This Educational Gaming Company Has Testing Down to a Science

Killer Snails makes educational games designed to spark interest in science among K-12 students. The startup was founded in 2015 by Mandë Holford, Jessica Ochoa Hendrix, and Lindsay Portnoy, who among them have decades of scientific research and teaching experience. From the outset, the partners knew the “play-break-fix” model would be key to building and expanding their business, says Chief Executive Officer Ochoa Hendrix. Killer Snails invests hundreds of hours in gathering feedback—over the past three years, roughly 10,000 students have tested its products. In January the company embarked on its first national pilot program for BioDive, a game that uses an online journal and virtual-reality immersions to simulate the experience of marine biologists on underwater missions.

“We’re trying to figure out how we build content that is both a compelling story and scientifically accurate,” says Holford, an associate chemistry professor at the City University of New York’s Hunter College. Piloting is key for “developing games that make students feel like scientists addressing real-world problems.”

● Name A nod to the discovery that toxins in venomous marine snails could be used to make opiate alternatives for severe chronic pain
● Employees Four full-time
● Funding $1.1 million in National Science Foundation grants; roughly $45,000 from crowdfunding campaigns
● Revenue About $150,000 since it started selling its games in 2016