Venture Funding Program Bearing Fruit for Local Startups in New Mexico

It’s been a very good year for Reis Robinson. InLight Solutions, Robinson’s company, will have landed a combined $25 million in venture capital by the close of the year.

Robinson is among a group of entrepreneurs who have seen the fruits of a more than 10-year-old piece of legislation designed to stimulate the local technology economy. The legislation, passed in 1994 allowed a portion of the state’s investment funds to be used as a matching base for venture capital firms with an "office in New Mexico." (quotes deliberate). "An office" had a broad definition for a while. It meant anything from a junior employee with a desk at the Science and Technology Park in Albuquerque, to a guy who flew in once a month to attend Coronado Ventures Forum, a meet-and-greet for entrepreneurs and investors held in Santa Fe. Now, though, several firms have full fledged offices and multiple full time employees (Disclosure: Flywheel Ventures, one of those with employees, is an investor in New West). The energy around venture investing in New Mexico is finally real, and finally showing some vibrancy. We’re still no Sand Hill Road, but we might be Sand Hill two-track dirt road.

By Emily Esterson New West Network

Full Story: http://www.newwest.net/index.php/main/article/3544/