Here are the five finalists for TechCrunch Disrupt 2025’s Startup Battlefield

After two days full of live demos and pitches, it’s time to announce the five finalists for this year’s Startup Battlefield.

These finalists were chosen from an initial pool of thousands of applicants, with TechCrunch’s editorial team narrowing the field to 200 companies who all joined us here at Disrupt, with the top 20 competing on the Disrupt Stage.

Thanks to feedback from our expert judges, we’ve now selected the finalists, who will take the stage again at 11:30 a.m. PT on Wednesday to compete for our grand prize of $100,000 in non-equity funding, as well as temporary custody of the Startup Battlefield Cup. You can watch the finals via live stream on the TechCrunch website – or on the Disrupt Stage if you’re attending the conference.

Without further ado, here are the 2025 TechCrunch Startup Battlefield finalists:

Charter space

Charter Space has built a development tool for aerospace engineers, but its real mission is to act as a fintech for space. The software captures manufacturing and testing data directly from the source, and this data set then feeds an underwriting interface that links directly to the largest insurers in the market. The goal is to assess spacecraft insurance risks faster, cheaper, and more reliably, and ultimately power new forms of credit and non-dilutive financing for space companies looking outside venture capital and public markets.

slid

Glīd (pronounced “Glide”) aims to simplify 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 getting shipping containers to the railhead and ultimately to their destination. Its first product is the GliderM, a hybrid electric vehicle with a hook on the back that can pick up and move 20-foot containers directly to the rail without the need for host truck forklifts.

Great course

MacroCycle has developed a shortcut of sorts, which promises to make recycled plastic as inexpensive as raw materials. The startup has devised a way to extract desirable synthetic fibers from textile waste, leaving everything else behind. Unlike most chemical recycling processes, the MacroCycle process is different because it does not break down polymers. Instead, it snaps the polymer chains back onto themselves, forcing them to form rings called macrocycles, which remain after contaminants are washed away.

Nephrogen

Nephrogen is a biotechnology startup that uses artificial intelligence and advanced screening to develop a specialized delivery system to safely deliver gene editing drugs to specific cells in the kidney. After three years of development, Nephrogen has created a delivery mechanism that is 100 times more efficient at transporting the drug to the kidneys than currently FDA-approved “compounds,” says founder Dmitry Maxim. He plans to participate in the clinical study himself, given the challenges he faces living with polycystic kidney disease.

Homes not listed

Unlisted Homes is similar to Zillow but is for homes that aren’t on the market yet. Using the public records of 21 million homes, Unlisted has created “profiles” for each property, providing the same type of information you would find on any other real estate listing site. The Company does not plan to facilitate real estate transactions through the platform, as the resources necessary for such transactions already exist. Instead, Unlisted will sell care on individual zip codes to real estate agents, who will be listed as local experts on each home in that zip code.