2024 will undoubtedly go down as a transformational year in many ways, in many domains, and in many markets.
Like all of you, the team at Aery Advisors has been inspired, empowered, and transformed during 2024. We have invested in new partnerships to help our clients and end-users optimize their ability to help themselves by enabling intent-oriented counterparties to collaborate and partner with others through credible platforms, ecosystems, and networks in the startup and emerging growth company space, globally.
A brief overview from our perspective follows...
First, 2024 was a year of significant strides in technology, including:
1. Generative AI Explosion
Models like GPT-4 demonstrated remarkable capabilities in generating human-like text, translating languages, writing different kinds of creative content, and answering your questions in an informative way. This led to a surge in AI-powered tools across various sectors, from content creation and customer service to drug discovery and scientific research.
2. Advancements in Robotics
Robots are becoming increasingly sophisticated, with improved dexterity, mobility, and AI integration. We saw advancements in areas like surgical robotics, logistics and warehouse automation, and even personal robotics for household tasks.
3. Quantum Computing Progress
While still in its early stages, quantum computing made significant progress in 2024, including Google's Willow disclosed just last week. Researchers achieved breakthroughs in developing more stable and powerful quantum processors, bringing us closer to the potential of this revolutionary technology for solving complex problems in fields like drug discovery, materials science, and finance.
Second, 2024 was a year of significant economic uncertainty, including:
1. Geopolitical Tensions: Ongoing conflicts in Ukraine, Israel and elsewhere, trade disputes, and the increasing risk of global instability pose significant threats to economic growth and stability.
2. Inflationary Pressures: While inflation may have moderated in some regions, persistent price increases continue to impact consumer spending and business investment.
3. Debt Sustainability: High levels of debt, both public and private, pose a risk to economic growth and financial stability, particularly in developing countries.
Third, 2024 was a year of significant geopolitical shifts, including:
1. Artificial intelligence (AI). As AI quickly emerges as an important and transformational technology, governments around the world are racing to regulate AI to reduce the potential of sociopolitical risks while at the same time fostering domestic AI innovation to compete globally. The US and China appear to be primarily focused on innovation, while the EU, unfortunately, at present, appears to be primarily focused on regulation.
2. Oceans Galore. Because 90% of global goods trade is shipped via maritime routes, and oceans are home to more than 94% of life on our planet, and deep sea mining is critical to supply minerals to energy supplies, oceans have never been more important economic and national security resources. In light of that, economic actors dependent on globalization economics must, increasingly, take into account ocean geopolitics in designing their supply chain and sustainability strategies and tactics.
3. Year of Democracy and Challenging the Status Quo. In general, incumbents and
traditional political parties fared poorly, as voters were upset by inflation, cultural issues, and the status quo ante, many elections reflected voter frustration by showing incumbents the door. In the UK, the political power swung left, in France, it swung sideways, in the USA, it swung right, and as we go to press now, it is still somewhat unclear which direction things might swing in Germany. In Argentina, President Javier Milei unleashed a wrecking ball on state bureaucracy and became a champion of libertarian politics and those who want the government to operate leanly and within a balanced budget. In the world's largest capital market, the USA, the transition team of President-Elect Trump has tapped Elon Musk and many other highly successful and disruptive innovation leaders in technology, business, finance, law, and medicine to identify and recommend ways to fundamentally transform the efficiency and transparency of the federal government, including new leadership at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) which may finally provide clarity to the rules, regulations and enforcement criteria within the Cryptocurrency markets. The "animal spirits" appear to be very optimistic, and Aery Advisors believes "the force" is strong.
Fourth, for startup and emerging growth companies looking forward, the outlook for 2025 appears bright.
In searching for relevant data and visualizations that illustrate the current state of the startup venture finance market, one source that Aery Advisors relies on is Carta, a leading cap table management platform that is also innovating and expanding into adjacent software and services spaces. With all due credit to Carta's data desk and insights team, we have curated five charts that we believe present a good overview of the current market. We encourage you to review and reflect on what these charts mean for you and your venture finance strategy, tactics and team of trusted advisors moving into 2025.
There has never been a better time to be a global entrepreneur than now. That's our belief and our conviction at Aery Advisors.
