Mofibo, the online book streaming service, announced last week that they have been acquired by Storytel. The deal is worth 100 million DKK, € 13.5 million.
Mofibo was founded in 2013 by Morten Strunge, who previously in 2011 sold his company Onfone to Danish mobile operator TDC, and also just was in the news for investing in Rubberduck. In Denmark Mofibo the leading book streaming service with over 40 000 paying subscribers. Mofibo also has partnerships with mobile operators TDC, 3 and Plenti, and the service is also available in Sweden and Holland. With the acquisition Morten Strunge will become part of Storytels management team and responsible for Storytels operations in Denmark and Holland.
“I am proud of what Mofibo has achieved in a short time – it’s great to see an idea you have had becoming a business with 30 dedicated employees, playing an important role in shaping the future of the book market, and being read or listened to more than 100 000 books every month.” says Morten Strunge, CEO and founder of Mofibo.
Storytel, also founded in this region in 2005 in Lund, back then known as Bokilur, is since 2015 listed on Aktietorget, and has had an impressive growth.
“The last few years have Storytel taken the lead on the Swedish market for book streaming in a similar way like Spotify has done in music and Netflix has done in the TV series. Through the acquisition of Mofibo Storytels will now also take the leader’s jersey in Denmark, which gives us even better possibilities to accelerate Storytels international expansion.” says Storytel CEO Jonas Tellander
In Sweden and Denmark Storytels and Mofibos customers will be able to continue use each service until further notice. In Holland however Mofibos service will be closed down and customers are offered a subscription to Storytel instead.
The acquisition is financed mainly by bank loans and to some extent Storytels own cash. It is also financed by issuing new shares to Morten Strunge equivalent to 20 million SEK. The course is set to 22.75 SEK, based on the average price during the negotiation period. Among Mofibos shareholders are in addition to the main owner Morten Strunge also Seed Capital, Sunstone and 15 other investors.
In an outlook for the combined revenue from both Storytel and Mofibo, the service is nearing a quarterly revenue of 100 million SEK (over € 10 million).
