Many startup companies go through different iterations — especially those working with fast-moving technologies like artificial intelligence. Such has been the case with RS21.
Earlier this year, RS21 brought a pair of well-known tech leaders in New Mexico to its executive team when Dr. Mark Epstein and Matthew Ennis, Ph.D., joined the Albuquerque data technology company. Those hires came as several people who had served in leadership positions exited the company, including the former chief technology officer and the head of its nationally recognized Health Lab.
Now, with new executives on board and a recent market boost for one of its technology offerings, Charles Rath, RS21's CEO, sees growth on the horizon.
"We consider this the third phase of RS21," Rath told Albuquerque Business First during an interview with the company's exec team this month, "which is really focused on scale, both nationally and globally."
A big part of that third phase could revolve around growing the company's Space Prognostic AI Custodian Ecosystem, or SPAICE, platform. It's an AI-powered tool to predict satellite failures using telemetry data and anomaly messages.
That platform was accepted into the Tradewind Solutions Marketplace, RS21 announced Tuesday. That marketplace is essentially a digital storefront for different technologies that could be used by the U.S. Department of Defense. Acceptance to the marketplace allows the department to procure the SPAICE platform "without having to go through a lengthy, competitive procurement process," Rath said in a statement.
The CEO told Business First he's "extremely bullish" on the SPAICE platform. There are estimates that about 60% of satellites fail prematurely, Rath said — the platform could help solve some of those failure cases.
But space isn't the only domain where RS21 sees future expansion. Another aspect of the company's new phase is turning its data-backed technology offerings into more commercial products.
Those products could reach overseas — eventually.
"We're certainly interested globally, but there's a lot to happen within the U.S.," Ennis, who joined in April as RS21's chief product and strategy officer, told Business First. "What I'm really excited about are the partnerships, the team that we're growing and frankly some of the product opportunities that we'll talk to you about another day."
Its past and existing partnerships include those with the University of New Mexico Comprehensive Cancer Center, which RS21 partnered with in August 2021 to build an "integrated informatics system" the company said at the time, and the Colorado Water Conservation Board on a tool to track that state's changing water supply. RS21 also has ongoing work with the Bernalillo County District Attorney's Office to build a crime tracking platform called Quaro, which is supposed to improve the prosecution of violent crimes and repeat offenders.
The White House also tapped RS21 for a presentation on its work with the Texas-based Wellness Equity Alliance in using data to figure out where best to place Covid-19 vaccination clinics in El Paso.
"The solutions are so empowering, they have the potential to be so empowering for the organizations and leaders we're serving," Epstein, who came on as RS21's chief medical officer, told Business First. "That empowerment is contagious."
RS21 is headquartered in Downtown Albuquerque, and Rath told Business First the company has "no plans to move at this point." The company is also hiring for around one dozen positions and recently brought a second recruiter on board to help with that process.
"The work of RS21 is going to define the legacies of the people in this room," Rath said. "We want to be New Mexico's first unicorn from a technology perspective."
Earlier this month, the company pulled in a $3 million chunk of venture capital through Thayer Ventures, a San Francisco-based venture firm, to help reach that goal. It was the company's first external investment.
"Thinking about when we started, there was always really big dreams about where we could go as a company and what we could do," said Missi Rogers, RS21's chief operations officer, who's been at RS21 for nearly seven years. "So, I see this investment and this next phase as really an opportunity to realize our full potential."
