Cohort successfully completes Scale Up NM’s Venture Funding Sprint for tech startups

Original Article | Carlos Murguia | cmurguia@nmsu.edu | November 10, 2023

The Scale Up New Mexico program, funded in part by the United States Economic Development Administration and housed at New Mexico State University’s Arrowhead Center, recently saw its 2023 cohort successfully complete the Venture Funding Sprint.

The accelerator program, designed to empower New Mexico’s tech startup founders with the knowledge and skills required to raise capital successfully, achieved significant milestones and empowered promising startups to make meaningful progress toward their fundraising efforts.

Venture Funding Sprint is one of several modules under Scale Up NM, a suite of startup support programming for businesses navigating early-stage technology development. After an extensive selection process, 15 New Mexico-based startups comprising the 2023 cohort embarked on an intensive journey of mentorship, education, and networking.

Over six weeks, the startups benefited greatly from the guidance of a diverse group of mentors and industry experts. These experienced professionals provided hands-on assistance by sharing their knowledge and insights, helping the startups with different aspects of fundraising. This included gaining a better understanding of terminology and financial instruments, engaging in negotiations with potential investors, and creating the necessary tools and materials to attract investment.

“We are thrilled to see our participants now well-prepared and in a prime position to initiate meaningful conversations with potential investors, increasing their odds for a successful fundraising journey,” said Carlos Murguia, Scale Up NM program manager. “Sharing fundraising best practices is crucial for empowering New Mexico's entrepreneurs”.

The startups in the group represented a wide array of sectors, including climate, energy, space, biotech, health, medical devices, telecom, agriculture, beauty, artificial intelligence, and more. Their groundbreaking ideas and technological innovations have the potential to revolutionize their respective industries.

“In New Mexico, the convergence of diverse investors, experts, and perspectives within accelerators is the key to unlocking the full potential of our entrepreneurial community,” said Dana Catron, deputy director of Arrowhead Center. “It’s the catalyst that fuels innovation and paves the way for successful capital raises, ultimately driving our state’s economic growth and prosperity.”

Venture Funding Sprint established an energetic environment for participants to engage with experienced entrepreneurs, establish valuable connections with advisors, and foster relationships with potential angel investors and venture capitalists. This dynamic atmosphere accelerated their journey toward success in the tech industry.

“I found this sprint a great introduction into the venture funding world. Each resident mentor and guest speaker brought a perspective rooted in their motivations and experiences in the field. I benefited from the relaxed, open, and in-depth discussions that followed their presentations. I’ve gained more insight into the venture funding world in the few weeks of this sprint than I had all of last year,” said Thomas Raymond, chief scientific officer at Scintellite.

“There was great presentation structure depth and participation for a variety of startups with different levels of comprehension, and a very open format for beginners to advanced founders to get the basics while providing the sense of commitment required,” said John Cole, CEO and founder at Muezbiz.

“Participation in Arrowhead Center’s Venture Funding Sprint helped to stabilize our compass which was pointing randomly as if we were at the north magnetic pole. The comprehensive program content and the expertise and value of the advisors made available to us, were exceptional. The difficult search for the high-funding amount needed for our hard-tech opportunity to advance has been an erratic walk, which now, with clearer direction, we aim to turn into a sprint towards success,” said Jack Lovell, co-founder at IRP Technology.

For more information about Scale Up NM contact Murguia at cmurguia@nmsu.edu or visit https://arrowheadcenter.nmsu.edu/program/scale-up-new-mexico/.