Author Platform Inkitt gets €50 M

The self-publishers’ platform Inkitt completed a series B round to the tune of €50 million, Finanzen reports. Investors include Stefan von Holtzbrinck of the VC firm Holtzbrinck Digital, Scott Sandell of New Enterprise Associates (who has backed such firms as Snapchat and Salesforce), the chairman of the board at Snapchat Michael Lynton, and as business angel Mathias Döpfner (who is chairman of the board at Axel Springer Verlag). Authors publish their stories on Inkitt, Inkitt analyses reader behaviour to pick out the most promising material. After trying their hand as a digitally supported literary agency, Inkitt now publishes the well-loved stories with sound effects on their own app Galatea and gives the authors a chance to come out in other formats, that is as print or ebook, later. With the investment, Inkitt’s founder Ali Albazaz aims to take on market leader Wattpad on their home turf North America.