From fleet monitoring to fighting money laundering, these companies are putting data to work

Data science thrives when advanced computing power is brought to bear on troves of information. In 2024, that’s exactly what’s happening. Blue chip companies have gone all-in on data gathering. Now, they want AI-powered tools to help them make sense of it. Those on Fast Company’s list of Most Innovative Companies in data science are leading this boom, helping multibillion-dollar industries develop tailored, practical ways to leverage their unique data. 

“Last year, we generated more data than in the entire history of the human species, and we did that the year before and the year before,” says Professor Dan Koloski, head of Learning Programs at Northeastern University’s Roux Institute, which specializes in AI and data science learning and research. “That volume, coupled with computing advances, tees up the opportunity.” 

This gold rush has pickaxe-sellers, of course. Unstructured Technologies, founded by former CIA intelligence officer Brian S. Raymond, has focused on helping companies clean up and organize the vast data troves they already have. Its open-source code optimizes unstructured files like PDFs and PowerPoints into more AI-palatable file types like .JSON. It has been downloaded from GitHub over 6 million times and is at work in the codebases of over 35,000 companies, including McKinsey & BlackRock. Samooha, which was snapped up in an acquisition by data giant Snowflake after less than two years in business, helps its customers operate “clean rooms,” the term for protected data-sharing arrangements that allow companies to compare notes without leaking company secrets. 

As the general public marvels at generative AI’s broad potential, innovative data scientists are homing in on niches, identifying unique applications within specific industries. Vaayu, based in Brandenburg, Germany, aims to help fashion brands and others in the retail ecosystem audit their impact on climate change and reduce their emissions input by a gigaton by 2030. Highlight, based in New York and launched in 2021, helps consumer packaged goods brands like Nestle test formulations of new and existing foods. Innovators like Strise, founded by a group including data scientists from the Norwegian University of Science & Technology in Trondheim, use cutting-edge graph theory research to help European banks fight money laundering and track sanctioned entities among their billion-plus customers.

The sheer scale of data is astounding: Shift5, founded in Arlington, Virginia, monitors the information streaming in real-time from the serial bus of U.S. military vehicles worldwide—some 37 billion signals and counting.

SignalFire, a venture capital firm started by data scientists from Google and Oracle, spends $10 million annually on data subscriptions, using this data firehose of a billion-plus signals to power Beacon AI. This in-house tool can analyze and vet the growth and talent of over ten million companies. As Everstream Analytics helps clients like Volvo and Vestas monitor their supply and distribution chains, the company processes over 128 billion data points daily.

The data is in. The computers are ready. The challenge: Build the wheels that spin these never-ending threads of information into gold. 

Explore the full 2024 list of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies, 606 organizations that are reshaping industries and culture. We’ve selected the firms making the biggest impact across 58 categories, including advertising, artificial intelligence, design, sustainability, and more.

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