The Startup Battlefield 2025 judging panel is getting even stronger. Our first wave of VCs introduced severe firepower, and now we’re including extra high buyers who will grill founders, unpack the massive questions, and assist crown this 12 months’s $100,000 champion at TechCrunch Disrupt, October 27–29 in San Francisco’s Moscone West.
Just like the legendary buyers who’ve judged in years previous, this subsequent group brings the perception, expertise, and instincts that may change a founder’s trajectory in only one Q&A.
Right here’s the following set of buyers able to carry their sharpest inquiries to the Disrupt Stage. Safe your ticket now to save lots of $650+ and to witness the pitch-off dwell.
Meet the following wave of our SB200 Judges
Introducing the second batch of 5 VCs who will assist crown this 12 months’s Startup Battlefield champion, with extra buyers on the way in which. Test the Disrupt speaker web page to get to know our judges.
Crissy Behrens, Principal, Perception Companions
Crissy Behrens joined Perception Companions in 2021 to deal with investments in high-growth software program companies throughout SaaS, DevOps, and infrastructure. She beforehand hung out at Major Enterprise Companions as a seed investor and at B Capital Group as a development investor. Throughout her investing profession, Behrenshas partnered with corporations at each stage of development, from pre-seed to IPO.
Earlier than turning into an investor, Behrens labored in go-to-market roles at a number of B2B startups and developer platforms. These customer-facing roles gave her invaluable problem-solving expertise which have made her a real companion to the founders and entrepreneurs she invests in.
Charles Hudson, Managing Companion, Precursor Ventures
Charles Hudson is the managing companion and founding father of Precursor Ventures, an early stage enterprise capital agency centered on investing within the first institutional spherical of funding for essentially the most promising software program and {hardware} corporations. He invests in folks over product on the earliest stage of their entrepreneurial journey. Beneath his management, Precursor has raised 4 funds and has $250+ million below administration. He has invested in over 400+ corporations and has supported 450+ founders, together with the groups behind Bobbie Child, Carrot, Unbelievable Well being, Juniper Sq., Trendy Well being, Pair Eyewear, Rad AI, and The Athletic (bought to the NY Instances for $525 million in 2022).
Techcrunch occasion
San Francisco
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October 27-29, 2025
Nicolas Sauvage, President, TDK Ventures
Nicolas Sauvage is president of TDK Ventures, the company enterprise capital arm of TDK Company, the place he leads the agency’s $350M mandate to spend money on early-stage startups driving digital and vitality innovation. Since its founding in 2019, TDK Ventures has backed 45 startups below its management, together with three unicorns — Ascend Components, Groq, and Silicon Field.
Acknowledged globally, Sauvage has appeared on the GCV Powerlist for six consecutive years, most not too long ago rating #17 among the many high 150 heads of company enterprise. He’s additionally one in all solely two company VCs inducted into the celebrated Kauffman Fellows program.
Katie Stanton, Founder & Basic Companion, Moxxie Ventures
Katie Stanton is the founder and normal companion of Moxxie Ventures, an early-stage enterprise fund. Previous to Moxxie, Stanton served in quite a few government working roles at Twitter, Google, Yahoo, and Coloration. Along with working in Silicon Valley, Stanton served within the (Obama) White Home and State Division and commenced her profession as a banker at J.P. Morgan Chase. Stanton sits on the Board of Vivendi, a French multinational media firm headquartered in Paris, and beforehand served on the Board of Time Inc. She began her enterprise profession as a founding companion of #Angels and has invested in over 100 early-stage corporations together with Airtable, Calm, Cameo, Carta, Coinbase, Literati, Trendy Fertility, and Form Safety.
Santi Subotovsky, Basic Companion, Emergence
Santi Subotovsky is a normal companion at Emergence Capital, the place he has been a driving drive behind among the agency’s most profitable investments since becoming a member of in 2010, together with Refrain and Openpath. He led Emergence’s funding in Zoom (NASDAQ: ZM) when it was a little-known startup and stays on its board as the corporate stands as a $24 billion market cap large. He additionally serves on the boards of main corporations like Crunchbase, Logik.io, Zipline, Tundra, and Class, and works carefully with startup studio and accelerator Excessive Alpha, and Quasar Ventures, which helps Latin American entrepreneurs carry disruptive concepts to life.
Disrupt: The place tech innovation launches — and lasts
The final word world pitch-off awaits. This October 27-29, TechCrunch Disrupt 2025 brings collectively 10,000+ startups and VC leaders, turning San Francisco’s Moscone West into the tech epicenter. The startup area might have modified, however Disrupt stays the place founders launch tomorrow’s innovation. Be part of the classes, make the offers, and witness Startup Battlefield dwell. Safe your ticket now earlier than costs rise.
