NM office of science and technology official makes move to venture capital firm

See Correction/Clarification at end of article

Alex Greenberg has always dreamed of working in venture capital. Now, the former director of the state's Office of Science and Technology gets to realize that dream. This week, Greenberg started work as a managing director at a California-based venture capital firm.

That firm, CerraCap Ventures, wants to set up a satellite office in Downtown Albuquerque this year to facilitate more investment activity in New Mexico. Greenberg first met the firm during a meeting in early 2022 between the state and CerraCap, which wanted to expand its presence in the state.

Based in Costa Mesa, Calif., CerraCap invests in health care, cyber security, enterprise artificial intelligence and planet-tech, Greenberg said. These areas align with a few "target industries" where New Mexico wants to focus investment.

"As director of the science and technology office, I worked with bioscience, intelligent manufacturing, cyber security, aerospace and sustainable and green energy, [so] the intersecting Venn diagram is a huge portion," Greenberg said. "It's the same sort of sectors of technology and a lot of the same stakeholders and community partners."

Greenberg, whose last day as director was Feb. 17, said that technological potential through New Mexico's national labs and research expertise at the state's universities motivated CerraCap to explore market opportunities in the Land of Enchantment.

CerraCap is currently raising $100 million for its third venture fund. It invested $4 million in Albuquerque-based 3D Glass Solutions' Series B round in November 2021, and it led a venture round for Albuquerque-based Robotic Skies in February 2020, per the firm's Crunchbase profile.

Greenberg started as director of the Office of Science and Technology in December 2021. He replaced Myrriah Tomar, who currently leads the Office of Innovation Commercialization at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology.

Albuquerque Business First recently spoke with the former director to hear about the highlights from his time as director, what he wishes he could have done more of and why he's excited for this new role.

This interview was edited for brevity and clarity.

Albuquerque Business First: Looking back at your time as Office of Science and Technology director, what do you think has been the highlight or the most gratifying thing about getting to work in that role?

Alex Greenberg: It's just the job itself. I think I had the most fun job in the [economic development] department, if not all of state government, getting to work with entrepreneurs wanting to commercialize innovations for the public good and science and tech companies. I've always been a big science and technology nerd, so seeing innovations in health care, cyber security, 3D printing, aerospace and then sustainable and green energy systems has been really exciting.

What do you think your impact has been as director? First is working on the State Small Business Credit Initiative 2.0. Getting necessary stakeholders online has been just a really long process, so it's exciting to see it sort of really get ready to take off. I think it's going to be a transformational opportunity for New Mexico. Similarly with the hydrogen hub initiative.

But I think the work I'm most proud of is the grants we've been able to administer. It's just really exciting to see both the promise of those companies and the milestone progress that the founders are making themselves, and how strong a sampling and cohort those companies represent.

Why do you feel like now is the time to move on and step into a new role? Working in economic development gave me (a) great appreciation for the impact that startups and new technologies could have on a region. I want to continue being involved and helping those companies succeed, and hopefully, in a venture capital role, helping them in a more substantial way.

Tell me about this satellite office a little bit. What kind of work [is CerraCap] going to be bringing to New Mexico with that satellite office? They want to establish a satellite office in Downtown Albuquerque [to] have good proximity to some of the labs and to [Central New Mexico Community College], UNM, UNM Rainforest, and to see what opportunities might be there to really establish a footprint in the state. New Mexico is special in that sometimes it really requires having boots on the ground to be a meaningful part of the community, and they're committed to that mission.

What would you say you're most excited about in stepping into the new role at CerraCap? If I hit the lottery tomorrow, I would want to be a venture capitalist getting to invest in companies that can deliver innovation and the potential for bettering society and our planet. There are a lot of problems out there, and a lot of those challenges can only be addressed with new technologies, new innovations. I think the promise of bringing those technologies and innovations to market is by far the most attractive thing about venture capital for me.

Looking back again, is there anything that you wish maybe that you could have done more of or done differently? I wish that there could have been a larger budget for executing more grants. The grant cycle of the twenty-plus companies we were able to award is only probably one-tenth of the total [number of] companies that applied for grants. So I think if there was some more grant capital for that small-stage financing that it'd be really beneficial.