Berkeley x DeepMind Hackathon: Build. Ship. Win up to $5M in Seed Funding*

about this event

Win up to $5M in Seed Funding* | September 27th, 10:00 AM–6:00 PM PT. In partnership with "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: Naman Goyal — Researcher, Google DeepMind; Jaidev Shah — Researcher, Google DeepMind; Amit Patel — Director, Google; Joana Carrasqueira — Senior Manager, Google DeepMind; Min Choi — Product Manager, Google DeepMind; Zviad Kardava — Staff AI Developer Relations Engineer, Google; Ivan Leo — DevEx, Google DeepMind. Venture Capital & Industry: Felix To — Investor, NFX; Denise Teng — Investor, Gradient Ventures; Lan Wu — Investor, Fusion Fund; Giuseppe Stuto — Investor, Offscript Ventures; Rob Smith — Investor, M13; Jyotika Gupta — Investor, z21 Ventures; Sarah Loveland — Investor, Civilization Ventures; Tessa Osborne — Investor, Plug and Play; Pauline Tsai — Investor, Bosch Ventures; Pramod Gosavi — Investor, Blumberg Capital; Zee Wang — Investor, Inventive Capital; Sarah Wang — Investor, VU Venture Partners; Ben Gorman — Investor, F-Prime Capital; Raphaella Lancia — Senior Director, Experian; Denis Belyavski — TulaCo; Pablo Albrecht — Orchestrapay; Greg Henrion — Sunset.video. Berkeley & Stanford: Ben Fong — Berkeley SkyDeck; Emile Shah — President, Girls into VC @ Berkeley; Lisa Collier — Director, Girls into VC @ Berkeley; Rolando Perez, PhD — Senior Scientist, Stanford University; Taarush Grover — Stanford BASES/Stanford Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (SAIL).

🌐 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, September 27. Same deliverables as in-person participants. Judging based on traction — same conditions as Phase 2 (7-day social engagement tracking). Prize pool: $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 — Document describing your team and idea. 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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