10 Finance & Capital Companies to Watch - BIZ Experiences's Brilliant 100 These companies are cashing in on innovative solutions to financial pain points.
This story appears in the June 2016 issue of BIZ Experiences. Subscribe »
From funding to savings, these brilliant companies create solutions that move people and companies forward.
1. Danish Ventures has created a fund that targets design-focused but scalable companies solving some of the world's biggest problems.
2. Users of Qapital, a personal savings app, set spending rules for themselves. When they break those rules, money is automatically placed into savings.
3. Aspiration makes investing accessible: For $500, invest in one of its funds. Its "pay what is fair" model gives customers the option to choose zero fees.
4. Online credit marketplace Fundera helps VC-less startups snag small investments from trusted enders. It takes a 1 to 3 percent fee from lenders (rather than tax borrowers) and has helped secure $140 million for more than 2,500 businesses.
5. Earnest helps refinance those dreaded student loans by using career and financial histories to determine a borrower's ability to pay, and saves borrowers an average of $18,000 over 10 years.
6. Microfinance startup First Access uses prepaid mobile-phone payment histories to quickly and affordably predict credit risk for borrowers in developing markets.
7. iAngels, an Israel-based equity crowdfunding platform, helps international private investors access early-stage opportunities alongside Israel's leading angels.
8. Painless1099 helps freelancers save for tax season, automatically putting away the proper amount before payments route to a checking account.
9. New to investing? Simply Wall St. turns stock data into simple, helpful graphics.
10. Fastacash, which recently closed a $15 million Series B round, wants to make sharing money with friends (and paying brands) as easy as texting.
