Emergent Announces VibeCon 2026 Winners, Awarding $18,000 and a Direct Y Combinator Interview

Emergent, the AI platform helping entrepreneurs build and run custom software for their businesses, today announced the winners of VibeCon 2026, a two-day building competition held October 24–25 in San Francisco that brought together builders to create more than 100 applications. Builders were challenged to ‘Build for Main Street,’ tackling real-world problems across logistics, retail, construction and other industries.

The competition culminated in live pitches from the top 10 finalists, with Manceps, an AI dispatch tool for independent dispatchers and small trucking fleets, taking home the $10,000 grand prize and a direct interview with Y Combinator for an upcoming batch. Floorline took second place with a pricing assistant for independent furniture retailers, while Kazza placed third with an architecture and permitting app that helps streamline building design and code compliance.

“Small businesses have complex problems to solve, but they haven’t always had the resources to build the software they need,” said Mukund Jha, founder and CEO of Emergent. “What stood out at VibeCon this year was what people chose to build: real solutions for real businesses, from trucking fleets to family-owned retailers. That’s exactly the opportunity we’re working to unlock with Emergent.”

Meet the VibeCon 2026 Winners

Grand Prize Winner: Manceps – $10,000 + Direct Y Combinator Interview

Aryan Daga and Yeabsira Teshome built Manceps, an AI-powered freight dispatch platform designed for independent dispatchers and small trucking fleets. Daga drew on his family’s logistics business in India. The platform uses AI agents to track truck availability, match loads, and coordinate with brokers and drivers, reducing the manual work traditionally managed through spreadsheets and phone calls.

Runner-Up: Floorline – $5,000

Nikhil Marudai developed Floorline, an AI-powered pricing assistant for independent furniture retailers. Built with input from a family-run furniture store near Sacramento, the application helps sales teams evaluate customer offers, recommend counteroffers, and protect profit margins without requiring constant owner approval.

Second Runner-Up: Kazza – $3,000

Bruno Rodríguez created Kazza, an AI-powered architecture and permitting platform designed to simplify planning for architects, builders, and remodelers. The platform generates floor plans using property data, checks designs against zoning and building codes, and helps identify potential compliance issues before plans are submitted for approval.

Each of the top 10 finalists also received $1,000 in Emergent credits and partner perk bundles to support continued development of their projects.

From Idea to Working Software in Two Days

VibeCon challenged participants to build and demonstrate working applications over a single weekend, resulting in pitches evaluated by a panel of judges across Emergent, Y Combinator, MongoDB, Anthropic, AWS, and Stripe. Projects were judged on execution, originality, research into real business problems, market potential and use of Emergent, with an emphasis on building software that small-business owners could immediately put to work. Builders leaned into the real-world problem-solving challenge, seeking to build apps with tangible value for the businesses that are the cornerstone of their communities.

The judging panel included:

• Nicolas Dessaigne, General Partner, Y Combinator
• Sachin Malhotra, Member of Technical Staff, Anthropic
• Balaji NJL, Senior Solutions Architect, AWS
• Pratik Gupta, Senior Engineering Leader, Stripe
• Mukund Jha, Founder and CEO, Emergent
• Madhav Jha, CTO, Emergent

The event builds on VibeCon’s inaugural year, which attracted participants from over 10 countries, 60% of whom had never written code. Last year’s winning team developed Cypher, a cybersecurity training platform using AI-generated phishing simulations.

For more information about VibeCon, visit https://vibecon.com/.

About Emergent

Emergent is an AI-powered software creation platform that enables people to turn ideas into functional applications without traditional coding expertise. By making software development more accessible, Emergent empowers entrepreneurs, professionals and businesses to build and launch digital products.

Learn more at https://app.emergent.sh/landing/.

Contact Information

Diana Vicinanza

VSC for Emergent

VSC PR

Contact via E-mail