iPay2x, a University of Utah student business, walked away with $5,000 at this year’s techTITANS idea competition with a new mobile payments platform on Nov. 8.
The iPay2x team created a mobile payments platform that allows buyers to search for the best product for their needs based on price, inventory and brand. Then users can pay for it using their mobile device. Merchants can use the technology for real-time inventory tracking. The iPay2x creators consist of two U Masters of Science in Information Systems students Anuj Gupta and Rob Brown, and a local business-owner, Shreyas Kamat.
“We are planning to use the techTITANS winnings for prototype validations and refinements. The initial feedback from the customers and merchants is very encouraging and we are excited to bring iPay2x to the market,” says Kamat. The team has been developing iPay2x since July 2012.
This year 10 finalists from schools across the state gathered at the U to propose their business ideas to professional judges. This year’s competition had around 80 entries, ranging from a website that matches interns to jobs to a service that provides market research data. All students who competed received feedback from experienced professionals.
“Competition was fierce, and our judges were top-of-the-line and all have strong, varying, backgrounds in biotech startups, media or law. From my interactions with the students who participated, I can tell that they received a lot of great feedback,” says Nick Roberts, co-chair of the Utah Entrepreneur Series.
Second place winner, Mark Nielson, an MBA student at Brigham Young University, created Reform, a product that creates more energy efficient houses while improving the construction process.
“I determined when I came back to school that I would do what I could to learn the process of entrepreneurship, and techTITANS forces you to cross the T’s and dot the I’s,” says Nielson.
As the second place winner, Nielson and his team, ReForm won $2,500 and free legal services from Stoel Rives.
AutoReply was awarded third place for its device to prevent texting and driving.
techTITANS is part of the Utah Entrepreneur Series, a series of three business competitions. The Utah Entrepreneur Series is a student-run program under the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute. Opportunity Quest is next up with deadlines submissions on Nov. 20.
Learn more about the Utah Entrepreneur Series at www.ues.utah.edu.
