SimVenture
SimVenture is a UK-based software company founded in 2006 that builds business simulation and entrepreneurship learning platforms (Classic, Evolution, Validate) used by universities, schools, vocational institutions, and corporate training clients across more than 40 countries.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2006
- HeadquartersYork, United Kingdom
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingSoftware
What SimVenture does
SimVenture (legal entity Venture Simulations Ltd) is a UK-based, founder-owned software company that designs business simulations and entrepreneurship learning platforms for the education and corporate training market. Founded in 2006 by brothers Peter Harrington (CEO) and Paul Harrington (Technical Director), the company operates three products that together span the entrepreneurship journey: Classic (legacy offline Windows simulation, 2006), Evolution (scalable online business simulation covering operations, finance, marketing, R&D and people decisions, 2016), and Validate (cloud-based lean startup planning and Business Model Canvas platform, 2016). Each product allows learners to make decisions and experience consequences in a simulated environment, replacing lecture-based business education with experiential learning.
The company sells to four named primary segments — Higher Education, Secondary Schools, Further & Vocational Education, and Workplace & Corporate Training — across 40+ countries. Distribution combines direct enterprise sales (with dedicated account teams, online demos, and evaluation licenses), an international partner agent network covering Mexico/Latin America (Alan Gonzalez Curiel) and Singapore/China (Ngiam Tee Woh), and a direct-to-consumer online storefront for £50/year personal licenses. Pricing for institutional licenses is quote-based and not publicly disclosed. Notable customers include Edinburgh Napier University, University of York, Drexel University, The Open University, University of Nottingham, Barclays, Roche Diagnostics, Caring Homes Group, and the British Council.
Operationally SimVenture is a small, bootstrapped business with 1-10 employees, co-located founders in active CEO and CTO roles, COO Paul Brough Jones, and a team spanning software engineering, learning and development, schools consulting, enterprise development, and marketing communications. The company is multi-award winning (BETT 2008, e-Learning Awards 2009, Serious Games Solution 2009, Most Enterprising Learning Product 2015, Made in the UK 2025), running the Evolve! international student competition as community infrastructure. There are no subsidiaries, no external funding rounds, no M&A activity, and no public listing.
SimVenture firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- SimVenture
- Legal name
- Venture Simulations Ltd
- Website
- https://simventure.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2006
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Short description
- SimVenture is a UK-based software company founded in 2006 that builds business simulation and entrepreneurship learning platforms (Classic, Evolution, Validate) used by universities, schools, vocational institutions, and corporate training clients across more than 40 countries.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
SimVenture industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Education Technology / Business Simulation Software
- NAICS
- Professional and Management Development Training (611430), Business Schools and Computer and Management Training (6114), Software Publishers (513210), Computer Training (611420)
- SIC
- Services-Educational Services (8200), Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Simulation, Scenario & Serious Games Design (EDAGAKAH)
- akta.pro secondary industries
- Business Planning, Pitching & Competitions (Pitch Decks, Demo Days) (EDAMAHAB), Innovation & Design Thinking Programs (EDAMAHAD)
Keywords
Where SimVenture is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- York
- HQ country
- United Kingdom
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices1 record
Markets served
SimVenture business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Software
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure
Revenue model
- Software Licenses - Annual Subscriptions: Annual license fees for Evolution, Classic, and Validate platforms. Licenses are typically sold to educational institutions and corporate training departments on an annual subscription basis.
- Personal Software Licenses: Individual personal licenses for Classic and Validate sold directly to consumers for personal use at £50 per year plus VAT. Includes 12 months maintenance and technical support.
- Enterprise Site Licenses: Volume licensing for educational institutions and corporate clients, typically arranged through the sales team with consultation on appropriate product and volume.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | Annual | Validate Personal License - £50/year |
| Subscription | Annual | Classic Personal License - £50/year |
Go-to-market motion3 records
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels9 records
SimVenture product offering
Product offeringCore offering
SimVenture develops and sells a suite of three business simulation and entrepreneurship learning software products used by educators and corporate trainers in over 40 countries. Its flagship products — Classic (legacy offline Windows PC simulation), Evolution (online business simulation), and Validate (cloud-based startup planning platform) — enable learners to make and experience the consequences of business decisions across functions such as operations, finance, marketing, R&D, and people. The company licenses its software on annual subscriptions to universities, schools, vocational institutions, and corporate clients, with personal licenses also sold directly to individual learners at £50/year plus VAT.
Product overview
SimVenture offers a suite of three business learning software products designed for entrepreneurship education: Classic (legacy offline Windows PC simulation), Evolution (advanced online business simulation), and Validate (cloud-based startup planning platform). Classic is the original product launched in 2006; Evolution is the scalable online successor enabling deep learning in entrepreneurship and leadership; Validate focuses on ideation and business model validation using lean startup methods. Together they serve education providers (schools, universities, vocational training) and corporate training clients across 40+ countries.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Brands
- Classic: The legacy offline business simulation that teaches business strategy, problem solving, and decision making.
- Evolution
- Validate
Products and services
- SimVenture Classic Legacy offline business simulation for Windows PC that teaches business strategy, problem solving, and decision making. Originally launched in 2006 as SimVenture's first product and still available via personal license and institutional licensing. Available in English, Mexican Spanish, Chinese, Italian, and Romanian.
- SimVenture Evolution Scalable, online business simulation game for deep learning in entrepreneurship, leadership, and management. Allows individual or team-based learning with real-time decision-making across operations, finance, marketing, R&D, production, sustainability, and people functions. Built-in engagement dashboard tracks student time spent, decision counts, and company performance.
- SimVenture Validate Cloud-based startup planning platform that supports learners to develop well thought-through business ideas using lean startup methods and Business Model Canvas in a safe learning environment. Accessible on PCs, Macs, tablets, and mobile devices across all platforms.
Quantifiable outcome
- Students average 72 hours voluntarily engaged with Evolution simulation, with top performers exceeding 100 hours
- +2 more outcomes
Companies that use SimVenture
Customer profileNamed customers22 records
Segments5 records
Ideal customer profiles4 records
SimVenture technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature5 records
SimVenture partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Eight partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.
- Balloon CapitalcoreStrategic partnership for the development of Validate startup planning platform. Balloon Capital contributed to the ideation and innovation focus of the product.
- Alan Gonzalez CurielcoreInternational partner agent covering Mexico and Latin America for SimVenture product distribution and local support.
- Ngiam Tee WohcoreInternational partner agent covering Singapore and China for SimVenture product distribution and local support.
- GeniominorSponsor of Evolve! 2025 international business simulation competition, providing prize fund of £2,000 and supporting global recognition of participating institutions.
- University of NottinghamcoreEarly validation partner providing invaluable feedback during pre-launch period of Classic simulation. Ongoing academic partnership for 8+ years.
- Lancaster UniversitycoreEarly validation partner during pre-launch period providing feedback on Classic business simulation development.
- Leeds Beckett UniversitycoreEarly validation partner during pre-launch period contributing to product development and testing.
- York and North Yorkshire Enterprise AgencycoreEarly validation partner during pre-launch period providing feedback and validation for Classic simulation.
Scale indicators6 records
Recent moves5 records
Expansion highlights5 records
SimVenture competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Capsim: Capsim provides business simulations (CapsimCore, Capstone, etc.) used widely in business schools for strategic management and entrepreneurship education. Direct competitor in the business simulation category for higher education and corporate training.
- GoVenture: GoVenture offers online business simulations and entrepreneurship games for education and training. Closely comparable to SimVenture in product type (business simulation games), target customers (schools and universities), and business model (license-based).
- Smartsims: Smartsims publishes business strategy simulations (e.g., StratSim, Foundation) used in business and management courses. A direct competitor in the offline/online business simulation niche serving higher education.
- Forio Simulations: Forio provides online simulation tools and authoring platforms (Simulate, Epilogue) used in business education and training. Direct comparable in delivering web-based interactive simulations to educators and corporate trainers.
- Marketplace Business Simulations: Marketplace offers retail/operations business simulations used in undergraduate and graduate business courses. Direct peer competing in the same business school simulation category with comparable product format.
- Interpretive Simulations: Interpretive Simulations produces business simulations used by business schools and corporate trainers worldwide. A direct competitor supplying experiential learning tools to universities and training programs.
- Knowledge Matters: Knowledge Matters provides business and marketing simulations (e.g., Retail, Hotel) targeting secondary and post-secondary education. Closely comparable in its focus on engaging simulations for school and college audiences.
Broad incumbents
- Harvard Business Publishing Education: Harvard Business Publishing sells business simulations, cases, and course materials globally to universities and corporate training. Larger incumbent offering overlapping simulation content within a much broader educational publishing portfolio.
- Coursera for Business: Coursera for Business is a broad online learning platform used by enterprises and universities for upskilling, including business and entrepreneurship content. A larger incumbent with overlapping enterprise learning customers, although not specialized in business simulations.
Emerging players
- Totally Dynamic Simulations / Sim Company: Totally Dynamic Simulations develops custom and off-the-shelf business simulations for education and training. Comparable offering but typically smaller scale; an emerging player in the same niche.
Market position
Strengths5 records
Weaknesses5 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
SimVenture social profiles
Digital presenceSimVenture financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
SimVenture leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles8 records
SimVenture funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
SimVenture M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about SimVenture
What does SimVenture do?
SimVenture develops and sells a suite of three business simulation and entrepreneurship learning software products used by educators and corporate trainers in over 40 countries. Its flagship products — Classic (legacy offline Windows PC simulation), Evolution (online business simulation), and Validate (cloud-based startup planning platform) — enable learners to make and experience the consequences of business decisions across functions such as operations, finance, marketing, R&D, and people. The company licenses its software on annual subscriptions to universities, schools, vocational institutions, and corporate clients, with personal licenses also sold directly to individual learners at £50/year plus VAT.
Is SimVenture a public or private company?
SimVenture is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was SimVenture founded?
SimVenture was founded in 2006. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is SimVenture based?
SimVenture is headquartered in York, United Kingdom, in the Europe region.
How does SimVenture make money?
Three revenue lines are on record. Software Licenses - Annual Subscriptions are the primary driver. The others are personal Software Licenses and enterprise Site Licenses.
Who are SimVenture's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Capsim, GoVenture, Smartsims, Forio Simulations, Marketplace Business Simulations, Interpretive Simulations and Knowledge Matters. Broad incumbents are Harvard Business Publishing Education and Coursera for Business. Totally Dynamic Simulations / Sim Company is listed as an emerging player.
Does SimVenture have an API?
No public API is recorded for SimVenture.
What industry is SimVenture in?
SimVenture's product category is Education Technology / Business Simulation Software. Its primary akta.pro industry code is EDAGAKAH, Simulation, Scenario & Serious Games Design, with a secondary code of EDAMAHAB, Business Planning, Pitching & Competitions (Pitch Decks, Demo Days). Its NAICS code is 611430 and its SIC code is 8200.