Midwest-focused M25 rolls out new venture partners across region, adding high-profile STL founder

CHICAGO — An influential venture capital firm with portfolio companies in Kansas City and across the region on Thursday announced a St. Louis serial entrepreneur as the latest venture partner joining its mission to back a new generation of Midwest unicorns.

Victor Gutwein, managing partner, and Mike Asem, founding partner, at M25; photo courtesy of M25

Guy Friedman, co-founder and CEO of SteadyMD, brings an invaluable founder’s perspective — plus a strong track record of launching, scaling and raising capital — to M25, said Victor Gutwein, managing partner at the Chicago-based venture capital firm, which was an early investor in Friedman’s company.

The news comes as M25 launches a strategy to gradually bring on new venture partners from across the Midwest, having previously announced legaltech entrepreneur Brian Powers in Indianapolis.

“St. Louis has been a very strong ecosystem for startups, and we didn’t want to miss anything, so we needed a guy or gal here,” said Gutwein, detailing Friedman’s selection. “Well, we found our Guy — SteadyMD was one of our first big success stories here so his deep network and experience in multiple industries will give us great access and expertise.”

M25 has been an active investor in Missouri, having backed 9 startups in the Greater St. Louis area and 13 total across the state, including Ryvit (acquired by Trimble in 2023), Summersalt and Kansas City’s Super Dispatch and backstitch.

Click here to explore M25’s portfolio.

Guy Friedman, SteadyMD, M25

With Friedman’s leadership and connections in the local startup scene, M25 aims to deepen its Missouri presence and support even more promising founders building in the Show Me State, the firm said.

As venture partner, Friedman will help source and evaluate deals, dive deep into due diligence and mentor founders post-investment — leveraging his firsthand experience of building and scaling high-growth startups. 

Before SteadyMD — a category-defining virtual healthcare solution that has already raised $60 million and has seen millions of patients across its diverse set of enterprise clients — Friedman saw the exit of his startup HigherNext (acquired by ProctorU in 2013).

“I’ve been working with Victor Gutwein, Mike Asem and the team at M25 since the early days of SteadyMD — they’ve created a true community with their founders and I know they are a ‘first call’ for many of their portfolio company CEOs,” said Friedman. “I’m excited to work with them to help some of the most innovative companies in the world.”