Festival-goers snap up contactless technology as Qpal launches

QPAL, an Aberdeen-based start-up that has created an innovative technology solution for the events industry, officially launched on Saturday with its first successful deployment at a music and ale festival near Edinburgh.
The Qpal team officially launch contactless technology at music and ale festival. Picture: ContributedThe Qpal team officially launch contactless technology at music and ale festival. Picture: Contributed
The Qpal team officially launch contactless technology at music and ale festival. Picture: Contributed

Aiming to enhance event experiences for both organisers and attendees, Qpal is bringing its innovative web application, which enables efficient, smart and cashless payments via contactless technology, to the UK events industry.

Craig Buchan, founder and managing director of Qpal, comments: “The Qpal team is thrilled to officially launch after the first full deployment of our technology at the inaugural Hops in the Garden event, which took place near North Berwick.

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“We developed this solution with the core aims of reducing queue times, increasing revenues, and giving event organisers access to real-time data – with the overarching mission of boosting and enriching live events for everyone involved. This is exactly what we achieved at Hops in the Garden, and we are set to do the same at upcoming events across the country.

“We were delighted to work alongside an early adopter of the Qpal technology, who fully embraced what we are trying to bring to the industry, and bought into our vision.”

Ian Stokes, manager of Hops in the Garden, adds: “From initially meeting the Qpal team, we knew this unique solution would be a great fit for our event. As our venue is relatively isolated with no cash machine on-site, Qpal was the perfect solution to ensure our attendees could easily purchase food and drink throughout the festival.”

The Qpal technology allows event attendees to load cash onto a branded card, and use its contactless technology to quickly and easily make payments throughout an event. This eliminates the need for cash or token systems, which are currently used across the events industry, and brings about a whole host of benefits to event organisers and attendees alike.

Ian continues: “We plan to host Hops in the Garden again next year, so the access to the data analytics is invaluable, enabling us to make key decisions based on a better understanding of our customers and their purchasing behaviour.

“We wish Craig and his team all the best for the future, and thank them for helping us to deliver a better event experience.”

In February this year, Qpal was accepted onto the exclusive 12-week Accelerator Programme in Aberdeen, which is run by Elevator UK, a business support organisation and centre of entrepreneurship based in Aberdeen.

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