TinyLoop, a project from the TinyEco team in Cape Town, has won ZAR20,000 (US$1,700) in prize money to help further develop its innovative closed-loop shower system after winning the H2O hackathon organised by Startupbootcamp and RCS Group.
Disrupt Africa reported earlier this month Startupbootcamp Cape Town and RCS Group had partnered to host a water-saving hackathon to commission technology from the wider Cape community in a bid to push back “Day Zero”.
The H2O (Hack Two Day Zero) event took place last week, spanning two days with a keynote address from George Gabriel from Green Cape and workshops on the second day. Zachariah George, co-founder and chief investment officer of Startupbootcamp Cape Town, hosted an investment masterclass and Patrick Schofield, founder of Thundafund, shared insider tips on building successful crowdfunding campaigns.
The winner was TinyLoop, for its innovative shower system that enables users to shower for as long as they like while still using less than 10 litres of water. TinyLoop is a closed-loop shower system that recycles water for a continuous shower experience.
“It allows you the opportunity to enjoy showering while staying well below the current Level 6B water restrictions allocation of 50 litres per person. TinyLoop is also the first proactive step towards combating the “new normal” of water scarcity and a growing population in the Western Cape and South Africa,” said Thomas Bartleman, head designer for TinyLoop.
“The Startupbootcamp hackathon offered us the opportunity to collaborate with and learn from individuals with vastly different backgrounds and experiment with new ideas regarding the product. The mentorship from Startupbootcamp, their corporate partners, and the sponsors was just as valuable.”
He said the prize money will mainly be used to improve the product capabilities, with some of it allocated to exploring better filtration and production capabilities.
