For founders, Startup Battlefield 200 is one of the biggest moments of their careers. For everyone else in the Tech Crunch Disrupt 2026 audience, it’s one of the best ways to learn how great companies are actually evaluated by VCs. This startup pitch competition is as intense as you’d expect. From October 13–15 at San Francisco’s Moscone West, every hand-picked founder has six minutes to make their case, but the most revealing moments often come after the presentation ends. That’s when the judges start asking the questions every investor, customer, and future employee will eventually want answered. Can this team execute? Is the market big enough? Why now? What’s defensible? Those conversations are as valuable for the thousands of founders watching from the audience as they are for the companies on stage.

Today we’re excited to introduce another group of five top-tier investors who’ll help identify the companies with the potential to become tomorrow’s breakout success stories. Join the Startup Battlefield contenders and VC judges on the main stage, alongside 10,000+ tech leaders attending Disrupt, and watch the next generation of startups compete for their place in Tech Crunch history. Register now to save up to $200 on your pass before prices increase on September 25 at 11:59 p.m. PT. The next five VCs deciding which Startup Battlefield contenders advance are Vaibhav ‘Dr.V’ Agrawal, Co-Founder and General Partner, ODDBIRD VC; Anu Bharadwaj, Partner, ICONIQ Growth; Sho Sho Leigha Ho, Partner, General Catalyst; Miloni Madan Presler, Partner, IVP; and Aidan Madigan-Curtis, Partner, Eclipse Ventures.