Fintech
Payments, lending, invoicing, GST and compliance, credit, reconciliation. The problems Aczen works on every day, and the track we care most about.
Finathon2026
Hosted by Aczen
A 36-hour build at MLR Institute of Technology, hosted by the team behind Aczen’s financial OS. Four tracks, one campus, no remote option. The builders who stand out leave with an internship, not a certificate.
Sunday 27 September, 11.59 pm IST
Teams of 3 to 4. Third and fourth year students, any college in Telangana.
- Wed 30 Sep, 08:00
- Thu 1 Oct, 20:00
- MLR Institute of Technology
- 3 to 4 members
The prize is not the point.
Aczen is hiring interns, and 36 hours of watching someone build under pressure tells us more than any interview round. Finathon is how we find people. Every track is scouted, and you do not have to place in the top three to be noticed.
- Full Stack Developer
- AI / ML Engineer
- Cybersecurity Engineer
Build
Ship something real in 36 hours. We watch how you work, not just what you demo.
Offer
Standout builders are offered an internship at Aczen with a stipend.
Six months
You work on production fintech with the team that ships it.
PPO
A pre-placement offer, decided on performance over those six months.
Four tracks. Pick one.
AI & Machine Learning
Models that do something a business can actually use — document extraction, forecasting, agents that finish a task, anomaly detection on real transaction data.
Business Systems
The software a company runs on internally. Customer systems, people systems, and the unglamorous internal tools that decide whether a team ships.
Cybersecurity
Money makes a system a target. Fraud detection, KYC and identity, securing payment flows, threat modelling, and finding what breaks before somebody else does.
Prize pool
- First place₹
- Second place₹
- Third place₹
And what everyone else leaves with
Three teams place. Everyone who submits a project leaves with the rest of this.
A route to an interview without winning
Top performers across every track are fast-tracked straight into the Aczen interview process.
Mentorship from the Aczen tech team
Engineers who ship the product circulate through the floor for the full 36 hours.
Credits on AI build tools
Participants receive credits on AI development tools to keep building after the event.
Certificate of participation
Issued to every participant who submits a project.
Aczen goodies and swag
Details to be announced closer to the event.
Thirty-six hours, start to finish.
Timings are indicative and will be confirmed at the opening ceremony.
Day one
Check-in opens
Bring your college ID and your own laptop.
Opening ceremony
Problem statements and judging criteria are revealed here.
Hacking begins
Hour zero of thirty-six.
Mentor round one
Aczen engineers on the floor.
Lunch
Checkpoint one
Show what you have. No slides.
Dinner
Mentor round two
For teams that are stuck.
Day two
Midnight refuel
Breakfast
Hour twenty-three.
Checkpoint two
Demo readiness review.
Code freeze and submission
Repositories lock. Nothing after this counts.
Lunch
Round one judging
Every team demos.
Finalists pitch the Aczen panel
Results and hiring shortlist
Winners announced, shortlisted builders notified.
Close
Who can enter
- Third and fourth year students only
- Open to every college in Telangana
- 3 to 4 members
- Fully offline, on campus, for the whole 36 hours
- Sun 27 Sep
- ₹
Mentors, judges and speakers
The panel is being confirmed. Aczen engineers mentor on the floor for the full 36 hours.
To be announced
To be announced
To be announced
To be announced
To be announced
To be announced
Sponsors and partners
Finathon puts your brand in front of several hundred third and fourth year engineering students in Hyderabad for 36 continuous hours.
MLR Institute of Technology
Laxman Reddy Avenue, Dundigal, Hyderabad, Telangana 500043
Open in Google MapsBefore you register
Who can participate?
Third and fourth year students from any college in Telangana. Bring a team of three or four.
Do I need a team before I register?
Yes — register as a team of three or four. If you are short of members, join the WhatsApp community and find them there before registration closes.
What does it cost?
The registration fee is being finalised and will be published here before registration opens.
How will projects be judged?
The judging criteria are revealed at the opening ceremony on 30 September, so every team starts from the same line.
Can I bring code I have already written?
You can use open source libraries and public APIs freely. The project itself must be built during the 36 hours.
Is it fully offline?
Yes. All 36 hours are on campus at MLR Institute of Technology. There is no remote track.
Do I have to build on Aczen's product?
No. Build anything that fits your track. Aczen APIs are available if you want them, and ignoring them costs you nothing.
Are travel and accommodation covered?
Arrangements for outstation teams will be confirmed here before registration closes.
Talk to the organisers
- WhatsApp group link to be published with registration