Intero Biosystems Wins Startup Battlefield at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026

Intero Biosystems won Startup Battlefield at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026, beating out 199 other Startup Battlefield companies to take home the $100,000 grand prize. The competition brought 20 startups to San Francisco for three days of live demos and pitches, with the top 20 selected from the Startup Battlefield 200.

The win gives Intero Biosystems the Startup Battlefield Cup and a high-profile moment in front of investors, founders, and tech leaders at Disrupt.

Intero Biosystems is a Denver-based startup founded by Charlie Childs and Madeline Eiken that spun out of the University of Michigan. The company is developing 1mm human intestinal organoids, lab-grown tissue that mimics the gut.

Its flagship product, GastroScreen, is sold to pharmaceutical, biotech, food, and chemical companies for testing drugs and other compounds before they are tested in people.

Startup Battlefield companies presented live demos in front of venture capitalists and tech leaders serving as judges. After deliberation, TechCrunch editors narrowed the group to five finalists: Apate, Flox Intelligence, Intero Biosystems, Industrial Next, and Satlyt.

The final five then demoed in front of a judging panel that included 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.

Apate, an Australian startup founded by Dali Kaafar, was named runner-up. The company deploys AI agents that pose as victims to answer scam calls, respond to suspicious messages and emails, follow phishing links, and join social media groups to bait fraudsters.

Customers also get access to an insights portal with intelligence and analytics on scams targeting their end users or employees, brands, products, and more.

Intero Biosystems now joins a Startup Battlefield alumni group that TechCrunch says includes winners and finalists such as Trello, Discord, Cloudflare, and Mint. More than 1,700 alumni have participated in the program, with Startup Battlefield Alumni collectively raising over $30 billion in funding and recording more than 200 successful exits.

For readers tracking early-stage startups, the key takeaway is clear: Startup Battlefield remains a major visibility moment for companies trying to prove their technology, market, and momentum on a global stage.