M25

Workforce payments are quickly becoming core infrastructure—and Branch is right at the center of it. Excited to see Branch partner with Stripe as the embedded digital wallet powering worker payouts within Stripe Connect. Big step toward faster, more flexible payments for workers everywhere. #ClubM25

It’s that time again. 🥁 The sixth annual #MidwestMadness2026 tournament bracket is here. 64 startup ecosystems across the Midwest will compete for #MidwestStartups glory. And yes, there’s more than bragging rights on the line: the winning city gets a party hosted in their hometown, while the Community Champion receives a framed trophy to commemorate the run. Here’s the road to the party: 6️⃣4️⃣ Round of 64 → voting starts March 17 3️⃣2️⃣ Round of 32 → starts March 23 1️⃣6️⃣ The Flyover Sixteen → starts March 27 🎱 The Great Eight → starts March 30 🍀 Final Midwest Four → starts April 2 👑 Champion crowned April 8 Which city will make the run this year? Check out the bracket below and follow along here on LinkedIn as the votes roll in. Region B voting begins on March 17. 🏆

A current founder, a past founder and a venture partner walk into the Noise office… Sounds like the start of a joke, but really just another #ClubM25 meetup. 🙌📈 We love a meeting of the (M25 portfolio founder) minds! Austin Smith, Diego Kafie, Guy Friedman and Nic Weber got together in St. Louis this week.

A quick reminder that M25 is always looking for the next great Midwest startup.📈 Over 150 investments later, we’re still focused on backing ambitious teams early and helping them scale. #InvestintheMidwest 🗺️ Geography: Investing in Midwest-headquartered startups 🏭 Industry: Software generalists — supply chain, healthcare, finance, horizontal SaaS/AI, etc. 🌱 Stage: Pre-Seed and Seed 💰 Check Size: ~$250K-$1M If you’re building something, we’d love to hear about it. Learn more + pitch us on our site. Link in the comments.

“What started as a hardware solution for patient weighing revealed a much bigger problem: the first mile of care is still largely analog,” said Abhinaya Konduru, Partner. “OneDose (Hinckley Medical) is tackling that head on, giving paramedics real-time decision support in the moments that matter most. We backed this team because they started close to the problem and have the technical depth and ambition to build the system of record for pre-hospital care.” Learn more about why we invested in Minneapolis-based OneDose on the blog. #InvestintheMidwest #ClubM25 https://lnkd.in/gegwQWu5

OneDose® has secured new funding led by M25 with participation from CoFound Partners to accelerate the future of emergency care technology. This investment allows us to continue enhancing and innovating our platform to support the evolving needs of emergency clinicians. Read the full announcement: https://lnkd.in/gmvu32TZ

Are you heading to the Steel City for the 2026 NFL Draft? 🏈 We’re teaming up with Innovation Works to host a pre-Draft happy hour on April 23 for founders, investors and community leaders in town. Join us for drinks, small bites and great conversation—then we’ll wrap in time to walk over together before the first pick. Be sure to register for NFL OnePass in advance. Entry to the Draft is free but first come, first served once capacity is reached. Register here: https://luma.com/7f6ljey6 P.S. Be sure to sport your favorite team gear!

It is not everyday you wake up to something amazing - this is a moment I will cherish looking back one day. Thank you for this incredibly thoughtful article Andrew Watman. Thank you Anna Hickey and Sprouts Farmers Market for your vote of confidence in us. At The Cumin Club, we are building a global brand with Indian roots and that's something we are extremely proud of. Better-for-you Indian food is not a myth, it's a reality, one that we are crafting. Harish Visweswaran, Kirubhanandan Rajagopal, Farah Jesani - did we just make it to Forbes? 🤩 Thank you Holly Corrales, Listen Ventures, M25, Serra Ventures, LLC and the entire CPG startup community, one that we are grateful to be part of. https://lnkd.in/gzyjeErA #BetterForYou #IndianFood #ImmigrantEntreprenuers

M25 portfolio company Loop is hiring 4 (!!!) marketers/GTM team members. Read more from Joe Vancena on the opportunity + info to apply.