Global Payments Inc. (NYSE: GPN), a leading worldwide provider of payment technology services, announced the winners of its FinAppsParty, an interactive hackathon which took place in Atlanta and London March 11-12, 2016.
Hosted in collaboration with its subsidiary, Realex Payments, the event attracted talented developers, designers and programmers for a 24-hour competition to build the most innovative mobile apps.
In Atlanta, participants focused on creating a financial or payment mobile app that eases and enhances the retail experience for merchants and customers. Winners were announced at the Georgia Technology Summit on March 17 to an audience of over 1,300 technology leaders. Atlanta’s top recipients were:
- 1st Place, $20,000 – Nebi Erdogan and Pedro Queiros for Non-Friction Checkout, a mobile app that utilizes NFC technology to generate a security token that can unlock devices like security tags.
- 2nd Place – Shivam Garg, Jonathan Lathem, Melissa Pera and Nivedit Tyagi for Smart Trash, an application designed to track consumption of household items, learns to shop based on user preferences and helps people manage their carbon footprint.
- 3rd Place – Usman Shahid for ShopR, a mobile app that enhances the showroom shopping experience and reduces the incidence of returned items through virtual reality.
The London FinAppsParty celebrated the launch of Realex Payments’ new mobile libraries for developers. Participants also leveraged technologies from event partners to create their innovative entries. The London winners were:
- 1st Place, £15,000 and a trip to Barcelona – Team “We Draw Pictures” for Nest ID, a mobile app dedicated to helping displaced people, such as refugees and asylum seekers, to identify themselves, access documents and locate family members and friends.
- 2nd Place – Christopher Michaelides and his two teammates for Floji, a flower marketplace app that allows users to send flower emojis and embed a video greeting.
- 3rd Place – Matt Williams for Qoinz, an app that helps people pay for vending machine items with their phones instead of cash.
“The FinAppsParty showcased the talent and innovation in Atlanta and London, positioning each as vibrant fintech hubs with the ability to compete with any of the technology capitals in the world,” said Frank T. Young, SVP, Global Product and Innovation. “Global Payments is thrilled to host initiatives like the FinAppsParty in support of the industry’s growth and in demonstration of our commitment to leading transformative payment innovation.”