TechCrunch's Disrupt 2026 Startup Battlefield 200 concluded with Intero Biosystems winning the $100,000 equity-free prize and Disrupt Cup, with Apate as runner-up. The event narrowed thousands of applicants to 200 startups, then 20 finalists, before five companies pitched live for the top prize. TechCrunch also highlighted standout Showcase Stage pitches across categories including Built World, Sustainability, Enterprise, Health, and Consumer, plus a Best Booth award for Legali AI.
techcrunch.com
· 2026-10-22
Intero Biosystems, a Denver-based startup spun out of the University of Michigan, won the Startup Battlefield Cup and $100,000 at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026. The company, founded by Charlie Childs and Madeline Eiken, makes lab-grown human intestinal 'organoids' sold under the product name GastroScreen to test how drugs and other compounds affect the body. Apate, an Australian startup using AI agents to combat scammers, took runner-up honors among five finalists selected from 20 competitors.
techcrunch.com
· 2026-10-15
Bluesky announced at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 that its experimental Attie platform now lets users build websites, games, quizzes and polls using AI, not just custom social feeds as before. CEO Toni Schneider described it as 'vibe coding' for communities, with creations tied to users' AT Protocol identities and built using either a user's own AI model or open-weight options.
techcrunch.com
· 2026-10-15
TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 held its third and final day at Moscone West, drawing over 10,000 founders, investors and technology leaders. The day included AI, fundraising and growth-strategy sessions, a Startup Battlefield component, and an Expo Hall featuring more than 320 exhibiting startups.
techcrunch.com
· 2026-10-15
Flock founder and CEO Garrett Langley publicly defended his company's license-plate camera and surveillance systems at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026, arguing that halting the technology's expansion would hinder crime accountability. He addressed criticism that has led some cities to cancel contracts and the company to lay off staff, but largely responded with anecdotes from police chiefs rather than direct solutions to privacy concerns.
techcrunch.com
· 2026-10-15
TechCrunch has selected five startups to compete in the Startup Battlefield finals at Disrupt 2026, chosen from 20 companies that pitched across four categories: space and physical AI, energy and manufacturing, health tech and life sciences, and enterprise and security. The finalists include Apate.ai, which uses AI agents to bait scammers; Flox Intelligence, which builds a sensor-based wildlife deterrent system; and Intero Biosystems, which grows lab organoids that mimic human intestines for drug testing. The finals take place the following day, with a judging panel awarding the winner a $100,000 equity-free prize and the Startup Battlefield Cup.
techcrunch.com
· 2026-10-15
Gudea, founded in 2023 by Keith Presley, Jonathan Sperber, and James Thomin, presented its platform at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026's Startup Battlefield. The company uses AI to analyze behavior and information flow across more than 500 websites and platforms, including X, Reddit, and TikTok, to help organizations detect potentially damaging narratives before they escalate.
techcrunch.com
· 2026-10-15
Prismm, a startup founded in 2020 by sisters Martha Underwood and Shella Sylla, builds beneficiary and estate-planning features directly into bank accounts so assets can pass to heirs more smoothly after an account holder dies. The company let account holders designate family members who can access accounts, aiming to replace manual, paperwork-heavy processes banks currently use. Prismm is presenting its product today on the Startup Battlefield stage at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026.
techcrunch.com
· 2026-10-14
TechCrunch is offering half-price tickets for the remaining two days of its Disrupt 2026 conference at San Francisco's Moscone West, running October 14-15. Discounted passes range from $175 for Expo+ to $600 for Investor access, covering speakers like Mark Wahlberg, Replit CEO Amjad Masad, and Amazon's Panos Panay, plus AI-focused programming from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Hugging Face.
techcrunch.com
· 2026-10-14
B2B sales startup Floqer plans to open-source the technology behind its autonomous customer knowledge database, pending security reviews, with release targeted for early 2027. The company, pitching at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026, says it has surpassed $1.2 million in annual recurring revenue after roughly tenfold revenue growth over the past year. Founded by Shivam Mahajan and Zaaheda Islam, Floqer began as a Chrome extension called 'Super Chat' before pivoting to automate CRM data cleanup for enterprise clients.
techcrunch.com
· 2026-10-14
TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 continued its second day at San Francisco's Moscone West, featuring an Expo Hall with over 300 startups, live pitch sessions, and AI-based matchmaking for an audience exceeding 10,000 founders, investors and tech leaders. Speakers on day two included representatives from Nvidia, Waabi, Flock Safety, Ricursive Intelligence and Benchmark, covering topics such as robotics, AI hardware, public safety and venture funding.
techcrunch.com
· 2026-10-14
At TechCrunch Disrupt 2026, Cerebras Systems CEO Andrew Feldman said personal AI assistants that operate in the home are close to becoming reality, citing consumer AI agents like Meta's Muse and the $10 billion startup Instinct as evidence of growing adoption. He described a future where these assistants run partly on-device and partly in the cloud, learn user habits, and even handle purchases via linked credit cards within a defined security boundary. Feldman also said he personally uses several AI agents to manage his calendar and prepare for calls.
techcrunch.com
· 2026-10-13
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