2013 Top 25 competition alumnus BitLit has raised a seed round from Michael Serbinis, the founder and former CEO of Kobo, as well as Three Angels Capital, Mike Volker, and Jim Fletcher. The undisclosed sum is speculated to be between $500,000 and $750,000.
BitLit was recently named the Grand Prize Winner at the Cascadia Pitch Champion.
For those who can’t bear without physical print, BitLit is the reading hybrid. If a customer can prove that they have purchased a printed copy, they will be able to request a digital version for a discounted price or even for free.
Certifying ownership for a book on BitLit is simple. By writing your name onto the unmarked copyright page and submitting the photo of it by using the BitLit app, BitLit will register that the book belongs to you. After that you will be eligible to purchase a companion ebook for a bargain price or even get it for free.
This new format of buying published works resembles the music industry, where producers are offering fans who buy CD or vinyl the choice to get digital MP3 copy of the album for a discount price or free.
BitLit has partnered with 85 publishers including O’Reilly, Other Press, and Berrett-Koehler. BitLit has 10,000 titles available for print and ebook bundling. Approximately 30% of BitLit’s bundled ebooks are free if you own the print copy or with the purchase of a print edition.