We hope the first few months of the year have started off strong for you and your teams. We’ve been busy at the firm with new, high-conviction investments and growing our team. Though we don’t subscribe too strictly to new year’s resolutions, we have committed ourselves to a more steady cadence of updates to our fantastic community – starting with this quarterly dispatch. We promise not to clog your inboxes, and we hope you’ll return the outreach with updates of your own.

2024 Recap + 2025 Outlook

2024 capped our first full year since announcing the formation of 53 Stations – a year where we codified our investment focus, partnered with inspiring founders, and expanded our team. You can read our full 2024 recap here.

As for 2025, political volatility has created much instability in the regulatory landscape, which makes investing even more difficult. All that said, our mood is one of cautious optimism. AI is unlocking incredible potential for new company formation in a capital efficient manner — not to mention making the operation of companies simpler bit by bit (which we’re working to embrace at the firm, too.) We’re grateful to not have to navigate a challenging fundraising environment; instead being able to focus exclusively on our portfolio companies.

In fact, one of the most substantial moves last year was crystallizing our strategy to prioritize Series A and B investments in close thematic alignment with The Pritzker Organization (TPO). This strategy empowers us to best bring TPO’s legacy of building enduring, market leading businesses to the venture ecosystem. Driving this approach are four key focus areas you can expect to see us laser-focused on:

Because we deeply understand the core challenges facing these sector ecosystems, we’re primed to support founders in this space with asymmetric information and go-to-market advantages – an approach we’re bringing to bear with our portfolio founders daily. Year Two is all about doubling down on our focus areas and driving increased value for founders.

Focus Area: Healthcare

Pharmaceutical companies and research universities on the front lines of drug discovery spend unnecessary time and resources on procurement complexities and supply chain demands. Labviva uses AI to accelerate the pace of life science research by seamlessly connecting suppliers, purchasing departments, and scientists. More here

Focus Area: Construction Tech

As data center and mission-critical construction projects become more complex and demand reaches an all-time high, the industry is facing a reckoning. Companies like Google, Amazon, and other hyperscalers often measure their success by speed-to-market. Kaya AI’s platform simplifies procurement tracking, automates routine workflows, and minimizes delays by empowering teams to focus on execution rather than admin work. More here

Focus Area: Healthcare

Ketryx asks the question, what if regulated software teams could release high-quality software at the same speed as unregulated industries? The company is shaping the future of medical device software compliance, smoothing development friction points that can delay life-saving technologies from reaching the market. 2024 was a transformative year for Ketryx in expanding customers and their team, and we look forward to supporting them this year.

Comings & Goings

World of Concrete Recap

Investor Benjamin Sack and TPO’s Rob Strating recently attended World of Concrete in Las Vegas, which saw record breaking attendance and exhibitor participation –  60,000 professionals and exhibiting companies showcased the latest advancements in concrete and masonry. We had the pleasure of meeting a strong slate of contech startups, both VC-backed and bootstrapped, and we enjoyed the friendly environment with plenty of follow-up opportunities. We plan to attend again next year and hope to see you there.

Highlights:

• Cutting-edge advancements in 3D concrete printing technologies that can revolutionize construction processes by enhancing efficiency, reducing waste, and enabling complex designs

• We saw an emphasis on sustainability and carbon reduction, in particular reducing carbon footprint of concrete production and greener technologies

• Founders & CEOs were there en masse – not only sales teams – so it’s a great opportunity to network and engage

ViVE Recap

Investor Melissa Kandinata was recently on the (very cold) ground at ViVE, where she met an incredible slate of founders tackling tough healthcare challenges firsthand. Conversations reinforced hard truths about selling into healthcare, especially providers. Above all, execution matters more than anything, and success depends on being deeply embedded in existing workflows. Some themes that stood out:

• Healthcare data is gold—and constantly under attack. Compliance and security aren’t just check-the-box exercises; they’re critical to getting deals done.

• Selling to providers? Have you actually talked to doctors? Can you fit seamlessly into existing workflows? Do you make IT’s job easier, not harder? If the answer to any of these is no, adoption is going to be an uphill battle.

• There’s a massive opportunity to use AI to augment stretched healthcare workforces, but the winners will be the ones that truly understand provider workflows.

• EHR integration is a heavy lift. Every instance is custom, and “integration” often means something very different than what most founders or investors assume. If you don’t deeply understand what it takes to integrate with an EHR, you’re going to struggle.

• More health systems are embracing cloud infrastructure, which means interoperability is a requirement. Startups solving for seamless data exchange (instead of adding more silos) will have an edge.

• Healthcare moves slowly. Sales cycles are long, integration is complex, and regulatory hurdles add friction. If you’re building in this space, patience and conviction are super important.

Where You’ll Find Us in Q2

• April 7-10: Several members of the team will be in San Francisco for meetings

• April 28-30: Melissa will attend Tiburon CEO Summit in Boston

• June 2-8: We’ll be hosting an event at New York Tech Week. Details forthcoming.

  Let us know if you’ll be there. We’d love to see you.

Meet our Newest Team Members

We’ve welcomed two new faces to the team recently; if you haven’t yet met, your paths will certainly soon cross. We’re happy to quickly introduce them to you here—a duo that brings to the table incredible backgrounds and a shared commitment to our portfolio companies’ growth trajectory.

Bookmark

Benjamin and former MBA Fellow Alyssa Tsenter recently published a look at the unique adoption challenges in the construction sector and share concrete GTM strategies that are working for successful contech startups.