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SWIFT Innotribe announces 14 African finalists for regional startup showdown

SWIFT Innotribe has just released the list of fourteen tech startups who will compete at its regional pitch competition in May for the chance to move on to the global competition and be in line to walk away with a grand cash prize.

Ten African growth and four early stage companies from South Africa, Uganda, Zimbabwe and Nigeria will pitch to potential investors, financial services experts and global bank decision-makers at the 22nd annual African Regional Conference in Cape Town on 6th May.

The key areas of innovation among the semi-finalists include: corporate business services, lending, payments, big data, e-commerce, investment management, financial education and forex.

“In 2014, just 1% of applications to the global startup challenge came from Africa; this year, the continent represents 13% of the total,” Hugo Smit, head of SWIFT Sub-Saharan Africa said in a statement.

“This is a tremendous achievement in 12 months and a clear indication of the continent’s innovative spirit. Africa has already brought mobile money into the world; it has the potential to deliver other disruptive financial technologies.”

The African regional finalists are:

Forty-six other semi-finalists from London, Singapoer and New York were also announced, bringing the total number of regional finalists to 60. Overall, 370 entries were received from all over the world and 500 judges from across the financial, technology and investment communities were tasked with choosing the finalists.

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“The regional showcases represent a unique platform for discussion, debate, and high-level networking for our community and are a great opportunity for the startups to meet face to face with potential investors, partners and customers.   We are excited for this year’s competition and look forward to seeing each startup pitch their innovative products with determination during the regional showcases,” said Fabian Vandenreydt, head of markets management at Innotribe and the SWIFT Institute at SWIFT.

Twenty finalists will be chosen from each region to compete in the Innotribe Startup Challenge Grand Finale, which will be held at Sibos in Singapore on 14th October.

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