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Who are the competitors of TinyTap (www.tinytap.it)? For each: 1. Any business metrics? 2. What is the differentiation between it and TinyTap? 3. Who are their investors, and what's the latest round?
Overview
Tiny Tap is a game sharing platform created in 2012 where kids can play thousands of games created by teachers or even create their own personalized educational games to share with others. These games can also be published as apps in various mainstream commercial platforms such as ITunes or Google Play and their contributors can earn money from them. Tiny Tap is suitable for kids, parents, teachers, book authors, organizations and many other groups. The company has recorded its last round of investment in June 2017 and has eight investors including Radiant Venture Capital, Shaula Alexander Yemini, Reinvent Venture Capital, Inimiti, Hugh Cullman and Animoca Brands Corporation. The company has so far raised a total of $4,050,000.
Tiny Tap competitors
The company is active in the educational app market. There are numerous companies in this industry and the ones selected in this research are the ones that offer the closest products to Tiny Tap, such as apps that allows kids to create games by learning. Companies that have been acquired by major multinationals such as Apple, Microsoft or IBM have also been omitted from the list of competitors. As these companies are all private, they do not disclose their revenues but some of them have been estimated. Below are four main competitors of Tiny Tap. They are also listed in the attached document.
TinyBop
TinyBop is a company that makes educational apps that have received numerous awards, from Parent's magazines, the American Association of School Librarians, and the App store. It has won IPAD app of the year in 2015 for its app Robot Factory, Best App for Teaching and Learning for another app called "The Everything Machine", and Best App for Families for The Human Body app.
The main difference with Tiny Tap is that TinyBop offers a large variety of learning apps, that cover many areas such as the human body, animals, science and so on. They are split between interactive model apps that allow kids to learn about a subject and digital toys apps that allow them to build and play with their digital constructions.
The company was founded in 2011 in New York and raised funding from two lead investors Sandbox & Co and Brooklyn Bridge Ventures as well as four other investors: KEC Ventures, RRE Ventures, Two Sigma Ventures, and Kapor Capital. The last round of investment was held in January 2017 and the total amount of investment raised since 2011 is of $6,000,000.
Pixel Press
Pixel Press is a company offering a technological platform that allows users to build their own game. One of their educational games called Bloxels has been listed in 2016 in the Toy Industry Associations Best Toys of the Year award list. Their revenue has been estimated at $413,047 and it has a workforce of around 16 employees.
Pixel Press shares some similar aspects with Tiny Tap as it allows the creation and sharing of games online. Where it differentiates itself from Tiny Tap is in its concept of mixing the real and physical world and the digital dimension by using digital cameras. In this way, it opens up a new exciting space to explore for players.
The company founded in 2013 in St-Louis, Missouri, has one lead investor called Chaifetz Group and four other investors: co.lab, Hal Gentry, Capital Innovators and Bodley Group. The last round of investment took place in June 2015 and the total amount raised since 2013 by the company is $932,150.
GameSalad
GameSalad is a company that provides a game development platform that allows students to learn and create games without the need for coding. It has been successful in powering over 75 games that have been ranked in the top 100 rankings of the App Store, including reaching some number one spots. Its revenue has been estimated at $3 Million.
GameSalad gives the possibility to create games without coding, and also to commercialize them in various platforms such as ITunes or Google Play. Its aim is to introduce programming and computing skills to kids. It differentiates itself from Tiny Tap in the way that it is more focused on computing skills than other skills.
It has been founded in 2007 in Austin, Texas, and counts three lead investors and 11 other investors. The top or lead investors are Mercury Fund, Steamboat Ventures and Draper Fisher Jurvetson. The others are FF Venture Capital, Greycroft, Draper Associates, The Social Internet Fund, Tom McInerney, Paul Bricault, Paige Craig, Frontier Venture Capital, Upfront Ventures, Josh Resnick, and Launchpad LA. GameSalad has raised a total of $7,175,000 since its foundation, with the latest round of investment having taken place in September 2016.
tynker
Tynker is a company providing a platform to create computer games and helps kids learn coding skills from an early age. The revenue of the company is estimated at $3 Million and the number of employees at 20.
The main difference between Tiny Tap and Tynker is that it is more focused on teaching programming and computing skills through creating games whereas Tiny Tap games are not only focused on programming but cover a broader spectrum of games.
It has been founded in California in 2012 and received $10,350,000 of funding since then, with the last round held in May 2016. The company has 12 investors: Cervin Ventures, Relay Ventures, New Ground Ventures, Krishna Bharat, GSC Acceleration, Felicis Ventures, Reach Capital, New Enterprise Associates, 500 Startups, XG Ventures, NewSchools Venture Fund, and GSV Capital.
Conclusion
The educational game industry to which Tiny Tap belongs is very competitive with a multitude of companies and startups fighting for market share, some of them having already been acquired by giants such as IBM, Apple or Microsoft. Companies like Tynker, GameSalad, Pixel Press and TinyBop are similar and still independent, and constitute the main competition for Tiny Tap. All their information can be seen in the attached document.