I am honored to be a judge again at the upcoming Innotribe in New York. BizSpark recently partnered with SWIFT on the Innotribe Startup Challenge to bring BizSpark companies working in FinTech and Financial Services an extraordinary opportunity to meet potential investors, customers and partners from the world’s leading financial institutions and FinTech investors.
Sponsored by SWIFT (www.swift.com), the Innotribe Startup Challenge (http://www.innotribestartup.com) fosters collaborative between emerging FinTech and Financial Service innovators and SWIFT’s member community of over 9,700 banking organizations, securities institutions and corporate customers in 209 countries.
- Applicants to the Challenge enjoy online exposure and introductions to hundreds of potential partners and customers from SWIFT’s member community, as well as investors and other members of the startup ecosystem.
- Semi-finalists, selected by a panel of expert judges, are invited to one of three regional Challenge Showcases (New York - Feb 8, Bangkok - Apr 25/6, and Belfast - late June), where innovators pitch and network with a hand-picked group of 40-50 investors and financial industry decision makers.
- The 15 most promising companies from across all three Showcases, as selected by qualified decision makers and investors from across the SWIFT community, will be invited to present at Sibos, SWIFT's annual financial industry trade show that attracts over 8000 financial industry decision makers, influencers and journalists. Sibos (www.sibos.com) will take place this year in Osaka, Japan in October 2012.
The Challenge is open to companies working in financial technology or technology-enabled financial services (no consulting or outsourcing) such as payments, securities, trading, social media tools, big data/data analytics, security, identity, b2b or b2b2c mobile, small business apps & services &/or IT infrastructure. Early-stage applicants must be less than 3 years old with less than $1M in combined revenue and investment in the last 12 months. Later-stage applicants may be of any maturity level, but the products/services they submit must still be 'under the radar'.
Companies apply online by completing a short questionnaire and submitting a pitch deck. Early-stage applicants can participate in the Challenge at no cost other than travel costs to the Showcase if selected as a semi-finalist. Later-stage semi-finalists are subject to a $5000 presentation fee and cover their own travel costs for the Showcase and Sibos. Early-stage finalists invited to Sibos receive re-imbursement for travel expenses, while later-stage finalists cover their own travel costs. No other program provides FinTech and Financial Services innovators access and exposure to so many qualified potential investors, partners and customers at so little cost.
Applications for the February 8th NYC Challenge Showcase are due by January 6th. To learn more and apply, please visit http://www.innotribestartup.com.
