Page 68 - Forbes - USA (March 2020)

T H E FO R B E S F I N T EC H 5 0

never been to South America. I want to travel for
a year and try to work on this remotely as an ad- A XO N I B E T T E R M E N T
venture. Figure out what I want to do with my
NEW YORK CITY NEW YORK CITY
life,” he says. “[It] was an interesting experience
BLOCKCHAIN & BITCOIN INVESTING
to see the financial system in another country
Uses blockchain technology Robo-advice pioneer offers
like that, that had gone through hyperinflation.”
to overhaul financial-markets managed ETF portfolios for
Later, as a coder at Airbnb, Armstrong had his
infrastructure, most notably 0.25% of assets a year, or
crypto epiphany. His employer was sending mon-
the DTCC’s Trade Information 0.40% for access to human
66 ey to landlords in Latin America. He describes Warehouse, which tracks financial planners, too.
the process this way: “High fees . . . long delays $10 trillion worth of credit
. . . opaque. We’d try sending money to somebody derivatives around the globe. FUNDING: $275 million; latest
1
T valuation of $800 million
S in Uruguay and didn’t know how much would
I FUNDING: $59 million; latest BONA FIDES: $22 billion in assets
L show up on the other side.” 1
valuation of $171 million under management
E
H In 2010 he read the manifesto, published by a BONA FIDES: 15 banks, including COFOUNDER & CEO:
T person (or persons) under the alias Satoshi Naka- Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, Jon Stein, 40

• just launched new Axoni-built
moto, that proposed bitcoin as an underground
E infrastructure for equity swaps
D currency. Its transactions are recorded on a led-
I COFOUNDERS: CEO Greg Schvey,
U ger called the blockchain, maintained in dupli- 33, and CTO Jeff Schvey, 35, B R E X
G
cated computer files by a band of self-appointed brothers who also cofounded SAN FRANCISCO
T TradeBlock
N guardians called nodes. Disputes about transac- B2B LENDING
E
M tions and ground rules are resolved by majori- Issues corporate credit cards
T ty vote. The nodes are kept honest, and trouble-
S B E H AVOX designed for startups. In Oc-
E makers at bay, by requiring a participant in the tober, it rolled out a corporate
V NEW YORK CITY
N network to engage in some arithmetic busywork cash-management account.
I WALL STREET & ENTERPRISE
before certifying a batch of transactions. A node FUNDING: $315 million; latest
who completes the arithmetic task is awarded a Sells system used to monitor valuation of $2.6 billion
few new coins. traders for insider trading BONA FIDES: More than 10,000
The busywork, called mining, did not inter- and market manipulation. customers, including Airbnb
Its algorithms screen email
est Armstrong. But he did see an opportunity in and chat data, while its voice COFOUNDERS & CO-CEOS:
Henrique Dubugras, 24;
the business of safeguarding the keys to the coins biometrics track phone calls Pedro Franceschi, 23
and setting up transactions. Anybody can do that on loud trading desks.
with some readily available software, but if you
FUNDING: $20 million; latest
mishandle the protocol your coins will be stolen valuation of $300 million
or lost. BONA FIDES: Used by more than
Armstrong took a flyer on bitcoins, buying 40 companies; revenues grew
130% in 2019
$1,000 worth at $9 a coin. The price sank to $2.
He kept the faith. FOUNDER & CEO: Erkin Adylov,
36, a Kyrgyzstan-born former
Working weekends and late nights, Armstrong Goldman Sachs analyst and
wrote code in Ruby and JavaScript to buy and hedge fund portfolio manager
store coins. He was doing for the bitcoin network
what an earlier generation of programmers had
done for the internet by creating browsers. B E T T E R .C O M RYAN WILLIAMS
It was fun. Was it worth quitting his day job? NEW YORK CITY
C A D R E
REAL ESTATE
Online mortgage originator NEW YORK CITY
provides home shoppers with
REAL ESTATE
preapprovals in as little as
Online platform allows institu-
three minutes. Uses matching
Money Moves 2020 tional and wealthy investors to
software to sell loans to insti-
buy into commercial real estate
USE A RETIREMENT-INCOME HACK tutions such as Chase and
Fannie Mae. partnerships at lower fees.
Figuring how best to draw annual income from var-
ious accounts in retirement can be bewildering. But FUNDING: $254 million; latest FUNDING: $133 million; latest
new hybrid-robo services such as Vanguard’s Person- valuation of $610 million valuation of $800 million
al Advisor, Schwab’s Intelligent Income, Capital One’s BONA FIDES: Has financed
United Income and Fintech 50 member Kindur make it BONA FIDES: Revenue increased purchases of $3.1 billion worth
easy. The apps create an individualized asset alloca- fivefold to $115 million in 2019, of property in 36 deals
tion and tax-optimized income plan (they’ll even send thanks in part to a refi boom COFOUNDERS: CEO Ryan
you a monthly “paycheck” and counsel you on when FOUNDER & CEO: Vishal Garg,
to take Social Security), all under the watch of on-call 42, also started MyRichUncle, Williams, 32; brothers
human advisors. Costs vary, but are usually far less an early online lender that shut Jared Kushner, 39, and
than for a traditional planner. —Ashlea Ebeling down in 2009 Joshua Kushner, 34

F O R B E S . C O M 1 According to PitchBook M A R C H 2 0 2 0