TechCrunch Reveals Latest VC Judges for Startup Battlefield 200 at Disrupt 2026

TechCrunch has unveiled the latest group of venture capitalists selected to judge the Startup Battlefield 200 competition at Disrupt 2026. This year's event is scheduled to take place from October 13 to 15 at Moscone West in San Francisco. The judges will spend three days evaluating early-stage companies and posing challenging questions to the founders.

The newly announced judges include Aditi Maliwal, a general partner at Upfront Ventures, who invests in pre-seed and seed-stage fintech, enterprise SaaS, AI applications, and developer tools. Michael Palank, a general partner at MaC Ventures, focuses on seed-stage consumer and enterprise firms, particularly in AI, fintech, healthcare, media, entertainment, and aerospace and defence. Nell Daly, co-founder and managing partner of Revenge Capital, leads an evergreen fund supporting overlooked founders across the US and UK.

Grace Ge, a partner at Amplify Partners, specialises in AI, developer tooling, data infrastructure, and modern SaaS. Crystal Huang, a general partner at GV, concentrates on enterprise SaaS, AI infrastructure, and fintech, with an emphasis on product-led and developer-led go-to-market strategies.

The selection of these experienced venture capitalists is crucial for Startup Battlefield 200, as judges seek companies solving genuine problems with sustainable business models rather than just polished presentations. Their questions are designed to assess a company's conviction, clarity, execution, and its potential to become a market leader. For over 15 years, Startup Battlefield has been instrumental in launching companies that have gone on to define entire markets.