After two days full of live demos and pitches, it’s time to announce the five finalists in this year’s Startup Battlefield.
These finalists were selected from an initial pool of thousands of applicants, with TechCrunch’s editorial team narrowing the field down to the 200 companies that all joined us here at Disrupt, with the Top 20 competing on the Disrupt Stage.
With feedback from our expert judges, we have now selected our finalists, who will take to the stage once again at 11:30am. PT on Wednesday to compete for our grand prize of $100,000 in equity-free funding, as well as temporary custody of the Startup Battlefield Cup. You can watch the finals live on the TechCrunch website — or, if you’re attending the conference, on the Disrupt Stage.
Without further ado, here are the TechCrunch Startup Battlefield finalists for 2025:
Area Map
Charter Space has built a development tool for aerospace engineers, but its real mission is to act as a fintech company for space. The software captures manufacturing and testing data directly from the source, and this data set then feeds an underwriting interface that connects directly to the largest insurance carriers in the market. The goal is faster, cheaper and more reliable risk assessment for spacecraft insurance, and ultimately to fuel new forms of credit and non-dilutive financing for space companies looking outside of venture capital and the public markets.
Glīd
Glīd (pronounced “Glide”) aims to streamline the complex, multi-step process involved in moving a container from a ship to a freight train. The company has developed several hardware and software products to speed up and reduce the cost of transporting containers on the rail axis and ultimately to their destination. Its first product is the GliderM, a hybrid-electric vehicle with a rear hook that can pick up and move 20-foot containers directly on the rail without the need for forklift trucks.
Macrocycle
MacroCycle has developed a shortcut that promises to make recycled plastic as cheap as virgin material. The startup has devised a way to extract desirable synthetic fibers from textile waste, leaving everything else behind. Unlike most chemical recycling, MacroCycle’s process is different because it doesn’t break down the polymers. Instead, it brings the polymer chains back on themselves, forcing them to form rings called macrocycles, which are left behind after the contaminants are removed.
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Nephrogen
Nephrogen is a biotech startup using artificial intelligence and advanced control to develop a specialized delivery system to safely deliver gene-edited drugs to precise kidney cells. Founder Demetri Maxim says that after three years of development, Nephrogen has succeeded in creating a delivery mechanism that is 100 times more effective at transporting drug to the kidney than the “vehicles” currently approved by the FDA. And he plans to participate in the clinical trial himself, given the challenges he faces living with polycystic kidney disease.
Unregistered residences
Unlisted Homes is like Zillow but for homes that aren’t on the market yet. Using public records of 21 million homes, Unlisted has created “profiles” for each property, providing the same information you’d find on any other real estate listing site. The company does not plan to facilitate real estate transactions through the platform, as the resources for such transactions already exist. Instead, Unlisted will sell sponsorships in individual zip codes to estate agents, who will be listed as local experts on every home in that zip code.
