Skip to main content
  • English
    Discover SWIFT
  • Español
    Descubra nuestros contenidos en español
  • Français
    Découvrez notre contenu disponible en français
  • 中文
    了解我们提供的中文内容
  • 日本語
    日本で入手可能なコンテンツをお探しください
Swift Innotribe announces the winners of the 2014 Startup Challenge

Swift Innotribe announces the winners of the 2014 Startup Challenge

Innotribe,
2 October 2014 | 4 min read

Respectively awarded "Top Startup" and "Top Innovator", the companies have been nominated during the Grand Finale on Wednesday 1 October, at Sibos 2014 Boston.

Boston, 2 October 2014 - The 15 most innovative companies selected during the regional showcases competed on Wednesday 1 October, during the Innotribe Startup Challenge Grand Finale, to convince the banking sector attending Sibos to take on their innovative products and services.

Epiphyte won the title of "Top Startup" with its first product cBridge, providing banks with the technology for real-time international transactions at reduced costs. As "Top Startup" of the Challenge, Epiphyte has also won the 50,000 USD cash prize. MatchMove won the title of "Top Innovator" with its Wallet aimed at the 500+ million ‘uncarded' smartphone users in emerging countries connecting daily to the internet but unable to make purchases.

"For us, Innotribe has been a fantastic opportunity to build deeper connections with the banking community. It is very exciting to see the banking community embrace our technology and compliance solution. We believe that distributed technologies are a key innovation in the future of finance and we are very excited to help banks and financial institutions to integrate them into their systems." - says Edan Yago, CEO of Epiphyte.

"Innotribe is one of the most prestigious discovery platforms for new innovations in the fintech space," explained Shailesh Naik, CEO of Matchmove. "For us to win at this event brings global credibility and valuable exposure. The coaching sessions, combined with the excellent organisation of the event truly help growing companies like ours to expand their business very effectively and efficiently. The positive impact that Innotribe has had on us will be felt for a long time to come."

Over 280 early-stage startups and growth-stage innovators from around the world entered the Innotribe Startup Challenge this year. A panel of over 500 industry experts, senior innovation executives at global financial institutions, VCs and angel investors, selected 47 semi-finalists to participate in the regional showcases in London, Singapore and New York earlier this year. These judges evaluated the companies on which was most likely to be an important innovation in the future of the financial industry.15 of the 47 companies were then selected as finalists to compete in the Grand Finale.

Innotribe is committed to help Swift member institutions and the wider banking community, identify and address innovation trends and opportunities within the financial industry. This year Startup Challenge has taken another huge step towards facilitating the dialogue, and we've seen a number of previous participants gain recognition in the industry and secure significant funding to help them take their innovations to the next level.

Fabian Vandenreydt, Head of Markets Management, Innotribe and the Swift Institute at Swift, says: "Looking back to the 2014 Startup Challenge, I believe we had an amazing journey. I hope the finalists enjoyed the extraordinary visibility, relationship development opportunities, and access to bank decision-makers and highly qualified industry experts. I am delighted that we are able to support Epiphyte and MatchMove and give them the opportunity to develop their talent."

Since its inception in 2011, the Startup Challenge has also grown in popularity and success, and the quality of audience attendees we've seen here in Boston is exceptional.

Each year, Innotribe invites a limited number of industry leading financial institutions, technology vendors, investors, government agencies and professional services providers to join us in supporting innovation in the financial services industry. The Innotribe Startup Challenge 2014 was sponsored by HP, Invest NI, Level39, and SAP.

About Innotribe
Swift Innotribe is about connecting people, networks and ideas - bringing together global startups and innovators with investors, strategists, and influential decision-makers from leading financial institutions across the globe. The initiative seeks to bridge the gap between the startup ecosystem and the financial services industry, looking for products and services that could disrupt current business models and create opportunities for new ones. For more information, please visit http://www.innotribe.com/ or follow us on Twitter: @innotribe and Linkedin: Innotribe.

About Swift
Swift is a member-owned cooperative that provides the communications platform, products and services to connect more than 10,000 banking organisations, securities institutions and corporate customers in 212 countries and territories. Swift enables its users to exchange automated, standardised financial information securely and reliably, thereby lowering costs, reducing operational risk and eliminating operational inefficiencies. Swift also brings the financial community together to work collaboratively to shape market practice, define standards and debate issues of mutual interest. For more information, please visit http://www.swift.com/ or follow us on Twitter: @swiftcommunity and LinkedIn: Swift.

Swift
Press Office
Tel: +32 2 655 3377
pressoffice@swift.com

Loading...