YouScribe 3A

Convertible loan
The biggest digital library in Europe and Africa
€546,808
total amount raised in round
This campaign ended
Starting from individual subscriptions in France (B2C) YouScribe now targets global opportunities through B2B (Banks, Insurance companies…), B2B2C strategies (Schools, universities, Telecom) and master agreements: Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie (OIF), Agence Française de développement (AFD), UNESCO, Ministries of Education,… in French-speaking countries.

Fact #1 : Francophone increase


According to Francophonie Observatory (2018), there are 300 million people able to express themselves in French, 47% of whom are in Africa. An estimated 767 million French-speaking would be expected in 2060 (85% in Africa).

Fact #2 : Decline in turnover on the export of the paper book


According to Centrale de l’Edition (2017), in 2016, the turnover of French paper book (€ 665.9 million) was down 2.1% compared to 2015, following a 1.7% decline the previous year.

Since the 2012 peak (€ 712.5 million), the total export turnover remains below € 700 million and has been slowly but steadily decreasing since 2014.

The share of export turnover is reduced to 18.5% of the sales of French-language books in net sales invoiced by distributors.

Fact #3 : Smartphone penetration in Africa


Mobile penetration rate and the quality of the networks follow blazing curves. Two years ago, more than € 13 billion was invested by Telecom in networks in Africa, mostly in mobile with nearly 1 billion SIM cards in circulation. Internet data traffic doubled between 2015 and 2016 in Africa.

Open the door to Africa and french speaking countries markets


Access to knowledge in Africa and 85 french-speaking countries is very limited due to lack of infrastructure and because of the cost of book in paper format. It is a market with high potential, given the expected population explosion and the learning needs that will result.

Also, YouScribe decided to target this area and more particularly the Ivory Coast, Senegal, Cameroon, Morocco, Congo DRC, Mali, Algeria, Gabon, Guinea, Madagascar and Tunisia.

To meet these challenges, YouScribe and Orange have decided to sign a strategic agreement in September 2018. It allows all of the Operator's African subsidiaries to integrate the digital YouScribe streaming library that gives access to the culture in a way that simple and inexpensive.

Orange is currently present in 20 countries in Africa and the Middle East and has more than 120 million customers.
Over the last 12 months, YouScribe has deployed its service distribution in 5 countries through mobile operators.


YouScribe plans to launch its reading solution in 4 other countries in the next 6 months (Maghreb and sub-Saharan Africa):


Competition


Among the main players in the digital book, we can distinguish:

  • Worldreader (US) has a common ambition with YouScribe, building a digital library to democratize access to knowledge. This NGO operates in emerging English-speaking countries.
  • Amazon (US), Kobo (JAP), Scribd (US) are leaders in B to C mode. Scribd has an important document sharing dimension. Several million subscribers.
  • Nubico (SP), Skoobe (GER), Bookmate (RU): their approaches are oriented towards B to C.
  • Bookchoice (NL) focuses on a Club model (65 000 subscribers).

In the field of digital books, YouScribe is the leader in Africa:

  • YouScribe offers, via Direct Carrier Billing, the only possible and immediate guarantee of a flawless payment for access to its library in the whole world (banking rate of many countries is too low to impose payment by credit card)
  • YouScribe offers are even more adapted to multicultural contexts (authors and publishers in national languages integration, consideration of orality with the production of audiobooks, titles of press and local news, etc.)
  • A product suitable for use in low-speed internet areas:
  • Reading offline mode available on mobile application
  • Optimisation on pages weight and screens to accelerate the loading of content,...
  • Ability to publish your own publications from YouScribe website to share it to everyone. For example, teachers can load their lessons specially for their students.

Economic model


YouScribe use different billing methods depending on the marketing model:

1. B2B2C Model


YouScribe pass are bought and distributed by partners (telecom or large networks in education). Payments to publishers are then based on Net revenues (distributors commissions excluded).

Communication and Marketing Plan (Senegal example):


Display campaign:


We use all available Digital Marketing levers: Search, Display, Affiliate,...

Telecom campaigns:

Poster campaign (Dakar - Senegal)


Press inserts


Social Media campaigns:


TV advertisement


2. B2B Model


Access is purchased by public or private institutional partners and is offered to users.
Partners concerned are schools, universities, foundations, large companies (CSR) in Africa, public authorities, major donors (AFD, OIF ...)
The main market is Education sector in Africa.

3. B2C Model:


YouScribe pass are sold by YouScribe in B to C mode as annual or monthly subscription. Market concerned is rather French or European market.

4. White Label


YouScribe also offers solutions in white label for mobile reading such as "SNCF e-LIVRE" for SNCF, France's national state-owned railway company. YouScribe is also able to provide expertise, advice and / or digital library solutions tailored to allow partners to build digital libraries by themselves (example: SNCF e-BOOK). Many public and private institutions based in Senegal or Ivory Coast have shown interest in a proprietary solution.

First results (B2B2C acquisition)


New subscribers (Ivory Coast and Senegal) - From W31 to W36 for 2019: