Brussels, 2 May 2014 - The Innotribe Startup Challenge attendees selected the five finalists from the European leg of its annual Startup Challenge to compete at Sibos Boston in October. Ten early-stage startups and five growth-stage innovators delivered compelling pitches to an audience of global innovators and investors, venture capitalists and industry experts. The showcase was held at Level39 in Canary Wharf on 1 May, in partnership with the Finextra Future Money conference.
The three early-stage startup finalists are:
- CurrencyTransfer, the world's first online marketplace matching businesses with the most competitive international payment quotes
- Ensygnia and its patented Onescan app and platform which create a trusted environment for users to share a verified identity as well as personal and financial details to enable e-commerce, transactions even with new customers in under 10 seconds
- TransferGo and its platform enabling digital international money transfer without actually transferring the sender's money internationally
The two growth-stage innovator finalists are:
- Mambu which is a cloud banking platform that enables financial institutions to launch loan and deposit products into untapped markets without the costs of their legacy IT infrastructure
- MatchMove with its Wallet aimed at the 500+ million ‘uncarded' smartphone users in emerging countries connecting daily to the internet but unable to make purchases
Fabian Vandenreydt, Head of Markets Management, Innotribe and the Swift Institute said: "London was a great kick-off to the 2014 Startup Challenge and it was exciting to see so many inspiring companies present their innovations to a packed room. All of the pitches were of the highest standard and these companies can be proud of their achievements! Now into the third full year of the Startup Challenge, we continue to see our network grow, allowing us to provide more startups with even greater opportunities to connect with the financial industry. We wish the finalists the best of luck at Sibos in Boston later this year."
The top five finalists of the European showcase advance to the Grand Finale to be held at Sibos, Swift's annual conference. The event will take place in Boston in October, and the finalists will compete against the winners from the Singapore and New York showcases.
The London Startup Challenge was the first of three regional showcases to be held in 2014 and was sponsored by HP, Invest NI, Level39, and SAP. The Singapore and New York Startup Challenges will be held on 15 May and 5 June respectively.
More information about the Innotribe Startup Challenge, including descriptions of all 47 semi-finalists participating to the competition this year, is available at http://innotribe.com/2014-startup-challenge/.
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.
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