From sensors to near-space technology, Los Alamos Demo Day showcases developing tech

SANTA FE — As rain tapped on the roof of the Santa Fe Farmers’ Market Pavilion, Kyle Guin held up a sensor no bigger than his fingertip to a room of investors and entrepreneurs.

“Tiny little sensors,” he said, “and a big impact.”

Guin, CEO and co-founder of VastVision — a Sandia National Laboratories spinout — builds smart inventory and asset tracking systems. He was one of more than a dozen entrepreneurs presenting Wednesday at Los Alamos Demo Day, an annual showcase that features cutting-edge work in hard tech, advanced materials, energy security and manufacturing.

But the event is more than a science fair. It connects early-stage companies with investors and industry leaders who can help scale the technologies.

“Let us foster an ecosystem where collaboration thrives, where groundbreaking research transitions seamlessly into real-world application, and where the brightest minds are empowered to solve our most pressing challenges,” said Farrah Harris, technology transfer program manager with the National Nuclear Security Administration.

Guin is in his first year as a fellow with the New Mexico Lab-Embedded Entrepreneur Program, or LEEP, which transforms deep-tech startups into investable, scalable companies.

With the help of the fellowship, Guin is developing MagTag, a tiny, multi-capability sensor that functions in harsh environments, including nuclear and radioactive settings. For example, one use of the tech is monitoring the stability of nuclear energy and preventing incidents, Guin said.

“We’re multi-modal, we’re tiny, we’re non-invasive and we have a native technology ecosystem that all of these sensors can exist (in), giving us that holistic view of our physical world,” he said.

Guin described the technology as a key component to keeping America a frontrunner in advanced computing and software systems, amplifying power systems to stay competitive with foreign adversaries.

“The problem that keeps us awake at VastVision every single night is, ‘How do we take the efficiencies and the automation that our digital intelligence has brought us and apply that to our physical infrastructure?’” Guin said, “so that we can bridge the two together and make a much more autonomous, efficient world.”

The work is all happening in New Mexico. Guin said VastVision recently signed a lease for a 4,500-square-foot research facility in Albuquerque to expand its sensing fabrication lab and in-house development.

VastVision has so far raised $1.6 million in nondilutive funding and about $375,000 in angel funding, Guin said, and is considering a potential fundraising round in the future.

Another Demo Day presenter, Ben Schafer, is scaling frontier technology in the skies. The co-founder and CEO of Rarefied Technologies, Schafer leads a team of three in Albuquerque working on sensor and propulsion tech for near space — the atmospheric region too high for planes and too low for satellites.

It’s difficult to collect weather data, conduct telecommunications or predict and deter national security threats in near space, Schafer said.

“So what’s our solution? … In near space, there are layers of aerosols that actually move up when the sun is shining against gravity, and they use this mechanism to stay aloft indefinitely,” he said. “My co-founder and I in grad school ask the question, ‘Could you use this force to fly something bigger than an aerosol?’”

The answer? Yes. And the timeline for deploying the tech? Next summer.

Essentially, a high-altitude balloon will release a platform in the atmosphere, where it will fly around for days or months, depending on its size and weight, collecting data, Schafer said. At the end of its lifecycle, he said, the platform will disintegrate into nontoxic mineral dust.

“This kind of data collection is really important for people in meteorology and being able to predict the risks of adverse weather, and that affects a ton of downstream industries like aviation, transportation, even insurance,” he said.

Schafer said Rarefied Technologies will open up a funding round early next year as it approaches its pilot phase, which he aims to complete within two or three years.

Beyond that, he said, the technology could mature to conduct telecommunications or even explore Mars since the devices work in low-pressure environments.

“We have a unique value proposition over all the comparable aerospace hardware,” Schafer said.

Moving even deeper, beyond the atmosphere, another entrepreneur highlighted the evolution of his space technology after going through LEEP.

At one point, Scott Ziegler was 3D printing prototypes out of a garage. Now, co-founder of Space Kinetic and a LEEP graduate, he has developed an advanced prototype out of the company’s Albuquerque facility.

The company is focused on using electromagnetic technology to move things around on the moon and in space and aims to demonstrate the work in 2026 and 2027 with orbital trajectory launches, Ziegler said.

“That’s what’s so cool about innovation and technology, where we start with something that can work on the lunar surface, that now can work in space and help solve these difficult national security priorities,” he said. “And that really helps us not only change how we view the market and how we view commercialization, but also how we as a startup approach our customers and give them the best solution possible.”

Harris urged everyone listening to the presentations throughout Demo Day to consider the far-reaching implications of the entrepreneurial pursuits.

“These initiatives prove that LEEP works, helping deep tech entrepreneurs bring great new technologies to market faster, with greater impact,” she said.