Tag Archives: TechCrunch Disrupt 2025

Antonio Forenza was working as head of research and development at Rakuten Symphony, a telecom subsidiary of the Japanese conglomerate, when he realized that he needed to find a better way to manage his stress levels. A few years earlier, he had lost 40 pounds with the help of an Apple Watch, which counted steps and tracked his calorie burn, …

For years, when it was time for startups to start selling their product, they could turn to any number of traditional playbooks. But as with so many things, AI is changing how companies prepare to go to market. “You can do more with less than ever before,” Max Altschuler, general partner at GTMfund, told the audience at TechCrunch Disrupt last …

Isabelle leads Startup Battlefield, TechCrunch’s iconic launchpad and competition for the world’s most promising early-stage startups. You can contact or verify outreach from Isabelle by emailing isabelle.johannessen@techcrunch.com. She scouts top founders across 99+ countries and prepares them to pitch on the Disrupt stage in front of tier-one investors and global media. Before TechCrunch, she designed and led international startup acceleration …

Build Mode is back with a holiday bonus episode. This week, Startup Battlefield editor Isabelle Johannessen is joined by the winner of this year’s competition, Kevin Damoa, the CEO and founder of Glīd, a logistics infrastructure company that aims to streamline the complex container shipment process. Damoa first discovered the challenges of shipping larger cargo as a new enlistee in …

The U.S. immigration system is complex, hard to navigate, and expensive for immigrants. The startup JustiGuide claims it can help with that thanks to an AI-powered portal. The idea is to help immigrants in the U.S. — and eventually in other countries — understand the law and what visas they may be eligible for, and to connect with immigration attorneys, …

January Ventures co-founder Jennifer Neundorfer stopped by the Equity podcast during TechCrunch Disrupt to chat about fundraising in this very AI-driven market.   Founders and investors alike are obsessed with AI, and even Neundorfer said her firm is looking at ways to use AI to make their work more efficient, such as helping to do due diligence on the market and …

For all their pitches promising something new, AI startups share many of the same questions as startups in years past: How do they know when they’ve achieved the holy grail of product-market fit? Product-market fit has been studied extensively over the years; entire books have been written about how to master the art. But as with so many things, AI …

Raising a $250 million Series D round may seem like a distant and unnecessary distraction to startup founders pitching investors for that first $1 million in seed money. But it shouldn’t be, according to several founders and venture capitalists. In their view, founders should be charting out a strategy for those later stage fundraises from the beginning. Aven co-founder and …

Startups have never been able to offer the same sizable salaries as big tech companies. Now with companies like Meta and OpenAI willing to pay million-dollar salaries amid the AI race — the compensation divide has grown even larger. Early-stage startups are not doomed though. If they develop a compensation strategy that is generous, fair, and flexible, they can offer …

This year, TechCrunch Disrupt showcased the incredible talent and groundbreaking ideas of our 2025 Startup Battlefield 200 cohort. Out of thousands of applications, we selected 200 of the most promising startups, each bringing unique innovations to their respective industries. The competition culminated in an electrifying event where these startups had the opportunity to pitch and demonstrate their solutions live over …