Bookmate is a social ebook subscription service, available primarily on mobile, with catalogues in 9 languages. The mobile app is supported on

iOS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also include ...

, Android,

Windows Phone Windows Phone (WP) is a discontinued family of mobile operating systems developed by Microsoft for smartphones as the replacement successor to Windows Mobile and Zune. Windows Phone featured a new user interface derived from the Metro design l ...

and

feature phone A feature phone (also spelled featurephone) is a type or class of mobile phone that retains the form factor of earlier generations of mobile telephones, typically with press-button based inputs and a small non-touch display. They tend to use an ...

s, and the service is also available in a web version.

History

The company was founded in 2010 by Victor Frumkin and Simon Dunlop, and was originally headquartered in London. Starting with $500,000 seed funding, Bookmate raised funds in two subsequent funding rounds. In June 2011, the company received $3 million from Ulmart and Essedel, and in May 2014, it received a further $3 million from Ulmart. As of 2013, Bookmate provided access to more than 255,000 books. By March 2014, it became the largest distributor of ebooks in Russia, with 1 million registered users. In April 2014, Bookmate received the Publishing for Digital Minds Innovation Award at the

London Book Fair The London Book Fair (LBF) is a large book-publishing trade fair held annually, usually in April, in London, England. LBF is a global marketplace for rights negotiation and the sale and distribution of content across print, audio, TV, film and di ...

. In October the same year, it launched its

mobile app A mobile application or app is a computer program or software application designed to run on a mobile device such as a phone, tablet, or watch. Mobile applications often stand in contrast to desktop applications which are designed to run on d ...

for Android and iOS users. In August 2015, Indonesian telco

Indosat PT Indosat Tbk, trading as Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison, is a telecommunications provider in Indonesia which is owned by Ooredoo Hutchison Asia, a joint venture between Ooredoo and Hutchison Asia Telecom Group (a part of CK Hutchison Holdings) si ...

has announced a partnership with Bookmate to launch a mass-market mobile reading service under the Bookmate-Cipika Books brand. A regional office of Bookmate in Mexico City began operating in 2017 and continued to expand from there to countries such as

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

, Colombia,

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = National seal , national_motto = "Firm and Happy f ...

, and other Spanish-speaking nations. In August 2022, the Irish company Bookmate Limited gave

Yandex Yandex LLC (russian: link=no, Яндекс, p=ˈjandəks) is a Russian multinational technology company providing Internet-related products and services, including an Internet search engine, information services, e-commerce, transportation, map ...

a license to use the technological platform of the service in the CIS and Russia. Bookmate Limited left the Russian market. In October 2022 the Irish company Bookmate Limited, which owns the Bookmate book service, was included in the Register of Foreign Agents in Russia. The company’s CEO Andrew Baev was also added to the list of “foreign agents”. Bookmate Limited owned majority stakes in two book publishers, Individuum and Popcorn Books (both profitable), which it had to sell due to political risks. In an interview with '' Meduza'', Andrew Baev said that Russia has never been the main market for Bookmate, and the company continues to work in the Balkans, Latin America, and Europe. As of November 2022, Andrew Baev was the company's CEO and Simon Dunlop served as the Executive Chairman of the Board. As of February 2023, Bookmate has 10 million registered users, and a catalogue of over 1,000,000 books.

Features

Bookmate enables unlimited reading of its catalogue for a fixed monthly fee. In the app readers can follow the feeds and bookshelves of friends. Bookmate has a built-in recommendation system that consists of two different stages. Primarily, the user is prompted to select the genres of books that they like during the onboarding in the app. The selection of recommended books is furtherly adapted to users’ tastes and preferences based on their reading activity in the app.

Content

As of December 2014, Bookmate offered titles in 9 different languages and had a catalogue of over 500,000 books. In Bookmate apps and on the website, a catalog of books, audiobooks and comic books can be browsed or searched for via various parameters, such as name, author, genre etc. The catalog contains both free (public domain) content and the content distributed by subscription. The availability of the content for certain users is determined based on this user’s location and the characteristics of this user’s subscription. As of early 2023, Bookmate has a catalog of 50,000 free books, millions of works available for subscription, and audiobooks in 19 languages. The company produces original content in Latin America, and in the Balkans under the Bookmate Originals brand. In addition, Bookmate Journal is published online in Denmark and Serbia.

Partnerships

Bookmate partners with mobile operators and original equipment manufacturers such as

in Indonesia,

StarHub StarHub Limited, most commonly known as just Starhub, is a Singaporean multinational telecommunications conglomerate and one of the major telcos operating in the country. Founded in 1998, it is listed on the Singapore Exchange (SGX). History ...

in Singapore,

Kcell Kcell (KASE: KCEL) is the Cellular Communication Operator in Kazakhstan, part of Kazakhtelecom. The company was founded in 1998 and provides cellular services under the Kcell brand, which is mainly focused on the corporate segment, and Activ, ...

in Kazakhstan, Azercell in Azerbaijan and

Tigo Millicom International Cellular SA (NASDAQ U.S.: TIGO, NASDAQ Stockholm: TIGO_SDB) is a Luxembourgish fixed line and mobile telecommunications services provider dedicated to emerging markets in Latin America operating under the Tigo brand. As of ...

in Latin America for preinstalls and carrier billing on mobile phones and other mobile devices. Bookmate works with a large number of publishers and content aggregators around the world, including Egmont, Macmillan, Gardners, Bookwire, PublishDrive,

Gyldendal Gyldendalske Boghandel, Nordisk Forlag A/S, usually referred to simply as Gyldendal () is a Danish publishing house. Founded in 1770 by Søren Gyldendal, it is the oldest and largest publishing house in Denmark, offering a wide selection of ...

, Libranda, Bloomsbury, Findaway, Laguna, Parkstone International and others.

References

External links

* {{Self-publishing Ebook suppliers Technology companies based in London Internet properties established in 2010 Online companies of Ireland