, they can stay ahead of the bell curve," states Srikanth Chintalapati, Partner, Mantra Capital.