Q1 Featured Founder | Breshna
The 1st New Majority founder currently fundraising from YOU this quarter.
Hello New Majority Investors! 🌞
Before diving into Breshna, here are a few updates on past featured founders:
🥄🌿Painterland Sisters just closed out their round on January 31, raising $1,235,000 from 762 investors!
💅🕒Clockwork also recently closed out their round, having raised a massive $7,303,788 from 1766 investors ahead of a January 18 deadline and just painted their first nails in the OKC Airport, tag us in a post @the.new.majority if you are flying through and check it out!
Last edition, we reported on The New Majority’s first exit – The Cru was acquired by Luminary in 2023 - and today we’re excited to congratulate The Cru’s former founder and CEO on her new role as President of Tory Burch Foundation (read this exciting news in Tiffany’s own words here)!
Breshna
First, some context:
🎮Gaming is a massive industry, generating up to $188b globally in 2023 (Source: LA Times).
🤖AI is also a booming market, with a projected size of $1.8t by 2030 (Source: Breshna, via Next Move Strategy Consulting).
💥From graphic design (Canva) to content creation (TikTok), easy-to-use tech tools have democratized communication and community building, propelling the short-form content and content creator markets to new heights.
⌨️🚫But, complex coding still presents a barrier to entry for game making, especially for casual gamers and underrepresented groups.
💡💻Enter Breshna! As first movers offering a truly no-code game making experience, Breshna makes it easier than ever to unleash your creative potential through video games.
Check out this 6 min video from the founder to learn more about Breshna!
🧱🛠Breshna operates Breshna.io (free, no-code video game building platform), and has plans to launch BreshnaBlitz (an AI text-to-game builder) and the Breshnaverse (a carnival themed metaverse housing games built by Breshna users) in early 2024.
This company is made for you if:
👩💻You think no code is the future, and want to hop on board in a new industry.
🎮 You’re a gamer, know a gamer, or are intrigued by the BTS of game making
🤝You want to find innovative, fun ways to engage an audience.
Tell me more
Harnessing the power of AI, Breshna is changing the game for casual gamers, educators, and even large corporations to connect and build community with personalized “snackable” games. Launched in 2021, Breshna’s 170k users have already completed over 320k game plays through the Breshna.io platform. The upcoming launches of BreshnaBlitz and the Breshnaverse are set to further expand Breshna’s reach and impact.
Convinced? Invest today in Breshna.
The details
Industry: Entertainment/Media, SaaS
Impact: Quality Education (SDG 4), Gender Equality (SDG 5), Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure (SDG 9), Reduced Inequalities (SDG 10)
Team Diversity: Woman Founder, Minority Founders, Immigrant Founders
HQ: Vienna, VA (just outside Washington, DC 🏛)
Company size: 2-10
Year founded: 2021
Key investors: Breshna has already raised $2.55M from notable investors and groups like 11:11 Media (Paris Hilton), Randi Zuckerberg, and Blockchain Founders Fund.
🪐Paris and Randi need no introduction, but for those less plugged into blockchain funders, Blockchain Founders Fund, based in Singapore, invests in early-stage Blockchain startups (ie. involved in industries like Web3 and the metaverse).
Investment type: Crowd SAFE*
*A Crowd SAFE allows investors to make cash investments with rights to receive certain company stock in the future, tied to specific financing events.
Valuation Cap: $50M (previous SAFE raised with a $45m post-money valuation)
Investor Perks: $500 investment in Breshna gives you a free carnival stand in the Breshnaverse! Learn more about the Breshnaverse and carnival stands here.
Goal: $50,000 - $618,000
Deadline: February 16, 2024
Amount Invested: $44,350
Number of Investors: 69
Min investment: $100
Early traction:
💰☑️Breshna has already secured $2.55M in seed funding from their key investors.
🛗⏱Breshna’s recent appearance on Entrepreneur Elevator Pitch (min 9:46-17:57) also successfully generated a $100k investment.
🤯In 2023, Breshna’s user base grew from 4k to 170k registered game makers.
🗣Founder and CEO Mariam Nusrat was tapped to be the keynote speaker at DC Startup Week 2023.
Founding team
Mariam Nusrat: Founder and CEO, Mariam has over a decade of experience in video games and edtech. As a Pakistani and Muslim woman, Mariam champions representation and accessibility in gaming, working to change the narrative around the content of video games and their creators. Mariam is also the founder of GRID (Gaming Revolution for Inspiring Development), a non-profit dedicated to infusing gaming with purpose.
Due diligence
Pros:
💸Capital Efficiency: Breshna already has 27 months of runway (with a monthly burn of <$50k) and a CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost) of <$1.
📈Breshna’s user base exploded to 170k registered game makers in 2023; to date, Breshna’s game makers have created 150k games and completed over 320k game plays.
🏦🚀Capitalizing on four diverse revenue streams, Breshna is projecting $814,110 ARR* in 2024 (resulting in profitability in the next 12 months).
*ARR means Annual Recurring Revenue; this is a key revenue measurement for companies like Breshna, which rely on subscriptions and contracts.
🎡Breshnaverse Assets: the Breshnaverse will be a carnival-themed virtual world, where users can purchase assets (like carnival stands) that live in the Breshnaverse. These carnival stands allow users to monetize their Breshna games and connect with other users in the Breshnaverse.
🔓Premium Subscriptions: the current Breshna.io service is free to use, and Breshna plans to expand to a “freemium” model in 2024. Premium subscribers will gain access to perks like game templates and unlimited game creation on the new BreshnaBlitz platform.
📰Advertisements: brands can purchase ad placements in the Breshnaverse and on Breshna’s game loading pages.
📩💵Revenue Share: Breshna plans to enable game makers to monetize popular games through the Breshnaverse. When creators generate revenue through these games, Breshna will take a 15% share of gameplay revenue.
Potential risks:
🤷♀️Breshna’s target audience simply might not want to create their own video games. For instance, teachers may continue relying on existing educational games and platforms and content creators may prefer their existing revenue streams.
🤼They are focused on multiple target audiences that might result in a mediocre fit for many. Target audiences currently includes educators/teachers, content creators, small businesses, and screen platforms/telecommunication companies
🧩Breshna is pioneering a new approach to Web3* gaming, and their target audience(s) may be slow to adopt.
*Web3 is a popular term to describe the development of the internet towards communally controlled blockchains (Source: McKinsey).
🤔🔜Breshna is pre-revenue, and while they project massive growth in 2024, these revenue targets are ambitious and reliant on the successful forthcoming launches of BreshnaBlitz and the Breshnaverse.
🐌Revenue streams may not be immediately lucrative (ex. revenue share from games in the Breshnaverse may be small initially, as game makers need to generate sufficient game plays and user interest).
Competitors
🕹For Casual Gamers: low-code platforms like Modd.io, Scratch, and BuildBox, which may continue to have appeal to casual gamers who want to build up their coding know-how.
🧑🏫For EdTech: traditional educational game platforms with less functionality/ability to customize, like Kahoot.
Why Breshna: Breshna is building in a gap in the market for a quick, easy, and accessible video game builder. Building off of some of today’s biggest tech trends (like AI and Web3) and following Canva’s model of easy to create content that appeals to wide and diverse audiences, Breshna is poised to disrupt the video game market with use cases for casual gamers, educators, content creators, telecommunications companies, and more. As Breshna prepares for their Series A, this crowdfunding round is the final opportunity for everyday investors to get in on the ground floor.
Convinced? Invest today in Breshna.