Emergence Capital

TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 unveils Smart Money Stage

TechCrunch announced a new Smart Money Stage at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 (October 13–15, Moscone Center, San Francisco) dedicated to fintech, payments, and AI. The programming will cover topics including stablecoins, instant payments, FedNow and private networks, AI agents in financial decision-making, fraud prevention, identity verification, and building regulated global financial infrastructure. Participating companies and speakers called out in the preview include Circle, Robinhood, American Express, Plaid, Airwallex, TabaPay, Emergence, and QED Investors. Sessions highlight company leaders such as Jack Zhang (Airwallex), Abhishek Fatehpuria (Robinhood), and panels featuring product, fraud, and AI strategy leads. The article positions the stage as practical programming for founders and operators interested in payments rails, embedded finance, and AI applications in financial services.

Together AI Raises $800M Series C at $8.3B Valuation

Together AI, an AI neocloud that rents Nvidia GPU clusters and other AI-specific infrastructure, raised $800 million in a Series C at an $8.3 billion valuation. The round was led by Aramco Ventures with participation from firms including Vista Equity Partners, General Catalyst, Emergence Capital, Nvidia, March Capital, Pegatron and SentinelOne’s S Ventures. Together AI, founded in 2022, reported annual bookings of more than $1.15 billion in its last quarter and says it has thousands of paying customers (including Cursor, Cognition and Decagon). The financing follows prior rounds including a $305 million Series B at a $3.3 billion valuation and a $102.5 million Series A led by Kleiner Perkins in 2023.

TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 Adds Six Themed Stages

TechCrunch announced the agenda structure for TechCrunch Disrupt 2026, scheduled for October 13–15 at Moscone West in San Francisco. The conference will gather 10,000+ founders, investors and operators for 200–250+ sessions organized across six themed stages: Disrupt Stage, Builders Stage, Smart Money Stage, Smart Systems Stage, AI in the Real World Stage, and the AI Stage (presented by Google Cloud). Programming spans topics from fundraising and go‑to‑market tactics to fintech, physical infrastructure for AI, and production-grade AI deployments. Notable speakers and panelists listed include partners and CEOs from Index Ventures, Sapphire Ventures, Gusto, Gamma, Google, CapitalG, Airwallex, Emergence Capital, Inertia and Helion. Early bird tickets are available with savings up to $410 and 50% off a second ticket.