Emergent will host VibeCon India in Bengaluru on April 16–17, marking the first time its flagship selection-led hackathon is being held in India, with the winning team set to receive a direct interview with a Y Combinator partner for an upcoming batch.
The event comes just ahead of Y Combinator’s first in-person Startup School India on April 18. VibeCon India will be held at Polaris School of Technology in Bengaluru.
Originally launched in San Francisco, VibeCon was designed as a high-signal hackathon focused on strong builders and working products rather than open participation. The India edition follows the same model, with a selection process aimed at identifying founders, engineers, operators and non-technical builders who can rapidly turn ideas into products.
Interest in the first India edition has been strong, with more than 20,000 applicants from India and overseas applying to take part. A smaller group of selected participants will now compete in Bengaluru.
The event is backed by partners across venture capital, AI research and developer infrastructure, including OpenAI, Anthropic, Amazon Web Services, Stripe, Razorpay and MongoDB.
“India is producing an extraordinary number of ambitious builders, many of whom are ready to move faster than traditional pathways allow,” said Mukund Jha, Co-founder and CEO of Emergent.
The two-day hackathon will end with a final judging round, where teams will present products built during the event, with winners also receiving cash prizes and access to partner-backed credits and resources.