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” […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 — […]