I’m excited to announce the Startup Battlefield 20 companies pitching at TechCrunch Disrupt 2023. After last year’s big hit, TechCrunch editorial selected 200 startups out of thousands of applicants to be included in this year’s Startup Battlefield 200. Highest number of applications across the largest spread of countries and industries. This top of 200 20 companies Interruption will play on stage. Watch these companies compete for the Disrupt Cup and the $100,000 equity-free grand prize.
San Francisco is interrupted Tuesday through Thursday, September 19-21. Agenda is filled with tech giants, journalists, innovators, founders and more. This year, Disrupt is supercharged with not two, but seven industry stages — Disrupt, Builders, AI, Fintech, Hardware, Sustainability, and Security. With each stage focused on highlighting the top news from each industry, the Builders Stage focuses on how-tos for founders looking to build and scale startups.
For the Startup Battlefield 200, TechCrunch hosts this curated group of founders at TechCrunch Disrupt, providing exclusive programming and training before and during the event. Top companies will follow in the footsteps of startup battlefield legends on the disruption stage. With more than 1,300+ alumni in the program, Startup Battlefield alumni have raised over $29 billion with nearly 200 successful exits (IPOs or acquisitions).
Startup Battlefield 20 companies solving critical technological and global problems. From agri-labor management tools to fintech platforms, sewage health trackers and phage-based custom therapeutics, this group of startups is poised to impress. The founders address critical issues in the fields of disease treatment, blood testing, compostable batteries and ethical social media platforms for youth. Furthermore, a TechCrunch event wouldn’t be complete without the developer tools, security infrastructure, and hardware to complete the batch.
Starting today, the top 20 companies will pitch for six minutes on the Disrupt Stage, followed by a six-minute Q&A with our panel of expert judges. These top-tier VCs include people Mamoon Hameed (Kleiner Perkins), Dana settled (Greycroft), Sam is fair (Founder’s Fund), Guru Chahal (speed of light), Poe Bronson (SOSV), and Tess Hatch (Bessemer) just to name a few.
TechCrunch Disruption Startup Battlefield 20 Schedule
Tuesday, September 19, Interruption Stage
- Semi-Finals (Season 1): From 9:35 am to 10:45 am
- Semi-Finals (Season 2): 1:15 pm to 2:30 pm
Wednesday, September 20, Interruption Stage
- Semi-Finals (Season 3): 10:05 AM to 11:15 AM
- Semi-Finals (Season 4): 1:15 pm to 2:30 pm
Thursday, September 21, Interruption Stage
- Alumni News Announcement: 11:10 AM to 11:20 AM
- Final Round: 11:20 PM to 12:50 PM
- Winner declared: 3:25 p.m
If you can’t join us in person, tune into the livestream on TechCrunch.com.
Companies Pitching in Startup Battlefield 20
Tuesday, September 19, Interruption Stage
Semi-Finals (Season 1): From 9:35 am to 10:45 am
- In diagnostics: Developed the first disposable spectrophotometer. Initially targeting the veterinary and animal testing industry, the first product is the Quic ALT+AST, a 20 microliter liver enzyme test.
- Narwhal: Novel first-in-class therapeutics use artificial intelligence to design synthetic antibody mimetic proteins to replace conventional antibodies.
- encounter: Developing an eco-friendly, safe and cost-effective alternative to lithium batteries using battery technology made from natural and non-toxic materials.
- BioticsAI: Ultrasound uses AI to detect fetal abnormalities in ultrasound to solve misdiagnosis of fetal abnormalities due to operator error.
- Electrified Thermal Solutions: Decarbonizes heavy industry with new electric heating and storage technology – “e-brick”.
Semi-Finals (Season 2): 1:15 pm to 2:30 pm
- Below: Accelerates the creation of new crop varieties using machine learning, accelerating the transition to a sustainable, climate-resilient food system.
- Beyond Arrow: Produces the first certified and profitable commercial aircraft designed for hydrogen-electric propulsion.
- Knowledge: Generates personalized pathways for any learning objective, with integrated learning content and learning from a network of experts.
- Phalanx: A lightweight data loss prevention (DLP) and document mapping solution that automatically secures and tracks sensitive documents in existing workspaces.
- Magnestar: prone to interfere, sFaster services depend on spectrum. This software platform for satellite operators, regulators and the military will map and monitor all communications between Earth and space to predict interference and ensure clear lines of communication in contested and congested environments.
Wednesday, September 20, Interruption Stage
Semi-Finals (Season 3): 10:05 AM to 11:15 AM
- Untap Health: Pre-symptomatic disease detection in communities by remote analysis of collective wastewater.
- Collaborative System: An Industry 4.0 infrastructure company uses new hardware and software to bring heavy industry and manufacturing to the connected world in emerging markets. Predictive maintenance, asset management and maintenance to increase productivity metrics and allow local manufacturers to capture the greatest value near-shore by increasing efficiency.
- Main stack: A no-code tool and API that enables entrepreneurs and creators to easily present and sell their work with global payment options.
- Parallel Health: A precision health company using microbiome science, genomic sequencing and big data to pave the way for personalized care and medicine.
- Portable Diagnostic System: New microfluidic hardware infrastructure enables accurate and portable multidrug testing devices for forensic testing and law enforcement.
Semi-Finals (Season 4): 1:15 pm to 2:30 pm
- Recon Tools: Upgrades construction job sites with a suite of interconnected software and hardware tools designed to work seamlessly to streamline operations and increase efficiency.
- App Factor: An intelligent, AI-enabled modernization platform to enable architects and engineers to more quickly and easily refactor and re-architect applications to solve infrastructure problems and application delivery.
- Agri-Track: A software platform that manages farm labor and tracks productivity and harvest data, providing farmers with the data they need to comply with ever-changing federal programs.
- MakersHub: A data-rich accounts payable operation for companies that take care of scaling accounts payable; referencing all incoming bill information, down to line items; eliminating manual data entry; and weekly time savings.
- Between: A responsible, empowering social media for kids to connect and create, as well as for brands and influencers to reach their family audience.
Thursday, September 21, Interruption Stage
Alumni News Announcement: 11:10 AM to 11:20 AM
- Foresight.AI: A generative AI for customer support tool and winner of Startup Battlefield 2018 at TechCrunch Disrupt. Presenting for Forethought is CEO and Co-Founder, Deon Nicholas.
- Siren Care: Early detection of potential lesions and a hardware Battlefield 2016 winner at CES reduces the risk of foot ulcers for patients with diabetes.
Final Round: 11:20 PM to 12:50 PM
Winner declared: 3:25 p.m