TechCrunch May 24, 2014
Betaworks-style ‘startup studio’ Dream Industries – based in Moscow – has raised a $3 million Series A round from retail giant Ulmart (in Russia) to develop its subscription-based social reading service Bookmate. They plan to take the startup international out of Moscow, starting with Turkey, Scandinavia and Latin America. The funding is part of a $6.5 million package from Ulmart to Dream Industries, with the balance of the raise going to other Dream Industries projects, which include Exchang.es, Theory & Practice, Third Place, Telegraph and Zvooq.
Bookmate is a subscription “social reading” service covering mobile, tablet and web. It claims to have 1.5 million active monthly users in Russia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan and other Russian-speaking markets, including Turkey, and a conversion rate of 7 percent to paid subscribers accessing 400,000 books, and from 300 publishers globally.
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