London-based Pixaera, an immersive game-based learning platform has raised $5.7 million in early-stage funding. The funding consists of two rounds – $1.2 million of pre-seeding and $4.5 million led by early-stage EMEA investor LocalGlobe (that invested in KOOS, Ark Kapital and Noala).
The founders of FACEIT, the leading competitive gaming platform for online multiplayer games, also participated in the round alongside ERM, a leader in the renewable energy services sector, and York IE.
Plans to advance its product
Pixaera will use the investment to bring the standard and engagement of high-quality games from the world’s best studios to the professional world. The funding will be used to expand Pixaera’s leading team of gaming and software developers, and to further advance the product.
Mousa Yassin, founder and CEO said: “We’re going through a transition. Video content is losing market share to interactive 3D worlds . A younger generation has grown up online, as familiar with gaming as with a classroom setting and they know which they prefer. By replicating the fun and absorbing nature of gaming, we can transform how professionals learn and connect with one another across all sectors and industries, with huge implications for productivity and business success.”
Ziv Reichert, partner at LocalGlobe said: “Our belief is that learning through ‘play’ is vastly more effective than learning through traditional educational formats. Playing is doing, playing is experiencing. The immersiveness of the medium creates real-lasting memories, which, in an educational context, translates directly to knowledge retention, retention that far outweighs that of video or text based learning. It is also fair to say that learning through gaming is significantly more enjoyable and that is not to be underestimated. There is now a whole generation of gamers entering the workforce who have grown up immersed in ‘play’ and will certainly opt to learn that way.”
Brainchild of avid gamer!
Pixaera was founded in 2020 by avid gamer and industry veteran Mousa Yassin. Through his time playing the likes of Final Fantasy, World of Warcraft and more, he saw how gaming teaches players vital skills ranging from problem-solving, to creative thinking, teamwork, and goal-setting, while being incredibly engaging.
Yassin’s ambition is to provide intuitive and simple tools for all experts, in any field, to build and deploy high-quality immersive 3D experiences as familiar and effective as the worlds of Minecraft and Roblox to a large ecosystem of professionals
“I started to wonder why the gaming industry, being so sophisticated and technologically mature, had not considered building for the corporate and professional world. There was such a gap between how players learn and collaborate organically and fluently in successful games, with the more old-school, unengaging learning experiences we have all been through as employees – even in roles where the stakes are high,” said CEO Mousa.
‘Roblox for Enterprise’ platform
It was built to bring the power, fun and emotion of online games like Roblox and Minecraft to the professional world. It helps some of the world’s largest businesses upskill their workforce more effectively and efficiently. Proving that VR and immersive training are more effective than traditional methods, it brings a new paradigm to professional development in the workplace.
Instead of making employees watch long training videos, or attend real-word, often expensive training exercises, Pixaera offers a growing catalogue of experiential VR and PC-based games. Each module is built using Pixaera’s development tools to address global training needs in safety, leadership, mental health and technical topics in a highly scalable way.
The product is being used by companies including Shell, GE, BP and more. To date, thousands of employees have used Pixaera’s immersive learning games to hone their skills, and 98% of these participants said they prefer Pixaera to any other training in their field.
