Central Eurasia's Road to Battlefield 2026: Three Winners Named
Original: Central Eurasia names its 2026 Road to Battlefield winners: Cerberus, WeGlobal AI, and LOOQ
Why This Matters
The 84% AI application rate signals how fast Central Eurasian startup activity is pivoting toward AI-first products.
Cerberus, WeGlobal AI, and LOOQ won the Central Eurasia regional final of Road to TechCrunch Startup Battlefield 2026, beating 22 finalists drawn from a record 726 applications across 39 countries. All three will compete at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 in San Francisco, October 13–15.
The Road to TechCrunch Startup Battlefield 2026 regional final, run by Silkroad Innovation Hub alongside TechCrunch, Freedom Holding, Astana Hub, and IT Park Uzbekistan, concluded with three AI-native startups taking the top spots. Cerberus builds an AI agent for hunting security vulnerabilities; WeGlobal AI targets student mental health and career guidance; LOOQ combines AI-powered hardware with out-of-home advertising analytics, measuring actual billboard viewership. The three will join Startup Battlefield 200 before 10,000+ attendees in San Francisco. Applications jumped nearly 50% year-over-year — from 485 startups across 27 countries in 2025 to 726 across 39 this year. Strikingly, 84% of this year's applicants were building AI products. National rounds whittled the pool down to 22 finalists, who pitched live before 47 jurors from eight countries, plus AI-Dana, an AI juror appearing for its second consecutive year. TechCrunch Startup Battlefield head Isabelle Johannessen called the cohort 'impressive' and said the competition 'sends a message to the next generation: You can build locally and scale globally.' Silkroad Innovation Hub CEO Asset Abdualiyev noted the selection process was 'genuinely difficult' given the applicant quality. Other top-10 finalists included Suriy (Mongolia), TelAgri (Georgia), SeaDar (Azerbaijan), and Kaptın (Türkiye).