Biba Ventures Inc. has raised $1.3 million in pre-Series A funding led by Leonite Capital LLC with participation from Greg Zeschuk, co-founder of BioWare, and Jason Kapalka, co-founder of PopCap Games.
Vancouver based Biba is turning playgrounds across North America and beyond into smart playgrounds that re-engage parents and children through its augmented reality games and mobile apps. Biba announced the opening of 1,000th Biba playground.
With a general decline in physical activity amongst children and a corresponding increase in screen time, Biba’s mission is to re-orient the screen fixation of today’s youth through its suite of augmented-reality enhanced mobile games that encourage physical activity on the playground. Any playground can be brought to life with a collection of Biba’s augmented reality markers that attach to playground equipment in less than fifteen minutes. The markers unlock new content within the app that brings the playground to life when scanned on the parent’s smartphone.
“I spent most of my career developing games that kept children on the couch for hundreds of hours,” said Greg Zeschuk. “With Biba, I feel that I’m giving back to the world by making games that encourage children to go outside and get physical. Biba’s games are not only fun and interactive, but really help children play harder and longer.”
“Playgrounds have been around for decades, and Biba is taking an innovative approach to not only make them more attractive to families, but more useful to cities,” said Siegfried G. Eggret from Leonite Capital. “We support their mission and believe this technology should be integrated into all playgrounds.”
The funding comes during a time of substantial growth that will push the company forward and help pave the way for future cities to adopt the innovative technology.
“The funding will be used to fuel R&D, create more games, and install more Biba playgrounds across the world,” said Matt Toner, CEO of Biba. “When it comes to making an impact on childhood fitness, we’ve taken on a big mission. Our games help create a fun environment that today’s children look forward to on the playground, while easing some of the challenges today’s parents face when it comes to raising healthy kids.”
photo credit: Biba Ventures