COMPANY

Name: Pillar

Legal Name: Pillar Technology Inc.

Location: New York City, New York

Founded: 2018

Founder(s): Michael Bloch, Gilad Kahala

Website: https://www.pillar.app/

Social Media Following: 32 Likes on Facebook, 88 Followers on Twitter, 57 Followers on LinkedIn

INDUSTRY – Fintech

Size: $962,027 Mn (2019)

Projections: Estimated to grow to $15.72 Bn by 2022 at a CAGR of over 7%

Introduction

Pillar is an app that helps people manage their student loans, through a combination of both data science and human judgement. The app assesses each user’s personal financial situation and goals, including their loan balances, income, and spending trends, to provide personalized recommendations on how to plan their loan repayments.

The Product

Pillar provides its users an easy to use dashboard that allows them to see a comprehensive list of their loans and track their status without having to log into each loan provider’s interface. Based on the analysis of a person’s debt and personal finances, the app assists them with tips on how to manage their loans better. It may suggest them to make an extra payment during a given month, or even ask them to reduce or pause a payment depending on their finances during a specific period of time.

Origin and Founding Team

Headquartered in New York City, Pillar was founded in 2018 by Michael Bloch and Gilad Kahala. The company was founded with the aim to help people with their student loan debts, a number that is somewhere around 44 mn in the US at present. With Pillar, the two co-founders sought to leverage their collective experience in the finance and technology domains to create a product that helps people manage their debts in the smartest possible way, and achieve financial well-being.

Performance and Trends

Since its launch in April 2019, the Pillar app has received 100% 5-star ratings on the App Store. The company has also recently been featured in the list of ‘50 World-Changing Startups to Watch in 2019’ by Inc.