Polyfork, an AI-powered business founded by Lucas Martinic of Germany, has won the Build with Gemini XPRIZE global competition, taking home the $500,000 grand prize after developing a scalable AI business within 90 days.
The winner was announced on September 25, 2026, during Moonshots LIVE in Los Angeles. The competition challenged builders worldwide to use artificial intelligence to develop revenue-generating businesses capable of addressing real-world problems.
Key Highlights
- Polyfork won the $500,000 grand prize in the Build with Gemini XPRIZE.
- The AI-powered business was founded by Lucas Martinic of Germany.
- Polyfork sells customisable 3D models that users can resize, recolour and remix.
- Its AI-agent factory produces more than 175 models weekly.
- The project generated $4,428 from 54 paying customers in its first month.
- Nigerian-linked project MYFIXAM finished third and received $100,000.
- TELUMA, another Nigerian project, received a $50,000 runner-up award.
- More than 26,000 builders registered for the global competition.
Polyfork Takes Top Prize
According to the competition organisers, Polyfork developed a business model in which 3D models are sold as programs rather than fixed digital assets.
The platform allows users to resize, recolour and remix the models before downloading them.
The project’s AI-agent factory produces more than 175 models a week, while its catalogue of 583 models generated $4,428 from 54 paying customers during its first month.
The competition awarded $2 million across its winning projects, with Polyfork receiving the largest individual prize of $500,000.
Nigerian Project Finishes Third
A project with a Nigerian connection, MYFIXAM, finished third in the global competition and received $100,000.
MYFIXAM was developed by Jane Chukwuyem Odum and Ayodele Dada, representing Nigeria and the United States.
The second-place prize of $200,000 went to Tician Cierre, developed by José Edgar Peña Ramírez of Mexico.
LaunchBridge, developed by Chase Rosen and Leonardo Fall of the United States, placed fourth and received $100,000, while DodoPrep, developed by Naveed Ahmed of India, took fifth place with $100,000.
Read also:
- Wibmo Wins Chartis RiskTech100 2027 Disruptor Award for Agentic AI, Low-Code Innovation
- Google Unveils AI Advertising Tools for Nigerian Businesses
- Nigeria’s Memecoin Goes Viral on X as Garri Culture Hits Robinhood Chain
- Grok Bot Launches Team Bots for Shared AI Teammates
TELUMA Among Runner-Up Winners
Another project with a Nigerian connection, TELUMA, was among 15 projects that received $50,000 runner-up awards.
TELUMA was developed by Ifeoma Ugwonna of Nigeria.
Five additional category prizes of $50,000 each were awarded to projects recognised across Education and Human Potential, Entrepreneurship and Job Creation, Small Business Services, Money and Financial Access, and Professional Services Access.
More Than 26,000 Builders Registered
The Build with Gemini XPRIZE gave participants 90 days to launch a revenue-generating business powered by AI.
More than 26,000 builders registered for the competition across five categories: Education and Human Potential, Entrepreneurship and Job Creation, Small Business Services, Money and Financial Access, and Professional Services Access.
Projects were assessed using three equally weighted criteria: business viability, AI-native operations and category impact.
The five finalists presented their projects before judges including Cathie Wood, founder and CEO of ARK Invest; Palmer Luckey, founder of Anduril Industries; Mark Pincus, founder of Zynga; and Logan Kilpatrick of Google DeepMind.
XPRIZE CEO Anousheh Ansari presented the awards at Moonshots LIVE in Los Angeles.
The Build with Gemini XPRIZE is presented by Gemini, with support from donors Dan Martell and Richard Merkin. The competition was presented by XPRIZE in partnership with Google as its presenting technology partner and Devpost as competition administrator. For more tech and AI updates, follow us on X.
