Ivan González Barrasa
Ivan González Barrasa is a Spanish entrepreneur and programmer, who is the founder and CEO of Nexbi, an online platform for the e-sports community of gamers.
Career
Born on 31 July 2003 in Madrid, González Barrasa was only 12 when he launched a server exclusively in Spanish for Arma 3, a multiplayer tactical military combat video game which until then was only available on English servers, where the Spaniards could be banned if they did not speak English to play. Despite some initial apprehension, his server was such an instant success that during its first day, queues lasted for hours to enter.Having spent most of his teenage years playing video games, Barrasa "always felt like something was missing" in the gaming community, as he was unable to find a platform which had useful services and tools that could help him improve his performance. Thus, in 2020, the 17-year-old Barrasa, together with his partner Javier Loureiro, launched Nexbi, a platform that provides services and resources to the gaming community around the world, such as tracking and analysis tools, as well as a social network that helps gamers find partners of the same nationality or age. Thanks to the success of games like Fortnite, CS:GO, and Brawl Stars, Barrasa's platform eventually attracted half a million of users; according to Barrasa, this success was partly due to the fact "that we do everything in one place, which makes it simpler and more efficient for users". In 2022 and 2023, he and his team conducted two rounds of investment, which has facilitated Nexbi's expansion and the development of new features.
González Barrasa also helped create two digital newspapers, one devoted to the video game industry and the other to entrepreneurship. In late 2023, he launched a store which sells products for smokers looking to fight back their nicotine addiction.