Unveiling the next wave of Startup Battlefield 200 VC judges at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 

Startup Battlefield 200 at TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 is almost here, and the unit has ne'er been higher. With $100,000 on the line, the top 20 early-stage startups know they indispensable present their very best on the Disrupt stage from October 27-29 astatine San Francisco’s Moscone West. Meanwhile, our VC judges volition bring crisp questions, heavy experience, and a discerning oculus to separate the promising from the genuinely exceptional.

Founders can summation invaluable insights into what makes a winning transportation and a sustainable startup from these seasoned VCs. Investors can observe pitch-ready, impactful startups to adhd to their pipeline. Everyone other can witness the aggravated startup showdown, wherever the apical 20 TechCrunch-vetted startups transportation for the equity-free prize and the coveted Disrupt Cup.

Register now to ticker and prevention up to $444 connected your pass, or bring your squad oregon friends and save up to 30% with bundle passes. Don’t miss this nail-biting “World Series” of transportation competitions live.

Meet the adjacent batch of Battlefield 200 judges

Today, we’re excited to present the fourth question of judges joining the competition. Only 1 much reveal remains. Stay tuned to the Disrupt agenda to see who the past 5 judges will be.

Allison Baum Gates, General Partner, SemperVirens Venture Capital 

Allison Baum Gates is a wide spouse at SemperVirens, a task money investing successful healthcare, fintech, and endeavor SaaS. To date, she has raised hundreds of millions of dollars from LPs successful the US, Europe, and Asia, and has deployed superior into much than 70 companies, including 9 unicorns, 24 exits, and holds 10 committee positions. 

Gates has been featured successful large publications specified arsenic the Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, Forbes, and TechCrunch, and has taught hundreds of concern schoolhouse students. She is simply a lecturer successful absorption astatine Stanford GSB and the writer of Breaking into Venture (McGraw-Hill, 2023), a broad usher for navigating the VC industry. Her 2nd book, Beyond the Pitch: The Psychology of Raising VC Funding, volition beryllium released adjacent year. She holds a B.A. successful Economics with Honors from Harvard University and is proficient successful 3 languages.

Katelin Holloway, Founding Partner, 776 

Katelin Holloway is a founding spouse astatine Alexis Ohanian’s early-stage task superior firm, 776. A seasoned capitalist with much than 20 years of operational acquisition astatine companies similar Pixar and Reddit, Holloway backs transformative startups crossed divers sectors. She invests successful solutions that grow quality imaginable and resilience, advancing health, exploring caller frontiers, driving sustainability, fostering creativity, and enriching the quality experience. 

At 776, Holloway combines her operational expertise with a heavy committedness to supporting founders arsenic they navigate early-stage challenges and standard their visions. She is dedicated to reshaping task superior by empowering generational entrepreneurs to tackle humanity’s biggest challenges portion delivering exceptional returns. 

Image Credits:Kelly Sullivan / Getty Images

Miloni Madan Presler, Partner, Institutional Venture Partners (IVP) 

Miloni Madan is passionate astir partnering with businesses that innovate with intent — companies that lick existent problems alternatively than innovate for innovation’s sake. As a wide spouse at Institutional Venture Partners (IVP), she focuses connected supporting founders who physique products and solutions that radical genuinely need, not conscionable want. She seeks retired companies that span gaps successful fragmented ecosystems, automate outdated processes, and present data-driven platforms susceptible of transforming industries. Madan is driven by the content that these companies — and their interaction — volition endure agelong beyond immoderate azygous investment, and it’s this pursuit of lasting alteration that fuels her committedness and intentionality successful each partnership.

Sara Ittelson, Partner, Accel 

Sara Ittelson joined Accel in 2022 and focuses connected early-stage consumer, enterprise, and AI companies. Before Accel, she was head of strategic partnerships astatine Faire and antecedently worked successful Global Business Development astatine Uber. Ittelson is from Chico, California, and graduated from Northwestern University and Stanford. 

Image Credits:Kimberly White / Getty Images

Rinki Sethi, Founding Partner, Lockstep 

Rinki Sethi is chief security officer at Upwind Security and founding partner at Lockstep. She antecedently served as vice president and chief information security officer astatine Twitter, BILL, and Rubrik and held elder information enactment roles at Palo Alto Networks, IBM, eBay, and Intuit. Sethi brings deep expertise to some the backstage assemblage and firm boards, shaping information strategy astatine the highest levels.

Now’s the clip to prevention connected your Disrupt pass 

Don’t miss the startup transportation contention of the year, live. With electrifying energy, precocious stakes, and crisp questions, Startup Battlefield 200 has agelong been the launchpad for early-stage startups. Brands similar Discord, Trello, and Mint got their large interruption connected the Disrupt stage. Register here to articulation earlier ticket prices increase.

Image Credits:Kimberly White / Getty Images