Five VCs to Judge Startup Battlefield 200 at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026

TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 will take place from October 13-15 at San Francisco’s Moscone West, featuring five venture capitalists judging the Startup Battlefield 200. The winner of this competition will receive a $100,000 equity-free prize.

The judging panel includes:

• Caleb Appleton, Partner at Bison Ventures, who specializes in investments in physical AI.
• Sara Deshpande, General Partner at Maven Ventures, focusing on seed-stage consumer software.
• Aatish Nayak, Partner at Kleiner Perkins, who joined in May 2026 and emphasizes AI native founders.
• Jason Risch, Partner at Greylock, with a focus on enterprise security and AI infrastructure.
• Mark Xu, Partner at Index Ventures, concentrating on cybersecurity and AI.

TechCrunch expects over 10,000 attendees at the event, with discounts available: 50% off for a second pass and 30% off for groups of four or more. This follows previous coverage of key players in the AI sector, including DeepSeek and Qwen, highlighting the ongoing interest in AI startups at major industry events.