LEGO Ventures invests in family app developer

UK app Caper has received €300,000 in investment, with investors including LEGO Ventures.

LEGO Ventures is the investment arm of the LEGO Group, putting money into promising new opportunities that share the Danish company’s values. The Caper app contains original stories, presented as missions, that families can play together outside. During lockdown, the beta version was downloaded 4,000 times.

EU Startups reports that there has been €300,000 of investment as Caper sought seed funding, with the largest amount provided by LEGO Ventures. The first series of adventures launched at the same time as the funding round.

The app intends to provide the narrative while keeping screen time to a minimum.

“Our vision is for Caper to become the home of original content that enables families to spend quality, active time together. With our team’s extensive background in game design, and being parents ourselves, we make it easy for adults to have adventures with their kids out in nature or at home – which has proven popular during the recent lockdown. We also understand parents’ concerns over screen time and want to show that there is a positive way to use technology through shared experiences,” said Ben Geliher, CEO and co-founder of Caper.

“This investment from LEGO Ventures helps us on our journey to achieve that vision, thanks to their deep understanding of children’s play styles and creativity that will help inform our content. We are also delighted to have the continued support of Founders Factory, whose solid expertise in launching start-ups is invaluable. The investment will allow us to enable us to create more original Caper content, faster to families who keep coming back for more.”

“Caper is a very exciting new startup – not only to inspire kids and families to play outdoors and new places, but also for them to engage socially and learn about their environment,” said Rob Lowe, Head of Marketing and Value Creation at LEGO Ventures. “LEGO Ventures are proud to be supporting them as they start on their journey to drive a new paradigm in the intersection between digital and physical play.”

Caper is free to download and offers the first episode of content for free.

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