Remember David and Goliath? This massive giant, so sure of his superiority, was overtaken by his miniscule opponent because David knew how to best use the tools he had at hand.

In today’s business world startups are endlessly fighting a (metaphorical) David vs. Goliath battle. In order to survive and grow, they have to win against companies large enough to step on them. The smart ones, however, realize that you don’t necessarily have to kill the bigger companies…you just have to make yourself too valuable to kill.

Amusingly, one of the areas in which this battle is being waged (and won) is big data. The big data startups, even though they have much less power and access to financial capital, are making the breakthroughs that are dramatically improving how businesses manage the massive levels of data needed to compete in today’s business world.

Ayasdi is one such company working with the giants to establish itself in the market. The startup offers financial companies a platform that uses both big data and artificial intelligence to help solve the numerous problems that can come from working in and with the financial world. Their system is the ideal tool for companies that want to explore what big data or AI can do for their company but don’t have the ability to manage it on their own yet.

Rippleshot is another startup working with the big banks in order to become established. The founders–Canh Tran and Yeuyu Fu– wisely chose a very important (and modern) area to explore and started work on a new way to battle fraud. The startup took big data and used it to create a unique technique to help financial companies monitor potential fraudulent activity. Their system is a massive improvement on past systems and allows for more accurate assessments and fewer false positives. By offering a much-needed service to these larger companies, startups can gain the footing, financial base and connections needed to grow into established companies.

There are many pluses to being a smaller and newer company and good startups know how to use their assets to position and grow their business. These FinTech startups that offer solutions to problems major corporations are battling are well-positioned to thrive in the market. Watch out for them as their impact might bring about the next evolution in business.