On the back of raising funds via media-for-equity fund 5M Ventures earlier this year, Youboox have raised €1.1 Million from Atlas Editions, according to Frenchweb. Founded by Vincent Daubry, Helen Merillion & Fabien Sauleman, Youboox’s goal has been to provide an alternative way for casual book-readers to consume eBooks, namely through a freemium model similar to Spotify. The startup has already released an iPad and Windows 8 App, and has begun signing on independent publishers in France.
Youboox raises €1.1 Million led by Atlas Editions to become the Spotify of eBooks http://t.co/qwyY7wnFB0 by @LiamBoogar h/t @Frenchweb
— Rude Baguette (@RudeBaguette) September 24, 2013
Of course, the key wall in the publisher market will come from the major players, similar to the music industry. Convincing book publishers, who have already seen margins disappear through the price-dropping numbers in the Amazon & Apple eBook stores, will be no easy task; Youboox will likely need to demonstrate that they can convert otherwise unread stock into revenue from users who wouldn’t otherwise buy the book. electronic or physical.
With the funding Youboox raised earlier this year, it will likely get a big boost in user signups, if it has not already seen the fruits of its media-for-equity funding. With this round of funding from Atlas Editions, Youboox will gain access to bigger publishers through Atlas’ networks, and will have sufficient runway to hire the engineers needed to build a multi-platform, easy reading experience for its readers.