VentureXplore eyes partners for simulation games in entrepreneurship

When Vivek Singh quit his job as a software developer to join a grooming programme by the Gujarat government’s incubation centre iCreate, he had set out with a single objective — becoming an entrepreneur.

However, the lack of complete knowledge in pursuing entrepreneurial dreams among like-minded peers gave him a sure-shot business idea of developing entrepreneurship tools in the form of simulation games, board games and comic books at VentureXplore.

“I realised that entrepreneurship interests a lot of people but they lack complete knowledge about it,” said Singh, who founded VentureXplore in October 2013.

Today, the Ahmedabad-based startup VentureXplore has come out with computer-based simulation games as well as board games that train users in entrepreneurship.

Priced at Rs 349 per CD ROM, 'Entrepreneurship Saga' is a 70 minute single player computer-based simulation game that exposes multiple stages of entrepreneurship through associable animated characters. On the other hand, Rise of Preneurs is multi-player board game which is priced at Rs 1999 whereas 'PreneurToons' comic books are priced at Rs 250, wherein each page is filled with entrepreneurial insights through engaging caricatures.

The start-up, which develops games that train users in entrepreneurship, has tied up with Amazon for marketing its products even as it plans to market it across the country through more partners.

"We just want to take entrepreneurship as a niche and create products around it. We have already tied up with Amazon and are in talks for more such licensing partnerships for our products, especially the simulation games and board games," Singh said.

Having raised an initial round of funding from iCreate of Rs 20 lakh to start the project, VentureXplore has been able to sustain itself by developing the products in-house. Moreover, it is now looking to continue to fund its operations through boot-strapping.

What began as tools being used for workshops conducted at educational institutions on entrepreneurship later turned out to be B2C products now being marketed online through VentureXplore's own website as well.

"Looking at the excellent response from more than 10 workshops conducted with the students of IIT Jodhpur, IIT Gandhinagar, Nirma University, and DAIICT and the pouring demand of wanting to purchase the board game led us to take the product B2C. With an intention to reach out to whole nation we will be selling through E-commerce portals as well as through leading game shops," Singh added.

Meanwhile, the startup has already sold around 100 units of board game and 200 simulation game CD ROMs, even as it expects to ramp up sales by increasing its marketing channels.