Startup Battlefield 200 is not won by a good pitch. It is won by a good company.
The venture capitalists sitting in the judges’ chairs matter because they do not care about polished slides or clever demos. They look for founders solving real problems with businesses that can last. Every question they ask is designed to find what rehearsed answers cannot hide: conviction, clarity, execution, and the potential to lead a new category.
For over 15 years, Startup Battlefield has helped launch companies that defined entire markets. Every year, a new group of founders gets the chance to join that legacy.
Today, we introduce the next wave of judges taking their seats at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026. The event runs October 13-15 at Moscone West in San Francisco. They will spend each day evaluating ambitious startups across industries, asking the tough questions founders hope for and sometimes fear. If you want to see how experienced investors really evaluate early-stage companies, there is no better place to watch than Startup Battlefield, live on the Disrupt Stage.
Tickets for Disrupt 2026 cost up to $200 less if you buy before rates increase on September 25 at 11:59 p.m. PT. Register here.
Meet the next five VCs judging Startup Battlefield 200
Now, without further ado, meet the next five judges joining this year’s Startup Battlefield, the ultimate startup pitch competition.
Aditi Maliwal, General Partner, Upfront Ventures
Aditi Maliwal is a general partner at Upfront Ventures, where she invests at the pre-seed and seed stages in fintech, enterprise SaaS, AI applications, and developer tools. Her portfolio includes Clair, Writer, Arcade, and General Translation. Maliwal previously held roles at Google and Deutsche Bank and led the Series A investment in Chime during her tenure at a prior firm. She is Upfront’s first San Francisco-based partner.
Michael Palank, General Partner, MaC Ventures
Michael Palank is a general partner at MaC Ventures, a majority Black-owned venture firm that backs seed-stage consumer and enterprise companies through a culturally driven investment thesis, with a focus on AI, fintech, healthcare, media, entertainment, and aerospace and defense. Before transitioning to venture, Palank worked in Hollywood talent representation at William Morris and Overbrook Entertainment, Will Smith’s production company.
Nell Daly, Co-founder and Managing Partner, Revenge Capital
Nell Daly is the co-founder and managing partner of Revenge Capital, an evergreen sector-agnostic fund focused on backing overlooked founders — including women, BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, disabled, and neurodiverse entrepreneurs — across the United States and United Kingdom. Before launching the fund, Daly worked as a psychotherapist, a background she draws on directly in her founder-first investment approach.
Grace Ge, Partner, Amplify Partners
Grace Ge is a partner at Amplify Partners, where she invests in AI, developer tooling, data infrastructure, and modern SaaS — with a particular focus on the layer between foundation models and enterprise applications. Her portfolio includes Pinecone, Eppo, Vivun, Orb, and Avoca. Amplify’s broader portfolio includes Datadog, Fastly, Temporal, dbt, and Modal. Ge was named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list for Venture Capital.
Crystal Huang, General Partner, Google Ventures
Crystal Huang is a general partner at GV, where she focuses on enterprise SaaS, AI infrastructure, and fintech — with a particular lens on product-led and developer-led go-to-market strategies. Her portfolio companies include Typeface, Pecan AI, Sardine, Cacheflow, PostHog, Roboflow, and Sift. Before joining GV, Huang was an investor at NEA and GGV Capital and worked in technology mergers and acquisitions at Blackstone.
Get to know all the VC judges on the Disrupt agenda.
Don’t miss Disrupt and Startup Battlefield 200
TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 is happening October 13-15 in San Francisco, bringing 10,000+ tech leaders, VCs, and founders together to meet the next generation of breakout startups, connect with the leaders who could change their startup’s trajectory, and get a front-row seat to where the industry is headed. Save up to $200 on your ticket before rates increase on September 25. Save even more when you register as a group.
