And the winner of Startup Battlefield at Disrupt 2025 is: Glīd

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4:15 PM PDT · October 29, 2025

For 3 days this week, 20 startups participated successful the Startup Battlefield astatine TechCrunch Disrupt. Each was selected to correspond the champion of the Startup Battlefield 200 and competed for a accidental to instrumentality location the Startup Battlefield Cup and $100,000. After each that aggravated pitching, we person a winner.

These startups were hand-picked to vie successful Startup Battlefield, and each of them presented a unrecorded demo successful beforehand of the VCs and tech leaders who judged the competition.

After hours of deliberations, TechCrunch editors pored implicit the judges’ notes and narrowed the database down to 5 finalists: Charter Space, Glīd, MacroCycle, Nephrogen, and Unlisted Homes.

The last 5 made their mode to the finale to demo successful beforehand of our last sheet of judges, which included Aileen Lee, laminitis and managing spouse of Cowboy Ventures, and Digg laminitis Kevin Rose.

We’re present acceptable to denote that the victor of TechCrunch Startup Battlefield 2024 is:

Winner: Glīd

Glīd (pronounced “Glide”) aims to streamline the complex, multistep process progressive in moving a instrumentality from a vessel to a freight train. The institution has developed respective hardware and bundle products to velocity up and trim the outgo of getting shipping containers to the railhead and yet their destination. Its archetypal merchandise is GliderM, a hybrid-electric conveyance with a hook connected the backmost that tin prime up and determination 20-foot containers straight to the obstruction without the request for forklifts of hostler trucks.

Read much astir Glīd in our abstracted post.

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Runner-up: Nephrogen

Nephrogen is a biotech startup that uses AI and precocious screening to make a specialized transportation strategy for safely getting gene-editing medicines into the nonstop cells successful the kidney. Founder Demetri Maxim says that aft 3 years of development, Nephrogen has succeeded successful creating a transportation mechanics that is 100 times much businesslike astatine transporting medicine to the kidney than the “vehicles” presently approved by the FDA. And helium plans to enactment successful the objective survey himself, fixed the challenges helium faces surviving with polycystic kidney disease.

Read much astir Nephrogen successful our abstracted post.

These 2 companies travel successful the footsteps of Startup Battlefield legends similar Dropbox, Discord, Cloudflare, and Mint connected the Disrupt stage. With much than 1,500 alumni having participated successful the program, Startup Battlefield Alumni person collectively raised implicit $29 cardinal successful backing with much than 200 palmy exits.

Sean O’Kane is simply a newsman who has spent a decennary covering the rapidly-evolving concern and exertion of the proscription industry, including Tesla and the galore startups chasing Elon Musk. Most recently, helium was a newsman astatine Bloomberg News wherever helium helped interruption stories astir immoderate of the astir notorious EV SPAC flops. He antecedently worked astatine The Verge, wherever helium besides covered user technology, hosted galore short- and long-form videos, performed merchandise and editorial photography, and erstwhile astir passed retired successful a Red Bull Air Race plane.

You tin interaction oregon verify outreach from Sean by emailing sean.okane@techcrunch.com oregon via encrypted connection astatine okane.01 connected Signal.

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