It may have been a rocky year of ups and downs for fintechs and the blockchain as the American economy continues to give off strange vibes. But through it all, there’s been no shortage of innovation in the space, as companies from Bitcoin miners to auction makers forged ahead with new ideas and inventions. Here are some of the best.
AlphaSense
For making market intelligence even smarter
AlphaSense is a market intelligence platform whose 4,000-plus clients include some of the world’s corporate behemoths such as Google, Bank of America, Pfizer, and 88% of the S&P 100. Like many companies, it recently rolled out a generative AI product as the hype cycle for artificial intelligence swells. AlphaSense’s offering is a gen-AI-for-business assistant that fetches insight and analysis in response to natural-language queries. As a giant in its industry, AlphaSense has a lot of data to work with—and the more data there is, the more crucial it is to craft a tool that can mine those vast troves. According to AlphaSense, users rely on the platform to make multimillion- or even billion-dollar decisions, and the company claims its AI assistant can provide results with the same accuracy and security, but with users reporting time savings of 11 to 50 hours per month.
aShareX
For democratizing luxury auctions
The market for collectibles has long been exclusive, unsurprisingly, with swanky auctions drawing wealthy individuals who can afford to pony up millions for a single work of fine art. But auction technology company aShareX wants to democratize this space by engineering architecture for auctions to support both 100% investors and fractional investors at the same time (historically, auctions have been either wholly for either 100% investors or fractional investors). This could likely open the door for more bids by smaller investors who joined together to enter the market—and, ultimately, let a more diverse group of collectors own treasures like rare antiques, classic cars, and precious gems. The company has already conducted successful auctions, including with Bonhams. Prized artwork like Banksy’s The Flower Thrower and Jeff Koons’ Hulk Elvis Modern will be actioned off soon.
Genesis Digital Assets
For engineering greener Bitcoin mining
Drilling for oil creates a mostly useless byproduct known as stranded gas, which is often “flared,” or burned away, releasing greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Meanwhile, Bitcoin mining—the complex series of computer calculations that powers the cryptocurrency’s digital ledger—consumes a massive amount of energy. One of the world’s largest industrial-scale Bitcoin miners, Genesis Digital Assets, wants to kill two birds with one stone, or rather, solve two environmental problems with one solution, by repurposing stranded gas to fuel Bitcoin mining. At its mining center in Argentina, Genesis works with a local power company to capture stranded gas and generate electricity from it. According to a working paper from MIT, such mining systems could cut CO2 emissions by 25% to 63%.
Kudos
For developing a wallet that keeps our finances in check
We may not all be smart shoppers, but at least we can all have smart wallets. Kudos’s AI-powered personal finance product helps keep consumers’ bank accounts in the black by analyzing users’ spending habits and custom tailoring its cash-earning and money-saving recommendations to suit them. It might suggest opening new credit cards with rewards or perks that match certain lifestyles, or it might automatically optimize payment methods at checkout. Kudos has partnered with over 15,000 merchants including Walmart and Sephora, as well as Chase, American Express, and Capital One.
The companies behind these technologies are among the honorees in Fast Company’s Next Big Things in Tech awards for 2024. See a full list of all the winners across all categories and read more about the methodology behind the selection process.
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