Epic! is a subscription-based digital reading platform that offers unlimited access to a library of 35,000 books, audiobooks and learning videos from 250 publishers. The service reaches more than 10 million children and has 1.7 million paying subscribers, with teachers in 91% of U.S. elementary schools signed up. Kids have read over 500 million books on the platform since launch, including 300 million last year, and teachers have created 2 million content collections and 200,000 quizzes taken more than 35 million times. Epic! charges $7.99 per month and is used to support classroom learning across subjects from literacy to science and math. The company reports doubling revenue every year and has grown consistently over five years since its 2014 founding in Redwood City, Calif. Epic! is expanding beyond books toward a broader, responsible digital media brand for kids and offers multilingual content, including 3,000 books in Spanish, French and Chinese. Epic! operates an on‑demand digital library aimed at elementary‑school children (roughly ages five to twelve) with about 25,000 books and videos, some with audio read‑along components. The app includes a teacher dashboard and educator features to track student reading and is offered free to teachers while families pay for access. The company says it reaches 5 million kids and that 87 percent of U.S. K–5 schools use Epic! for reading time. Epic! was founded in 2013 and launched its app in 2014. The product emphasizes an interest‑driven UI that encourages children to move between videos, books and interactive content rather than treating reading as a gate to other media. Future plans mentioned by the company include hiring, increased marketing, exploring partnerships in Asia, adding new content types, and potentially incorporating VR and AR content. Epic operates an all-you-can-read eBook subscription service targeted at children ages 12 and under. The service offers unlimited access for $9.99 per month or $79.99 per year and streams books rather than downloading them. Epic's library contains about 2,000 titles through partnerships with publishers including Simon & Schuster, Kids Can Press, Lerner Publishing Group, Open Road, and Integrated Media. The product provides personalized book recommendations based on age and interest, plus badges and rewards for reading achievements. The company recently launched an iPad app and emphasizes kid-focused design and curated, age-appropriate content to encourage reading on devices. Epic is based in Palo Alto and was founded by Suren Markosian and Kevin Donahue, who have backgrounds at Crowdstar, Google/YouTube, Disney, and Cartoon Network. The startup also announced it closed $1.4 million in funding.

Total raised

$39M

Funding rounds

3

Latest round

Equity

Latest activity

Jan 2019