Latest news with #TechCrunchDisrupt
Yahoo
19 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Meet the first batch of VCs set to judge Startup Battlefield 200 at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025
From Dropbox to Cloudflare, Startup Battlefield alumni have redefined industries. Who will win $100,000 and the spotlight this year? Startup Battlefield 200 is the crown jewel of TechCrunch Disrupt — and this year's competition promises to be unforgettable. From thousands of applicants, only the top 20 will take the Stage at Disrupt 2025 (October 27–29, San Francisco) to pitch their vision to panels of top-tier VCs in front of a live audience. Every contender is chasing game-changing impact — and we're here for the drama, the breakthroughs, and the big reveals. We're thrilled to announce our first wave of judges who will put these startups to the test with rigorous, no-holds-barred Q&A. Their candid feedback offers a rare window into how world-class investors size up a company — what excites them, what concerns them, and what makes them want to take the next meeting. Winning Startup Battlefield has launched companies like Dropbox, Mint, Vurb, and Cloudflare into the spotlight — and with a $100,000 equity-free prize on the line, the next big name could be born on the Disrupt Stage this October. Don't miss this high-stakes startup pitch-off on a global stage. Learn from emerging founders what it takes to deliver a winning pitch, and hear directly from the investors judging the contenders. Register now for Regular Bird savings. First look: Meet the VCs taking the judges' seats Here are the first five VCs ready to help crown the Startup Battlefield 2025 champion — with more top investors to come soon. Philip Clark, Investor, Thrive Capital Philip Clark is an investor at Thrive Capital, where he has partnered with leading software and hardware companies that are engineering breakthrough advancements in AI and robotics, including Anduril, Cursor, Neuralink, Physical Intelligence, and Wiz. He previously invested at Bridgewater. Philip graduated from Stanford with degrees in Computer Science and Management Science and Engineering. He continues to advise the Hoover Institution on various topics in emerging technologies. Madison Faulkner, Partner, NEA Madison Faulkner is a partner at NEA investing in early-stage data, infrastructure, developer tools, data science, and AI, and she also leads the data and AI platform internally for improved investment decision-making. Across her investing career, she has worked with startups including World Labs, Factory, Ceramic, Metabase, Datafold, Delphina, Mindtrip, Fixify, and others. Prior to investing, Madison was head of data science and machine learning at a growth startup, Thrasio, Head of data science at Greycroft, and led a data science team at Facebook focused on the ad auction and deep learning with FAIR. Madison received a BS in Engineering from Stanford and grew up in Colorado performing in rodeos. Leslie Feinzaig, Founder & General Partner, Graham & Walker VC Leslie Feinzaig is the founder and general partner at Graham & Walker, an early-stage venture fund backing extraordinary founders and ideas that break the mold, whose mission is to change the face of public markets by backing a new guard of founders and CEOs. Prior to launching the fund, Ms. Feinzaig was a 2x startup exec with 8- and 10-figure exits who started her career under the tutelage of HBS Professor Clayton Christensen, author of the seminal theory of disruptive innovation. Ilya Kirnos, Founding Partner & CTO, Signalfire Ilya Kirnos is the co-founder, managing partner, and CTO of ~$3 billion AUM early-stage venture firm SignalFire. He leads the development of SignalFire's in-house Beacon AI data platform, which he's been building for a decade with the firm's team of AI PhDs, engineers, and data scientists. Beacon tracks more than 660 million employees and 80 million companies to guide the fund's investing by surfacing high-quality founders and fast-growing companies, and assists its portfolio companies with recruiting and customer acquisition. As an investor, Ilya focuses on backing seed to Series B companies in enterprise infrastructure and developer tools. He supports highly technical startups in SignalFire's portfolio, including Horizon3 (autonomous pen-testing), OneSignal (notification infrastructure), and PlanetScale (scalable databases). Doug Pepper, Partner, ICONIQ Doug Pepper is a general partner at ICONIQ Growth. He joined ICONIQ Growth in 2019. Doug has helped lead ICONIQ Growth's investments in Airtable, Guild Education, Reify, and others. Prior to joining ICONIQ Growth, Doug was a managing director at Shasta Ventures, a premier early-stage venture capital firm. Previously, he was a general partner at InterWest Partners for 15 years, where he was the first investor in Marketo and served on its board of directors for 10 years. He began his career working at Goldman Sachs and Register now to join the pitch-off action in October TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 marks 20 years as the launchpad for tech innovation. The startup landscape has evolved, but Disrupt remains the place where industry leaders shape the future. From invaluable sessions and game-changing connections to Startup Battlefield, it all happens here this October. Lock in your ticket at low rates now. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
TechCrunch
19 hours ago
- Business
- TechCrunch
Meet the first batch of VCs set to judge Startup Battlefield 200 at Disrupt 2025
From Dropbox to Cloudflare, Startup Battlefield alumni have redefined industries. Who will win $100,000 and the spotlight this year? Startup Battlefield 200 is the crown jewel of TechCrunch Disrupt — and this year's competition promises to be unforgettable. From thousands of applicants, only the top 20 will take the Stage at Disrupt 2025 (October 27–29, San Francisco) to pitch their vision to panels of top-tier VCs in front of a live audience. Every contender is chasing game-changing impact — and we're here for the drama, the breakthroughs, and the big reveals. We're thrilled to announce our first wave of judges who will put these startups to the test with rigorous, no-holds-barred Q&A. Their candid feedback offers a rare window into how world-class investors size up a company — what excites them, what concerns them, and what makes them want to take the next meeting. Winning Startup Battlefield has launched companies like Dropbox, Mint, Vurb, and Cloudflare into the spotlight — and with a $100,000 equity-free prize on the line, the next big name could be born on the Disrupt Stage this October. Don't miss this high-stakes startup pitch-off on a global stage. Learn from emerging founders what it takes to deliver a winning pitch, and hear directly from the investors judging the contenders. Register now for Regular Bird savings. First look: Meet the VCs taking the judges' seats Here are the first five VCs ready to help crown the Startup Battlefield 2025 champion — with more top investors to come soon. Philip Clark, Investor, Thrive Capital Philip Clark is an investor at Thrive Capital, where he has partnered with leading software and hardware companies that are engineering breakthrough advancements in AI and robotics, including Anduril, Cursor, Neuralink, Physical Intelligence, and Wiz. He previously invested at Bridgewater. Philip graduated from Stanford with degrees in Computer Science and Management Science and Engineering. He continues to advise the Hoover Institution on various topics in emerging technologies. Techcrunch event Tech and VC heavyweights join the Disrupt 2025 agenda Netflix, ElevenLabs, Wayve, Sequoia Capital, Elad Gil — just a few of the heavy hitters joining the Disrupt 2025 agenda. They're here to deliver the insights that fuel startup growth and sharpen your edge. Don't miss the 20th anniversary of TechCrunch Disrupt, and a chance to learn from the top voices in tech — grab your ticket now and save up to $600+ before prices rise. Tech and VC heavyweights join the Disrupt 2025 agenda Netflix, ElevenLabs, Wayve, Sequoia Capital — just a few of the heavy hitters joining the Disrupt 2025 agenda. They're here to deliver the insights that fuel startup growth and sharpen your edge. Don't miss the 20th anniversary of TechCrunch Disrupt, and a chance to learn from the top voices in tech — grab your ticket now and save up to $675 before prices rise. San Francisco | REGISTER NOW Madison Faulkner, Partner, NEA Madison Faulkner is a partner at NEA investing in early-stage data, infrastructure, developer tools, data science, and AI, and she also leads the data and AI platform internally for improved investment decision-making. Across her investing career, she has worked with startups including World Labs, Factory, Ceramic, Metabase, Datafold, Delphina, Mindtrip, Fixify, and others. Prior to investing, Madison was head of data science and machine learning at a growth startup, Thrasio, Head of data science at Greycroft, and led a data science team at Facebook focused on the ad auction and deep learning with FAIR. Madison received a BS in Engineering from Stanford and grew up in Colorado performing in rodeos. Leslie Feinzaig, Founder & General Partner, Graham & Walker VC Leslie Feinzaig is the founder and general partner at Graham & Walker, an early-stage venture fund backing extraordinary founders and ideas that break the mold, whose mission is to change the face of public markets by backing a new guard of founders and CEOs. Prior to launching the fund, Ms. Feinzaig was a 2x startup exec with 8- and 10-figure exits who started her career under the tutelage of HBS Professor Clayton Christensen, author of the seminal theory of disruptive innovation. Ilya Kirnos, Founding Partner & CTO, Signalfire Ilya Kirnos is the co-founder, managing partner, and CTO of ~$3 billion AUM early-stage venture firm SignalFire. He leads the development of SignalFire's in-house Beacon AI data platform, which he's been building for a decade with the firm's team of AI PhDs, engineers, and data scientists. Beacon tracks more than 660 million employees and 80 million companies to guide the fund's investing by surfacing high-quality founders and fast-growing companies, and assists its portfolio companies with recruiting and customer acquisition. As an investor, Ilya focuses on backing seed to Series B companies in enterprise infrastructure and developer tools. He supports highly technical startups in SignalFire's portfolio, including Horizon3 (autonomous pen-testing), OneSignal (notification infrastructure), and PlanetScale (scalable databases). Doug Pepper, Partner, ICONIQ Doug Pepper is a general partner at ICONIQ Growth. He joined ICONIQ Growth in 2019. Doug has helped lead ICONIQ Growth's investments in Airtable, Guild Education, Reify, and others. Prior to joining ICONIQ Growth, Doug was a managing director at Shasta Ventures, a premier early-stage venture capital firm. Previously, he was a general partner at InterWest Partners for 15 years, where he was the first investor in Marketo and served on its board of directors for 10 years. He began his career working at Goldman Sachs and Register now to join the pitch-off action in October TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 marks 20 years as the launchpad for tech innovation. The startup landscape has evolved, but Disrupt remains the place where industry leaders shape the future. From invaluable sessions and game-changing connections to Startup Battlefield, it all happens here this October. Lock in your ticket at low rates now.
TechCrunch
2 days ago
- Business
- TechCrunch
The wait is almost over: The 2025 Startup Battlefield 200 list drops August 27
Set your alarms. Bookmark this page. Refresh like your future depends on it. After reviewing thousands of groundbreaking applications from around the globe, TechCrunch is just days away from announcing the 2025 Startup Battlefield 200 — our handpicked cohort of the most promising early-stage startups set to take the stage at TechCrunch Disrupt this October 27-29. The 2025 Startup Battlefield 200 list will go live, right here, on Wednesday, August 27, at 9:00 a.m. PT. Whether you applied, referred a standout founder, or just want to see who made the cut, this is the moment you've been waiting for. Your name. Your rival. Your next investment. They might all be on this list. This October marks 20 years that TechCrunch Disrupt has been shaping the startup world — and we're pulling out all the stops. For two decades, the biggest names in tech, venture capital, and startups have taken our stage to share their visions and make history. Game-changers like Dropbox, Cloudflare, Fitbit, and Discord got their start in Startup Battlefield — and this is where the next generation of breakout companies will be born. Want to see these rising stars pitch live? Hear from top-tier founders and investors? Network with the people shaping the future of tech? Grab your ticket to Disrupt 2025, happening October 27–29 in San Francisco. Last year's winner, Salva Health, topped a competitive field of startups with its development of a portable device to detect breast cancer early, especially in rural populations that lack access to mammograms and other diagnostic tools. You can relive their victory below, listen to our Equity podcast interview with CEO Valentina Agudelo, or get a detailed rundown of their journey here. Techcrunch event Tech and VC heavyweights join the Disrupt 2025 agenda Netflix, ElevenLabs, Wayve, Sequoia Capital, Elad Gil — just a few of the heavy hitters joining the Disrupt 2025 agenda. They're here to deliver the insights that fuel startup growth and sharpen your edge. Don't miss the 20th anniversary of TechCrunch Disrupt, and a chance to learn from the top voices in tech — grab your ticket now and save up to $600+ before prices rise. Tech and VC heavyweights join the Disrupt 2025 agenda Netflix, ElevenLabs, Wayve, Sequoia Capital — just a few of the heavy hitters joining the Disrupt 2025 agenda. They're here to deliver the insights that fuel startup growth and sharpen your edge. Don't miss the 20th anniversary of TechCrunch Disrupt, and a chance to learn from the top voices in tech — grab your ticket now and save up to $675 before prices rise. San Francisco | REGISTER NOW Salva was far from alone. Out of the cohort of 200 trailblazing startups, TechCrunch editorial selected the 2024 Top 20 finalists who wowed the crowd with their disruptive innovations, live demos, and perfected pitches. Runner-up geCKo Materials turned heads with its compelling story about how years of research led to a breakthrough innovation in adhesive materials that is disrupting the Velcro industry one impossibly sticky situation at a time. This year's Startup Battlefield 200 Top 20 finalists will be revealed on Day 1 of Disrupt 2025 (Monday, October 27). You don't want to miss the chance to see these founders battle it out live onstage for the $100,000 prize and Disrupt Cup. Your incumbent will be there. Your competitors have registered. Don't get left behind — get your tickets to Disrupt 2025. Mark your calendars and set your alarms — the 2025 Startup Battlefield 200 list drops right here on Wednesday, August 27 at 9:00 a.m. PT. Be the first to see which exceptional startups made the cut. Startup Battlefield is proudly presented by Google Cloud, our premier sponsor.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Inside the Box: Aaron Levie on reinvention at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025
There aren't many founders who can say they've steered the same company from scrappy startup to publicly traded platform while keeping their edge — but co-founder and CEO Aaron Levie isn't most founders. At TechCrunch Disrupt 2025, happening October 27–29 at Moscone West in San Francisco, Levie joins us live on the Disrupt Stage to share how he's kept Box innovating and relevant through two decades of tech cycles. He'll unpack what reinvention really looks like inside a public company, what AI is changing (and not changing) in enterprise software, and why staying sharp means questioning everything — even your own best ideas. The evolution of a cloud original Box launched before 'the cloud' was a buzzword and outlasted a wave of competitors that couldn't scale or adapt. Levie's perspective — as both a visionary founder and a long-term public company CEO — is a rare combination. He'll reflect on the hardest pivots, biggest surprises, and the mindset it takes to keep evolving when the tech landscape moves at warp speed. Why you don't want to miss it Aaron Levie helped define cloud collaboration before it was a trend, and he's still setting the bar. This fireside chat will go deep on what it takes to build something that lasts — not just in terms of product, but also culture, strategy, and mindset. Whether you're navigating early growth or managing scale, this is one session you'll want to take notes on. Join 10,000+ fellow founders, VCs, and innovators in San Francisco this October and be part of the conversation with the leaders shaping what's next.
TechCrunch
2 days ago
- Business
- TechCrunch
Inside the Box: Aaron Levie on reinvention at Disrupt 2025
There aren't many founders who can say they've steered the same company from scrappy startup to publicly traded platform while keeping their edge — but co-founder and CEO Aaron Levie isn't most founders. At TechCrunch Disrupt 2025, happening October 27–29 at Moscone West in San Francisco, Levie joins us live on the Disrupt Stage to share how he's kept Box innovating and relevant through two decades of tech cycles. He'll unpack what reinvention really looks like inside a public company, what AI is changing (and not changing) in enterprise software, and why staying sharp means questioning everything — even your own best ideas. The evolution of a cloud original Box launched before 'the cloud' was a buzzword and outlasted a wave of competitors that couldn't scale or adapt. Levie's perspective — as both a visionary founder and a long-term public company CEO — is a rare combination. He'll reflect on the hardest pivots, biggest surprises, and the mindset it takes to keep evolving when the tech landscape moves at warp speed. Why you don't want to miss it Aaron Levie helped define cloud collaboration before it was a trend, and he's still setting the bar. This fireside chat will go deep on what it takes to build something that lasts — not just in terms of product, but also culture, strategy, and mindset. Whether you're navigating early growth or managing scale, this is one session you'll want to take notes on. Join 10,000+ fellow founders, VCs, and innovators in San Francisco this October and be part of the conversation with the leaders shaping what's next.
