Contact Information: For Vook: Peter Evers or Chris Schreiber Launch Squad 415-625-8555 Vook(at)launchsquad.com
Vook Announces $2.5 Million in Seed Financing
| Source: Vook
ALAMEDA, CA--(Marketwire - February 19, 2010) - Vook today
announced it has secured $2.5 million in seed funding from an impressive
syndicate of Silicon Valley technology and New York media investors,
including Ron Conway, Kenneth Lerer, chairman of the Huffington Post,
Maples Investments, Baseline Ventures and Founder Collective. The company
plans to use the funding to accelerate growth in all areas of its business
and to support its plans for massive scale in 2010.
Vook is pioneering a new form of media and reinventing traditional book
publishing. A vook is a mixed-media form that blends video, text, images
and social streams into a single, integrated experience. Since its formal
launch in the fall of 2009, Vook has experienced impressive momentum,
forming strategic publishing relationships with Simon & Schuster,
HarperStudio and Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S. and announcing vook titles
with bestselling writers, including Seth Godin and Anne Rice. The company
recently announced an exclusive partnership with online video experts
TurnHere while also announcing its MotherVook digital publishing tool,
which will ultimately allow Vook to publish hundreds of titles each week.
"Vook has an opportunity to become synonymous with a new form of media,
which is something that doesn't happen very often," said Ron Conway,
independent angel investor and advisor to the company. "Brad knows how to
turn a big vision into a great business and it's clear with Vook that he
has an opportunity to shake things up in the world of publishing."
"Three trends are driving our business," said Brad Inman, founder and CEO
of Vook. "First, traditional book publishing is going through a radical
transformation just as music, film and print news have in recent years.
Second, consumers are engaging with media in all sorts of new ways. And
third, new devices such as smart phones and tablets are creating a huge
surge in creativity and possibilities for mixed media brought together in a
single form to tell a story, entertain or show us how to do something. We
believe we're bringing Vook to market at the exact right time to help
transform an industry, drive creativity and create a whole new media
experience for consumers."
About Vook
Vook is a digital publisher that mixes media including text, video,
pictures, social media and links to create new experiences of the books and
authors that readers love. Vook's publishing tool, MotherVook, provides
publishers with the ability to quickly and cost-effectively produce high
quality mixed media e-book titles. Vooks are streamed to the browser-based
Vook Reader and are also available on-the-go as a unique mobile
application. Vook is based in Alameda, CA with offices in New York. For
more information about vooks, visit www.vook.com.