20 founders have just obtained the opportunity to compete for glory on the stage of Disrupt. They will head to TechCrunch Disrupt's Disrupt Stage to vie for a $100,000 prize and the highly coveted Disrupt Cup.

Every year, thousands of founders from all over the world show us what they envision the future to look like. This year’s Top 20 is turning that future into reality in various fields, from organs to space, and everything in between.

Among this group of finalists, one theme keeps emerging: making the invisible of the past measurable.

These founders are seeking ways to understand signals that we were previously unable to capture, to develop models capable of predicting overly complex systems, and to transform the physical world into data that machines can actually act on. They are measuring the biological clocks within the human body, cultivating miniature human organs in laboratories; they are training robots to perform increasingly complex physical tasks, and they are modeling the real world with such precision that they can predict what may happen next—even including the behavior of wild animals. They extract intelligence from scam calls and are looking for new ways to utilize the computational power that already surrounds us in orbit.

Of course, there's also that company that's trying to launch cargo into space using a huge hydrogen-powered cannon.

This group is not low-key at all.

There is no single technology or industry that connects these 20 companies. What truly binds them is an ambition to understand more aspects of the world around us – the biological, physical, industrial, and digital worlds – and to use this understanding to make better decisions, automate tasks that previously required human intervention, and solve problems that seemed too complex to overcome.

Now, they will have 6 minutes to prove this on the Disrupt stage.

The following is for 2026 Startup Battlefield Top 20.

Tuesday, October 13th

Startup Battlefield Semi-final Match 1 (10:00–11:15 am)

Space and Physics AI

• Longshot Space: By using hydrogen-powered kinetic launchers, it is possible to send cargo into orbit at a cost of $50 per kilogram, reshaping the economics of space transportation.
• Veritas: Protect luxury brands with custom microchips that can verify authenticity and support an interconnected experience after purchase.
• Laplace Intelligence: Building agent-based world models to help cities, ports, and airports simulate counterfactual futures of the real world before taking action.
• Flox Intelligence: Utilizing real-time AI to detect animal behavior and safely guide them away, preventing fatal collisions between wild animals and aircraft or trains at airports and on railways.
• Satlyt: Help satellite operators release and monetize idle computing power; with just one line of code, satellites can be turned into virtual AI data centers.

Semifinal Match 2 (1:00 PM – 2:15 PM)

Energy and Manufacturing

• LNK Energies: By leveraging breakthrough compact reactor technology, clean hydrogen energy is provided at a cost lower than that of diesel, while also being compatible with existing diesel infrastructure.
• Helix Carbon: Upgrading and reusing blast furnace waste gas through electrochemical methods to replace fossil fuels, and helping steel manufacturers reduce emissions and fuel costs on-site.
• IndustrialNext: Deploying robot systems driven by AI, which can learn from production data and adapt to new products, thereby automating high-precision, contact-intensive assembly tasks.
• Niobia AI: Helps process and materials engineers compress root cause analysis, which usually takes weeks, into just a few minutes, by relying on the reasoning of AI who possesses domain expertise.
• Licube: Producing ultra-high purity lithium and lithium isotopes ( Li-6 / Li-7 ), which are key inputs for nuclear fusion and advanced materials.

Wednesday, October 14th

Semifinal Match 3 (10:00–11:15 a.m.)

Health Technology and Life Sciences

• Mosqitter: Detect and prevent the spread of mosquito-borne diseases through a real-time disease intelligence platform, transforming sensor networks into an early warning system for national health agencies.
• Hiyd AI: By integrating sleep, exercise, and nutrition data, it provides proactive health insights through ultra-thin, concealed wearable trackers and the AI app.
• TimeTeller GmbH: Utilizing molecular diagnostics and AI to measure the human biological clock, in order to determine the optimal timing for treatment, thereby enhancing efficacy and reducing side effects.
• NTangible: By quantifying athletes' performance under pressure and providing verified cognitive scores, it helps coaches and management make more informed decisions when selecting talent.
• Intero Biosystems: By producing miniaturized human organs, we accelerate drug development, helping pharmaceutical companies identify safer and more effective drugs while reducing the costs of clinical trials.

Semifinal Match 4 (1:30 PM – 2:45 PM)

Enterprise and Security

• Apate.ai: Deploying conversational AI robots to deal with scammers, and transforming these interactions into real-time intelligence for banks, telecommunications companies, and governments, thereby dismantling fraud rings.
• CedarDB: Providing a data layer for the AI era – integrating real-time trading and analysis into a single engine, and setting up protections within the database system that AI intelligences cannot bypass.
• Prismm: By utilizing automated security inheritance processes and financial continuity infrastructure, we help banks retain deposits and customer relationships across generations.
• Floqer: By integrating customer data from over 80 sources and stringing together each interaction into a timeline that can be searched in milliseconds, B2B sales are simplified, allowing AI intelligents to take action.

Then only five are left.

After four semi-finals held over two days, five companies will advance to the Startup Battlefield finals to be held on Thursday, October 15th.

Before the finalists take to the stage at 11:30 a.m., we will also welcome Gl, Nephrogen, and Molecule.one back to the Disrupt stage to share the changes that have occurred since they participated in Startup Battlefield.

Subsequently, at 4:15 in the afternoon, one company will be crowned the 2026 Startup Battlefield champion, taking away $100,000 and Disrupt Cup.

If you've already started missing out on the atmosphere at the scene, it's not too late yet. Purchase Disrupt tickets at this final moment to enjoy a 50% discount and witness all of it happen in person.

Sponsored by: Startup Battlefield, Google, for, Startups, and SAP.