Spotify for textbooks Perlego raises $4.8m
by Startacus Admin
Perlego - billed as the 'Spotify for textbooks' - recently closed a $4.8m (£3.7) venture round, signalling 
a new chapter in it's mission to grow the company across the UK and Europe. Leading the round is ADV, with participation from existing angel investors, including Simon Franks, co-founder of Lovefilm, Peter Hinssen and Alex Chesterman, founder of Zoopla.
Founded by Gauthier Van Malderen and Matthew Davis, Perlego have been featured a couple of times on Startacus. Back in January 2017, we chatted to Founder Gauthier Van Malderen to find out more about their textbook subscription service and more recently we awarded them with our startup of the week title.
Perlego gives students and professionals unlimited access to hundreds of thousands of professional and academic eBook titles for £12 a month. Perlego is already working with most leading publishers including Oxford University Press, Princeton University Press and Macmillan Higher Education. Publishers receive 65% of each subscription on a consumption basis. Perlego has also announced a new partnership with Cengage Learning, one of the world's largest textbook publishers.
Funds will be used to grow the team and support the company’s growth across the UK and Europe as well as further developing its product for students and professionals.
Gauthier Van Malderen, Co-Founder and CEO, said:
“Our mission is to make educational content accessible for all. In this digital age, we believe that anyone should be able to learn anything at any time. Knowledge should be more accessible, not locked behind sky-high price tags and tuition fees. We are delighted to have raised from such forward-thinking investors, to help us build the world’s online learning library.”
"Students prefer flexibility and choice over ownership and virtually every form of media have encountered this paradigm shift. With textbook prices having risen 847% since 1972 - over three times the rate of inflation - and the ownership model for textbooks largely broken, a subscription model for textbooks just makes sense.
"Publishers have also lost out due to second-hand book sales and piracy, so we help them regain market share in a scalable way.
“Currently Perlego has partnered with over 650 publishers, including 8 out of the top 10 leading academic and professional publishers.”.
Mike Dimelow, CIO at ADV, said:
“In the past we all bought books but now we consume content digitally. Spotify has re-defined this consumption for music, Perlego will do the same for educational textbooks and professional learning. Its platform connects consumers to publishers and enables partial ownership, we feel this is a winning model. Consumers pay for what they read whilst publishers monetise content they commission.
“The team has already began working with the majority of the largest academic publishers and have validated their business model with a mass of users. We are excited to play a small part in helping to redefine this industry.”
Perlego also joined Founders Factory this month as part of its edtech accelerator programme, backed by Holtzbrinck Macmillan one of the world's leading academic publishers.
If you like the sound of this startup, you might want to also read up on:
Bookaxe makes book discovery easy with machine learning.
Toppa wants to be the Netflix of bitesize learning.
Afterbook - honour and memorialise your loved ones.
Subscribe to our newsletter
If you would like to receive our startup themed newsletter, full of the latest startup opportunities, events, news, stories, tips and advice, then sign up here.
Chilled beers, wines and spirits delivered in one hour, thanks to JUST EAT for chilled drinks, Edinburgh-based startup Drinkly.
Bubblebum has had its flagship product named as one of the Most Innovative and Most Attractive at the Child Baby & Maternity Expo in China.
Influencer marketing remains largely unchartered territory for many businesses, so here are some tips for getting it right on the first go.
Step forward Raise Accelerator, Northern Ireland's first privately-run startup accelerator. We chatted to three founders from their first cohort.
Rich Maaghul, CEO of ODEM.io explores the future of education and how disruption will transform the way that we learn...
The app that helps you achieve your goal body with easy to follow workouts for the gym or home.
The London based startup that has safer home care provision as its mission
The ethical rewards app Koin Rewards, reimagining loyalty through responsible shopping and tokenisation.
Lessons from Goldilocks and the three bears and why in a competitive market place just-right doesn’t go far enough
Common costly mistakes when hiring a team. Use this advice to help avoid high hiring costs, low workplace morale and mistakes.
Published on: 16th September 2018
If you would like to enable commenting via your Startacus account, please enable Disqus functionality in your Account Settings.
- IAG’s Hangar 51 takes flight with latest innovation programme 31st Jul 2019 The latest Hangar 51 innovation programme is on the hunt for tech startups with a broad range of aviation industry solutions.
- 10 FMCG startups selected for first Seedrs accelerator 24th Jul 2019 10 FMCG startups selected for the 1st Seedrs FMCG accelerator, which aims to help FMCG startups raise capital on the platform
- Startup Leadership Program invites applications for its 9th London cohort 12th Jul 2019 The Startup Leadership Program continues to grow, inviting applications for its 9th London cohort to join the six-month program.
- Latest Zinc Company Builder Programme to transform the quality of later life 9th Jul 2019 Do you want to build a new purpose-driven startup with support from a world-class network of experts?
