diff --git a/.bumpversion.cfg b/.bumpversion.cfg
index ed0f0848125..5b9892cd67c 100644
--- a/.bumpversion.cfg
+++ b/.bumpversion.cfg
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 [bumpversion]
-current_version = 2.3.0
+current_version = 2.9.0b1
 files = setup.py src/scancode_config.py
 commit = False
 tag = False
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
index de1e6543546..7542db16bcf 100644
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@
 from setuptools import setup
 
 
-version = '2.3.0'
+version = '2.9.0b1'
 
 
 #### Small hack to force using a plain version number if the option
diff --git a/src/scancode_config.py b/src/scancode_config.py
index 0441a267b61..1a64798dece 100644
--- a/src/scancode_config.py
+++ b/src/scancode_config.py
@@ -97,7 +97,7 @@ def _create_dir(location):
     __version__ = get_distribution('scancode-toolkit').version
 except DistributionNotFound:
     # package is not installed ??
-    __version__ = '2.3.0'
+    __version__ = '2.9.0b1'
 
 system_temp_dir = tempfile.gettempdir()
 scancode_src_dir = dirname(__file__)