XPRIZE Build with Gemini Hackathon 2026
XPRIZE
📌 About the Event
The XPRIZE Build with Gemini Hackathon 2026 is an elite, high stakes global venture incubator managed via Devpost. Moving far beyond traditional “demo only” hackathons, this 90-day sprint is designed to find and fund actual, operational businesses built from scratch.
The goal is to leverage Google’s Gemini architecture and AI multi-agent orchestration to build a lean, automated business that solves micro economic problems, secures real production users, and generates real revenue within the competition window.
📅 Critical Operational Timeline
- Time Remaining: Exactly 3 months (90 days) left to ideate, code, deploy, and scale.
- Final Submission Deadline: August 18, 2026 @ 1:30 AM GMT+5:30 (Indian Standard Time)
- Format: 100% Online / Global Public Software & Venture Submission
- Status: ACTIVE. Over 2,700 international founders and engineering teams are currently building in the sandbox.
📋 Eligibility & Guardrails
- Age Limit: All participants must be above the legal age of majority in their respective country of residence.
- Geographic Scope: Open globally, excluding specific legally barred or platform-excluded countries/territories.
- Technical Mandate: The core product and business workflow must be operated by AI agents and must natively integrate at least one core product from Google Cloud (e.g., Gemini API, Vertex AI).
💻 Rigorous Submission Requirements
To pass the technical screening panel, teams must submit concrete validation documents through their Devpost dashboard:
- Source Code Repository: A public or private GitHub link shared explicitly with
testing@devpost.comandjudging@hacker.fund. - 3-Minute Video Pitch: A high-speed technical walkthrough proving that autonomous AI agents are executing key decisions live in production.
- Written Narrative (500–1000 Words): A detailed case study explaining daily human vs. AI tasks, operational workflows, and the future economic opportunities created beyond the founding layer.
- Hard Revenue Evidence: Verifiable proof of commercial traction, including a Stripe dashboard export, an official corporate bank statement, or a documented P&L ledger. If applicable, team corporate registration IDs must be included.
- Marketing & Acquisition Spend Audits: Disclosing total expenditures on advertising and customer acquisition to check fundamental unit economics (even if the spend is zero).
- Telemetry & Execution Evidence: Live production traces, including automated agent execution logs, API usage monitors, and server health dashboards.
- Customer Validation: Direct contact directories of active customers alongside un-edited product feedback and testimonials.
📊 Judging Criteria
- Business Viability: Grading actual revenue earned within the 90-day window, organic user adoption speed, and long-term business sustainability.
- AI-Native Operations: Evaluating how deeply embedded AI is within daily business flows. The system must operate continuously on autopilot, making key execution decisions with minimal human intervention.
- Category Impact: Determining how significantly the software moves the needle in its vertical—measured by its credibility, depth, and immediate potential for widespread adoption.
🏆 The $2,000,000 Cash Prize Pool
All cash prizes are distributed without equity dilution or programmatic restrictions:
Core Placement Awards
- 🥇 1st Place: $500,000 USD in cash (1 Winner)
- 🥈 2nd Place: $200,000 USD in cash (1 Winner)
- 🥉 3rd, 4th, & 5th Place: $100,000 USD in cash each (3 Winners)
- 🎖️ Runner-up Brackets: $50,000 USD in cash each (15 Winners)