Verge announces its investment in ZTEC Instruments of Albuquerque. The Verge commitment completes a $750,000 financing round for ZTEC, a New Mexico business providing next-generation modular instrumentation products for the $8B Test and Measurement industry. Verge partner Jim Higdon will join the Board of Directors as a result of the transaction. For the full press release, click here. The announcement of the ZTEC investment was featured in the September 27th issue of the New Mexico Business Weekly. To read the text of the story, click here.

Press Release (PDF)

This week’s edition of the New Mexico Business Weekly features a guest column from Verge partner Tom Stephenson. Tom’s column suggests a framework for evaluating Albuquerque’s progress in developing as a “Tech Center.” To read the column, click here.

Verge partner Tom Stephenson presents the “VC Forum” at the Coronado Ventures Forum meeting. The presentation includes an overview of the Fund and its partners, discusses the types of deals in which Verge is looking to invest, and highlights expected trends for technology entrepreneurship and venture capital investing in New Mexico. To view the slides from Tom’s presentation, click here. The Coronado Ventures Forum provides education and networking opportunities for investors and entrepreneurs from around New Mexico, but focuses on Northern New Mexico. For more information about the Coronado Ventures Forum, click here.

Stephenson CVF Slides (PDF)

Verge General Partner Tom Stephenson was the invited speaker to the weekly meeting of the Rotary Club of Albuquerque. The topic of his talk was “Venture Capital in New Mexico: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow.” As one of the longest-tenured venture capitalists in New Mexico, Tom commented on the history of the industry nationwide and here in New Mexico, assessed the current state of the venture capital industry in New Mexico, and challenged the audience to become active participants in the private equity process. For the text and slides from Tom’s speech, click here. The Rotary Club of Albuquerque is a local chapter of Rotary International, the second oldest such chapter in the region. For more information on the Rotary Club of Albuquerque, click here.

Stephenson Rotary Speech (PDF)

Verge Partner Jim Higdon served as the featured speaker at the Technology Executives’ Council monthly breakfast meeting today. The topic of his talk was “Getting There and Lessons Learned.” After his formal remarks, Jim answered questions and led discussion with the group about other lessons from building a high-technology company in New Mexico. For a copy of Jim’s slides from the presentation, click here. The Technology Executives’ Council is co-sponsored by Technology Ventures Corporation, the TVI Workforce Training Center and Science and Technology Corporation @ UNM. For more information on TEC click here

Higdon TEC Slides (PDF)