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Startup Battlefield 200<\/strong>\u00a0at\u00a0TechCrunch Disrupt 2025<\/strong>\u00a0is\u00a0almost here, and the pressure has never been higher. With\u00a0$100,000<\/strong>\u00a0on the line, the\u00a0top 20 early-stage startups<\/strong>\u00a0know they must deliver their\u00a0very best\u00a0on the\u00a0Disrupt stage<\/strong>\u00a0from\u00a0October 27-29 at San Francisco\u2019s Moscone West<\/strong>. Meanwhile, our VC judges will bring sharp questions, deep experience, and a discerning eye to distinguish the promising from the truly exceptional.<\/p>\n Founders\u00a0can gain invaluable insights into what makes a winning pitch and a sustainable startup from these seasoned VCs.\u00a0Investors\u00a0can discover pitch-ready, impactful startups to add to their pipeline. Everyone else can\u00a0witness\u00a0the intense startup showdown, where the top 20 TechCrunch-vetted startups pitch for the equity-free prize and the coveted Disrupt Cup.<\/p>\n Register now<\/strong>\u00a0to watch and save up to $444 on your\u00a0pass, or\u00a0bring your team or friends and\u00a0save up to 30% with bundle passes<\/strong>.\u00a0Don\u2019t\u00a0miss this nail-biting \u201cWorld Series\u201d of pitch competitions live.<\/p>\n Today,\u00a0we\u2019re\u00a0excited to introduce the\u00a0fourth wave of judges<\/strong>\u00a0joining the competition. Only one more reveal\u00a0remains. Stay tuned\u00a0to the\u00a0Disrupt agenda<\/strong>\u00a0to see\u00a0who the last five judges will\u00a0be.<\/p>\n Allison Baum Gates\u00a0is a general partner at\u00a0SemperVirens, a venture fund investing in healthcare, fintech, and enterprise SaaS. To date, she has raised hundreds of millions of dollars from LPs in the US, Europe, and Asia, and has deployed capital into more than 70 companies, including nine unicorns, 24 exits, and holds 10 board positions.\u00a0<\/p>\n Gates has been featured in major publications such as the Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and TechCrunch, and has taught hundreds of business school students. She is a lecturer in management at Stanford GSB and the author of\u00a0Breaking into Venture<\/em>\u00a0(McGraw-Hill, 2023), a comprehensive guide for navigating the VC industry. Her second book,\u00a0Beyond the Pitch: The Psychology of Raising VC Funding<\/em>, will be released next year. She holds a B.A. in Economics with Honors from Harvard University and is proficient in three languages.<\/p>\n Katelin Holloway\u00a0is a founding partner at Alexis Ohanian\u2019s early-stage venture capital firm,\u00a0776. A seasoned investor with more than 20 years of operational experience at companies like Pixar and Reddit, Holloway backs transformative startups across diverse sectors. She invests in solutions that expand human potential and resilience, advancing health, exploring new frontiers, driving sustainability, fostering creativity, and enriching the human experience.\u00a0<\/p>\n Techcrunch event<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSan Francisco<\/span> At 776, Holloway combines her operational\u00a0expertise\u00a0with a deep commitment to supporting founders as they navigate early-stage challenges and scale their visions. She is dedicated to reshaping venture capital by empowering generational entrepreneurs to tackle humanity\u2019s biggest challenges while delivering exceptional returns.\u00a0<\/p>\n Image Credits:<\/strong>Kelly Sullivan \/ Getty Images<\/span><\/p>\n Miloni Madan\u00a0is passionate about partnering with businesses that innovate with purpose \u2014 companies that solve real problems rather than innovate for innovation\u2019s sake. As a general partner at\u00a0Institutional Venture Partners (IVP), she focuses on supporting founders who build products and solutions that people truly need, not just want. She seeks out companies that bridge gaps in fragmented ecosystems, automate outdated processes, and deliver data-driven platforms capable of transforming industries. Madan\u00a0is driven by the belief that these companies \u2014 and their impact \u2014 will endure long beyond any single investment, and\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0this pursuit of lasting change that fuels her commitment and intentionality in every partnership.<\/p>\n Sara\u00a0Ittelson\u00a0joined\u00a0Accel\u00a0in 2022 and focuses on early-stage consumer, enterprise, and AI companies.\u00a0Before\u00a0Accel, she was\u00a0head of\u00a0strategic\u00a0partnerships at Faire and previously worked in Global Business Development at Uber.\u00a0Ittelson\u00a0is from Chico, California, and graduated from Northwestern University and Stanford.\u00a0<\/p>\n Image Credits:<\/strong>Kimberly White \/ Getty Images<\/span><\/p>\n Rinki Sethi\u00a0is\u00a0chief\u00a0security\u00a0officer at\u00a0Upwind Security\u00a0and\u00a0founding\u00a0partner at\u00a0Lockstep. She previously served as\u00a0vice\u00a0president and\u00a0chief\u00a0information\u00a0security\u00a0officer at Twitter, BILL, and Rubrik and held senior security leadership roles\u00a0at\u00a0Palo Alto Networks, IBM,\u00a0eBay,\u00a0and Intuit. Sethi brings deep\u00a0expertise\u00a0to both the private sector and corporate boards, shaping security strategy at the highest levels.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t\u00a0miss the startup pitch competition of the year, live. With\u00a0electrifying\u00a0energy, high stakes, and sharp questions, Startup Battlefield 200 has long been the launchpad for early-stage startups. Brands like Discord, Trello, and Mint got their big break on the Disrupt stage.\u00a0Register here<\/strong>\u00a0to join before ticket\u00a0prices\u00a0increase.<\/p>\n Image Credits:<\/strong>Kimberly White \/ Getty Images<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Startup Battlefield 200\u00a0at\u00a0TechCrunch Disrupt 2025\u00a0is\u00a0almost here, and the pressure has never been higher. With\u00a0$100,000\u00a0on the line, the\u00a0top 20 early-stage startups\u00a0know they must deliver their\u00a0very best\u00a0on the\u00a0Disrupt stage\u00a0from\u00a0October 27-29 at San Francisco\u2019s Moscone West. Meanwhile, our VC judges will bring sharp questions, deep experience, and a discerning eye to distinguish the promising from the truly exceptional.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26735,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[7619,230,148,16025,2127,7629,10877],"class_list":{"0":"post-26734","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-technology","8":"tag-battlefield","9":"tag-disrupt","10":"tag-judges","11":"tag-nextwave","12":"tag-startup","13":"tag-techcrunch","14":"tag-unveiling"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26734","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=26734"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26734\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/26735"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26734"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26734"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26734"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Meet the next batch of\u00a0Battlefield\u00a0200 judges<\/h2>\n
Allison Baum Gates, General Partner,\u00a0SemperVirens\u00a0Venture Capital\u00a0<\/h3>\n
Katelin Holloway,\u00a0Founding Partner, 776\u00a0<\/h3>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t|<\/span>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOctober 27-29, 2025<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\nMiloni Madan Presler, Partner,\u00a0Institutional Venture Partners (IVP)\u00a0<\/h3>\n
Sara\u00a0Ittelson, Partner, Accel\u00a0<\/h3>\n
Rinki Sethi, Founding Partner, Lockstep\u00a0<\/h3>\n
Now\u2019s the time to save on your Disrupt pass\u00a0<\/h2>\n