Ztory raises funding from Wellington and D-Ax


    Sweden nailed a subscription service for music, but can it do the same for books? Ztory, the subscription service for digital publications, has announced it has raised funding from D-Ax and Wellington Partners. There are a few “Spotify for books” contenders out there, with Amazon.com even getting in the mix these days, but Ztory is focused more on visual content such as magazines, bookazines, visual facts and even children’s books.

    While the team formed in 2009, the company was founded in 2011 and with the founders realizing the importance of digital sales and have been working since to find a solution that appeals to both publishers and readers.

    Today Ztory distributes nearly 500 titles and 7,000 publications on its subscription service that runs SEK 99 per month (€10.70/mo). Subscribers can create up to five profiles, making it a service for the whole family while still letting Ztory build deeper suggestions for its readers. Their collection can be consumed through Ztory’s iOS or Android apps, as well as through the web.

    Talking about the funding round again, the company is describing it as “huge vote of confidence” rather than boasting about the size of the round, but they’re happy about pulling some names behind the project.

    Wellington Partners is known well around these parts and has backed companies like Hailo, YPlan and Spotify, while Swedish D-Ax is a collaborative venture between Axel Johnson AB and RECAPEX (Internet entrepreneurs who, among other things, founded Match.com and Bookatable).

    “The choice of investors to join our team at Ztory has been extremely important for us to ensure that – in addition to extra capital – they bring to the table the experience, knowledge and networks needed to offer a world class digital subscription service for both publishers and readers,” Nima Samimi, President and founder of Ztory, says.