BookRenter was an American online textbook rental company based in
San Mateo, California
San Mateo ( ; ) is a city in San Mateo County, California, on the San Francisco Peninsula. About 20 miles (32 km) south of San Francisco, the city borders Burlingame to the north, Hillsborough to the west, San Francisco Bay and Foster C ...
.
History
BookRenter started the first online textbook rental service in 2006. Colin Barceloux founded the company as a startup in Silicon Valley after raising funds from Storm Ventures and Adams Capital.
The idea behind BookRenter came from the frustration associated with buying high-cost textbooks when the founder, Barceloux attended
Santa Clara University
Santa Clara University is a private Jesuit university in Santa Clara, California. Established in 1851, Santa Clara University is the oldest operating institution of higher learning in California. The university's campus surrounds the historic Mis ...
. He teamed up with two engineer majors, Chris Williams and Philippe Huibonhoa to help him with the building BookRenter.com. The website launched to offer textbook rentals for less than the retail price. BookRenter expanded its operation by partnering with over 500 college bookstores by setting up a virtual rental store on their own websites. In 2010, it reportedly served 6 million students on over 5,000 campuses in the US.
In 2009, Mehdi Maghsoodnia became
CEO
A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...
of the company, replacing Colin Barceloux. In 2010,
Netflix co-founder
Marc Randolph joined the board of directors.
In early 2012, BookRenter was rebranded as Rafter Inc. after introducing its cloud-based course materials management services to colleges and universities. Through the cloud-based platform, students could obtain course materials and college administrators, professors access and manage their educational materials.
In 2014, BookRenter partnered with
Staples to expand its textbook rental service delivered through Staples.com.
In May 2017, the company was acquired by eCampus.com.
Finances
BookRenter initially received financing from several venture capital firms in Silicon Valley. In 2009, it announced a Series A round of $6 million, raised from Storm Ventures and Adams Capital Management, then Norwest Venture Partners led the Series B round of $10 million, which included participation from prior investors Storm Ventures and Adams Capital Management.
In 2011, Bookrenter raised $40 million in funding from its investors including Storm Ventures, Adams Capital Management, Comerica Bank, Lighthouse Capital Partners, Norwest Venture Partners and Focus Ventures.
Awards and recognition
BookRenter received an Interactive Media Award for "Outstanding Achievement in Ecommerce" in 2008. It was the recipient of
About.com’s 2012 Reader Choice Award for "Best Site for Renting Textbooks".
See also
*
Amazon Kindle#Textbook rentals
*
Google Play Books#Books on Google Play
*
Chegg
References
{{reflist
2006 establishments in California
Book rental
Book selling websites
Educational technology companies of the United States
Education companies established in 2006
Retail companies established in 2006
Internet properties established in 2006
Online retailers of the United States
Textbook business