Hardly any other industry thrives as much on an open exchange between established players and creative newcomers as financial technology. Fintechs compete for broad-based perception just as large providers acquire specific expertise and completely new approaches. Against this background, Worldline brought together all those involved in the payment technology ecosystem, including Fintechs, banks, merchants and, of course, Worldline’s own technology experts, in its first public Europe-wide “hackathon” called the e-Payments Challenge in September 2018.
The set-up is a true industry novelty: all projects are defined and selected by Worldline’s customers based on their market strategies. As business partners of Worldline, they present their very own challenges to Fintechs for competitive selection and work together with them to co-create innovations on a topic.
Billee was one of the 15 start-up teams from around the world that competed in the 2018 e-Payments Challenge. All teams were given 48 hours to design solutions for Worldline clients using Worldline assets including APIs, offerings and expertise in R&D and regulation. After many hours of dedication and hard work, Billee pitched their solution for app-based splitting of the payment for a restaurant bill to Accor and the jury and were selected as a winner.
Succeeding in the challenge provided Billee with an opportunity to work with Accor and bring their ideas to life. Like all the other participating teams, the Billee team gained experience and insight from their exposure to industry leaders and also benefitted from Worldline’s international engagement with Fintech which stretches from international hubs to marketing collaborations and venture capital.