Hefty Hacks — ₹75,000 Finance & Trading Hackathon — Frequently Asked Questions

It is a fully online hackathon organised by TechZap, built around the theme of Finance × Trading. Over the sprint, teams build working projects such as trading systems, market predictors, fintech tools, risk engines or DeFi applications, and present them to judges at the end.

The cash prize pool stands at ₹75,000. On top of that, winning and participating teams can receive free Azure cloud credits and mentorship, and the top 10 teams get the chance to go through hiring rounds with leading companies and startups.

The idea submission deadline is 10 October 2026. Registrations open earlier, on 6 July, so you can assemble your team well before the cut-off. After submissions close, shortlisting happens on 15 October and mentor matching on 18 October.

Any team of 2 to 6 members can enter. The event is completely online and open to participants from anywhere in the world, so there is no residency or nationality bar. Engineers, quants, designers and anyone interested in finance and technology are all welcome.

No. Solo entries are not accepted — the organisers require a team of at least 2 members, and the upper limit is 6. If you are building alone, you will need to find one or more teammates before you register.

No. Hefty Hacks is a hackathon rather than a government or investor funding scheme, and the organisers do not list company registration, DPIIT recognition or MSME status as conditions of entry. Team size and interest in the finance and trading theme are what matter.

There are three. The Finance track covers areas such as payments, lending, neo-banking, personal finance, fraud and AML, insurance, credit scoring, RegTech and DeFi. The Trading track covers algorithmic and high-frequency trading, futures and options, market prediction, alternative-data signals, backtesting and portfolio optimisation. The Fusion track lets you combine both into something distinctive.

Judges look at four things: the originality of the niche you pick, the technical depth of your build, whether your demo actually works, and the market insight behind your idea. Judging takes place on 1 November, after the 36-hour hack day that runs from 31 October.

Registrations open on 6 July, and the idea submission deadline falls on 10 October 2026. Soft shortlisting follows on 15 October, mentor matching on 18 October, and a prototype checkpoint on 25 October. The final 36-hour hack day runs 31 October to 1 November, with demo and judging on 1 November.

Registration is handled through the hackathon's official Devfolio page. You register your team there, and the same listing carries the event details and updates as the milestones approach.

No. Hefty Hacks — ₹75,000 Finance & Trading Hackathon is competition and is non-dilutive — the provider does not take an equity stake in your startup.