APPLICATIONS OPEN — CLOSES MAY 15, 2025

NEXUS
HACK '25

Theme: Intelligence at the Edge — Build AI-native products that redefine how humans and machines collaborate in the physical world.

📅 June 13–15, 2025
📍 San Francisco, CA — Moscone West
48-Hour Build Sprint
🏆 $250,000 in Prizes
2K+
Applicants Last Year
48H
Build Window
$250K
Total Prizes
// 02 — About

Where Bold Ideas
Become Real Products

NexusHack is Google's flagship startup hackathon — a 48-hour sprint where the most daring builders, designers, and problem-solvers compete to shape the next wave of technology.

Whether you're a solo hacker or a seasoned team, NexusHack gives you direct access to Google engineers, top-tier VC mentors, and the infrastructure to build fast. Past participants have raised over $80M in venture capital within 18 months of attending.

Open to founders, engineers, designers, and domain experts. Bring your laptop, your hustle, and your vision — we'll handle the rest.

48-Hour Sprint

From kickoff to demo, 48 hours to build something that matters. No slides — just working products.

👥

Teams of 1–5

Solo or squad — all sizes welcome. Team matching at the opening mixer on Day 1.

🎯

4 Challenge Tracks

Work on a focused problem with dedicated mentors, APIs, and sponsor-backed prize pools.

🚀

Post-Event Support

Top teams get VC intros, $100K AWS credits, and Google Cloud incubator access.

// 03 — Challenge Tracks

Pick Your Battleground

Four high-stakes problem spaces, each backed by a major sponsor with real-world data access and dedicated prize pools.

TRACK 01

Embodied AI & Robotics

Build software for autonomous systems operating in physical environments — navigation, task execution, human-robot interaction, and safety in the real world.

🤖 Powered by Google DeepMind
Prize Pool: $60,000
TRACK 02

Healthcare & Life Sciences

Reimagine diagnostics, care delivery, drug discovery, or clinical workflows using AI and biological data. Partnered with real hospital datasets.

🏥 Powered by Verily
Prize Pool: $55,000
TRACK 03

Climate & Sustainability

Tackle carbon accounting, smart grids, supply chain emissions, or climate adaptation tools. Build technology that helps the planet heal.

🌿 Powered by Breakthrough Energy
Prize Pool: $50,000
TRACK 04

Developer Tooling & AI Infra

Create tools that make builders more powerful — faster CI/CD, smarter debugging, agent orchestration, or LLM evaluation frameworks.

☁️ Powered by Google Cloud
Prize Pool: $45,000
// 04 — Mentors

Your Unfair Advantage

Scheduled 1:1 office hours with engineers, founders, and investors who've built and scaled at the highest level.

SR

Sarah Reyes

Google DeepMind
Reinforcement Learning, Robotic Systems
JL

James Liu

Andreessen Horowitz
AI Startups, GTM Strategy
AK

Aarti Kapoor

Verily
Digital Health, Clinical AI
MO

Marcus Osei

Stripe
Developer APIs, Platform Design
LW

Lin Wei

Google Cloud
MLOps, LLM Infrastructure
TN

Tomás Navarro

Breakthrough Energy Ventures
Climate Tech, Carbon Markets
PH

Priya Hernandez

Scale AI
Data Annotation, AI Evaluation
DB

David Baxter

Y Combinator
Startup Validation, Fundraising
// 05 — Judges Panel

Evaluated by the Best

Our judges have founded unicorns, led billion-dollar product orgs, and invested in technologies defining the next decade.

RC

Radhika Chopra

VP of Product, Google AI

Led product for Google Assistant and Bard. Former co-founder of a Series B AI health startup acquired in 2021.

EV

Ethan Voss

Partner, Sequoia Capital

Early backer of 9 unicorns. Focus on infrastructure and applied AI. Has deployed over $500M in early-stage bets.

YM

Yuki Murakami

CEO & Founder, NovaMind

Built and exited two developer tools companies. Pioneer in agentic coding infrastructure and angel investor in 40+ startups.

BT

Bianca Torres

CTO, Helios Robotics

World-leading expert in embodied AI. Former MIT CSAIL researcher with 40+ papers on robot learning and control systems.

SK

Samuel Kim

Head of Climate, Breakthrough Energy

Deployed $1B+ in climate tech. Ex-McKinsey sustainability practice lead. Board member of 6 clean energy companies.

// 06 — Prizes & Perks

$250K to Build With

Cash prizes, cloud credits, investor access, and the resources to turn your hack into a real company.

Prize Breakdown

🥇
Grand Prize
Overall best hack + track winner
$75,000
🥈
Track Runner-Up
Per track, 2nd place (×4)
$15K each
🥉
Best Newcomer
First-time hackathon teams
$10,000
Best Use of Gemini API
Sponsored by Google
$20,000
🎨
Best Design & UX
For exceptional product craft
$5,000

Perks for All Participants

☁️

$10K AWS Credits

Free infrastructure credits for every registered team to build and deploy.

💼

Fast-Track Interviews

Top 20% skip recruiter screens at Google, Stripe & Verily.

🤝

VC Intro Programme

Warm introductions to 15 top-tier VC firms for finalist teams.

🧠

Gemini API Access

12 months of free Gemini Ultra API access for all registered teams.

📦

Swag & Gear

Premium kit: hoodie, notebook, stickers, and exclusive NexusHack merch.

🎓

Learning Sessions

Live deep-dives and pre-recorded workshops from Google's top engineers.

// 07 — Schedule

3 Days, Infinite Possibilities

Every minute is designed to maximize building time without sacrificing energy or inspiration.

08:00 — 09:30
Registration & Welcome Breakfast
Pick up your badge, meet the team, and fuel up before the sprint begins.
SOCIAL
09:30 — 10:30
Opening Keynote: Intelligence at the Edge
Google CEO delivers the theme address, track reveals, and a surprise API announcement for all participants.
KEYNOTE
10:30 — 11:30
Sponsor API Deep-Dives
Parallel sessions: Gemini API (Tracks 1 & 4), Verily Health API (Track 2), Climate Data APIs (Track 3).
WORKSHOP
11:30 — 12:30
Team Formation Mixer
Solo hackers meet potential co-founders. Speed networking with skill-matching boards and facilitators.
SOCIAL
12:30
🚀 HACKING BEGINS
The 48-hour clock starts. Teams lock in track selection and begin building in earnest.
HACKING
18:00 — 19:30
Dinner + Mentor Office Hours Round 1
Catered dinner. Book 20-minute slots with mentors via the NexusHack mobile app.
SOCIAL
22:00 — 23:00
Midnight Workshop: Prompt Engineering Masterclass
Optional deep-dive on advanced Gemini prompting — multimodal and agentic patterns from Google's team.
WORKSHOP
07:00 — 08:30
Morning Fuel & Check-In
Breakfast provided. Check in with your track lead for a first-pass progress review.
SOCIAL
10:00 — 12:00
Mentor Office Hours Round 2
Second round of 1:1s focused on technical blockers, demo narrative, and pitch framing.
WORKSHOP
13:00 — 14:30
Workshop: Ship Fast — UX Patterns for Hackathons
Google's design lead shares the 10 UX patterns that make hackathon demos land every time.
WORKSHOP
15:00 — 17:00
Deep Build Window
Uninterrupted build time. Quiet zones enforced. On-call Google engineers available for API support.
HACKING
19:30 — 21:00
Rooftop Social Mixer
Take a break. Network with judges, sponsors, and past winners with SF skyline views.
SOCIAL
21:00 — Midnight
Final Night Build Sprint
Last major build window before submissions. On-site support staff and energy drinks available.
HACKING
08:00 — 10:00
Final Build Window + Submission Prep
Last two hours to polish and test. Submission portal opens at 09:00 — upload early.
HACKING
10:00
⏱ SUBMISSIONS CLOSE
All repos must be submitted. Devpost entries locked. No further code commits permitted after this point.
HACKING
11:00 — 14:00
Track Demos — Round 1 Judging
5-minute demos + 3-minute Q&A before track judges. Up to 8 teams advance per track to finals.
JUDGING
14:30 — 16:00
Grand Finals: Top 8 Teams on Main Stage
Finalists demo live to the full judges panel in front of all attendees and media.
KEYNOTE
16:30 — 18:00
🏆 Closing Ceremony & Awards
Winners announced, prizes awarded, and the NexusHack Hall of Fame updated. Networking reception to close.
AWARDS
// 08 — Past Winners

Hacks That Became Companies

Three projects built at NexusHack that went on to raise venture capital and reshape their industries.

🤖
NexusHack 2023 — Grand Prize

ArcOS

RoboticsEmbodied AIIndustrial

An operating system for autonomous warehouse robots that reduced pick-and-place cycle times by 60% using on-device reinforcement learning — no cloud latency required.

🚀 Raised $12M Series A · Sequoia Capital · 2024
🏥
NexusHack 2023 — Healthcare Track

Prism Health

Digital HealthDiagnosticsLLMs

A clinical co-pilot that reduces diagnostic error rates by synthesizing patient history, labs, and imaging in under 30 seconds — built for rural clinics with limited specialist access.

🚀 Raised $8.5M Seed · a16z Bio · 2024
🌿
NexusHack 2022 — Grand Prize

Verdant Carbon

Climate TechCarbon MarketsEnterprise

An automated carbon accounting platform for SMEs that turns Scope 1–3 emissions into verifiable offsets on a public ledger, cutting reporting time from weeks to hours.

🚀 Raised $22M Series A · Breakthrough Energy Ventures · 2023
// 09 — Sponsors

Backed by Industry Giants

NexusHack is made possible by organizations investing in the next generation of builders and founders.

// 10 — Apply

Ready to Build the Future?

Applications close May 15, 2025. Decisions sent within 5 business days. Rolling admissions — apply early.

By submitting you agree to our Privacy Policy. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis.