LotusHacks 2026: Empowering Vietnam’s Next Generation of AI Builders
Last weekend, we made history.
It started with a bold dream from a group of highschoolers behind LotusHacks. Their vision: to organize the largest ever AI hackathon in Vietnam and prove that the next generation of builders in this region is ready to show up on a global stage.
When we heard about what they were building, we knew we had to be part of it. At GenAI Fund, empowering young talent and supporting entrepreneurial dreams isn’t just something we talk about. It’s core to what we do. So we came in as a supporter and co-organizer to help turn their vision into reality.
On March 20 to 22, 2026, we organized the largest EVER AI hackathon in Vietnam. A record number with over 1,500 confirmed attendees from 30 different countries, forming more than 200 competing teams. 30+ sponsors and ecosystem partners. Up to $1M in total ecosystem prizes.
For 36 hours straight, VNG Campus in Ho Chi Minh City became the epicenter of AI innovation in Southeast Asia — developers, designers, founders, and students from across the region, all under one roof, all building.
And here’s what stood out: 60% of participants were from Vietnam — a strong signal that the country is quickly emerging as one of the region’s most promising AI talent incubators.
This wasn’t something we just put together. This was a vision we brought to life. A moment we created for the next generation of builders to step up, show what they’re capable of, and turn their entrepreneurial dreams into something the world can see.
And they delivered beyond anything we imagined.
🎬 How It All Began
Friday evening, March 20, at VNG Campus. Every seat in the open lounge filled before the opening ceremony even started.
Our partner Laura from GenAI Fund opened the event alongside the LotusHacks team, setting the stage for the weekend ahead. The room was buzzing before anyone even touched a keyboard.
Then came the keynotes:
→ Hawkins Pham, Director and Head of VNGGames Publishing Platform
→ Phong Nguyen, Head of Corporate Venture Capital at Tasco
By 9 PM, tracks were picked: Enterprises, Edtech, Social and Mobility, and Technology and Consumer, and the hacking officially kicked off.
To help teams shape their ideas, nearly 150 real business problems from large enterprises were made available on the platform at https://app.genaifund.ai/, giving builders a head start on solving challenges that actually matter. 36 hours to pick a problem, build a solution, and pitch it.
💻 36 Hours of Building, Breaking, and Shipping
What followed was exactly what happens when you put hundreds of ambitious builders under one roof with a deadline: pure creative chaos.
Whiteboards covered in ideas. New repos were created every few minutes. Prototypes taking shape overnight. Some teams pulled through the entire night without sleeping. Others grabbed a few hours on the floor and jumped right back in.
A few scenes that stood out:
→ A few builders, barely teenagers, running three screens and testing his app on his phone with an AWS bottle on the desk. Just locked in.
→ Teams scattered across every floor of VNG Campus — hallways, lounges, meeting rooms. If there was a power outlet, someone was coding next to it.
→ The midnight energy: keyboards clicking, quiet debates about architecture decisions, and the occasional celebration when something finally compiled.
🎓 Workshops and Learning Across All 3 Days
Throughout the weekend, we hosted a series of workshops with OpenAI and AWS to equip builders with the latest tools, platforms, and techniques while they were actively building. These sessions gave hackers direct access to the people behind the products they were using, turning the hackathon into both a building ground and a learning ground at the same time.
The rooms were packed every single time. Builders were applying what they picked up straight into their projects within the hour.
🎙️ Lunch Panel: Enterprise Meets Innovation
On Saturday, March 21, we hosted a lunch panel featuring two leaders driving innovation at some of Vietnam’s most prominent companies:
→ Phong Nguyen, Head of Corporate Venture Capital at Tasco
→ Rahul Shinde, CIO and Vice President at Coca Cola Beverages Vietnam
The conversation brought a real world perspective to the room, reminding builders that what they’re creating isn’t just academic. There are enterprises actively looking for the kind of solutions being prototyped right here. They also shared practical tips on how to deliver a strong pitch, what judges actually look for, and how to tell a compelling story around your product.
🚀 Pitch Day: 36 Hours of Work, 5 Minutes to Prove It
Sunday morning, March 22. Building was over. Now it was time to show what they made.
Before the judging kicked off, we gathered all judges for a private briefing session, aligning on evaluation criteria, scoring format, and what to look for across the different tracks. It was important to make sure everyone was on the same page before walking into a room full of teams ready to pitch their hearts out.
Multiple judging stations were set up across the VNG Atrium. Teams went to their appointed tables and pitched directly to the judges. Five minutes per team. No Q&A in the first round. Every second counted.
36 hours of relentless work (some teams didn’t sleep at all) came down to a few minutes on stage. Some walked away with prizes. All of them walked away with something they built from scratch.
The format:
- Round 1: Every team pitches. Top 20 selected.
- Final Round: Top 20 narrowed to 10. Those 10 pitches on the main stage — 5 minutes plus 2 minutes of Q&A.
- Track winners and overall winners announced at the end of the final round.
Top 3 winners are:
→ 🥇 FocusIQ — a personalized learning platform that uses AI and brain signals to optimize student learning
→ 🥈 TinyDetective — an AI platform that detects counterfeit products by analyzing and comparing official sources with real world listings
→ 🥉 Coco — an AI powered platform that blends short videos with interactive learning for kids
Three very different ideas. All built from scratch in 36 hours. All solving real problems. That’s the caliber of talent that showed up this weekend.
🤝 Why We Did This
At GenAI Fund, we exist to empower builders and support their entrepreneurial dreams. We believe the next wave of innovation in Southeast Asia will come from exactly these people: the developers experimenting with AI at 3 AM, the students shipping their first prototype, the founders testing wild ideas in a room full of people who understand.
LotusHacks 2026 was about creating that room. Building a talent pool of the region’s most driven minds. And proving that when you give builders the right tools, the right environment, and the right partners, they deliver.
This hackathon wasn’t just an event. It was a signal. The talent is here. The energy is real. And GenAI Fund is committed to building the infrastructure that connects these builders with the opportunities they deserve.
🏆 Thank You to Everyone Who Made This Possible
This event was a true ecosystem effort. Massive thanks to:
- Sponsors & Ecosystem Partners: OpenAI, AWS, ElevenLabs, VNG, Coca Cola Beverages Vietnam, Tasco, Galaxy Holdings, Redis, Lovable, n8n, Agora, OpenRouter, TinyFish, Qwen, Manus, Notion, Exa, JigsawStack, Trae, CoderSchool, Algorithmics, IvyPrep, FreightPilot.ai, Bright Data, Dify, fal, GreenNode, Phong Vu, ETEST, VALSEA, CIS, MLC Sports, Hacker Residency Group, AI.SEA, The Cake Collective, AI Hay, iGOT.ai, Zilliz, Interfaze, and more.
- Judges:
- Rahul Shinde — CIO/Vice President, Coca Cola
- Tze Phei Tee — Group CIO, Wasco
- Thanh Nguyen — CTPO, Pharmacity
- Chi Tran — CEO, Phong Vu
- Thanh Nguyen — CTO, McKinsey VN
- Hawkins Pham — Director, Head of VNGGames Publishing Platforms, VNG
- Nguyen Khuong Duy — Director, AI Factory Product, FPT
- Le Quang Huy — Chief E Commerce and IT, ACFC Vietnam
- Phong Nguyen — Head of Corporate Venture Capital, Tasco
- Nguyen Gia Hung — Head of Solutions Architect (Vietnam & Cambodia), AWS VN
- Tuyen Le — Head of Robotics Research, VinMotion
- TingXi Tan — Ex-Director of Software Engineering, ex NVIDIA
- Derek Zheng — APAC Lead of Developer Relations, Agora
- Rita Huang — Global Developer Community Marketing, TRAE
- Nhu Tran — Account Manager, AWS
- Kai Yong — Partner, GenAI Fund
- Louis Vichy — Co Founder, OpenRouter
- Caroline Tran — Co Founder/CEO, Hello Clover
- Frank Luong — Founder & CEO, Faosx.ai
- Paul Nguyen — Founder & CEO, iGOT.ai
- Linh Pham — Co Founder, Logivan/FreightPilot
- Chelsea O. — GTM Southeast Asia, Agora
- Brendan Beh — Co Founder, AI.SEA
- Valencia Queck — Founder, VALSEA
- Minh Phuc Tran — Co Founder, HRG
- Alex Nguyen — Founder, Feynman AI
- Trung Huynh — Founder, Blaze VN
- Daniel Nguyen — Founder, Bolt AI
- Sumant Subrahmanya — Co Founder, Customer Glu
- Anthony Ung — Founding Design Engineer, friendsforhuman.ai
- Avan Chan — Co Founder, friendsforhuman.ai
- Marcus Lim — Co Founder, friendsforhuman.ai
- Linh Vo — Co Founder, Revve AI
- Vineet Agarwal — Founding AI Engineer, Jigsawstack
- Bui Nghi — Staff Research Scientist, Gemini (Google)
- Duy Nguyen — ETEST
- Nu Hoang — ML Gen Engineer, TinyFish
To every builder who showed up, stayed up, and shipped, you are exactly the reason we do this. 🔥
📸 Photo Gallery
Check out some of the best moments from the weekend below. Feel free to share these on your social media and tag @GenAI Fund. We’d love to see your posts and reshare them with our community! 🙌
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Thank you for reading and for being part of this journey with us.
Whether you were in the room, following along online, or just discovering this now. We’re glad you’re here. This is only the beginning.
See you at the next one 👋
