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Venture Acceleration Fund
 The Venture Acceleration Fund (VAF), launched by Los Alamos National Security LLC (LANS) in October 2006, provides investments of up to $100,000 for projects with regional entrepreneurs, companies, investors, or strategic partners to promote technology commercialization, new company formation, and business growth.
The VAF is designed to build on the success of LANL's internally focused Technology Maturation Fund by serving as an externally focused fund to support regional businesses with a Laboratory affiliation. Proposals must be for projects that facilitate the creation and growth of regional ventures based on LANL technology or expertise. For more information see flyer (pdf).
The VAF annually solicits ideas for projects that facilitate the creation and growth of regional businesses based on LANL technology or expertise. (The next call will not occur until 2009.) This process precedes the formal submission of a proposal. If you are interested in participating in this process, please review the selection criteria described
in Call
for Proposals (pdf) and/or contact Belinda
Padilla for additional information.
Six awards have been made to six northern New Mexico startups based on Los Alamos technology:
| Acoustic Cytometry Systems Inc. (ACS), based in Los Alamos, is a biotech startup commercializing a portable acoustic flow cytometer developed at LANL, expected to enhance medical diagnostics in third world countries.
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CIVA, the Company for Information Visualization and Analysis, is commercializing LANL’s epidemiological modeling and simulation system, EpiCast, which helps epidemiologists understand the spread and impact of an avian influenza (H5N1) pandemic. |
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APJeT Inc. is a small, Santa Fe startup that uses atmospheric-pressure plasma technology licensed by LANL for advanced textile finishing applications. The LANS investment has helped the company attract private equity financing. |
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Packet Analytics Corporation, a Santa Fe startup, provides a new security software system based on LANL technology that can collect
an enterprise’s network security information and efficiently analyze millions of network events daily. |
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Knowledge Reef Inc., a recent LANL spin-off based in Santa Fe, is developing a new social networking platform that will enable a new generation of online communities that share a common value—a desire for sharing knowledge. |
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CNT Technologies Inc. is using a LANLtechnology to produce yarns from carbon nanotubes that are the strongest materials ever produced on a strength-to-weight basis. The company plans to produce arrays of carbon nanotubes in its Los Alamos facility and spin them into yarn at speeds hundreds of times faster than any existing approach. |
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