The moment is here at last for us to unveil the top five contenders of the Innovator’s Showdown. This journey began earlier this year when our editorial team at TechCrunch sifted through thousands of applications, narrowing it down to 200 promising start-ups. From this pool, we further refined our selection to the top 20 contenders who presented their ideas on stage at TechCrunch Disrupt 2024 before a panel of investor judges and a full house of spectators.
This year’s finalists are set to join the illustrious league of previous Innovator’s Showdown titans such as Dropbox, Discord, Cloudflare, and Mint. The Showdown’s alumni network boasts of over 1,500 participants who have collectively raked in over $29 billion in funding and have had over 200 successful exits.
These top five start-ups will have another shot to impress the judges on the Disrupt Stage on Wednesday, October 30 at 11:30 a.m. PT. The panel of judges includes Navin Chaddha (Mayfield), Chris Farmer (SignalFire), Dayna Grayson (Construct Capital), Ann Miura-Ko (Floodgate), and Hans Tung (Notable Capital).
And now, it’s time to introduce the top five contestants of the TechCrunch Innovator’s Showdown 2024:
Gecko Materials, led by founder Capella Kerst, has brought a super-strong dry-adhesive to the market which is capable of holding a full wine bottle by a single pinky finger. This is not a gimmick but the result of extensive academic research, leading to the invention of a method to mass-produce this adhesive. The adhesive, inspired by the gripping ability of real-life geckos’ feet, is a revolutionary product that attaches and detaches quickly, leaves no residue, and can retain its functionality for a long time.
Luna, a wellness app designed for teenage girls, was showcased on the Innovator’s Showdown stage at TechCrunch Disrupt 2024. The brainchild of Jas Schembri-Stothart and Jo Goodall, the app provides a platform for teens to ask health-related questions and track their periods, moods, and skin.
MabLab, co-founded by Vienna Sparks and Skye Lam, has developed a testing strip that swiftly identifies the five most dangerous additives in adulterated drugs. This innovation was triggered by a personal loss due to drug overdose, and these testing strips are now becoming a common sight in health centers and venues.
Six years ago, Valentina Agudelo discovered a significant disparity in breast cancer survival rates between Latin America and developed countries. To address this, she conceptualized a portable device that could detect breast cancer at an early stage, potentially saving many lives.
In 2020, a fire onboard a naval ship docked in San Diego Bay was investigated using lidar (light detection and ranging) scans. This incident highlighted the challenges of sending lidar scans, an issue that is now being addressed by one of our finalists.
