Hefty Hacks — ₹75,000 Finance & Trading Hackathon

Hefty Hacks is a hackathon built for people who want to work on the machinery behind money and markets. Organised by TechZap, it runs entirely online and asks competing teams to take messy, real-world market conditions and turn them into something that genuinely functions — a trading engine, a predictive model, a fintech product, a risk system, or a mix of all four.

The guest list is deliberately broad: engineers, quants, designers and anyone else who is drawn to the meeting point of finance and technology. Because nothing happens in a physical venue, your location never becomes a barrier — teams register remotely, submit an idea, get matched with a mentor, clear a prototype checkpoint, and then battle through a final 36-hour build sprint.

Three tracks shape what you build:

• Finance — payments, lending, neo-banking, personal finance, fraud and AML, insurance, credit scoring, regulatory technology and DeFi.
• Trading — algorithmic and high-frequency trading, futures and options, market forecasting, alternative-data signals, backtesting and portfolio optimisation.
• Fusion — a hybrid lane for ideas that straddle both worlds, such as sentiment-driven signals, on-chain quant strategies or trading features embedded inside a larger product.

What is at stake is a cash pool of ₹75,000, Azure cloud credits supplied at no cost, and guidance from experienced mentors. Teams finishing in the top 10 also earn a shot at hiring rounds run by established companies and young startups — useful if you are hunting for a role as much as a trophy.

Applications go through the hackathon's official Devfolio listing, and the organisers describe it simply as a Finance × Trading sprint: pick a niche, build it well, and show it working.

• Fully online Finance × Trading hackathon organised by TechZap.
• ₹75,000 cash prize pool, plus free Azure cloud credits and mentor support.
• Teams of 2–6 members only — solo entries are not allowed.
• Open to participants from anywhere in the world.
• Idea submission closes on 10 October 2026; the final 36-hour hack day runs 31 October to 1 November.
• Top 10 teams get a chance at hiring rounds with companies and startups.

Entry is open to teams of 2 to 6 members. Solo applications are not accepted, so you will need at least one teammate before you register.

There is no geographic restriction. Hefty Hacks is a fully online event, and the organisers explicitly welcome participants from anywhere in the world — country of residence does not affect your chances.

The intended audience is broad: engineers, quants, designers, and anyone passionate about building where finance and technology overlap. No company registration, DPIIT recognition or MSME status is mentioned as a condition of entry.

While individual tracks focus on finance or trading, you are not required to be a finance professional to take part — the tracks describe what you build, not what qualifications you hold.

Hefty Hacks — ₹75,000 Finance & Trading Hackathon is open to startups at any stage. It is open to startups registered anywhere in India.

Applications for Hefty Hacks — ₹75,000 Finance & Trading Hackathon are open and the current deadline is 10 Oct 2026. Applications are closing soon, so prepare your documents early. Deadlines can change — always reconfirm on the official source before submitting.

The rewards at Hefty Hacks come in a few different forms rather than as a single cheque.

• Cash prize pool of ₹75,000 — the headline prize money shared among the winners of the competition.
• Free Azure credits — cloud credits provided at no cost so your team can build, test and host its project.
• Mentorship — access to experienced mentors, supported by a dedicated mentor-matching stage in the schedule.
• Hiring access — the top 10 teams get the chance to take part in hiring rounds with leading companies and startups.

Because this is a competition rather than an equity investor, the money on offer is prize money — the organisers do not take a stake in your project in return for it.

Hefty Hacks is not a one-shot pitch. Entries move through a published set of milestones, each with its own date:

• 6 July — registrations open and teams begin preparing their entries.
• 10 October 2026 — idea submission deadline. This is the hard cut-off for sending in your idea.
• 15 October — soft shortlisting, where the field is narrowed down.
• 18 October — mentor matching for the teams that progress.
• 25 October — prototype checkpoint, where teams show tangible progress on a build.
• 31 October to 1 November — the final 36-hour hack day.
• 1 November — demo and judging, where teams present what they made.

Judges assess four qualities: how original your chosen niche is, the technical depth of your work, whether your demo actually runs, and the market insight behind the idea.

Before you apply to Hefty Hacks — ₹75,000 Finance & Trading Hackathon, keep the following documents ready:

• A pitch deck or short business plan describing the problem, product and traction
• Company registration documents and PAN
• Founder identification (PAN / Aadhaar) and brief profiles
• Recent financial statements or projections
• Product details — a demo, prototype or working link if available

Exact requirements are confirmed on the official application portal — treat this as a preparation checklist.

Hefty Hacks — ₹75,000 Finance & Trading Hackathon is best suited for startups in India seeking non-dilutive funding of ₹75,000. If that describes your startup, review the eligibility criteria above before applying.