Perlego
{{Short description|Digital online library}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2025}}
{{Infobox company
|name = Perlego
|logo = Perlego-logo-2020.png
|key_people = Gauthier van Malderen, CEO
Matthew Davis, CTO
|industry = Education
|foundation = {{start date and age|2017|}}
|hq_location =
|hq_location_city = London
|hq_location_country = United Kingdom
|homepage = {{url|perlego.com}}
}}
Perlego is a digital library that offers readers unlimited access to over 1 million academic, professional and non-fiction ebooks. It has been billed as the "Spotify for textbooks" by the Evening Standard.{{cite news |first=Amelia |last=Heathman |date=2018-09-10 |title=Perlego raises $4.8 million to become the 'Spotify for textbooks' |work=Evening Standard |url=https://www.standard.co.uk/tech/perlego-ed-tech-spotify-for-textbooks-a3931526.html}} It is a membership-based service that allows users to read any book available in the library for the duration of their membership.{{Cite web|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/adamrowe1/2018/09/28/2-big-textbook-subscription-services-are-teaming-up/|title=How 2 Big Textbook Subscription Services Are Teaming Up|last=Rowe|first=Adam|website=Forbes|access-date=2019-02-18}}
Perlego offers ebooks in 5 languages: English, Spanish, Italian, German and French, from local and international publishers. The service is available worldwide and allows users to read both online and offline on most smartphones, tablets or laptop devices.
History
Perlego was founded in 2017 in London, United Kingdom, by Gauthier Van Malderen and Matthew Davis, both Belgian{{cite web |title=Un Belge derrière Perlego, le Spotify du livre académique |url=https://www.lecho.be/dossier/startups/un-belge-derriere-perlego-le-spotify-du-livre-academique/9991032.html |website=L'Echo |language=fr |date=12 March 2018}} natives and recent university graduates.
Drawing from their personal experiences with the high and rising cost of university textbooks,{{cite web |title=Rising price of textbooks reaches a tipping point|url=https://www.ft.com/content/e7aed422-16c4-11e6-b197-a4af20d5575e |website=Financial Times |language=en |date=15 May 2016}} and noting the convenience of accessing music and films via subscription models like Netflix and Spotify, the founders aimed to increase global access to academic resources. They did this by offering students an "all-you-can-read" subscription model, providing a more affordable and convenient alternative to purchasing new textbooks while aiding publishers in reclaiming market share lost to online piracy.
=Funding=
Perlego was initially self-funded. Its pre-seed funding was derived from the profit made from Gauthier's previous business venture – Iconic Matter.{{cite news |date=19 November 2019 |title=Gauthier Van Malderen, le Belge qui rêve d'un Spotify du livre |trans-title=Gauthier Van Malderen, the Belgian who dreams of a Spotify for books |url=https://www.lecho.be/dossier/portraits/gauthier-van-malderen-le-belge-qui-reve-d-un-spotify-du-livre/10183398.html |newspaper=L'Echo |language=fr}}
In January 2017, Perlego raised £850,000 in a round of seed funding. This was led by angel investors from the UK, Belgium and France, with Zoopla founder Alex Chesterman and LoveFilm founder Simon Franks being notable participants.{{cite web |title=Perlego raises $4.8M for its 'Spotify for textbooks' |url=https://techcrunch.com/2018/09/10/perlego/ |website=TechCrunch|date=10 September 2018 }}
In September 2018, Perlego raised a further £3,500,000 in a venture round led by Accelerated Digital Ventures, with further participation from its existing angel investors.
In November 2019, Perlego closed its Series A fundraising round, having raised a total of £7,000,000. The fundraising was led by Charlie Songhurst, Dedicated VC, and Thomas Leysen (Chairman of Mediahuis and Umicore), with Perlego's existing investors all reinvesting on a pro-rata basis.{{cite web |title=Perlego raises $9M Series A for its textbook subscription service |url=https://techcrunch.com/2019/11/19/perlego-raises-9m-series-a/ |website=TechCrunch|date=19 November 2019 }}
In March 2022, Perlego closed its Series B fundraising round, raising $50,000,000. The round was led by Mediahuis Ventures.{{cite web |last=Lunden |first=Ingrid |title=Perlego raises $50M to build out its vision of being the 'Spotify for textbooks' |url=https://techcrunch.com/2022/03/15/perlego-raises-50m-to-build-out-its-vision-of-being-the-spotify-for-textbooks/ |website=TechCrunch |date=March 15, 2022 |access-date=March 15, 2022}}
Services
Perlego's content library currently contains over 1,000,000 titles{{cite web | url=https://techcrunch.com/2022/03/15/perlego-raises-50m-to-build-out-its-vision-of-being-the-spotify-for-textbooks/ | title=Perlego raises $50M to build out its vision of being the 'Spotify for textbooks' | work = Tech crunch | date=15 March 2022}} in English, Italian, Spanish, French and German, covering more than 900 separate disciplines from aeronautics to zoology. At the moment, Perlego works with over 3,000 publishing houses who provide content for the service, including major academic publishers such as Wiley and Bloomsbury.{{cite news |url=https://www.thebookseller.com/news/perlego-joins-bloomsbury-582091 | title=Bloomsbury signs up to new 'Spotify for textbooks' |work=The Bookseller | date = July 4, 2017 | first = Heloise | last = Wood}}{{cite news |last1= Duke |first1= Simon |title=Perlego giving last word to Pearson, Wiley and Cengage textbooks |url=https://www.thetimes.com/article/pearson-wiley-and-cengage-sign-up-to-perlego-digital-library-38kd83vlp |work=The Times | date = January 27, 2020}}
Users can access titles via their browser on desktop computers or download an application on mobile devices where it is also possible to download books for offline reading. Users can highlight and make notes.{{cite web |title= Online fee-paying libraries tackle textbook inflation | first = Nic | last = Mitchell | date = 31 August 2019 | url=https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20190820111340144 |website=University World News}}{{cite web |title=Spotify for textbooks: Inside the revolutionary new book shop |url= https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/analysis-and-features/spotify-for-textbooks-perlego-new-books-read-shops-library-buy-a8943711.html |archive-url= https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220525/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/analysis-and-features/spotify-for-textbooks-perlego-new-books-read-shops-library-buy-a8943711.html |archive-date=2022-05-25 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |website=The Independent | date=13 July 2019}}
In 2024, Perlego launched AI Researcher, an AI-assisted tool that enables users to scan the entire contents of the library for specific terms, topics and learnings.
Perlego partnered with the University of West London (UWL) in 2022 to provide its full catalogue to all UWL students.{{cite web | url=https://www.uwl.ac.uk/current-students/library/perlego-ebook-collection | title=Perlego ebook collection | publisher = UWL}}