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In the late 1990s, while Quantum3D was starting up, venture capitalists were busy investing in dot-coms and telecom. There was little interest in a company that made visual simulation training hardware for commercial and defense customers.
Now Quantum3D is one of the few inhabitants left on the South San Jose office park where it has its headquarters.
"I like it," says co-founder Ross Smith. "The commute's a lot easier now."
Getting attention is a lot easier now, too.
Quantum3D turned a profit last year and expects to generate between 30 percent to 50 percent more revenue in 2002. Its technology will be used for several new defense projects now on the fast track after Sept. 11. And having just sewn up a $20 million venture round, the company is starting to get calls from investment bankers, talking about an initial public stock offering within the next 18 months.
But this is not a victory for the big VCs on Sand Hill Road. Among the investors in Quantum3D still in business, there are no big, brand name firms. A handful of small to mid-sized VCs invested in it in 1997 when it was spun out of another valley start-up 3dfx, acquired by Nvidia. in 2000.
Quantum3D managed to raise another round in November of 1999, and just completed a...