Peter Diamandis welcomed Build with Gemini XPRIZE judges Cathie Wood, Logan Kilpatrick, Mark Pincus, and Palmer Luckey, stating that the four will present $2 million to the top five finalist teams and invited the audience to watch the winners who create profitable AI businesses within 90 days. Also present were XPRIZE CEO Anousheh Ansari and other judges. The finals are set to take place at Moonshots LIVE in Los Angeles.

The total prize pool is $2 million, with no equity taken and no clawbacks. The first place receives $500,000, second place $200,000, and third to fifth places each receive $100,000; there are also 15 runner-up prizes of $50,000 each and five track prizes of $50,000 each. The grand prize for the top five totals $1 million. Scoring is divided into three categories: business viability, AI-native operations, and track impact. The rules require obtaining real users and generating real revenue within a 90-day window, with predictive materials not counting as wins. The business must be operated by an agent and use at least one Google Cloud product.

The competition started on May 19 at Google I/O, with the building phase ending on August 17. The official website shows approximately 26,500 registered builders, and Devpost reports over 26,400 participants. After initial screening, about 1,400 submissions were narrowed down to 100 projects for final verification, from which five will be selected to present. The announced finalists include: POLYFORK by Germany's Lucas Martinic, which turns 3D assets into a mini-program that can be recolored, resized, and mixed; MYFIXAM by Nigeria's Jane Chukwuyem Odum, targeting the approximately 93% of informal artisans in the country who cannot safely receive payments; and DODOPREP by Naveed Ahmed from the UK and US, which adapts any learning material into tutoring based on gaps. Other shortlisted projects include a tax refund tool for Mexican businesses that handles electronic invoices and assembles tax documents for Vertex AI review. The tracks cover education and human potential, entrepreneurship and employment, small business services, funding and financial accessibility, and professional services.

The technical presentation is by Google, the competition is managed by Devpost, and sponsors include Dan Martell and Richard Merkin. On the same day, Moonshots LIVE also awarded the Future Vision XPRIZE, with a prize pool exceeding $3.5 million, bringing total registrations across both competitions to over 31,000. Diamandis described this as the first XPRIZE that can be won without an engineering team: with reduced construction costs, literacy, connectivity, and cutting-edge models can start a business.

In market mechanisms, this is Google transforming Gemini from an interface into a customer acquisition funnel. Buyers are individuals and small teams of fewer than 25 who need to deliver cash flow using models within 90 days; sellers are Google and XPRIZE providing models, cloud, and a stage, as well as investors and judges treating the finals as content. Funding shifts from seed round narratives to "earn revenue first, then claim the prize." Beneficiaries are shortlisted projects that have verified payments and Google Cloud usage; under pressure are hackathon templates that only submit presentations and accelerators that take equity cuts. The $2 million buys a live screening standard: who can turn an agent into a cash register in a quarter.

Source: Public Information