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 […]
Financing/Start-Ups
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 […]
Scribd Raises $58 Million, As Some of Those Unauthorized Snapshots Have Been Removed
Subscription service Scribd announced raising $58 million in equity financing from Spectrum Equity. They say the funds will be used “to continue to operate sustainably and efficiently while accelerating our growth, product innovations, content acquisition and continued investment in our employees.” Despite the raise, Scribd has said that it has been profitable since 2016 — even declaring its model “more profitable than we wanted” before going back to mostly unlimited access in early 2018. Scribd irritated a number of key partners earlier this summer among authors, agents and publishers when they launched their Snapshots program without permission, creating their own […]