BattleKart: From a Student Project to Global Success

Ever since childhood, Sébastien Millecam wanted to be an inventor. Not a manager, nor an entrepreneur. Now 36, this founder of BattleKart still defines himself as an inventor, even if he is all three at once. 

BattleKart first took shape during his finalyear project - while he was still a student at Mons  University’s Faculty of Engineering - as a combination of an electric kart, a laser game and augmented reality. Sébastien Millecam launched this venture in 2015, with 10,000 euros worth of savings, a lease costing 10,000 euros a month and a purchase order for 100,000 euros for the karts. “My biggest purchase before that was my parents’ car, worth 2,500 euros. I weighed up the risks on one side and the benefits on the other, and I went for it.” 

A visionary idea 

The original idea was “to transpose videogame codes to a lifesize scale”. All the rest was just technical details: 336 sensors, 52 video projectors, location accuracy down to the centimetre at full speed, all of this was developed from scratch…and patented too! “We are focusing on the long term and the international market, making sure that our idea is durable and scalable: in-house development is what allows us to act fast.” Another challenge was to make this complex technology easy to use, anywhere in the world. “We have franchises all over Wallonia that run themselves independently. If a projector breaks down, staff should be able to replace it in less than 10 minutes. 

The Covid-19 pandemic nearly ruined it all. With the franchises signed up, sites under construction, and rent to be paid. “Conceding defeat was simply unthinkable.” Cash reserves saved the day. To scale up further, Sébastien Millecam, is “a die-hard perfectionist”, but has added another string to his bow: “Learning to delegate. It involves hiring reliable people, trusting them, and accepting that everything will not be done exactly as one wants.” Today, BattleKart has 77 centres in 12 countries on four continents – from Australia to Mexico - with a goal of 2,500 centres worldwide. 

WAB Magazine