GoVenture World, the Sydney company developing a massively multi-player online game to train budding entrepreneurs on what it’s really like to start and grow a business, has been named to a list of the 50 brightest startups in the world.

The company, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of eLearning company MediaSpark of Sydney, is nearing the alpha-testing phase as its developers continue to refine the game and work out kinks.

In the meantime, the company has been named one of 50 companies around the world to compete in the Startup Open, which selects a list of the leading startups in the World. GoVenture World is one of only three Canadian companies to make the list, whose members hail from 17 countries.

“We are pleased to have our innovation recognized and hopefully it will create some exposure for us as we prepare to make the program available for alpha testing,” said GoVenture World CEO Mathew Georghiou.

The 50 entrants will now go through a second round of judging to select the overall winners, which will be announced on Nov. 12, the opening day of Global Entrepreneurship Week. The winner will be named a delegate to the Global Entrepreneurship Congress in Brazil in the spring.

First conceived of six years ago, GoVenture World will not be a game with comic-book-like graphics that requires you to sit at your computer for 14 hours a day. Rather, it simulates as much as possible what it’s like to be a real entrepreneur.

The objective of the game is to build a successful business, defined by such factors as revenue, profitability, market share, brand value and stock price.  Players – who could number thousands or millions around the world –must compete with businesses for resources and market share, while collaborating with other businesses to manufacture, acquire, and sell products or services.

MediaSpark, whose products are marketed under the GoVenture brand, tends to sell its products, like eBooks, to educational institutions and training services to corporations. The 18-year-old company now employs 17 people, all but one of whom work in Sydney.