Youboox
Youboox is a Paris-based, private digital book streaming service founded in 2011 that enables French readers to access books on a subscription basis via its youboox.fr platform. It serves individual consumers with a small team of 11–50 employees.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2011
- HeadquartersParis, France
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingDigital Commerce or Content
What Youboox does
Youboox is a France-based, private digital book streaming service founded in 2011 and headquartered in Paris. The company enables readers to access a catalog of books on a streaming basis rather than through individual purchases, positioning itself as a consumption-oriented alternative to traditional e-book retail. Its website (youboox.fr) is the primary customer-facing surface, and the firm operates with a small team of 11–50 employees, consistent with a focused niche player in the French digital publishing market.
The platform is operated by a compact leadership team comprising co-founders Hélène Mérillon (CEO) and Vincent Daubry, supported by a Chief Marketing and Data Officer (Jeremy Amsellem) and CTO (Guillaume Thirion). The presence of dedicated data and technology leadership indicates investment in personalization, recommendation, and platform infrastructure, although no specific AI/ML capabilities, patents, or proprietary technology stack are disclosed in the available material. Youboox's business model centers on consumer-facing subscription access to digital books, with the firmographic profile and website footprint suggesting a direct-to-consumer orientation, potentially complemented by institutional/library partnerships common in the French digital reading market.
Youboox has raised approximately $2.6 million in disclosed funding across three rounds between 2012 and 2016, with investors including IronCapital, NCI, NCI Gestion, 5M Ventures, Atlas Editions, and Keiretsu Forum. No funding activity has been disclosed since September 2016, and there are no publicly available revenue, ARR, or headcount growth metrics in the input data. The company remains privately held and operationally active, but the absence of recent disclosed milestones limits visibility into its current scale and trajectory.
Youboox firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Youboox
- Legal name
- Nextory AB
- Website
- https://youboox.fr
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2011
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Youboox is a Paris-based, private digital book streaming service founded in 2011 that enables French readers to access books on a subscription basis via its youboox.fr platform. It serves individual consumers with a small team of 11–50 employees.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Youboox industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Digital Reading / E-book Streaming
- NAICS
- Media Streaming Distribution Services, Social Networks, and Other Media Networks and Content Providers (5162)
- akta.pro primary industry
- E-book Subscription & Bundling Services (MPAJAMAB)
Keywords
Where Youboox is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Paris
- HQ country
- France
- HQ region
- Europe
Markets served
Youboox business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Digital Commerce or Content
- Cost components
- Personnel, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Operations
Revenue model
- Subscription Streaming: Monthly subscription model with tiered plans (Standard, Premium, Family) offering unlimited access to e-books, audiobooks, magazines, and comics. Different tiers provide varying monthly listening hours and simultaneous profile access.
Pricing tiers
| Model | Billing | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Subscription | Monthly | Standard plan with 15 hours audio/month |
| Subscription | Monthly | Premium plan with 30 hours audio/month |
| Subscription | Monthly | Family plan with 50 hours audio/month |
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels5 records
Youboox product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Youboox is a French digital book streaming service founded in 2011 and headquartered in Paris that enables consumers to come online and read books on demand. The platform provides streaming access to digital reading content for individual users, operating as a private, for-profit company with 11-50 employees.
Product overview
Nextory is a digital reading and listening streaming service offering access to over 1.4 million audiobooks, e-books, magazines, and comics. The platform operates on a tiered subscription model with three plans (Standard at €9.99/month, Premium at €14.99/month, and Family at €19.99/month), differentiated by monthly audiobook hours (15, 30, and 50 hours respectively) and simultaneous user limits. All tiers include unlimited access to e-books and press content, with offline download capability. The service provides dedicated children's features including family profiles, and also offers a Nextory One product variant. Content spans over 20 categories including fiction, non-fiction, children's literature, comics/manga, and podcasts.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Digital Book Streaming Service Online streaming service that enables individual consumers to come and read digital books on demand via the youboox.fr platform. Targeted at general consumers seeking on-demand access to digital reading content.
Quantifiable outcome
- 52,000+ users gave maximum 5-star rating on Trustpilot
- +1 more outcomes
Companies that use Youboox
Customer profileNamed customers4 records
Segments2 records
Ideal customer profiles1 record
Youboox technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed Yes
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Feature3 records
Youboox partnerships and signals
Strategic signalScale indicators4 records
Recent moves4 records
Expansion highlights3 records
Youboox competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Nextory: Swedish-headquartered digital book streaming subscription service offering e-books, audiobooks, magazines, and comics across 11+ European countries with a tiered PLG model directly comparable to Youboox's business.
- Bookbeat: Audiobook and e-book streaming subscription service operating across Nordic and European markets, owned by Bonnier — directly competes with Youboox in digital book subscription.
- Vivlio: French e-reader hardware and digital bookstore operator with a subscription offering — directly comparable French-market player in e-book distribution and reading subscriptions.
- YouScribe: French-headquartered digital book subscription platform offering e-books and audiobooks — direct French-market competitor to Youboox with a similar catalog model.
Broad incumbents
- Storytel: Leading Nordic audiobook and e-book streaming subscription platform with 1M+ subscribers across 20+ markets — established incumbent in the same digital book streaming category as Youboox.
- Scribd: US-based digital reading subscription service offering unlimited access to e-books, audiobooks, documents, and magazines — same subscription business model as Youboox at global scale.
- Audible: Amazon-owned audiobook subscription platform — incumbent in audio-first reading subscriptions, which is the highest-ARPU segment of Youboox's market.
- Kindle Unlimited: Amazon's subscription service offering unlimited access to e-books, audiobooks, and magazines — the dominant scale player competing for the same consumer reading subscription wallet.
- Kobo Plus: Rakuten-owned e-book and audiobook subscription service — competing subscription offering in the same digital reading category with broad international reach.
Regional players
- Izneo: French digital comics/bande dessinée subscription platform — comparable digital content subscription model focused on a specific format (comics/BD) within the broader reading category.
Market position
Strengths3 records
Weaknesses3 records
Competitive moat2 records
Key risks4 records
Key highlights4 records
Customer concentration
Youboox social profiles
Digital presenceYouboox financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Youboox leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles4 records
Youboox funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds3 records
Investors5 records
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Youboox M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Youboox
What does Youboox do?
Youboox is a French digital book streaming service founded in 2011 and headquartered in Paris that enables consumers to come online and read books on demand. The platform provides streaming access to digital reading content for individual users, operating as a private, for-profit company with 11-50 employees.
Is Youboox a public or private company?
Youboox is a private company. It is classified as venture growth investor backed and is currently operating.
When was Youboox founded?
Youboox was founded in 2011. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Youboox based?
Youboox is headquartered in Paris, France, in the Europe region.
How does Youboox make money?
One revenue line is on record: subscription Streaming.
Who are Youboox's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Nextory, Bookbeat, Vivlio and YouScribe. Broad incumbents are Storytel, Scribd, Audible, Kindle Unlimited and Kobo Plus. Izneo is listed as a regional player.
Does Youboox have an API?
No public API is recorded for Youboox.
What industry is Youboox in?
Youboox's product category is Digital Reading / E-book Streaming. Its primary akta.pro industry code is MPAJAMAB, E-book Subscription & Bundling Services. Its NAICS code is 5162.