SIC Likely Has Indirect Investment Exposure on $5.55 Million Seed Money to Company Founded by Governor’s Former Economic Secretary
On July 21, 2026, as reported in an article published in PR Newswire, Apaluma, Inc., “announced the closing of its $5.55 million seed funding round led by Crosslink Capital and Kickstart, co-led by Haven Ventures and Overwater Ventures, with Orange DAO and NM Vintage Fund as additional pre-seed and seed investors.”
Apaluma is a company founded in 2024, by Alicia Keyes, the former Secretary of the New Mexico Economic Development Department.
Keyes served as Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham’s Economic Development Department Secretary from 2019 through June of 2023.
Keyes is also the CEO of Apaluma.
As previously reported in The Candle, in April of 2025, New Mexico Environment Department Secretary James Kenney directed his senior leadership to develop an amendment to another company’s contract to add Apaluma to the contract for the purpose of developing a ‘front-end’ to the digitized unstructured content for use by his department.
Kenney also signed another contract in June 2025, that dictated the inclusion of Apaluma and key associates of the company to be the major participants in a contact totaling more than $977,000.
Apaluma also received approvals for job training grants in excess of $200,000 between November of 2025, and the Spring of 2026, from the economic development agency she previously headed, which is now led by Economic Development Department (EDD) Secretary Rob Black.
According to information from the EDD, Apaluma Inc., of Albuquerque, received an award of $50,750.88, in November of 2025, and another $92,637.12, in January of 2026. And in the Spring of 2026, Apaluma was approved for another $69,367.72. The training awards were to offset costs related to employee trainings for five positions in the company.
The Candle emailed the New Mexico State Investment Council asking if it had invested in Apaluma, Inc., either directly or indirectly.
Charles Wollmann, the Chief Communications Officer for the SIC, wrote back,
“I don’t have official reports thus far that would indicate we are invested in Apaluma, but given the press I’ve seen, we probably are.”
Wollmann continued, “I have seen some of the write-ups about Crosslink X and Crosslink Endeavor II funds being investors in the Apaluma investment round, so logic would dictate that the SIC, as investors in those Crosslink funds (2023 vintage), is going to have indirect investment exposure to the company.
“Private market investment reporting is lagged by 1-quarter, so there may be some reporting on it when Q3 reports are complete.”
In the press release published in PR Newswire, a Crosslink Capital spokesperson offered the following:
“We invest in founders who understand a problem from the inside,” said Gabby Contro of Crosslink Capital. “Alicia ran economic development for the state of New Mexico. She has sat at the nexus of sustainability and development. That firsthand insight is what convinced us that Apaluma can solve this long-fragmented problem for regulators and businesses.”
The Candle emailed Apaluma early this morning, seeking an opportunity to speak with Ms. Keyes or an authorized spokesperson, but have not yet received a reply.
More reporting to follow.