New Mexico
New Mexico’s sovereign wealth fund is investing $50M in a bet that scientists will build startups in Albuquerque
In downtown Albuquerque, New Mexico, Adam Hammer is showing me around the building of his newly-launched venture shop, called Roadrunner Venture Studios—an old mattress factory turned open-air office space where he hopes he can convince scientists, engineers, and deep-tech founders to come and build companies.
Hammer walks me over to a wall to the left of the front door—pointing to a graphic of technologies or companies that had their roots right there in New Mexico, but then moved elsewhere once they started to scale. Microsoft is the prominent example: Bill Gates and Paul Allen started building their first microcomputer in Albuquerque before they moved the company to Bellevue, Wash. so they could be closer to the West Coast’s talent pool.
“What we’re trying to do is continue a legacy here in New Mexico of bold ideas— imaginative people,” Hammer says. This time around—he’s hoping his team can convince founders to stay.
Roadrunner Venture Studios is the first venture studio spinoff of America’s Frontier Fund (AFF), the venture capital arm of the policy and education-focused non-profit that is funded by the likes of Mark Cuban, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, and PayPal cofounder Peter Thiel. Roadrunner is the first of a series of studios AFF plans to scatter across the country, with the intention of helping scientists or researchers from national, university, or corporate laboratories get capital, recruiting help, and the resources they need to turn their work into viable commercial products. Behind it all is a mission to ensure that the U.S. continues to be dominant in innovation.
Nathaniel Paolinelli/Courtesy of Roadrunner Venture Studios
Albuquerque is where things will start—in part because of its proximity to Sandia National Laboratories, Los Alamos National Lab, the Air Force Research Lab, and the University of New Mexico. But also because the state’s sovereign wealth fund, the New Mexico State Investment Council, two weeks ago agreed to invest $50 million as an anchor check into Roadrunner’s first venture capital fund, approximately $20 million of which will go directly into Roadrunner itself. The sovereign wealth fund, which just started making venture capital investments a few years ago and has invested in deep tech-focused funds like Lux Capital, Playground Global, and Anzu Partners, has asked these funds in limited partner agreements to at least look at companies based in New Mexico. In the case of Roadrunner, it’s asking the studio to build companies in New Mexico.
“I obviously wanted it to start here, and was willing to anchor the fund to make sure that occurred,” says Chris Cassidy, who oversees the private equity investments of New Mexico’s sovereign wealth fund.
The premise of Roadrunner is to bridge the gap—what Hammer calls the “valley of death”—between the technology being invented and funded in laboratories in New Mexico and elsewhere, and turning the projects into commercially viable companies. Right now, Roadrunner is working with labs like Nokia Bell Labs, the University of Michigan, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Roadrunner’s new general partner, Mike Mettler, who is joining Roadrunner as part of this new fund, was out at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California last week, Hammer says, meeting directly with scientists and assessing which ideas might be ready for company creation. Hammer is hoping to get various stakeholders on the same page, from local municipalities and state governments to other venture capital firms. He touts Hydrosonics, one of the studio’s first three companies, which is building electrolysis technologies to enable affordable hydrogen fuel. Hydrosonics’ founder, Dr. Luis Chavez, had been a researcher at Los Alamos National Laboratory before starting a company with Roadrunner last year.
“We met Luis in one of our scouting trips,” Hammer says, explaining how Chavez moved to Albuquerque, set up shop here and within a year had raised approximately $875,000 in venture capital as well as non-dilutive funding from the Economic Development Department.
Gilman Louie, the CEO of America’s Frontier Fund who formerly ran the CIA-funded investment firm In-Q-Tel, says that Roadrunner Venture Studios is part of the investment side of AFF’s business, and that there is “no crossover” and “no financial interest” between its non-profit donors, including Schmidt, Thiel, or Cuban. “All of our philanthropy is kept separate from all of our for-profit activities,” he says, noting that Roadrunner will be squarely focused on working with scientists who need capital.
The problem with any kind of new studio or venture capital firm is that it can take a long time—sometimes a decade—to actually deliver meaningful results or returns. In the near term, SIC’s Cassidy will be monitoring how many companies and how much talent moves to Albuquerque as a result of Roadrunner and is hopeful that Albuquerque, with its renowned Christmas chile sauce and more affordable real estate, can have a startup scene that takes off—and sticks around—too.
“What we’re trying to do is build this center of gravity here,” Hammer says.
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New Mexico
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New Mexico
Five takeaways from Michigan State basketball’s win over New Mexico in the NCAA Tournament
For the second time in the 2025 NCAA Tournament, Michigan State basketball took a major punch in the first half from a feisty opponent but was able to pull away in the second half. In the Round of 32, the Spartans beat New Mexico 71 to 63 after going into halftime down to the Lobos.
Below, you can see our three key takeaways from the game:
Tom Izzo adding Coen Carr to starting lineup in the second half was brilliant
After heading into halftime down two to New Mexico, the Spartans emerged in the second half with a different opening lineup. Tom Izzo made the decision to switch out Jaxon Kohler for Coen Carr at power forward. There was one very clear reason why he did this: Mustapha Amzil. Amzil went off for 12 points in the first half when being guarded by Kohler, so Izzo put one of his lockdown defenders, Coen Carr, in the game to shut him down. Amzil only scored two more points the rest of the game, and Coen Carr added eight points, six rebounds, and a massive block along with his defense.
MSU’s veteran guards lead the way
In a night where freshman phenom Jase Richardson struggled from the field, Michigan State was carried on the offensive end by their veteran guards Tre Holloman and Jaden Akins. Those two led the Spartans in scoring with a combined 30 points, hitting the Spartans’ only made three-pointers on the night.
Frankie Fidler was a hero for MSU in this win
Frankie Fidler might not be the 20-point-per-game scorer some hoped to see this year, but he has been a vital piece off the bench, routinely helping the Spartans find some steady scoring when things get tight. While he hasn’t shot the ball well this year, he has found a great role in the offense with his willingness to drive to the basket and draw contact. Fidler had 10 points in this one.
Carson Cooper might deserve a starting spot
No matter what, I know that Carson Cooper will end up getting minutes every game with the way MSU uses their center rotation, but I am starting to wonder if Cooper has earned a starting spot for the rest of the tournament. He is very active on defense, sets good screens on offense, and has been rebounding the ball really well (he had a team-high eight rebounds against New Mexico and nine rebounds against Bryant). It might be time to give him the honor of starting the game at center.
I am not worried about Jase Richardson
Jase Richardson had one of his worst games as a starter against New Mexico, only scoring six points on 1-for-10 shooting. However, I am not concerned about Richardson. For one, he scored 15 points against Bryant and looked unbelievable in the second half of that win. But I also think it was clear that New Mexico was overplaying Richardson, and playing him very physically, to try and make other Spartans beat them instead. Even as he struggled to make shots, Richardson played a huge role in putting New Mexico in foul trouble, as the Lobos ended up committing twice as many fouls as MSU.
Contact/Follow us @The SpartansWire on X, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Michigan state news, notes, and opinion. You can also follow Andrew Brewster on Twitter @IAmBrewster.
New Mexico
Is Richard Pitino related to Rick Pitino? Everything to know of New Mexico, St. John’s coaches
Rick Pitino and John Calipari address media after round of 32 showdown
Rick Pitino and John Calipari address media after Arkansas beat St. John’s in round of 32 of the NCAA men’s tournament — VIDEO: NCAA
Sports Pulse
While legendary coach Rick Pitino and St. John’s were eliminated from the men’s NCAA Tournament with a loss to Arkansas in the second round on Saturday, it’s not the end of the Pitino name in 2025.
Rick Pitino’s son, Richard Pitino, is looking to be the only double-digit seed to reach the Sweet 16 as the head coach of New Mexico. The 10-seed Lobos are hoping to upset 2-seed Michigan State.
Richard Pitino has actually been coaching for quite some time now, as the 42-year-old coach was also the head coach of FIU from 2012-13 before coaching Minnesota for eight seasons. Richard Pitino has been with New Mexico since 2021 and has led the Lobos to back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances.
New Mexico defeated Marquette 75-66 in the first round, and Richard Pitino is looking to advance a round further than his dad in 2025.
Here’s everything to know about the father-and-son coaches in the NCAA Tournament:
Are Rick and Richard Pitino related?
Yes, St. John’s coach Rick Pitino and New Mexico coach Richard Pitino are related, as Rick Pitino is Richard Pitino’s father, if it wasn’t obvious by the coaching chops and similar names.
Rick Pitino was also in attendance for the Lobos’ second-round game against Michigan State on Sunday night.
Richard Pitino was an assistant under his father in two different stints at Louisville, serving as an assistant coach from 2007-09 and later as the Cardinals’ associate head coach from 2011-12. In between he served as an assistant coach under Billy Donovan at Florida from 2009-11.
Richard Pitino coaching record
Here’s a look at Richard Pitino’s year-by-year record in college basketball:
- 2012-13 (FIU): 18-14
- 2013-14 (Minnesota): 25-13 (NIT Champions)
- 2014-15 (Minnesota): 18-15
- 2015-16 (Minnesota): 8-23
- 2016-17 (Minnesota): 24-10 (NCAA Tournament Round of 64)
- 2017-18 (Minnesota): 15-17
- 2018-19 (Minnesota): 22-14 (NCAA Tournament Round of 32)
- 2019-20 (Minnesota): 15-16
- 2020-21 (Minnesota): 14-15
- 2021-22 (New Mexico): 13-19
- 2022-23 (New Mexico): 22-12 (NIT first round)
- 2023-24 (New Mexico): 26-10 (NCAA Tournament first round)
- 2024-25 (New Mexico): 27-7
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