BEST FINTECHS IN BOSTON, RANKED

Previously Published to Benzinga Money.

At this point, technology is integral to all parts of life, including our finances. Fintechs companies, like the best fintechs in Boston, help build, grow and improve our finances on a near-daily basis by providing tools and resources that make personal finance know-how available to everyone.

In this article, we introduce you to the best fintechs in Boston, and break down just how they’re changing lives.

What is Fintech?

A fintech is the cross-culmination of innovative technologies and the traditional activities often associated with the banking, accounting and finance industries. It’s how we do business in the 21st century and how we connect with our businesses on an intuitive level. Fintechs provide added clarity and accuracy, often using artificial intelligence to identify any opportunities we may have missed and mitigate potential risks long before problems ever arise.

10 Best Fintech Companies in Boston

Our fintechs were ranked and rated for their ability to provide an essential service in a niche field and/or industry. They’re disruptors, making a difference in everyday society. They’re praised by former employees and have built a reputation for service excellence. 

Here are our choices for the best fintechs in Boston.

1. Best Climate-Friendly Fintech: Raise Green, founded 2018

The first green crowd-investing portal in the United States, Raise Green encourages investors to “put their money where their heart is” by placing their efforts into localized clean energy projects and climate-friendly solutions. 

The Raise Green Originator Program introduces communities to clean energy solutions and reduces the carbon footprint of existing energy sources. Raise Green helps neighborhoods obtain financing, capture tax incentives and achieve energy savings for years to come. It helps with the legal aspects, compliance and financial modeling of each project while supporting negotiations for communities to establish beneficial power purchase agreements. 

Using the “power of capital to create direct change,” Raise Green is on a mission to create and fund scalable, community-based clean energy projects across the United States. 

2. Best Blockchain Financial Services Fintech: Circle, founded 2013

Circle is an international online finance company built on blockchain technology and powered by crypto assets. Its products support both banking and commerce, including services such as:

• Custodial and security-backed solutions
• Payments 
• Digital securities
• Crypto wallets
• Stable coin exchange

Circle is essentially a scalable payments and treasury infrastructure, providing global payout solutions and processing within a single platform. The company recently scaled its solutions to meet the needs of an exploding world of non-fungible tokens (NFTs), NFT marketplaces and digital storefronts. Digital currency transacts across the secure blockchain infrastructure and is easily exchanged with traditional currencies worldwide.

3. Best Vertical-Specific Fintech: Flywire, founded 2011

Flywire was created specifically for businesses, education institutions and healthcare providers. 

It simplifies payables and receivables for multiple verticals and territories around the globe, removing the complications of fluctuating exchange rates, fees and service availability. Its cloud-based platform is  secure and allows customers to be invoiced as they transact between currencies with convenience.

Flywire serves as a syndicate between U.S.-based colleges and universities, for example, providing international students and their families with greater flexibility over cross-border payments and tuition — ensuring that student accounts are fully paid and reconciled at the tap of a device.

Flywire’s solutions improve operational efficiencies, track payments and their sources and minimize fraud while promoting transparency throughout the accounting process. 

4. Best Rewards Fintech: PAYMYNT Group, founded 2020

PAYMYNT promotes financial growth and transparency by combining the power of mobile commerce and the demand for digital banking solutions. 

Customers are rewarded for shopping with the brands they love and trust. PAYMYNT’s digital wallets store users’ cash, crypto and investment information within a centralized dashboard, inviting users to “shop, save, earn, bank and invest” within the Mobile Rewards Marketplace.

Tapping into multiple servers means creating a more enjoyable, glitch-free shopping experience. Transactions are safe, secure and hack-free, leveraging Stellar’s decentralized blockchain to provide the most seamless transactions possible. 

5. Best DeFi Fintech: Centre, founded 2017

Centre’s mantra is “connecting every person, every merchant, every financial service, every currency. Everywhere.” That’s because it acts as a centralized means for receiving, exchanging and using money across the web. 

Whether a digital currency, NFT or crypto token, Centre allows users to pay for everyday goods and services using digital assets. 

Founded by the makers of Circle and Coinbase, Centre believes in fundamentally removing artificial borders between economies, using a decentralized and independent platform to “create a more inclusive global economy.” 

6. Best Home Equity Fintech: Hometap, founded 2017

Hometap allows homeowners to renovate, pay off debt, buy a second property and even retire by doing the unthinkable — giving them a  way to tap into home equity with no loans and no monthly payments — ever. 

Hometap invests in your home, fronts you the capital and saves you 1,000s of dollars at the time of sale — if you ever sell. Hometap’s alternative-lending approach gives homeowners some wiggle room in their finances without making them take on debt.

The only catch here is Hometap receives a share in the value of your home 10 years from now. 

7. Best Agricultural Fintech: Ricult Inc., founded 2015

This company focuses on improving both the productivity and profitability of farmlands for small farmers in developing countries around the globe. 

Ricult assesses several agronomic models to present its borrowers with access to bank loans at somewhat affordable rates. The borrower can begin making more informed decisions on the yield of future crops, potential risks of doing business and extreme weather conditions through the power of:

• Artificial intelligence
• Predictive analysis
• Satellite imagery
• Weather data
• Proprietary machine-learning algorithms

The company has seen a 17% average increase in productivity amongst borrowers and a 22% increase in productivity. Ricult’s mobile experience helps businesses optimize their supply chains and promote sustainability across all areas of business. 

8. Best Fundraising Fintech: DipJar, founded 2011

DipJar is revolutionizing fundraising efforts for nonprofits across the United States, providing organizations with the ability to collect online, mobile and credit card donations through a series of fun, interactive campaigns.

DipJar’s integrated payments platform is said to enable “joyful, engaging and frictionless giving.” Its cashless giving device educates donors on the brand, cause or mission, providing them with memorable experiences and inspiring donors to become part of the story. 

Proprietary devices are used at events, as either a stand-alone unit or as the point of sale  for merchandise and memorabilia. The DipJar dashboard includes a suite of tools used to track donations, measure impact and manage donors year-round. 

9. Best AI Accounting Fintech: Botkeeper, founded 2015

Botkeeper just might be the future of bookkeeping as this fintech evolves to meet the needs of businesses and firms across the U.S. Through Artificial intelligence (AI), big data and machine learning, Botkeeper becomes more accurate and more predictive over time. This technology couples over with a 24/7 team of highly skilled accountants who work in the background to deliver a full suite of bookkeeping and pre-accounting solutions to accounting firms around the world.

With unlimited reporting, clients gain incredible insight into the financial health and well-being of their organizations. Botkeeper bases automated processes on incoming and outgoing transactions, carrying out bookkeeping activities while identifying potential gaps in the financial infrastructure.

10. Best Insurance Fintech: Corvus Insurance, founded 2017

Corvus is reimagining commercial insurance to make policyholders safer and brokers more successful.  

Corvus is not only considered one of the best fintechs in the Boston area, it’s also one of the best insurtech platforms on the market. This platform focuses on the power of technology, data science and partnership in the design of products that meet the needs of the end consumer.

Its platform was built for brokers with the insurer in mind. It disrupts the commercial insurance industry, using the Internet of Things (IoT), AI and Big Data, to improve loss control, data-driven underwriting and improved business intelligence. 

Invest in the Best Fintechs in Boston Today

Considering how fintechs make money possible, have you ever wondered what it would be like to invest in fintech? Take a look at these fintech courses first.

Will your favorite fintech get the recognition it deserves? Join us for the 2021 Benzinga Fintech Awards on November 11 to find out!

Continue reading: BEST TECH STARTUPS BOSTON, RANKED