Startups to Watch

New Mexico has a diverse selection of startups making exciting moves in industries like biotechnology, aerospace and hydrogen energy.

And there are a lot of resources available to help these burgeoning young companies throughout the Land of Enchantment grow, whether they come from the south desert near Las Cruces or are tucked under the Jemez Mountains in Los Alamos.

Last year, New Mexico Inno highlighted 10 such companies in its inaugural Startups to Watch List. Now, that List is back, packed with 10 more startups that we think are primed for a big 2023.

Startups to Watch honorees were selected by the Albuquerque Business First editorial team. New Mexico Inno Reporter Jacob Maranda led the search. When considering each honoree, he looked at how the startups performed in 2022, as well as what they have planned in 2023.

All of the startups are featured in a special print edition of Business First published on Feb. 3. In the coming days online, you'll also have a chance to read about each business and learn about the work they are doing to grow their startups in New Mexico and beyond.

Alzheimer's Disease can be hard to detect and treat for the over 6 million Americans it affects. Thankfully, TNeuroPharma has a new, patented way to detect the neurodegenerative disease.

TNeuroPharma, founded in 2018, is working on a way to detect and treat Alzheimer's Disease using T-cells, a method for which the Albuquerque-based startup recently earned a patent.

The method was originally devised by Christopher Wheeler, Ph.D., the startup's Chief Science Officer, while working at Cedar-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. Kristina Trujillo, Ph.D., is TNeuroPharma's CEO.

Trujillo leads the four-person team behind TNeuroPharma, which includes Wheeler, John Chavez, who acts as the Chief Financial Officer, and Chief Operating Officer Wayne Laslie.

"A lot of the work that we're going to do is going to be done through contract research organizations," Trujillo told Albuquerque Business First. "So we won't necessarily bring on scientists, but we're always looking to bring on people to our executive team that have actually developed a diagnostic before and have that experience and those connections."

The startup is set to close a seed round of funding with a target of $750,000 in February. After that, Trujillo wants to open TNeuroPharma's Series A round, with the goal of raising $4 million.

TNeuroPharma's recent patent, alongside a couple of publications showing its T-cell diagnostic test's effectiveness, could help the startup land more funding, Trujillo said. But getting more money is only a piece of Trujillo's goals for the year ahead.

"One is closing the Series A round," she said. "And then, two is at least getting started on a study that compares our diagnostic to PET scans and doing a retrospective study on samples that are stored in biobanks."

Those studies, when complete, would show that Trujillo and her team at TNeuroPharma are on the fast track to getting their novel Alzheimer's diagnostic test into the medical mainstream.