Disclaimer: Below are just my own speculation. I’m not a certified trader, nor am I a professional in Blockchain technology. I’m simply an enthusiast in Cryptocurrency and took sometime reading these altcoins’ website before I purchase them.
Steem (STEEM)
https://steem.io/
Steem is currently building a distributed content and media distribution platform, promising to disrupt publishing and distribution businesses such as Facebook, Reddit, and pretty much every other social media platforms. Community building and social interaction are rewarded with Steem, so users get pay with Steem for their interactions on the Steem Platform.
MaidSafeCoin (Maid)
http://maidsafe.net/
MaidSafecoin is the token used on the Maidsafe Network, which is a distributed data storage network. The SAFE also known as the “Secure Access For Everyone” Network is made up of the unused hard drive space, processing power and data connection provided by its users. It offers a level of security and privacy not currently available on the existing Internet.
Note: MaidSafeCoin has a very clear roadmap and highly active on socialmedia about their progress. Like all altcoins, it has benefited tremendously 2nd quarter of 2017, however its growth has been very healthy and justfiable.
Both my partner (Akanshu Argh Jain) and I are early investor and believer of MaidSafeNetwork.
Stellar Lumens (XLM)
www.stellar.org
Stellar wants to target individuals as the user base.
Ripple wants to target Financial Institutions as the user base.
Stellar is a platform that connects banks, payments systems, and people. It promises to move money more quickly, reliably, and at a very low price. In the future, it hopes to facilitate multi-currency transactions. And the token can be used as a connection between different currencies that do not have their own direct market.
Note: Stellar was started as a fork of Ripple (XR) back in 2014 and therefore preserves some of the semantics. Hence,
Lisk (LSK)
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1346646
Lisk is a public blockchain platform that provides distributed blockchain apps with their own separate blockchain, solving challenges around scalability. Where developers can build, publish, distribute and monetize their applications within Lisk custom built crypto-currency powered system.
Golem (GNT)
https://golem.network/
It is a worldwide supercomputer. Or simply put as the “Uber” of CryptoCurrency, where you share your computing power to make money.
Golem is a token of the Ethereum-based decentralized supercomputer network Golem. It is part of the open-source Golem project, where anyone can make money ‘renting’ out their computing power or developing & selling software.
Other higher risk choices
Bytecoin (BCN) — http://bytecoin.org/
Nem (XEM) - https://www.nem.io
Charts are screenshots taken from http://coincap.io/ during the time of posting.
Also,
We are currently doing a closed Crypto-currency fund and building something really cool, where normal users can invest in different currencies automatically (Click of a button) Message me or Akanshu Argh Jain for more info!