Managing Partner Victor grew up in Indiana before moving to Chicago to study economics at the University of Chicago. Victor has always loved startups - he started a bubblegum vending machine business in 6th grade, a scooter company in undergrad and cofounded UChicago’s first student-run venture fund. A Kauffman Fellow (Class 22) and former leader in Hyde Park Angels, Victor founded M25 in 2015 and quickly grew it to become one of the most active venture firm in the Midwest. Victor lives with his wife and four kids on the South Side of Chicago, is an active member of Christ Church Chicago and is absolutely addicted to Strava (and definitely wants to go on a run with you.) If he can’t convince you to break a sweat with him though, he’ll usually succeed in getting you to try out a Euro-style board game (like Settlers of Catan) with his friends.
Uber Rating: 4.94
As a founding partner at M25, Mike has managed over 100 investments in early-stage companies. Outside of his responsibilities at M25, Mike serves on the board of BLCK VC, leading initiatives in the Midwest to connect, engage, empower and advance Black venture investors. Mike is also a proud Kauffman Fellow (Class 24). Prior to M25, Mike founded The Anvil, a co-working space and startup incubator on Purdue University's campus, where he helped launch the first Purdue startup to be accepted to Y Combinator, and many more that have gone on to raise venture capital and attain meaningful acquisitions. Mike lives in Chicago with his wife, Erikka, and in his free time, he enjoys food and wine, playing bad golf, following Chicago sports and traveling.
Uber Rating: 4.9
Abhinaya is an Indian immigrant who grew up in the Chicago suburbs and attended the University of Illinois at Chicago. She studied Finance and Mathematical Computer Science while interning in various finance roles. Her introduction to venture and entrepreneurship was through creating a YouTube video interview and vlogging series with local startup founders while in college. Along with that, she helped make some viral videos.Aside from sourcing and investing in companies at M25, she brings the Chicago community together through various events she hosts or co-hosts, from 300-person events like ChiTechIRL to 5-person dinners. She ran a text group where 500+ people received a weekly text about Chicago Tech events. She works with the 1 for 2 Education Foundation, a unique scholarship program employing a “pay it forward” model for undergraduate students. Currently, she is going through the Kauffman Fellows Program and is part of class 28. Her favorite hobbies are cooking food for friends, spending time on corners of the internet, building side projects and exploring unique locations.
Uber Rating: 4.93
Katie is a lifelong Hoosier born and raised in Jasper, Indiana. She studied Communication and Classical Civilization at DePauw University before heading to Indiana University for her M.A. in Telecommunications (think social informatics and innovation communities...not telegrams and TVs). Katie’s thesis that startups will help the industrial Midwest rise again led her to the Bloomington Technology Partnership, where she started Bloomington Code School and co-founded an accelerator while growing the college town’s tech community. Katie has worked in the trenches of software companies and startups. Before joining M25, served as executive director of Launch Indy, an entrepreneurship center and co-working space. Katie is a long-time organizer of the Combine tech conference and in her free time, she collects plants and vacations across the 92 counties of Indiana.
Lyft Rating: 5
Prior to joining M25, Arianna worked as a Business Litigation Assistant for 5 years, providing support to attorneys by drafting and filing legal documents, compiling discovery requests, and performing legal research. More recently, she served as BLCK VC’s Midwest Chapter’s Community Coordinator, where she created onboarding and community best practices for their growing membership. Arianna graduated from Columbia College Chicago (’16) with a B.A. in Music Business and a minor in Public Relations. While attending Columbia, Arianna organized TEDx Columbia College Chicago as their Marketing Coordinator, and led Columbia College’s Urban Arts Festival “Manifest” as the Sponsorship & Communications Coordinator. Furthermore, she served as a Senator of the Student Government Association representing the Business & Entrepreneurship Department. Arianna is originally from Matteson, IL, a south suburb of Chicago, but currently resides in the South Loop with her husband. Outside of work, she’s an avid Spotify listener, a movie night lover and a certified brunch enthusiast.
Lyft Rating: 5
Sam is an Associate on the investment team at M25, where he evaluates new investment opportunities, leads the fund’s due diligence efforts and supports portfolio company success. He also manages M25’s financial operations, LP reporting and internal data systems, and plays a key role in organizing the firm’s annual M25 Summit and Midwest Startup City Rankings. A licensed CPA, Sam began his career in public accounting, advising ultra-high-net-worth founders, executives, venture capitalists and angel investors on complex tax matters, including qualified small business stock, installment sales and gift taxation. He has led internal trainings on the taxation of securities and financial instruments. Originally from Fishers, Indiana, Sam graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a double major in Accounting and Applied & Computational Mathematics and Statistics. He now lives in Chicago’s Andersonville neighborhood and enjoys board games, golfing, cycling and cooking for friends.
Uber Rating: 5
Ruth is a Floridian-turned-Midwesterner living in Indianapolis, IN. She spent three and a half years at Ball State University and received her B.S. in Advertising. During her time at Ball State, Ruth worked as a student assistant to the Dean and helped plan various events and programs throughout the college. She spearheaded the Cardinal Courses initiative, fostering connections between high school teachers and college professors through enriching guest lectures. She also served as President and Treasurer of the Ball State chapter of the American Advertising Federation (AAF), where she represented the university in numerous nationally-recognized advertising competitions. Prior to joining the team full-time as Platform Associate, Ruth started as an intern in the summer of 2021. When she’s not hard at work, you can find Ruth enjoying her free time by staying active, collaborating with her sister as a @tasteindianapolis correspondent, curating her Spotify playlist, spending time with friends, exploring new places and tending to her cherished collection of houseplants.
Uber Rating: 4.97
Ryan Coon is an entrepreneur, advisor and angel investor. Most recently, Ryan led the Rentals business at Realtor.com after successfully selling his last venture-funded company to Realtor.com in December 2020. Prior to that, Ryan was the CEO of Avail, a platform that improves the rental experience for more than two million DIY landlords and renters. Before co-founding Avail in 2015, Ryan was an investment banking associate at BMO Capital Markets performing M&A and equity capital markets transactions for financial services firms. Outside of work, Ryan is active in the Chicago tech community with more than 50 angel investments and serves on the board of directors of La Casa Norte, an organization fighting youth and family homelessness in Chicago. Ryan earned Bachelor of Science degrees in accounting and finance with honors from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Ryan lives in Chicago with his wife, Nikki, and two kids, Mya and Hudson.
Guy is a St. Louis-based founder who’s spent the last decade building companies at the intersection of healthcare and tech. He’s currently the Co-Founder & CEO of SteadyMD, a B2B telehealth infrastructure provider that powers high-quality virtual care experiences for digital health companies in all 50 states. Since launching the company in 2016, SteadyMD has raised over $60M and grown into one of the biggest names in digital health. Before SteadyMD, Guy founded and led HigherNext, an edtech company that was acquired by ProctorU in 2013. He now brings his deep experience to M25 as a Venture Partner, helping support Midwest founders—especially in healthtech, infrastructure and go-to-market strategy.
JP is Director of Go-to-Market Initiatives at Shopify, where he drives AI enablement across the company's commercial and GTM functions. With over 13 years of experience in ecommerce, digital transformation and strategic initiatives, JP is deeply passionate about leveraging AI and emerging technologies to enhance commerce and customer engagement. Previously, JP founded Loop Returns, scaling it into a leading e-commerce returns platform within the Shopify ecosystem. He also founded Rocket Code, an early Shopify Plus agency, and served as Chief Evangelist at BVA, advising numerous direct-to-consumer brands. JP also serves as a Venture Partner at M25, the Midwest's most active early-stage venture fund, JP scouts and supports promising startups, particularly within Central Ohio, providing mentorship, strategic advice and guidance on effective leadership and board communication. His passion lies in mentoring the next generation of entrepreneurs, helping them navigate growth, leverage innovative technologies and cultivate strong, sustainable businesses. He's a husband of 15 years and dad. When he's not working, you can find him running, weightlifting and golfing—each offering its own flavor of sanity.
Brian is a proud graduate of the Syracuse Engineering School, where he earned his degree in engineering before going on to become an attorney. After practicing law, he founded PactSafe—a legal-tech startup that simplified the way companies manage online and high-volume contracts, particularly clickwrap agreements. Under his leadership, PactSafe grew into a leading platform in the legal-tech space and was acquired by Ironclad, a top provider of Contract Lifecycle Management (CLM) software. Following the acquisition, Brian joined Ironclad’s leadership team to help scale the combined platform. He spends his free time as a dad of two teenage daughters, gardening and building legos.
