Intero Biosystems has won the Startup Battlefield competition at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026, earning the top prize of $100,000. The Denver-based company was selected from 20 startups that presented live demonstrations to a panel of judges.
Lab-grown intestinal models
Founded by Charlie Childs and Madeline Eiken, Intero Biosystems spun out of the University of Michigan. The startup is developing millimeter-scale human intestinal organoids: lab-grown tissues designed to mimic aspects of the gut.
Its flagship product, GastroScreen, is offered to pharmaceutical, biotechnology, food and chemical companies to study how drugs and other compounds may affect the body before they are tested in people.
Intero's win highlights growing interest in laboratory models that can support earlier-stage research. As these technologies advance, they may expand the tools available for evaluating compounds before human testing.
