D-wave is a great example of a company in the class described. Founded in 1999, they didn't ship their first quantum computer until 2011. However, they were abl

D-wave is a great example of a company in the class described. Founded in 1999, they didn't ship their first quantum computer until 2011. However, they were able to show progress along the way, solving sub-challenges and as a result were able to raise many rounds of funding before ever shipping a product. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/D-Wave_Systems http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/D-Wave_Systems