Level Ex, the Chicago-based tech company that makes video games for physicians to learn medical skills, moved into a new home in the Loop as it steadily expands its team.
The startup moved into a 20,000-square-foot office in the Loop in January, which is double the size of its former River North location, accommodating up to 125 employees. Level Ex currently employs 80 people and is hiring.
On Tuesday, Level Ex announced that it appointed Andy Glaister as its first chief technology officer. Glaister was previously the technical director of the Amazon Lumberyard game engine, where he led the architecture and systems teams.
Before Amazon, Glaister worked at Microsoft for 17 years in various roles, including director of development for the Game Studios and development manager for the DirectX team, where he worked alongside Level Ex founder and CEO Sam Glassenberg.
“There is a very short list of leaders in the games industry that I would trust with driving the direction of Level Ex's technology,” Glassenberg said in a statement. “Andy Glaister holds the top spot on that list.”
According to Level Ex, Glaister began creating video games at 12 years old and sold more than 40,000 video games before turning 18.
At Level Ex, Glaister will lead the engineering team, managing its platforms, engines, tools and processes. The startup said there are plans to expand the engineering team and build new gameplay experiences for users.
“Creating games for doctors is among one of the most daring and challenging objectives of my professional life. I can think of no better cause—medicine—that warrants the best that technology has to offer,” Glaister said. “To join Level Ex at a tipping point of rapid expansion means that I can impact our direction in ways I could not do anywhere else.
Level Ex also recently hired John Whitmore as its vice president and studio design director. He has a background in game design, product development, and has worked at companies like Sega, BANDAI NAMCO Games Inc., Retro Studios and Oddworld Inhabitants.
Founded in 2015, Level Ex creates video games for doctors to help them with things like learning new techniques and practicing with new medical devices. In 2017, the startup raised an $11 million Series A round led by 4490 Ventures, and just last year, raised an additional $4 million, according to Crunchbase. In total, the startup has raised more than $17 million.
Before founding Level Ex, Glassenberg worked on Star Wars video games at LucasArts, and was the CEO at gaming startup Funtactix, which made mobile games for Hollywood films like "Hunger Games" and "Hot Tub Time Machine." Now, more than 500,000 healthcare professionals play Level Ex games, according to the company.
