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Swift Innotribe announces semi-finalists for Startup Challenge Singapore

Swift Innotribe announces semi-finalists for Startup Challenge Singapore

Innotribe,
6 May 2013 | 5 min read

Singapore, 6 May 2013

Innotribe, Swift's initiative to enable collaborative innovation in financial services, is holding the Asian leg of its annual Startup Challenge in Singapore on 16th May at InnovFest 2013, at the Orchard Hotel. The competition aims to foster innovation in the financial industry by introducing companies delivering new and innovative products and services in fintech and financial services to the wider financial community. The Challenge provides the most promising entrepreneurs the opportunity to grow their business with consultation and funding from Swift.

Semi-finalists of the Singapore Innotribe Startup Challenge will pitch their original business ideas to a panel of the financial industry's leading angels, VC's and decision makers. The winners of the Singapore showcase will go on to compete against the winners from New York and London in the grande finale at Sibos, Swift's annual conference, in Dubai in September.

Innotribe focuses on creation and collaboration and has selected 15 semi-finalists whose business ideas identify and address important gaps within the financial technology sector. Matteo Rizzi, co-founder at Innotribe said: "The Singapore Challenge last year was a great success, and there are a lot of start-ups emerging in the region that will help drive innovation in the industry forward.  It's great that we're holding the Startup Challenge at InnovFest amongst top entrepreneurs from around the world who are looking for the new players in the market. InnovFest is indicative of the need for innovation in Asia and is an ideal location for the showcase. The London showcase set a high standard for this year's Challenge, and I look forward to seeing more promising start-ups pitching in Singapore!"

This year's semi-finalists are:

Early-stage start-ups:

Innervative Learning - http://www.innervative-learning.com/
MWST - http://www.mwst.co/
PassportFX- http://www.passportfx.com/
Perfectsen - www.perfectsen.com/solutions/the-hook/ 
Pin Payments - http://www.pin.net.au/
Planwise - http://www.planwise.com/
Pocketbook - http://www.getpocketbook.com/
TradeHero - http://www.tradehero.mobi/
YFind Technologies (Private Limited) - http://www.y-find.com/
z-crd - http://www.z-crd.com/ 

Growth-stage innovators:

BancBridge - http://www.bancbridge.com/
EKO - http://eko.co.in/
GIEOM - http://www.gieom.com/
GreenPost - http://www.gogreenpost.com/
V-Key - http://www.v-key.com/

"The Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) is delighted to be Swift's supporting partner in Asia for the Innotribe Challenge. This event serves as a platform for technology companies and financial institutions to co-innovate and develop innovative infocomm-enabled products and services.  I am proud that Swift is partnering with us to tap on Singapore's leading role as a regional hub for financial technology innovation. We expect the coming together of the best creative technology minds to lead to new solutions, which can transform the financial sector further," said Mr Andrew Khaw, Senior Director, Industry Development Group, IDA.

Start-ups from last year's Challenge have secured large contracts with global financial services firms. 2012's growth-stage start-up winner, Gust, subsequently received over US$12m in investment, and Singapore-based tech start-up, PlayMoolah, has started working with its first financial institution, OCBC Bank since winning the early-stage start-up category at the 2012 Singapore Startup Challenge.

Lee Min Xuan, Co-founder, PlayMoolah said: “Getting validation from hundreds of banks around the world gave us a lot of confidence that our product was solving a real need in this sector. I appreciate that Innotribe is focused on the financial services industry, which is a huge opportunity for start-ups to get access to financial services globally - that’s the key difference for Innotribe.”

The Innotribe Startup Challenge will be held in conjunction with InnovFest organised by NUS Enterprise, an annual festival of innovation and enterprise-related activities.

Launched by Swift, the Startup Challenge travels around the world with three regional showcases in the US, Asia and Europe. It provides participants with the unique opportunity to get together and create smart company pitches, facilitate insightful discussions on emerging innovations and participate in useful networking events.

The Innotribe Startup Challenge is sponsored by Invest NI, HP, Level39 and Sberbank.

The New York Startup Challenge will be held on 13th June. For information on the London finalists click here. For further information about the Innotribe Startup Challenge please visit: http://innotribestartup.com./

About Innotribe
Launched in 2009, Innotribe is Swift's initiative to enable collaborative innovation in financial services.  Innotribe presents an energising mix of education, new perspectives, collaboration, facilitation and incubation to professionals and entrepreneurs who are willing to drive change within their industry. It fosters creative thinking in financial services, through debating the options (at Innotribe events) and supporting the creation of innovative new solutions (through the Incubator, Startup Challenge and Proof of Concepts (POCs). It is through this approach, the Innotribe team at Swift is able to generate a platform that enables innovation across Swift and the financial community. For more information, please visit http://www.innotribe.com/.

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.

About Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore
The Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) is committed to growing Singapore into a dynamic global infocomm hub. IDA uses an integrated approach to developing info-communications in Singapore. This involves nurturing a competitive telecoms market as well as a conducive business environment with programmes and schemes for both local and international companies. For more news and information, visit http://www.ida.gov.sg/.

About PlayMoolah
PlayMoolah is an innovation company that designs authentic experiences for children to learn about money. Partnering with their parents and financial / learning institutions, kids learn to earn, spend, save, invest, and give in a way that's fun, educational, and safe. PlayMoolah designs game mechanics to inspire real-world action, giving children the knowledge, skills, and tools needed for financial literacy. PlayMoolah is on a mission to empower the next generation to realize how money can help achieve their goals and create value in the world. PlayMoolah is supported by NUS Enterprise. (http://www.playmoolah.com)

For more information, please refer to http://www.swift.com/ or contact:

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

Cognito Singapore
Anne Karumo / Ee Ghim Chua
Tel: + 65 6818 9024
Anne.karumo@cognitomedia.com

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