NexusFest is not your typical weekend toy hackathon. It is an intense 24-hour crucible where visionary programmers, researchers, and designers assemble to tackle high-stakes real-world challenges across artificial intelligence, zero-knowledge systems, and decentralized finance.
HACK • LEARN • BUILD • EXPERIENCE MANGALORE
Transparency, fair play, and radical builder freedom. Review our team formation guidelines, IP rights, and the evaluation rubric that the panel uses to score your work.
Compete in teams of 2 to 4 members. Solo hackers are welcomed to register — we host a dedicated team-matching mixer on our Discord and on Day 1 morning!
Teams can consist of members from different universities, companies, or even countries. Diversity in skills (code, design, product, domain) is strongly encouraged.
All code, design mockups, and prototypes submitted for judging must be created during the official 24-hour sprint. Open-source libraries, public APIs, and pre-trained models are 100% permitted.
You and your team retain 100% intellectual property rights and ownership of whatever you build at NexusFest. We take zero equity and zero rights.
NexusFest is a safe, inclusive, harassment-free environment for everyone regardless of gender, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, race, or religion.
Every team must submit: A public GitHub repository with commit history, a working deployed link or local runnable build, a 3-minute video walkthrough, and a brief pitch deck.
How novel and ambitious is the approach? Does it tackle the problem from an unconventional, high-leverage angle?
Code quality, architecture robustness, effective use of technologies/APIs, and whether the prototype actually works end-to-end.
Is the interface intuitive, responsive, and aesthetically pleasing? Is the user flow frictionless for the target persona?
Does this solve a genuine pain point? Could this evolve into an impactful open-source standard or viable startup post-hackathon?
Submit your team member roster directly in our application.
From the initial opening keynote to the final high-stakes investor pitch, here is your roadmap for the weekend.
Submit your team and chosen track or open problem statement via our official Google Form.
Shortlisted teams receive confirmed in-person and virtual passes.
Build, iterate, and attend mentorship rounds at Nexus Arena.
Top finalists pitch to tier-1 venture capitalists and industry titans.
Collect your swag bag, RFID hacker badge, and fuel up with breakfast.
Welcome address by keynote speakers, unveiling of sponsor bounties and surprise challenges.
Official 24-hour countdown starts. Repositories initialized.
Hot coastal buffet lunch and mentor advice on refining your open problem statement.
Senior engineers and architects visit booths for 15-minute 1-on-1 design feedback.
Dinner followed by optional 10-minute micro-talks on AI agents and ZK cryptography.
Midnight pizza boxes, red bull refills, and e-sports chill tournament in the lounge.
Beyond cash rewards, our podium winners secure institutional accelerator interviews, venture backing, enterprise cloud credits, and direct fast-track job offers.
Recognizing outstanding technical innovation by an all-women engineering crew.
Awarded to first-time hackathon participants displaying exceptional grit and velocity.
Honoring the most frictionless, visually stunning, and accessible user experience.
Voted by fellow 1,200+ hackers during the open expo round.
Regardless of podium standing, all registered hackers unlock:
NexusFest isn't our first sprint. Over the past three editions, our alumni have turned 24-hour weekend prototypes into venture-backed companies, open-source standards, and breakthrough research.
A low-latency brain-computer interface SDK that enables paralyzed patients to control web browsers via simulated EEG signals.
Autonomous underwater acoustic monitoring device alerting coastal authorities of illegal industrial chemical dumping.
A trustless intent-based cross-chain rollup settlement layer processing 12,000 TPS.
“NexusFest was the launchpad for our entire company. The mentors didn't just review our code—they challenged our business thesis. 12 months later, we closed our institutional seed round.”
“The energy in that arena at 3:00 AM is electric. Mentors from Google, Stripe, and a16z were literally sitting at desks with us debugging WebSockets. Easily the best run hackathon in Asia.”
“Judging at NexusFest is both inspiring and intimidating. The caliber of code built in 24 hours rivaled projects that take typical startup teams 6 months.”
Engineered for high-intensity building. High-speed gigabit uplinks, silent rest pods, 24/7 chef catering, and specialized hardware testing labs.
Panambur Coast, near Kaup Lighthouse and Hampankatta, Mangalore, Karnataka
Hampankatta Clock Tower (500m walking distance)
25 minutes from Mangalore International Airport
Ample beachfront parking available
Dual redundant gigabit lines with zero packet drops
Dedicated quiet sleeping zones and fresh hygiene facilities
Neer dosa, seafood, midnight pizzas, artisanal coffee & filter kaapi
Access to VR headsets, IoT boards, GPUs, and 3D printers
1-on-1 private rooms with industry lead engineers
Minecraft lounge, retro arcades, and acoustic recharge rooms
Access 24/7 mentor dispatch queues, stage live streams, and project submission checkpoints via the official Discord Server.
Got questions about registration, team formation, submissions, or the Google Form flow? We've answered the most common inquiries below.
Clicking any 'Apply / Join Hackathon' button will redirect you directly to our official Google Form. You can either select one of our curated domain tracks or choose the 'Open Problem Statement' option and submit your custom problem synopsis.
Our organizing committee is on standby 24/7 on Discord or via email to help you with travel queries, dietary needs, or team matching.
