The financial industry may be (often wrongfully) accused of being one of the least innovative when it comes to the adoption and implementation of new technology, but that isn’t stopping those who believe they can help transform that sector.
Just take Innotribe Startup Challenge for example. The year-round competition is targeted at emerging startup companies and innovators that look at transforming the financial services industry. Launched by financial cooperative SWIFT, the Challenge travels around the world with three regional showcases in the US, Asia, and Europe and provides participants with the opportunity to interact and pitch leaders in the financial industry, participate in discussions on emerging innovations and networking events.
Asia Showcase
The Asia Showcase, the Asian component of the Challenge, is supported by NUS Enterprise and will take place in Singapore on 16 May 2013 as part of NUS Enterprise’s flagship event InnovFest 2013. Participants in this Showcase get to pitch ideas to industry professionals, who will select five as finalists to compete with another five each from the U.S. and Europe Showcases for a grand prize of US$50,000 in September 2013 at the Dubai Grand Finale@SIBOS.
In the 2012 edition, Singapore’s own PlayMoolah beat over 400 start-ups from around the world and emerged as grand winner. “The Innotribe Startup Challenge has definitely been a catalyst in helping PlayMoolah gain international exposure within the banking circle,” shares PlayMoolah co-founder Min Xuan Lee. “We received a lot of interest at Sibos, which gave us the opportunity to participate in the critical dialogue on the future of banking, helping to shape the reinvention of banking to one that puts focus back on the customer.”
Interested startups from the Asia region are invited to submit their applications for the Innotribe Startup Challenge. The closing date for applications of the Asia Showcase is 10 March 2013.
