Earlier this year, New Mexico Inno picked out 10 startups we thought were set for big things in 2024. As the year ticks past its midpoint, we plan to catch up with those Startups to Watch that have yet to capture headlines over the past eight months. (Some, including Spiritus, Karoo Health, VastVision.io and Flow Aluminum, have already made news this year.)
First up is El Paso-based FundMiner, fresh off a new funding round.
In early July, FundMiner, an El Paso-based financial technology startup, closed its latest round of funding, totaling $2.5 million.
Market growth and expansion are the focuses of the new investment dollars, Chelsea Lamego, FundMiner's CEO, told New Mexico Inno. The startup has a software platform various organizations — from higher educational institutions to nonprofits to health care entities — can use to manage existing dollars and ongoing fundraising efforts.
Higher-ed institutions, in particular, were FundMiner's "beachhead" market, Lamego said — a term used to refer to a startup's first customer segment. But the El Paso company has, since launching its platform in 2023, "organically" grown into other markets, like health care and community foundations.
Nonprofits, faith-based organizations and arts and cultural bodies are some other market segments FundMiner envisions expanding into thanks in part to the new investment.
"When it comes to barriers to expanding to other markets, it's really a bandwidth issue," Lamego said. "If you think about the health care segment, for example, making sure that we have sales talent that is speaking that language, and when we're in other markets talent that is focused and concentrated on those particular areas."
Alejandro Stevenson-Duran, FundMiner's chief product and technology officer who co-founded the startup alongside Lamego, said adding more employees on the product and engineer side of the company will be a big part of increasing its bandwidth for expansion. FundMiner is working with an El Paso-based human resources firm called Build It to help fill positions.
FundMiner currently has five positions open and anticipates more hiring as additional clients are brought on board, Lamego said. That includes a mix of different roles — from sales and customer success positions, to full-stack engineers and data integration specialists.
Customer growth has come fast throughout 2024, with the startup more than doubling its customer count this year, Lamego added. Its first few clients were regional, but she said its customer base has expanded nationally and internationally, too, with sales starting in Canada.
Feedback from its customers has informed how FundMiner has updated its software platform. Stevenson-Duran said while fund management and compliance is the startup's "bread and butter," customer feedback has pushed the company to improve its impact and financial report processes.
"The way we're thinking about it is we're focusing on sustainability and profitability," Stevenson-Duran said.
Nonprofits across a range of industries are a particular focus area for FundMiner as it continues to scale, he added.
