El Mercurio, 03.26.2018
The Chilean undertaking of educational games and simulators for universities and companies carried out its first round of capital, with which it raised US$ 300,000.
The first round of investment closed GameLab, a Chilean enterprise that develops educational games and business and management simulators for universities and job training.
After that, the company not only obtained US$ 300 thousand of capital, but also concretized the incorporation of four new partners that have a vast trajectory in the Chilean economic and business environment. They are Roberto Méndez, former owner and founder of Adimark, along with the founders and former owners of Portalinmobiliario, Cristián Maturana, Francisco Maturana, and Orlando Paratori.
In addition, he has joined the newly formed board of directors of the company Luis Hernan Paul, who serves as a director in traditional companies and other startups such as Cumplo and Khipu.
“Our investors and directors have a great vision and experience in how to grow companies, which is essential for the moment we find ourselves as a startup. In GameLab we are already global players in the development of simulators for higher education, but we are betting to be dominant players,” says Felipe Walker, co-founder and current CEO of the company.
The entrepreneur adds that the capital will be destined mainly to the strengthening of the team, together with the improvement and packaging of its products and marketing.
GameLab is already present in 23 countries and has among its client portfolio universities such as NYU, Columbia, GeorgiaTech, and Northwestern, in addition to companies such as Clorox, The Coca-Cola Company, Marriott Hotels and Sodimac in Chile, among others.
For their part, Roberto Méndez and Cristián Maturana highlight the opportunities presented by entrepreneurship in a market as globalized as the current one.
“With Portalinmobiliario.com we change the way you search for properties in Chile. Today, we see that GameLab has the same opportunity: to change the paradigm of how business is taught in the world,” says Cristián Maturana.
Méndez adds: “I joined GameLab because I see a visionary team in this company, which reminds me of what I saw at Stanford in the 1970s when the idea of using games to teach was just getting started.
Meanwhile, Luis Hernán Paul points out that “GameLab has managed to sell its simulators (business games) for use in courses given at major universities such as Columbia and NYU, which for me is a good sign of the company’s potential for success.
In fact, Walker says that a month before the operation took place, GameLab was recognized by Wharton, one of the leading business schools in the United States, in its ReImagine Education Awards 2017-2018, as one of the best technological education tools in the “Presential Learning” category.