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Settled by the promoter
Classroom Heroes
Lisboa, PT
instalment
monthly
term
6 months
yearly interest
5%
risk rating
C+
Games that turn classrooms into adventures for everyone.
Description
SPOT GAMES is a Portuguese start-up that develops tools which help teachers to inspire and captivate all kinds of students to outperform themselves and become the heroes of their own histories.
This year, the Spot Games will change the learning experience of over 20,000 students in more than 20 Portuguese municipalities. The company is also taking the first steps in Mozambique, targeting young people without access to schools. With their inclusive design, the discipline syllabuses become adventures where each pupil becomes the hero of their own story, and where each teacher gains a new role in this narrative: they become game masters, who guide their class and respond to the specific necessities of their students, guiding them to surpass themselves.
To measure its impact, the start-up compares the performance of a target group of pupils, to a control one. The impact and educational objectives of each game are determined by partners such as the Portuguese Directorate General for Education or the schools with which it collaborates and receives feedback from the community of gamemaster teachers. Another measurement methodology is based on the perception each teacher has of each tool.
This year, amid the pandemic and the expansion of its operations to cover a universe of over 20,000 students in over 20 Portuguese municipalities (as well as in Mozambique, although at an early stage, with young individuals without access to schools), the company needs to continue heavily investing in the development of the digital versions of its solutions, in order to reach all of those who already and those who will in the future benefit from the unique learning experiences that these games bring to classrooms.
The funds raised through this campaign will be used as a treasury credit line until the company receives the funds it has already raised.
The Impact
Promotion of innovative, more inclusive, interactive and personalized teaching programs in schools:
Teachers from more than 60 schools, from the 1st to the 12th year of compulsory education, have used Spot Games as a way to motivate more than 20,000 students to become the heroes of their own history. In 2021, this teaching method is expected to grow and reach to 100 schools transformed by Gamemasters teachers, as well as expand internationally, with the expansion of SPOT GAMES responses to a group of 1,200 young Mozambicans without access to schools due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Providing engagement tools for teachers, effective in schools of all contexts:
With access to these digital tools, teachers are able to use innovative and more inclusive approaches in the learning process and transform learning experiences in their classrooms. That is why 91% of gamemasters teachers feel that their classes are more fun and 95% say that, with the challenges brought by games, their students are more collaborative. These improvements are felt most dramatically with students in social vulnerability, typically inserted in Priority Intervention Educational Territories (TEIP Schools).
Concrete improvements in the use of different disciplines even in a pandemic period Covid-19:
Regarding the Portuguese language subject, 91% of students who used the Logos game (for 1st year students) demonstrated improvements in written production and 79% of students who used the Aniquir game (for the 3rd year) showed significant improvements in the domains assessed in the 9th grade national Portuguese and Mathematics exams. In Mathematics 96.7% of students who used the SLEP game, demonstrated that it is useful for the development of numeracy and literacy (in the 1st year). Finally, regarding the subject of Citizenship and Development, in a Covid-19 pandemic period, 83% of the students who used the SPOT Citizenship game showed improvement in the acquisition of content and 81% of the students who used the O Nosso Chão game demonstrated improvement in civic and community participation.
Impact Indicators
10.000
people impacted
Contribution to the Sustainable
Development Goals
Sustainable Development Goals
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Financial viability
The company has already captured circa one million euros from social innovation funds (EMPIS 2020) to implement over the next two years, the development and expansion of the project. The loan provided by Goparity will be used to finance treasury needs in the short term, until bureaucratic delays amounting to 6 months are resolved.
At the same time, the business model involving the direct selling of the company’s solutions has been very attractive to local authorities and companies, which buy the licenses for the games and make them available to a network of public schools in different territories. Having adopted a licensing business model involving registered classes, during this academic year, the company has managed to triple its sales year-on-year, with orders to date amounting to over € 80,000 for 2021.
Download Key Investment Information Sheet
Guarantees
This loan shall be granted with a guarantee from a previously raised fund, amounting to € 130,000, and which will need to be transferred by the closure of the 2020 calendar year.
The Promoter
About Epic Student - Associação
Founded in 2018, SPOT GAMES, promoted by Associação Epic Student, is a start-up focused on providing access to quality education. It is one of the resident organizations at Casa do Impacto, an ecosystem of impactful companies promoted by the Lisbon Holy House of Mercy (Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Lisboa). a charitable organization overseen by the Portuguese Government. Spot Games develops gamification solutions for teachers, which support the latter in transforming their schools into Schools of Heroes, and also their classrooms, helping students to find a way to outperform themselves, despite their profile, social background, or academic starting point. With Spot Games, teachers turn into Gamemasters, syllabuses into epic journeys, and students become the heroes of their stories.
The company, SPOT GAMES, was co-founded by Francisco Miranda and Joana Lopes who both have over ten years of experience.
Francisco, graduated in engineering from the Lisbon School of Engineering and Technology and has experience as a strategic analyst in the North American market. Ten years ago, he started a small project in the Bairro Cruz neighborhood in Lisbon, which collaborated with teachers to develop strategies and methodologies to motivate their students on their academic journey. In the context of this project, Francisco has gained a unique in-depth look into the reality of the inclusion problem in Portuguese schools and, as a response, specialized in game and motivation design applied to education.
Joana Lopes graduated in Psychometry Rehabilitation from the Faculty of Human Motricity and Mastered in Social Health Psychology by ISCTE in Lisbon. She has gained experience as a volunteer and association leader in vulnerable contexts, reinforced by her professional experience in social and community intervention projects in schools, shelter homes, educational centers, and the larger community. Through these projects, she has developed skills in the fields of non-formal education, teaching and learning methodologies and promotion of personal and social competencies.
The goal of the project is to bring this transformation to schools across the country – a spot game in each school – seeking to influence not only local governments but also the central government to incorporate this innovation. In addition to this, Spot Games also plans on expanding its international operation, in a first phase expanding to Portuguese-speaking African countries, thus continuing the work it has already started with circa 1.000 young individuals in Mozambique.
Business Model
A SPOT GAMES sells licenses for its games to local authorities and private companies which subsequently make them available to schools, through annual licenses per class cohort. This model has already provided proof of concept and has been able to reach more than 20 municipalities in 3 years, with a customer retention at 100%. The sales, distribution and support processes are completely digital and hence variable costs are now very low.
At the same time, although less representative, Spot Games also provides consulting services in the gamification industry, as was the case in projects developed for the Portuguese Governmental Agency for Administrative Modernisation, the State Secretary for Citizenship and Equality, as Unicef.
Active since
2018
Fiscal country
PT
Operating In
Lisbon
Industry
Education
Number of Goparity Loans
2
Women Shareholders
Yes
Website
https://spotgames.org/Updates
2021-06-15
Project End
This project has successfully reached its payments plan maturity. All investors have received their full capital invested and interest. Nevertheless, its impact will keep growing for many more years!
2021-03-25
Project Update
The promoter has advised that the funds raised have been fully invested on the development of new products such as originally planned. These include the following games: SPOT Interculturality, SPOT Sustainable Development, SPOT Environmental Education, SPOT Gender Equality, "O Nosso Chão" (promotion of engagement and social cohesion) and their new literacy promotion game targeting the primary pupils as part of the promoter's social impact title that they manage in Lisbon.
These new solutions are currently being sold to 10 new municipalities in Portugal, to be implemented in a universe of 30 new schools, this academic year.
2021-01-07
First payment
First instalment was paid to all the investors
2020-12-07
100% funded
194 investors successfully raised 40.000€
2020-11-30
Open for investment
This campaign is open for investment
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