And the winner of Startup Battlefield at Disrupt 2025 is: Glīd

At TechCrunch Disrupt 2025, 20 startups competed in the Startup Battlefield, a prestigious event showcasing top emerging companies. After rigorous pitching and judging by venture capitalists and tech leaders, five finalists were selected: Charter Space, Glīd, MacroCycle, Nephrogen, and Unlisted Homes. The final round featured demos before a panel including Aileen Lee of Cowboy Ventures and Digg founder Kevin Rose. Ultimately, Glīd was named the winner, earning the Startup Battlefield Cup and $100,000. Glīd focuses on optimizing the logistics of moving shipping containers from ships to freight trains using innovative hardware and software. Their flagship product, GliderM, is a hybrid-electric vehicle designed to transport 20-foot containers directly to railheads, eliminating the need for forklifts or hostler trucks and reducing costs and complexity. The runner-up was Nephrogen, a company developing a highly efficient delivery system for gene-editing medicines targeting kidney cells. Founded by Demetri Maxim, Neph