And it's that tie to Quantum that throws people off about QTV, says Domengeaux. Among other VC firms targeting the storage industry, QTV is assumed to be just another corporate investment arm. When asked for his thoughts about QTV, a senior associate at a big VC says this: "My impression is that they have a strategy of investing a few million dollars in some of the Series B and C rounds for companies they think have good momentum, which can work very well in a rising market."
Domengeaux says he isn't surprised by that attitude. While he acknowledges that QTV has participated in several late-round investments, he says that's not its focus. What people don't understand about QTV, he says, is that it operates completely independently of Quantum. In other words: more like an aggressive VC than a passive corporate investor. Domengeaux adds that QTV is in discussions with other partners about contributing to its fund including, he claims, a "billion-dollar fund-of-funds" that is exploring storage sector investment.
"We tend to be early money, stay through several rounds, and get highly involved in the companies," he says.
As examples of QTV's active approach to its investments, Domengeaux points to Confluence Networks, a virtualization appliance startup, and Z-force Inc., which is making a NAS virtualization device. "We had a substantial impact on the Z-force strategy and business plan," he says. "We are hands-on, operational people that have founded divisions and started lines of business."
Here are the 11 storage startups QTV has invested in (excluding two that are in stealth mode, which Domengeaux declines to identify):
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