World’s Largest Online Educational Library Launches In ANZ
Perlego provides access to major local and international publishers
Perlego, the world’s largest streaming service for educational and self-development books, has today launched in Australia and New Zealand.
The platform, founded in 2016, provides unlimited access to content from many of the region’s leading publishers including Taylor & Francis, Pearson, SAGE, Bloomsbury and Cambridge University Press.
Perlego provides access to the books required to learn or study, opposed to buying individual textbooks or visiting libraries, which hasn’t been possible during the recent pandemic.
Textbook prices have grown by more than 847%, which is three times the rate of inflation, since 1978. In Australia alone, students spend approximately $602 on textbooks every year.
Perlego offers access to more than 300,000 titles from over 2,800 publishers through an-easy-to use web and mobile app. Content from 500 topics is available; including architecture, business, history, computing, law, literature, maths, medicine, science and the arts.
London-based entrepreneurs Gauthier Van Malderen and Matt Davis founded the company after meeting at university, where they witnessed firsthand the expense of textbooks.
CEO Gauthier Van Malderen said: “We’re hugely excited to launch in Australia and New Zealand. Here and across the world, we believe learning should be accessible to everyone, but the current challenges of the publishing industry makes this difficult.
“The high price of textbooks is a big concern, as well as access, which has been further limited by the enforced coronavirus restrictions and closure of the Co-Op Book’s on-campus, second-hand bookstores earlier this year.
“We’re looking to change this by providing a quality and affordable streaming platform that not only widens access to educational materials but accelerates profits for the publishing industry to help bring it back to growth.”