Manassas-based Catlilli Games is in fierce competition to win the Duke University Start-Up Challenge. The company, co-founded by neurobiologist Catherine Croft Swanwick and civil engineer Jon Nardolilli last January, creates fun educational tabletop games that teach STEM concepts to children in preschool through 12th grade.

The company is competing in the Alumni/Faculty/Staff category of the Duke Start-Up Challenge; Catherine graduated from Duke in ’99 with a bachelor’s in biology. All the teams are raising money on Indiegogo and then the winners will be selected to present at the Grand Finale in Durham, NC, in the fall.

Catlilli’s goal is to expand its tabletop game inventory. The company, housed at the Virginia Serious Game Institute, already has five games on the market and will use the funds it raises to add another one based on experimental chemistry.