In the Startup Battlefield competition at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026, 200 startups were selected from thousands of applications; only 20 of them will compete on the Disrupt Stage. The competition will be held from October 13-15, and five judges will determine the winner. On the same day, the judges will take part in a live Q&A session on investment, founder selection, building a company, and raising capital at the Builders Stage.
- Stacy Brown-Philpot: Founder and managing partner of Cherryrock Capital, which focuses on software companies founded by Black and Latinx entrepreneurs at the Series A and Series B stages. Its portfolio includes Coactive AI and Vitable Health. She previously served as CEO of TaskRabbit and held senior roles at Google for more than a decade.
- Chi-Hua Chien: Co-founder and managing partner of Goodwater Capital. The firm invests in consumer technology in the U.S. and Asia and has backed more than 17 unicorn companies throughout his career. Its portfolio includes Spotify, Chime, Monzo, TikTok/Musical.ly, Coupang, Toss and Udemy.
- Dayna Grayson: Co-founder and general partner of Construct Capital, based in Washington, D.C. The firm focuses on manufacturing, logistics, transportation, supply chains and defense technology. Its portfolio includes Veho, Hadrian, Copia Automation, Arkestro and Verve Motion.
- Carter Reum: Co-founder and managing partner of M13, which manages 1.9 billion dollars in assets. The firm has made more than 200 investments from the seed stage through Series B, and its portfolio includes 15 unicorns, as well as Lyft, Pinterest, Ring, Daily Harvest and Tonal. Reum previously founded VEEV Spirit; the company was acquired in 2016.
- Alexa Von Tobel: Co-founded Inspired Capital with Penny Pritzker. Its portfolio includes MosaicML, Chief, Finix and Dandy; she has backed nine unicorns during her investment career. She previously founded LearnVest, which was acquired by Northwestern Mutual.
The event is expected to bring together 10,000+ founders, investors and technology enthusiasts, along with 250+ technology leaders. The program will feature 200+ sessions, six industry stages, roundtable meetings and working sessions. The event will be held in San Francisco, with a 50% discount on a second ticket and the opportunity to save up to 100 dollars.
Background
Disrupt is no stranger to the FikirPilot archive: we have published 20 stories mentioning the name in the past 90 days, the latest dated October 3, 2026.