Jake Fuentes, 28, is the Cofounder of Level Money. This app works for any individual to properly budget their money right from their smartphone. There is obviously a large market share for this type of application. The younger generations want everything right on their phone or in the “cloud”. Level Money helps people do just that.

Level Money has reached over $12 billion worth of transactions. Not only that but they have reached 700,000 users overall. Think this idea sounds like a bust? Well, former Citigroup CEO Sandy Weill and former FCC Chairman Reed Hunt have invested. The app company has raised roughly $7 million thus far.

Eben Bayer and Gavin McIntyre have co-founded Ecovative. Ecovative seeks to grow green packaging material out of mushrooms. I konw what your thinking, are you telling me these two entrepreneurs passion is mushrooms? No. These entrepreneurs have a passion for helping the environment during their time on earth. The idea was formed while Eben and Gavin were undergrads at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute where they studied mechanical engineering.

This process involves using agricultural waste to grow mushrooms in mold. This process can take up to about 120 hours. The material that results is safe enough to keep valuable goods safe while being shipped. The upside is that the packaging goods will not take 10,000 years to decompose. Ecovative already produces packaging materials for Dell and Steelcase.

Sam Altman was an entrepreneur at heart. That’s what makes hims such a great venture capitalist in return. Altman built and sold a moderately successful location-based services company called Loopt. He sold Loopt for over $40 million.

Altman has used these experiences and wealth to now lead Y Combinator to which invests in entrepreneurs. This firm has funded and coached more than 730 start ups since its founding in 2005. Altman’s entrepreneurial mind helps him to work with these new start ups in building them into successful businesses.

This example goes to show just how much opportunity there is for entrepreneurs in various fields. Venture capital being one of them. Oh yeah, let it be known that Altman is only 29. Talk about an opportunity to have an impact at such a young age. He does not take it lightly. His goal is to expand the number of companies they work with by 10 fold in the next 10 years.

Clinkle is a recently founded mobile payments company. Founder, Lucas Duplan, brought his idea to life in 2012 while he was a student studying Computer Science at Stanford University. Clinkle is a downloadable app that can be found on Google Play or the iTunes store. The product was not launched to the public until September of 2014.  However, in 2013 Clinkle raised $25 million in capital. 

Why use Clinkle? The reason is because users can earn rewards for paying using their app whether in store or online. After every seventh payment the user receives a “Treat”. These can be used to refund their next purchase or even send them along to a friend who also uses the app. In 2013 they trialed Crinkled on a few college campuses and within weeks had over 100,00 students sign up. 

Clinkle is Silicon Valley’s next big financial application for consumers of all ages. 

Looking for a loan? But your credit is deemed worthy by some of the large financial institutions within the country. Look no further. That is where Avant comes to save the day.

Avant, originally AvantCredit, was founded in 2012 by Al Goldstein, John Sun and Paul Zhang in the windy city of Chicago. These three young entrepreneurs noticed a need that individuals were having when they could not gain credit because they were deemed too risky. If you think Avant has had no recognition you are dead wrong. In 2015, Avant was named #6 to Forbes America’s Most Promising Companies list as well as Forbes list of Next Billion Dollar Startups. The CTO, Zhang, was also named to the 30 under 30 list by Inc. Magazine.

Avant is a completely online company, eliminated the need of any physical branches. They apply various algorithms, machine-learning protocols, and analytical tools in in order to determine a customized rate, amount and length at which money can be borrowed. In just three years Avant has provided over $1 billion in loans and grown from 3 founders to over 600 employees. Not only are they providing capital to “risky” borrowers but they have a mission to teach their consumers proper budgeting techniques to continue improving their own personal money management skills.

Jamail Larkins has had a passion for flying since he was 12 years old. At age 14 he first flew solo and had to travel all the way to Canada to do so, considering no one under 16 years old can fly solo in the U.S.  Larkins reputation in the aviation industry took off from there.  John and Martha King, owners of the King School assisted in Jamail for achieving his desire to be a pilot.  The King’s offered Jamail the opportunity to sell their flight school books and videos.

The opportunity provided to Jamail is where his desire for entrepreneurship had grown.  Larkins proved his abilities in this business and began distributing Gulf Coast Avionics various products, which included electronic equipment used for in-flight navigation and communication.

In 2006, Larkins formed a 50-50 partnership with Arnold Leonora, who worked in commercial aviation brokerage.  Together Larkins and Leonora formed Ascension Aircraft.  By 2007 Larkins company had earned revenues of $7.6 million.  There were obviously tough times as well.  In 2008, Larkins company had difficulty.  The interest in their product was there, but the ability to earn a low interest rate loan was impossible after the subprime mortgage bubble had popped.  However, as a true entrepreneur Larkin’s company found ways to be successful. After being asked by a bank to sell a jet owned by a man entering bankruptcy, Larkins discovered a new market.

Today, Ascension Aircraft is having continued success. To this day they are the only company in the U.S. that offers Personally-Flown Jet Timeshares. Larkins identified a problem in the market, found the pain of his consumers and delivered a business that has revolutionized aircraft ownership.

An old family friend of ours has been an entrepreneur at heart since his college days. His name is Jordan Denny and is a graduate of Temple University in Philadelphia. The first business Jordan had started was a painting company where he grew it from just one employee to five in a few short months during his summers in school.  Jordan went on to work in Austin, TX for various start ups and has recently began his new venture back home in Philadelphia.

Jordan thought of this idea before moving back to Philadelphia this past spring. Him and his wife wanted to commemorate their time living in Austin and thought a tattoo would be the best way to go about that. However, Jordan is the type who tries on a $5 t-shirt before buying it so there was no way he would just run out and get a tattoo.

Momentary Ink provides individuals the opportunity to receive a temporary tattoo of their choice that is as realistic as it gets. The purpose is to allow consumers to explore tattoo possibilities for an extremely reasonable price. Jordan and his wife Lindsay tested various methods for over four months and this past June began sending out their first orders. They could not believe at first how quickly word got out about their new venture. Recently Jordan has turned down interviews from ABC because he wants to take the time to gain more capital as he continues growing his company’s production efforts.

Check out momentaryink.com to learn more!