BRUSSELS, 3 October 2013
Innotribe, Swift’s initiative to enable collaborative innovation in financial services, announced the first Latin American ‘Innotribe Startup Disrupt’ event, in conjunction with Next Bank LatAm. Aimed at Latin American-based financial technology startups, the competition will be held at the Next Bank LatAm event on 21-22 November 2013 in Bogotá, to recognise new disruptive companies with the potential to transform the financial services industry.
Together with Next Bank LatAm, Innotribe will select up to ten startups to showcase their businesses to an audience of the financial industry’s most influential executives, entrepreneurs and investors.
The winning startup will receive a demo slot at the Innotribe space at Sibos, Swift’s annual conference, taking place in September 2014 in Boston; a spot at the 2014 Innotribe Startup Challenge semi-final for the Americas in New York; and 30 days co-working space at the 13 academies of Wayra, including support from its network.
Furthermore, the top three startups selected by the panel will each receive significant exposure to the Swift member community including: a demo slot at the Swift Latin American Regional Conference 2014; curated webinars to the fintech community organised by Innotribe/Swift, and media visibility through the large Innotribe network that includes financial industry decision makers and investors.
Innotribe Startup Disrupt is open to any Latin American fintech startup:
- up to maximum of three years old;
- with a go-to-market ready product;
- with less than €1 million funding obtained in the last 12 months, and with an annual turnover of less than €1 million.
Nektarios Liolios, Innovation Leader of Innotribe said, “The financial services sector is undergoing huge changes and the capacity to innovate will determine the success of all players involved. Innotribe is always looking for entrepreneurs who are willing to drive change within their industry. Innotribe Startup Disrupt is such an initiative and we are looking forward to seeing great pitches and rewarding the best Latin American fintech startup with a fast track to Sibos in 2014.”
Next Bank LatAm is a participatory event, open and inspiring, allowing the chance to meet and network with different sectors of the industry. The conference brings together traditional players such as banks, consultants and technology providers with alternative players such as startups and digital ecosystems to form the new community of fintech innovators.
Fermin Bueno, organiser of Next Bank LatAm said: “During the last decade, entrepreneurship has been growing rapidly across Latin America and tech startups are an important engine for this growth. Without the legacy of a strong physical traditional banking sector, Latin American fintech startups have the unique opportunity to catapult the financial services sector straight into banking 3.0 and with new services drive financial inclusion in the region. Without any doubt, it’s intriguing to see what is going on in Fintech in LatAm and we are looking forward to seeing many innovative ideas.”
In a separate category, IE Business School will give a prize for the best pitching efforts. This prize consists of a grant to participate at the Venture Capital Executive Programme, a recognised global programme on how to raise capital.
Interested startups can apply to Innotribe Startup Disrupt here: www.innotribestartupdisrupt.com
Applications will remain open until midnight on 31st October 2013.
For more information about Innotribe, visit: www.innotribe.com
For more information about Sibos, visit: www.sibos.com
For more information about NextBank LatAm, visit: www.nextbanklatam.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 (and supporting the creation of innovative new solutions). 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://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 Next Bank Madrid
Next Bank Madrid is a collaborative conference about innovation, transformation and startup disruption in Financial Services. Next Bank Madrid is organised by finnovista, with the support of Next Bank, the global collective of innovation professionals in Financial Services and Innotribe.
For more information, please refer to www.innotribe.com or contact:
Swift
Press Office
Tel: +32 2 655 3377
pressoffice@swift.com
Cognito Europe
Paul Bowhay / Katherine Dvorkin
Tel: +44 (0)20 7426 9400
innotribe@cognitomedia.com
