New Mexico Inno's 2024 Startups to Watch list highlights 10 startups we expect to capture headlines in the year ahead. The New Mexico Inno editorial team picked out the 10 companies through a nomination process and our own research and reporting.
You can read all about these 10 Startups to Watch in the Feb. 2 print edition of Albuquerque Business First. The startups will also be featured individually on the New Mexico Inno site in the coming days.
Antennas are essential to extending fifth-generation, or 5G, connectivity around the world, which comes with much faster data speeds and increased network capacity. But a lot of existing antenna technology can be difficult to deploy and sustain.
That's where Nicolas Garcia, Ph.D., hopes his startup, Cheshir Industries, can come in.
Cheshir, which Garcia officially rolled out in earnest in early 2023, has a unique antenna technology the founder developed while completing a doctorate in electrical engineering at the University of Notre Dame.
Cheshir's antenna technology is based on gradient index, or GRIN, antennas, and is called "Cheshir GRIN." Garcia developed the basis for Cheshir GRIN while studying at Notre Dame under Jonathan Chisum, Ph.D., an associate professor of electrical engineering at the university.
It's a brand-new antenna paradigm that Garcia claims halves the production cost of traditional antenna technology while increasing both power efficiency and multi-functionality by as much as 10 times.
Multi-functionality is important, Garcia added, because 5G operates over a range of frequency bands. It normally requires a separate antenna for each frequency band; Cheshir GRIN, he said, can operate across all those frequency bands with only a single antenna.
Cheshir designed, built and assembled its first minimum viable product, or MVP, in late 2023. The startup exhibited its MVP at the Association of Old Crows conference in December 2023 — a gathering focused on electronic warfare technology.
Iterating on that MVP through product development will be a big focus in 2024, Garcia said. So too will be nailing down research and development contracts for initial customers for the Cheshir GRIN platform.
Garcia said he also wants to bring on additional people to work with Cheshir, on both the advisory and employee sides. The startup is part of Albuquerque-based nonprofit NewSpace Nexus' Ignitor program, which provides expert assistance, networking support and access to high-tech lab space to over a dozen different companies.
"We really proved the technology with our first MVP, but now we're really going to drive the point home, broaden into some other markets for some shock and awe and then close in on our first customer base and really start delivering," Garcia said.
Cheshir has raised around $100,000 worth of angel investments. But Garcia said he's aiming to raise an additional $1 million of early stage investment to accelerate product development and fuel hiring.
2024 Startups to Watch
Startups to Watch 2024
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El Paso-based FundMiner, co-founded by Alejandro Stevenson-Druan, left, and Chelsea Lamego in 2022. The startup has built an AI-powered software platform to help nonprofits and other large fundraising organizations manage finances and improve financial efficiency.
Dav Anmed
Los Alamos-based Spiritus Technologies, co-founded by CEO Charles Cadieu, left, and CTO Matt Lee, Ph.D., came out of stealth in September 2023. The startup plans to build direct air capture sites using a type of sorbent technology it claims can drastically reduce the cost of removing carbon from the air.
Courtesy of Spiritus Technologies
Albuquerque-based Karoo Health, co-founded by CEO Ian Koons (pictured here) in 2021. The startup has a value-based cardiac health care system that combines on-site and virtual care teams in partnership with cardiology networks, health plans and health systems.
Photo courtesy of Ian Koons
Santa Fe-based Mercury Bio, co-founded by CEO Bruce McCormick (pictured here), emerged from stealth in August 2023. The startup has a biomolecular drug delivery platform that involves drug encapsulation in natural nanoparticles and cell-specific targeting.
Courtesy of Bruce McCormick
Albuquerque-based BuildMySOP, founded by CEO Kady Cravens (pictured here) in 2020. The startup, which recently went through an acquisition deal, helps cannabis companies build and manage standards of procedure through templates and on-hand compliance and process review.
Courtesy Kady Cravens
Los Lunas-based Cheshir Industries, founded by CEO Nicolas Garcia, Ph.D. (pictured here) in late 2022. The startup is developing a gradient index antenna technology that it claims can increase power efficiency and multi-functionality by as much as 10 times.
Courtesy of Nicolas Garcia
Albuquerque-based VastVision.io, co-founded by CEO Kyle Guin (pictured here) in early 2023. The startup has rolled out a software platform that large businesses can use to keep track of physical assets via ultra-high frequency radio frequency identification chips to track assets's location and movement.
Courtesy of Kyle Guin
El Paso-based AizenFlow, co-founded by CEO Marco Vallejo Jr., left, CTO Ian Love, center, and Chief Revenue Officer JaQuan Bryant, right, chief revenue officer, in early 2023. The startup aims to help freight brokerages better manage logistics using artificial intelligence and digital automation processes.
Courtesy of AizenFlow
Los Alamos-based Undesert, co-founded by CEO Nicholas Seet (pictured here) and CTO Hill Kemp in 2021. The startup has developed a technology for purifying different sorts of brackish and produced water using solar energy.
Samantha DAnna
Albuquerque-based Flow Aluminum, co-founded by CTO Chris Fetrow, left, and CEO Tom Chepucavage, right, in late 2022. The startup is commercializing an aluminum CO2 battery design for applications ranging from drone power to large-scale energy storage.
Jacob Maranda
