Scout Ventures and the state government have come together to raise a new fund to make investments in spinoffs from the U.S. Department of Defense and the national labs.
The $55 million fund includes an undisclosed amount from the New Mexico State Investment Council, Auctus Investment Group and others, according to an announcement from the venture capital firm. The fund is focusing on ventures coming from veterans of the military, the intelligence community and government research labs, of which New Mexico has several.
“Our world’s security infrastructure and sustainability rely on the unique skills and experience held by military veterans, intelligence leaders, and founders coming out of National Labs like [Los Alamos National Laboratory]. Unfortunately, these founders often don’t get the chance to implement those skills and build companies due to lack of access,” said Campbell McComb, managing director of Auctus Investment Group, in a statement
With the focus on technologies with uses in defense and the commercial market, Scout Ventures can leverage government spending "reducing the risk" with early-stage startups, according to a release from Scout Ventures. Back in February, Pensions & Investments reported that the Scout fund was to receive up to $5 million from the state investment council, which manages a $30 billion permanent endowment for the state.
Scout Ventures, based in New York, previously co-led a $7 million investment round for UbiQD, an advanced materials company that is licensing tech from Los Alamos lab and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, according to its website.
The new fund marks the fourth by Scout, which has had a total of 17 portfolio companies find exit deals, according to the company's website. It funnels its money towards various high-tech industries such as artificial intelligence and data science, robotics, advanced materials, quantum computing and cybersecurity.
Locally, the Air Force is also attempting to work with companies in order to solve technical challenges on behalf of the government with the Hyperspace Challenge accelerator, which announced a new cohort earlier this year.
