The downturn that many economists expected to see in 2023 has yet to transpire. Even so, businesses are highly attuned to that risk, and the top-performing financial services companies from this past year are taking advantage. There’s Ramp, a spend management platform that has attracted over 10,000 new customers with its pledge to help save finance teams time and money. In the wake of Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse, another spend management platform, Brex, and Mercury, a banking service for technology companies, stepped up to help customers protect their cash. Meanwhile, there’s ModernFi, a digital deposit marketplace for banks and credit unions, which is helping small- and midsize banks optimize their deposit levels.
Other honorees are hastening the rise of increasingly diverse and international workforces. There’s Papaya Global, a payroll and reimbursement platform that can accommodate employees or contractors in 160 countries. And there’s Nova Credit, which specializes in credit services for immigrants. Both are unlocking opportunities for businesses to access global talent pools.
Global trade, too, has seen enormous innovation as businesses navigate ever-shifting supply chain dynamics. Enable, which creates tools for managing the complex B2B rebates governing relationships between manufacturers, distributors, and retailers, signed its first customer in 2016 and has since processed over $1 trillion in transactions.
As travel booms back following pandemic shutdowns, bookings and payments platform Selfbook, which focuses on serving boutique hotels, has seen standout growth. Customers like Graduate Hotels don’t want to be dependent on aggregator platforms for bookings, and Selfbook paves the way.
Closer to home, Teamshares, founded in 2018, acquires profitable small businesses from retiring owners and paves the way for employee ownership by granting equity over time. This year, Teamshares focused on making its 2,100-plus portfolio even stronger through custom tools, like a digital banking service.
1. Plaid
For accelerating money’s real-time future
2. Ramp
3. Enable
For modernizing supply chain relationships
4. Brex
For making a bet on SaaS and pulling it off
5. Teamshares
6. ModernFi
For helping community and regional banks use deposits as a strategic tool
7. Papaya Global
8. Mercury
9. Nova Credit
For unlocking immigrants’ credit histories
10. Selfbook
For giving boutique hotels a suite upgrade
Explore the full 2024 list of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies, 606 organizations that are reshaping industries and culture. We’ve selected the firms making the biggest impact across 58 categories, including advertising, artificial intelligence, design, sustainability, and more.
