Oceanhouse Media

What Oceanhouse Media does

Oceanhouse Media, Inc. is a privately held mobile and desktop application publisher founded in 2009 and headquartered in Encinitas, California. The company publishes more than 650 apps across eight categories — Books, Games, Music, Photography, Health & Fitness, Reference, Productivity, and Finance — for iOS, Android, and Kindle Fire platforms, with tens of millions of cumulative downloads. Its core business centers on children's digital book apps built on a proprietary interactive reading format — Read To Me, Read It Myself, and Auto Play with synchronized word highlighting and picture/word association — which the company pioneered in Fall 2009 and which has been widely adopted across the children's app category.

The company monetizes through two primary streams: one-time app sales through major app stores (Apple, Google, Amazon), and content licensing royalties from partnerships with nine named publishers and authors including Dr. Seuss Enterprises, HarperCollins, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Mercer Mayer, Andersen Press, and Chronicle Books. The portfolio is organized under three sub-brands: Educational & Children's Apps (edu.oceanhousemedia.com), Spiritual & Inspirational Apps (beautyeverywhere.com), and Business & Productivity Apps (michelkripalani.com/publishing). The Dr. Seuss app line is the flagship product and has earned Parents' Choice Awards and Children's Technology Review recognition. The company is led by CEO Michel Kripalani and co-founder Karen Grosso Kripalani, with a reported 11-50 employee headcount and no disclosed outside funding or ownership structure.

Name

Oceanhouse Media

Legal name

Oceanhouse Media, Inc.

Website

https://oceanhousemedia.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2009

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Oceanhouse Media is a privately held app publisher founded in 2009 that has published over 650 mobile and desktop apps across iOS, Android, and Kindle Fire, with a core focus on children's digital book apps built on licensed content from Dr. Seuss Enterprises, HarperCollins, and other major publishers, reaching tens of millions of downloads.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Digital Mobile App Publishing

NAICS

Book Publishers (513130)

SIC

Books: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2731)

akta.pro primary industry

E-book Retail & Reading Platforms (Stores, Apps, Devices) (MPAJAMAA)

akta.pro secondary industry

eBook & Digital Reading Platforms (BPAMAJAK)

Keywords

• Mobile app publishing
• Children's digital books
• Interactive story apps
• Licensed content apps
• Educational mobile apps

Headquarters

HQ city

Encinitas

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. App Sales and Downloads: Direct sales of mobile and desktop applications through app stores. Apps are offered in categories including Books, Games, Music, Photography, Health & Fitness, Reference, Productivity, and Finance.
2. Content Licensing Partnerships: Revenue generated through licensing agreements with major publishers and authors including Dr. Seuss Enterprises, HarperCollins, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and others, bringing their content to digital app format.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Oceanhouse Media develops and publishes 650+ mobile and desktop apps for iOS, Android, and Kindle Fire, spanning three product lines: Educational & Children's Apps (including licensed storybooks), Spiritual & Inspirational Apps, and Business & Productivity Apps. The company builds these apps through licensing agreements with major publishers and creators such as Dr. Seuss Enterprises, HarperCollins, Zondervan, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and Mercer Mayer, pioneering the Read To Me, Read It Myself, and Auto Play interactive reading format in Fall 2009.

Product overview

Oceanhouse Media is a mobile and desktop app publisher operating a platform-plus-sub-brands architecture. The company publishes over 650 apps across eight categories (Books, Games, Music, Photography, Health & Fitness, Reference, Productivity, and Finance) for iOS, Android, and Kindle Fire platforms. The portfolio is organized into three sub-brands: Educational & Children's Apps (edu.oceanhousemedia.com), Spiritual & Inspirational Apps (beautyeverywhere.com), and Business & Productivity Apps (michelkripalani.com/publishing/). A flagship product line is the Dr. Seuss Apps, which pioneered the 'Read To Me, Read It Myself and Auto Play' format for children's digital book apps. The company leverages licensing partnerships with major publishers including Dr. Seuss Enterprises, HarperCollins, Blue Angel, Zondervan, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Mercer Mayer, Soundprints, Andersen Press, and Chronicle Books.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Educational & Children's Apps: Dedicated educational and children's apps platform operated by Oceanhouse Media, accessible via edu.oceanhousemedia.com
• Spiritual & Inspirational Apps

Products and services

• Educational & Children's Apps A portfolio of interactive storybook and educational mobile apps targeting children and families, featuring licensed properties (e.g., Dr. Seuss, Mercer Mayer's Little Critter) with narrated, tap-to-explore reading experiences for tablets and smartphones.

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Nine partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Dr. Seuss EnterprisescoreOEM/ Whitelabel/ Licensing PartnerLicensing agreement to publish Dr. Seuss children's book applications. The Dr. Seuss apps have received critical acclaim and won numerous awards including Parents' Choice Awards and Children's Technology Review recognition.
• HarperCollinscoreOEM/ Whitelabel/ Licensing PartnerLicensing agreements with HarperCollins for publishing various book titles as mobile and desktop applications.
• Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing CompanycoreOEM/ Whitelabel/ Licensing PartnerLicensing agreement to bring Houghton Mifflin Harcourt publishing content to digital app format.
• Zondervan (HarperCollins division)minorOEM/ Whitelabel/ Licensing PartnerLicensing agreement with Zondervan, a division of HarperCollins, for publishing spiritual and inspirational content.
• Mercer MayerminorOEM/ Whitelabel/ Licensing PartnerLicensing agreement to bring Mercer Mayer's Little Critter and other beloved children's characters to mobile apps.
• Blue AngelminorOEM/ Whitelabel/ Licensing PartnerLicensing partnership with Blue Angel publishing for children's content.
• SoundprintsminorOEM/ Whitelabel/ Licensing PartnerLicensing agreement for Soundprints educational content and audio-based children's books.
• Andersen PressminorOEM/ Whitelabel/ Licensing PartnerLicensing partnership for bringing Andersen Press children's book titles to digital format.
• Chronicle BooksminorOEM/ Whitelabel/ Licensing PartnerLicensing agreement to publish Chronicle Books content including card decks and illustrated books as mobile applications.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• PBS Kids: Brand-wide children's content and app operation owned by PBS, with a large stable of reading, story, and educational apps for iOS/Android that target the same early-childhood consumer segment as Oceanhouse Media.
• Scholastic: The largest US children's book publisher (Clifford, Magic School Bus, Harry Potter US) with a growing portfolio of educational apps and reading platforms—broad incumbent competing for the same installed base, sometimes as licensor.
• Disney Publishing Worldwide: Major children's book publisher operating large-scale interactive apps and digital reading experiences across Disney, Marvel, and Pixar IP—a broad incumbent that competes for the same family audience and is increasingly taking licensed IP in-house.
• Highlights for Children: Established 75+ year-old children's magazine and book brand that has extended into apps and digital content for kids, broad incumbent with overlapping children's-content digital offerings.

Direct peers

• Nosy Crow: Independent UK-based children's book publisher that builds award-winning interactive digital book apps and licensed-IP apps, competing head-to-head with Oceanhouse Media in the same product category on iOS and Android.
• iStoryTime: Developer of children's storybook and licensed-character apps distributed on iOS, directly overlapping with Oceanhouse Media's catalog format, licensing approach, and distribution channels.
• StoryToys: Ireland-based developer of premium interactive children's book apps built with major publisher licenses (Disney, Marvel, Penguin), directly comparable to Oceanhouse Media on digital reading-format design and licensing.
• Wanderful: Producer of interactive children's storybook apps (e.g., its Milo's and Berenstain Bears titles) with read-along narration—sharing Oceanhouse Media's read-to-me, highlighted-text, and licensed-IP model.
• Cupcake Digital: Long-standing US publisher of children's storybook apps built on major brand licenses (e.g., Strawberry Shortcake), directly comparable to Oceanhouse Media in audience, format, and licensing dependencies.

Emerging players

• Bookful: AR/3D-powered digital reading platform licensing children's books from major publishers for immersive app experiences—an emerging player applying new modalities to the same licensed children's book digital-reading category.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCMgVQcRtaMX8g9RobxgRKgw
• Facebookfacebook.com/OceanhouseMedia
• Instagraminstagram.com/oceanhousemedia
• Pinterestpinterest.com/oceanhousemedia
• Xx.com/oceanhousemedia
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/oceanhouse-media-inc.

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Oceanhouse Media