Meet the 4 Bay Area startups that made the TechCrunch Battlefield pitch competition cut

Four Bay Area startups are among the 20 in the running to win top prize and a $100,000 check at this year's TechCrunch Disrupt conference.

The four local semifinalists — Betweened, BioticsAI Inc., Parallel Health Inc., and MakersHub Inc. — are fighting it out to win the event's annual Startup Battlefield competition. From an initial collection of 200 companies from around the globe, TechCrunch cut all but the top 10%.

Those startups represent a wide range of areas, including artificial intelligence, climate technology, health, finance and developer tools, Neesha Tambe, TechCrunch's Startup Battlefield editor, said in a post Tuesday.

"The Startup Battlefield 20 companies solve critical technological and global problems," Tambe said in a post Tuesday. She continued: "This cohort of startups is ready to impress."

Over the next two days, the 20 companies will make their pitches on stage at the event at San Francisco's Moscone Center in front of a five-judge panel. Each startup team will have six minutes to make their presentation then the judges will get six minutes to ask them questions. The judges will then pick the finalists — there were five last year — who will return for a second round of pitches Thursday to win the Disrupt Cup prize and the check.

For at least one local founder whose startup made the round of 20, pitching at Disrupt offers a chance to do more than just promote his business. Oakland-based BioticsAI Inc. has developed software that uses artificial intelligence to identify fetal abnormalities in ultrasound scans. Pitching at the event as a top 20 Battlefield entry is an opportunity to raise awareness about such conditions, co-founder and CEO Robhy Bustami said at a press event Tuesday.

"The goal is a little bit different," Bustami. "Maximizing outreach is the end goal."

Over the years, more than 1,300 companies have participated in Tech Crunch's Startup Battlefield competition, Tambe said in her post. Those businesses have collectively raised $29 billion in funding. Some 200 have either gone public in an initial public offering or been acquired, she said.

This year's Startup Battlefield semifinalists include these four Bay Area companies:

Betweened

BioticsAI Inc.

Parallel Health Inc.

MakersHub Inc.