Student start-up wins deal for official Tramlines app

After taking part in a University Enterprise Start-up Weekend, the group’s business - OverHear - was selected as the official app for Tramlines festival.

Within two weeks of winning, OverHear secured the deal with the festival’s promoters and developed the app. It was launched on July 20 on Apple and Android platforms, ahead of the festival from July 24 to 26.

The team, comprised entirely of Sheffield students with backgrounds in maths, architecture and computer science, developed the concept for a dynamic app that allows users to plan for future gigs and events in their city.

Guy Balaam, co-founder of OverHear, said: “The app was originally intended for any gig or event, but as it developed over the weekend we quickly realised it was ideally suited to a city based festival like Tramlines, in which there are several events happening simultaneously and that are spread out all over the city.

“We then approached Tramlines and had a really great meeting with them where they agreed to make OverHear the official app for the festival.

“Since then we have worked non-stop to get the app developed in time for Tramlines.”

In addition to listing upcoming events, OverHear also includes a personalised timeline that integrates with Facebook, allowing users to look back over all gigs and events, relive memories through the community photo archive and reconnect with people.

A “clashfinder” function alerts of any potential clashes between events and gigs.

University of Sheffield Enterprise Start-up Weekends provide hands-on experiences for aspiring entrepreneurs from a variety of backgrounds to share ideas, build products and launch businesses.

This year, the University hosted a specialist music and literature themed Start-up Weekend, with the intention of discovering the next Goodreads, Spotify or SoundClound.