Speeding Up Start-ups in Northern New Mexico

The gap between the early stage funding needs of aand measures cells using acoustic waves that
startup company and the expectations of a typicalconcentrate the cells into a stream for laser analysis.
venture-capital firm can prevent many innovationsMoney from the Venture Acceleration Fund allowed
from growing beyond a concept into a commercialthe company to produce a prototype cytometer
commodity. Because venture capitalists and angelthat is more sensitive, compact, and rugged - and
investors tend to support products and services inless expensive to make - than a conventional
intermediate, less-risky stages of development,cytometer, and these improvements make the
numerous government and academic institutions haveinstrument ideal for medical research in less
created "pre-seed" or gap funds to accelerate thedeveloped parts of the world.
creation of new companies and sustain developing"The technical success of the project has enabled
companies through the research phase so theirACS to grow to eight employees in less than a year
owners can focus on preparing their businesses forand to secure critical seed funding from private seed
later-stage equity investments.investors," said John Elling, the company's founder,
Los Alamos National Security, the public-privatepresident and CEO.
partnership that runs Los Alamos National Laboratory,The other five startups supported by the fund are:
sponsors the Northern New Mexico Connect Venture- The Company for Information Visualization and
Acceleration Fund to support businesses with labAnalysis, created in Santa Fe in 2006 to develop a
affiliations. While such funding is rarely enough tocommercial use for EpiCast, a modeling and simulation
carry a company all the way to profitability, itsystem developed at LANL to help epidemiologists
bestows credibility, public exposure and access tounderstand the spread of avian flu in human
venture firms and allows an entrepreneur to reachpopulations.
critical commercial milestones that demonstrate to a- Packet Analytics Corporation, a Santa Fe-based
potential backer how the company plans to deliver ancompany that developed a computer-security
attractive return on an investment.software called the Network Forensic Search Engine
Taking technology to the peoplebased on technologies developed at LANL. The
Administered through Los Alamos National Security'ssystem centralizes security information in computer
Northern New Mexico Connect program, the Venturenetworks so that security managers can quickly
Acceleration Fund invests up to $100,000 in projectsinvestigate suspicious incidents.
that find commercial uses for technological- Santa Fe's APJeT Inc., which is developing a
innovations and that create or develop regionalmachine that uses atmospheric-pressure plasma
businesses. The Northern New Mexico Connecttechnology licensed by LANL to make textiles
program's mission is connecting entrepreneurs withresistant to water, stains and other substances using
customized resources to accelerate growth ofionized gas rather than toxic chemicals.
Northern New Mexico companies. Since the Venture- Knowledge Reef Systems Inc. of Santa Fe, a LANL
Acceleration Fund began in 2006, the fund hasspinoff that is creating a new Internet-based social
awarded $600,000 to six northern New Mexiconetwork through which people can share knowledge
startups that use LANL-licensed technology, includingand information.
biotech, plasma and computer-modeling applications.- CNT Technologies Inc., based in Los Alamos, which
One startup, Los Alamos-based Acoustic Cytometryproduces yarns using carbon nanotubes. The
Systems, is developing a commercially marketabletechnique produces yarns stronger than other
version of a portable, hand-held acoustic-flowmaterials of equal weight at speeds hundreds of
cytometer invented at LANL. The apparatus countstimes faster than other techniques.