Virtusa’s Jatayu Season 5 Engages 14,500 Students in AI Innovation

Bengaluru, August 21, 2026: Virtusa Corporation has concluded the fifth edition of its Jatayu national virtual ideathon, bringing together more than 14,500 engineering students from 357 colleges to work on real-world enterprise challenges using Agentic AI.

The 2026 edition saw 2,926 teams comprising 14,576 students compete across 14 problem statements developed by seven of Virtusa’s Strategic Business Units. The programme was conducted through three evaluation rounds, with participants receiving guidance from Virtusa mentors as they developed solutions using Agentic AI.

The competition culminated in a Grand Finale featuring 27 finalist teams representing 116 students. Alverse was named the winner, while Housestark and JustAgentic secured the first and second runner-up positions, respectively. The winning team received full-time employment opportunities at Virtusa along with cash prizes.

Venkatesan Vijayaraghavan, Chief Operating Officer of Virtusa, said, “Jatayu has always been about giving students an opportunity to apply what they learn in the classroom to real business challenges. Each year, we see participants bring fresh ideas, curiosity and technical skills to solve problems that are relevant to today's enterprises. This season's focus on Agentic AI encouraged students to explore how autonomous AI systems can improve business processes and decision-making. The quality of solutions presented this year reflects the growing maturity of AI talent emerging from India’s engineering ecosystem, and we are pleased to play a role in supporting that journey.”

Over its five editions, Jatayu has focused on connecting engineering students with industry technologies and business problem-solving. The programme provides participants with practical exposure to emerging technologies, mentorship and opportunities to develop solutions for enterprise use cases.