Intero Biosystems has won the Startup Battlefield Cup and the $100,000 grand prize at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 in San Francisco, beating out 199 other companies from the Startup Battlefield 200. The Aurora, Colorado startup, which spun out of the University of Michigan and was founded by Charlie Childs and Madeline Eiken, took the top award on October 15.
Intero's product, GastroScreen, grows 1-millimeter human intestinal organoids — lab-grown tissue that mimics the gut — to help pharmaceutical, biotech, food, and chemical companies study how drugs and compounds affect the body before human trials.
Twenty selected startups pitched live to venture capital judges over three days of competition. TechCrunch editors narrowed the field to five finalists: Apate, Flox Intelligence, Intero Biosystems, Industrial Next, and Satlyt. Final judging came from representatives of Inspired Capital, Goodwater Capital, Construct Capital, M13, and Cherryrock Capital.
Runner-up Apate, an Australian startup, deploys thousands of AI agents to engage fraudsters across calls, emails, and social media.
The win extends a strong track record for the program: more than 1,700 Startup Battlefield alumni have collectively raised over $30 billion and completed more than 200 successful exits.