Finding successful startup trends is often a challenge for entrepreneurs. One of the key questions in growing your own business is determining startup trends. Which idea will lead to failure, and which one will lead to success?
As a rule, it is worthwhile to focus on the interests of investors in the project. Most unicorn startups (innovative projects that have a market valuation above a billion dollars) received enough investment to develop into large companies from an early stage.
The willingness of famous investment funds or large private investors to allocate funds for their development can be seen as a marker of the promise of startup trends: these organizations and people do not invest in anything.
Startup trends in healthcare
The pandemic has forced people to pay more attention to their health. In previous years, services for remote communication with doctors and apps that help track the amount of healthy micronutrients that come into the body with food were actively developed.
In 2026, interest in actively studying the condition of the body with the help of home testing systems has only increased. And while at-home DNA testing is a thing of the past, startups are now ready to offer full-fledged tests and other studies.
Another trend this year is the emphasis on psychological health. Prevention of stress, burnout, and other psychological problems with the help of modern technology is attracting more and more attention from consumers and investors, especially when response centres can be on hand as partners to ensure emergency help is given as soon as it is needed.
Support for psychological health
Statistics show that 83% of middle-aged men and women experience psychological health problems. At the same time, most people are willing to track their mental health and take measures to protect themselves from breakdowns and burnout.
Mobile applications are used to diagnose the psychological state of the user. The service invites users to choose their areas to explore, after which a personal ribbon with exercises and tips to help restore the nervous system and the psyche is formed based on evidence-based medicine. Content is available as text, audio, and video.
Startup trends in work simplification
While people previously expressed fears that artificial intelligence would take away their jobs, the benefits of using it have now become apparent. Employees in businesses that use AI free up time, reduce overwork and reduce the risk of burnout. Startup trends to use artificial intelligence in a wide variety of technology areas in 2026 were in demand and profitable.
Another trend of the year is remote communication. Many companies have switched to a remote work format, with startups solving communication issues in an online environment at their request. Specialized services are taking on the role of Zoom and Skype.
Virtual events
Johnny Boufarhat founded Hopin, a virtual events service, a year before the coronavirus pandemic. The lockdown forced many organizers to cancel events or move them online. Hopin makes it possible to create interactive and in-person online events (webinars, large technical events, conferences, and even weddings) live.
There are some big competitors like Zoom, Skype, and other video communication services, but Hopin was initially designed for events and considered their requirements. The product continues to evolve and offer users new features.
Automating the writing of emails
Writing business emails and letters can consume up to half of an office worker’s time. Work automation helps reduce time spent on repetitive tasks and routines.
Startup Flowrite uses the OpenAI GPT-3 language model and artificial intelligence to create beautiful and clear emails. It is designed for entrepreneurs, investors, human resources, marketing and sales, and helpdesk departments.
Flowrite allows you to expand short answers to a full letter. The creators of the service believe that it will show respect to the interlocutor and help to fully convey the thoughts of the sender. Here, you can create templates for repetitive responses to give your letters personality.
Startup trends for social business
Philanthropy is slowly becoming something people take for granted as a fashionable action. This has been made possible by simplifying ways to help others. For example, banks suggest rounding up purchases (even if it’s 99 kopecks at the end of each check) and using the money saved for charity projects.
One of the successful startup trends will be running a social business. It is not characterized by high margins but allows for helping people or animals with their specific problems. Investors are also willing to allocate substantial funds for such initiatives.
Helping people experiencing homelessness find unhoused work
Beam, a startup that uses modern technology to solve the problems of disadvantaged people. The project is a crowdfunding platform where people choose who to donate money to. Every unemployed person who participates in the project has the potential to get a job. Beam helps to create for users an experience of belonging to a person’s story.
Each person unhoused writes their story, explaining why they found themselves in a difficult situation. Besides, on the page, you can see exactly what the mentee plans to spend the money on.
The Beam user can transfer money to the personal page of an unhoused person to help him buy clothes, rent a place to live for the first time or go to school. The service also allows you to track the progress of formerly unhoused people by the photos in their profiles, so benefactors can make sure that their good impulses lead to real positive results.
Help for relatives of the dead
With the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of untimely deaths around the world has increased. Families of the deceased have a lot of problems with organizing funerals, entering into an inheritance, and paying off debts. Service Empathy is a mobile app for relatives of the deceased. It provides simple tips for organizing funerals and memorial services and dealing with bureaucratic and financial issues.
The app also provides information about benefits and state aid for families in which an adult or child has died. Also, psychological advice on grief is available at Empathy. You can chat with experts who can offer consolation and practical advice.
Saving Money
Another economic crisis has hit the world in the form of a pandemic. And while it’s not the most crushing collapse the market has experienced in decades, more and more consumers are seeing a decline in purchasing power.
In 2026, successful startup trends aim to help save money. Promoting the sharing economy allows new services to be created. And consumers are beginning to significantly reduce spending by adopting smart consumption principles.
Tracking subscriptions
The subscription model for buying goods and paying for services is well established. Consumers have been able to automate bill payments. However, in some cases, it is possible to forget to cancel a subscription that has become unnecessary, and money will be regularly deducted from the account of a hapless consumer.
The Dame service visually displays a list of subscriptions, which allows you to highlight those that haven’t been used for a long time. Subscriptions can be cancelled or changed with a click. The service also shows how much the user spends on subscriptions each month. This approach helps to critically reconsider the need for a lot of subscriptions and reduce their number.
Startup trends in entertainment
People’s attitudes toward entertainment are gradually changing. People prefer to watch movies at home (on a big screen or just a white wall with a projector) rather than at the cinema, as they are less likely to catch a virus and don’t have to listen to the crunch of chips from the neighbouring chair. Electronic readers, a small device that can store hundreds of volumes, have supplanted paper libraries, and messengers are now the primary means of communication.
In 2026, the trend of making money from computer games has developed more. Cybersports competitions draw viewers from all over the world, and the players of NaVi, or Team Liquid, are known by sight.
Conclusions
When analyzing startup trends, it is important to consider customer interest in the project. If thousands of people started to use a product or service already during the first stage of a project’s development, it shows the market’s interest in the venture.
Almost every month, new startups appear in Western countries, attracting the attention of investors. It will be useful for entrepreneurs to follow the success of their colleagues. All that remains is to think about their business model and choose a suitable pricing policy.
