Thrifty Bunch: Drexel research fellow wins $20k in national mobile app competition

Lex Fridman, a Drexel research fellow, won $20,000 in the Financial Capability Development Competition (FinCapDev), a national mobile app competition focused on improving consumer habits, for an app that crowdsources shopping decisions.

Fridman’s app, Thrifty Bunch, lets users post potential purchases so other users can weigh in. He’s going to use the prize money to continue developing the app, he wrote on his blog.

Get it for Android here.

More than 300 developers applied during the proposal stage, which was narrowed down to 12 finalists, said spokesman Dave Clarke. Five won cash prizes, including Fridman, who was a runner-up.

The competition was organized by the Center for Financial Services Innovation and the D2D Fund.