A New Model for Deep Tech Collaboration: Announcing the Roadrunner Venture Consortium

By Adam Hammer, Co-Founder & CEO, Roadrunner Venture Studios

For the past two years, Roadrunner Venture Studios has been quietly building a new kind of venture organization in New Mexico. Backed by the New Mexico State Investment Council and America’s Frontier Fund, our work with Los Alamos, Sandia, and leading universities to transform breakthrough research into companies has led to a new kind of insight.

Today, we’re proud to announce a new pillar of that insight: The Roadrunner Venture Consortium (RVC) is a new initiative that brings together some of the most respected names in Silicon Valley – Airbus Ventures, At One, Crosslink Capital, Khosla Ventures, Lux Capital, and Playground Global – to work directly with Roadrunner Studios and our partners at UP and Antler in New Mexico. This is not about writing checks. These funds are committing time, attention, and real partnership to help commercialize deep technologies at their source in New Mexico.

The Consortium is built around a simple but overdue idea: early stage deep tech requires a unique model for bridging the gap between founders, scientists, and investors. The Roadrunner Venture Consortium will meet this need. We will curate intelligence on the best research and science in the state and around the country. In return, our members will engage directly with scientists, participate in technology reviews, and help promising founders understand the roadmap of going from concept to company.

Over the past two years, Roadrunner has reviewed more than 2,000 emerging technologies – many of which are the basis for entirely new markets and capabilities. We’ve worked with founders creating energy systems (https://www.bizjournals.com/albuquerque/inno/stories/profiles/2025/01/26/meet-los-alamos-spin-out-hydrosonics.html), industrial robots (https://www.axios.com/pro/climate-deals/2025/05/19/nexterity-geometra-lindsey-elliott-pipeline-robot), and new ways of delivering pharmaceuticals. What we’ve seen again and again is that the science is here; what’s missing is structured acceleration, early-stage capital, and a commercialization model that meets the moment.

That’s what the Consortium provides, and why it matters so much.

This initiative validates the model Roadrunner has built, and even more importantly, it signals that venture capital is evolving. Investors are increasingly recognizing that the traditional VC playbook isn’t tailor made for early-stage deep tech. It needs new structures, new geographies, and new levels of commitment. The RVC is a step in that direction and a sign that leading firms are willing to roll up their sleeves and do things differently.

We’re especially proud that this brings opportunities closer to home. For the exceptional scientists and engineers working in places like Albuquerque, Santa Fe, and Carlsbad, the path to breakthrough historically meant uprooting and relocating to coastal tech hubs. That’s no longer a requirement. Through the Consortium, we’re creating a direct pipeline between local innovation and national organizations so scientists can build transformative companies without leaving the ecosystem that originally spurred their discoveries.

America’s global competitors are investing in emerging technologies to advance not only their economies but also geopolitical influence. Meanwhile, the U.S. risks falling behind in the critical space between research and commercialization. That’s the space Roadrunner was built to fill. With the Consortium, we’re building a national coalition to do it at scale.

The Roadrunner Venture Consortium isn’t merely a new initiative or even a regional bet: it’s a new blueprint for the future models of collaboration that will develop the next generation of deep technologies in America.

If you’re a researcher working at the edge of what’s possible, or an investor looking to deepen your engagement in early-stage deep tech, we want to hear from you.