Five startups, in five minutes each, took the stage at the Empire Startups Fintech December Demo Day yesterday with their latest and greatest. Bank Innovation has the lineup, in case you missed it. Etsy, AirBnb, TaskRabbit – the popularity of these and other similar companies prove that the gig economy may be the economy of the future. Painless1099 certainly bets on that, with its hassle-free automated savings account for independent contractors. Through a smart bank account, the platform automatically withholds taxes based on user info and transfers “what is safe to spend” into the user’s personal checking account, according to the startup’s site. The platform is currently free, “for a while, before we start charging for it,” Ace Callwood, chief executive of Painless1099, said during the demo. “Painless 1099 is really the tip of the iceberg,” he said. Read more: bankinnovation.net
