RedShelf, Inc.
Formerly | Virdocs Software, LLC |
|---|---|
| Private | |
| ISIN | 🆔 |
| Industry | |
| Founded 📆 | 2012 |
| Founder 👔 |
|
| Headquarters 🏙️ | Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
Area served 🗺️ | |
Key people | |
| Products 📟 | |
| Members | |
Number of employees | 117 (2020) |
| 🌐 Website | about |
| 📇 Address | |
| 📞 telephone | |
RedShelf, Inc. is a private educational technology company headquartered in Chicago which distributes eTextbooks and digital course materials. The company was founded in 2012 by Greg Fenton and Tim Haitaian. RedShelf partners with publishers and higher education institutions to provide digital course materials to college campuses.
Overview
RedShelf distributes ebooks and digitized course materials. The company also provides end-to-end distribution software to campuses and publishers.[2]
RedShelf enables college bookstores to sell digital course materials to students. RedShelf partners with colleges and universities to distribute digital course materials through point of sale, eCommerce, and inclusive access models.[3] As part of the inclusive access model, materials are selected by the faculty of the institution and the students receive their digital course materials before the first day of class, rather than purchasing or renting materials individually.[4][5][6][7]
RedShelf's e-reader platform allows users to read course materials both on and offline.[8] Students can rent ebooks and course materials online directly from RedShelf, or through campus bookstores.[9] RedShelf also distributes materials through bookstores with the purchase of codes that allow users to access digitized editions and courseware online.[10]
History
RedShelf was co-founded by Greg Fenton and Tim Haitaian.[11] Fenton and Haitaian were high school friends who developed Virdocs Software in 2010, while attending college.[12] They originally developed Virdocs so that they could exchange course notes and test questions with their fellow students, but the platform quickly evolved to allow students to buy and sell notes to each other.[13]
Eventually, one of Fenton's professors asked him to use the software to digitize his course materials, inspiring him to look for other applications for his software.[14] Fenton and Haitaian developed RedShelf after realizing there was a demand for digital course materials and digitized textbooks.[15]
In 2012, Fenton and Haitaian founded RedShelf as a startup with the purpose of providing more affordable digital course materials, and initially operated as a digital textbook distributor.[16][17]
In March 2019 it was announced that RedShelf was partnering with Follett Corporation as a distributor.[18]
As of 2020, RedShelf had partnered with over 600 universities, and was an indirect provider to 1,300 others.[19] In 2020, RedShelf was ranked as Chicago's second fastest-growing company by Crain's Chicago Business,[20] and appeared on Financial Times' list of fastest growing American companies.[21] The company was listed on the Inc. 5000 list in 2020.[22]
COVID-19 response
In March 2020, RedShelf offered free ebooks to students attending non-profit colleges and universities to help mitigate the impact of the pandemic.[23][24] The program, labelled "RedShelf Responds", ran until May 25, 2020.[25]
Funding
RedShelf raised $2 million in investments in 2014, including $1 million from the National Association of College Stores.[26] The company raised an additional $4 million in investments in 2016.[27] In 2018 the company raised $25 million in an investment round led by Gigi Pritzker and Michael Pucker.[28] Pritzker and Pucker invested an additional $10 million in RedShelf in August 2020.[19]
See also
External links
References
- ↑ Davis, Katherine (January 10, 2019). "RedShelf Names Scott Smith Its First Chief Revenue Officer". www.bizjournals.com. Retrieved 2020-10-15. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ "5 Chicago edtech companies making life easier for students and recent grads". Built In Chicago. Retrieved 2020-12-14. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ Burton, Erica (2015-01-31). "How to check out free e-books with BYU OverDrive". The Daily Universe. Retrieved 2020-12-14. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ "College in hot water over inclusive-access programs and student choice". www.insidehighered.com. Retrieved 2020-12-14. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ "Colleges Are Striking Bulk Deals With Textbook Publishers. Critics Say There Are Many Downsides. - EdSurge News". EdSurge. 2019-05-23. Retrieved 2020-12-14. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ "'Inclusive access' takes off as model for college textbook sales". www.insidehighered.com. Retrieved 2020-12-14. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ Straumsheim, Carl (January 31, 2017). "Textbook publishers contemplate 'inclusive access' as business model of the future". Inside Higher Ed. Retrieved 2020-12-14. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ "RedShelf raises $4M to shake up college textbook market". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2020-12-14. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ McKenzie, Lindsay (May 1, 2018). "Publishers race to reduce costs of digital textbooks | Inside Higher Ed". Inside Higher Ed. Retrieved 2020-12-14. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ Pilkington, Mercy (2013-10-10). "Red Shelf Distribution Platform Targets University Bookstores with Digital Content". Good e-Reader. Retrieved 2020-12-14. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ Davis, Katherine (October 10, 2018). "Chicago E-Textbook Startup RedShelf Raises $25M to Expand". Chicago Inno. Retrieved 2020-12-14. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ "FOUNDERS TO FOLLOW: GREG FENTON & TIM HAITAIAN". Starting Up At Startups. Retrieved 2020-12-14. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ "The Pulse: Greg Fenton of RedShelf | Inside Higher Ed". www.insidehighered.com. Retrieved 2020-12-14. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ "Greg Fenton of RedShelf". Bootstrapping in America. August 14, 2020. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ O'Brien, Caitlin (2015-09-03). "RedShelf is Forging the Future of Textbooks (and we love it!)". StarterNoise. Retrieved 2020-12-14. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ "RedShelf bets more students will favor e-textbooks". Crain's Chicago Business. 2014-11-04. Retrieved 2020-12-14. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ Rosen, Judith (November 25, 2016). "The College Bookstore, Disrupted". Publishers Weekly. Retrieved 2020-12-14. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ "RedShelf Selected to be Preferred Provider of Digital Course Materials to Over 1,200 Follett Campus Retail Locations and 1,500 eCommerce Properties". Follett Corporation. Retrieved 2020-12-14. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ 19.0 19.1 Marek, Lynne (2020-10-13). "RedShelf lands $10 million Pritzker investment". Crain's Chicago Business. Retrieved 2020-12-14. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ "Crain's Fast 50 2020". Crain's Chicago Business. 2020-10-08. Retrieved 2020-12-14. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ Kelly, Maxine (2020-04-06). "FT ranking: the Americas' fastest-growing companies". Financial Times. Retrieved 2020-12-14. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ "RedShelf". Inc.com. Retrieved 2020-12-14. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ Bennett, Talor. "Marshall bookstore partners with Redshelf to provide free ebooks to students". The Parthenon. Retrieved 2020-12-14. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ Crenshaw, Noah (2020-04-08). "Resources available to UIndy students during COVID-19 pandemic". The Reflector. Retrieved 2020-12-14. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ Kozlowski, Michael (2020-03-24). "What Publishers Are Doing To Help During Covid-19". Good e-Reader. Retrieved 2020-12-14. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ Dalike, Jim (January 28, 2015). "Digital Textbook Startup RedShelf Raises $2M Round Led By a Big Player In Higher Ed Retail". www.bizjournals.com. Retrieved 2020-12-14. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ "Digital college textbook startup RedShelf raises $4 million". Crain's Chicago Business. 2016-08-25. Retrieved 2020-12-14. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ "Gigi Pritzker leads $25 million ed-tech deal". Crain's Chicago Business. 2018-10-10. Retrieved 2020-12-14. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help)
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