Intero Biosystems has won the Startup Battlefield Cup at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026, beating 199 other companies to take home the $100,000 grand prize. The Denver startup makes miniature human intestinal tissue that drug makers use to test compounds before human trials. Its founders, Charlie Childs and Madeline Eiken, accepted the award on stage at the Moscone Center on October 15.
What Intero Biosystems builds
The company spun out of the University of Michigan and develops 1mm human intestinal “organoids”, lab-grown tissue that mimics the gut. The idea is to give pharmaceutical, biotech, food, and chemical companies another way to study how drugs and other compounds affect the human body before anything is tested in people. Its flagship product, GastroScreen, is already sold to customers in those industries.
Animal testing has long been the default for early safety data, but animal guts do not always react the way human guts do. Intero’s organoids give researchers a human tissue option at a small scale, which matters when a compound looks safe in animals and then fails in people.
How the Startup Battlefield played out
Twenty startups chosen from the Startup Battlefield 200 pitched live demos in front of VCs and tech leaders over three days. Judges narrowed the field to five finalists: Apate, Flox Intelligence, Intero Biosystems, Industrial Next, and Satlyt. The final five pitched again to a panel that included 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.
After the judges’ notes were reviewed by TechCrunch editors, Intero Biosystems took the top spot. The win puts the startup in front of the Disrupt audience and the investor network that follows the Battlefield, which has launched companies like Dropbox and Mint in past years. For a deep-tech company selling lab-grown tissue to drug makers, that visibility counts for more than the prize money alone.
Why the win matters
Biotech startups rarely take home the Battlefield Cup, which usually goes to software or AI companies. Intero’s victory shows investors are paying attention to tools that cut the cost and risk of early drug testing. With regulators worldwide pushing for alternatives to animal studies, demand for human tissue testing platforms is expected to grow.
FAQ
What does Intero Biosystems do?
It grows 1mm human intestinal organoids in the lab and sells them, mainly through its GastroScreen product, to pharmaceutical, biotech, food, and chemical companies for testing drugs and compounds.
How much does the Startup Battlefield winner get?
Intero Biosystems won the Startup Battlefield Cup and a $100,000 grand prize at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026.
Who founded Intero Biosystems?
Charlie Childs and Madeline Eiken founded the company, which spun out of the University of Michigan and is based in Denver.
What were the Startup Battlefield 2026 finalists?
The five finalists were Apate, Flox Intelligence, Intero Biosystems, Industrial Next, and Satlyt.
What is GastroScreen?
It is Intero Biosystems’ flagship product, a lab-grown human intestinal tissue platform used to test how drugs and other compounds interact with the human gut.
