The key facts
- The second day of Disrupt 2026 takes place on October 14 at Moscone West, San Francisco; more than 300 startups in Expo Hall and over 10,000 attendees.
- Speakers include representatives of Nvidia, Waabi, Flock Safety, Benchmark, OpenAI, Anthropic, Databricks, Hugging Face and other companies.
- Startup Battlefield continues: competitors in health tech, life sciences, enterprise and security are fighting for a spot in the final and $100,000 in non-dilutive funding.
Second day of the conference
On October 14, 2026, the second day of TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 — TechCrunch's annual flagship conference — began at Moscone West in San Francisco. Organizers expect more than 10,000 attendees: founders, investors, startup teams and technology industry leaders. Registration and badge pickup run from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Pacific Time in the Level 1 lobby.
Expo Hall and pitches
Expo Hall on Level 2 is open from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.: it features more than 300 startups, as well as technology partners and solution providers. The Pitch Showcase Stage hosts rapid pitches in the enterprise segment, where founders present their products. For networking, the TechCrunch Events app with AI-powered match suggestions is available; the Networking Lounge operates from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. A separate Deal Flow Café area is accessible only to Founder Pass and Investor Pass holders.
Key sessions
On the Disrupt Stage, among other sessions, are scheduled a session on AI, surveillance and public safety with Garrett Langley of Flock Safety, a discussion with Benchmark partners (Jack Altman, Peter Fenton, Chetan Puttagunta, Everett Randle, Eric Vishria), and a conversation about when AI starts designing its own hardware, with Anna Goldie and Azalia Mirhoseini of Ricursive Intelligence. On the Builders Stage, the discussions cover Series A in 2027 (Index Ventures, Peak XV, Bessemer Venture Partners), acquiring your first 1,000 customers without a marketing budget, and the unveiling of the AI Disruptors 60 list. On the AI Stage, topics include the safety of AI agents, rewriting the SaaS business model, evaluating AI capabilities (Irene Solaiman, Hugging Face), and a session "What comes after the chatbot" with Alexandr Embiricos of OpenAI.
Robots and physical AI
The Real World AI Stage is dedicated to bringing AI into physical products: announced are a live demonstration of Hello Robot's Stretch robot with Aaron Edinger, a presentation by Jonathan Hurst of Agility Robotics with the humanoid robot Digit, a session on AI systems where failure is not an option (Shield AI, General Motors, Waabi), as well as a conversation with Rev Lebaredian of Nvidia about what is preventing robots from having their own "ChatGPT moment." Additional topics include orbital AI infrastructure, AI running without the cloud, and the return of nature presented by Colossal Biosciences (Ben Lamm).
Startup Battlefield and closed sessions
The Startup Battlefield 200 competition continues: on this day, teams in health tech, life sciences, enterprise and security take the stage, competing for a spot in the final and $100,000 in non-dilutive funding. For investors, a closed StrictlyVC session is held — on going public, family offices and the priorities of limited partners. In the evening, third-party events are planned, including the Ecosystem Mixer by Peak XV, Liquid Assets by Augment and Mintz, and The Afterburn by Backblaze and Flamethrower. Organizers also report that tickets are being sold at a 50% discount off the on-site price.
