Librio - Switzerland’s most exciting family brand (Pre-Funding)

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Zurich, Switzerland

Librio - Switzerland’s most exciting family brand (Pre-Funding)


1.050.900 CHF

Invested

916Investors
420% Financed
Startup
Startup

Librio - Switzerland’s most exciting family brand (Pre-Funding)


1.050.900 CHF

Invested

916Investors
420% Financed

Overview

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About Librio
Founded in 2017 by a father who wanted to make a special gift for his children, Librio has created lasting memories for almost 500,000 children in 108 countries, making us one of the Swiss e-commerce start-up success stories of recent years.

Librio makes a range of high-end personalised products including 11 picture books, greeting cards, art prints and an Advent calendar. Customers can use our fun avatar builder to create a personalised book for any child based on their name and appearance. Our books are available in 27 languages and 9 Swiss dialects.

Librio in brief
Bootstrapped & profitable: We’ve generated 17M CHF revenue since launch with no external investment and operated profitably since 2019.

Strong Community: Passionate, loyal fans of 110,000 customers in Switzerland and 200,000 internationally. 30,000+ 5-star reviews (4.94 average) and Net Promoter Score of 85.

Sustainable & social: All our products and packaging are printed on demand on 100% recycled paper, and we donate 1% of revenue to social and environmental causes.

Highly scalable: Because our products are printed on demand, we can rapidly enter new territories, add new products, and meet demand surges without having to pre-produce stock.

Writing our next chapter with you
We’re now opening our doors to investors for the first time by offering our community the chance to become Librio’s first-ever external shareholders.

As a Librio shareholder, you’ll enjoy the following benefits:

  • You'll be a VIP member of our community, shape future development, and receive exclusive discounts and goodies.
  • You’ll share in the financial upside through dividends as we grow into a household name in Switzerland and share the upside if we sell the company. You'll play a key role in creating a standout Swiss family brand and your family will own a piece of the company as a reward.

We’ve allowed so many children to become the main character in their own story, now it’s time for you to play a lead role in the next chapter of the Librio story.

Librio Milestones & Achievements

2017

  • Librio was founded on May 4th, 2017.
  • We sold 2,000 copies of our first book, “The Tree, The Key & Me”, in our first month. We knew we were onto something.


2018

  • We launched our personalised search-and-find book, “Where’s X?”, which remains our bestseller to this day.
  • Our books were available in all 23 Orell Füssli stores in Switzerland.
  • We invested 50K CHF into a Swiss TV ad featuring our kids and their friends, knowing it was all or nothing. The move paid off and we sold 20,000 books in Q4.



2019

  • We co-created a personalised book with Swiss children’s icon, Globi.
  • Our Swiss print partner Bubu came online, making all Swiss products Printed In Switzerland.
  • We visited our charity partner Room to Read’s work in Cambodia - a truly inspirational experience. 
  • We generated nearly 2M CHF in revenue and recorded our first profitable year, after just 2.5 years in business.



2020

  • We sold our 100,000th book but couldn't have a party because of Corona. (We still haven’t had that party but will when we hit 500,000 books this year!)
  • We launched our US print partner and generated 220K CHF sales in our first year there.
  • We worked with Room to Read and six illustrators from around the world to release “Welcome to School”.
  • To thank us for our support, Room to Read dedicated a library in Cambodia to Librio.


2021

  • In 2021, we created a copy of our newborn book, “Welcome to the World”, for one in every eight babies born in Switzerland.
  • After the success of our first collaboration, we released a second personalised Globi book.
  • We launched our range of personalised greeting cards.
  • We expanded our operations internationally by launching our Australian print partner. 56% of our 5M CHF revenue came from outside Switzerland.



2022

  • As one of only 12 companies in Switzerland, we were awarded the prestigious Innosuisse Scale-Up award.
  • We expanded our product portfolio beyond children’s books by launching an Advent calendar and “Lost for Words”, our first book for adults, which generated 1M CHF in its first 8 months.


2023

  • We released a new book for mums in April and are currently +46% YoY revenue.

In June, we’re launching our crowd investing campaign and, after achieving so much under our own steam, we can’t wait to see what we can achieve together with our community. 



Our vision
Our vision is to become the standout Swiss family brand of the 21st century. Creating memorable, sustainable best-in-class products while doing business ethically and creating jobs in a first-class work environment. 

Our customers don’t view us as just a personalised book publisher, they relate to us as a trustworthy family brand. Expanding our product range to meet our customers’ existing needs is the next logical step for Librio.

By creating new products and continuing to scale internationally, we’ll transform Librio from a successful start-up to a significant, profitable SME in the family sector.


For more detailed financial information, click “Details” at the top of the page.

Why crowd investing?
As a self-financed, independent company, we’ve been able to build a truly unique Swiss brand without compromise. Our goal was to build a company which we ourselves would want to be customers of.

However, as a self-financed company, we don’t have the financial firepower to truly fulfil our great potential.

We’re therefore looking to raise capital, so we can invest in the following areas:

  • Product development: Create new books and product categories which our community has been demanding from us.
  • Technology development: Enhance our website to allow for more products and improve e-commerce performance. 
  • Marketing: Increase community engagement and accelerate international expansion.

By working with our community, we bring investors on board who share our values and who can realise a double return with us:

On the one hand, we’ll create a memorable, values-first Swiss brand for our community’s children.

On the other hand, we’ll share the financial gains with our community through dividends or a possible sale as the company’s value increases.

Now that sounds like the sort of company we’d want to be customers of and we’d love you to be part of that company.



Librio’s team of 11 full time employees is made up of nine nationalities.

We’re headquartered in a beautiful Jugendstil building in central Zürich with remote team members in Germany, UK, Ireland and Spain.

 


Founding members:

Ed Russell
Ed Russell

CEO

Biography

Originally from London, Ed spent 10 years in the Ad Tech space where the companies he co-founded grew to 35+ people and generated over $750 million revenue. He sold his shares in 2017 and used the proceeds to start Librio “to do something the kids can be proud of Daddy for”. Ed was named one of Handelszeitung’s Business People of the year in 2018.

Tim Hess
Tim Hess

CMO

Biography

Tim holds a double degree master in Business Innovation (HSG) and international management (CEMS). During his studies, he helped to revitalise the Swiss cola brand, Vivi Kola. After University, he joined Google Zürich as Key Account Manager for Switzerland before becoming part of the team that launched Moneypark successfully. Tim was featured on the Business Punk Watchlist 2021 (100 founders & creative people who are shaping the future).

Oliver Finsterbusch
Oliver Finsterbusch

CTO

Biography

Originally from Madrid, Oliver founded two tech companies in Spain dedicated to software development for Reina Sofía Museum and the Peñín Guide of Spanish Wines. He moved to Switzerland in 2014 and worked with Ed in the Ad Tech industry before becoming a Librio co-founder in 2017.

Mark Yasuda
Mark Yasuda

Frontend Tech

Biography

Mark earned a degree in Computer Science at the University of Liverpool with a final year focus in genetic algorithms. After moving to Zürich in 2012, he worked for an MoD-funded project at the ETH, a premier UX/UI-focused design & development agency. He left to co-found Librio in 2017, wanting to create something magical for his nephews and a legacy to be proud of, believing we can make the most environmentally sustainable paper based products possible.

Nicholas Elliott
Nicholas Elliott

Art Director

Biography

Nicholas Elliott is a Northern Irish graphic designer and illustrator who started his design career with IBM in Winchester, UK before starting his own design agency in Cologne, Germany. Making a shift towards environmentally friendly business practices in 2011, he co-founded Kikisoso, a letterpress greeting card company with a focus on sustainability and ethical production.

Additional Information​


Funding information

Instrument: Registered shares

Currency: CHF

Issue price: CHF 150.-

Minimum investment: CHF 300.-

Financing threshold: CHF 250'000.-

Company information

Company: Librio AG

Number of Employees: 11

Founded: 2017

Commercial register number: CHE-491.304.329

Enterprise value before financing: CHF 15'000'000

Contact person for investors

Librio Crowd Investing FAQs

Name: Ed Russell

E-Mail: ed@librio.com

Social-Media-Channels

Instagram

Linkedin

Facebook

TikTok

YouTube

Incentives for your investment


For all shareholders

300CHF Investment

- 1 book donated to our Room to Read library in Cambodia
- Minimum lifetime 20% discount

 


Eager Beaver - 5 shares

750CHF Investment

- Lifetime 25% discount
- Exclusive investor goodie bag

 


Clever Fox - 12 shares

1.800CHF Investment

- Lifetime 30% discount
- Exclusive investor goodie bag

 

 


Bullish Bear - 35 shares

5.250CHF Investment

- Lifetime 35% discount
- Exclusive investor goodie bag

 

 


Wise Owl - 75 shares

11.250CHF Investment

- Everything in Bullish Bear plus
- Exclusive investor goodie bag
- You’re invited to our 500'000 book party

 

 


Forest Elder - 350 shares

52.500CHF Investment

- Everything in Wise Owl plus
- A family portrait by our Art Director

 


Company details


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Company details


Incentives for your investment


For all shareholders

300CHF Investment

- 1 book donated to our Room to Read library in Cambodia
- Minimum lifetime 20% discount

 


Eager Beaver - 5 shares

750CHF Investment

- Lifetime 25% discount
- Exclusive investor goodie bag

 


Clever Fox - 12 shares

1.800CHF Investment

- Lifetime 30% discount
- Exclusive investor goodie bag

 

 


Bullish Bear - 35 shares

5.250CHF Investment

- Lifetime 35% discount
- Exclusive investor goodie bag

 

 


Wise Owl - 75 shares

11.250CHF Investment

- Everything in Bullish Bear plus
- Exclusive investor goodie bag
- You’re invited to our 500'000 book party

 

 


Forest Elder - 350 shares

52.500CHF Investment

- Everything in Wise Owl plus
- A family portrait by our Art Director