Resource Tool for Start-up and Small Businesses in New Mexico » Taking Technology to Market

Nineteen Startup Tech Companies to Pitch Ideas to Investors

financenm — Mon, 03 May 2010 15:25:06 +0000

Michelle Mang, Promotions & Advertising Analyst, TVC

Nineteen startup companies will pitch their business plans before investors May 19-20, 2010 at the 17th annual Technology Ventures Equity Capital Symposium hosted by Technology Ventures Corporation (TVC). The annual Albuquerque forum gives investors a chance to invest in companies that are commercializing advanced technologies developed in national laboratories, universities and other research institutions.

“Even in this challenging economy, TVC was able to select 19 great presenters from more states with a broader diversity of technologies than ever before,” said Sherman McCorkle, president and chief executive officer of TVC. The nonprofit, charitable foundation funded by Lockheed Martin Corporation and the Department of Energy bridges the public and private sectors to find commercial uses for technological discoveries made at publicly funded research centers, including Argonne National Laboratory, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Idaho National Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories, Savannah River National Laboratory and Y-12 National Security Complex

This year’s presenters were selected from a pool of 40 applicants. Since projects were selected in January, TVC business specialists have been working with the principals of each startup to develop their business plans and investment pitches. At the May event, each entrepreneur will have 10 minutes to present his or her company’s business plan to a group of nearly 100 investors.

Of the 19 presenters, seven are commercializing national laboratory- or university-sourced or related technologies in the areas of industrial energy, business products and services, electronics or instrumentation, information technology and software, biotechnology and consumer products and services.

Ken Newman, president of Roswell-based Berken Energy, hopes his company will become a leading clean-power provider through the use of its geo-thermovoltaic systems that convert the Earth’s heat into a zero-carbon, nonstop source of electricity. The company hopes to capture a significant share of the $112 billion annual U.S. electricity market.

“TVC has provided us with seven world-class advisers and entrepreneurs — marketing specialists, venture capitalists, energy executives and patent attorneys,” Newman said.

“We are very thankful and impressed with the pertinent skill sets. The symposium brings a breadth of potential equity and strategic partners that we would not have been able to find on our own. We have a one in 1,500 chance of raising money on our own versus a one in three chance with TVC.”

Newman was referring to the one in three TVC symposium presenters who have received funding since the events started in 1993. Getting funding, if he’s successful, Newman said, “will allow us to fulfill orders both nationally and abroad and bring in the employees we need to manufacture here in New Mexico and distribute globally.”

Garth Gobeli echoed similar sentiments about how TVC’s coaching helped him incorporate his new business, EarPOD, and prepare for the investment symposium. EarPOD makes a hearing aid that relies on micro-speaker ear buds similar to those used with digital music players. Gobeli says his product will be more affordable and provide clearer reception than other hearing aids on the market.

The EarPOD prototype is fully developed and tested, but EarPOD needs funding to complete restyling of the product, find manufacturing facilities and launch its marketing and sales initiatives, Gobeli said. “Being able to present my innovation and my business plan to a large attendance of equity investors is an opportunity that is afforded few new businesses. The success rate for funding is considerably greater than if I were to approach potential investors on my own.”

In its 17 years of existence, TVC has helped form 105 new businesses, secure more than $1 billion in funding commitments to its client companies and create more than 12,699 jobs.

To learn more or to register, visit TVC’s website.

Article 135

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Virtual Job Fair Seeks Candidates for High Tech, Green Tech Industries

financenm — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 20:52:49 +0000

Ingrid Baker, Director of Recruitment Resources for TVC

Technology Ventures Corp. and New Mexico WIRED are planning a job fair March 15 to March 19, but it won’t cost job seekers a penny in gas to get there. Appropriately for two organizations that focus on high tech and green tech industries, TVC and New Mexico WIRED are hosting this job fair in cyberspace.

Participating companies host “virtual booths” at the job fair web site, and they accept résumés during the event. Company recruiters will respond directly to each applicant and offer an assessment of the applicant’s skills in relation to the desired job.

Applicants can apply for jobs without having to show up and stand in line for a limited number of openings, and this saves time for applicants and recruiters, organizers say. The virtual mode also helps company recruiters narrow the applicant field quickly and efficiently.

What kinds of jobs

The fair is limited to high tech and green tech companies in New Mexico. Organizers want to help these industries grow because the jobs they offer provide opportunities for professional growth and higher-than-average pay. Not all the available jobs are technical; many companies need sales and marketing support as well as administrative staff.

A niche job fair calls attention to the groups working in high tech and green tech ventures and focuses the job seeker pool — an advantage for small, focused organizations that need to make the most of recruiting efforts.

Twelve companies with about 100 open jobs participated in the first fair last fall, and nearly 100 job seekers applied online. About a third of those applicants landed follow-up interviews.

Alex Padilla of APJet attended that first virtual job fair. At the time, APJet was looking for engineers and technicians to help the company begin production of fabrics treated with the company’s breakthrough stain and water-repellant technique.

The three physicists who started APJet in 2003 had found a commercial use for a technology developed at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Using plasma, or ionized gas, in combination with other chemicals, they discovered that the character of fabric could be altered to repel moisture. Better yet, their technique didn’t require bathing fabric in environmentally harmful chemicals and polluting large quantities of water. APJet is working with a company in South Carolina to produce fabrics using its technology.

“For us, a small company with limited resources, the virtual job fair is a valuable tool,” said Padilla, director of business development for the Santa Fe-based venture. “I don’t have a full day to do résumé-gathering.”

While it’s true that virtual job fairs deprive both employer and potential employee of fact-to-face contact, Padilla said, in-person meetings can be arranged for candidates whose professional skills clear the first hurdle. In all, he said, it’s more efficient than a traditional job fair.

For more information, visit www.nmvirtualjobfair.com

Learn more about Technology Ventures Corporation.

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Cleantech: Still Attractive and Attracting Investment

financenm — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 15:00:54 +0000

Lee Rand, Partner at Sun Mountain Capital

Supporting low-impact forms of energy generation — cleantech, as it’s called — has been a hot topic politically and socially and has been a subject of mainstream debate and politics for the past 10 years. As a result of consumer, regulatory and private interest in the cleantech sector, it has also been a hot topic for investing, and venture-capital investment in cleantech increased exponentially in the past decade. In 2001, venture capitalists invested roughly $507 million in clean-technology companies. By 2008, annual investment in the sector was $8.4 billion.

Where did it go?

Much of the early investment in cleantech was done in the form of large deals with relatively small equity investments alongside massive debt-capital structures to help finance major infrastructure projects in solar power, wind power and smart-grid energy distribution. At first it appeared as though investors’ bets on cleantech would pay off: The price of oil skyrocketed to nearly $150 per barrel over a six-month period in 2008, and equity indexes that tracked the performance of public cleantech companies became extremely popular among hedge fund investors.

The 2008 election of Barack Obama and a Democratic majority in both the House and Senate was expected to lift the industry, as a climate-conscious Democratic administration would make significant investments alongside private investors and create incentives to invest more capital in cleantech, thereby increasing company valuations.

The hopeful landscape changed in late 2008 as the world economy plunged into recession. The credit crunch cut the flow of capital to companies that wholly depended on debt to finance operations and build new capacity. The price of oil suddenly plummeted toward $30, and that made early generations of green technologies look far less economical than they had been just months earlier. The rate of venture capital investing followed the market down, and investments in 2009 will likely be a fraction of the amount invested in 2008.

That said, it’s too soon to proclaim the death of cleantech. Even though many of the large-scale infrastructure investments made over the past few years might not generate a return on investment right away, the need — and financial return potential — remains for these environmentally wise technologies. The supply of crude oil is finite and the price of oil is expected to continue climbing. Most people accept that climate change is happening and that many of the Earth’s resources are limited.

Cleantech 2.0

Economic cycles and hot investment areas wax and wane, but they don’t eliminate the need and market demand for environmentally sound energy solutions. That understanding has bred a new generation of cleantech investing often called cleantech 2.0.

The focus on infrastructure construction has given way to a focus on enabling technologies, such as the design of better optical microstructures, production of high purity silicon and the development of new thermal technologies, all of which increase the efficiency of existing infrastructure. These “component” technologies require much less capital investment than major infrastructure projects and do not require the same level of debt financing to get off the ground.

Unlike the old world of Web and networking technology startups, there is no Silicon Valley of cleantech. New Mexico has a history of traditional energy industries and infrastructure, outstanding technology assets in its national laboratories, strong government support and an affordable and business-friendly environment. As the flow of capital into cleantech companies picks up again, New Mexico is in a good position to attract investment dollars.

Learn more about the future of cleantech and other technologies at a talk by Dr. Lowell Catlett, Regent’s Professor, Dean and Chief Administrative Officer at New Mexico State University’s College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences. The event, sponsored by Coronado Ventures Forum, takes place Thursday, November 19, 2009 from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm in the Jackson Student Center (Building 87) on the University of New Mexico campus in Albuquerque. For more information, visit www.cvf-nm.org.

This article was written on behalf of Coronado Ventures Forum, which provides educational and networking opportunities for entrepreneurs and professional investors. Learn more about Coronado Ventures Forum.

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Federal Money Available for Inventors, Innovators

financenm — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 06:00:18 +0000

Gail and Jim Greenwood, Greenwood Consulting Group Inc. on behalf of Northern NM Connect

Two federal programs dedicated to funding high-risk research and development into new technology and groundbreaking innovations stand to get a little more money from the economic stimulus package than the $2.5 billion already set aside for grants and contracts.

The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program — the larger of the two — grants money to small and startup businesses to develop products, technology or services that solve pressing problems in agriculture, defense, education, energy, transportation, the environment, space exploration, health and other areas. The Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program requires the business to collaborate with a nonprofit research laboratory or university that can share its technology or expertise with the innovator.

The 11 federal agencies with SBIR programs include the departments of Defense and Energy, NASA, National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health. (NIH exempted $250 million of its additional stimulus funding from the SBIR program, but outcry from small businesses prompted the agency to set aside $50 million to $100 million for SBIR-like initiatives.) Five agencies have STTR programs.

SBIR and STTR grants don’t have to be repaid and don’t require the developer to give up equity. But the business has to abide by federal procurement regulations and has to do the work that was promised.

Help when it’s needed

SBIR/STTR grants are designed to support the kind of unproven research and development that many investors won’t risk money on. In Phase I of an SBIR/STTR project, a business gets about $100,000 to study how its innovation can be applied toward solving a pressing problem. In Phase II, the business gets as much as $750,000 to expand and complete R&D.

In Phase III, the business is expected to commercialize its invention — to move it from the lab into the marketplace, so consumers, industries, soldiers, doctors or farmers can use it. While the government doesn’t subsidize this phase, SBIR/STTR awards can help a business attract funding from traditional lenders and venture capitalists once the merits of an innovation have been demonstrated and a working prototype has been built.

Given the sluggish economy, proposers are under greater pressure to identify viable, sustainable markets for their innovation before requesting SBIR/STTR funding.

Boot camp for proposal writers

Entrepreneurs who want to join the many other New Mexico businesses that have received SBIR/STTR awards can attend a two-day proposal-writing “boot camp.” Day 1 tackles Phase I proposals; it convenes from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Aug. 19, 2009 at Santa Fe Business Incubator, 3900 Paseo Del Sol, Santa Fe. Day 2 covers Phase 2 and the commercialization phase; it meets from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Aug. 20 at Technology Ventures Corporation, 1155 University Blvd. S.E., Albuquerque. The workshops are sponsored by New Mexico Connect and TVC. Cost is $35 per day or $60 for both days. Register at www.eventsbot.com/events/eb621188541.

Learn more about Northern New Mexico Connect and TVC programs.

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Two Federal Programs Offer Money With Few Strings Attached

financenm — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 06:00:45 +0000

Tatjana Rosev, Los Alamos Nat'l Lab Communications Office

The next-best thing to free money is available through two federal programs for small businesses involved in technology and innovation.

Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) is the larger of the two programs, and it will provide about $2.5 billion this year in grants and contracts to small and start-up businesses to develop products, technology or services that solve pressing problems in agriculture, defense, education, energy, transportation, the environment, space exploration, health and other areas. Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) requires the small or start-up business to team with a nonprofit research entity, such as a university or federal laboratory, and generally involves a transfer of technology, know-how or expertise from that institution to the company’s project.

Eleven federal agencies — including the Department of Defense, Department of Energy, National Institutes of Health, NASA and National Science Foundation — offer SBIR grants, and five offer STTR grants. Both programs provide money that doesn’t have to be repaid, and the business doesn’t have to surrender equity. But, as federal programs, the grants are subject to federal procurement regulations.

“They also are not ‘free’ in that you can’t just take the money and do whatever you want; you have to do the work you promised,” said Gail Greenwood of Greenwood Consulting Group. Greenwood and her husband, Jim, contract with Los Alamos National Security — the public-private entity that runs Los Alamos National Laboratory — to give workshops on these federal programs as part of the lab’s commitment to support Northern New Mexico businesses through Northern New Mexico Connect.

Show me the money

SBIR and STTR are designed for high-risk, untested innovations, not for conventional enterprises, such as retail or service, or for technology companies with proven ideas, Gail Greenwood said.

In Phase I of a project, recipients receive about $100,000 to conduct a technical feasibility study that shows how the innovation will solve a pressing problem. In Phase II, recipients may receive an additional $750,000 to expand and complete research and development. In Phase III, recipients must commercialize the results of the first two phases — and they have to do so without additional money from these programs.

“You are expected to move the project out of the lab and into the marketplace,” Jim Greenwood said. “You might do this yourself, or you might license or sell the innovation to someone else who does, but … (these programs are) about putting solutions to real problems into the hands of consumers, industry, soldiers, doctors, farmers, or whoever is appropriate.”

Businesses often find that SBIR or STTR backing helps them attract additional funding from venture capitalists and other investors who otherwise would be unwilling to invest in getting an untested idea to market, Gail Greenwood said.

It does happen here

In case you assume New Mexico is low on the list of states that receive grants from these programs, Jim Greenwood can assure you otherwise. “New Mexico consistently ranks in the top five states in terms of the number of SBIR/STTR awards per capita,” he said.

Data compiled by LANL indicate that since 2002, small businesses in New Mexico cities such as Socorro, Las Cruces, Placitas, Vallecitos, Silver City, Datil, Corrales, Taos and Mesilla Park have received about $150 million in SBIR and STTR, Jim Greenwood said.

And, while some companies in New Mexico win numerous SBIR and STTR awards, about one-third to one-half of the Phase I grants awarded nationally each year go to companies that have never won an award from these programs before, he said,

For more information about these programs, visit the Small Business Administration Web site.

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Equity Funding: Milestones That Matter in the Life of Your Businesses

financenm — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 06:00:36 +0000

Tom Stephenson, Managing General Partner, Verge Fund

Creating a road map with meaningful milestones for the development of your business will help you determine how much equity capital to raise and when to raise it in such a way that you maximize ownership of your company over time.

Many entrepreneurs who decide to share ownership in their companies in exchange for capital investment identify goals that substantially increase the value of their business when reached, and they schedule financing rounds to follow these achievements.

If your product requires pre-approval from a federal agency such as the Food and Drug Administration or United States Department of Agriculture, for example, clearing this hurdle represents a success that makes your business more valuable and attractive to investors. If you raise just enough money to accomplish this goal and carry you through another three months — until you can complete your next round of fundraising and deal with unexpected costs — you can increase the amount of equity that you and your earliest investors maintain in the company.

Reaching these milestones also means you’ve reduced the risk for investors and greatly improves your chances of finding new partners and greater amounts of capital.

Do the math

Suppose your business plan shows that you’ll need an infusion of $3 million at the start to achieve profitability in three years. If you raise the total sum at the start of your venture, you might have to surrender a large share of ownership in your company — as much as 75 percent — in exchange, which leaves you only 25 percent interest in your own company.

But if you can split that investment into two rounds, you’ll probably end up owning more of the business over time.

For example, if you raise $1 million at the beginning, you might only have to give up 50 percent of the company in return. A year or so later, when you raise the next $2 million, it might cost you only another 33 percent equity in the company. If you multiply 50 percent by 67 percent — your share of equity retained in the first and second financing rounds — your total ownership would be 33 percent of the business instead of the 25 percent you might keep if you raised all the capital at once.

Most investors will let you do this because they’re balancing their desire to make money with their desire to not lose money, and the risks associated with the company are much higher at the beginning.

By investing twice in the life of the company, investors risk only $1 million of capital in the embryonic stage and another $2 million when the risk of failure is greatly reduced. They pay a higher price for the second round of investment, but they can expect a higher potential rate of return and a much smaller risk of losing their entire investment.

Business milestones versus product milestones

Many entrepreneurs make the mistake of measuring their company’s progress by the development of a central product. It’s a common error especially for technology innovators whose perspective as scientists and engineers is often clearer than their perspective as business owners.

Technology entrepreneurs frequently see a milestone when the product is “done” and ready to ship to customers. But product-development markers, while important for adding value to a company, aren’t the same as markers that demonstrate the viability or stability of the business itself.

Creating the product is a critical step in the life of a business, but selling it is when the hard work really begins. That’s why reaching business-development milestones, such as hiring a work force and developing sales, adds the kind of value that makes a company attractive to serious investors.

Learn more about Verge Fund.

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Springboard Gives Entrepreneurs a Boost

financenm — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 06:00:00 +0000

Tatjana Rosev, Los Alamos Nat'l Lab Communications Office

The most successful entrepreneurs recognize the benefits of networking with external experts — service providers, industry consultants, venture capitalists, business coaches and successful CEOs — when starting or building a company, especially when the economic forecast is uncertain and entrepreneurial confidence is at an ebb.

But there’s more to effective networking than passing out business cards and attending seminars to meet and interact with influential others. It also requires connecting with individuals locally and nationally who have a vested interest in helping entrepreneurs take their companies to the next stage.

Wise Counsel

Business coaching is a powerful, collaborative relationship between an entrepreneur and a coach/consultant who is more versed and better established in a particular industry or discipline than the business owner and has better access to human and financial resources. Being trained by a coach how to identify, evaluate and overcome obstacles to growth can help the entrepreneur achieve his or her goals faster and more effectively. Northern New Mexico Connect’s Springboard program offers free coaching to technology entrepreneurs in Northern New Mexico whose companies are at various stages of development.

Suppose someone wants to introduce a new product but doesn’t know where to start. Springboard can help an innovator identify his or her selling advantages, start the enterprise and create a solid market position. A business owner who wants to expand but lacks the financial know-how to do so can find and often obtain the right kind of funding for his or her type and stage of business by working with Springboard.

For a business that isn’t growing as quickly or effectively as it should, Springboard coaching sessions can promote growth by identifying obstacles to success and helping a business owner overcome them. Springboard can even help those who have lost the vision and passion that drove them to start a company in the first place by boosting creativity, motivation, and assertiveness and inspiring self-starters to branch out into new, economically viable areas.

How it works

The Springboard program is modeled on a similar initiative at the University of California at San Diego. It is a free, interactive coaching and network-building process designed for technology companies with high-growth potential.

Springboard candidates are business owners who want to identify and overcome obstacles to growth. Candidates submit online applications and meet with Northern New Mexico Connect staff members to determine if they’re eligible. Those accepted into the program receive several weeks of coaching culminating in a presentation to a hand-picked panel of experts including current and former CEOs, investors, serial entrepreneurs, and service providers (legal experts, technical experts and marketing/public relations executives). Each panel is tailored to a particular company’s specific needs.

The entrepreneur’s presentation provides panelists with a comprehensive overview of the company’s mission, vision and challenges. After listening to the presentation, panelists provide detailed feedback, insights and recommendations designed to help the entrepreneur meet his or her goals. Participation in Springboard also offers entrepreneurs opportunities to connect with local, regional and national networks of business leaders, financial experts and service providers.

The benefits of a program like Springboard ultimately require the willingness of the individual entrepreneur to be coachable and act upon the advice given and to leverage the networks the process makes available.

For further information, contact Northern New Mexico Connect Springboard coach Doruk Aytulu at 505-667-5315 or duruk@lanl.gov.

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Speeding Up Startups in Northern New Mexico

financenm — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 06:00:09 +0000

Tatjana Rosev, Los Alamos National Laboratory Communications Office

The gap between the early stage funding needs of a startup company and the expectations of a typical venture-capital firm can prevent many innovations from growing beyond a concept into a commercial commodity. Because venture capitalists and angel investors tend to support products and services in intermediate, less-risky stages of development, numerous government and academic institutions have created “pre-seed” or gap funds to accelerate the creation of new companies and sustain developing companies through the research phase so their owners can focus on preparing their businesses for later-stage equity investments.

Los Alamos National Security, the public-private partnership that runs Los Alamos National Laboratory, sponsors the Northern New Mexico Connect Venture Acceleration Fund to support businesses with lab affiliations. While such funding is rarely enough to carry a company all the way to profitability, it bestows credibility, public exposure and access to venture firms and allows an entrepreneur to reach critical commercial milestones that demonstrate to a potential backer how the company plans to deliver an attractive return on an investment.

Taking technology to the people

Administered through Los Alamos National Security’s Northern New Mexico Connect program, the Venture Acceleration Fund invests up to $100,000 in projects that find commercial uses for technological innovations and that create or develop regional businesses. The Northern New Mexico Connect program’s mission is connecting entrepreneurs with customized resources to accelerate growth of Northern New Mexico companies. Since the Venture Acceleration Fund began in 2006, the fund has awarded $600,000 to six northern New Mexico startups that use LANL-licensed technology, including biotech, plasma and computer-modeling applications.

One startup, Los Alamos-based Acoustic Cytometry Systems, is developing a commercially marketable version of a portable, hand-held acoustic-flow cytometer invented at LANL. The apparatus counts and measures cells using acoustic waves that concentrate the cells into a stream for laser analysis. Money from the Venture Acceleration Fund allowed the company to produce a prototype cytometer that is more sensitive, compact, and rugged — and less expensive to make — than a conventional cytometer, and these improvements make the instrument ideal for medical research in less developed parts of the world.

“The technical success of the project has enabled ACS to grow to eight employees in less than a year and to secure critical seed funding from private seed investors,” said John Elling, the company’s founder, president and CEO.

The other five startups supported by the fund are:

The Company for Information Visualization and Analysis, created in Santa Fe in 2006 to develop a commercial use for EpiCast, a modeling and simulation system developed at LANL to help epidemiologists understand the spread of avian flu in human populations.
Packet Analytics Corporation, a Santa Fe-based company that developed a computer-security software called the Network Forensic Search Engine based on technologies developed at LANL. The system centralizes security information in computer networks so that security managers can quickly investigate suspicious incidents.
Santa Fe’s APJeT Inc., which is developing a machine that uses atmospheric-pressure plasma technology licensed by LANL to make textiles resistant to water, stains and other substances using ionized gas rather than toxic chemicals.
Knowledge Reef Systems Inc. of Santa Fe, a LANL spinoff that is creating a new Internet-based social network through which people can share knowledge and information.
CNT Technologies Inc., based in Los Alamos, which produces yarns using carbon nanotubes. The technique produces yarns stronger than other materials of equal weight at speeds hundreds of times faster than other techniques.

Every July the Venture Acceleration Fund prepares for a new round of investment in projects that capitalize on technological advances being made at LANL. Read more about the Venture Acceleration Fund.

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Sources of Equity Capital in New Mexico

financenm — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 06:00:32 +0000

Shyla Sheppard, Associate, NM Community Capital

Looking for additional funding to launch or grow your business? If you have the experience, skills and passion, there are a number of potential sources of private equity capital available in New Mexico. Equity capital sources can be broadly placed into two categories: Angel investors and institutional equity investors. Determining which source to pursue is largely a function of three key factors: 1) industry focus, 2) business stage, and 3) amount of money you are raising.

Angel Investors

An angel is an accredited investor who invests his or her own, personal capital in early-stage business ventures. Angels are often the bridge from the self-funded stage of the business to the point where a venture capitalist would be interested in investing. An increasing number of angel investors are organizing themselves into angel networks or angel groups.

The New Mexico Angels prefer seed and early stage investments. They consider themselves generalists and will consider investing in a wide range of industries. Initially, they were focused on technology but they now consider non-technology ventures. Initial investment amount ranges from $100,000 to $500,000.

Institutional Equity Investors

The Altira Group focuses on energy technology in early or expansion stages, although they will evaluate previously funded and later stage opportunities on a selective basis. Initial investment amount ranges from $1 million to $10 million.

Flywheel Ventures focuses on information technology, physical sciences and clean technology in seed and early stage ventures. They target innovations arising out of the region’s research universities, R&D organizations, and national laboratories. Flywheel also manages the New Mexico Gap Fund. Initial investment amount ranges from $100,000 to $1 million.

International Venture Fund/Invencor focuses on technology, preferring co-investment opportunities. They favor seed and early stage ventures and are typically one of the first venture investors in a company. Initial investment amount varies.

ITU Ventures focuses on technology ventures in early stage or seed stage. They target businesses emerging from the leading universities, research institutions and corporations. Initial investment amount varies.

Mesa Capital Partners focuses on manufacturing and service companies in underserved industries and locations. They prefer early stage ventures. Initial investment amount ranges from $500,000 to $2 million.

New Mexico Community Capital invests in under-served areas and industries in New Mexico to achieve both financial and social returns. They do not focus on a specific industry and they prefer later stage ventures or those in expansion. Initial investment amount ranges from $500,000 to $1 million.

Psilos Group focuses on healthcare companies that improve quality while reducing healthcare costs and advancing the alignment of payer, patient and provider incentives. They prefer early stage ventures or those in expansion. Initial investment amount ranges from $2 million to $6 million.

Sun Mountain Capital manages a $60 million state investment fund. They look for co-investment opportunities and do not have an industry focus. They prefer early stage or start up ventures or those in expansion. Initial investment amount ranges from $300,000 to $10 million.

Tullis-Dickerson and Company focuses on healthcare and has a national and international presence. They prefer early stage or start-up ventures or those in expansion. Initial investment amount ranges from $500,000 to $10 million.

Verge focuses on technology in New Mexico, preferring seed stage ventures. Initial investment amount ranges from $100,000 to $750,000.

Village Ventures focuses on opportunities in emerging domestic geographies in consumer media and retail, healthcare, and financial services. They prefer seed and early stage ventures. Initial investment amount ranges from $500,000 to $1.5 million.

vSpring Capital focuses on technology – biotechnology, life sciences and information management – in seed, start-up or early stage, although they will invest in later stage companies under special circumstances. Initial investment amount ranges from $2 million to $3 million, although investments can be as small as $250,000 or as much as $5 million.

Epic Ventures, formerly Wasatch Venture Fund focuses on all sectors of technology in early stage development. Their new name reflects the organization’s evolution from a local Utah firm to a growing regional and national fund. Initial investment amount varies.

For definitions of the various stages of business development, see the glossary on the Finance New Mexico website.

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