Opportunity brief
Rack It Up 2026 is a free, online 48-hour hackathon by Rack'Em, the cloud hosting venture of Karma Enterprises, a student-founded company from Bengaluru.
Most hackathons end with slides and a demo video. Rack It Up asks for more: build something real in a weekend, deploy it, and have it live on the internet by the final whistle.
Why join
- Build with a team (or solo) and ship a working, live product in 48 hours
- Solve real problem statements from industry sponsors (announced 2–5 Dec)
- Get your project in front of sponsors and judges in a live final
- Cash prizes for the top teams, revealed between 2 and 5 Dec
- Exclusive Unstop goodies for every member of the winning team, plus 3 lucky draw winners
- Certificates for every team that submits, plus winner certificates, all issued on Unstop
- Special discounts on Rack'Em servers for every participant, and bigger ones for the winners
Themes
- AI for Everyday India
- Student Life & Learning
- Local Business & Commerce
- Developer Tools & Infra
- Open Innovation (build anything)
- Sponsor problem statements (announced before the hackathon)
Prizes
- Cash prizes for the top 3 teams overall and the best team in each sponsor track. Amounts are revealed between 2 and 5 Dec.
- Certificates: every team that submits a project gets a certificate of participation, and winners get winner certificates, all issued on Unstop.
- Exclusive Unstop goodies for every member of the winning team, plus 3 free lucky draw winners from teams that submit a project and follow @karmaenterprises.in on Instagram. More hackers, more loot, so rally your friends.
- Rack'Em perks: special discounts on Rack'Em servers for every participant, and bigger ones for the winners, to keep your project live after the hack.
Dates
- Registrations: 30 Oct to 9 Dec 2026, 11:59 PM IST
- Hackathon: Fri 11 Dec, 6 PM IST to Sun 13 Dec 2026, 6 PM IST
- Finals (top 10, live demos): Mon 14 Dec 2026
- Results: Tue 15 Dec 2026
Eligibility
Open to all developers and students across India. Teams of 1–4 members. Cross-college and cross-city teams are welcome.
Rounds
Round 1: Registration & team formation (30 Oct – 9 Dec) Register on Unstop and form your team of 1–4. No team yet? Find teammates on HackerMate, our community partner: hackermate.in/partners/rack-it-up-2026. Updates come by email, and live mentor hours run on Zoom.
Round 2: The Hack (11 Dec 6 PM – 13 Dec 6 PM IST, online)
Build and deploy your project. Submit on Unstop before the deadline:
- a live, deployed link (any hosting is fine)
- public code repository
- a demo video of up to 3 minutes
Round 3: Finals (14 Dec, online) The top 10 teams demo live to the judges and sponsors. Results on 15 Dec.
Judging criteria
- Working, deployed demo: 30%
- Impact: 25%
- Technical depth: 25%
- Presentation: 20%
Partners
- Platform partner: Unstop
- Community partner: HackerMate (team matching): hackermate.in/partners/rack-it-up-2026
Rules
- All code must be written during the hackathon. Open-source libraries, frameworks, APIs and AI tools are allowed; pre-built projects are not.
- Your project must be live at a working link at submission. Any hosting provider is allowed.
- Teams keep full ownership (IP) of what they build. Sponsors may contact teams about licensing or hiring.
- One submission per team. Each person can be in only one team.
- Registrations and submissions happen only on Unstop.
- Be respectful. Harassment, plagiarism or cheating leads to disqualification.
- Judges' decisions are final.
FAQ
Is it free? Yes. There is no registration fee.
Do I need to use Rack'Em servers? No. Deploy anywhere. Rack'Em servers are optional, and participants get special discounts on them.
Can I take part solo? Yes. Teams can have 1 to 4 members.
I don't have a team. How do I find one? Use HackerMate, our community partner, to find teammates: hackermate.in/partners/rack-it-up-2026
Do I need to be a student? No. Any developer in India can join.
Will there be mentors? Yes, live mentor hours run on Zoom during the hackathon.
What are the prizes? Cash prizes for the top 3 teams overall and the best team in each sponsor track, revealed between 2 and 5 Dec. The winning team and 3 lucky draw winners also get exclusive Unstop goodies, and everyone gets special Rack'Em discounts.
How does the lucky draw work? It's free to enter. After the hack, we pick 3 winners at random from participants whose team submitted a project and who follow @karmaenterprises.in on Instagram. Each winner gets exclusive Unstop goodies. The draw is run by us, not by Instagram.
Do I get a certificate? Yes. Every team that submits a project gets a certificate of participation, and winners get winner certificates, issued on Unstop.
Who owns what we build? You do. Teams keep full ownership of their projects.
Contact
Venugopal Rao, Founder, Karma Enterprises
+91 70199 22967 · venugopalrao@karmaenterprises.tech
Sushma, Co-founder, Karma Enterprises
+91 84314 96344 · sushma@karmaenterprises.tech
rackitup.karmaenterprises.tech · rackem.karmaenterprises.tech · karmaenterprises.tech