Amsterdam based Arches Capital, which is a group of business angels who invest in startups and scaleup companies has officially announced that it has invested around €376K in a fast-growing Dutch startup Publishizer.
What is Publishizer?
If you’ve not heard of Publishizer, let us inform you this is quite an innovative startup which is actually a crowdfunding platform. The company allows authors to pre-sell copies of their unpublished book, if they reach 750 pre-orders. Publishizer then pitches the book to publishers and negotiates a deal. It brings market forces to publishing acquisitions with 9 out of 10 authors landing a deal.
With the new investment…
Well, with the latest capital injection, Publishizer is all set to boost its position as an innovator of the publishing industry. The seed investment will see them expand their current platform in publishing acquisitions and foreign rights deals. Publishizer is also backed by 500 Startups (US) and Rockstart (NL) in earlier deals.
Guy Vincent, founder and CEO of Publishizer, says: “Every year, millions of book ideas get rejected by traditional publishing. Our goal is to empower authors and enable great book ideas. With these resources, we will expand strategically and democratize publishing in an unprecedented way.”
Great platform for great books and great readers
As a crowdfunding literary agency, Publishizer discovers and enables great book ideas through its reader network and publisher marketplace. Algorithms curate and validate book proposals based on quality, categories and pre-orders, helping authors gain traction and attract multiple publishing offers.
“Significant ongoing changes in technology are forcing the publishing industry to adapt. Publishers can greatly increase author discovery and improve publishing workflows with our data,” says Lee Constantine, co-founder and Head of Growth at Publishizer.
Authors have collectively sold over 73,000 pre-order copies, raising over US$ 1.7 million in funds on Publishizer. With over 300 publishers on board, Publishizer has facilitated hundreds of book deals all over the world, with publishers such as HarperCollins Leadership (US), BenBella Books (US), Findhorn Press (UK), Meyer & Meyer Sport (DE) and Management Impact (NL), to name a few.
“The strength and ambition of the Publishizer team and product proves even a traditional market like publishing can be innovated for fast growth. This makes Publishizer a great fit for our investment portfolio” says Roel Bergsma, Managing Partner of Arches Capital. “Publishizer opens new doors by joining the creative force of upcoming and seasoned authors with the professional force of boutique and established publishers, enabling them to launch the next bestsellers on a global scale.”
New board member also announced
Joining Publishizer as board director is Marc van der Heijden, co-founder of Versatel and CEO of Tonson Enterprises, named after 18th-century publishing innovator, Jacob Tonson. Marc said: “The connected platform of Publishizer is well positioned to deliver the speed, scale and focus required for the publishing industry in the content-hungry 21st century.” With his guidance, Publishizer will chart the new frontiers of publishing.
Also in New York
Publishizer also has its office in New York, apart from the headquarters in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. The crowdfunding literary agency was founded in 2018 and has helped over 700 books get published to date. Further, the startup aims to re-inventing publishing acquisitions and foreign rights deals.
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