Grain: The Intuitive Stock Market Search Engine

It's almost that time of year.

The 2017 Benzinga Global Fintech Awards is a competition to showcase the companies with the most impressive technology that are paving the future in financial services and capital markets.

To get you prepared for this year's awards, Benzinga will profile each fintech company that has applied. Want to get involved? Submit your company here.

For this installment, we spoke with Grain CEO Joe Mueller (answers have been edited for length and clarity).

Grain

What is Grain?

Grain is a free iOS app that helps new investors find and make their own investments in the stock market. It's a simple way to get started while staying in control of the companies and funds you want to support.

What problem does it solve?

We partnered with International Business Machines Corp. IBM's Watson to create an intuitive stock market search engine, so you can discover ETFs and stocks based on things you already know, like "coffee," "electric cars" or "technology," and we walk you through how to start building your own diversified portfolio.

Grain connects you with Facebook Inc FB friends, so you can learn from shared experiences and see what they're investing in (while keeping your actual financial information completely private).

You can link Grain to any major U.S. broker ((i.e., NYSE:FIS), E*TRADE Financial Corp ETFC, Robinhood, etc.) or open a new account through our partner Third Party Trade LLC (Member FINRA & SIPC. No account minimums. $3 per trade commissions.) from within the app.

Where are you located?

We're based in Sunnyvale, California.

Who's on your team?

I am the co-founder and CEO and have a background in Asset management at Bank of New York Mellon Corp BK and software deployment at Eze Software Group.

Federico Segura, co-founder and chief technology officer — Investment banking at UBS Group AG (USA) UBS.

Gerald Linn, head of business development — Project executive at Microsoft Corporation MSFT, Expedia Inc EXPE and IBM.

David Colson, design director — Graphic design at Under Armour Inc UA UAA and Uber.

Nicole Mueller, art director — Entrepreneurial artist/painter.

Ty Daniels, iOS developer — Logistics at Luxe and iOS engineer at KarmaBear.

If you’re looking for cool fintech startups and access to top financial institutions, and are sick of attending stuffy corporate conferences, the Benzinga Global Fintech Awards is the event for you. From its first year in 2015, the competition grew to over 250 applicants and over 500 attendees in 2016.

Connect with us on social media — use the hashtag #BZAwards and #Fintech to spread the word!