‘Anyone can code’ campaign spread by AngelHack, U.S.-based global hacker community code creator, is slowly becoming a reality in Visakhapatnam.
The first hackathon conducted by AngelHack and Startup Moksha, city-based incubator, evoked a good response last year.
The second one held recently also drew an enthusiastic response.
“After a 12-week curriculum by us to translate the hackathon idea into viable startups and enabling them to interact with local and global mentors, we take the winners to Silicon Valley,” AngelHack Head (Operations) India and Middle East Ratish Narayanan told The Hindu on Tuesday.
To encourage coding, innovation and change-making, three teams from India including one from Vizag flew to Silicon Valley last October to attend Global Demo Day and extensive pitch training.
“This year we are confident of sending four teams,” Mr. Narayanan said. Hackathon was held last year in New Delhi, Kochi and Vizag and this year it is being conducted in five more cities as part of their campaign to create a most vibrant community of code creators and change-makers.
In last four years, 250 hackathons were conducted across 72 cities in the world to prove that anyone can code irrespective of age and experience.
“What matters most is passion and dedication,” said Startup Moksha founder T. Vasudeva Rao.
Besides a three-month accelerator programme, AngelHack offers a Silicon Valley trip to the winners wherein they will pitch to investors.
The two-day Hackathon ended successfully with 17 teams pitching in the end, and 25 teams participating. The winning team, ‘Road Safety’ from Mumbai, offered solutions to transportation woes.
‘Make a Difference,’ team from Vizag, won ‘Go pro’ cameras for all the members from HP Enterprise. Pod Casting for Farmers, team from Vijayawada, won the social impact award. Another team will be getting smart watches, for the best solution built using them.
The event was sponsored by Symbiosys Technologies and Fluentgrid. The jury included VITA representatives Deepak Madala, Peter Schneeberger and Srinivas Savaram and Andhra University professor Valli Kumari.
