ISLAMABAD – Groundbreaking applications have emerged at APIthonchapter II, where 70 participants were engaged in rigorous coding based on open APIs (Application Programming Interface).
The event was attended by over 70 participants, selected out of 250 teams. APIthon, chapter II, hosted by Abacus Consulting at the National Incubation Centre, Islamabad, this week, provided an opportunity to startups, entrepreneurs and app developers to consume over 40 APIs from Telenor, JS Bank, Jazz, Bookme.pk and UBER.
Such events are extremely important for our youth and startup community to get in touch with the large enterprises to create solutions for the bigger problems. “I believe APIthon is a wonderful platform!” said Irfan Wahan Khan, chief executive officer, Telenor Pakistan.
‘Host Inn’ team (winners of APIthon II), provides a platform for those who are looking for hostels. It allows the users to find options available in specific areas and select and make payments using the same app. The team won an opportunity to visit Silicon Valley through the event partner, Draper University, free 15,000 UBER credit and assistance in seed funding by Ignite.
‘Mad Hunt’ team stood second in the competition. Their application helps people suffering from anxiety and depression by helping them engage with their surroundings physically and their friends enhancing the entire experience using augmented reality. The team won mentorship from the Silicon Valley-based organization, Angel Hack, 10,000 free credit by UBER and assistance in seed funding by Ignite
The third position was secured by ‘Mera Paisa’, a mobile application aimed at serving the unbanked population of Pakistan. The team won 7,000 credits by UBER and assistance in seed funding by Ignite.
“Events like APIthon potentially result in similar success stories like those of UBER in Pakistan,” said Mr Safee Shah, UBER general manager.
The jury consisted of Ali Iqbal (general manager of Ignite); Mariam Hussain Randhawa and MudassarNazar (Jazz); Omer Salimullah (head of Open Banking and Ecosystem, JS Bank); Sana Khan (head of Software Engineering, Telenor 4G); and Faizan Aslam (CEO of Bookme.Pk).
The inaugural ceremony was addressed by Telenor 4G’s CEO Irfan Wahab Khan, Jazz & Emerging Markets at VEON’s CEO Amir Ibrahim, U Microfinance Bank’s COO KabeerNaqvi, Ignite’s CEO Yusuf Hussain, UBER’s General Manager Safee Shah, and Abacus Consulting’s Managing Director Abbas Khan.
“Events like APIthon are encouraging people to come and help companies to get an insight into how to co-create solutions,” said, Amir Ibrahim.
All participating teams were mentored by industry experts in order to help them consume APIs efficiently and error-free.
The event partner included Google’s Apigee, Angel Hack, Bookme.pk, Code for Pakistan, Draper University, Epiphany, Ignite, Jazz, JS Bank, Momentum, National Incubation Center, Team Up, Pro Pakistani, Telenor 4G, TiE Islamabad and UBER.
Abbas Ali Khan, MD, AbacusConsulting distributed prizes amongst the winners.
