Roadrunner Venture Studios, the upstart Albuquerque organization backed by America's Frontier Fund, announced the first three ventures it wants to help grow into successful startup companies during a showcase technology forum at Albuquerque's Wool Warehouse Theater on Tuesday.
Those three ventures fall into different industries — advanced manufacturing, hydrogen production and vaccine storage technology. They are:
- Fab.AI: A startup that wants to leverage the power of artificial intelligence (AI) to help design and fabricate products.
- Hydrosonics: A hydrogen-related startup developing an electrolyzer-based technology to reduce the cost and footprint of producing green hydrogen.
- Inaedis: A startup working on a way to transport vaccines and other biologics by converting them into room-temperature stable powder.
The three startups will have access to a range of services through Roadrunner Venture Studiosas portfolio companies, including access to experienced advisors, customer discovery assistance, engineering and legal support and help with fundraising efforts.
As well, the startups will be able to use laboratory and office space at Roadrunner's headquarters, located at 701 Spur St. NE in Albuquerque's Innovation District.
"Our team spent the last six months diving deep into over 250 deep tech ideas, conducting hundreds of hours of due diligence, and getting to work with some of the world's smartest entrepreneurs and scientists," Roadrunner's Head of Business and Strategy, Mike Chieco, said in a statement. "That process and these companies have helped us build strong conviction that our model not only works but creates tremendous value for New Mexico, investors, and the country."
Luis Chavez, Ph.D., the founder and CEO of Hydrosonics, came up with the idea behind the electrolyzer technology while at Los Alamos National Laboratory. He plans to leave the lab in the coming weeks to develop Hydrosonics full time.
Max Mezhericher, Ph.D., is currently a research scholar at Princeton University who's previously invented technologies surrounding thermally sensitive materials and liquid atomization technology.
Differently from Chavez and Mezhericher, Michael Howard, the founder of Fab. AI, has a range of previous experience operating and exiting companies. He was the CEO of MariaDB (NYSE: MRDB), an enterprise software company that went public on the New York Stock Exchange in 2022, and also worked as the chief marketing officer for Greenplum, a data science firm, and as the CEO of two other companies — Ingrian Networks and Outerbay.
Roadrunner Venture Studios, which is backed by a $10 million investment from national tech-focused venture firm America's Frontier Fund, is charged with finding promising technologies at national laboratories and research universities in New Mexico and to help nurture them into successful startup companies. The studio had an initial showcase event in Albuquerque in late June and held a technology forum in Albuquerque on Tuesday, which brought venture capital firms and startup founders from across the country to New Mexico to update the community on the studio's progress so far.
The studio is based out of a 10,000-square-foot mixed-use space at Glorieta Station, which has been built and developed with the assistance of a number of local firms.
