TopCoder's Global Community Surpasses Half A Million Members

Talent pool of world's best algorithmists, software developers and creative artists growing strong

GLASTONBURY, Conn., July 30, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- TopCoder®, Inc., the world's largest open innovation platform and competitive community of digital creators, surpassed half a million community members yesterday. Representing the world's best algorithmists, software developers and creative artists, the members compete and collaborate to create valuable, real-world solutions on TopCoder's state-of-the-art platform.

Already welcoming over 50,000 new members this year, the TopCoder Community is on track to set record growth in 2013. The largest growth year in TopCoder history was 2012 with 68,397 new members.

"I'm extremely happy to see the TopCoder Community reach the half million point," said TopCoder Founder Jack Hughes. "But it's about so much more than the numbers. It's about the depth and breadth of what the community is able to do."

Founded in 2001, TopCoder is designed to accelerate the development of new digital products and services for Fortune 1000 enterprises, small and mid-sized businesses, and government agencies. Through crowdsourcing and open innovation, specialized competitions invite multi-disciplinary community members to effectively and efficiently solve clients' challenging problems, including application and mobile development, user experience, graphic design, and big data projects. Member expertise and capability canvasses the entire digital lifecycle, from ideation, to all phases of software development, and continued through maintenance, updates and security of created assets.

Hughes is constantly amazed by the sophisticated platform built by the TopCoder Community and the tools that enable member engagement. As the community grows, so does the talent pool and opportunity for innovation. "TopCoder attracts people who want to help each other and work together in both a competitive and collaborative fashion," added Hughes. "They are willing to support one another even when there is no commercial aspect, when it's simply a learning exercise. That's the most gratifying aspect of TopCoder."

TopCoder members reside in 239 countries, with the top three regions being Asia at 43 percent, North America at 26 percent and Europe at 13 percent. Since its founding, TopCoder has paid its members over $47.7 million in prize money.

"TopCoder is the twist in my life," said TopCoder Member and Copilot Jerrish Issac Varghese. "I started as a novice coder in the community and gradually learned how to participate in different competition formats. Those experiences took me to new heights in my career. Thanks to TopCoder's wonderful platform, I can collaborate with talented people around the globe and I'm really proud to be among the half million members."

As an accomplished software copilot, Varghese, who lives in India, works closely with TopCoder clients to ensure successful project completion. He was instrumental in the creation of NoNameSite.com, an online community of 13- to 18-year-olds that fosters computer science skills through educational gaming.

Each year TopCoder showcases its most talented members during the TopCoder Open, a worldwide programming and design tournament that offers over $300,000 in cash prizes. TopCoder Open finalists will compete in Washington, D.C., November 10 – 14, 2013.

Video: Hear more from TopCoder Founder Jack Hughes.

About TopCoder, Inc.
TopCoder is the world's largest Open Innovation Community of digital creators with over half a million members representing algorithmists, software developers and creative artists from over 200 countries. The TopCoder Open Innovation Community creates digital assets including analytics, software and creative designs and solutions for a wide-ranging client base through a competitive, rigorous, standards based methodology. Combined with our extremely talented community this groundbreaking methodology results in superior outcomes for our clients. For more information about sponsoring TopCoder events and utilizing TopCoder's software services and platforms, visit www.topcoder.com.

Contact: Clinton Bonner
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860.608.9074