Synapse Kaggle Competition — ₹30,000 Prize Pool, Bengaluru Finals — Frequently Asked Questions

Synapse is a machine learning competition run by the Scaler School of Technology in Bangalore. It is staged in two rounds — an online qualifier followed by an offline final — and is designed to test data cleaning, feature engineering and model tuning under serious time pressure.

The contest has a total cash pool of ₹30,000. The winning team takes ₹15,000, the runner-up gets ₹10,000 and the second runner-up receives ₹5,000. Teams that reach the offline final also get networking access to industry professionals, and lunch is provided at the venue on the day of the final.

Individual registration closes on 23 April 2026, which is also the day Round 1 begins. The private Kaggle link for the online qualifier is shared on 22 April 2026, one day before the round opens, so teams have it in hand ahead of time.

Students pursuing any technology or related college programme, data science students, and AI/ML enthusiasts from anywhere in India can take part. There is no restriction based on which institution you attend, and members of a team may come from different colleges. Teams must have two or three members — solo entries are not accepted.

No. Synapse is a student-facing competition rather than a government or institutional funding scheme, so DPIIT recognition and MSME registration are not part of the entry requirements. What matters is that you meet the team-size rule and have the technical skills to compete.

You cannot compete alone. Every team must have two or three participants. Registration is done individually first, and teams are then formed using the email IDs that members registered with.

You should be comfortable with Python, Pandas and Scikit-Learn, and you should understand how Kaggle submissions work. Beyond that, the contest rewards exploratory data analysis, predictive modelling and algorithm optimisation on difficult, real-world datasets.

Round 1 is an online qualifier held 23–25 April 2026 on a private Kaggle competition with a curated three-day dataset. Models are trained remotely and submissions are ranked on a public leaderboard. The 25 top-ranked teams receive a Golden Ticket to the offline final.

The final is a single 10-hour contest on 17 May 2026, from 10:00 AM to 8:00 PM, at the Scaler School of Technology in Bangalore. A large, complex and uncleaned dataset is revealed live at the venue. The top 5 teams on the private leaderboard then undergo a 10-minute code audit by the judging panel and give a 3-minute pitch on their model architecture.

No. Synapse is a competition, and the prizes are outright cash awards to the best-performing teams. There is no equity stake involved and nothing has to be repaid.

Registration is individual and is done through the competition listing on Unstop. After registering, you form a team of two or three using the registered email IDs, and every invited member must accept the team invitation for the team to count. All participants are also required to join the official WhatsApp group, which carries critical updates and instructions. The private Kaggle link for Round 1 follows on 22 April 2026, and registration closes on 23 April 2026.

Synapse Kaggle Competition — ₹30,000 Prize Pool, Bengaluru Finals is open to startups at any stage. It is open to startups registered anywhere in India.

Synapse Kaggle Competition — ₹30,000 Prize Pool, Bengaluru Finals is offered by Scaler School of Technology, an academic institution. It is provided as non-dilutive funding.