Inside the Australian and New Zealand book industry

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Booktopia raises $20m from private investors

Online bookseller Booktopia has raised $20 million from private investors, led by Champ Ventures CEO Su-Ming Wong and JBS Investments CEO John Sampson.

Under the deal, Wong will join the Booktopia board, while the founding shareholders retain majority control of the company.

Booktopia said the capital will go towards ‘enhanced capacity and efficiency’ at its Sydney distribution centre. This includes further investment in automation to grow its inbound and outbound capacity from 30,000 books per day to 60,000 per day, and growing its holding capacity, with a larger range and more copies of popular titles.

‘The funding will allow us to accelerate our growth in a controlled and measured way by investing in our ability to deliver to Australian book consumers through expanded distribution infrastructure and stock,’ said Booktopia CEO Tony Nash. ‘This has been a proven high growth and predictable model for us for 16 years and we are not about to change.’

Nash said Booktopia’s recent acquisition of the Co-op Bookshop assets was separate from the current capital raising.

 

Category: Local news