DFJ Esprit et al. invest in Unbound

New investors DFJ Esprit and Cambridge Angels led the round. FIP is an existing Unbound backer, having previously provided the company with seed funding.

The crowdfunding platform will use the capital to improve its website and hire additional staff for its tech team. The funding will also allow Unbound to begin developing new platforms aimed at key players in the book publishing industry, namely literary agents and booksellers.

Company
Founded in 2011, Unbound is headquartered in Soho and employs 14 staff. The company operates a crowdfunding platform for authors and publishers. The platform allows authors to pitch ideas for books, which can then be funded by interested readers in return for rewards, such as being named in the book or attending the book's launch party.

Pitches on the site typically take three months to raise £15,000 from 500 supporters, with varying pledge values available to donate. Once the book is fully funded, Unbound and the author design, edit and print the book. The book's net profit is split 50/50 between the author and Unbound.

The company claims to be nearing the £1m mark in terms of pledges from book supporters, and also claims to be the first crowdfunding platform for publishing of its kind. The premise behind Unbound is to offer an alternative avenue into publishing books that forgoes the traditional, lengthier process involving a publishing house.

People
Unbound was founded by Dan Kieran, author of The Idle Traveller; John Mitchinson, publisher and head of research for BBC programme QI; and Justin Pollard, author and historian. Kieran is the company's CEO. David Cummings is a venture partner at DFJ Esprit, while Nic Brisbourne is a director at FIP.

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• Topics
• UK / Ireland
• Media
• Expansion
• United Kingdom
• DFJ Esprit