From Precient to Spatial to PlanetCAD to Avatech to Autodesk and TDCi

Avatech Solutions today sells its Proof Positive software and intellectual property to Autodesk for approximately US$1.9 million. Proof Positive is quality assurance software that checks Inventor MCAD models against customer-defined standards.

Avatech cannot develop competing software for two years. Proof Positive is based on PrescientQA, which was originally acquired by PlanetCAD from Prescient Technologies (a subsidiary of Stone & Webster).

PlanetCAD was renamed from Spatial, after the ACIS-half of Spatial was bought by Dassault Systemes. Through a reverse buy-out, PlanetCAD took over Avatech, and then changed its name to Avatach -- along the way avoiding a hostile takeover by PCD Investments -- so that Avatech could go public. AVSO shares currently trade at 55c.

Avatech kept PrescientQA for high-end CAD systems, like CATIA, Pro/E, and UGS, and then spit off Proof Positive as the version for mid-range systems like Inventor. Avatech sold the PrescientQA product to TDCi UK in 2003, and now has sold the other half to Autodesk. (Actually, the story is more complex; this is the simple version.)

In its most recent financial quarter, Avatech reported a net loss of $0.8 million on revenues of $6.7 million. Its net assets were -$6.4 million at the end of Jun '04. Avatech is the largest Autodesk dealer in the United States.

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