Former Tesco chief invests in ‘spotify for textbooks’ platform perlego with $20m funding round

Perlego, an education technology platform known as the ‘Spotify of textbooks’, has secured a $20 million fundraising round led by former Tesco CEO Sir Terry Leahy.

The digital library service, which provides unlimited access to academic titles via subscription, is expected to announce a capital injection this week.

The new funding round also includes an investment from ITHAKA, the organization behind JSTOR, a prominent digital library of academic journals and books. Perlego’s growing list of shareholders already includes notable names such as Mediahuis, the Belgian publisher that recently made a bid for The Daily Telegraph, and KPN Ventures.

Founded in 2017, Perlego partners with thousands of international publishers and provides access to academic, professional, and non-fiction content from publishers such as Cambridge University Press, Elsevier, and Harvard University Press. The platform catalog is available in six languages ​​and is used by more than 250 educational institutions around the world.

Sir Terry Leahy, who has made a number of technology investments since stepping down from Tesco more than a decade ago, expressed his enthusiasm for Perlego’s innovative approach to education. “Perlego addresses one of the most pressing challenges in modern education: access to essential educational materials,” Leahy said. “This investment is a vote of confidence in Perlego’s ability to reshape the educational landscape.”

The new funding will be used to expand Perlego’s international footprint and strengthen its offerings through the integration of artificial intelligence. One of the key developments will be Dialogo, an AI-powered research assistant that aims to improve access to academic content.

Gautier van Malderen, Founder and CEO of Perlego, commented on the investment’s impact: “This investment represents a vital opportunity to drive meaningful change in education and AI more broadly. We are passionate about delivering accessible, game-changing educational solutions.”

The platform’s mission to democratize access to academic resources has received attention from major industry players, and the latest funding will further its efforts to advance educational technology on a global scale.