Key Takeaways
- • Startup World Cup, the global startup pitch competition organized by Pegasus Tech Ventures, has announced its confirmed speaker and investor lineup for the 2026 Grand Finale, held November 4–6 at the Hilton San Francisco Union Square with the main event on Friday, November 6.
- • The competition's $1 million investment prize will be contested by selected finalists drawn from regional champions across more than 200 competitions worldwide.
- • The investor lineup includes partners and general partners from Andreessen Horowitz, Greylock Partners, Khosla Ventures, ICONIQ, DCVC, Greycroft, Norwest Venture Partners and Samsung Ventures, along with Stanford GSB's Ilya A. Strebulaev.
- • Corporate speakers include executives from Google Cloud, Uber, Waymo, ServiceNow, Autodesk, HP, and Salesforce, alongside Tesla co-founder Marc Tarpenning and Shark Tank's Daymond John.
Summary
Startup World Cup, a global startup pitch competition organized by Pegasus Tech Ventures, has published its confirmed lineup of technology executives, entrepreneurs and venture capital investors for the 2026 Grand Finale, according to a Business Wire release. The event runs November 4–6, 2026 at the Hilton San Francisco Union Square, with the main Grand Finale scheduled for Friday, November 6 from 9AM to 6PM and a networking party from 6PM to 8:30PM.
The finale will bring together regional champions from the competition's network of more than 200 events worldwide. Finalists selected from those regional competitions will pitch to a panel of judges for the chance to win the $1 million investment prize.
The announced speakers include Daymond John of ABC's Shark Tank, Tesla co-founder Marc Tarpenning, Will Grannis (CTO, Google Cloud), Sachin Kansal (CPO, Uber), Saswat Panigrahi (CPO, Waymo), Paul Fipps (President & Global Customer Operations, ServiceNow), Dara Treseder (CMO, Autodesk), Manoj Leelanivas (President, HP Solutions) and Peter Doolan (Chief Customer Officer, Salesforce). The investor roster features Connie Chan (Andreessen Horowitz), Sophia Luo (Greylock Partners), Rajesh Swaminathan (Khosla Ventures), Murali Joshi (ICONIQ), James Hardiman (DCVC), Carley Phillips (Greycroft), Scott Beechuk (Norwest Venture Partners), Jihong Kim (Samsung Ventures), and Ilya A. Strebulaev, founder and director of the Stanford GSB Venture Capital Initiative.
The release positions the event as a venue for founders to meet investors who evaluate emerging companies, as well as corporate decision-makers who can speak to enterprise needs, technology adoption, commercialization and potential strategic partnerships. Startup World Cup is hosted by Pegasus Tech Ventures, a global venture capital firm and provider of Venture Capital-as-a-Service solutions that manages over 40 funds and more than $2 billion in assets and has invested in over 300 startups. Registration details are available at startupworldcup.io/grand-finale.
The finale will bring together regional champions from the competition's network of more than 200 events worldwide. Finalists selected from those regional competitions will pitch to a panel of judges for the chance to win the $1 million investment prize.
The announced speakers include Daymond John of ABC's Shark Tank, Tesla co-founder Marc Tarpenning, Will Grannis (CTO, Google Cloud), Sachin Kansal (CPO, Uber), Saswat Panigrahi (CPO, Waymo), Paul Fipps (President & Global Customer Operations, ServiceNow), Dara Treseder (CMO, Autodesk), Manoj Leelanivas (President, HP Solutions) and Peter Doolan (Chief Customer Officer, Salesforce). The investor roster features Connie Chan (Andreessen Horowitz), Sophia Luo (Greylock Partners), Rajesh Swaminathan (Khosla Ventures), Murali Joshi (ICONIQ), James Hardiman (DCVC), Carley Phillips (Greycroft), Scott Beechuk (Norwest Venture Partners), Jihong Kim (Samsung Ventures), and Ilya A. Strebulaev, founder and director of the Stanford GSB Venture Capital Initiative.
The release positions the event as a venue for founders to meet investors who evaluate emerging companies, as well as corporate decision-makers who can speak to enterprise needs, technology adoption, commercialization and potential strategic partnerships. Startup World Cup is hosted by Pegasus Tech Ventures, a global venture capital firm and provider of Venture Capital-as-a-Service solutions that manages over 40 funds and more than $2 billion in assets and has invested in over 300 startups. Registration details are available at startupworldcup.io/grand-finale.
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