Hubro Education: bring modern simulations to the classroom
iCrowdNewswire -
Apr 7, 2015 2:04 PM ET
Hubro Education
Help us bring modern simulations to the classroom
Hubro Education delivers a web-based business simulation which gives students a deep and intuitive understanding of business economics and managerial accounting courses through practical experience.
Hubro Business Simulation
Product development with leading Norwegian universities
We have had the pleasure of collaborating with and pilot-testing at three Norwegian universities: The Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), The University of Nordland (UiN) and The Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU). This has given us the experience and feedback needed to focus our product development on the needs of our users and customers. We are running our last pilot test of the Hubro Business Simulation at NTNU in march-april 2015.
About us
“We will offer the worlds most efficient digital learning tools for business economics, accounting and management courses within higher education, and become a leading provider globally.”
In January 2013 our team started working with the need for modern learning tools, and a new kind of business simulation. The initiative came from associate professor Tim Torvatn, at the Institute for Industrial Economics and Technology Management at NTNU. Together with him we established the NTNU spin-off company, Hubro Education AS. We have come a long way since then, and in the end of April we will finish our last pilot test. By then 1300 students have tested our simulation and it will be launched in the Nordic market this fall.
Our team has a common drive to move forward towards our goals, to collaborate and to push through tough periods. And by bootstrapping, we have been able to keep our costs down, while still spending our hours prioritizing the company. This has led ut to where we are today: Ready to bring our solution to the market.
You can read more about our team-members and advisors in the side-bar, or by visiting our web-page or blog.
Our story and future milestones
The market
The higher education market
The most accessible markets are those that accept the simulation with english language. Numbers of students are collected from SSB, Eurostat and IES, and financial potential has been deduced from our business model.
Norway – 75 284 annual users – 7,5 million NOK market
Nordic – 367 519 annual users – 36,8 million NOK market
England – 681 833 annual users – 170,5 million NOK market
US – 5 616 126 annual users – 1 404 million NOK market
Selling simulations to higher education
In the Nordics, each course most often have a pre-decided budget of about 15 000 NOK. To lower our entry barrier, we have set a package price of 15 000 NOK for a basic simulation in one course. Further we can add on special content, providing an extended version of the simulation for an additional fee. Hence, by providing a low package-price we can adopt customers at a higher pace, and gain returning and increasing revenue by providing the extended version of the simulation.
In the US and UK, on the other hand, the students pay a licence fee individually. Thus, if a lecturer in these countries wants to use the simulation, he can do so without having to convince his superiors to pay for the simulation.
In short, purchasing norms in the US and UK make these markets far more profitable than the Nordic market.
Edtech: educational technology in the rise
Education is adopting more and more technology, leading to the rise of the educational technology industry, or edtech. Investments in edtech have grown fast recent years, and peaked last year at $1,87 billion in the US. Though the US is leading the development with dedicated incubators, news sources and investment groups, edtech is getting attention in Europe aswell.
Firms like It’s Learning, Kahoot! and Sqore are among the best known edtech ventures from the Nordic countries, but Hubro Education aims to join them as the face of Nordic edtech with global ambitions.
Use of funds
By investing in Hubro Education, you will help our development in three areas:
1. Launching the Hubro Business Simulation in the Nordic countries. Following the pilot test at NTNU this spring, we will begin selling the simulation in the Nordic countries. This process will be time consuming, but getting a large group of reference customers will be vital before going global.
2. Preparing for launch in the US. The first steps towards entering the US is finding partners to help us conquer a beachhead market. Our beachhead will be the educational capital of the world, Boston, so this fall we will go there for 3 weeks to partner up with potential agents and other necessary resources.
3. Preparing the Hubro Business Simulation for scaling. Up until now, our focus has been on the experience of the user. However, the simulation must work flawlessly for 100.000 students at once. Developing such infrastructure will be a priority following the pilot test at NTNU.
Join us!
During the next year we will enter some of the larger educational markets, such as the US and UK. By supporting us in this crowdfunding campaign, you’re funding our first step into these markets, as well as launching the Hubro Business Simulation in the Nordic market!
We hope that you want to be a part of growing both Hubro Education and the Norwegian contribution to the edtech industry. Join us now!
TEAM
Monica Novik Tennfjord
CEO and Co-founder
M.Sc from NTNU School of Entrepreneurship. Monica is well-organized and good at prioritizing our efforts, always pushing the team to reach our goals. Her varied background enables her to contribute in many parts of our business, and as a doer she makes sure that things get done when needed.
M.Sc from NTNU School of Entrepreneurship. Emil is the energetic spirit of the team, who always have creative ideas on how to develop our business further. He is a great communicator and motivator, focusing on building important industry relationships in order for our company to financially and strategically progress.
M.Sc from NTNU School of Entrepreneurship. Joana is our outgoing CMO, who loves being on-the-go. She is market oriented, and good at providing customer feedback that helps us continuously pivot our product towards our customers need. Joana always provides her thoughtful arguments in discussions, contributing to reasonable decisions being made when moving forward.
B.Sc. from Informatics at NTNU. Jørgen is dedicated, hardworking and good at finding new opportunities for continuously improving our product. His special interest in games have made him excellent at knowing how to engage our users through gamifying teaching.
Computer Science student at NTNU. With his positive and creative character, John is great at challenging the team to think in new directions. He always seeks new challenges, and contributes with his brilliant design ideas in the product development, as well as in other parts of the business.
Tim is the concept-originator of Hubro Business Simulation, as well as an associate professor at NTNU. With more than 20 years of teaching and using simulations, Tim converted his experience into the new concept of Hubro. His expertise has been vital for us in understanding our customer and user.
Kjell Gunnar Hoff
Advisor
Kjell-Gunnar is one of Norway’s leading textbook authors in cost accounting and performance management. Through his professional guidance Kjell-Gunnar has made an important contribution to the academic quality of the simulation. We also consider him an important mentor for the future academic development of our simulation.
Contact Information:
Monica Novik Tennfjord, CEO and Co-founder
Johan Oliver, CFO and Co-founder
Joana Catarina Correia, CMO and Co-founder