Big-bucks Silicon Valley VC backing for company whose first iPad game, IF, launched this week

This article is more than 6 years old

This article is more than 6 years old

Games industry veteran Trip Hawkins has raised $6.5m of venture capital funding for his latest startup, educational games maker If You Can Company.

The firm, whose development team is based in London, released its first iPad game earlier in the week. The game – IF... – aims to teach children social and emotional skills through play.

The Series A funding round was led by VC firm Greylock Partners, which has previously invested in technology companies including Facebook, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Dropbox and Instagram, as well as games firms Kongregate, WildTangent and SGN.

Hawkins founded games publisher Electronic Arts in 1982, and later launched console maker 3DO and mobile games publisher Digital Chocolate. The latter company’s studios boss Ilkka Paananen went on to found Supercell, which with $892m from just two games in 2013, is now one of the world’s top mobile games companies.

Paananen’s former boss is taking a different path, with IF... designed to mix console-style graphics and gameplay with established standards in Social and Emotional Learning (SEL), aiming to teach children how to manage their moods, interact healthily with their peers, and face various life challenges.

“Almost every school-aged kid plays games and research shows that playing video games opens the learning centres in children’s brains,” said Hawkins in a statement.

“We have brought together some of the most successful video game creators in history with national experts in SEL to harness this potential and use a game to teach children life skills to thrive both in school and out of school.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest IF...’s inspirations include Animal Crossing and The Legend of Zelda.

The first chapter of IF... has been released as a free download, with more chapters to follow. Hawkins recruited a team of developers to make the game, operating out of If You Can’s London studio.

His co-founders include former Moshi Monsters exec Ben Geliher, Jessica Berlinski of US educational scheme Character Counts, and early EA producer Stewart Bonn. Hawkins has raised $9.3m for the startup so far, with Greylock joining fellow investors Almaz Capital, Andreessen Horowitz and Founder’s Fund in backing the company.

If You Can Company has been working on IF... for a long time already, with high creative ambitions. In November 2012, Geliher outlined its plans in a recruitment post on games technology firm Unity’s forum.

“The game will be a top down RPG for kids, so very stylised in its look and feel. Think Pokemon, Animal Crossing or The Legend of Zelda for an idea of what would be expected,” wrote Geliher at the time.