Investor survey results: Upcoming trends in social startups

Voice-based social networks and gaming as a new form of identity were among the top emerging trends in consumer social startups, according to an Extra Crunch survey of top social tech investors. Meanwhile, anonymity and dating apps with a superfluous twist were spaces where investors were most pessimistic.

Extra Crunch assembled a list of the most prolific and well-respected investors in social. Many have funded or worked for the breakout companies changing the way we interact with other people. We asked about the most exciting trends they’re seeing and which areas they expect will soon spawn blockbuster social apps.

Subscribe to Extra Crunch to read the full answers to our questionnaire from funds like Andreessen Horowitz, CRV, and Initialized.

Here are the 15 leading social network VCs that participated in our survey:

• Olivia Moore, CRV
• Justine Moore, CRV
• Connie Chan, Andreessen Horowitz
• Alexis Ohanian, Initialized Capital
• Niko Bonatsos, General Catalyst
• Josh Coyne, Kleiner Perkins
• Wayne Hu, Signal Fire
• Alexia Bonatsos, Dream Machine
• Josh Elman, Angel Investor
• Aydin Senkut, Felicis Ventures
• James Currier, NFX
• Pippa Lamb, Sweet Capital
• Christian Dorffer, Sweet Capital
• Jim Scheinman, Maven Ventures
• Eva Casanova, Day One Ventures

Stay tuned next week for a followup article from these investors detailing their thoughts on social investing in the COVID-19 era.

Olivia Moore & Justine Moore, CRV

What trends are you most excited in social from an investing perspective?

First, it’s worth noting that consumer social is very hard to predict. Unlike enterprise software, there’s no rational buyer, and the things that take off can seem “random” or dumb. Startups that see huge success in this space are often pioneering a new feature or way of communicating that hasn’t existed before. Any VC who claims to know what the “next big thing” in consumer social will look like should probably go build it themselves!

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