Hackathon success stories: 5 companies that started from hackathons

Ever wondered if hackathons are more than just a weekend of coding? Hackathon success stories prove they absolutely are.

In this article, we’re sharing five inspiring examples of businesses that started at hackathons and went on to make a real impact. Hint: some of these success stories didn’t even win the hackathon!

What’s so special about hackathons?

Hackathons are sprint-paced events where teams of builders and individuals with entrepreneurial spirit come together to build actionable prototypes, or MVPs, within a limited timeframe.

The tight timelines force teams to concentrate on feasible ideas and encourage experimentation, which frequently leads to innovations that might otherwise take months or years to develop.

There are countless examples of successful companies that have emerged from hackathons, and we’ve handpicked 5 companies that began as hackathon projects and grew into impactful businesses.

Let’s discover them!

#1: Talkdesk

Talkdesk is a cloud-based call center software solution that provides businesses with a seamless way to manage customer interactions.

In 2011, Tiago Paiva, co-founder of Talkdesk, needed a new computer to replace his outdated PC. That’s when he discovered that Twilio, the cloud communications tech giant, was hosting the Twilio Conference Hackathon, where the prize was a MacBook Air.

All participants had to do was build something using their newly released Twilio Client. With his eyes set on the prize, Tiago spent the next 10 days developing what would eventually become Talkdesk.

The concept behind Talkdesk was to create cloud-based software that would help companies improve call center customer service by providing detailed information about callers before support agents answer. To achieve this, the platform should integrate with other systems, synchronize data in real-time, and most importantly offer a simple setup, use, and maintenance experience to clients.

With this goal in mind, Tiago created a basic version of the software using Twilio’s communication API that allowed businesses to set up a fully functional call center in under 5 minutes.

Tiago went on to win the MacBook at the end of the hackathon. But he won a lot more than that.

He also won the opportunity to pitch his idea in San Francisco at TwilioCon. There, he won the first prize in the competition, a $10,000 investment to start his company. This was the beginning of Talkdesk as a company.

Eventually, Talkdesk joined 500 Global, a venture capital firm, that gave the startup the support and resources it needed to accelerate and gain traction. With this backing, Talkdesk quickly gained visibility among businesses as a valuable cloud-based call center solution.

In 2014, the company raised $3.15 million in seed funding, which allowed it to expand the team and refine the product further. Talkdesk continued to secure funding in subsequent rounds, and by 2021, the company reached unicorn status with a valuation exceeding $10 billion.

Today, Talkdesk provides industry-leading service solutions that improve customer satisfaction and deliver operational efficiency to thousands of companies throughout the globe.

#2: Carousell

Carousell is the largest and fastest-growing mobile classifieds app in the Asia-Pacific region.

Co-founders Quek Siu Rui, Lucas Ngoo, and Marcus Tan came up with the idea for Carousell when they returned to Singapore after studying abroad at Stanford University.

Upon arriving in Singapore, they decided to declutter by selling the items they had accumulated abroad, which included many books, laptops, and cameras.

Soon, they realized that listing secondhand items on the online marketplaces and forums available was too complex and time-consuming. This led them to the idea of creating an app that would allow users to easily list their secondhand items, an idea they pitched at the 2012 NUS Startup Weekend Singapore.

After a series of fortunate events and a demanding 54-hour endurance coding test, Team SnapSell (the name they chose for their hackathon team) pitched their idea to the judges in the final round and won the top prize at Startup Weekend: a $7,000 Venture Ideation Grant from NUS Enterprise.

Since then, Carousell has raised significant funding throughout its journey, starting with a S$1 million seed round led by Rakuten in 2013, followed by several subsequent rounds (Series A, B, and C).

In 2021, Carousell officially crossed the unicorn threshold and established itself as one of Asia’s most prosperous startups after raising US$100 million in a funding round that raised the company’s valuation to $1.1 billion.

#3: Group Me

GroupMe is a mobile group messaging app that allows users to create and manage chat groups for easier communication with friends, family, and colleagues.

The idea for the app was born a few days before the TechCrunch Disrupt Hackathon when Jared Hecht’s girlfriend expressed frustration with an email chain that kept breaking down in real-time.

Jared’s girlfriends and her friends were using an email chain to plan a trip, but they kept running into communication problems because back in 2010 not everyone had a smartphone, and some participants experienced delays in receiving emails which made coordination too difficult.

This made Jared think there should be a better way, so he reached out to Steve, a long-time collaborator and friend, to share an idea that was starting to take form in his mind.

Within 18 hours, the two friends developed a functional prototype and outlined a potential 18-month product roadmap for what would eventually become GroupMe, an app designed for group messaging.

Two days later, they presented their idea at the TechCrunch Disrupt Hackathon.

Jared and Steve were confident they were going to win the hackathon, but… things didn’t go as planned, and they didn’t take home any prize.

Jared and Steve still believed in the potential of their idea because, within days, their friends, families, and colleagues were using the app to stay connected, so they leveraged the contacts and resources they had acquired during the event to secure funding and support.

Their persistence paid off and they were able to secure funding from investors who saw the potential in their app, which helped them develop GroupMe into a major player in the group messaging industry.

A year later, Skype acquired GroupMe for a reported $80 million. This was just a mere 370 days after launch when GroupMe had over 12 million registered users.

Eventually, the group messaging market was dominated by newcomers like Telegram and WhatsApp, but GroupMe’s early success established the foundation for the popular group messaging apps we use today.

#3: 1inch

1inch is a decentralized exchange (DEX) aggregator that allows users to find the best cryptocurrency trading prices across multiple platforms.

The platform was created by Sergej Kunz and Anton Bukov, two software engineers passionate about DeFi and blockchain. Their shared love for hacking led them to participate in 17 hackathons worldwide, with a strong focus on ETHGlobal events, using their hackathon winnings to fund their travels.

In the early days of cryptocurrencies, the two friends found it too time-consuming to manually compare prices across multiple DEXes. They identified an opportunity to create a tool that would aggregate liquidity and prices from various exchanges, simplifying trades for users while minimizing slippage.

With this market need in mind, they joined the ETHGlobal New York Hackathon and, in just 18 hours, they developed a functional DEX aggregator using smart contracts on the Ethereum blockchain.

The platform analyzed trading pairs across several DEXes, identified the best prices, and split trades across multiple platforms to optimize execution.

Despite its potential, the 1inch MVP did not win the hackathon or even receive a sponsor prize(!) but the team continued to refine the concept and the product gradually gained traction within the DeFi community.

Today, 1inch aggregates liquidity from over 200 sources across multiple blockchains and handles billions of dollars in monthly trading volume.

Since the initial launch, 1inch has raised a total of $12.40 million dollars across 2 funding rounds.

In 2020, the team introduced the $1INCH token as part of its governance and staking model which allows users to participate in decision-making and has played an important role in improving the platform’s liquidity and success within DeFi.

#5: InstaDApp

InstaDApp is a DApp built on the Ethereum network that integrates DeFi protocols into one platform for easy asset monitoring and management.

The story of InstaDapp started when brothers Sowmay and Samyak Jain made the risky choice of dropping out of college to follow their passion for blockchain technology and cryptocurrency.

When blockchain was still in its early days, the focus was solely on the technical features, and the user experience was completely overlooked. This made simple tasks, like managing multiple wallets, a challenge even for users who were tech-savvy.

The Jay brothers were aware that the DeFi user experience was not welcoming or easy so they came up with the idea of building a user-friendly interface to bridge that gap and address the most common challenges everyday users faced.

With this idea in mind, they competed in the 2018 ETHIndia Hackathon and created the first version of InstaDapp, a tool designed to simplify the DeFi experience and the most common operations that were challenging for users.

They won first place at ETHIndia and gained widespread recognition for their solution.

After winning the hackathon, the Jay brothers continued working on their product, and in 2019, they officially launched the platform integrating major DeFi protocols like MakerDAO, Compound, and Aave.

Unlike many DeFi projects that start by offering solutions in search of a problem, InstaDapp has always worked differently, focusing on addressing real issues users face and turning those solutions into tools the community genuinely needs.

This has been one of the reasons behind IntaDApp’s success since the beginning and today, InstaDapp continues to simplify the DeFi experience and make it accessible to a wider audience while offering advanced and personalized tools to advanced users.

Can hackathons lead to successful businesses?

From unicorns to sustainable SMBs, hackathons have birthed many innovative companies. However, it’s important to note that not every hackathon project evolves into a billion-dollar business. One key reason is that scaling innovation after the hackathon requires more than just the initial burst of creativity and the high energy of the event.

As we’ve seen in some of the case studies, most entrepreneurs face their biggest challenges after the hackathon ends. Funding, networking, and mentorship are just the basics needed to turn a hackathon project with potential into a sustainable business.

And if finding the right combination of resources is already difficult, even then, success is not guaranteed.

That is why TAIKAI is dedicated to not only hosting hackathons, but also providing continuous support and guidance for teams beyond the event.

Our hackathon platform offers a user-friendly experience and simplifies the entire process from event planning to project evaluation. But TAIKAI goes beyond hosting hackathons.

Our experience has shown us how many promising ideas and good projects often stall or die due to the lack of the right resources.

We created the TAIKAI Garden as TAIKAI’s acceleration platform to help teams grow and refine their ideas into sustainable businesses, providing access to mentorship, funding opportunities, and a supportive community.

Final thoughts

As the stories in this article show, hackathon challenges are a great vehicle to drive innovation. Not every project will turn into a billion-dollar app. Not every project will evolve into a startup — and that’s fine. The key takeaway is that hackathons are all about creating. If you’re wondering if you should host a hackathon, then this is your sign to take the leap and bring people together to build, innovate, and inspire.

About us

If you’re planning to host a hackathon, TAIKAI is your best go-to option. With our all-in-one solution and the TAIKAI Garden to support promising projects beyond the event, we ensure teams have the resources and guidance needed to turn their ideas into sustainable businesses.

Reach out to our team and let us help you bring your hackathon to life with ongoing support to turn the best ideas into thriving businesses!