UK bookseller Waterstones has secured a new financing facility of £125 million “to support its future growth.” The package comprises a £75 million term loan and a £50 million revolving credit facility. The company’s cfo Karen Ashworth said: “Waterstones would like to thank Barclays and HSBC for their continued partnership in increasing the syndicated facility that supports the financing needs of the business.” When the bookseller reported its most recent fiscal year results in April, they indicated they were in the process of arranging a new £50 million term loan and £50 million credit facility, so the final arrangements are […]
Financing/Start-Ups
Ingram Invests in NFT eBook Company
Ingram Content Group has closed a seed funding round for NFT ebook company Book.io. The startup puts ebooks and audiobooks on the blockchain, where they can be sold as NFTs. The company says in a release that Ingram’s print-on-demand service Lightning Source will work with Book.io “to bundle NFT eBooks with bespoke printed physical books” in a process they’re calling “Mint & Print.” Ingram president and ceo Shawn Morin, said, “Ingram Content Group is excited to join with Book.io in pioneering new supply-chain models for eBook delivery that take advantage of the security of blockchain technologies, the promise of Web […]
Authoritive Announces Funding, Legible Goes Public
Publishing-related startup Authoritive formally announced the completion of $5 million in seed funding, led by edtech venture firm Owl Ventures, and including Guardian Media Ventures. The Lean Startup author Eric Reis is also an investor and board member. Founded by literary agent Christy Fletcher, Figment co-founder Jacob Lewis, and technology executive Gene Cohen, Authoritive uses messaging technology to provide instruction, coaching and other learning experiences from experts — including such authors as Gretchen Rubin, Denise Hamilton, Sarah Knight Mark Bittman, Susan Cain, Danielle Town, and Tim Tebow. (While some are Fletcher & Co. clients, many are not.) In addition to direct-to-consumer […]
Inkitt Raises $59 Million
Berlin-based Inkitt announced another big round of funding, raising $59 million in a Series B (on top of previous rounds that raised at least $21 million). Axel Springer was a co-lead in the new round, with Michael Lynton participating, along with further funding from Stefan von Holtzbrinck (HV Holtzbrinck Ventures participated earlier) among others. The start-up is riding the wave the powered the sales of Wattpad (approximately $600 million), Radish ($440 million), and Tapas Media ($510 million). Inkitt tells TechCrunch their Galatea app has a run rate of over $38 million now. The company uses algorithms to help determine which […]
Funding: BookClub Raises Again
After announcing $6 million in seed funding last September, BookClub has now raised a $20 million Series A financing. The round was led by Signal Peak Ventures — which was joined by GSV Ventures, Maveron, Backstage Capital and Pelion Venture Partner, along with MasterClass co-founded Aaron Rasmussen and Goodreads co-founder Otis Chandler. The service has been in private beta, but expects to open to the public in July. TechCrunch says they are still “experimenting with two services to bring author-led discussions to readers.” One is a traditional interview-style format with the author; another has viewers “click through videos as they […]
People, Etc.
At Harper Children’s, Audrey Diestelkamp has been promoted to director, marketing; Robert Imfeld to associate director; Sabrina Abballe to senior manager; and Michael D’Angelo to assistant manager. At Phaidon, vice president, group publisher, Deb Aaronson will now manage the entire editorial group, overseeing commissioning in all of Phaidon’s publishing categories, including art, architecture, cookery, design, general interest, photography, and children’s. Emilia Terragni has taken on a new role as associate publisher. Simon Hunegs has been promoted to project editor. Ellie Smith has rejoined in the role of managing editor, culinary team. Sarah Sullivan will join Scholastic on February 1 as national […]