It’s 2017, and that means TechCrunch will bring TechCrunch Disrupt and Startup Battlefield to New York in a few short months — May 15-17 to be exact.
This year the event will be back in Manhattan, at Pier 36 on the Lower East Side. Similar waterfront location to last year’s event in Red Hook, but in Manhattan, with easy access by car and public transportation.
Already know you want to attend? Here’s a super special pre-registration 2-for-1 ticket offer: Sign up at the Disrupt NY website to find out how to purchase two Disrupt NY tickets for the price of one. There will only be 50 tickets available at this price, so click here if you’re interested in learning how to get your second ticket for free. Want to buy one now? The 2-for-1 sale is going to be the lowest price you’ll be able to get tickets to this event — so sign up today!
Want to know more? Read on…
We’re hard at work programming this year’s show, and it’s going to rival last year’s amazing speaker line-up, which covered the waterfront from NBA star and investor Carmelo Anthony to technologist Dag Kittlaus — whose company Viv got acquired by Samsung soon after he revealed Viv’s tech in public for the first time — on the Disrupt stage.
We will also stage Startup Battlefield, which, in case you haven’t heard, is tops in the crowded field of startup competitions. In total, the 623 very early-stage startups that have launched on our stage have raised $6.6 billion and produced 83 exits. The most recent to be acquired are Beam, Vurb and Trello.
Founders: Ready to pitch? Battlefield applications open on Wednesday this week. Look for our post and tweet with the application link.
Another big part of Disrupt is Startup Alley, where hundreds of promising startups exhibit, meet investors and hang with the TechCrunch team. This year we’re making some changes that will appeal to founders and investors alike.
First, we are offering free Startup Alley spots (two free tickets for Disrupt + one day to exhibit) to 36 companies. Here’s how it works: You can apply here for the free spot if your startup is a fit in one of the following 12 categories: Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning, E-Commerce, Fashion & Beauty, Fintech & Payments, Food & Beverage, Hardware & IOT, Health & Biotech, Media, Gaming & Entertainment, MarCom, SaaS & Advertising, Security & IT, Virtual Reality & Augmented Reality. (To qualify, your company must be less than two years old and have raised less than $2.5 million.) Three random winners will be selected from the pool of qualified applicants in each category to receive the free spots, and all applicants will receive a 15 percent discount on the normal Startup Alley ticket price of $1,995.
Obvious question: Can I apply to the Battlefield and the Startup Alley? Please do, if you like. Applying for a free spot in Startup Alley will not prejudice your shot at joining Battlefield.
Second, it gets better. Winners of the free spots in Startup Alley will also be invited to give a three-minute pitch live to attendees on the Startup Alley Showcase Stage, located in the heart of the exhibit area, during the lunch break.
Investors: Disrupt is a little piece of heaven. Well-qualified startups as far as the eye can see, all neatly grouped by category. Traditionalist investors can walk the exhibit area and meet hundreds of great founders, while forward-thinkers may want to try CrunchMatch, which is our program to match investors with startups, based on the investor’s profile. We suggest the matches (or you can request meetings with specific companies), set up a time to meet and provide the meeting room. Our CrunchMatch concierge makes it easy.
And not only do we make it easy for you to meet startups, you’ll get an invitation to a reception so you can meet with other investors to exchange ideas and learn from TechCrunch staff how to make the most of your time at Disrupt NY.
Sponsors: Disrupt can’t happen without the support of our amazing sponsors and attendees. If you are interested in sponsoring at Disrupt NY, contact us here.
If you have any other questions about Disrupt or any of our other events, contact us directly at events@beta.techcrunch.com.
So, Pier 36 in Manhattan, right? See you there.