Our new Live Interview Series, Venturing In VC, premiers on Jan. 4, 2022. Venturing in VC is a live interview series where our host, Landon Campbell, interviews investors about how they broke into VC, their daily routines, views on the future, and lessons learned along the way. Who’s our first guest? None other than Turner Novak, Founder of Banana Capital — a founder-focused fund that invests anywhere from Pre-Seed to Pre-IPO with an average initial check size of $150,000-$300,000. Save your free seat to learn how Turner views the world and shares lessons he’s learned along his journey. Inside.com/vivc Venturing in VC is sponsored by SeedInvest — Fundraising isn’t easy, but it just got easier. Apply to start your raise on SeedInvest, or browse highly vetted startups to invest in. |
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 Production and sales of electric vehicles will reach their highest point yet as new models hit the market and consumer interest soars. EV trucks, in particular, will dominate with the planned rollout of the Ford F-150 Lightning pickup truck next summer. Overall, EV sales are expected to reach 650,000 in 2022, an increase of 45% over this year's expected sales, AutoPacific forecasts. More: - Ford halted reservations for the EV Lightning this month after they reached 200,000. The company is now fully oversubscribed with its battery electric vehicles, especially with the Lightning.
- Other pickups due out in 2022 include the GMC Hummer, which went into production last month, and Rivian's RT1, which is expected to arrive in a larger capacity in the spring or summer.
- Tesla's Cybertruck is slated to go into production in 2022, though it remains unclear if any deliveries will happen. Volume production is on track for 2023.
- Other EVs will roll out, either for the first time or more substantially. This includes the Lucid Air Sedan, Fisker Ocean SUV, Volkswagen ID.5 SUV coupe, ID Buzz electric bus, Daimler Mercedes EQS luxury sedan, and Nissan Ariya SUV. (A longer list is available here.)
- Whether they will reach production targets amid ongoing supply chain constraints is up in the air, of course.
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 The semiconductor shortage will continue throughout 2022, impacting multiple types of chips and the production of cars, phones, computers, and appliances. By the end of 2022, buyers may still wait 10-20 weeks for certain chips, though the overall shortage will be less severe than in 2021, Deloitte predicts. More: - On a positive note, a JPMorgan semiconductor analyst believes that more chip supplies could open up in mid-2022.
- 3-, 5-, and 7-nanometer chips will be especially impacted by the shortage, says Deloitte. They are the most difficult to make and are in high demand.
- Consultancy Roland Berger has warned that the crisis will continue to affect carmakers into 2022 and beyond. It recommends that automakers redesign their vehicles to rely less on high-tech components.
- Semiconductor sales worldwide are still expected to rise by 9% in 2022, reaching $574B, according to the Semiconductor Industry Association.
- Demand for new chips and designs and architecture could also galvanize venture-capital investments in chip companies, which are forecasted to reach $6B. Much of that VC funding will occur in China.
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 NFTs will continue to ride a big wave into 2022 and become more commonplace as people understand and embrace them more. There will likely be some record-breaking NFT auctions and sales, though larger sales could cool down over time as the novelty wears off. Gaming and the metaverse were recently chosen as the top two use cases for NFTs in 2022. More: - This year, we already saw Nike acquire RTFKT studios and Adidas partner with the BAYC and other NFT companies. It's likely that more brands will expand into the NFT space in 2022.
- Given the surging demand, blockchain experts believe employers will go on a hiring spree to find people to both create and market NFTs.
- One area that could be big is music and NFTs, which could track royalties for artists and reward the fans who follow them. This year, Jay-Z and Jack Dorsey said they plan on adding NFTs to the Tidal music-streaming app.
- In the future, it's possible that NFTs could expand from mostly online art and music to more items, even physical ones, creating a digital footprint that shows ownership over time.
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 Crypto will face additional regulations worldwide as countries such as the U.S. and India seek to crack down on the largely unregulated technology. On a more positive note, paying with crypto could become much more widespread as retailers like AMC begin accepting digital currencies and companies like Amazon hire experts in the area. More: - While new regulations could prompt frustration at first, they could end up pushing crypto further into the mainstream, predicts Klaros Group's Patrick Haggerty.
- Some experts believe bitcoin could crash in the next few months, after reaching a high of $69,000 in November.
- Retail investors could also switch to other coins on blockchains as they begin to fully perceive the dangers of bitcoin trading.
- Ethereum, solana, polkadot, and cardano are the "coins to watch" in 2022, according to Sussex University finance professor Carol Alexander.
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 More people will access early metaverses through VR and AR headsets, as well as PCS, gaming consoles, and phones. While still a few years away from everyday use, the metaverse already exists through platforms like Fortnite, Decentraland, and Meta's VR social platform Horizon Worlds. Background: - The metaverse is a hybrid of online social experience that can be expanded into 3D or projected onto the real world through augmented reality.
- It's a place where people can socialize with friends and family, attend concerts and sporting events, and even try on clothes and buy homes.
What's ahead: - Consumers are expected to spend roughly $3B on metaverse apps in 2022, according to App Annie predictions.
- Some of the metaverses will be crypto-native and compete with those launched by Meta and other corporate and gaming entities, predicts Bitcoin Foundation chair Brock Pierce.
- Experts believe people will do some of their day-to-day work in the metaverse, replacing Zoom calls with more immersive virtual environments.
- In his 2021 year-end blog, Bill Gates predicted that most virtual meetings will shift from 2D camera image grids to the metaverse, which he described as a "3D space with digital avatars."
Hardware: - New VR hardware that could fuel metaverse adoption further includes Apple's AR/VR headset, Sony's PlayStation VR 2, and Meta's Quest 2 Pro.
- According to analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, the headsets from Apple, Meta, and Sony are due to launch in 4Q 2022, 2H 2022, and 2Q 2022, respectively. All will adopt Wi-Fi 6/6E for a better wireless experience.
- Apple could follow the headset with AR glasses in 2023 or later.
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More 2022 predictions: - SeedInvest is where high-growth startups go to fundraise online. Apply now to get started.*
- Big Tech firms in the U.S. and Europe will face more fines and a new regulatory environment amid heightening anti-trust concerns.
- Space flights and tourism will pick up in 2022, fueled in part by SpaceX's Starship reusable rocket and space vehicle. The first orbital test flight for Starship was recently pushed to March at the earliest.
- By the end of 2022, more than half of all workloads will be on the cloud, an increase from 43% now, predicts analyst Dan Ives.
- 5G will enable more advanced applications in connected vehicles, IoT, smart cities, and more.
- After hovering below the threshold earlier this month, Apple could finally reach a market cap of $3 trillion, becoming the first publicly-traded company to do so.
- Major tech firms like Google will continue to pour money into language-generating AI models, making them more sophisticated. These models can already chat with people, write news stories, and autocomplete code.
- Ransomware attacks will reach a new high as online activity grows. More than 60% of tech executives believe the attacks will rise in 2022.
- The boom in tech-related M&As will continue into 2022, including the closure of Microsoft's purchase of Nuance Communications and Oracle's acquisition of Cerner.
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Upcoming Events: - January 04 - Venturing in VC Episode #1 - featuring Turner Novak (Register Here)
- January 05 - DAOs and the intersection of tech & media with Kinjal Shah (Blockchain Capital) (Register Here)
- January 06 - Augmented and Virtual Reality with Timoni West (VP of AR/VR at Unity) (Register Here)
- January 11 - The Business of Interactive Gambling with Jon Kaplowitz (Penn) (Register Here)
- January 11 - Venturing in VC Episode #2 (Register Here)
- January 13 - Education within the Metaverse with Steve Grubbs (VictoryXR) (Register Here)
- January 25 - Need To Know NoCoder - Leon Young (Cogniss) (Register Here)
- January 27 - Understanding the Metaverse (Register Here)
- February 03 - Blockchain Gaming & Play-to-Earn Economies (Register Here)
- February 10 - The Business of Wellness (Register Here)
- February 17 - Customer Acquisition in a post iOS 14 world (Register Here)
- February 23 - Need to Know NoCoder: Derya Sousa (Kianda Technologies) (Register Here)
- February 24 - Alternative Investments (Register Here)
- March 03 - The $12B Appetite for Amazon Aggregators (Register Here)
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 |  | Beth is an Inside Analyst and a former public policy/investigative reporter. She has covered AI, VR, technology, and e-commerce for Inside. When she's not busy writing, she's hiking in Arizona's desert, playing pickleball, or trying out new Mexican food recipes. |   | | Editor | Eduardo Garcia is a writer and editor based in New York. He is writing an illustrated book about climate change that will be published by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House. Bylines in The New York Times, The Guardian, Slate, Scientific American, and others. In one of his previous lives, Eduardo worked as a Reuters correspondent in Latin America for nearly a decade. | |
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