Digital Textbook Company Perlego Raises $4.8 Million In Funding

By Annie Baker ● Sep 11, 2018

Founded by Gauthier Van Malderen and Matthew Davis, Perlego is a digital textbook company that allows you to gain access to many textbooks and professional e-books for £12 per month. Perlego works with 650 publishers like Princeton University Press and Macmillan Higher Education. And these publishers receive 65% per subscription based on consumption.

Perlego has raised $4.8 million in funding led by ADV. Existing angel investors Simon Franks (Lovefilm co-founder), Alex Chesterman (Zoopla founder), and Peter Hinssen also participated in this round.

“Textbook prices have increased more than fifteen-fold since 1970, or three times the rate of inflation,” said Perlego co-founder and CEO Van Malderen via TechCrunch. “In the U.K., the average university student spends £439 a year on textbooks. This is only exacerbating the cost of higher education and the debt burden on students, which is set to rise again this year in the U.K.”

Perlego’s value proposition for publishers is that they help them monetize their books to students who would likely purchase them used from other students. And the company provides publishers with analytics about title consumption.

“We are true subscription model,” Van Malderen added. “For £12 per month you get unlimited access to the best textbooks. We do not operate a complex leasing model and publishers benefit (through) data collection, reduced piracy, no cannibalization from second-hand print sales.”

Perlego plans to use the funding for increasing their staff and supporting growth across the UK and Europe. Plus the company will invest in further developing its products for students and professionals. And Perlego joined the Founders Factory startup accelerator program.