Build & Pitch w/ Raylu

#NYTechWeek

Wednesday, June 3 · 6:30 PM – 9:00 PM

Hosted by Raylu · New York, NY (venue TBD)

The hackathon where AI builders showcase to the VCs writing checks. ⚡

Most hackathons are judged by engineers. This one's judged by the partners actually deploying capital into AI.

Bring your best AI project — something you've been building, or something you'll ship in the next 2 weeks specifically for this demo day. The 6 strongest submissions take the stage and demo live to VCs from leading PE, growth equity, and venture funds.

The next generation of tools for private market investors won't be built by funds — it'll be built by founders. Raylu is bringing the sharpest AI builders in NYC face-to-face with the partners writing checks. Submit your project ahead of time. If you're picked as a finalist, you demo live to VCs — the people who'd actually buy what you build.

Winners walk away with a MacBook, Anthropic credits, and warm intros to every judge on the panel.

👀 Not building? Come anyway.

RSVP for demo day to watch top NYC builders ship their best work in front of real investors. Drinks, food, and the best AI networking room at NYC Tech Week.

⚠️ Two Parts — Applications Open May 13

💻 Build Phase — May 13 through May 29

Build from anywhere. Bring an existing project or build something new. 2-week window.

🏁 Demo Day — Wednesday, June 3 · 6:30–9:00 PM

6 finalists take the stage. 5-minute demos. 3-minute judge Q&A. Winners announced live. Networking until 10 PM.

👉 Apply now. Space is limited — apply early.

🛠️ Build Anything (but think about who's judging)

Bring whatever AI project gets you excited. The judges are VCs, so projects that demonstrate commercial potential, technical depth, and real-world usefulness will stand out.

Bonus consideration for projects in any of these tracks:

• Investor & finance tools — sourcing, research, outreach, diligence, portfolio ops
• Vertical AI for high-value workflows — anywhere AI compresses 40 hours into 30 minutes
• Wild cards — show us something we haven't seen

🔧 Build With Whatever You Want

• LLMs — Claude, GPT-5, open models
• Agent frameworks — LangGraph, CrewAI
• Web data — Firecrawl, Browserbase, Exa, Tavily
• Vector DBs — any
• Voice — ElevenLabs, Vapi

Bring your own stack. We just want to see something real.

🏆 Prizes

🥇 Grand Prize — MacBook Neo + $1K Anthropic credits (for each team member)

🥈 Runner-Up — $500 Amazon gift card + Apple AirPods (for each team member)

🥉 Third Place — $200 Uber Eats gift card (for each team member)

🎁 Every Finalist — Finalist swag + post-event spotlight + warm intros to every judge on the panel

✅ Judging Criteria

VCs will score projects on:

• Real-world usefulness — would someone pay for this?
• Technical execution — does it work well?
• Novel insight — what does this do that nothing else does?
• Demo quality — can you sell it in 5 minutes?

👥 Who Should Build

• AI engineers shipping agents for real work
• Founders with a project that needs VC eyes
• Builders who want their best work in front of capital
• Teams of 1–4. Solo builders welcome.
  
  

🤝 Sponsors

Meow

More to be announced

📋 To Apply

Submit by May 29 at 11:59 PM ET:

2–3 minute demo video

250–500 word project description

Live link or runnable GitHub repo

Team info

👉 Apply now

💬 Questions? Email dayo@raylu.ai

This event is part of #NYTechWeek — learn more at tech-week.com.

• Judging Criteria
  VCs score on four equal dimensions: Real-world usefulness - would someone pay? Technical execution — does it work? Novel insight — what does this do that nothing else does? Demo quality — can you sell it in 5 minutes?