Meet the Startup Battlefield 200 judges who’ll decide the winner at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026
TechCrunch named the five investors who will judge the final round of its Startup Battlefield pitch competition at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026. The competition runs October 13-15. Thousands of startups applied, 200 made Startup Battlefield, and 20 will pitch on the Disrupt Stage across the three days.
The judges, each of whom founded or co-founded the investment firm they now lead, are Stacy Brown-Philpot, founder and managing partner of Cherryrock Capital; Chi-Hua Chien, co-founder and managing partner of Goodwater Capital; Dayna Grayson, co-founder and general partner of Construct Capital; Carter Reum, co-founder and managing partner of M13; and Alexa Von Tobel, founder and managing partner of Inspired Capital.
Brown-Philpot's Cherryrock Capital focuses on Series A and Series B software companies built by Black and Latinx founders, with portfolio companies including Coactive AI and Vitable Health. She previously served as CEO of TaskRabbit and held senior roles at Google.
Chien's Goodwater Capital invests exclusively in consumer technology across the United States and Asia. His portfolio includes Spotify, Chime, Monzo, TikTok/Musical.ly, Coupang, Toss, and Udemy. He was previously a general partner at Kleiner Perkins and a principal at Accel.
Grayson's Construct Capital is a Washington, D.C.-based early-stage fund focused on technology for foundational American industries. Its portfolio includes Veho, Hadrian, Copia Automation, Arkestro, and Verve Motion. She was previously a partner at NEA.
Reum's M13 is a consumer technology venture firm with $1.9 billion under management, investing in seed to Series B companies. Across more than 200 investments, M13 has backed Lyft, Pinterest, Ring, Daily Harvest, and Tonal.
Von Tobel's Inspired Capital was co-founded with former U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker. Her portfolio includes MosaicML, acquired by Databricks, plus Chief, Finix, and Dandy. She previously founded LearnVest.
After the final pitch, all five judges will reunite on the Builders Stage for a live AMA.
Based on reporting from the original publisher. Visit the source for full context and later updates.
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Meet the final five Startup Battlefield judges who'll decide who wins the pitch competition at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026. Get your pass now to save up to $100, and get a second at 50% off.