Innotribe, SWIFT’s FinTech startup initiative, announced its 2015 Startup Challenge locations today, and officially opened the competition to applications.

This year the competition will kick off in four locations:

• London in April 2015
• Cape Town in May 2015
• Singapore in May 2015
• New York in June 2015

The Cape Town location is new, and marks the first time innotribe will partner with SWIFT’s African Regional Conference, now in its 22nd year.  Last year this conference took place in Marrakesh, Morocco.

Innotribe’s Startup Challenge is comparatively young, just in its fifth year, but has gained significant traction in the startup community in that time. Last year more than 280 companies applied to the competition, 100 more, according to SWIFT, than in 2013.

A panel of FinTech experts will evaluate the applicants and choose 60 semi-finalists, 15 for each regional location. Five companies will be chosen to participate in the final challenge, which will take place at SIBOS in Singapore in October.

Applications are open until mid-February 2015, and successful applicants will be announced in April.

Innotribe has undergone some dramatic changes in 2014, losing its four founders and gaining a new head, Fabian Vandenreydt, who is also head of markets management for SWIFT.