Hometeam is a health care technology startup that pairs older adults with quality, in-home health aides. Using an iPad app, aides can record important patient data and communicate in real time with physicians and family. Unlike traditional competitors, Hometeam trains the aides itself, brings them on as full-time employees and pays them $15 per hour, versus the industry standard of $9.50. What's more, it guarantees them between 30 and 40 hours of work each week, 52 weeks a year. It has raised $38.5 million in venture capital, is operational in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, and licenses its software for free to hospitals and nursing homes. Co-founder Josh Bruno says his company's goal is to create "beautiful days for older adults" while simultaneously empowering the work force.
Note: All data as of 1/31/16

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InstaBrand works as the middle man that connects brands with social media influencers (essentially, those who have a large Web presence and an outrageously high number of followers) to sell their products. A company looking to promote its line of accessories, for instance, may have Instagram influencers post a picture of themselves wearing one of the brand's necklaces. InstaBrand's primary goal is to bring the human element back into advertising. The company has a network of about 100,000 influencers (defined as users who have more than 10,000 followers per social media platform) and counts major names such as Airbnb and Fossil as brand clients. One of the biggest challenges InstaBrand will face will be to maintain the "organic" feel of its ad campaigns, as social media users are inundated with more and more sponsored posts.
Note: All data as of 1/31/16

The recruiting firm tackles the lack of diversity in the U.S. work force by connecting African American, Native American, and Hispanic job candidates with major companies in industries such as technology, finance, and health care. Co-founders Ryan Williams and Porter Braswell met when they worked together on Wall Street. As African Americans working in finance, both felt frustrated with the industry's troubling diversity problem, and were then inspired to launch Jopwell. For a flat fee, employers can access thousands of profiles for qualified candidates of color. To date, Jopwell has facilitated over 6,000 "connections" (meaning contact made between job seekers and HR reps), and counts Facebook, BuzzFeed, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley among its clients.
Note: All data as of 1/31/16

In early 2010, during her second year in architecture school at Columbia University, Anna Stork was having trouble focusing on her thesis. A catastrophic 7.0 earthquake had just struck Haiti, and she couldn't get her mind off it. She wanted to help. A few months after teaming up with classmate Andrea Sreshta, the two had scraped together recycled materials and purchased some electrical components from Amazon.com and Radio Shack. They hand-prototyped an inflatable lantern. The following year they filed for patents of their inventions--and with that, set up a company called LuminAid. The product is a rechargeable solar-powered LED lantern that inflates like a balloon, and collapses to become thinner than a deck of cards. The lanterns are made of non-toxic waterproof plastic, and they float. To mountain climbers, it's a handy piece of cool gear (the Packlight 16, which retails for $24.95, can provide 30 hours of continuous light after a seven-hour charge). But to first-responders and victims of natural disasters, it's a lifesaver. More than 50,000 LuminAid lanterns have been deployed across 70 countries, to refugees and in areas affected by such catastrophic events as 2012's Hurricane Sandy, 2013's Typhoon Haiyan, and the Nepalese earthquakes of 2015. The business backing this social mission is strong: It anticipates more than $5 million in sales this year.
Note: All data as of 1/31/16