The winning team will participate in the Grand Finale held in Silicon Valley and strive for a chance at the $100,000 USD Grand Prize
Tel Aviv – June, 2015 – MasterCard announced the winner of the first Tel Aviv “Masters of Code”: “weBusking” is the winning team from Israel will join other winning regional teams to participate in the Grand Finale Masters of Code Hackathon in Silicon Valley. They will also receive a MasterCard Priceless® Experience – Northern California, which will take place in Napa Valley and San Francisco. The winning team at the final will be recognized as the first Masters of Code Champions and given their Masters of Code Jackets, $100,000 and many other rewards.
Masters of Code Tel Aviv made history in this two-day hackathon, following the events that already took place in Sydney, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur and Sao Paulo; for the first time, the winning team was made up of only two people, Yuri Friedberg and Max Shakurov. As the name suggests, “weBusking” creates a platform for street performers to live-stream their performance. “It’s like crowdfunding for the arts, but live,” explains Friedberg, who played the violin for many years before becoming a programmer. “You can be anywhere in the world and choose to see any arts performance, and at the same time help these artists just as you would at the train station”. Yuri surprised the judges with a violin performance of the theme from Game of Thrones during their three-minute pitch, further distinguishing “weBusking” as the only team from “Master of Code” to play an instrument in their pitch. Fewer words and more music was their strategy, and it worked to make their application, which brings “busking” to a new, global platform, stand out from the crowd.
Nine teams competed for two days to create innovative prototypes that demonstrate artful coding and design skills while also articulating clear business use – all focused on driving the next generation of commerce applications. Runner-up “Rav-Kav” submitted a payments smart card and other entries included a smartwatch wallet and a fitness app tied to charitable giving. Using MasterCard APIs, developers had access to unsurpassed assets, data, products and services from MasterCard focused on powering commerce on a global scale.
The panel of judges included: Oded Zehavi, COO, Kaymera Technologies, Sidney Gottesman, Executive Vice President, Emerging Payments, MasterCard, Andras Hemberger, Israel Country Manager, MasterCard, Yael Weinstein, Director of Economic Development, Tel Aviv Municipality, Roy Latke, Editor, GeekTime, Nadav Naaman, Founder & CEO, Docady, Assaf Gilad, Technology Reporter, Calcalist, Archiya Fried, VP Business Sector, ICC and Ohad Maimon, VP Innovation & Product Development, Leumicard.
Andras Hemberger, MasterCard Israel Country Manager: “The quality of the teams that participated in the competition and their impressive capabilities, are proof that Israeli innovation doesn’t stop”. Andras also noted, “events like this showcase the creative thinking and support that MasterCard provides the start-up community, not just in Israel, but all around the world”.
About MasterCard
MasterCard (NYSE: MA), www.mastercard.com, is a technology company in the global payments industry. We operate the world’s fastest payments processing network, connecting consumers, financial institutions, merchants, governments and businesses in more than 210 countries and territories. MasterCard’s products and solutions make everyday commerce activities – such as shopping, traveling, running a business and managing finances – easier, more secure and more efficient for everyone. Follow us on Twitter @MasterCardNews, join the discussion on the Beyond the Transaction Blog and subscribe for the latest news on the Engagement Bureau.
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