The Startup Battlefield 2025 Judgment Committee is getting stronger. The first wave of VCS brought serious firepower. Now we're adding top investors to grill founders, unpack big questions and helping the $100,000 champion at this year's TechCrunch Discrupt.
Like legendary investors reviewed over the past few years, this next group brings insights, experience and instincts that can change the founder's trajectory in just one Q&A.
This is the next set of investors ready to bring their most insightful questions to the confusing stage. Save over $650 and secure your tickets now to see the pitch-off live.
Meet the next wave of SB200 judges
More investors will be taking place along the way, featuring the second batch of five VCs supporting the Crown of the Startup Battlefield Champion this year. Check the Surps Speaker page to find out who the judges are.
Crissy Behrens, Principal, Insight Partner
Crissy Behrens joined Insight Partners in 2021, focusing on investing in high-growth software businesses across SaaS, Devops and infrastructure. She previously spent time with B Capital Group as a seed investor and as a growth investor. Throughout her investment career, Behrenshas partnered with companies at every stage of growth, from pre-seeding to IPOs.
Before becoming an investor, Behrens was on the market on several B2B startups and developer platforms. These client roles gave her invaluable problem-solving skills that made her a true partner for the founders and entrepreneurs she invested in.
Charles Hudson, Managing Partner at Precursor Ventures
Charles Hudson is the managing partner and founder of Former Climbing Ventures, an early stage venture capital firm focused on investing in the first in-facility investment round for the most promising software and hardware companies. He invests in people who surpass their products at the earliest stages of their entrepreneurial journey. Under his leadership, Precursor has raised four funds and is under management of over $250 million. He has invested in over 400 companies and supports more than 450 founders, including the team behind Bobby Baby, Carrot, Incredible Health, Juniper Square, Modern Health, Pair Eyewear, Rado Eye and Athletic (sold for $525 million in 2022).
TechCrunch Events
San Francisco | October 27-29, 2025
Nicolas Sauvage, President of TDK Ventures
Nicolas Sauvage is president of TDK Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of TDK Corporation, and leads a $350 million mission to invest in early stage startups driving digital and energy innovation. Since its founding in 2019, TDK Ventures has supported 45 startups under leadership, including three unicorns, Ascend Elements, Groq and Silicon Box.
Globally recognized Sawbage has appeared on the GCV Powerlist for six consecutive years and has recently ranked 17th in the top 150 heads of corporate ventures. He is also one of two corporate VCs introduced into the prestigious Kaufman Fellows Program.
Katie Stanton, founder and general partner of Moxxie Ventures
Katie Stanton is the founder and general partner of Moxxie Ventures, an early-stage venture fund. Prior to Moxxie, Stanton served in many executive roles on Twitter, Google, Yahoo and Color. In addition to working in Silicon Valley, Stanton worked for (Obama) at the White House and the State Department, and began his banker career at JP Morgan Chase. Stanton sits on the board of Vivendi, a French multinational media company headquartered in Paris, and previously worked on the board of Time.
Santi Subotovsky, General Partner, Appearance
Santi Subotovsky is a general partner of Genegent Capital and has been the driving force behind some of the company's most successful investments since joining in 2010, including Chorus and OpenPath. He led Emergence's investment in Zoom (NASDAQ:ZM) as he is a little-known startup and a $24 billion market capitalization giant. He also serves on executives at major companies such as CrunchBase, Logik.io, Zipline, Tundra and Class, and works closely with startup studios and accelerators High Alpha, and Quasar Venture.
Confusion: Where technological innovation begins – and continues
The ultimate global pitch-off awaits. This October 27th-29th, TechCrunch 2025 will bring together over 10,000 startups and VC leaders to transform Western Moscon in San Francisco into Tech Epicenter. The arena of the startup may have changed, but there is disruption where the founders began innovation tomorrow. Join sessions, make deals, and startup battlefields record live. Get your tickets now before prices rise.