Announcing the Champion of Startup Battlefield at Disrupt 2026: Intero Biosystems!

During a three-day event in San Francisco this week, 20 innovative startups showcased their talents in the Startup Battlefield at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026. Selected from a pool of the best 200 startups, these contenders vied for the prestigious Startup Battlefield Cup along with a reward of $100,000. With the competitive presentations now concluded, we have a champion.

Each of these startups was meticulously selected to participate in Startup Battlefield, and all delivered live demonstrations in front of venture capitalists and industry experts who judged the competition.

Following extensive discussions, TechCrunch editors evaluated the judges’ comments and narrowed the list to five standout finalists: Apate, Flox Intelligence, Intero Biosystems, Industrial Next, and Satlyt.

These final five took the stage to present their demos before a distinguished panel of judges, which included Alexa von Tobel from Inspired Capital, Chi-Hua Chien from Goodwater Capital, Dayna Grayson from Construct Capital, Karl Alomar from M13, and Stacy Brown-Philpot from Cherryrock Capital.

We are excited to announce the winner of the TechCrunch Startup Battlefield 2026:

Champion: Intero Biosystems

Intero Biosystems, based in Denver and founded by Charlie Childs and Madeline Eiken, spun out from the University of Michigan. The startup focuses on developing 1mm human intestinal “organoids,” which are lab-grown tissues that replicate the human gut. This innovation allows researchers to explore how drugs and other substances may influence the human body prior to human trials. Intero sells its main product, GastroScreen, to pharmaceutical, biotech, food, and chemical industries for drug and compound testing.

Runner-Up: Apate

Apate is an Australian company created by Dali Kaafar, arising from research at Macquarie University in Sydney. The startup utilizes a network of AI agents that pose as unsuspecting victims, interacting with scam calls, replying to dubious messages and emails, clicking on phishing links, and engaging in social media groups to draw out fraudsters. Customers not only gain access to Apate’s network of agents but also receive an analytics portal that provides intelligence on scams affecting their users, employees, brands, and products.

These two organizations now join the ranks of notable Startup Battlefield winners and finalists such as Trello, Discord, Cloudflare, and Mint. With over 1,700 alumni in the program, Startup Battlefield participants have collectively raised more than $30 billion and achieved over 200 successful exits.