The Battle Hack trophy; an axe.
Payments software vendors, PayPal and Braintree, are giving Australian developers the chance to win a round trip to Silicon Valley to compete for $US100,000 against the world’s best as part of the global Battle Hack competition.
The companies will host a 24-hour hackathon in Sydney on July 26 during which developers will be tasked with building a mobile application that solves a local problem of choice.
The app must incorporate the PayPal application programming interface (API) or Braintree software development kit (SDK).
The winner will be flown to PayPal’s Silicon Valley headquarters to compete for $US100,000 and a battle axe trophy. Second place will receive a Sony PlayStation 4, third will win Polaroid cameras, and the first 25 hackers in the door will be given a Leap Motion Controller.
“Battle Hack is designed by developers for developers,” PayPal and Braintree Developer Network global director, John Lunn, said. “We see it as a way to reward the best and brightest developers.
“Additionally, we hope to change the lives of the winning team through the prize money we offer, whether it’s helping a sick relative like one of our Moscow winners did or building their own business.”
Lunn said Battle Hack does not intend to take equity of influence work, and is therefore not based on the feasibility of the business idea. The competition is instead judges on quality of code.
Sydney Battle Hack participants can compete individually, as a team, or find people to work with on the day. A maximum of four can be in a team.
Last year’s Battle Hack toured 10 cities and attracted more than 2000 competitors globally. The winning team was from Moscow; they created Donate Now, an app that uses Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) and PayPal to allow instant donation from a mobile device sans donation forms.
Australian developers can register for the Sydney Battle Hack via its Web site.
