Sponsored Hackathons

A sponsored hackathon is a Hackathon whose theme or challenge brief is proposed and funded by an enterprise, then designed and operated by Nepher for the community.

Request one at https://nepher.ai/enterprise/contact?interest=custom_hackathon.

Sponsored events are highlighted on the main hackathon landing (nepher.ai/hackathon#sponsored).

How It Works

1. Propose — bring an open-ended problem or new robot task genre you'd like the community to explore (e.g. a new environment category or a novel manipulation challenge).
2. Scope — Nepher's team turns it into a challenge brief, timeline, and submission rules, following the same model described in Hackathons.
3. Operate — Nepher runs the event end-to-end on nepher.ai/hackathon: submissions, community voting with stake-weighted transparency, and the public project gallery.
4. Deliver — you receive the resulting demos, write-ups, and asset galleries. Strong outcomes can graduate into a Sponsored Tournament, following the same Hackathon to Tournament pipeline used for community hackathons.

As with sponsored tournaments, your company funds and helps define the challenge — Nepher operates judging, voting, and the public gallery. There is no self-serve hackathon creation tool for enterprises; see How engagement works.

How Sponsorship Appears Publicly

When a hackathon is marked sponsored, the unified site shows the same pattern as tournaments:

• A Sponsored badge on listing cards and rows
• A Sponsored by … chip in the detail header
• A sponsor block (logo, description, careers, optional recruitment / Nepher Verified chips)

Admins attach sponsor branding on the hackathon edit form (name, logo, description, careers, flags) — without an organization ID field.

Sponsor Fees vs. Rewards

Sponsor fees are recognized as enterprise revenue, not participant rewards, unless a hackathon explicitly states otherwise. Participant rewards continue to follow the standard Voting & Rewards model — community votes weighted by Bittensor stake, paid out through Stripe Connect — independent of your sponsor fee, unless the specific event's terms explicitly say sponsor funds are being added to the reward pool.

Getting Started

Submit a request at https://nepher.ai/enterprise/contact?interest=custom_hackathon. See Brand & Credibility for how sponsorship supports visibility goals, and the Enterprise FAQ for common questions.