- 53 Stations Newsletter
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As we kick off a new year at 53 Stations, we're reflecting on all that we accomplished together in 2025. We continued to grow our team and deploy capital across health tech, wealth tech, and the built world. The energy sector emerged as a key pillar in our built world thesis. And what really defined the year was seeing our flywheel in action: connecting startups and legacy businesses for mutual benefit and powerful results. Read our Year Two recap to see what we’ve built — and where we're headed. Cheers to you and yours in 2026!
Energy demand across defense and national security is surging, and diesel generators can’t keep up. Delivering reliable on-site power has become mission-critical. Antares is meeting that need with a deployable fission micro-reactor that can provide 100–500 kW of clean, continuous power for years without refueling. We’re proud to back the Antares team as they build the next generation of secure energy. More here
In November, we participated in Range's Series C round, led by Scale Ventures. The company is building an AI-powered wealth management platform for the 11 million American households earning over $400K or with $1M+ in investable assets, a segment largely underserved by traditional advisors. Its AI engine, Rai, works alongside human advisors to deliver comprehensive planning across investments, tax, estate, and retirement, all through a flat-fee model. More here
In October, we led Concntric’s Series A round, and Jason joined the board. The company is building the first operating system for preconstruction, unifying fragmented workflows into a single platform. Its AI agent, Amplify, flags risks, adjusts budgets, and automates routine tasks, and they already count Consigli, Big-D, and Satterfield & Pontikes as customers. More here
Sector Gatherings: Powering the Future
 | We hosted a private dinner on October 23 with Reveille VC and TriplePoint Capital in New York with founders, operators, and investors shaping the future of energy. The conversation tackled a question that’s becoming impossible to ignore: everyone’s talking about what AI can do, but far fewer are talking about what it takes to power it. The group included early-stage ventures like Thea Energy and Exodys Energy, established players such as BWXT, National Grid, and ExxonMobil, and researchers and investors from Andreessen Horowitz, Sidewalk Infrastructure Partners, and DARPA. |
Guests shared hard truths (and cause for optimism) about how rising costs, grid strain, and policy shifts are reshaping where innovation happens next, not as a theoretical challenge, but as a physical constraint that determines who can scale. Read on for key takeaways from the conversation.
 | Thank you to everyone who joined us for incredible conversations and networking this past quarter, especially our co-hosts.
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Coming Soon: INL Nuclear Innovation Summit
 | In late January, 53 Stations and investor Pete Mathias are hosting a founder summit at Idaho National Laboratory. Attendees will receive a behind-the-scenes experience at the heart of America’s nuclear renaissance. Alongside leading investors and builders, we’ll explore the breakthroughs, policies, and market forces defining the next era of nuclear innovation. Stay tuned for our learnings and highlights! |
On the horizon:
JP Morgan Healthcare, San Francisco - January 12 - 15
Silicon Slopes Summit, Salt Lake City - February 4 - 7
ViVE, Los Angeles - February 22 - 25
Montgomery Summit, Los Angeles - March 10 - 11
As always, let us know if you’ll be there. We’d love to see you.
We're spotlighting Alexis Joseph Merritt from our Wayfinder Operator Network. As Global Head of People Partners at Notion, Alexis has spent her career helping founders navigate one of the hardest scaling challenges: designing a People operating system that grows with the company instead of breaking under pressure.
Alexis brings a design-first approach to org building, grounded in years of experience at Uber, Slack, and other high-growth startups. Her work centers on avoiding the “people debt” that accumulates when teams hire before they design: unclear decision rights, ad-hoc comp deals, inflated titles, and roles without defined outcomes.
Her playbook Designing a People OS: How to Hire After a Funding Round breaks down exactly how founders should use the first 90 days post-raise to design an operating model that supports fast, healthy growth.
Power Plays: Investing Where the Built World Meets Intelligence
AI is accelerating faster than the physical world can support, and energy is becoming the defining constraint on technological progress. 53 Stations investor Ben Sack breaks down why power, not algorithms, is now the real bottleneck, and how this shift is creating a new wave of opportunity across infrastructure, construction, and advanced energy. Read his take on the blog.
