Side Events Take Shape Around TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 as Backblaze Joins Host Lineup

The official programming at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 runs October 13–15 at Moscone West in San Francisco, but organizers say the gathering’s reach extends well beyond the main stage. A schedule of side events hosted by companies and investors — including Backblaze, NMI, PeakXV Partners, and Augment — will keep attendees networking after the Expo Hall closes each day.

Side events have become a fixture of major tech conferences, giving startups, investors, and operators smaller-format settings to meet outside the crowded main venue. This year’s lineup spans a mix of cloud infrastructure, payments, and venture capital players, reflecting the breadth of the Disrupt audience.

Among the hosts is Backblaze (NASDAQ: BLZE), the cloud storage and backup provider. The company’s shares closed at $13.50, up 1.5% from the previous close of $13.30, valuing the business at roughly $835.7 million. Backblaze’s presence on the side-event slate comes as it continues to compete in the cloud storage market against far larger hyperscale providers.

Payments technology firm NMI and venture firm PeakXV Partners are also listed as hosts, alongside Augment, an AI coding startup that has drawn attention in the developer tools space. The full schedule was published by TechCrunch ahead of the October event.

For attendees, the side events often serve as a complement to the main conference’s Startup Battlefield competition and speaker sessions — a chance for more targeted conversations with potential customers, partners, and investors. For hosting companies, the events offer a low-cost way to engage directly with the startup ecosystem that congregates in San Francisco each October.

What to watch

• The final side-event schedule and registration details ahead of the October 13–15 conference dates.
• Backblaze’s next quarterly earnings report, which may arrive near or shortly after the conference window.
• Announcements made by hosting companies, including Backblaze, NMI, PeakXV Partners, and Augment, during the event.

Source: original release