Literati offers an online Book Club that combines reading experts and AI algorithms, an offline Book Fair product for schools, and a children's book subscription aimed at elementary students. The company shares a portion of Book Fair sales with schools to improve educational environments and expand book access in underserved areas. Founded by Jessica Ewing in 2017, Literati seeks to increase both the quality and quantity of children's reading and to bolster literacy outcomes. The business targets school operators and young readers and is headquartered in Austin, Texas. GLIN Impact Capital has invested and will support the company on impact/ESG value-up, impact measurement and management (IMM), and potential expansion into Japan. Literati expects that improved reading engagement will produce long-term gains in thinking, communication skills, and overall learning outcomes for children. Literati is a book-club platform that ships a print edition of each month’s selection and provides an app for threaded discussions and curator-hosted author conversations. Founded and led by CEO Jessica Ewing, the Austin-based company began with children’s book clubs and launched the Luminary brand for adult book clubs last year. Luminary clubs are curated by notable figures including Malala Yousafzai, Stephen Curry, Sir Richard Branson, Susan Orlean and the Joseph Campbell Foundation. Subscribers receive a print copy with a curator note, app access to discuss books, and curated events; Stephen Curry both invested in Literati and leads a nonfiction club. Ewing says Literati aims to be a new, innovative bookseller focused on curation and to build a literary social network that bridges celebrity-driven selections and intimate, in-person meetups post-COVID. On the children’s side, the company is developing personalization tools to recommend books for each child; financially, Literati has raised a $40 million Series B and previously secured $12 million from Shasta Ventures and others, per Crunchbase. Literati operates a monthly subscription book club for children ages 0–12, curating age-appropriate boxes that include custom artwork and personalized book labels. For $9.95 per month customers receive a box of books, may try them for seven days, and can purchase titles they want to keep. The service also provides a prepaid return box for unwanted books and has donated more than 18,000 books to charities in 2019. The company was founded in 2016 by Jessica Ewing and Kelly Carroll and is based in Austin, Texas. Literati intends to use the new funding to grow the business and hire new talent in Austin. The product emphasizes discovery and reuse of children’s books through its subscription and return model.

Total raised

$52M

Funding rounds

3

Latest round

Series B

Latest activity

Jan 2021