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 on Friday, November 6, at the Hilton San Francisco Union Square.
- • The Grand Finale will bring together regional champions from more than 200 competitions worldwide, with selected finalists pitching to a judging panel for a $1 million investment prize.
- • Confirmed 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.
- • The investor lineup features general partners and partners from Andreessen Horowitz, Greylock Partners, Khosla Ventures, ICONIQ, DCVC, Greycroft, Norwest Venture Partners, and Samsung Ventures, plus Stanford GSB academic Ilya A. Strebulaev.
- • The event runs November 4–6, with the main Grand Finale on November 6 from 9AM to 6PM and a networking party from 6PM to 8:30PM.
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 is scheduled for Friday, November 6, 2026, at the Hilton San Francisco Union Square, within a broader three-day event running November 4–6.
The speaker roster includes senior technology leaders such as Will Grannis, CTO of Google Cloud; Sachin Kansal, Chief Product Officer of Uber; Saswat Panigrahi, Chief Product Officer of Waymo; Paul Fipps, President and Global Customer Operations at ServiceNow; Dara Treseder, CMO of Autodesk; Manoj Leelanivas, President of HP Solutions; and Peter Doolan, Chief Customer Officer of Salesforce. Marc Tarpenning, co-founder of Tesla, and Daymond John of ABC's Shark Tank are also listed.
The investor lineup includes Connie Chan of Andreessen Horowitz, Sophia Luo of Greylock Partners, Rajesh Swaminathan of Khosla Ventures, Murali Joshi of ICONIQ, James Hardiman of DCVC, Carley Phillips of Greycroft, Scott Beechuk of Norwest Venture Partners, and Jihong Kim of Samsung Ventures. Ilya A. Strebulaev, founder and director of the Stanford GSB Venture Capital Initiative, is also among the academic voices in venture capital research.
The Grand Finale will bring together regional champions from the competition's network of more than 200 events across six continents. Selected finalists will pitch to a judging panel for a $1 million investment prize. Pegasus Tech Ventures, which manages over 40 funds and more than $2 billion in assets, positions the event as an opportunity for founders to engage with investors evaluating emerging companies and with corporate executives weighing enterprise adoption and strategic partnerships.
Event details include a Grand Finale session from 9AM to 6PM on November 6 and a networking party from 6PM to 8:30PM the same day. Registration information is available at startupworldcup.io/grand-finale.
The speaker roster includes senior technology leaders such as Will Grannis, CTO of Google Cloud; Sachin Kansal, Chief Product Officer of Uber; Saswat Panigrahi, Chief Product Officer of Waymo; Paul Fipps, President and Global Customer Operations at ServiceNow; Dara Treseder, CMO of Autodesk; Manoj Leelanivas, President of HP Solutions; and Peter Doolan, Chief Customer Officer of Salesforce. Marc Tarpenning, co-founder of Tesla, and Daymond John of ABC's Shark Tank are also listed.
The investor lineup includes Connie Chan of Andreessen Horowitz, Sophia Luo of Greylock Partners, Rajesh Swaminathan of Khosla Ventures, Murali Joshi of ICONIQ, James Hardiman of DCVC, Carley Phillips of Greycroft, Scott Beechuk of Norwest Venture Partners, and Jihong Kim of Samsung Ventures. Ilya A. Strebulaev, founder and director of the Stanford GSB Venture Capital Initiative, is also among the academic voices in venture capital research.
The Grand Finale will bring together regional champions from the competition's network of more than 200 events across six continents. Selected finalists will pitch to a judging panel for a $1 million investment prize. Pegasus Tech Ventures, which manages over 40 funds and more than $2 billion in assets, positions the event as an opportunity for founders to engage with investors evaluating emerging companies and with corporate executives weighing enterprise adoption and strategic partnerships.
Event details include a Grand Finale session from 9AM to 6PM on November 6 and a networking party from 6PM to 8:30PM the same day. Registration information is available at startupworldcup.io/grand-finale.
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