Where is Kobo located?

Kobo is headquartered in Toronto, Canada.

How many employees does Kobo have?

As of Jun 30, 2026, the latest employee count at Kobo is 717.

Is Kobo a funded company?

Kobo is a funded company, having raised a total of $132M across 4 funding rounds to date. The company's 1st funding round was a $***** Series A round.

When was the latest funding round of Kobo?

Kobo's latest funding was a $***** Series C round on Apr 19, 2011, with participation from 2 investors.

Where does Kobo rank among its competitors?

Kobo ranks 2nd amongst 24 active competitors, of which 9 are funded. It stands 2nd in terms of total funding among its competitors. The most recent competitor to raise funding was Pratilipi, which secured $12M in Apr, 2025.

Who are the top competitors of Kobo?

Kobo's top competitors include Pratilipi, ZhangYue and MatruBharti. Among them, Pratilipi secured the most recent funding round in April, 2025.

Kobo - 2026 Company Profile, Team, Funding & Competitors

Q: Is Kobo an acquired company?

Kobo got acquired by Rakuten on Nov 08, 2011.

Kobo is an acquired company based in Toronto (Canada), founded in 2009. It operates as a Provider of app-based reading and self-publishing platform. Kobo has raised $132M in funding. The company has 24 active competitors, including 9 funded and 4 that have exited. Its top competitors include companies like Pratilipi, ZhangYue and MatruBharti.

Company Details

Provider of app-based reading and self-publishing platform. It provides a self-publishing platform called Kobo Writing Life for authors to digitally publish their work. The content is then offered to the end-user through the companion application which is compatible with both Android and iOS devices. The platform also features an analytics suite allowing authors to track sales in real-time. It supports multiple languages including Deutsche, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, among others.

Website: store.kobobooks.com/
Social
Email ID: *****@kobo.com

Key Metrics

Founded Year

2009

Location

Toronto, Canada

Stage

Acquired

Total Funding

$132M in 4 rounds

Latest Funding Round

Series C, Apr 19, 2011, $*****

Investors

CK Hutchison & 1 more

Ranked

2^nd among 24 active competitors

Employee Count

717 as on Jun 30, 2026

Investment & Acquisitions

tolino & 1 more

Similar Companies

Pratilipi & 26 more

Exit Details

Acquired by Rakuten (Nov 08, 2011)

View Kobo's full profile

Kobo got acquired by Rakuten on Nov 08, 2011 at an acquisition amount of $*****.

Click here to take a look at Kobo's acquisition in detail

Kobo has raised a total funding of $132M over 4 rounds. Its latest funding round was a Series C round on Apr 19, 2011 for $*****. 2 investors participated in its latest round. Kobo has 2 institutional investors.

Here is the list of recent funding rounds of Kobo:

Filter this list

Date of Funding	Funding Amount	Round Name	Post-Money Valuation	Revenue Multiple	Lead Investors	Other Investors
Apr 19, 2011	7068252	Series C	9048331	1596930	8557410	3039026
Mar 09, 2011	4765887	Series C	1619299	8289649	6557811	4635580
Jul 06, 2010	8791689	Series B	6198573	6026863	3839329	6884579

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View details of Kobo's funding rounds and investors

Kobo's employee count trend

Kobo has 717 employees as of Jun 26. Here is Kobo's employee count trend over the years:

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Top competitors of Kobo include Pratilipi, ZhangYue and MatruBharti. Here is the list of Top 10 competitors of Kobo, ranked by Tracxn score:

Rank	Company Details	Short Description	Total Funding	Investors	Tracxn Score
1st	Pratilipi 2014, Bengaluru (India), Series E	Online self-publishing and storytelling platform offering digital literature in multiple languages	$97M	Alteria Capital, Krafton & 44 others	81/100
2nd	Kobo 2009, Toronto (Canada), Acquired	Provider of app-based reading and self-publishing platform	$132M	CK Hutchison, Indigo	76/100
3rd	ZhangYue 2008, Beijing (China), Public	Mobile reader app and eReading device	$100M	Guojin Investment, Animation Alpha & 1 others	61/100
4th	MatruBharti 2015, Ahmedabad (India), Seed	App-based self-publishing platform in vernacular languages	$1M	Ferrana, Venture Investment & 11 others	54/100
5th	Youboox 2011, Paris (France), Seed	SaaS and app-based collaborative platform that provides free access to ebooks	$3.3M	start-ups, IronCapital & 6 others	53/100
6th	Juggernaut 2015, Delhi (India), Series A	Mobile-first publishing platform for authors	$5.23M	Airtel, Homage Ventures & 11 others	47/100
7th	ONYX BOOX 2006, Moscow (Russia), Unfunded	Devices for reading electronic books	-	-	47/100
8th	IReader Technology 2008, Beijing (China), Public	Mobile reader app	-	Baidu, ByteDance	46/100
9th	Barnes & Noble Nook 2009, New York City (United States), Late Stage	E-book Book Reader	$390M	Pearson, Microsoft	37/100
10th	shabd.in 2012, Delhi (India), Seed	Online book publishing platform	$351K	Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, Hilman Capital Finance ... & 38 others	37/100