2024: M25 Year in Review

M25
M25 VC
Published in
8 min readDec 17, 2024

Recapping all that happened at M25 in 2024 along with some team data.

2024 has been a milestone year at M25, marked by majorly successful Match Week and Club M25 Summit and welcoming several new companies to our portfolio. From strengthening relationships through events like Midwest Madness and our Chicago retreat to achieving key portfolio milestones, we’re proud of all we’ve accomplished in 2024.

The 2024 M25 Team Holiday photo with a special appearance from the Grinch! Katie may or may not have been photoshopped in (she was on a Christkindlmarkt tour throughout Germany)!

M25 Team Wrapped

Team on the Map

The M25 team traveled across the Midwest this year for both work and leisure. We tracked everyone’s activity through the region and combined it here in map form. To no one’s surprise, Illinois and Indiana were the bigger winners on the map this year, with the most cities visited. Victor and Katie tied for first place with 9 total Midwest states visited, while Mike and Leandro tied for second. All together, the team visited 76 cities throughout the region this year.

Every city in the Midwest that the M25 team visited this year right here—in map form. We also tracked who visited the most Midwest states, Victor and Katie tied for first!

Data Visualization

We asked everyone on the team to share some personal data from this year. Find each team member’s year in review below!

Victor is on track to surpass 1,600 running miles this year. He has progressed in his goal to run all the streets of Chicago, ~34% of the way through now, finishing 5 more neighborhoods (16 total, now including historic Pullman!) In addition, he increased his annual swimming yards to 155,310–98% in open water (Special shoutout to Pat Cerone for kayaking next to him for the third year in a row during the epic swim 2 miles out and 2 miles back to the 63rd Street Water intake crib.) Victor also tracked 509 miles biking this year (mostly commuting home from work on the Lakeshore Bike Path, but also occasionally mountain biking with his kids at Big Marsh Park) and rowed over 500K meters on his Ergatta.

USA map is “All Sports Activities for Victor in 2024” and Chicago map is “Victor’s runs in Chicago in 2024”

Mike got a new puppy this year, a Lagotto Romagnolo named ‘Roman’. Male Lagottos typically only get to 34–35 lbs as full adults, but Roman had massive growth for a young puppy! Most of these puppies take 10 months or more to get to 33 lbs, but Roman did it in about six months! Thankfully (for Mike) he’s started to slow down though…

Normally, the Lagotto Romangnolo breed does not reach 33 lbs until they’re about ten months old. Roman is well ahead of the game!

Abhinaya: This chart highlights the daily variations in sleep and awake durations during the first two months of my daughter’s life. Each concentric circle represents a single day, with blue segments showcasing ‘asleep’ periods and orange segments marking ‘awake’ times, mapped across the 24-hour cycle.

Abhinaya became a mom this year! She tracked her daughter, Aadhya’s, schedule over the course of a month.

Katie continued beefing up her German language skills this year, continuing a nearly 1,400 day streak that began during the pandemic. It proved useful during her trip to Germany’s Christmas markets in early December!

Katie shared her 2024 Duolingo stats.

Leandro shared his 2024 Spotify Wrapped data. This year he was among the top 1% of listeners for Peso Pluma—with a total of 2,798 minutes listened alone.

Leandro’s 2024 Spotify Wrapped top artist!

Arianna: It’s that time of the year when Spotify shamelessly lets me know how much of a problem I have with listening to music. This year alone, I listened to 77,750 minutes of music, equal to about 1296 hours or 54 days of non-stop music. I could’ve flown around the world almost 29 times in this time! If that’s not impressive enough, I managed to listen to 2,857 artists and 9,483 songs this year, ranging from acoustic pop to hip hop to R&B to classic oldies. My top 5 artists of the year included Taylor Swift, Beyonce, SZA, Megan Thee Stallion, and Demi Lovato. I even made my way into the top 0.5% of Taylor Swift’s music fans by listening to 13,104 minutes of her music in 2024. However, my all-time favorite song of the year was My House by Beyonce, which I streamed 52 times this year. Overall I think it’s safe to say I’m a proud music junkie.

Arianna’s 2024 Spotify Wrapped stats.

Sam looked back at his year in weather for 2024 by aggregating data for every day of the year based on where he primarily spent each day. Of the 345 days reviewed, he spent 306 in Chicago, IL, 11 in Indianapolis, IN, 10 in Solana Beach, CA, 6 in San Carlos, CA, 6 in Eagle, WI, 4 in Traverse City, MI, and 2 in Grand Rapids, MI. The highest temperature of Sam’s year was 97°F in Chicago on August 27, and the lowest temperature was -15°F on January 16. Sam has been witness to 20.66" of snowfall so far this year, with 12.17" falling from January 9 — January 12 alone!

Ruth’s Spotify Wrapped revealed an impressive 66,093 minutes of music in 2024, soundtracked by RÜFÜS DU SOL, Bob Moses, and Kid Cudi — mainly EDM with a mix of rap, alternative and other classics. But Ruth didn’t stop there. She also embarked on a mission to track her sandwich consumption (yes, burgers made the cut). The final tally? 58 sandwiches—with Jimmy John’s claiming 25 of those victories. If sandwiches had a loyalty program, Ruth would’ve definitely hit platinum status this year (and many free sandwiches were redeemed at JJ’s).

This year, in addition to her Spotify Wrapped data, Ruth shared her sandwich data, which included a total of 25 Jimmy John’s sandwiches throughout 2024.

M25 Events Wrapped

March: Midwest Madness Tip-off

Since 2021, our annual Midwest Madness competition has spotlighted the vibrant startup ecosystems across 64 Midwest cities in a fun, friendly rivalry. The 2024 tournament was no exception, culminating in an exhilarating finale where State College clinched victory over Fargo by just 53 votes. Alongside bragging rights, the winning city received a commemorative trophy — a framed celebratory tweet — and a dedicated party to celebrate. This year’s celebration, co-hosted with the Nittany Entrepreneur Society (NES), brought together students, community members, and faculty during Penn State’s homecoming week in September.

Thank you to the Nittany Entrepreneur Society at Penn State for helping us coordinate!

April: The Return of Match Week

Our fourth annual Match Week connected M25 portfolio companies with a diverse investor network, facilitating over 1,500 double opt-in virtual meetings between 200+ investors and 50+ founders. This event remains a cornerstone for sparking investment conversations and fostering lasting relationships within the startup ecosystem.

May: Staycation in Chicago

This year’s team retreat in Chicago blended strategic planning with team bonding. From solving escape rooms and enjoying Chicago-style eats to strategy sessions and competitive game nights, the retreat reinforced collaboration and set the stage for an exciting year ahead. We’re already looking forward to our 2025 retreat in another Midwest city.

Pent house views and the best dressed of the night (Mike!)

August: Midwest Startups Rankings Release

From our annual Startup City Rankings to talent pushes, it’s been a big year for Midwest Startups. Our secondary brand, Midwest Startups, has continued to grow and flourish this year. In August, we published the 2024 Midwest Startups City Rankings, its eighth installment. The team leveraged thousands of data points, coming from 18 different data sources, to measure 64 Midwest cities across 27 weighted variables.

The rankings have become a vital resource for understanding the evolving startup landscape in the Midwest, highlighting cities on the rise and uncovering hidden gems. Alongside the rankings, Midwest Startups has also amplified efforts to spotlight local talent, providing entrepreneurs and investors with tools to navigate and thrive in this dynamic ecosystem. We’re excited to see the continued impact of these initiatives as we head into 2025.

September: The 2024 Club M25 Summit

This year’s Club M25 Summit brought together nearly 200 investors and founders for two days of impactful meetings, founder sessions and networking events. With over 1,000 double opt-in meetings and growing participation, the Summit was a huge success!

Year after year, the Club M25 Summit continues to grow, creating meaningful relationships and opportunities within our network. We’re thrilled to announce that exciting additions are already in the works for the 2025 Summit, which we’re committed to making the best yet! A special thank you to our event sponsors — Gunderson, Banc of California, Insperity, Pasquesi Partners and Jobs Ohio — for making it all possible.

The team wrapping up the 2024 Club M25 Summit!

Year-Round: M25 & Friends Happy Hours

We hosted ten happy hours across the Midwest, creating opportunities to connect with portfolio companies, co-investors and community leaders. Cities included Columbus, Indianapolis, Detroit, Minneapolis, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Chicago and Omaha, reinforcing our commitment to fostering regional relationships.

M25 Portco News

This year we added seven new companies to Club M25. Below is some notable news from across the portfolio this year.

Startup Funding

Exits

About M25: M25 is an early-stage venture firm based in Chicago, investing solely in tech startups headquartered in the Midwest. Since launching in 2015, M25 is among the most active investors in the region, quickly becoming the preferred seed investor for the next generation of Midwest unicorns. Portfolio companies include Kin Insurance, Loop Returns, Astronomer, Summersalt, SteadyMD, Branch, Authenticx and more. Learn more at m25vc.com.

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M25 VC
M25 VC

Published in M25 VC

VC investing in early-stage startups headquartered in the Midwest.

M25
M25

Written by M25

VC focused on Midwest early-stage #startups. Objective and analytical investment process combined with a risk-mitigating portfolio theory.

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