Hungarian storybook startup on the rise

BOOKR Kids is a three-year-old startup that develops interactive books and apps for children as well as for publishers, schools and companies. Not only does it digitalise the tales so far only available on paper but it also offers a new format for Intellectual Property owners. This startup is revolutionising reading stories and, according to forbes.hu, the state’s Hiventures Risk Capital Fund has invested a sum of 1 million Euros (314 million Forints) in the idea.

Dorka Horváth, the founder and manager of BOOKR Kids, stated in an interview:

“the primary goal is to build a bridge between books and the digital word. This way, literature could become as natural a part of children’s lives as screens already are.”

They only changed the form and the platform, and made the books more playful, while the content of the stories remained the same. As parents, teachers and even experts accept the positive developmental effects of BOOKR Kids, it provides ‘legal’, more acceptable screen-time for the kids.

BOOKR Kids will also enter Hungarian primary schools from September, as part of the Digital Welfare Program. They developed a special pedagogical-methodological package to help with reading comprehension. Primary schools can apply for it from this year onwards, as part of the Institutional Digital Development Plan.

International expansion

The company is making steady progress. It has already brought in last year’s revenue, and the yearly plan is 500 thousand Euros (160 million Forints). They are already present in five countries and have contracts with partners in both Norway and China. The China Project is especially important since it involves developing a platform for one of the most successful language schools of the country, to help English language learning with partners like Edutainment Licensing. However, thanks to the investment, they plan to expand even further.

Daniel Karányi, one of the founders of the startup talked about the progress the company has made:

“Our company began with three people but we added software developmental-, international sales- and education experts teams over the years. Today, we have 20 permanent employees as well as several external experts. Thanks to this, thousands of families can use the BOOKR Kids apps every day, from anywhere in the world”.

Featured image: facebook.com/booksrkids

Source: forbes.hu