For 3 days this week in San Francisco, 20 keen startups participated within the Startup Battlefield at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026. The highest 20 have been chosen to symbolize one of the best of the Startup Battlefield 200, and so they competed for an opportunity to take house the Startup Battlefield Cup and $100,000. With that intense pitching now full, we now have a winner.
These startups have been handpicked to compete in Startup Battlefield, and all of them introduced a dwell demo in entrance of VCs and tech leaders who served as judges.
After hours of deliberation, TechCrunch editors pored over the judges’ notes and narrowed the checklist down to 5 finalists: Apate, Flox Intelligence, Intero Biosystems, Industrial Subsequent, and Satlyt.
The ultimate 5 made their solution to the finale to demo in entrance of our remaining panel of judges: Alexa von Tobel of Impressed Capital, Chi-Hua Chien of Goodwater Capital, Dayna Grayson of Assemble Capital, Karl Alomar of M13, and Stacy Brown-Philpot of Cherryrock Capital.
We’re now able to announce that the winner of TechCrunch Startup Battlefield 2026 is:
Winner: Intero Biosystems
Intero Biosystems is a Denver-based startup based by Charlie Childs and Madeline Eiken that spun out of the College of Michigan. It’s creating 1mm human intestinal “organoids,” lab-grown tissue that mimics the intestine, providing one other solution to research how medication and different compounds would possibly have an effect on the human physique earlier than they’re examined in folks. The startup sells its flagship product, GastroScreen, to pharmaceutical, biotech, meals, and chemical firms for testing medication and different compounds.
Learn extra about Intero Biosystems in our separate put up right here.
Runner-up: Apate
Apate is an Australian startup based by Dali Kaafar, who got here up with the concept whereas doing analysis at Macquarie College in Sydney, Australia. It deploys 1000’s of AI brokers that masquerade as harmless victims, answering rip-off calls, responding to shady messages and emails, following phishing hyperlinks, and becoming a member of social media teams to bait fraudsters. Along with entry to Apate’s fleet of brokers, clients get an insights portal that gives intelligence and analytics on scams concentrating on their finish customers or workers, manufacturers, merchandise, and extra.
Learn extra about Apate in our separate put up right here.
These two firms now be a part of the ranks of Startup Battlefield winners and finalists like Trello, Discord, Cloudflare, and Mint on the Disrupt Stage. With greater than 1,700 alumni having participated in this system, Startup Battlefield Alumni have collectively raised over $30 billion in funding with greater than 200 profitable exits.
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