While digital learning has expanded the availability of educational materials, significant barriers persist for many learners—particularly those facing financial constraints or living with disabilities. London-based Perlego addresses these obstacles by operating a subscription-based digital library containing more than 1.5 million books, paired with accessibility features including text-to-speech, customizable typography and specialized reading tools. The company has secured over €70 million in funding to date.
From expensive textbooks to digital subscriptions
University textbooks have long represented a significant financial burden for students. The cost of required materials—sometimes authored by instructors themselves—frequently exceeded €400 per semester, and regular updates made purchasing used copies impractical. Founder and CEO Gauthier Van Malderen encountered similar challenges while studying in Italy and the UK. He also observed that publishers were hemorrhaging revenue to both piracy and the second-hand market.
Students were sharing books or turning to illegal websites because they couldn't afford to buy them. I started thinking about how people were already subscribing to music and films, and wondered why the same model couldn't exist for educational books. That's where Perlego came from.
Gauthier Van Malderen, founder and CEO of Perlego
Making digital books genuinely accessible
Accessibility frequently functions as a supplementary feature rather than a core design principle, yet digital platforms create opportunities to enhance the reading experience for those who struggle with traditional printed formats. Perlego enables users to modify fonts, adjust text dimensions and customize color schemes. The platform also incorporates a dyslexia-optimized reading mode and BeeLine Reader, which employs color gradients to assist navigation through text.
Among Perlego's most significant offerings is Read Aloud, a text-to-speech feature powered by AI-generated voices with variable playback speeds. Conventional audiobooks represent only a fraction of the publishing market, concentrating primarily on bestselling fiction and select nonfiction titles.
For academic textbooks, research papers and other specialist materials, producing conventional audiobooks often doesn't make economic sense. With text-to-speech, we can make that content available in audio format without needing to produce a separate audiobook.
Gauthier Van Malderen
The Read Aloud feature now reaches more than 95 per cent of Perlego's catalogue. The company compensates publishers through royalties calculated on consumption patterns, treating audio and text engagement identically. Usage analytics are also shared with publishers, revealing opportunities for audio adaptations of materials that might otherwise lack commercial viability.
AI that supports learning rather than replacing it
Perlego has introduced AI-driven research capabilities that leverage its collection of licensed educational materials to assist students and researchers in locating pertinent sources. The approach differs fundamentally from general-purpose generative AI systems.
Our research tool uses semantic search and retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), which means it draws on content from our catalogue rather than simply generating an answer. For example, you might ask about the impact of interest rates on debt markets. The system generates an answer with the relevant source information and takes you directly to the book.
Gauthier Van Malderen
This methodology contrasts sharply with general-purpose generative AI, which frequently produces unreliable citations. Perlego's design connects users with verifiable source material they can independently evaluate. Nonetheless, significant disagreement exists regarding AI's role in education, particularly concerning whether students might rely on generated content rather than developing substantive understanding.
Van Malderen acknowledges that Perlego must navigate competing priorities among three stakeholder groups: publishers concerned about copyright protection in AI systems, academics worried about learning outcomes, and students seeking rapid information retrieval.
One of the biggest concerns we hear from professors is that students are increasingly using generative AI to produce essays without necessarily learning the underlying material.
Gauthier Van Malderen
Perlego has formulated AI principles intended to ensure its tools facilitate learning rather than circumvent it. Rather than generating complete essays for submission, the platform concentrates on helping users discover sources and engage substantively with material. Van Malderen contends that universities must embrace AI technologies rather than resist them, particularly since students already possess access to tools lacking educational safeguards.
Beyond the reading list: How Perlego is improving access at Leeds
The University of Leeds, among the UK's largest institutions, integrated Perlego approximately two years ago. According to Isabel Archer, Access & Acquisitions Manager at the University of Leeds, the platform addressed persistent gaps in electronic access to assigned reading materials.
One of the things that initially drew us to Perlego was the coverage of reading list titles that we couldn't provide electronically through other providers, and in some cases couldn't obtain in print either.
Isabel Archer, Access & Acquisitions Manager, University of Leeds
Previously, the university lacked electronic access to 60 per cent of reading-list citations. Following the partnership launch, usage metrics demonstrate significant engagement: students activated Read Aloud 40,871 times, engaged dyslexia-friendly font settings 2,532 times and modified text sizes 11,391 times. The arrangement has also eliminated access restrictions during peak exam periods—situations where students previously faced denial of access when maximum user licenses were exhausted.
Students have accessed an average of more than 18 books each from Perlego's collection. Van Malderen notes that usage patterns reveal students exploring materials beyond prescribed reading lists.
For us, that's an important part of accessibility too. It's not simply about changing the way someone reads a book, but giving them access to a much broader range of resources.
Gauthier Van Malderen
The economics of a subscription-based library
Textbook consumption follows predictable seasonal patterns, intensifying at semester starts and examination periods. Managing subscriber retention during slower intervals requires strategic planning.
We have both direct-to-consumer and institutional businesses. Universities often sign multi-year contracts, which helps offset seasonality, while consumer demand peaks around the start of the academic year and exam periods.
Gauthier Van Malderen
Perlego diversifies revenue by targeting regions with different academic calendars and expanding beyond textbooks into fiction, nonfiction and travel guides.
Imagine you're a student travelling over the summer. You might want access to Lonely Planet guides. You've already got your highlights and annotations saved in Perlego, so there's an incentive to stay.
Gauthier Van Malderen
A global library for a changing generation of learners
International growth remains central to Perlego's strategy, with operations spanning more than 180 countries. North America generates more than 55 per cent of revenue, while Europe ranks as the second-largest market. South Africa has demonstrated particularly rapid expansion. In portions of Africa and Southeast Asia, physical book distribution carries substantial costs and logistical challenges, creating favorable conditions for digital alternatives.
Perlego also capitalizes on rising enthusiasm for continuous learning, attracting audiences extending well beyond conventional university students to include professionals pursuing retraining or skill development.
People often assume our typical users are university students aged 18 to 24. But in the US, we're seeing an older audience, with an average age somewhere around the mid-30s. These are people who might be retraining, developing new skills or studying alongside work and family responsibilities.
Gauthier Van Malderen
The company intends to develop more interactive learning experiences incorporating gamification elements while strengthening partnerships with academic and trade publishers. Academic journals represent a potential expansion avenue. Ithaka, the nonprofit organization operating JSTOR, participated in Perlego's most recent funding round, and Van Malderen envisions collaboration opportunities to facilitate joint discovery of academic books and journals.
Van Malderen has observed that reading interests closely track current events and news cycles.
When there's a major geopolitical event, conflict or economic development, we can see changes in what people search for. They might suddenly become interested in the history of a particular country or want to understand an economic issue in more detail. People are continually looking for ways to understand the world around them, and our role is to make that knowledge easier to access.
Gauthier Van Malderen
Source: Tech.eu
