Ahmedabad-based eBook publisher Matrubharti raises Rs 20 lakh from Viridian Capital

AHMEDABAD: City based

eBook

publisher Matrubharti has raised a seed funding of Rs 20 lakh from Viridian Capital. Matrubharti offers a

publishing

platform to new and aspiring writers in regional languages by taking content directly from authors and publishing it as an eBook.


The seed funding amount will be used for investment in technology and expanding the team. Incubated at the Espark-Viridian Accelerator Centre at GIFT City (Gujarat International Finance Tec-City), Matrubharti has more than 1,800 authors registered and have published 4,350 eBooks, so far.


A recent survey by Nielsen India revealed that India’s book market, currently the sixth largest in the world at Rs 26,100 crore, is likely to touch Rs. 73,900 crore by 2020. The survey says that more than 70% of the publishers in India have digitised their content to produce eBook versions thereby reaching the target customers through a digital medium.


Commenting on the seed funding and future of digital content, Mahendra Sharma, co-founder, Matrubharti said, “Investment by Viridian Capital in our firm is a testimony that we have a business model which is likely to grow at a healthy rate. Matrubharti offers a digital platform to new and aspiring writers, which is our unique selling proposition among digital publishers.”


“We have a premium subscription model through which readers can download any number of eBooks during a particular period, which reduces the cost of purchasing an eBook for readers,” Sharma added.


Matrubharti publishes over 450 eBooks every month with 7.5 lakhs of eBooks downloaded so far. “Our growth rate is 20% month on month and we expect a similar growth over the next one year, as we believe that penetration of smart phones would increase the sales of eBooks going forward.” said Sharma.


Published in six languages so far, Matrubharti plans to publish eBooks in 21 languages.