Enduvo was born at the University of Illinois and initially funded through a Jump Applied Research for Community Health through Engineering and Simulation (ARCHES) grant. These grants support collaborative research and development between OSF Healthcare and the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria. Dr. Matt Bramlet, Justin Drawz, and Steve Garrou came together to build a company that would improve pre-surgical planning of complex congenital heart disease. It quickly became the go to source for combining the surgical expert with surgical anatomy for the clinical team and patient/family communication. While still used for that purpose, Enduvo’s use cases have expanded beyond healthcare, supporting the original vision of sharing expertise in immersive and VR experiences with anyone who wants to learn.
Today’s organizations face several trends related to training. During the height of COVID, and still today, workers and learners are less likely to be together physically. Innovators found creative ways to work and teach virtually, but many shortcomings became apparent, especially in training and learning. Further, digitally native workers and learners expect on-demand, engaging, bite-size information at their fingertips. They don’t want dated slides and boring computer-based training modules. However, creating immersive content has been time-consuming, costly, and requires specialized software development skillsets.
That’s where Enduvo comes in. Enduvo puts the power to create and edit immersive content in the hands of any user, bringing user-generated content (UGC) out of the social media world and into immersive learning. Learning organizations can use their existing teams of producers, instructional designers, and artists to create, maintain and share content themselves. Users simply can import images, videos, PDFs, and 3D models, arrange their virtual classroom, then record their voice and gestures interacting with the content. Creators capture their subject matter expertise and publish it with a button click. Their content, created once, can be consumed across multiple platform types, like VR headsets,
computers, or tablets.
Enduvo’s growth has been accelerated both by private and public investment. MATH Venture Partners, a data-driven, founder-friendly early-stage venture capital firm based in Chicago, led Enduvo’s priced seed round in April 2020. Strategic work with United States Air Force (USAF) has been funded through the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program and with contributions by participating units. Enduvo’s SBIR journey began with a small Phase I feasibility study at the end of 2018; it has grown into subsequent Phase II and Phase III contract awards totaling over $5M to date. Currently, Enduvo is collaborating closely with visionaries at Air Education Training Command (AETC) to be a part of their paradigm shift in training. They are building a future of innovative, immersive, efficient training for all Airmen and facilitating the crosstraining of multi-capable individuals. With investment from the USAF, Enduvo is expanding the platform both to meet their requirements and benefit commercial customers. Enduvo is working among an ecosystem of other small businesses, also part of SBIR, to create the whole solution to meet USAF needs. Together, the vendors demonstrate and deliver the kind of agility not possible with large single-source solutions. “We are on track to become a Program of Record in the USAF in FY 2024 and the defacto standard for the Immersive Virtual Classroom,” Enduvo CEO, Steve
Garrou shared.
So far, Enduvo has been focused on work within USAF and for select early customers like OSF Healthcare, UICOMP, and UL, analyzing their feedback and continuously improving the platform. Customers have seen outstanding results such as higher pass rates, better preparedness for procedures, and higher learner confidence in their material. As Enduvo accelerates expansion beyond the USAF, they are eager to help future customers tackle similar enterprise challenges like those addressed in the USAF: equipment and machinery operations and maintenance training, security and safety training, medical procedure training, and more. Enduvo’s 2.0 release will open for early access users this summer.
Enduvo’s mission is to bring high-quality, engaging information to those who need it, including underserved populations around the world. The future is immersive, and Enduvo wants you to build it!
