Brisbane fintech Pinch Payments has launched Pinch Me! I Want 50K, a national hackathon with a $50,000 cash prize.
Run in partnership with The Founders Union, the hackathon challenges teams to build working solutions using the Pinch Payments API. It can be any use case that helps businesses get paid more easily, including invoice payments, subscription management, payment automation, embedded payments, marketplace payments and reconciliation workflows.
Entry to the hackathon is free and will take place IRL at hubs in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane, or you can join in remotely from anywhere in Australia.
Pinch Payments cofounder Ben Cull said the event is designed to encourage a broad range of builders to test ideas using real payments technology.
“We’ve got $50,000 to give away to either a brand-new startup, an existing business looking to add a revenue stream, or anyone tinkering on an idea that involves payments technology,” he said.
“This hackathon is a great opportunity for people to get their idea out there, with mentoring and support across both payments and development.”
Pinch community partnerships manager Laurien Duits said the event is about helping people move from idea to prototype.
“The prize is exciting, but what I’m most looking forward to is seeing ideas that might otherwise stay on the whiteboard become working prototypes,” she said.
“If this event gives someone the confidence to finally build that idea they’ve been sitting on, we’ll consider it a success.”
The launch is next Friday, July 24, with the first build weekend running across the July 25-26 weekend. Final submissions are due on Friday, July 31, with the finalists announced on August 3, followed by a live demo and pitch night on August 10.
Participants will be able to use the Pinch sandbox environment, developer documentation and technical support throughout the event. AI-assisted development tools, including ChatGPT, Claude, Cursor, Replit and GitHub Copilot, are permitted.
Teams will be judged on six criteria: innovation, technical execution, user experience, commercial potential, problem solving and effective use of Pinch technology.
Pinch’s Ben Cull and Scale CEO Carolyn Breeze are on the judging panel, with further mentors and judges to be announced.
The Founders Union will support participants with customer validation, product strategy, pitch coaching and go-to-market guidance.
The hackathon is open to developers, founders, designers, product managers, students and solo builders. You can register individually or as a team, with teams of 2-4 across technical, commercial, product and design skills recommended.
Registrations close midnight on Wednesday, July 22.
Register at getpinch.com.au/pinch-me-i-want-50k-hackathon
