2.6 Finances
Since the beginning of the project in 2009 until the end of the pilot phase of “Professor S.” in July 2013, an estimated 207.000 EUR have flown into the development of “Professor S.” These funds were used to develop a prototype of the platform and “Professor S.” game content. During this four year period, “Professor S.” was tested at four schools in Berlin. The pilot phase was so successful that the four test schools have already pledged their continued support for the coming years. Starting with one school, the number of participating schools has now risen to six - purely through word of mouth and with no effort from us. Now, we plan market introduction in Berlin, Brandenburg, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt and Thuringia.
The next step will see "Professor S." enter the remaining German federal districts.
We are expecting a higher market penetration in Berlin purely because of existing partnerships with schools and administration. Commercially however, the main profits for “Professor S.” lie in the home market. The product is legitimised because schools are already using it. The home uses include homework support, communication and entertainment. The subscription fees are very affordable, with only 89 EUR/year for schools and 1,99/month for parents.
With a B2B market penetration in the school sector of only 2% (low expect), we project that we will start paying back investments in 2016. Please note that so far only the German market is considered in these projections (revenue, spendings, investments).
First meetings with potential partners from other European countries and with representatives of MEDIA and CREATIVE EUROPE confirm that the preparation of market introduction to other European countries can be commenced when the development phase is concluded. We have already started working on brand protection in these territories.
Furthermore, we are planning the development and introduction of additional games for grades 1 through 3. Should the market acceptance be as projected, we will speed up the development in 2015 and aim to increase our capital by 950.000 EUR, in order to speed up the nationwide distribution, to reach an annual turnover of around 4 million Euro in 2018 in Germany.