Report finds large returns from State Investment Council program

A revamped program under the State Investment Council has created more economic impact in the past year than it has in any year since its inception.

This month, the SIC released a 64-page report, the first on its Strategic Venture Capital Program, showing over $1.8 billion in commitments to various venture funds. The agency supported more than $2 billion in economic impact through companies like Pacific Fusion, XGS Energy and Castelion Corp. expanding into New Mexico. 

“All of those are massive projects from companies that aren’t headquartered in New Mexico, but they’re all building substantial facilities here and making substantial investments and commitments to the state,” said Chris Cassidy, SIC director of private equity and venture capital. “I think that’s what everybody actually wants to achieve.”

The Strategic Venture Capital Program was spun out of the New Mexico Private Equity Investment Program, which the SIC had been running since 1990, Cassidy said. Originally set up under statute, he said it was considered a differential rate investment program focused on companies headquartered in the state. 

Cassidy said the program’s limitations were “unrealistic,” and its performance continued to prove unsustainable as it did not create good financial returns that aided the SIC in funding government services and education. So much so that in the last session, the Legislature considered shutting it down completely. 

“I think it’s fair to say that as New Mexico’s sovereign wealth fund, we should, where possible, try to help tilt things in favor of New Mexico with the investments we make and be strategic,” Cassidy said. “The practical nature is that (the) statute has some flaws in it that limited the opportunity for the state generally.”

The Strategic Venture Capital Program allows the SIC to partner with venture capital funds to deliver a “double-bottom” line of financial returns and economic growth in New Mexico through companies committing to building a presence in the state. 

Jon Clark, the state investment officer, said the report aims to serve as a mechanism to “get out additional word about those projects, but also our involvement with them.” 

“Even if people had heard about these projects, they may not be aware that the state’s sovereign wealth fund is investing in them and that we’re part of the reason why they’re here,” Clark said.

Under this new strategy, Clark said he’s “never seen this level of momentum” in his 20 years of New Mexico economic development work. The report highlights SIC-backed venture funds like Anzu Partners, a top investor in XGS Energy, which last year announced it is partnering with Meta Platforms Inc. to build a geothermal power plant in northwestern New Mexico.

The report also highlights the SIC’s funding commitment to Lightspeed Venture Partners — a lead investor in Castelion’s recent $350 million funding round. The hypersonic missile manufacturer broke ground on its 1,000-acre Sandoval County facility on Wednesday. 

“There’s still a lot of this money that is going to be put to work, going to be invested in other companies, but we’re already seeing more money getting invested in New Mexico than we sent out the door,” Clark said. 

The SIC manages New Mexico’s sovereign wealth fund, which recently ballooned to $71 billion. One of the largest funds in the U.S., the agency returned $2.6 billion to the state’s operating budget in 2025, the report said.

By 2032, the SIC projects the sovereign wealth fund will be worth $100 billion and that it’ll return $38 billion to the operating budget over the next decade. 

“There are a lot of questions from New Mexicans about how we’re using the $71 billion that we manage on behalf of the state, and one half of the story is the incredible amount of money that we send back to the state each year,” Clark said. “But the other part of the story is how we’re investing in New Mexico and putting this money to work every day — that’s this program.”

Of the venture capital funds the SIC has committed to, the report shows the agency has put $80 million across UP.Partners branches. This includes $20 million toward UP.Abundance, an arm of the firm focused on New Mexico opportunities that launched in October.

UP.Abundance looks to invest in companies that want to establish a presence in New Mexico. The fund focuses on sectors like deep tech, climate resilience, advanced energy and aerospace defense.

“This industrialization moment is key to a lot of our discussions, like companies that have grown up elsewhere, largely California, but all throughout the world, and telling them about the things that make New Mexico really appealing,” said Brian Adams, a co-founder and managing partner of UP.Abundance.

Those things, Adams said, include the availability of nondilutive funding from state agencies, the opportunity to create partnerships with national labs and workforce expertise in focused sectors. 

“We’re really trying to meet founders where they are and say, ‘Hey, here’s this massive New Mexico opportunity,’” said David Ellmann, UP.Abundance co-founder and general partner. “We just continue to be blown away. The timing is just really, really good for all these different elements.”

Pacific Fusion, a California-based nuclear fusion energy company that will build its $1 billion research and manufacturing campus in Albuquerque’s Mesa del Sol, was one of the first companies to be included in UP.Abundance’s portfolio. 

UP.Abundance has held community events at Pacific Fusion offices and around the Bay Area, which Ellmann said is starting to build a “self-reinforcing ecosystem” of founders advising other companies to consider expanding into New Mexico. 

That relationship building, especially between the SIC and its venture partners, is “incredibly important” to the program’s mission, Clark said.

“They’re the ones on the ground searching for companies here to fund or searching for places to bring companies,” Clark said. “We can’t be everywhere all at once, so it’s really important that we have that connection.”

Hannah García covers tech and energy for the Journal. You can reach her at hgarcia@abqjournal.com.