First BotPrize Winners Get $200,000

Earlier this year we announced BotPrize, our initiative to award $25,000-$50,000 grants to the creators of the best Telegram bots. Today we selected five bots for the first batch of grants, amounting to a total of over $200,000.

For our first pick of winners, we focused on bots that have already gained massive popularity in some markets. The prize money will help their developers create an even better experience for their existing and future users.

BotPrize: November 2016

In this batch, we awarded bots from five very different categories: Photo-editing, Productivity, Games, Dating, and Finance.

Photo-editing
@icon8bot – an AI-based bot that allows you to apply great-looking filters to photos using neural networks and machine learning technology. More: icon-ai.com

Productivity
@integram_bot – a bot that allows you to set up integrations with third-party services for developers such as Trello, Gitlab, Bitbucket, and more. More: integram.com

Games
@werewolfbot – a ‘Werewolf Game’ bot for group chats that gained popularity in SE Asia long before we launched our gaming platform last month. More: tgwerewolf.com

Dating
@strangerbot – a bot that connects two random users to chat anonymously, which gained huge popularity after going viral in Southern Europe. More: strangerbot.com

Finance
@octopocket_bot – a smart-wallet bot that allows users from the EU to transfer money to each other, and is integrated into the ATM system of Spain. More: octopocket.com

We will continue awarding creators of great bots throughout this year and the following year in $200,000 batches.

Have fun using or building bots!

November 11, 2016
The Telegram Team

P.S.

Here’s a video demonstrating how @icon8bot works: