Over the weekend, 19 teams of student innovators from across New Jersey gathered for the NJx Hackathon by NJx Venture Summit, an intensive 24-hour hackathon event held at Venture X Skillman located within the Montgomery Innovation Hub in Skillman, New Jersey. The event was co-sponsored by 1435 Capital Management, Startup Grind Princeton, Cogent Connections, New Jersey AI Hub, mTap, and Lovable . The event challenged participants to harness technology and entrepreneurship to solve some of today’s most pressing digital challenges.
Teams focused on three key problem areas: combating AI-powered scams and deepfake fraud targeting the elderly, addressing the flood of automated content on social media, and developing solutions to challenges uniquely affecting New Jersey communities. Each project blended innovation with social impact, reflecting the Garden State’s commitment to responsible and community-driven technology development. “The NJx Hackathon showcased the creativity and civic-minded energy of New Jersey’s next generation of technologists and entrepreneurs,” said Curtis Lee, Senior Partner at 1435 Capital Management. “These teams didn’t just build apps—they built ideas and businesses with purpose.”
More than 20 mentors volunteered their time throughout the weekend to guide teams in areas like product design, startup strategy, and AI ethics. In addition, dozens of volunteers supported logistics, setup, and operations to ensure a smooth and dynamic event experience.
The NJx Hackathon reflects a growing movement to make New Jersey a regional hub for innovation. This past weekend’s event underscores the power of collaboration among investors, educators, founders, and community partners united by a shared goal: leveraging AI and technology to address issues facing New Jersey and to develop solutions that drive economic success and growth.
Special thanks to the countless people that gave up their weekend to help make this event truly a success including Joe Maruschak, George Veitengruber, James F. Curley, John Silverstein, Gary Kellstrom, tejas ravindra, Shreyas Ravindra, Russ Abdrakhmanov, Wes Waninger, Roopak Naresh Gupta, Emily Hill, Kevin Brown, David Stengle, Monica Jain, Rich Gallagher, Carmelo Cintrón, Kinshuk Dutta, James F. Curley, Yashaswi Alur Prasannakumar, Anand Rai, Peter Cobb, Devin Carrillo, Jack Turkel, Mahender Gorrai, Benjamin Turofsky and special thanks to the 1435 team including Chris Gittings, Aliea Nallbani, Ben Jen, Curtis Lee, Amar Hirani, MBA
