Jobs of the week: 6 awesome gaming companies that were founded by women
Despite having a reputation for being a male-dominated industry, the world of gaming is full of brilliant female leaders who are taking charge, innovating and making a difference. And we want to hear all about them!
In fact, according to Crunchbase, 338 gaming companies globally have at least one female founder, a figure that is impressive, and growing rapidly.
So, let’s shine a light on some of these companies founded by women, and learn more about the fantastic females powering the industry…
PopBase’s product, Woodland Fables, is making wellness information easy to learn, retain, and reference through an immersive, story driven educational experience. Content is updated through a patented content management system allowing quick and easy distribution of information vetted by medical experts.
Co-Founder and fearless leader of the PopBase team, Lisa Wong has over 25 years of experience as an artist, art tech, researcher, and consultant for video games. She’s worked on multiple Star Wars titles (Lucas Film), NBA titles (2kSports) and Call of Duty (Activision), as well as worked in R&D for Sony Playstation (Playstation Move) – impressive, right? Prior to putting together the PopBase team, Lisa acted as the Creative Director for Empty Clip Studios and has led her own consulting firm, Bringing the Chips, serving high profile clients like Apple, ZS Associates, and Google.
The DMarket platform enables secure buying, selling and trading of in-game items, so developers can attract and retain more players and make more money, and gamers can earn by exchanging items across titles and platforms. DMarket unlocks the multi-billion-dollar skins economy for game developers and players everywhere. Their team of passionate gamers believes a borderless gaming world is a better gaming world, and they are building the infrastructure to make it easy for everyone to thrive in the open system of the future.
DMarket was co-founded by Tamara Slanova, who has more than 15 years experience in industries including gaming (Global Games, Suntechsoft, Skins.Cash) and international banking. She currently acts as the CFO and Head of the DMarket London Office.
Phovi builds meaningful interactions, improving connection among users, and provides a platform where young local game design students and artists can get revenue and a stronger portfolio to boost their careers.
Given that Smartphone Users are spending more time on Social Media and isolated from each other than ever before, the brand decided to offer a platform with built-in games and communications tools. They connect users from around the world through texting, video calls during live game matches, communities of various subjects and a competitive global ranking.
Phovi was founded in 2019 by the brilliant Daniela Passos, a Brazilian Entrepreneur, Startup Female Founder, Marketing Specialist, and Software Developer with strong experience developing brands, eCommerce, social media, and content creation services with an extensive strategic background.
Carry1st is an interactive content platform leveraging mobile technology to delight and serve the first generation of African smartphone users. They develop and publish social games and digital commerce apps combining proprietary technology, local payment gateways, and culturally-relevant content to serve a large, fast-growing, yet underserved market. Among their achievements, they have published the #1 Android game in Nigeria and Kenya, Carry1st Trivia, which has delighted over a million users… and they’re just getting started!
Lucy Hoffman is one of the co-founders of this incredibly exciting gaming company, while also being responsible for global operations and growth in her role as VP of Operations. Since graduating from Dartmouth College, and Ivy League, in 2008, Lucy has worked at Credit Suisse, Morgan Stanley and Nexii, to name a few. Along with her role in Carry1st, she also acts as a Founding Board Member and Advisor to Ritual Media, a mobile platform to cultivate flourishing at work and in life.
AviaGames is a Mobile Skill Gaming Company. They have developed and published Pocket7Games, a real-money mobile skill gaming app. The vision of AviaGames is to create a top global game competition platform that’s easy for everyone to play and win real money.
Avia Games was founded in 2017 by Vickie Yanjuan Chen, who currently resides in Mountain View, California. Vickie has a Bachelors Degree from Hohai University, along with an MBA from Cornell (impressive, I know). She has 15 years experience in the business world, where she has worked as a General Manager, a mentor and a CEO.
CEEK is an award winning developer of premium social virtual and augmented reality experiences, headquartered in beautiful Sacramento, California. Their mission is to make virtual reality experiences universally accessible and enjoyable. CEEK simulates the communal experience of attending a live concert, being in a classroom, attending a sporting event and other ‘money can’t buy’ exclusive experiences with friends from anywhere at any time.
If you want to learn about an impressive female in gaming, then meet Mary Spio, one of CEEK’s co-founders.
In her early professional career, she started as a Deep Space Engineer working with companies such as Boeing Digital Cinema, Intelsat and Aerospace Corp developing technologies that have changed media and communications. Since then, Mary has provided technical guidance and content solutions for over 200 radio stations, Microsoft XBOX, Tribune News Company, Coca Cola, Toyota and many more. Oh, and she was also appointed by the Department of State as a Speaker on Innovation and Entrepreneurship on behalf of the United States. What a woman!
So many impressive women are shaking up the gaming world. It’s great to see!
