Event completed — March 14, 2026
AI Mini Hackathon Berlin
Thanks to everyone who joined! A Saturday morning of building cool things with AI — intentionally intimate, a few concentrated hours to ship. Stay in the loop for the next one.
Who was in the room
Builders joined from
March 14, 2026
Highlights
Photos from the day at Needle — builders, energy, and the pitch floor.
Event day
Schedule
One Saturday morning. From doors open to pitches done — everything happened in a few focused hours.
10:00
Doors open
Arrive, grab coffee, meet the other builders. Get settled and connect with potential teammates.
11:00
Build starts
Three hours to go from idea to working prototype. Use any AI tools and APIs you want.
14:00
Pitches
Each team gets a short slot to demo what they've built. Jury evaluates live.
15:00
Official end
Winners announced. Prizes handed out. Hang around if you want — no rush.
For all participants
Perks & Credits
Every participant got free access to tools and credits to build with during the hackathon.
Credits for Needle — the venue host and collaborative workspace platform.
Credits for Usermap to help you build, test, and iterate on your project.
Credits for Superchat to integrate AI-powered communication into your build.
Premium access to Featherless — open-source AI model inference at scale.
1 month free ElevenLabs Creator tier — text-to-speech, voice cloning, and audio AI.
Kiro by AWS — an IDE that guides you from idea to implementation with specs, designs, and code.
Expert panel
Jury
Projects were evaluated by people who build, invest in, and research AI.
March 14, 2026
Winners
Teams recognized on stage and the prizes they received.
🥇 1st place
Signify AI
Lukas Mascher, Louis Nießen
- 1st place trophy cup
- $300 Featherless credits (open-weight AI models on the Featherless inference platform)
- Tech Explorer Community Slack shout-out + access
- Each team member receives 3 months of ElevenLabs Pro tier ($297 value per team member)
🥈 2nd place
Surgical Assistant AI
Enis Mustafaj, Nur Rafizade
- 2nd place trophy cup
- Featherless credits worth $150
- Tech Explorer Community Slack access
🥉 3rd place
SuperAgent AI
Vadym Maslovskyi, David Velasquez, Max Kops, Vladislav Yakunin, Elena Boroda
- 3rd place trophy cup
- Featherless credits worth $75
- Tech Explorer Community Slack access
⭐ Best project built with ElevenLabs
Geofenced AI Tour Guide
Daniel Montano
- ElevenLabs trophy cup
- Each team member receives 6 months of ElevenLabs Scale tier ($1,980 value per team member)
- Tech Explorer Community Slack access
Good to know
Details
What we provided
Everything you needed
- Coffee and breakfast
- AI tool credits
- Prizes for top teams
- WiFi and power
- A focused, distraction-free space
Why people joined
Why you should've been there
- Ship something real in a few hours
- Test ideas with AI tools at no cost
- Get feedback from experienced judges
- Meet builders, founders, and devs
- Win prizes and community recognition
What people did
The format
- Arrive and team up or go solo
- Build a working prototype with AI
- Pitch your project to the jury
- Top projects win prizes
- Teams of 2–3 recommended, up to 5 allowed
Rules: The project must be built during the hackathon. No pre-built submissions. Participation is free. Bring your laptop and charger.
Community
Partners
Organizer
Host
Luis Rieke
Product manager, podcast host & chronic side-project builder. Loves trail running and baking sourdough. luisrieke.com
On stage
Moderation
Sina Landorff
Strategic Partnerships & People Partner with 15+ years in tech — aka "Mrs. Positivity", keeping the day on track and the energy high.
What's next?
Don't miss the next one
The first AI Mini Hackathon Berlin took place on March 14 at Needle. We're planning more — sign up to hear about upcoming events first.
Venue
Location
Needle Berlin
Schicklerstraße 5, 10179 Berlin — close to Alexanderplatz, central Berlin.
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