UNM startups post patent gains but face funding gap

UNM Rainforest Innovations sees patent growth, but funding gap persists

Startups like TS-Nano are struggling to find investors at home

The University of New Mexico’s Rainforest Innovations, a technology transfer and economic development organization, said it has seen increased growth in intellectual property development, invention disclosures and patent filings.

During fiscal year 2026, which runs from July 2025 through June 2026, Rainforest Innovations fielded 103 invention disclosures — initial filings with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office — and startups associated with the nonprofit also filed 61 new U.S. patent applications, 36 of which were issued.

Government funding is not hard to find for many of Rainforest Innovations’ companies, which often work with the state’s national labs, said Lisa Kuuttila, president and chief development officer for Rainforest Innovations.

In an interview, Kuuttila said the nonprofit, which has been operational since the mid-1990s, is charged with the important task of entrepreneurial economic development — which has broader ramifications for state efforts to create more robust private markets across sectors.

“The university can really best help the state by helping it create jobs from startups,” she said.

Indeed, there’s no lack of innovation occurring in the university’s offices and labs. But what happens when Rainforest Innovations’ startups enter into private markets?

New Mexico only has a few publicly traded companies. And not a whole lot of private capital is flowing from New Mexico-based venture funds that can help Rainforest Innovations’ early-stage startups.

Kuuttila said the New Mexico State Investment Council’s efforts to invest in venture capital firms that invest in New Mexico-based companies have helped bring private capital to the state. Albuquerque-based Tramway Ventures invests in early-stage startups, including those associated with Rainforest Innovations. The investment group New Mexico Angels has also helped UNM innovators get into private markets.

But, Kuuttila said, the state needs more investors like that.

“It’s a little harder for our startups to access (early-stage capital) quite frankly because (investors) are not willing to take the risks that you have to take to invest in one of these baby companies,” she said. “So a lot of them get their funding from out of state because of that. We don’t have enough seed capital in New Mexico right now.”

Mahmoud Reda Taha, a distinguished professor and regents’ lecturer in the University of New Mexico’s Department of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering, said Rainforest Innovations’ help with patenting technology for his startup, TS-Nano, has been fundamental to its recent success. In particular, Rainforest Innovations helped the startup secure a patent for technology that seals abandoned oil wells.

TS-Nano manufactures the technology — which Sandia National Laboratories helped develop — out of the Bioscience Center. But the startup is looking for a larger location in Albuquerque as it secures deals with oil and gas companies. Since its launch, TS-Nano has used the technology to seal 66 wells in oil fields in the Permian Basin, Canada, Alaska, Pennsylvania and the Gulf of Mexico, Taha said.

“What we manufacture is polymers on steroids,” he said. The polymers can seal hairline cracks on the abandoned wells, thereby preventing leaks of gases such as methane.

The startup has so far scored grants from the New Mexico Economic Development Department and the U.S. Department of Energy totaling more than $1 million. Rainforest Innovations staff helped introduce TS-Nano founders to an entrepreneur club, of which Taha said he was unaware. Eventually, TS-Nano found an investor who provided $1.5 million.

But as TS-Nano looks to raise more money to bolster the number of products it sends to companies operating in far-flung locations such as Malaysia and West Africa, Taha said it is not finding it in the Land of Enchantment.

“There’s of course, scaling-up challenges and things like this to meet very big production, which now we do,” Taha said. “Our goal for the company is to be an international player in this area.”

Kuuttila said New Mexico’s geography — far away from large investment firms on the coasts — could explain why the state lacks investors. But there is still risk for any investor to sink money into the types of early-stage companies that grow out of Rainforest Innovations.

“I think if the SIC did invest in more early-stage VC firms, that would help,” she said. “I think that focusing where our state is investing is important.”

In total, seven new startups formed with the help of Rainforest Innovations in FY26, according to the nonprofit’s annual report.

They include: High Biopharma, which is creating a therapeutic drug for chronic pain management; Vertical Longevity Pharmaceuticals Inc., which is developing a vaccine; Accessibility NextGen Inc., which develops software; Aetherion Inc., which is working on small and micro nuclear reactors; and SELA Photonics, which is developing high-power semiconductor lasers for quantum technology systems.

Kuuttila said some companies take up to 10 years to get to market. But the effort is worth it because these startups are “a benefit to the whole state.”

Justin Horwath covers tech and energy for the Journal. You can reach him at jhorwath@abqjournal.com.