Augmenteed arises as the winner of RISE’s Malaysia Cross-Industry Virtual Hackathon

• 58 teams, 200 participants, two days of intense problem-solving and pitching
• Augmenteed beat out 7 other finalists during Grand Final Pitch, winning US$3,625

From 25 to 27 September 2020, 58 teams of close to 200 participants duked it out at the Malaysia Cross-Industry Virtual Hackathon, organised by the Bangkok-based Southeast Asian accelerator, RISE.

The event, which saw problem statements from top corporates ranging from telecommunications to travel, agriculture, property and health and safety, tasked participants with choosing a problem to “hack” for a solution. As the dust settled, augmented technology solutions startup Augmenteed emerged as the winner.

The 58 finalist teams were shortlisted from applicants that entered to solve challenges from Malaysian corporates including Celcom Axiata Bhd, Malaysia Airlines Bhd, Eco World Development Group Bhd, and HLX by Hong Leong Group.

The startups had to find a solution to not only solve their selected problem statement, but was also agile and versatile enough to be leveraged across industries.

Each team had less than 48 hours to work on their respective problem statements, and they were given virtual mentoring sessions on 26 September by representatives from corporations and experts in the field of technology, UI/UX design and business models. The teams were also taught to pitch their ideas during a sharing session by PitchIn founder Sam Shafie.

27 Sept was Pitch Day, where each team was required to pitch their respective solutions to judging corporations. The champion for each problem statement was then announced and awarded US$1,270 (RM5,000) in prize money.

Each problem statement champion will then come together for a Grand Final Pitch, competing for the grand prize of US$3,625 (RM15,000). Here, the remaining eight finalists were given no more than three days to revise and improve on their solutions before returning to the pitching ring.

Augmenteed, made up of a group of augmented reality engineers, emerged as the victors with their solution to upskill front-line technicians with remote capabilities.

“We would like to thank RISE, MDEC, Celcom, Malaysian Airlines for the chance to pitch at the event. RISE and its partners are a crucial part of the startup ecosystem in SEA and provide an important platform for young startups working on emerging technologies,” said Augmenteed cofounder Rakesh Patni.

Rakesh was grateful as these events gave his team access to real customer pain points which they could then solve following the guidance of experienced mentors. “Our participation has certainly opened doors to the Malaysian market which we wouldn't have had otherwise. Augmenteed hopes to accelerate its development and growth and winning the competition is an excellent lever for us to achieve our milestones in the future,” he expressed.

RISE country head of Malaysia Johnathan Lee added: “There are bound to be some challenges when running such a large hackathon and entirely virtual but RISE along with the support from our co-organiser, the Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC), the corporates, the supporting partners, mentors and speakers managed to deliver a highly engaging experience that I have no doubt, added value to all the stakeholders and participants,” he says.

Already looking to take the programme to the next level in 2021, Johnathan welcomed more corporations to work with RISE in solving industry challenges.