Naaya

Naaya is a Common Core aligned social game-based learning platform for K-5 that teaches Global/Social Studies and 21st Century Skills.

  • Stage Full Product Ready
  • Industry Education
  • Location Vienna, VA, USA
  • Currency USD
  • Founded January 2011
  • Employees 4
  • Website naaya.com

Company Summary

Naaya is an immersive virtual world where kids travel around the globe learning about cultures, everyday life, history and geography as they visit countries. Powered by proprietary technology, Naaya's platform is fun, immersive and aligned with the new Common Core Standards. Learning activities result in rewards that are used to create and collaborate in virtual playgrounds. Primary customers include School Districts and Parents.

Team

  • Amir Hudda
    Founder & CEO

    Amir Hudda is a business entrepreneur who has successfully created and/or grown four startups in the last 15 years. During that period, he has raised $50M in venture capital and completed 6 M&A transactions valued at $185M. He was the Founder & CEO of Entevo, which was sold for $125M. He was also the Founder & CEO of Brickstream (currently Chairman), which is experiencing very strong growth. As CEO of Apptix, he grew revenues from $4-$40M.

  • Vijay Lakshman
    Chief Creative Officer

    Vijay Lakshman is a 22-year veteran of the interactive entertainment industry, having been the executive in charge of production on many mega-franchise hits, including The Lord of the Rings, Crash Bandicoot, Spyro the Dragon and Animal Jam. He has successfully produced and shipped over 80 titles and spearheaded the creation of top brands throughout his career. Mr. Lakshman graduated from the George Washington University in 1991.

  • John Gamba
    Chief Strategy Officer

    Mr. Gamba is a 15-year veteran in the K-12 Education sector. He co-founded PACE which sold to NTI / Connect-Ed and grew dramatically under his leadership. Eventually selling to Blackboard for $182M, NTI / Connect-Ed had 25% market penetration and served schools representing10 million+ students / families. Mr. Gamba is a veteran of sales and distribution to school districts. U Penn graduate.

  • Julian Jensen
    Technology Director

    One of the legendary programmers of the game industry, Julian Jensen is credited among other accomplishments with creating the first 1st-person-shooter using full 3-d characters in Terminator: Future Shock and its multi-player sequel Terminator: SkyNET. In addition to working on more than 30 game titles, Mr. Jensen has also conducted research and development specializing in the fields of computational linguistics and information retrieval.

Advisors

  • Cooley LLP
    Lawyer
    Unconfirmed

Previous Investors

  • Roger Novak
    Unconfirmed
    Frank Bonsal Jr.
    Unconfirmed
    Dendy Young
    Unconfirmed

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