42. Transformify

Founders: Lilia Stoyanov and Desislav Kamenov
Founded: May 2015
Website: www.transformify.org

Involved in a business transformation process, Lilia Stoyanov witnessed a lot of people lose their jobs. Many were in their fifties and sixties, lived in small cities, had mortgages and didn’t have the means to relocate.

She found herself thinking: “What if they don’t need to relocate? What if their next job is a click away?’’. This seed of an idea eventually grew into a fully fledged business: Transformify.

The company acts as a business-to-business marketplace, helping companies connect with remote talent the world over. Some may want to work from home through choice, others may be forced to because of disability or a dependent family member.

Its workers, who span 143 countries, receive secure payment straight into their e-wallet, regardless of where the employer is based and what currency is used. They can access cash instantly via a prepaid card linked to their account.

Transformify has more than 40 business clients around the world, many of them FTSE 100 or Fortune 500 companies, which pay a transaction fee for every payment transferred through the platform.

Its goals are both admirable and hugely ambitious: to help people in disadvantaged positions make a living, to lower unemployment levels, help manage immigration, re-balance overcrowded cities and abandoned rural areas and curb the high CO2 emissions involved with commuting – all while targeting a listing and an eventual $1bn valuation.

Already set for $10m turnover for 2017 and a profit of $6.5m, its goals may not be as far-fetched as they first appear.