Glossary & definition­s
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      1. Advice and answers from the Dealroom team
      2. Glossary & definition­s

      Industries and sub-industries

      Our industries are part of our blue tags. Here you will find our definitions.

      Before you learn about our definitions, did you know that we have reports that dive deeper into our industries? Click here to find them. By selecting a "sector" you can find the reports we have available for the industries you are about to discover.

      Energy

      Startups working towards transitioning to sustainable energy, making our energy consumption greener and more efficient, and solutions for recycling and handling waste.
      From energy-efficient buildings to AI-powered smart meters to enterprise-grade solutions for solar and wind power, renewable energies and storage are a few examples.

      Sub-industry

      Description

      Clean Energy

      Reduces carbon dioxide emissions through significant energy efficiency improvements, the sustainable use of resources, or environmental protection activities.
      Renewable energies such as wind, solar, hydro-power or geothermal are examples.

      Example: Scatec Solar

      Energy Efficiency

      Using less energy to provide the same level of energy: energy-saving technologies, smart grid, energy-efficient buildings.

      Example: Tado

      Oil & Gas

      Oil refining technologies, pipe monitoring systems, oil & gas transport tech or software.

      Energy Providers

      Startups providing energy, such as electricity or gas.

      Example: Lumos

      Waste Solution

      Process of treating solid wastes and offers a variety of solutions for recycling items that don’t belong to trash. Solutions for sustainable waste disposal.

      Example: Greyparrot

      Water

      Water treatment, water waste, producing industrial water, filtration technologies, water monitoring, and irrigation.

      Example: Sallinova

      Energy Storage

      Technologies meant to capture energy to store it for later use, such as batteries, electric storage devices, hydrogen.

      Example: Northvolt

       

      Fashion

      Technology that enables a fashion experience when you wear it or interact with it

      Sub-industry

      Description

      Apparel

      Clothing technology. It can involve the manufacturing, materials – innovations that have been developed and used. New fibres or virtual reality fitting for example.

      Example: Vinted

      Luxury

      New luxury fashion items, VR & AR luxury experiences.

      Example: Farfetch

      Accessories

      Accessories such as glasses, sunglasses, jewellery, connected accessories.

      Example: Ace & Tate

      Footwear

      Footwear (Shoes) incorporating smart textiles, smart tech, wearable tech.

      Example: Allbirds

       

      Fintech

      Fintech is the intersection between finance and technology. The following categorization is constantly evolving to keep up with the sector evolution. ABN AMRO Ventures, our main partner for Fintech and a leading Fintech CVC also contributed to this taxonomy. This taxonomy is also reflected on the fintech platform.

      The fintech industry in Dealroom is broken down into the 8 sub-industries below:

      Sub-industry

      Description

      Example

      Payments

      Startups developing solutions to improve the way financial transactions are settled, and how money is transferred between two parties.

      Banking

      Startups developing solutions, and/or digitising the activities, services and products of traditional banks.

      Crypto and Defi

      Startups developing solutions for the use and exchange cryptocurrencies or financial startups using cryptocurrencies as a core feature in their business.

      Wealth Management

      Startups developing solutions assisting in investment decision-making or providing a way to invest in assets, stocks, securities and other assets.

      Mortgages & Lending

      Startups developing solutions enabling digital lending (loans, lending platforms), providing online mortgage brokerage services, providing finance for individuals and businesses.

      Insurance

      Insurtech is the intersection between insurance and technology. It includeds startups providing insurance services with digital-first and innovative models, or helping insurers, agents and brokers increase the efficiency of their processes

      Financial Management Solutions

      Solutions such as software and algorithms helping companies and consumers better manage their financial operations and processes. Eg: accounting software, billing software.

      RegTech

      Solutions to comply with regulatory requirements in financial services, from customer identification (KYC), anti-money laundering, fraud detection and compliance & reporting.

       

      Food

      FoodTech is an ecosystem made of all the agrifood entrepreneurs and startups (from production to distribution) innovating on the products, distribution, marketing or business model.

      Sub-industry

      Description

      Logistics & Delivery

      Startups answering the delivery challenges in the food industry, with home delivery of groceries, restaurant meals or meals prepared in their own kitchens.

      Example: Meal Kits, delivery marketplaces, discovery boxes, restaurant delivery, delivery robots

      In-Store Retail & Restaurant Tech

      Startups reinventing the restaurant industry. It means improving the management of restaurants and institutional catering, connecting customers and businesses directly to local chefs for catering and new experiences.

      Startups developing solutions for the food retail industry, from the digitalisation of the supply chain to a better in-store shopper experience.

      Example: reservation platforms, food service management. catering, restaurant software

      Innovative Food

      Startups developing new food products answering the need for more transparency, health and environmental concerns. Products range from market innovations to radical disruptions using revolutionary ingredients.

      Example: alternative protein, future foods, meal substitutes, packaging, product innovation, drinks

      AgriTech

      Startups disrupting agriculture. They come up with solutions to improve farming output and quality using drones, sensors and farm management software. AgTech is also about new farm products, next-generation farms and urban farming.

      Example: farm management software, drones & robots, urban and novel farms, agriculture marketplaces, ag-biotech

      Kitchen & Cooking Tech

      Startups developing new generation of appliances or cookware. They provide more technology, new distribution channels or more personalisation.

      Example: cooking robots

       

      Gaming

      Startups involved in the development, marketing, and monetisation of games (video games, online games, board games…)

      Sub-industry

      Description

      eSports

      Startups in the electronic sports sphere, where a multiplayer video game is played competitively for spectators, typically by professional gamers.

      Example: ESL

      Mobile Gaming

      Startups involved in the development, marketing, and monetisation of mobile games (iOS and Android games).

      Example: Zynga

      Console & PC Gaming

      Startups involved in the development, marketing, and monetisation of video games.

      Example: Krafton

      Board Games

      Startups involved in the development, marketing, and monetisation of board games.

      Betting & Gambling

      Startups involved in the development, marketing, and monetisation of online betting & gambling games.

      Example: PokerStars

       

      Health

      Health Tech, or digital health, uses technology (databases, applications, mobiles, wearables) to improve the delivery, payment, and/or consumption of care, with the ability to increase the development and commercialisation of medicinal products

      Sub-industry

      Description

      Medical Devices

      Startups developing devices or instruments with the purpose of preventing, monitoring, alleviating or treating diseases and handicaps. Also the investigation, replacement or modification of the anatomy or of a physiological process. And the control of conception.

      Health Platform

      Startups developing digital health platforms with the aim of improving health management for both patients and service providers.

      Biotechnology

      Startups developing health solutions involving the use of living cells and cell materials for the purpose of bettering the health of humans.

      Pharmaceutical

      Startups developing and discovering new drugs.

       

      Transportation

      Startups developing solutions, software, tools and machines used to solve problems or improve conditions with respect to the movement of people and goods

      Sub-industry

      Description

      Mobility

      Startups developing transportation solutions getting people from point A to point B. This includes ride hailing, ride sharing, public transport and micromobility.

       

      Example: Uber, Via, BlaBlaCar, Mobike

      Search, Buy & Rent

      Marketplaces and other solutions to enable and facilitate new and used vehicle purchasing, vehicle rental and leasing, as well financing.

       

      Maintenance

      Solutions to improve maintenance and aftermarket for vehicles including platforms to connect users to networks of repair dealers, claim estimation for insurance, B2B solutions and marketplaces for parts.

       

      Navigation & Mapping

      Startups developing solutions to track vehicles, provide navigation and mapping. This includes navigation apps, telematics providers, platforms for mobility data sharing, logistics tracking.

       

      Autonomous & Sensor Tech

      Startups developing solutions for autonomous driving or to enhance other vehicle sensing capabilities. This included autonomous driving vehicles, software and sensors and V2X.

       

      Vehicle Production

      Startups producing or developing solutions for vehicle production, as well as vehicle parts such as motors, chassis.

       

      Logistics & Delivery

      Startups developing solutions for the transportation of goods, the packaging of products for storage and shipment involving both internal and external distribution networks.

       

      Example: Flexport, Glovo, Forto

       

      Insurance

      ℹ️ Tip: To filter for Insurtech companies just use Insurance subindustries of Fintech, as in the insurtech ecosystem.

      What is Insuretech?

      Insurance is a complex industry, therefore it’s recommended to view The State of European Insurtech which gives a good overview of Insurtech.

      Insurtech is the intersection between insurance and technology. Insurance as an industry touches many other sectors mobility and real estate (car and home insurance), health (health insurance) etc, for a basic overview see Insurance ecosystems. This does not mean that every startup in telemedicine which works with an insurance company or a generic enterprise software solution used also by insurers are considered insurtech. Insurtech need to have a predominant part of their business strictly related to insurance, also just offering insurance as part of a marketplace does not make them insurtechs.

      A good example is the distinction between Alan and players such as Kry. Both offer telemedicine services, but Alan does that coming from health insurance and adds those services as add ons and expansion of their offer, while Kry is a telemedicine provider which partners with insurers. Alan is, therefore, an insurtech and tagged under insurance in fintech, while Kry is not. For startups related to insurance but that are not insurtech there is a tag “Insurtech related”, this is only indicative and used mainly to highlight startups that have already disclosed partnerships with the insurance/insurtech industry.

      The insurance value chain is complex and the industry has its own jargon. The basic insurance value chain is shown in the image below.
      Reinsurers, like SwissRe, have the role of transferring risk from the insurers, they are basically the insurers of the insurers. Insurers are the ones who carry the risk and are therefore referred also as carriers.

      Insurtech division by value chain:

      The main processes involved in insurance are reinsurance, product & pricing, underwriting, distribution & brokerage, claim management.

      • Reinsurance: these startups focus on optimizing reinsurance processes or acting as a bridge between reinsurers and insurers/insurtechs. For instance, acting as risk transfer marketplaces. Examples: Nayms, RYSKEX.

      • For an overview of startups working on product & pricing, underwriting and claim management visit this landscape. These startups offer SaaS to insurance companies to improve these key processes.

      • Insurtech product and price: these startups help insurance companies optimize the definition of their products and their pricing, often enhancing the role of actuaries in the insurance industry. Examples: Akur8, Quantemplate.

      • Insurtech underwriting: underwriting is the process in which the insurance companies evaluates the risk profiles of the customer and decide if to establish a contract with him and which is the level of risk of the client. The process is highly data-driven and requires also to detect potential frauds. Examples: Concirrus, Cytora.

      • Insurtech claim: the claim is a process that goes from the notification of a loss from the client to the analysis of its validity and entity of the damage and its internal workflow processing. Startups in this field offer either workflow management solutions for the claims handling or solutions based on IoT, computer vision, satellite imagery etc to assess the claim remotely and automatically. Example: Omni:us, Tractable.

      • Insurtech distribution and brokerage: startups with this tag offer either solutions to improve the distribution process to insurers, or act as marketplaces, comparator websites and brokers selling policies themselves. Example: Xempus, Gocompare, Clark
        A very important trend in distribution is Embedded insurance, more in this landscape.

      • MGA: Managing General Agent or Managing General Underwriter (MGA/MGU) are startups that do not have an insurance carrier license, so are not insurers, but establish partnerships with insurers/insurtechs who are licensed and give them the permission to carry the risk. So MGAs act in front of the customer as full insurers while not being it. Example: Bought by Many, Luko, Inshur.
        This is a rather difficult distinction to make, also startups often transition from being just distributors to acting as MGAs and then as full insurers as discussed in the upcoming insurtech report. This landscape elaborates this transition more in-depth.

      • Challenger insurance: challenger insurance refers to the insurtech startups which have a license and are so independent to create products and underwrite risk for clients. Example: Lemonade, Alan, Root insurance.

      • Full stack insurance: refers to insurtech who as the challengers have a license and cover the whole value chain but do not sell directly to customers or businesses but provide insurance as a service (IaaS) and white-label solutions to other players which then offer the insurance service. Example: Element Insurance, Qover.

      Insurtech division by sector:

      Insurance is primarily divided into two branches: Life and Health (L&H) and Product and Casualty (P&C).

      L&H insurance (LandH insurance) is composed of Health and Life and Annuity (L&A).

      • Health insurance: insurance segment which covers medical expenses and increasingly includes additional services such as digital platforms (telemedicine and other services) and digital health engaging and rewarding for a healthy lifestyle. Example: Alan, Dacadoo, YAS.life

      • Life insurance: insurance segment which provides a financial payout in case of death, or critical illness in some cases, to allow beloved to sustain living expenses in case of tragedies. Sometimes mixed with pension insurance and savings products. Example: Bestow, Xempus, DeadHappy

      • Pension insurance: insurance segment which provides savings products with a certain guaranteed return. Example: Vantik, Brand New Day
        More about life and pension insurance in this landscape.

      P&C insurance (PandC insurance) covers losses in the form of damages to assets. It is composed of several segments usually divided into Commercial lines (B2B) such as: general commercial insurance (liability etc), cyber insurance, property insurance and Personal Lines (B2C) such as car insurance, house insurance, pet insurance, product insurance.

      • House and property insurance: insurance segment which covers damages to properties such as private houses and commercial buildings, including solutions for underwriting and claims management such as mobile, drone or satellite image capture and analytics. It includes also insurance of objects inside the house, rental insurance and title insurance. A more granular subdivision can be found in this landscape. Example: Luko, Urban Jungle, Hippo insurance, Hover, Cape analytics

      • Climate risk: indicates insurance services related to weather and climate events such as wildfires, floods, hurricanes, often referred to as Catastrophe insurance. It includes also farming insurance which can be filtered with the food industry. Example: Floodflash, Wetterheld, Pula advisor, Understory

      • Parametric insurance: refers to insurance products where the premium and payout is automatically calculated based on index parameters, when the parameters reach a certain level (such as water depth or wind speed) it triggers the payments. The claim process is therefore automatic and transparent. It has been mostly been applied to the Catastrophe industry, but other applications include cyber&business continuity, cargo transport etc. More in this landscape. Example: Floodflash, Exante, Parsyl, Previsico

      • Car insurance: insurance segments for car vehicles, includes also telematics solutions for insurance
        Example: Prima.it, Snapsheet, Concirrus, Marshmallow, By miles, Root insurance,
        ​Vehicle insurance: adjacent sectors to car insurance such as Ridesharing and food delivery (Example: Zego), truck insurance (Example: HVDI), bike insurance (Example: Laka), drone insurance (Example: flock)

      • Product insurance: insurance segments covering product warranties, strongly related to e-commerce and retail. Example: Simplesurance, Extend

      • Cyber insurance: insurance that covers damages from cyber attacks, mostly for businesses. It sees many cybersecurity specialists establishing partnerships with insurtech/insurers. Example: Coalition, Kovrr, Cybersmart. It includes also solutions for crypto assets and other digital assets. Example: Nayms, Coincover.

      • Commercial insurance: includes insurance covers such as General Liability, Workers’ Compensation, Professional Liability, Commercial Auto, Tools & Equipment for businesses (especially SMEs, freelancers, contractors, entrepreneurs). Example: Next insurance, Pie Insurance, InsureQ, Tapoly

      • Travel insurance: it is composed of either products more related to P&C lines such as flight delay and luggage damages/loss and related to L&H such as medical coverage during travel abroad. Example: Battleface, Koala insurance

      • Pet insurance: insurance products for pet ownership, can include veterinarian and health coverage as well as liability insurance. Example: BoughtbyMany, Pawlicy Advisor

       

      Real Estate

      Real Estate tech or PropTech (property technology) is the use of information technology to help individuals and companies research, buy, sell and manage real estate.

      Sub-industry

      Description

      Mortgages & Lending

      These subsets of Real Estate startups provide financial services specifically tailored towards the real estate market. These solutions will then be focused on mortgages, for example. Importantly, there might be an overlap with FinTech startups.

      Example: Assetz Capital

      Workspaces

      Workspace refers to premises (either private or public), provided to help new businesses to establish themselves. These typically provide not only physical space and utilities but also administrative services and links to support and finance organizations, as well as peer support among the tenants. In Dealroom, a “Workspace” doesn’t take equity from its tenants, whereas an “Accelerator” does.

      Example: WeWork

      Search, Buy & Rent

      These types of startups are generally platforms that facilitate the discovery, purchase or rent of homes/rooms. Often those companies function on a marketplace-based model, and their revenue is generated with commissions.

      Example: HousingAnywhere

      Construction

      These startups provide solutions that facilitate the construction/surveying of real estate properties.

      Example: Civdrone

      Real Estate Software

      These startups provide a software-based solution to make the management and overview of facilities easier and more efficient. Another interesting example is about companies that provide energy efficiency solutions for ‘smart buildings’, these, too, can provide software specific for the real estate market.

      Example: SMS Assist

      Real Estates Services

      These companies provide services around the real estate world that cannot be categorized under the aforementioned categories. For example, these could include tailored customer service and interior design solutions.

      Example: Happy Wait

       

      Marketing

      Marketing technology (also known as MarTech) describes any number of systems and tools that help marketers better engage with potential and existing customers.

      Sub-industry

      Description

      AdTech

      Advertising Technology (adtech) is defined as different types of analytics and digital tools used in the context of advertising.

      Example: Marin Software

      CRM & Sales

      Startups developing tools and software for managing relationships and interactions with customers and potential customers.

      Example: Pipedrive

      E-commerce Solutions

      Startups developing products and services that help a company conduct business electronically (its e-commerce business).

      Example: Mirakl

      Marketing Analytics

      Startups developing tools and software to help companies derive insights and analytics from their marketing activities. To understand how their customers interact for example.

      Example: 6sense

       

      Media

      Media technology is any hardware, software, or tool that is used to compose, create, produce, deliver and manage media including audio, video, images, information, interactive media, video games, virtual reality, and augmented reality environments.

      Sub-industry

      Description

      Content production

      Startups that develop tools, physical or digital products or a platform that allows, facilitates, enable users to create and share content of various type: writing, images, music, videos.

      Example: GoPro

      Publishing

      Startups which product or platform is about the distribution of free or paid content – text, images, music, information – such as a newsletter, self-publishing, book reviews.

      Example: Substack

      Social Media

      Startups which product or platform is about the creation and sharing of various form of content – text, images, music – in one or more virtual communities.

      Example: Twitter

      Streaming

      Startups that develop a streaming product of platform. In this form of media, content – video, music, audio – is constantly delivered to the end-user while being delivered by a providor. Streaming is so used to described a type of medium. Live-streaming is when this content is delivered in real-time.

      Example: Quibi

       

      Other Industries

      Jobs Recruitment

      Startups developing solutions, services & software designed to improve the recruitment process within a business or for individuals seeking a job.
      ​

      Home Living

      Startups developing products and services improving the comfort of homes. It includes home automation or domotics, smart home tech, garden tech, connected devices to be used inside the home.
      ​

      Telecom

      Startups developing solutions aiming at disrupting the telecommunications industry: startups offering mobile plans, internet subscriptions, better communication services.
      ​

      Education

      Startups developing solutions, software and tools designed to enhance teacher-led learning in classrooms and improve students’ education outcomes.
      ​

      Enterprise Software

      Startups developing computer software designed to satisfy the needs of an organisation rather than individual users.
      ​

      Robotics

      Startups dealing with the design, construction, operation, and use of robots, as well as computer systems for their control, sensory feedback, and information processing.
      ​

      Dating

      Startups developing apps, solutions and technology for the dating industry (Tinder, online dating, facilitating people to meet with a potential partner).
      ​

      Event Tech

      Startups developing solutions and technologies helping you plan, manage and organise data when putting on an event (conference, wedding, party, etc).
      ​

      Semiconductors

      Startups developing innovative semiconductors (chips), working on processors, chips for sensors, chips for the automotive sector, AI chips, IoT chips, data centre chips.
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      Wellness Beauty

      Startups providing consumers with products and services designed to improve mental and physical wellbeing

      Startups using technology to make better shampoos, makeup accessories, perfume and beauty products in general.
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      Kids

      Startups developing products, solutions and tech for children or to help parents with their children.
      ​

      Music

      Startups developing products, solutions and tech-related to music, streaming music, musical instruments, musical equipment, discovering music, music apps, music creation.
      ​

      Hosting

      Startups developing solutions for housing, serving, and maintaining files and data online or offline.