REDWOOD CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Epic!, a leading digital brand for kids, today announced $8 million in Series C funding led by Reach Capital with participation from TransLink Capital, Rakuten Ventures, Menlo Ventures, WI Harper, Brighteye Ventures and Innovation Endeavors. The company will use the funds to accelerate growth, expand its team and build out its platform in both the home and in schools.
Launched in January 2014, Epic!’s award-winning subscription service provides kids unlimited access to more than 25,000 curated, high-quality books and videos. Reaching over 5 million children through its ever-growing network, Epic! encourages kids to explore their interests and learn in a fun, safe, kid-friendly environment. Kids on Epic! have access to non-fiction titles covering thousands of topics, picture books, chapter books, graphic novels, “read to me” books, learning videos, and teacher-created quizzes and reading lists.
Partnerships with 250 leading publishers and video providers such as HarperCollins, Macmillan, Sesame Workshop, National Geographic Kids and Smithsonian Enterprises bring an unparalleled selection of high-interest, educational content to kids in the U.S. and around the world. Content on Epic! is carefully selected by a team of children’s publishing experts, and Epic!’s powerful recommendation algorithm tailors content offerings to each child’s reading level and preferences. Most importantly, Epic! is designed to encourage kids to discover and explore their personal interests, which fosters a love of reading and self-directed learning.
“By providing kids with a fun and expansive platform based on interest-based reading and learning, Epic! has become a leading digital brand in homes and schools nationwide,” says Suren Markosian, CEO of Epic! “We’re excited to have Reach Capital lead this round because their deep knowledge and passion for education will be very valuable to us as we grow.”
To support reading and teachers in the classroom, Epic! launched Epic! for Educators in 2015 to bring free access to elementary school teachers and school librarians. Now used in 87% of U.S. elementary schools, teachers use Epic! to support student learning across a wide variety of subjects, from reading and literacy, to history, geography, the arts, science and math. Additionally, teachers have created hundreds of thousands of shareable reading lists and quizzes based on content on Epic!’s platform, providing an even richer discovery and learning experience for kids, parents and other teachers in the Epic! community.
“We invested in Epic! because of the excitement from teachers and children who were delighted by the platform,” says Jennifer Carolan, General Partner at Reach Capital and lead investor in Epic!’s most recent financing round. “In classrooms all over, we saw Epic! spark children's love for reading and inspire them to share their learning with others. We were impressed with Epic!’s ability to capture the hearts of educators, children and parents and create a seamless connection between school and home learning.”
More than 160 million books have been read on Epic! since launch, with 24 million books read in just the last month, alone. Epic! is consistently a top grossing app in the Apple App store in both the Education and Kids categories. Epic! has raised a total of $21.4 million in three rounds.
About Epic!
Founded in 2014 and based in Redwood City, CA, Epic! is a kids digital media brand for kids 12 and under. Epic!’s award-winning subscription service includes unlimited access to 25,000 books and 2,500 videos from leading publishers such as HarperCollins, Macmillan, Sesame Workshop, National Geographic Kids, Smithsonian Enterprises, and Encyclopaedia Britannica. Kids on Epic! are encouraged to explore their interests and learn in a fun, safe, and engaging environment that includes fiction and non-fiction titles, “read to me” books, learning videos and teacher-created quizzes and reading lists. Epic! is used in 87% of U.S. elementary schools and consistently a top app in the Apple App Store. Epic! was founded by Suren Markosian, founder of several successful technology startups, and Kevin Donahue, former YouTube, Google and Disney executive, with the support of top tier investors and veterans of the children’s publishing industry. To learn more about Epic!, visit http://www.getepic.com, or follow Epic! on Facebook and Twitter.
