Swift Innotribe names Singapore startup challenge finalists
The Singapore finalists will compete against New York and London at Sibos Dubai in September
Swift’s innovation-focused spin-off Innotribe has announced the five Singapore finalists for its global startup challenge, which aims to help innovative new companies in financial services to develop their ideas and transform them into working businesses.
The startups chosen are PassportFX, Pocketbook, z-crd, GIEOM and V-Key. PassportFX is an online currency exchange; Pocketbook is a free personal financial management tool; z-crd is a cloud-based transaction system; GIEOM is a management specialist; and V-Key is a company focused on protecting mobile applications against cyber attacks.
The Singapore finalists will now go to Dubai in September, where they will compete against the other finalists from New York and London at Sibos 2013.
Sydney Australia-based Pocketbook uses account aggregation, meaning that customers see all their financial transactions in one place. The idea is to help users stay on top of their bills, minimise fees and late payments and keep users on track towards their budgets and savings goals.
GIEOM is based in Bangalore, India, and was created to help customers simplify the view of the business operating model and manage projects more effectively. For example, the firm is helping Mauritius Commercial Bank to adapt to a new core banking system.
Singapore-US company V-Key’s guiding philosophy is to secure mobile apps, rather than the mobile device itself. “The world needs an advanced security protection and mobile threat analytics to address advanced persistence threats in the mobile apps landscape,” said Benjamin Mah, chief executive and founder.
“InnovFest was a great host for the Singapore Startup Challenge bringing together top industry professionals from around the region,” said Matteo Rizzi, co-founder at Innotribe. “We have seen some great pitches and the finalists should be proud of their achievements. We wish them the best of luck at Sibos Dubai later this year! It’s a compliment to the challenge, which I hope will continue to give some great businesses the platform they need in the industry.”
The London challenge chose its finalists last month; the New York challenge will be held on 13 June.
In March, a similar but separate project called the FinTech Innovation Lab London drew to a close with an investor day presentation at London’s City Hall. Like the Innotribe startup challenge, the FinTech Innovation Lab London focused on supporting startup companies with innovative new products in financial services; the initiative earned praise from major global banks, who praised it for helping to energise the development of innovative new products in financial services.
