This year’s hackathon at Kovai.co was special. For the first time, it was organization-wide, bringing together people from every department to think, build, and innovate together with AI.
The Hackathon on October 31 and November 1 was part of our continued CODE RED initiative, a space where we explored and built AI that can make us more productive, creative, and connected.
Before the Hackathon
Unlike our usual format, where teams come first, this time, we flipped the process. Instead of forming teams first, we began by collecting real-world problems that could be tackled with AI.
And the response? Over 125 ideas poured in – each different, bold, and full of potential. From there, we shortlisted 14 ideas to build during the hackathon. Once the ideas were finalized, we built teams around them, mixing developers, testers, marketers, product support, sales, and customer success folks.
The energy began even before day one, as ideas turned into plans and discussions started rolling across departments.
Day 1: Building Begins
The hackathon kicked off with a welcome note from our CEO, Saravana Kumar, followed by the distribution of CODE RED t-shirts. Soon, every table was buzzing with discussions, coding, and planning.
Front-end and back-end developers worked on bringing the ideas to life, while others helped with research, data, and design. Most of the teams stayed late into the night at our office, fuelled by snacks, dinner, and determination chasing that “just one more line of code” moment.
Premkumar Radhakrishnan, Lead – Admin & Facility Management, says,
I joined the Code Red Hackathon thinking it was too technical for me, but curiosity took over. Our project wasn’t the most technical, but it was a huge personal win. I walked in thinking, ‘I don’t belong here,’ and walked out knowing, ‘I can learn anything.’ I may not be a coder, but I definitely caught the Code Red spirit!
Day 2: The Final Push
The second day began with a mix of excitement and exhaustion. Teams worked hard to wrap up their builds and to fine-tune their models. The final minutes were packed with last-minute changes, pitch rehearsals, and nervous laughter.
Pradeep Jumani, Chief People Officer, says,
The best part I witnessed was how some teams even joined forces to help others finish strong. It was a true show of teamwork beyond competition.
By evening, we had pizzas, soft drinks, and a room full of energy as the presentations began. Each project stood out in its own way, making it tough for the jury to choose the top ideas.
We had our jury – Manikandan Subramaniam, Director of Engineering, Premkumar Nandagopal, Director of Product Management, Selvaraaju Murugesan, Head of Data Science, and Arunkumar Kumaresan, Head of Business Development, who took on the tough job of evaluating every project. With so many creative and impactful ideas, selecting the top few wasn’t easy. Each presentation brought something new to the table, but the ones that stood out for their innovation and potential real-world impact earned the winning spots.
Abishek Ravichandran, Intern from the Customer Success team, says,
I worked with a completely different team and project this time, and it opened up new perspectives. What I learned here is something I can now apply to my everyday work – that’s my biggest takeaway from this Hackathon.
CODE RED AI HACKATHON Champions
The top 4 teams won cash prizes of ₹75,000, ₹50,000, and ₹25,000! After two days of intense brainstorming, coding, and collaboration, the winners were announced.
The Document360 Team’s project on AI-powered Visual Testing Automation Site topped the leaderboard, while the Talent Acquisition Team secured second place with Screen Smart AI.
Winners team (from left to right): Mohankumar, Mohamed Kasim, Kannan, Ramarajan, Uma Maheswari, and Praveena
Runners-up team (from left to right): Mukesh, Surya, Rajagurunathan, Rohith, Arun, and Prathikkshaa
The third prize was shared by two teams – the Document360 Team for the AI-powered Test Case Generator project and the People & Culture Team for the Knowledge Sprint project.
Joint Second Runners-up team (from left to right): Anand, Mithun, Dharani, Sriharan, Manikandan on AI-Powered Test Case Generator
Joint Second Runners-up team (from left to right): Allauvdheen, Baskaran, Prasanth, Karthikeyan, Surya, Sailesh, Swarnalatha, Angeline, Jessintha, Kavya on Knowledge Sprint project
Uma Maheswari Baskaran, Lead Software Engineer – QA from the winning team, says,
The most fascinating part of the Hackathon was how our roles evolved. We focused on framing problems, user impact, and storytelling, while AI handled the execution. Winning made it even more special. It felt like recognition for clear vision, collaboration, and creativity in the age of AI.
Here’s a peek into all the fun we had during the Hackathon!
Moving Forward Together
The hackathon brought our entire company together – engineers, marketers, analysts, designers, and everyone to work towards one goal: building smarter with AI.
It was more than a competition. It was a learning experience, a chance to collaborate across teams, and a reminder that innovation grows when people come together.
With the success of this hackathon, we’ve set a new standard for how we learn, build, and move forward together, the Kovai.co way.
Take a look at how the entire Hackathon unfolded!
#TogetherWeGrow
