Meet the next wave of VCs judging Startup Battlefield 200 at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026

For founders, Startup Battlefield 200 is 1 of the biggest moments of their careers. For everyone other successful the TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 audience, it’s 1 of the champion ways to larn however large companies are really evaluated by VCs.

This startup transportation contention is arsenic aggravated arsenic you’d expect. From October 13–15 astatine San Francisco’s Moscone West, each hand-picked laminitis has six minutes to marque their case, but the astir revealing moments often travel aft the presumption ends. That’s erstwhile the judges commencement asking the questions each investor, customer, and aboriginal worker volition yet privation answered. Can this squad execute? Is the marketplace large enough? Why now? What’s defensible? Those conversations are arsenic invaluable for the thousands of founders watching from the assemblage arsenic they are for the companies connected stage.

Image Credits:Kimberly White / Getty Images

That’s wherefore we’re continuing to physique 1 of the strongest judging panels successful Startup Battlefield’s history. Today we’re excited to present different radical of 5 top-tier investors who’ll assistance place the companies with the imaginable to go tomorrow’s breakout occurrence stories.

Join the Startup Battlefield contenders and VC judges connected the main stage, alongside 10,000+ tech leaders attending Disrupt, and ticker the adjacent procreation of startups vie for their spot successful TechCrunch history. Register present to prevention up to $200 connected your walk earlier prices summation connected September 25 astatine 11:59 p.m. PT.

The adjacent 5 VCs deciding which Startup Battlefield contenders advance

Without further ado, conscionable the adjacent batch of investors who volition justice which early-stage laminitis walks distant with the $100,000 prize. Get to cognize these judges, on with the archetypal 10 already announced connected the Disrupt agenda.

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Vaibhav ‘Dr.V’ Agrawal, Co-Founder and General Partner, ODDBIRD VC

Dr.V is the co-founder and wide spouse of ODDBIRD VC, a pre-seed money helium founded successful 2024 to backmost AI companies reindustrializing the West — with a absorption connected wellness and bio, captious proviso chains, and real-world automation. A trained doc with an MBBS degree, Agrawal besides holds an MBA from Stanford and antecedently served arsenic a General Partner astatine Lightspeed Venture Partners India, wherever helium backed early-stage startups opening successful 2016. His existent portfolio includes Anterior, a healthcare AI institution that has raised $64 cardinal from NEA and Sequoia.

Anu Bharadwaj, Partner, ICONIQ Growth

Anu Bharadwaj is simply a spouse astatine ICONIQ Growth, wherever she focuses connected endeavor bundle and AI companies. Before joining ICONIQ, Bharadwaj served arsenic President and COO of Atlassian for astir 12 years, wherever she led the product, engineering, and endeavor concern crossed Jira, Confluence, and the Atlassian Cloud level arsenic the institution scaled to billions successful yearly revenue. She antecedently held enactment roles astatine Microsoft and holds a B.Eng. successful Computer Science from R.V. College of Engineering.

Sho Sho Leigha Ho, Partner, General Catalyst

Sho Sho Leigha Ho is simply a spouse connected General Catalyst‘s effect team, wherever she invests successful early-stage founders. She serves arsenic a committee perceiver astatine Together AI. She joined General Catalyst successful 2024 arsenic its youngest partner. Her nationalist investments see Graylark, Autoscience, Standard Kernel, and The Interaction Company of California (Poke), which Cognition acquired successful July 2026. She holds an A.B. from Harvard and is based successful San Francisco.

Miloni Madan Presler, Partner, IVP

Miloni Madan Presler is simply a spouse astatine IVP (Institutional Venture Partners), wherever she partners with first-time founders gathering inflection-stage exertion companies successful endeavor software, healthcare, and security, from Series B done pre-IPO. She brings a disciplined maturation equity and backstage equity position to institution building, shaped by earlier roles astatine Summit Partners and Warburg Pincus. Presler holds a grade successful Economics and Finance from Johns Hopkins University and speaks 4 languages.

Aidan Madigan-Curtis, Partner, Eclipse Ventures

Aidan Madigan-Curtis is simply a spouse astatine Eclipse Ventures, wherever she invests successful AI, IoT, machine vision, and bundle solutions for manufacturing, logistics, proviso chain, and clime transition. Named 1 of Business Insider’s 22 Investors to Know successful Robotics and Physical AI, she leads Eclipse’s Carbon Optimization model to way existent emissions reductions crossed the firm’s portfolio. Before venture, Madigan-Curtis was a elder enforcement astatine Apple — scaling Apple Watch manufacturing from zero to millions of units per week — and past VP and General Manager astatine Samsara, wherever she helped turn the institution from pre-revenue to implicit $1 cardinal successful ARR. She holds a BA from Harvard University and an MBA from Stanford University.

Grab your Disrupt summons savings and don’t miss Startup Battlefield 200

TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 is happening October 13-15 successful San Francisco, bringing 10,000+ tech leaders, VCs, and founders unneurotic to conscionable the adjacent procreation of breakout startups, link with the leaders who could alteration their startup’s trajectory, and get a front-row spot to wherever the manufacture is headed. Save up to $200 connected your ticket earlier rates summation connected September 25 astatine 11:59 p.m. PT. Save an further 30% erstwhile you register arsenic a group.

Image Credits:Kimberly White / Getty Images