Women in tech hackathon Chhalaang 2.0 announces winners
Organised by MetaMorph, the women in tech hackathon saw more than 500 tech enthusiasts, including over 258 women in tech, at the Microsoft for Startups office in Bengaluru.
Teams of Django Dynamo, CodeDivas, and In It to Win It bagged the top three positions at Chhalaang 2.0, India's largest women in tech hackathon, held on April 6 in Bengaluru.
Django Dynamo, with team members Drishti Samvedi, Nidhi Sinha, and Teesha Karotra, bagged first place and received a cash prize of Rs 3 lakh. In the second place, CodeDivas bagged Rs 2 lakh with team members Nirmayi Kelkar, Pragati Sharma, Sristy Sharma, and Sudiksha Agrawal.
Lastly, In It to Win It won third place with Rs 1 lakh, with Aditi Shah, Aditi Vasu, Neha Chauhan, Pragya Maroti, and Saumya Jain. Additionally, four participants received special mention prizes of Rs 25,000 each.
"It was a great experience and our team winning first place was the cherry on top" said Samvedi of Django Dynamo, adding, "The organisers were super helpful as well, so were the Groww mentors in helping us with the problem statements."
In the same vein, Kelkar, a Software Engineer at Bank of New York Mellon and team member of CodeDivas, said, "The mentors were super helpful while we were facing issues while hosting our application on AWS. It was a wonderful experience overall, and we ended up winning second place; it was such a fruitful feeling."
The winners received a prize of Rs 3 lakhs, followed by Rs 2 lakhs at the second place and Rs 1 lakh at the third.
The hackathon, organised by MetaMorph, saw more than 500 tech enthusiasts, including over 258 women in tech, at the Microsoft for Startups office in Bengaluru. The first round of the hackathon took place online between March 21-26, 2024, and the shortlisted participated in the event.
Pragati Sharma, a Backend Engineer at Uber, shared that the event was really good in terms of the problem statements, the jury, and the organisation.
"We could tell our work was understood and appreciated by the jury, and the mentors were very helpful and supportive with any problems we faced. My teammates were comparatively junior to me and came from diverse backgrounds, but I got along with them quickly, and it was a fun experience for all of us,” she added.
The event also saw industry leaders like Mathangi Sri Ramachandran (Chief Data Officer, Yubi) and Ajit Narayanan (Chief Product and Technology Officer, Licious) lending their expertise as jury members.
"What a vibe and atmosphere; thrusts and pushes innovative spirit many notches. Women in tech are on the rise," said Mathangi Sri Ramachandran of her experience at the hackathon.
Echoing similar sentiments, Shivangi Srivastava, Associate Vice President, New Initiatives, Swiggy, and a jury, said, "The energy on the floor was amazing with 258 talented individuals buzzing with great ideas. The setup was great. I must say I was really impressed with what the finalists presented. Such high talent density.”
Narayanan also applauded the participants' innovation and creativity in solving the problem statement. “This event was a testament to the growing and vital role of women in technology, and I feel honoured to have been a part of it,” he added.
While Gameskraft was the title sponsor, Plum was a prize sponsor for the event. The hackathon was sponsored by renowned brands, including Luzo, Purplle, Plix, Plum, Frido, and BONOMI. The venue partner for the event was Microsoft for Startups.
YourStory was the media partner for the event.
Edited by Suman Singh