Corona Virus and Its Impact on Start-Ups

Author-Shuvasmita Nanda

The novel corona virus-like an inferno is expanding across the world, altering not only the human body but also impacting the world’s economy at large. The start-ups are nowhere safe from this and are damaged the most. Evaluation done states that the pandemic will yield the world economy more than $1Tn in the prevailing situation. The preventions lockdowns and social distancing directed itself have jolted the routine task of the start-ups which could be realized from the slump in the stock market.

The stock markets across the globe whether it is FTSE, Nikkei, Sensex, Dow Jones, NYSE or Hang Seng all have felt the virus heat. The worst performing according to Inc42 between January 10 and March 16 were S&P BSE Sensex, which shed 10.2K points resulting in a 25% decline. The COVID-19 outburst has troubled both the demand and supply chain because of which many major corporations have lowered their expected revenue for the last quarter of the fiscal year 2020.

The virus has severely jammed many momentous countries like Italy, Spain, Germany, and France. The Start-ups facing a growling impact of this plight are afflicted either positively or negatively. While some are floundering in the travel turmoil but there are still a few who are amassing money supplying the medical requirements necessary for a cure. This situation served as an inspiration for a London based startup call Epiderm as it was launched during this catastrophe to help track the contact of employees and visitors through check-ins and calendar research.

Few start-ups have the cash to bear up with the plight, but not everyone can manage to close down their business. The sectors that get directly affected by this pandemic are dating applications, show booking applications, edtech will-composers, new companies, wellness applications, remote working apparatuses and recruiting new businesses are just few to be given as an example .

The overall impact on startup funding across the globe has also taken a big slump. The private market funding according to CB Insights Q1’20 has paced downward corresponding to $77B which is sixteen percent less to the Q4’19 and twelve percent less to Q1’19. The report of CB Insights states about the inherent consequence of the corona virus outbreak globally. It asserts on the declination of the private market funding in Q1’20 will be the second steepest quarterly decline in the past ten years, only second to a 36% decline in Q3’12.

This turmoil has also prompted some favors with it which include Online MICE And Remote Workplaces, Adoption of Mandatory Sick Leave Policy and Reinforced in Adoption Of Enterprise Technology. In this dire scenario, corporations are looking for emerging technology to retrieve and regulate their supply chain operations. Here, retailers are turning the biggest help as they are converting them to startups creating flexible supply chain visibility solutions maintaining and satisfying customer needs.