Berkeley x DeepMind Hackathon: Build. Ship. Pitch. Win.

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Win up to $5M in Seed Funding | November 14th, 10:00 AM–6:00 PM PT. In partnership with "Haas AI Club" and "Girls into VC" @ UC Berkeley. Join us for an elite hackathon where you'll build cutting-edge projects with Google Gemini and earn 30-minute pitch meetings with top-tier VCs.

🏆 The Prize: Top teams will be judged by representatives from Google, Berkeley, Stanford, and multiple venture capital funds. Grand Prize — VC Pitch Access: a 30-minute private pitch meeting with selected funds from our judging panel — VCs writing $500K–$5M seed checks. Pitch your hackathon project or your existing startup. Google AI Studio Track (sponsored by DeepMind): In-Person: share of $15K in GCP credits. Online: share of $5K in GCP credits. *Investment not guaranteed. The prize is pitch access only — winning teams gain meeting access but must earn investment through their pitch and business fundamentals.

📅 Event Schedule: 10:00 AM — Registration & Breakfast: light refreshments and networking with fellow builders. 10:30 AM — Opening Ceremony & Rules Briefing: official rules and competition format. 11:30 AM — Hacking Begins: 3-hour build sprint. 2:30 PM — Submission Deadline (hard stop): all submissions must be in. 2:30 PM — Late Lunch: sandwiches, beverages, and networking. 3:30 PM — Semi-Finalists Announced: top teams selected for live pitches. 4:00 PM — Live Finals: top teams pitch on stage (5-min pitch + 5-min Q&A). 5:30 PM — Winners Announced. 6:00 PM — Event Wrap-Up.

⚖️ Meet the Judges. Google & Google DeepMind: Amit Vadi — Head of Community, Google DeepMind; Joana Carrasqueira — Senior Manager, Google DeepMind; Naman Goyal — Researcher, Google DeepMind. Venture Capital: Eugenia Trakal — Investor, New Enterprise Associates (NEA); Vig Sachidananda, PhD — Partner, Gradient Ventures; Vicky Kuang — Investor, Draper VC; Derick En'Wezoh, MD — Partner, Susa Ventures; Iris Sun — Partner, 500 Global; Ashtan Jordan — Principal, Precursor Ventures; Fannie Wang — VP, UpHonest Capital; Matt Caspari — Managing Partner, Alumni Ventures; Parikshit Sharma — Partner, SOSV (Fka IndieBio); Vikram Venkat — Investor, Cota Capital; Zee Wang — Investor, Inventive Capital; Magne Jul Pedersen — Investor, Exponential VC; Capri Wheaton — Investor, super{set}; Tessa Osborne — Investor, Plug and Play. Berkeley & Stanford: Ben Fong — Berkeley SkyDeck; Devansh Shah — Haas AI Club @ Berkeley; Lisa Collier — Director, Girls into VC @ Berkeley; Rolando Perez, PhD — Senior Scientist, Stanford University; Prof. Nikesh Kotecha — Head of Data Science, Stanford Health Care.

🌐 Online Track. Can't make it to campus? We've added an Online Track for remote participants: no live streaming or video conferencing — work on your own schedule; submission deadline end of day, November 14; same deliverables as in-person participants; judging based on traction — same conditions as Phase 2 (7-day social engagement tracking); prize pool of $5K in GCP credits; VC pitch access for top submissions. Build with Gemini, ship a prototype, post your demo, and let your network do the talking. Top submissions get 30-minute meetings with funds.

📋 Submission Requirements. All projects must use the Google Gemini model. Each team must submit the following by 2:30 PM sharp: One-Pager for the team — short plain text describing your team and your pedigree; One-Pager for the idea — short plain text describing your idea and prototype; Hosted Prototype — working demo link (via Google AI Studio & Google Cloud Run); 2-Minute Video — team introduction and elevator pitch; 1-Minute Video — prototype demo (Playcast); Code Repository — link via Google AI Studio sharing. Data Usage & Judging Consent: by submitting your prototype Playcast, you authorize organizers to use your submission in paid social ads (e.g., Facebook). Real-world performance metrics (CPM, CTR, CPC, etc.) will be collected and used as core market validation data for Phase 2 (post-event) judging. You may opt out by notifying organizers prior to submission; data sharing with sponsors and investors is a condition of participation.

⚖️ Judging Criteria: Technical Feasibility — does it actually work? Innovation & Novelty — is the approach creative or clever? Real-World Applicability — would people genuinely use it? Market Potential & Fundability — could this become venture-backable? Go-to-Market Traction — social engagement on your demo video (likes, shares, views). Social Engagement Component: your demo YouTube video must be shared publicly. Engagement counts toward your score: Phase 1 — tracked during the hackathon (5:00 PM cutoff); Phase 2 — continued tracking for 2 weeks post-event (viral reach + Playcast metrics).

🎯 Competition Format. Semi-Finals: all submissions undergo asynchronous review by the judging panel. Finals: top teams advance to live presentations — 10 minutes per team (5-min pitch + 5-min Q&A) on stage before the full panel of VCs and special guests. Winners announced at 5:30 PM. Whether you're a solo developer, have a team, or are already building a startup (some invited participants are at Series A stage), this event is a unique opportunity to showcase your work to decision-makers at leading venture funds.

📌 Age Requirement: this event is open to participants 18 years and older. Valid ID may be required for check-in.

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