Overview TechCrunch Disrupt is TechCrunch's startup conference at Moscone West in San Francisco, and its center is Startup Battlefield, the pitch competition TechCrunch credits with finding Dropbox, Trello, Cloudflare and Discord before most people knew their names. Two hundred early-stage companies make the Startup Battlefield 200 and exhibit on the show floor; 20 finalists pitch live to venture judges for a $100,000 equity-free prize. The rest of the three days is sessions, an Expo Hall and investor meetings. TechCrunch was founded in 2005 by Michael Arrington and Keith Teare and started Disrupt in New York in 2010. On site The published 2026 agenda put more than 200 sessions on six stages: the Disrupt Stage for the big-picture conversations on AI, venture and global tech, the Builders Stage for tactical founder advice on fundraising, hiring and scaling, and four subject stages covering AI, fintech (Smart Money), infrastructure and robotics (Smart Systems) and industrial AI (Real World AI). The Expo Hall on Level 2 holds partner booths and the Battlefield 200 tables side by side, and a Pitch Showcase stage runs one-minute lightning pitches. The Deal Flow Cafe is programmed by StrictlyVC. Audience Passes are sold by role - founder, investor and general attendee - and the investor pass is the one that opens the Deal Flow Cafe. Attendees book one-on-one meetings in the TechCrunch Events app and take them in the Networking Lounge, and TechCrunch counts more than 20,000 connections made at Disrupt. Talent and Influencers Names released for the 2026 program included Mark Wahlberg, Rivian founder RJ Scaringe, Replit co-founder Amjad Masad, Cerebras co-founder Andrew Feldman, Bluesky's Toni Schneider, Amazon's Panos Panay and Inspired Capital's Alexa von Tobel. Tristan Thompson and San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie were on the 2025 stages, and earlier editions hosted Mary Barra, Vinod Khosla, Shaquille O'Neal, Ashton Kutcher, Matt Mullenweg and Colin Kaepernick. Track record The container-logistics startup Glid won Startup Battlefield in 2025, beating the other 199 companies in its cohort after 20 finalists pitched over three days. By 2026 TechCrunch counted more than 1,700 Battlefield alumni, $32 billion raised between them and more than 250 exits. Mint and Yammer are among the earlier Battlefield companies. Brand presence Stages and rooms carry presenting partners: in 2026 Google Cloud presented the AI Stage and Wells Fargo the Networking Lounge. Beyond Expo Hall space and branding across Moscone West, partners can take a breakout or partner session, a content track, hosted roundtables, placement around Startup Battlefield and the Disrupt Broadcast, or put their name on one of the conference's own moments - the kick-off party, the Women of Disrupt Breakfast, the Investor Reception, the coffee and espresso bar or the charging lounge - and promote a side event of their own.