Company: Perlego
Founders: Gauthier Van Malderen and Matthew Davis
Website: https://www.perlego.com/
Business: Perlego is a digital eBook marketplace focusing on the delivery of academic, professional and non-fiction literature.
About Perlego and Gauthier Van Malderen and Matthew Davis
Perlego was born to provide an affordable (and sustainable) textbook solution for learners around the world, by partnering with publishers and removing the costs of print, distribution, and retail markup. Lyst was founded in London in 2010 and has raised over $160m from leading investors including Accel, Balderton, Draper Esprit, Fidelity International, and LVMH.
Students can access a 14-day free trial. Thereafter Perlego costs £12 a month or £96 a year for unlimited access to over 400,000 eBooks. Perlego was created in 2016 by two former college students, Gauthier Van Malderen and Matthew Davis, in response to the soaring prices of textbooks. Their plan was to make education more accessible for all, while eliminating the demand for pirated books. They have partnered with over 3,000 publishing houses including Wiley, Pearson, and Bloomsbury.
Perlego is available to users throughout Europe. They offer access to over 600,000 e-books from a global network of over 3,000 publishers through their web and mobile apps.
Ever since the pandemic has led to a growing focus on the digitisation of higher education, Perlego seems increasingly relevant and important. Their platform was able to allow students across Europe to continue learning during the national lockdowns that ended up closing libraries and universities across the world. Following this shift to online learning, Perlego saw a 1500% increase in subscribers. They have since worked with Universities such as Cambridge and Portsmouth, allowing students access to their online library.
