E-Cell IIIT Hyderabad’s Megathon 2025: The Deccan Edition Concludes with Massive Turnout, Spotlighting Hyderabad’s Student Innovators
HYDERABAD, October 17, 2025 : The Entrepreneurship Cell (E-Cell) of IIIT Hyderabad today announced the successful culmination of Megathon 2025: The Deccan Edition. With more than 1,100 student participants from numerous colleges across India, the 24-hour innovation marathon reaffirmed its status as Hyderabad’s largest student-run hackathon. The event was backed by a prize pool of ₹7 lakhs, with title sponsorship from CHUBB and challenge problem statements sourced from Qualcomm and Bhashini, alongside from the event’s social sponsor, Saral AI.
Highlights & Key Outcomes
· Over 1,100 students (in teams) from 62 colleges participated in Megathon 2025, tackling real-world problem statements.
· After an initial filtering round, the top 20 teams were invited to pitch their solutions in high-velocity lightning sessions before a panel of domain experts.
· The hackathon spanned a wide array of themes (depending on sponsor briefs), pushing participants to blend technical depth, product thinking, and social relevance.
· Winners were awarded cash prizes from the ₹7 lakh purse, and all finalists benefitted from valuable feedback, mentorship exposure, and networking opportunities with industry leaders and startup mentors.
· The event also marked the 10th anniversary of E-Cell IIIT Hyderabad, adding celebratory gravitas to the latest edition.
Megathon is more than just a competitive coding event — it serves as a bridge between academia and industry, enabling students to test prototypes, connect with professionals, and convert bold ideas into tangible outcomes. Under its guiding motto “Meet. Ideate. Hack.”, the hackathon continues to nurture Hyderabad’s reputation as a rising innovation hub.
“Megathon gives students not just the chance to code, but the space to think big, fail fast, and iterate — exactly the mindset entrepreneurship demands,” said Shaik K N Akthar, one of the coordinators of E-Cell. His fellow coordinator, Vishak Kashyap, added, “And if they can build something amazing in just 24 hours, imagine what they could create with months or years of effort — maybe even their own startup!” “We were blown away by the energy and calibre of ideas this year — the future is in good hands,” remarked one of the judging panellists.