LibreDigital scores $15M second round for eBook distribution
LibreDigital, which you’ve likely never heard of, supplies technology that delivers eBooks from publishers to readers’ gadgets. HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, Hachette, Wiley, The New York Times, Wall Street Journal and USA Today are among LibreDigital’s clients, which include six of America’s top 10 book publishers. LibreDigital offers its technology as a service rather than requiring publishers to configure servers and install and maintain software themselves.
The round was led by Triangle Peak Partners, a first-time investor in LibreDigital, and prior investor Adams Capital Management. The company’s other key investors include HarperCollins Publishers, The New York Times Company and Noro-Moseley Partners.
“Demand for books & newspapers in digital formats is out-pacing supply,” Triangle Peak co-founder David Pesikoff said in a prepared statement. The amazing thing about this over-the-top statement is it’s true. Consumers seem frustrated by the limited options for reading newspapers and books in an electronic, portable format.
LibreDigital chairman Martin Neath (he’s a partner at Adams) claims the market for e-books and similar electr0nic editions of printed materials will exceed $2 billion by 2012. That’ll require something hotter than the Kindle to read it on, which could just be the smartphone in your pocket.
(Disclosure: Paul Boutin is a freelance contributor to The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.)
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About the Author, Paul Boutin
Paul (paul@venturebeat.com) covers Apple & the iPhone, social networks & social media, digital music & video, and any crazy Internet story. Paul wrote and edited for Valleywag from 2006-2008, after several years with Wired magazine and Slate. He writes regularly for The New York Times' technology section and sometimes for Wired and The Wall Street Journal. He studied computer science at MIT in the early 1980s, and worked as a software developer and network administrator for 15 years before becoming a professional writer. Follow him on Twitter at @paulboutin, and follow VentureBeat on Twitter at @venturebeat.
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