MasterCard Readies Masters Of Code Hackathon Finale

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The mobile payments industry is defined by the companies that continue to foster innovative solutions to increasingly complex problems, and MasterCard is giving clear indications with its Masters of Code hackathon competition that it wants to lead the way forward in FinTech advancements for a very long time.

MasterCard announced Tuesday (Nov. 24) that it had selected 12 startups to compete in the finals of the global Masters of Code tournament in San Francisco on Dec. 4 and 5. The winners were all pulled from regional competitions held across the world throughout the past 10 months and range from homegrown U.S. startups to companies from Istanbul, São Paulo and Hong Kong.

The ultimate winner will be awarded $100,000 in cash, a week-long “MasterCard Start Path” boot camp based in Singapore, a six-month consultancy period with MasterCard’s Open API executive board and free payments processing up to $250,000 for 12 months through MasterCard’s Simplify Commerce service.

“We approached this series looking for the best developers, and that is exactly who we have found,” Sebastien Taveau, chief developer evangelist at MasterCard Open API, said in a statement. “At MasterCard, we opened our APIs to see what they are inspired to create next and promote financial inclusion globally.”

For a taste of what some of the finalists are bringing to the table, Computer Business Review reported that the last startup to earn a spot in the finals was London-based All of Us. To win its regional tournament, All of Us developed a journey-planning assistant that combined real-time public transit information with cross-platform payments functionality to allow seamless planning and payments whether users are going across the block or across the city.

To win the finals though, All of Us and the other startups will have to up their games to impress the judging panel, which includes industry giants like Dave Birch of Consult Hyperion, Jean-Louis Gassee of Allegis Capital and Karen Webster of PYMNTS.