Insight Holdings Group/Insight Partners appears to have merged two European digital content distributors it recently acquired directly and indirectly, folding Zebralution into Bookwire.
Frankfurt-based Bookwire announced Monday (March 9) that it had acquired 100% of Zebralution‘s shares, including subsidiaries Open Publishing GmbH and EMS GmbH, from German music rights collecting society GEMA, following clearance from the German Federal Cartel Office.
The deal arrives less than two months after GEMA sold Berlin-based digital distributor Zebralution to New York-based private equity firm Insight Holdings Group.
Notably, in October, UK-based Delta Software Group, an Insight-backed firm, acquired German book publishing services firm Bookwire from long-time investor VR Equitypartners.
That deal reportedly valued Bookwire at approximately EUR €100 million ($115 million) off 2024 revenues of €20 million ($23m) and EBITDA of €5 million ($5.8m).
Bookwire’s latest announcement did not explicitly flag that the same investor controlled both companies.
Insight is also a backer in Distrokid, having made a ‘substantial’ investment in the music distribution platform in 2021, valuing it at $1.3 billion.
“The acquisition of Zebralution strengthens our mission to be the best possible partner with the best technical solutions so that our customers can be even more successful in the future.”
John Ruhrmann, Bookwire
Bookwire, founded in Frankfurt in 2010, operates a cloud platform that distributes 1.8 million e-books and 300,000 audiobooks to global retailers on behalf of 3,500 publishers. Its distribution network spans more than 300 platforms, including Amazon Kindle, Apple Books, Audible, and Spotify. The company employs around 150 people across offices in Germany, the U.K., Spain, France, Brazil, Italy, and the U.S.
Zebralution was founded in 2004 as the “first digital distributor for independent labels in Europe.” It has since expanded into audiobooks, podcasts (ZEBRALUTION Podcast), and platform technology (Encoding Management Service), working with more than 1,500 label and publisher partners across 10 offices in eight countries.
John Ruhrmann, Managing Director and Co-Founder of Bookwire, said: “The acquisition of Zebralution strengthens our mission to be the best possible partner with the best technical solutions so that our customers can be even more successful in the future.”
“Bookwire and Zebralution have an excellent starting point for further growth based on leading technology, a strong international customer and partner portfolio, and in-depth format expertise.”
Tina Jürgens, Zebralution
Jens Klingelhöfer, CEO and co-founder of Bookwire, added: “There is substantial potential in the integration. We are combining our strengths, uniting market-leading expertise, increasing our speed of innovation, and thus clearly focusing on the future. Especially in an industry that is currently changing rapidly due to new technologies, this is crucial in order to proactively solve the challenges faced by publishers and audiobook labels. We are talking about the next level of digital publishing.”
Tina Jürgens, Managing Director of Zebralution, said: “Bookwire and Zebralution have an excellent starting point for further growth based on leading technology, a strong international customer and partner portfolio, and in-depth format expertise.”
For existing Zebralution customers, Bookwire said services, contacts, and processes remain unchanged during the transition.
Christian Lindemann, COO of Bookwire, said: “Further developments will take place gradually based on an integration roadmap that will be finalized in the coming months.”
Zebralution has been targeting €100 million in annual revenue, driven by growth in both music distribution and its rapidly expanding audiobook business.
For GEMA, the sale of Zebralution in January came just over five years after it acquired a majority stake in the business in December 2019. German trade publication New Business reports that GEMA became sole shareholder of Zebralution following the departure of co-founders Kurt Thielen and Sascha Lazimbat in late 2023.
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