Albuquerque, New Mexico (December 5) -- Roadrunner Venture Studios today announced that three companies will form its first cohort of breakthrough ventures. fab.ai, Hydrosonics, and Inaedis will all enter Roadrunner’s Albuquerque studio and build alongside the studio’s team of company creators.

“When we launched our first ideas search, we promised our investors, New Mexico, and the country that we would build companies that would change the world,” said Roadrunner Head of Studio Adam Hammer. “Today, we welcome three ventures to the studio who will do exactly that. These founders are fundamentally altering the nature of manufacturing, unlocking affordable green hydrogen, and revolutionizing how vaccines are delivered and stored for better access.”

Roadrunner provides portfolio companies with a suite of services ranging from access to experienced advisors, customer discovery, product roadmapping, engineering support, legal services, HR and recruiting leadership, fundraising support, and lab and office space at the studio’s headquarters in downtown Albuquerque.

“Our team spent the last six months diving deep into over 250 deep tech ideas, conducting hundreds of hours of due diligence, and getting to work with some of the world’s smartest entrepreneurs and scientists,” said Roadrunner Head of Business and Strategy Mike Chieco. “That process and these companies have helped us build strong conviction that our model not only works but creates tremendous value for New Mexico, investors, and the country.”

fab.ai

fab.ai is the world’s first LLM for advanced manufacturing. The company’s mission is to leverage the power of AI to help people of all backgrounds, both novices and experts alike, design and fabricate products with optimized results. fab.ai will bridge the divide between vendors and end-users, especially in additive manufacturing (3D printing), to print more efficiently, create higher yields, and increase customer satisfaction.

Michael Howard

Before joining Roadrunner as an entrepreneur-in-residence, Michael Howard was the CEO Of MariaDB, which he took public on the NYSE in 2022. While at MariaDB, Michael raised over $150m in funding from global strategic investors (Intel, Alibaba, and ServiceNow), led the acquisitions of MammothDB, Clustrix, and Cubewerx, and drove revenue from $3m to $53m ARR. Before MariaDB, Michael was the CEO at C9 (ML-based forecasting), the CMO of Greenplum (data warehousing and data science), and the CEO of Ingrian Networks (security) and Outerbay (Information Lifecycle Management). He was also the VP of the internet division at Veritas and VP of data warehousing at Oracle, where he led the acquisitions of Thinking Machines, OneMeaning, and Carleton Corporation. Michael studied computer science and Slavic languages and literature at the University of California, Berkeley.

“I joined Roadrunner as an entrepreneur-in-residence after a long career as an enterprise software CEO,” said fab.AI CEO Michael Howard. “I signed up knowing that a studio with roots in deep tech would be the only way to beat established players at their own game. Adam Hammer, Steve Weinstein, Mike Chieco, and the whole Roadrunner team have already been important in starting our work to bring AI to manufacturing.”

Hydrosonics

Hydrosonics enables the deployment of resilient on-site hydrogen production. Using proprietary external stimulation, Hydrosonics controls the electrode chemistry in liquid alkaline electrolyzers, enabling increased hydrogen production while operating under dynamic conditions of renewable energy sources. Electrolyzers that incorporate Hydrosonics will be able to reduce costs and footprint, making green hydrogen affordable and accessible for all applications, including off-grid and remote operations.

Luis Chavez

Luis is the founder and CEO of Hydrosonics, a company that is creating a more equitable future by enabling the widespread production of affordable and accessible hydrogen. Prior to Hydrosonics, Luis was a researcher at Los Alamos National Laboratory, where he developed electrochemical and acoustic systems, and recently participated in the University of California-Los Alamos National Laboratory Entrepreneur Postdoc Accelerator. He holds a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Texas at El Paso. Luis has been the co-author to 20+ scientific publications and patents, and his work has been cited 750+ times. Luis is a first-generation immigrant, loves playing soccer and going on hikes with his wife, Xochi, and their dog, Kevin.

“I am very excited to join Roadrunner Venture Studios, where we will continue building Hydrosonics,” said Hydrosonics founder and CEO Luis Chavez. “This partnership will allow Hydrosonics to disrupt the hydrogen industry thanks to Roadrunner's state-of-the-art facilities, industry network, and company creation resources. New Mexico is home to the brightest minds in science and engineering, and with Roadrunner we now have the right partner to turn the state into the epicenter of clean energy innovation it deserves to be.”

Inaedis

Inaedis is disrupting the cold chain logistics by addressing the unmet need of thermal stabilization of heat and freeze-sensitive vaccines and biologics at room temperature. Inaedis provide thermal stabilization by converting liquid biologics into room-temperature stable powder by using a proprietary Rapid Room-Temperature Dehydration Technology (RTAD).

Max Mezhericher

Max Mezhericher is a research scholar at Princeton University. He is a professional research scientist with a PhD in Mechanical and Chemical Engineering with 10+ years of experience in international research and development. Max is the inventor of a room temperature process for the dehydration of thermally sensitive materials and the inventor of new liquid atomization technology. Max is also experienced in analytical mathematical modeling of multiphase transport phenomena, computational fluid dynamics, numerical simulations, experimental research and data analysis in Mechanical, Chemical and Nuclear Engineering.

“I decided to partner with Roadrunner because of the strategic vision, focus on impact, and the impressive team they gathered to help companies like mine,” said Inaedis founder Max Mezhericher. “Eliminating the cold chain by commercializing life-saving, high-quality powdered vaccines is complicated work. We needed the best partners in the world to accomplish our mission, and I believe we found that in Roadrunner.”

About Roadrunner Venture Studios: Roadrunner Venture Studios is a company creation factory. We co-found breakthrough deep-tech ventures with the nation’s most brilliant scientists, engineers, and innovators. Our team gets involved at the earliest possible moment — often when a company is just a whiteboard scribble, a concept modeled in wire-frame, or as founders are puzzling through how to design a pitch deck or process payroll — and rapidly accelerates product development, commercialization, and recruitment. We are the ultimate company “starter-kit,” equipping our portfolio companies with everything they need to go from the kernel of an idea to a venture-backed growth engine. Our promise is clear: our founders leave our studio with a company, a check, a customer, and a team.

Media Contact: John Rich, john@touchdownstrategies.com