Cerberus, WeGlobal AI and LOOQ Win Central Eurasia Road to Battlefield 2026

Cerberus, WeGlobal AI and LOOQ took the top three spots at the Central Eurasia regional final of Road to TechCrunch Startup Battlefield 2026. They will represent the region in Startup Battlefield 200 at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 in San Francisco on October 13-15. The event is expected to put them in front of 10,000+ tech leaders attending Disrupt.

The 2026 program drew 726 applications across 39 countries, up from 485 startups from 27 countries in its 2025 debut. National rounds narrowed the pool to 22 finalists, who pitched live before 47 jurors from eight countries, with AI-Dana also serving as an independent AI juror for the second year. TechCrunch reported that 84% of this year’s applicants were building AI products, including all three winners.

First-place winner Cerberus, from Uzbekistan, is an AI-powered cybersecurity startup that automatically hunts for vulnerabilities in corporate IT systems. Second-place winner WeGlobal AI, from Kazakhstan, is building AI tools for schools to track student mental health and support career guidance. Third-place winner LOOQ, from Japan, is developing camera-based hardware and an “attention API” to measure how many people see billboards and other out-of-home ads.

The three winners will share a $100,000 investment pool funded by Astana Hub Ventures, IT Park Ventures and Silkroad Innovation Hub, with Cerberus receiving $50,000, WeGlobal AI $30,000 and LOOQ $20,000. OpenAI awarded $280,000 in API credits across the 22 finalists, including $100,000 total for the three winners and $10,000 for each of the other 19 finalists. For the winners, the regional final closes Road to TechCrunch Startup Battlefield 2026 and opens the next stage at Startup Battlefield 200 in San Francisco.