WRITER: Alejandro Najera-Acosta, a_najera@nmsu.edu
SOURCE: Carlos Murguia, cmurguia@nmsu.edu
Hamza Badrari, a New Mexico State University student and member of the 2026 Fourth Industrial Revolution Economy (FIRE) Venture Fellows cohort, completed an internship at Builders VC. This venture capital firm is expanding its presence in New Mexico, gaining hands-on experience in early-stage investing. The placement grew out of the professional network of the Hunt Center for Entrepreneurship at NMSU’s Arrowhead Center, which connected Badrari to the firm following his work in the fellowship. Badrari’s internship began May 27, 2026, and was conducted virtually from Las Cruces, New Mexico.
The internship followed Badrari’s completion of the FIRE Venture Fellows program, a competitive, one-semester fellowship housed within the Hunt Center for Entrepreneurship. The program prepares undergraduate and graduate students from the Borderplex region for careers in venture capital, startups, and innovation-driven organizations, combining classroom instruction with applied investment work. Fellows develop skills in market research, startup evaluation, financial analysis, due diligence, and the preparation of investment memoranda and recommendations.
During his time at Builders VC, Badrari’s primary project was developing a comprehensive New Mexico Agriculture Stakeholder Database and ecosystem map. The project involved conducting stakeholder interviews with leaders across industry, research and economic development, including the New Mexico Department of Agriculture. He also completed an in-depth review of SIC meeting minutes from January through May 2026 that surfaced investment trends and reinvestment activity relevant to Builders VC’s fund strategy, and participated in the firm’s weekly Investment Committee and operations meetings.
Builders VC backs founders working to modernize foundational industries, investing in companies that apply technology to complex, mission-critical problems across sectors such as healthcare, construction, agriculture, and industrials. Founded in 2018 and based in San Francisco, the firm has been expanding its presence in New Mexico, where it is building partnerships across industry, national laboratories, universities, and government, while investing in early-stage founders, with a focus on healthcare and agricultural technology. For Badrari, whose own interests include ag-technology and climate solutions, the internship offered direct exposure to how an active venture firm sources, evaluates, and supports the companies it backs.
Badrari came to the fellowship with a strong record in venture building at New Mexico State University. Since 2024, he has worked through a sequence of entrepreneurship programs offered through the Hunt Center, beginning with Studio G, where he earned Explorer and CEO Pathway certifications, and continuing through the Mike Hunt Construction Sprints. He developed SoilCare, a sustainability-focused venture that earned second place in the Bold Idea Challenge, and completed the Aggie I-Corps Impact Launch program, conducting more than 30 customer discovery interviews to test market demand. He also competed in Negotium 2025, a binational competition uniting students from NMSU, the University of Texas at El Paso, Universidad Autónoma de Ciudad Juárez and Tecnológico de Monterrey, where his four-person team’s cross-border venture, Uplex, reached the top eight of more than 80 participants and earned third place. Badrari applied to FIRE Venture Fellows to add formal investment training to that foundation, with interests in ag-technology, climate solutions and infrastructure ventures across the Borderplex region.
Angelica Maestas, who leads strategic partnerships and New Mexico expansion at Builders VC, oversees the firm’s work to connect with founders, institutions and talent across the state.
“Hamza took on the challenge of mapping New Mexico's agriculture innovation ecosystem, and the end result exceeded my expectations,” Maestas said. “He didn't just compile a list of organizations; he built a comprehensive stakeholder database that our team will continue using well beyond his fellowship. It's become a valuable resource for our ecosystem-building efforts and helps us more effectively connect Builders VC portfolio companies with the right partners, customers and resources as they establish a footprint in New Mexico.
“What I appreciated most was that Hamza took real ownership of the project,” Maestas said. “He was thoughtful, thorough and genuinely invested in making sure the final product would be useful, not just complete. He left us with something we'll continue to build on, which is exactly the kind of lasting impact you hope for from a fellowship.”
Carlos Murguia, director of the Hunt Center for Entrepreneurship, said placements like Badrari’s reflect the Center’s strategy of connecting students from southern New Mexico and the Borderplex to the firms and networks shaping the innovation economy.
“When our students step into firms like Builders VC, they carry the talent of this region with them, and they come back with the experience and connections that strengthen the ecosystem we are building here,” Murguia said. “Hamza’s internship is exactly what FIRE Venture Fellows was designed to make possible. It turns classroom training into a real pathway into venture capital and gives students from New Mexico and the Borderplex a seat at the table.”
The FIRE Venture Fellows program is part of the Hunt Center for Entrepreneurship’s broader effort to expand access to early-stage capital and experiential learning across the region. By connecting fellows to internships at venture capital firms and partner organizations, the program extends its learning model beyond the classroom and links students to investment communities across the Borderplex and beyond.
For more information about the FIRE Venture Fellows program or the Hunt Center for Entrepreneurship, contact Carlos Murguia at cmurguia@nmsu.edu or visit https://arrowheadcenter.nmsu.edu/program/fire-fellows/.