Intero Biosystems Wins Startup Battlefield at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026; Apate Named Runner-Up
Intero Biosystems won TechCrunch Startup Battlefield at Disrupt 2026, with Apate runner-up after 20 startups competed.
The 20 companies were chosen to represent the best of the Startup Battlefield 200, and each presented a live demo in front of the venture capitalists and technology leaders who judged the competition. After hours of deliberations, TechCrunch editors reviewed the judges' notes and narrowed the list to five finalists: Apate, Flox Intelligence, Intero Biosystems, Industrial Next and Satlyt.
The final five then demonstrated their companies before a final panel of judges: Alexa von Tobel of Inspired Capital, Chi-Hua Chien of Goodwater Capital, Dayna Grayson of Construct Capital, Karl Alomar of M13 and Stacy Brown-Philpot of Cherryrock Capital.
Intero Biosystems is a Denver-based startup founded by Charlie Childs and Madeline Eiken that spun out of the University of Michigan. It is developing 1mm human intestinal organoids, lab-grown tissue that mimics the gut. The technology offers another way to study how drugs and other compounds might affect the human body before they are tested in people. The startup sells its flagship product, GastroScreen, to pharmaceutical, biotech, food and chemical companies for testing drugs and other compounds.
Apate, the runner-up, is an Australian startup founded by Dali Kaafar, who came up with the idea while doing research at Macquarie University in Sydney. It deploys thousands of AI agents that masquerade as innocent victims, answering scam calls, responding to shady messages and emails, following phishing links, and joining social media groups to bait fraudsters. In addition to access to Apate's fleet of agents, customers get an insights portal that offers intelligence and analytics on scams targeting their end users or employees, brands, products and more.
The two companies now join the ranks of Startup Battlefield winners and finalists such as Trello, Discord, Cloudflare and Mint on the Disrupt Stage. More than 1,700 alumni have participated in the program, and Startup Battlefield alumni have collectively raised over $30 billion in funding with more than 200 successful exits, according to TechCrunch.