TechCrunch Disrupt 2026: Day 1

Day 1 of TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 is officially underway, bringing unneurotic 10,000+ startup founders, investors, and tech leaders nether 1 extortion astatine San Francisco’s Moscone West. Big ideas are colliding, connections are forming astatine each turn, and the startup ecosystem’s astir influential voices are driving the conversation.

From Startup Battlefield to six caller manufacture stages focused connected scaling, AI, fintech, clime tech, and more, Disrupt is packed with game-changing perspectives and opportunities. The adjacent partnership, investment, oregon breakout institution could look from immoderate meeting, session, oregon java enactment conversation. Meet the 250+ speakers shaping the discussion.

Grab your summons now truthful you don’t miss a infinitesimal astatine Disrupt. There’s inactive a small clip to drawback your walk and beryllium a portion of this yearly startup epicenter.

Image Credits:Eric Slomonson, The Photo Group

Explore. Connect. Discover.

Day 1 highlights

Registration hours: 7:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Stop by the registration table successful the Level 1 lobby of Moscone West to registry successful idiosyncratic oregon prime up your scannable lawsuit badge. The badge features Klik technology, which makes it casual to speech interaction accusation with radical you scan your badge with. Using the lawsuit app, you tin entree and support those contacts adjacent aft the lawsuit ends.

Expo Hall (8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.)

Explore 300+ exhibiting startups showcasing cutting-edge technologies crossed industries. This is the halfway of Disrupt, wherever 10,000+ attendees converge to observe caller breakthroughs and spark caller connections. 

Haven’t registered yet? You inactive tin — but don’t wait, oregon you volition miss out. Grab your summons now and locomotion consecutive into the action: six manufacture stages, interactive roundtables, Q&A breakouts, hundreds of exhibiting startups, investor-founder meetings, AI-powered matchmaking networking, and broadside events lighting up the Bay Area tech country each week long.

Image Credits:Noam Galai / Getty Images

Pitch Showcase Stage

Make your mode to the Pitch Showcase Stage astatine the backmost of the Expo Hall to acquisition 1 of the astir electrifying formats connected the league floor: rapid-fire, one-minute lightning pitches from immoderate of the astir promising startups representing their location countries and regions.

The Startup Battlefield Fast Pitches — Built World

The Startup Battlefield 200 Built World class showcases the astir innovative early-stage startups tackling large challenges successful existent estate, construction, architecture, astute cities, and infrastructure. Discover the technologies transforming the carnal spaces wherever we live, work, and play. Stop by to drawback their lightning pitches and conscionable the bold entrepreneurs gathering what’s next.

The spotlight besides shines connected Startup Battlefield, TechCrunch’s renowned “World Series of transportation competitions.” After vetting thousands of applicants, TechCrunch selected the apical 20 early-stage startups to transportation successful beforehand of immoderate of the world’s astir seasoned VCs. They’ll vie for a $100,000 equity-free prize and the coveted Disrupt Cup.

Startup Battlefield 200 Fast Pitches – Sustainability

The Startup Battlefield 200 Sustainability class highlights the astir groundbreaking early-stage companies tackling the world’s astir urgent biology and clime challenges, from renewable vigor and c seizure to circular system platforms, sustainable agriculture, cleanable h2o solutions, and beyond.

These are the founders turning bold clime commitments into real-world technology, gathering businesses that beryllium profitability and planetary interaction are not mutually exclusive — and they’re making their lawsuit successful conscionable 2 minutes. Stop by, drawback their lightning pitches, and conscionable the startups who are determined to permission the satellite amended than they recovered it.

Image Credits:Gaia AI

Stage sessions

From carnal AI and the aboriginal of intelligent systems to fundraising, hiring, and scaling breakout companies, today’s speakers are tackling the opportunities and challenges shaping the adjacent procreation of startups. Here’s a look astatine what’s happening crossed the stages today. Check retired the afloat agenda that includes 200+ sessions.

Disrupt Stage

The Startup Battlefield — Space and Physical AI: Judges see Anu Bharadwaj (ICONIQ), Sara Deshpande (Maven Ventures), Benjamin Narasin (Tenacity Venture Capital), Aatish Nayak (Kleiner Perkins), Michael Palank (MaC Venture Capital)

Building the Impossible: RJ Scaringe (Rivian)

The Startup Battlefield — Energy and Manufacturing: Caleb Appleton (Bison Ventures), Feyza Haskaraman (Felicis), Sho Sho Leigha Ho (General Catalyst), Leah Solivan (Precedent.vc)

Can AI Keep Scaling?: Andrew Feldman (Cerebras Systems)

Beyond Screens: Max Hodak (Science Corporation)

Image Credits:Kimberly White / Getty Images

Builders Stage

Equity Live: The Startup Stories Shaping 2026

TechCrunch’s Equity podcast takes the Builders Stage for a unrecorded signaling from Disrupt. Join the Equity squad arsenic they interruption down the biggest startup, venture, and exertion stories of the infinitesimal and what they mean for founders and investors heading into 2027.

What Happens When OpenAI Ships Your Roadmap: Rob Toews (Radical Ventures), Linda Tong (Webflow), Michel Tricot (Airbyte)

The Rise of Agentic AI: Lessons for Hardware Founders: Ziad Asghar (Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.), Florence Ion (PCMag)

Competing for AI Talent: Pay, Equity, and Retention: Matt Birnbaum (Wylder.co), Ioana Hreninciuc (Runware), Atli Thorkelsson (Redpoint Ventures)

The Builder’s Playbook: What Founders Need to Win the Agentic Era: Stephan Bitton (Google Cloud)

PMF Red Flags: How to Tell If You Really Have It: Anu Bharadwaj (ICONIQ), Rajeev Dham (Sapphire Ventures), Rahul Vohra (Superhuman)

From MVP to Billions of Users: How Product Decisions Must Change astatine Scale: Robby Stein (Google)

When Machines Clock In (Hosted by NYSE Wired): Brian Baumann (New York Stock Exchange), Dr. Adam Campbell (Gatik), Samir Menon (Dexterity AI), Sankaet Pathak (Foundation Future Industries, Inc.)

Hiring When AI Is a Co-founder: Michelle Johnson (Insight Partners), John Koelliker (Leland), Josh Reeves (Gusto)

Image Credits:Slava Blazer Photography / Flickr (opens successful a caller window)

Industry Stage: Smart Money

The Future of Money Movement successful the Agentic Economy: Nikhil Chandhok (Circle), Rodney Robinson (TabaPay, Inc.), Carlotta (Lotti) Siniscalco (Emergence Capital)

AI, Trust & Verification successful Financial Services: Hannah Bozian (American Express), Pedro Sanzovo (Plaid), Victoria Zuo (QED Investors)

Winning the Modern Financial Consumer: Abhishek Fatehpuria (Robinhood)

Industry Stage-Smart Systems

Where the AI Infrastructure Boom Is Creating Winners: Ben Longmier (Ambrosia Energy), Bill Thayer (Bloom Energy)

When the Energy Gets Smart: What Vertical AI Actually Delivers astatine Scale: Deepak Garg (SEW.AI), Paul Lau (SMUD)

How Twilio’s Founder Is Tackling the Power Problem: Jeff Lawson (Twilio)

Bringing Fusion to the Grid: David Kirtley (Helion), Brandon Sorbom (Commonwealth Fusion Systems)

Rewiring the Grid for the Electric Age:  Apoorv Bhargava (Weave Grid, Inc.), Kristin Eberhard (Rewiring America), Tim Heidel (VEIR)

Breakout Stage

Located astatine the extremity of the Expo Hall, breakout sessions see a sheet of experts connected the presented topic, with country astatine the extremity for attendees to inquire nonstop questions. See the afloat three-day lineup successful the Disrupt agenda.

What is Physical AI, Anyway?: Susan Schofer (SOSV HAX), Parikshit Sharma (SOSV SF), Duncan Turner (SOSV HAX), Pae Wu (SOSV SF)

The New Job of the Data Team is Providing Context to AI: George Fraser (Fivetran + dbt Labs)

The Quantum Revolution: What Investors and Builders Need to Know: Andrew Dzurak (Diraq)

Taiwan Powering the Next AI Revolution: Connect, Invest & Scale: Michelle Chan (Phison Electronics USA), BoGaun Chen (ITRI International), Erica Lin (ITRI International), Mingche Wang (ITRI International)

How to Build AI We Can Trust: Robbie Goldfarb (Forum AI)

The Inference Economy: Why AI’s Next Trillion Dollars Won’t Look Like Its First: Hagay Lupesko (Cerebras Systems), Ali Mahmoud (Glasswing Ventures)

Image Credits:TechCrunch

Roundtables

These small-group sessions springiness founders and investors the accidental to tackle real-world challenges up close. Remember: Pre-registration connected the lawsuit app is required for entry. Visit the Disrupt agenda to spot each the roundtable sessions for the adjacent 3 days.

Arm Wrestling Your Data: The Physical AI Challenge: Radha Basu (iMerit)

Can AI Take You Public? The New Playbook for IPO-Ready Finance: Eléonore Crespo (Pigment), Sofia Fatakhova (Chime)

AI’s Next Frontier: Modernizing Legacy Industries: Rob Biederman (Asymmetric Capital Partners)

Atoms vs. Bits: Physical AI for the Physical World: Jackson Feder (MetaProp)

Beyond Inventory: The Commerce AI Playbook for the Intent Era: Srishti Chaudhary (Walmart eCommerce)

Healthcare Took 40 Years to Adopt EHRs, Then Adopted Generative AI successful Three. What Comes Next?: Brian Butler (Questa Capital)

From Pilot to Production astatine Scale: Provable, Trusted Agentic AI for the Enterprise: Dr. Maha Achour (Kodamai), Pankaj Kedia (2468 Ventures), Yasser Shaaban (Humain)

Image Credits:TechCrunch

Specialty Post-Training Data: Powering the Next Wave of AI: Dani London (Base10 Partners)

The Science of Powerful Introductions: How to Be Remembered successful an AI World: Cal Amir (Introduction Lab)

Beyond the Demo: Building Physical AI That Actually Works: Logan Farrell (Rugged Robotics), Austin Yount (Brick & Mortar Ventures)

Labs oregon Factory Floors: Who Will Win Physical AI?: Matt Burns (Insight Media Group), Roman Hölzl (RobCo)

Beyond the Term Sheet: How To Architect a Great Fundraise: Weston Moyer (MVP Ventures)

Brutal Truth: 12 Critical Mistakes That Nearly Derailed My CISO Career: Stephen Ward (Brightmind Partners) 

Networking opportunities

Networking Lounge powered by Signify Business Cash World Elite Mastercard® by Wells Fargo: Open 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Find your adjacent co-founder, investor, oregon mentor done meetings you docket via the lawsuit app oregon spontaneous meetups.

Deal Flow Cafe: Opens astatine 9:00 a.m. Exclusive to founders and investors, providing a quiescent abstraction to marque deals implicit coffee.

Image Credits:Slava Blazer Photography

Disrupt 2025 Side Events

Company-hosted Side Events are happening passim San Francisco this week, extending the Disrupt vigor good beyond Moscone West. Here are a fewer events happening contiguous — panels, parties, and meetups designed to link founders, investors, and innovators crossed each country of tech. Make definite to RSVP for your spot astatine immoderate of these. Explore the afloat lineup of Side Events and capable your docket with much clip for connections and insights.

The Irish Shark Tank – Hosted by Enterprise Ireland

SafetyWing Happy Hour astatine Harrington’s – Hosted by SafetyWing

Born2Global Founder Networking Night – Hosted by WayFounder

Image Credits:Slava Blazer Photography

Still clip to articulation Disrupt 2026

There’s inactive immoderate clip near to registry for your walk and research each these activations. Get your summons now. There’s inactive truthful overmuch much to acquisition astatine TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 — including much Startup Battlefield pitches, game-changing sessions, and unforgettable connections. Tickets are disposable done the last day. Secure yours present and beryllium portion of the aboriginal of tech. Do not wait.