When we started nucast in 2023, we quickly realized that Cardano was underrepresented In India, one of the world’s largest developer ecosystems and a global leader in the adoption of blockchain technologies.
As we began the journey of building our company, we also launched a grassroots effort, powered by Project Catalyst to increase Cardano’s presence throughout the country. Our inaugural initiative was India’s first digital Cardano Hackathon – Codex 2023.
We’d never hosted a Hackathon but we knew the ecosystem would greatly benefit from engaging new developer talent, students, and those interested in joining the Cardano Community. Our goal was simple…start building awareness. And it worked!
Codex’23 was a series of digital workshops that engaged 1200+ new Indian developers.
It was a massive success but the work had just begun. Knowledge about Cardano was minimal, but interest levels were high. And so, our annual Hackathon was born.
In 2024, we scaled the Hackathon to a 3-month, 7-city roadshow that culminated with Demo Day in Bangalore. It was another huge success, engaging and educating more than 2000 new developers. As a bonus, Hackathon winners would receive mentorship for participating in Project Catalyst, Cardano’s world leading decentralized funding engine.
At this point, we knew we were creating real impact. Knowledge and education about Cardano in India were growing. We even received a few reports that participants had secured jobs with companies building on Cardano. Wow!
We recently wrapped up this year’s Hackathon, IndiaCodeX’25, a 2-day Hackathon held in Hyderabad. We had over 400 people in attendance across two days, including developers from Deloitte and KPMG. It was an amazing experience, with 150 devs spending a full day building on Cardano.
We had students from more than 20 universities participate, and over 30 product submissions were received.
We’re both proud and grateful to have the opportunity to lead this annual event. It’s clear that it’s making a difference, most importantly, bringing new people into the Cardano ecosystem in a country that harnesses a significant amount of potential in tech and blockchain.
Each year that we host our Hackathon, we also grow and learn. We now have 3 years under our belt and every event is an opportunity for us to further develop our skills and that leads to even more positive impact.
None of this would have been possible without funding support from Project Catalyst. It began as an idea and has bloomed into a full-blown movement that has made a tangible impact on Cardano’s presence in a critical market.
Please consider voting YES for IndiaCodeX’26 and help us make it our best event yet! Search INDIACODEX in the voting app!
