You are hereBookRenter Raises $10 Million To Be The Netflix For Textbook Rentals
BookRenter Raises $10 Million To Be The Netflix For Textbook Rentals
Textbooks are an incredibly expensive investment. And the majority of the time, you only need the textbook for a short duration. College textbook rental startup BookRenter is trying to make the process of buying textbooks more affordable by loaning books to students for a fixed duration. And today, the company is announcing that it received $10 million in a Series B financing round led by Norwest Venture Partners with Storm Ventures and Adams Capital Management participating in the round. This brings the startup’s total funding to $16 million.
The idea behind Bookrenter’s service is simple; it essentially aims to be the Netflix of textbook rentals. Students are able to save money by loaning textbooks for a fixed duration, usually a semester, and end up spending only the fraction of the cost of outright purchases. The system is simple: a student searches for a book on the website using a title or ISBN, and places an order by selecting a rental period and delivery option. The book(s) are delivered complete with return UPS labels for easy shipping.
The startup also made an effort recently to expand its userbase by opening up its platform to other sites to allow any college or business to launch its own online textbook rental store. Partners, such as universities or campus bookstores, will be able to use BookRenter to set up a virtual store on their sites. Partners have access to the same selection of textbooks available on BookRenter’s site (which are electronically sourced from the largest textbook suppliers.)
Since March, BookRenter has enabled 75 bookstore partners serving more than 1.3 million students. Schools with bookstores currently offering a textbook rental store on the BookRenter platform include the University of Texas at Austin, North Carolina State University, the University of Memphis, the City College of San Francisco, and the University of San Diego.
BookRenter, which faces competition from Chegg and Barnes and Noble, claims a competitive advantage over its competitors by offering more flexible loan schedules and faster delivery (they offer next-day delivery on many titles, and use UPS). Chegg and BookRenter recently got into a tussle over a trademark to the phrase “#1 In Textbook Rentals.”
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The textbook rental market is heating up as school season gets in full swing. Chegg recently made its first acquisition of CourseRank, and Barnes and Noble is also playing in the space. College textbook rental startup BookRenter is also taking part in this growing market, reporting 725 percent growth in revenue from textbook rentals since last September. The company says that revenue is expected to be in the range of $20 to $50 million in 2010.
College textbook rental startup BookRenter has raised $40 million in funding from Adams Capital Management, Comerica Bank, Focus Ventures, Lighthouse Capital Partners, Norwest Venture Partners, and Storm Ventures. This brings BookRenter’s total funding to $60 million.
The textbook buying space is heating up today as Borders debuts its new “Borders Textbook Marketplace.” The Marketplace features more than 1.4 million titles including used textbooks at savings of up to 90 percent, says the company. Students can sell used books on the site as well.
A few months ago, Borders got into the textbook sales race with the launch of a marketplace to buy and sell used books. Today, the company is getting into textbook rentals; partnering with rental giant Chegg to power a rental platform on Borders’ site. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed
Marc Randolph, co-founder and former CEO of Netflix, is joining the board of directors of textbook rental service BookRenter.com.
