What Major League Hacking (MLH) does

Major League Hacking (MLH) is a New York-based, Delaware-incorporated public benefit corporation founded in 2013 that operates the world's largest developer community platform, reaching over 5 million developers across approximately 100 countries. Its core offering portfolio includes MLH Hackathons (1,000-1,500 events annually across 4,000+ educational institutions), the MLH Fellowship (a 12-week remote internship alternative with stipend compensation across Software Engineering, Production Engineering/SRE, and Web3 Engineering tracks), and Global Hack Week (a monthly virtual event series). In February 2026, MLH acquired DEV (dev.to), a developer content platform with 3 million registered users, integrating content/knowledge-sharing into the experiential programming.

The underlying technology stack centers on community and event management infrastructure: the MyMLH OAuth API provides a centralized registration system reused across hackathons, a season-ranking point system drives competitive engagement across member events, and a Discord community plus event scheduling/registration tools support both in-person and remote participation. The DEV acquisition added a large-scale content platform with Algolia-powered search and Neon database infrastructure. MLH does not build proprietary AI models; AI capabilities are delivered through partnerships with Google Cloud's Gemini (October 2025) and Backboard.io (April 2026), plus GitHub Copilot challenges distributed through Global Hack Week.

MLH's business model is enterprise B2B corporate sponsorship. Revenue is generated by charging technology companies (Google Cloud, Meta, GitHub, Microsoft, Twilio, Amazon Web Services, Royal Bank of Canada, Snowflake, ElevenLabs, MongoDB, Auth0, Solana Labs, G-Research, and others) to reach, engage, and recruit developers through hackathon sponsorships, fellowship program sponsorships, and broader developer marketing campaigns. Pricing is quote-based, typically structured as annual or multi-year contracts (Twilio's documented 3-year deal reached 200,000+ developers). The consumer-facing side — hackathon attendance, Global Hack Week, and the Fellowship — is free or stipend-supported for developers, removing adoption friction and maximizing the audience that sponsors pay to access. The go-to-market is hybrid: community-led for developers (Discord, TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, DEV), and direct enterprise sales for sponsors, supported by institutional partnerships with 4,000+ universities.

Name

Major League Hacking (MLH)

Legal name

Major League Hacking PBC, Inc.

Website

https://mlh.io

Company type

Private

Founded year

2013

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

MLH is a developer community platform operating 1,000+ annual hackathons, a 12-week paid Fellowship, and the DEV content community, reaching 5M+ developers across 100 countries. Revenue comes from corporate sponsorships by Google Cloud, Meta, GitHub, Microsoft, Twilio, and others seeking developer marketing and recruiting access.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Developer Community & Education Platform

NAICS

Software Publishers (5132)

SIC

Services-Computer Programming, Data Processing, Etc. (7370)

akta.pro primary industry

Open-Source & Developer Communities (BPAMABAM)

akta.pro secondary industries

AI & Machine Learning (Foundations & Applied) (EDAMACAG), ML Lifecycle Collaboration & Workspace Management (HDAAABAK)

Keywords

• Hackathon community platform
• Developer education programs
• Open source fellowship
• Corporate sponsorship marketing
• Community event management

Headquarters

HQ city

New York

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Corporate Sponsorship & Developer Marketing: Tech companies (Google Cloud, Meta, GitHub, Microsoft, Twilio, etc.) sponsor MLH events and programs to reach, engage, and recruit developers. Sponsorship tiers include hackathon league sponsorships, fellowship sponsorships, and event-specific activations with digital presence, swag distribution, and prize categories.
2. Fellowship Program Sponsorship: Corporate partners sponsor fellows who work on open source projects. Partners include GitHub, Meta, Amazon Web Services, Royal Bank of Canada, Google, Solana Labs, and others. Fellows receive stipends while contributing to partner projects.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels9 records

Core offering

MLH operates the world's largest developer community platform, running 1,000+ hackathons annually across 100 countries and a 12-week remote MLH Fellowship where participants earn stipends working on partner open source projects. The company monetizes these programs primarily through corporate sponsorships from tech companies (Google Cloud, Meta, GitHub, Microsoft, Twilio) seeking access to early-career developers, and in February 2026 acquired DEV (dev.to) to add a content/community platform reaching over 5 million developers.

Product overview

MLH is the world's largest developer community platform offering a portfolio of programs for software developers at every stage of their career. The core offerings include hackathons (1,000+ annual events across 100 countries), the MLH Fellowship (12-week remote internship alternative with Software Engineering, Production Engineering, and Web3 Engineering tracks), and Global Hack Week (monthly virtual learning events). In February 2026, MLH acquired DEV Community (dev.to) to add a content and knowledge-sharing platform to its ecosystem, creating a unified infrastructure supporting developers' learning and career development from building at hackathons to sharing knowledge on DEV.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• MLH Fellowship: A fully remote, 12-week internship alternative where participants earn a stipend and learn to collaborate on real open source projects with peers and engineers from top companies. Includes Software Engineering, Production Engineering, and Web3 Engineering tracks.
• Global Hack Week
• Hackathon League

Products and services

• MLH Hackathons Weekend-long invention competitions organized at universities and online, where developers build creative projects. MLH supports 300+ official member hackathons annually plus thousands of broader events, reaching 65,000+ students globally. Free for participants.
• MLH Fellowship A fully remote, 12-week internship alternative where participants earn a stipend and collaborate on real open source projects with engineers from sponsor companies (GitHub, Meta, AWS, Google, RBC, Solana Labs). Offers Software Engineering, Production Engineering (SRE), and Web3 Engineering tracks.
• Global Hack Week Monthly virtual event series where developers learn new skills, build portfolios, attend live sessions, and connect with the MLH community. Themed weeks include Season Launch, Agents, Data Week, GenAI, and Hacking for Good. Free to attend.
• DEV Community Platform Digital community platform with 3 million registered software developers where users share articles, tutorials, and discussions. Acquired by MLH in February 2026 and integrated with MLH's experiential programs.
• Corporate Partnership Programs Sponsorship packages for companies to reach developers through hackathons, fellowships, and events. Partners gain access to developer marketing, product adoption programs, and community engagement. Pricing is quote-based.

Quantifiable outcome

• 200K+ developers reached for Twilio through 3-year partnership with 585 project submissions using Twilio products
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration1 record

AI capability3 records

Feature3 records

Partnerships

21 partnerships are on record, tiered core and flagship.

• DEV (dev.to)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 17 February 2026MLH acquired DEV (dev.to), a digital community platform with 3 million registered software developers, to create a unified home for developers throughout their career journey. The acquisition combines MLH's experiential programs (hackathons, fellowships) with DEV's community and content platform, reaching over 5 million developers globally. The strategic move aims to enhance AI and infrastructure industry engagement and expand developer education and community support.
• Google CloudflagshipGTM or Marketing PartnerGoogle Cloud is a flagship sponsor of MLH hackathons and programs. Google Cloud provides credits, prizes, and technical workshops at MLH events. MLH also partnered with Google Cloud's Gemini to foster AI-native engineering education (October 2025 announcement).
• GitHubflagshipGTM or Marketing PartnerGitHub sponsors MLH hackathons and provides prizes including GitHub swag and swag bags for participants. GitHub Student Developer Pack integration is offered at MLH events.
• MetaflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerMeta (Facebook) Open Source is a key fellowship partner, sponsoring MLH Fellows to contribute to Meta open source projects. The partnership is described as one of the most exciting and impactful partnerships Facebook Open Source is currently investing in.
• TwilioflagshipGTM or Marketing PartnerThree-year partnership (2021-2023) where Twilio sponsored MLH hackathons to drive product adoption and brand awareness. Twilio products were featured at 170 events with 585 project submissions and 2,000+ developers using Twilio products. Twilio reached more than 200K developers globally.
• SnowflakecoreGTM or Marketing PartnerSnowflake supports the MLH community as one of the technology companies that sponsor hackathons and engage with developers through MLH programs.
• ElevenLabscoreGTM or Marketing PartnerElevenLabs supports the MLH community by sponsoring hackathons and engaging with developers at MLH events.
• Amazon Web ServicesflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerAWS collaborates with MLH Fellowship as a partner company providing real-world projects for fellows to work on in the software engineering track.
• Royal Bank of CanadaflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerRBC partners with MLH Fellowship providing open source projects for fellows to contribute to, supporting the bank's technology initiatives.
• GoogleflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerGoogle collaborates with MLH Fellowship program providing mentorship and project opportunities for fellows in the developer community.
• Solana LabscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSolana Labs partners with MLH Fellowship providing Web3 engineering projects for fellows interested in blockchain technology.
• G-ResearchcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerG-Research partners with MLH Fellowship providing quantitative research technology projects for fellows to contribute to open source.
• Microsoft AzurecoreGTM or Marketing PartnerMicrosoft Azure sponsors MLH hackathons and provides Azure credits and prizes for hackathon participants.
• MongoDBcoreGTM or Marketing PartnerMongoDB sponsors MLH hackathons as part of their developer engagement and education initiatives, offering prizes and resources for participants.
• StackOverflowcoreGTM or Marketing PartnerStackOverflow partners with MLH through their Students program, engaging with student developers at hackathons.
• Auth0coreGTM or Marketing PartnerAuth0 sponsors MLH hackathons providing authentication and security prizes for developers building projects.
• Google Cloud Gemini AIflagshipStrategic or Co-development PartnerMLH partnered with Google Cloud's Gemini to foster AI-native engineering education. The partnership announced October 22, 2025 aims to integrate Gemini AI capabilities into MLH's learning programs for developers.
• Backboard.iocoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMLH partnered with Backboard.io in April 2026 to bring AI memory and persistent state capabilities to global student developers through hackathon programs.
• NeoncoreTechnology or IntegrationNeon is the official database partner of DEV Community, providing database infrastructure for the developer content platform.
• AlgoliacoreTechnology or IntegrationAlgolia is the official search partner of DEV Community, powering search functionality for the developer content platform.
• MidnightcoreGTM or Marketing PartnerMidnight partnered with MLH for the Midnight Hackathon (May 2026), a 48-hour virtual hackathon on the Midnight blockchain platform. Midnight provides prizes including Build Club invitations, hardware, and swag for winning teams.

Scale indicators14 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• Stack Overflow: Stack Overflow is the dominant Q&A developer community platform with comparable audience of professional software developers. Overlaps with MLH's DEV (dev.to) acquisition and serves a similar developer content/community function.
• GitHub: GitHub is both an MLH partner and a broad incumbent in developer platforms, offering Student Developer Pack, Codespaces, and Copilot that compete for the same developer mindshare and corporate sponsorship dollars.

Direct peers

• HackerRank: HackerRank provides developer skills assessments and hosts coding competitions for enterprise hiring and education. Comparable to MLH in serving the same student/early-career developer segment with corporate-sponsor-driven programs.
• CodePath: CodePath is a nonprofit focused on technical education at community colleges and universities, offering coding courses and career training. Comparable to MLH in targeting the same student developer population with career-readiness programming.
• HackerEarth: HackerEarth runs enterprise hackathons and developer assessment programs for tech companies, including coding challenges and recruitment-focused events. Comparable to MLH in its dual focus on corporate-sponsored hackathons and developer talent identification.
• Hashnode: Hashnode is a developer content/community platform comparable to MLH's DEV (dev.to) subsidiary, serving software developers with technical blogging and community features. Directly competitive for developer content engagement.
• Devpost: Devpost is the largest direct competitor in the online hackathon platform space, hosting corporate-sponsored hackathons for companies and serving developers with a project showcase platform. Highly comparable to MLH's core hackathon hosting and sponsor facilitation business.

Emerging players

• LeetCode: LeetCode is a coding practice and interview preparation platform serving the same student-to-professional developer pipeline as MLH, with significant corporate recruiting integrations and a developer community of similar demographics.
• Replit: Replit is a browser-based development platform popular with student and early-career developers, often featured at hackathons and competing for the same developer attention as MLH programs. Comparable audience overlap with community-driven learning.

Others

• MLH TechTogether: TechTogether is a wholly-owned MLH subsidiary focused on hackathons for underrepresented genders in tech, demonstrating MLH's own internal portfolio expansion. Useful as a sub-brand comparable within MLH's own operations.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/mlhacks
• GitHubgithub.com/mlh
• YouTubeyoutube.com/majorleaguehacking
• Facebookfacebook.com/MajorLeagueHacking
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/major-league-hacking
• Instagraminstagram.com/mlhacks
• TikToktiktok.com/@majorleaguehacking

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Subsidiaries1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds3 records

Investors6 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A2 records

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Major League Hacking (MLH)