Open source technologies and software have been around for decades now. It lies and runs on the shoulders of very active members of the coding community and the contributions they make. But one constant problem that companies that propagate open source software projects and subsequent products is the lack of incentives that entice programmers to dedicate their time to a particular project.

To solve this, among many other problems, a startup called FundRequest has released its first product. Their new product is integrating the power of the blockchain with the famous developer community manager GitHub. Similar to GitHub, a community that allows coders and developers to solve coding problems online and be rewarded for them, FundRequest allows projects to release or fund ‘issues’ that can be solved by programmers who will be rewarded in cryptocurrencies.

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FundRequest is breaking into a niche space that works in a small intersection between companies that need software programmers to meet their open-source needs and developers who need projects and products to work on. They have launched their product to the public. Companies get the software support they need and the developers get monetary incentives for the work they put in.

One of the biggest advantages, from a developer’s standpoint, is the opportunity for seasoned coders and developers to enter the blockchain environment while contributing to projects and products that they genuinely care about. From a company seeking software support’s standpoint, it encourages loyalty amongst freelance programmers allowing the company to reach out whenever needed.

Solving a Software Dilemma

A problem that the open source environment has faced consistently over all of its years, is the never-ending stack of unfinished projects that are eventually abandoned because there aren’t any developers working on them. Because of which, companies that are running such projects end up wasting a lot of money, time and resources but at the same time have their hands tied due to the lack of response.

To tackle this particular problem that is so common in the open source software, the team at FundRequest have incentivised participation and contribution, making it a race of sorts. A company or a team will fund an issue, developers will attempt to solve it and the best solution will win the reward. To fund an issue, it must be created on GitHub asking the developer to solve a problem. The problem in itself can be anything. It can be a simple debugging request or it can also go up to as much as an add-on to the original project.

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FundRequest partners with SingularityNET for AI integration

All payments will take place on the Ethereum network and will be governed by smart contracts making sure there is no fraud and that there is no need for an intermediary for fund transfers. By default, all payments on FundRequest will be made in their native coin/token, FND, however, there is a provision through which the company funding the ‘issue’ can choose to pay the developers in their native token.

FundRequest has options that allow the developer to donate their reward to charity and reinvest it into the open source community.

“Developers can start earning experience in blockchain development and are now able to participate directly in projects they care about by solving issues through FundRequest,” said Karel Striegel, Co-Founder and CEO of FundRequest. “Meanwhile, projects and companies can tap into a pool of passionate open source and blockchain developers through our platform. We look forward to being the bridge for these two groups and accelerating the development of open source and blockchain technologies.”

Tapping into a Huge Developer Base

GitHub has 23 million active users in the community with unique work experience in many programming languages. FundRequest’s collaboration with GitHub opens doors to hundreds and hundreds of opportunities to developers and coders. Users can create their accounts on FundRequest using their GitHub credentials.

In its future forms and updates, the FundRequest team is adding a Chrome plug-in and integrations, the platform offers a plug-and-play API able to be used by any platform or community.

Partnerships

Apart from their massive collaboration with GitHub, FundRequest also has partnerships with many other big names in the industry including the following;

• SingularityNet, a decentralized marketplace for AI innovation.

• Request Network, a decentralized payment processing platform.

• ORCA, the first open banking platform for crypto users.

• Trust Wallet, an open-source Ethereum ERC20 wallet.

• Indorse, an Ethereum-based professional networking service.

• Dock.io, connecting profiles, reputations and networks into one shareable source using blockchain technology.

• Remote.com, connecting 2 million+ professionals with remote and freelance jobs using artificial intelligence.

The FundRequest marketplace is connecting companies to a large base of developers that are looking and waiting to make a break into the open source community and industry. Though in their first product the team is only collaborating with GitHub, the product is said to be able to integrate itself with many other coding and developing communities in the future too. Apart from solving an age-old problem that the community faces, FundRequest is also making sure that developers have the choice to contribute and be a part of projects and products that they personally connect with and love.

Ramaa Mohan