UK edugames startup Nightzookeeper has raised 440K in seed funding since June this year. We’ve been following their growth over recent years so it’s great to see this dedicated team achieve greater success. We got the inside scoop from their CEO Josh Davidson, and found out about their plans to enter the Japanese market.
Hello Nightzookeeper! Since June you’ve raised 440K – well done! How have you managed this and what can other startups learn from your approach?
Thanks so much. We have certainly been very lucky. But I guess one thing we have done is plan big. We have written detailed plans, asked for expert business advice and imagined what our company could do if we had the funds to properly support its growth.
Further, we have gathered a group of passionate people together and found a way of working together. This means creative compromises but it also means exciting new ideas and pushing each other further. Importantly we have viewed all of our investors as collaborators and partners in our success and asked them for their help and guidance.
We also spent a LONG time looking for money. Persistence. Thick skins. I must have presented Night Zookeeper to half of the investors in London by the time we had raised the investment. Luckily nearly everyone we met liked it but even so, it took a long while to pull a deal together!
You have a new website launching in November – can you give us a sneak peek?
Yes of course. This is the beginning of our realisation of the original vision for Night Zookeeper. A game world where kids can create their own magical animals, care for them, collect each others and defeat creativity stifling monsters.
This is a sneak peek at the Midnight Market. That’s right! We are the proud creators of the worlds first market place for magical animals created by the imaginations of children! It is still being developed but I’m so excited about this. It means that kids artworks don’t just get lost on chalk boards or gather dust in teachers draws but can be seen and appreciated by players around the world.
The Midnight Market
There is also talk of Nightzookeeper Japan – what will this involve and will it be very different from NZK as it is now?
A company in Japan have taken a license on the Night Zookeeper brand to create a game for the Japanese market based on our technology and brand. The game will be largely similar, translated into Japanese. They are also looking to create English Language learning products based on the world.
I’m flying out there in October and am oh so very excited to see their progress!
Finally, what was it like to meet Boris Johnson, London’s eccentric mayor?
Nightzookeeper team with London Mayor Boris Johnson
That actually happened quite some time ago. He visited the Wayra Academy where we first started the company back in 2012 and used our Drawing Torch application. He drew a picture that got onto BBC News that night, but sadly the drawing didn’t make it into the Midnight Market. We only take the most creative animals! 
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