Hi there,

Here is this week in charts. 

Age is just a number. As the pandemic wanes, older consumers are expected to drive a wave of spending across travel, medical services, luxury goods, and more. Consumers aged 65+ commanded about $8.4T in spending power in 2020 — a number that’s expected to grow to $14T over the next 10 years per World Data Lab, signaling a key opportunity for aging-focused tech solutions. Investors also expect that seniors, pushed online during the pandemic, will permanently embrace e-commerce, social networks, and other aspects of the online economy.

R&D goes looking for some R&R. Tech employment growth slowed in major tech hubs like San Francisco and San Jose during the pandemic, according to Brookings data. While many tech jobs are still being created in these cities, smaller Sun Belt cities and vacation centers (e.g., Virginia Beach, VA), college towns (e.g., Chapel Hill, NC), and northern business centers (e.g., Philadelphia, PA) saw accelerated growth in 2020. Amid the rise of remote work, tech innovation (and investment) is spreading across the US.

You may see the doctor now. Telehealth usage in the US has fluctuated alongside the pandemic. After dropping to a pandemic-low percentage of claims last October (4.1%), virtual care usage ticked up in November and December with the rise of the Omicron variant. Overall, mental health diagnoses are the most frequent telehealth diagnosis, spurring a wave of investment in mental health tech startups ($5.5B in 2021). Where telehealth demand stabilizes after the pandemic remains to be seen.

My little AI pony. A record 65 artificial intelligence companies reached $1B+ valuations in 2021, up over 5x from the previous year. There were 125 AI unicorns globally at the end of 2021. In the fourth quarter, 10 new AI vendors joined the unicorn club, including 3 from healthcare (SWORD Health, Owkin, and Dental Monitoring).

Nickel for your thoughts. Nickel prices doubled to hit $100,000 per tonne briefly on Tuesday, prompting the London Metal Exchange to suspend trading. While prices climbed following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, they surged on Tuesday due to short covering by a Chinese nickel and stainless steel producer, which could face billions of dollars in losses. Russia is the world’s third-largest producer of nickel — used to make EV batteries — raising supply concerns for car manufacturers.

Not as easy as pie. Did the person who made this make it while fasting?
 

I love you.

Anand

@asanwal
 

P.S. Catch the unveiling of our 2022 Retail Tech 100 on Tuesday (March 15). Save your spot here.

Disruption 101. Beyond retail, Amazon is attacking a whole host of new industries.

Hear me roar. Tiger Global has accelerated its dealmaking in 2022 so far, doing 2 deals per business day.