From Dropbox to Cloudflare, Startup Battlefield alumni have redefined industries. Who will win $100,000 and the highlight this yr?
Startup Battlefield 200 is the crown jewel of TechCrunch Disrupt — and this yr’s pageant guarantees to be unforgettable. From hundreds of candidates, simplest the highest 20 will take the Level at Disrupt 2025 (October 27–29, San Francisco) to pitch their imaginative and prescient to panels of top-tier VCs in entrance of a reside target market. Each and every contender is chasing game-changing affect — and we’re right here for the drama, the breakthroughs, and the massive finds.
We’re extremely joyful to announce our first wave of judges who will put those startups to the take a look at with rigorous, no-holds-barred Q&A. Their candid comments gives a unprecedented window into how world-class traders measurement up an organization — what excites them, what considerations them, and what makes them wish to take the following assembly.
Successful Startup Battlefield has introduced corporations like Dropbox, Mint, Vurb, and Cloudflare into the highlight — and with a $100,000 equity-free prize at the line, the following large title may well be born at the Disrupt Level this October.
Don’t leave out this high-stakes startup pitch-off on a world level. Be told from rising founders what it takes to ship a successful pitch, and listen to immediately from the traders judging the contenders. Check in now for Common Fowl financial savings.
First glance: Meet the VCs taking the judges’ seats
Listed below are the primary 5 VCs able to assist crown the Startup Battlefield 2025 champion — with extra height traders to return quickly.
Philip Clark, Investor, Thrive Capital
Philip Clark is an investor at Thrive Capital, the place he has partnered with main instrument and {hardware} corporations which might be engineering leap forward developments in AI and robotics, together with Anduril, Cursor, Neuralink, Bodily Intelligence, and Wiz. He prior to now invested at Bridgewater. Philip graduated from Stanford with levels in Pc Science and Control Science and Engineering. He continues to advise the Hoover Establishment on more than a few subjects in rising applied sciences.
Techcrunch tournament
San Francisco
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October 27-29, 2025
Madison Faulkner, Spouse, NEA
Madison Faulkner is a spouse at NEA making an investment in early-stage knowledge, infrastructure, developer gear, knowledge science, and AI, and she or he additionally leads the knowledge and AI platform internally for stepped forward funding decision-making. Throughout her making an investment profession, she has labored with startups together with Global Labs, Manufacturing facility, Ceramic, Metabase, Datafold, Delphina, Mindtrip, Fixify, and others. Previous to making an investment, Madison was once head of information science and system studying at a enlargement startup, Thrasio, Head of information science at Greycroft, and led a knowledge science staff at Fb centered at the advert public sale and deep studying with FAIR. Madison gained a BS in Engineering from Stanford and grew up in Colorado appearing in rodeos.
Leslie Feinzaig, Founder & Basic Spouse, Graham & Walker VC
Leslie Feinzaig is the founder and basic spouse at Graham & Walker, an early-stage project fund backing bizarre founders and concepts that destroy the mildew, whose venture is to modify the face of public markets by means of backing a brand new guard of founders and CEOs. Previous to launching the fund, Ms. Feinzaig was once a 2x startup exec with 8- and 10-figure exits who began her profession below the tutelage of HBS Professor Clayton Christensen, writer of the seminal principle of disruptive innovation.
Ilya Kirnos, Founding Spouse & CTO, Signalfire
Ilya Kirnos is the co-founder, managing spouse, and CTO of ~$3 billion AUM early-stage project company SignalFire. He leads the advance of SignalFire’s in-house Beacon AI knowledge platform, which he’s been construction for a decade with the company’s staff of AI PhDs, engineers, and knowledge scientists. Beacon tracks greater than 660 million workers and 80 million corporations to lead the fund’s making an investment by means of surfacing top quality founders and fast-growing corporations, and assists its portfolio corporations with recruiting and buyer acquisition. As an investor, Ilya makes a speciality of backing seed to Collection B corporations in endeavor infrastructure and developer gear. He helps extremely technical startups in SignalFire’s portfolio, together with Horizon3 (self reliant pen-testing), OneSignal (notification infrastructure), and PlanetScale (scalable databases).
Doug Pepper, Spouse, ICONIQ
Doug Pepper is a basic spouse at ICONIQ Enlargement. He joined ICONIQ Enlargement in 2019. Doug has helped lead ICONIQ Enlargement’s investments in Airtable, Guild Training, Reify, and others. Previous to becoming a member of ICONIQ Enlargement, Doug was once a managing director at Shasta Ventures, a premier early-stage project capital company. Up to now, he was once a basic spouse at InterWest Companions for 15 years, the place he was once the primary investor in Marketo and served on its board of administrators for 10 years. He started his profession operating at Goldman Sachs and Amazon.com.
Check in now to enroll in the pitch-off motion in October
TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 marks twenty years because the launchpad for tech innovation. The startup panorama has advanced, however Disrupt stays where the place business leaders form the longer term. From worthwhile classes and game-changing connections to Startup Battlefield, all of it occurs right here this October. Lock on your price tag at low charges now.
