Intero Biosystems Wins Startup Battlefield at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026
Denver-based biotech startup Intero Biosystems won the Startup Battlefield pitch competition at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 in San Francisco. The prize is the Startup Battlefield Cup and $100,000.
Intero Biosystems, a startup based in Denver, has won Startup Battlefield, the pitch competition at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026, held this week in San Francisco. The company takes home the Startup Battlefield Cup and $100,000.
How the competition worked
Over three days, 20 startups competed. They had been selected from the wider Startup Battlefield 200 group, and each gave a live demo to venture capitalists and tech leaders acting as judges. TechCrunch editors then reviewed the judges' notes and narrowed the field to five finalists: Apate, Flox Intelligence, Intero Biosystems, Industrial Next and Satlyt.
The finalists pitched to a final panel made up of Alexa von Tobel of Inspired Capital, Chi-Hua Chien of Goodwater Capital, Dayna Grayson of Construct Capital, Karl Alomar of M13 and Stacy Brown-Philpot of Cherryrock Capital.
The winner
Intero Biosystems was founded by Charlie Childs and Madeline Eiken and spun out of the University of Michigan. It is developing 1mm human intestinal organoids, which are lab-grown tissues that mimic the gut. They offer another way to study how drugs and other compounds might affect the human body before being tested in people. The startup sells its flagship product, GastroScreen, to pharmaceutical, biotech, food and chemical companies.
Runner-up
The runner-up was Apate, an Australian startup founded by Dali Kaafar, who developed the idea while doing research at Macquarie University in Sydney. Apate deploys thousands of AI agents posing as innocent victims. They answer scam calls, reply to suspicious messages and emails, follow phishing links and join social media groups to lure fraudsters. Customers also receive an insights portal with analytics on scams targeting their users or employees, brands and products.
According to TechCrunch, more than 1,700 alumni have taken part in the program, collectively raising over $30 billion in funding, with more than 200 successful exits.
