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Perlego

Online library of 1,000,000 academic resources

101-200 employees
  • B2C
  • Education
  • Learning
  • Digital Media
138 Holborn, Chancery Lane, London EC1N 2SW, GB

Company mission

Perlego's ambition is to become the world’s online learning library, a single place where learners can instantly access all of the world’s academic content for less than the price of a single book. Perlego are on a mission to make learning accessible to all.

Insights

40% female employees

23% employee growth in 12 months

Otta's take

Sam Franklin headshot

Sam Franklin

CEO of Otta

Perlego is pitched as a “Spotify for textbooks,” enabling students, and also professionals, who make up 30% of users, to access textbooks on a subscription basis.

They have over 1 million books from 2,300+ publishers across multiple languages. For the students, the benefit is obvious: text books are increasingly expensive to purchase, and public libraries are under resourced.

In the U.K., Perlego gives readers access to its entire digital library for £12 per month. For publishers, Perlego claims to offer a distribution method that stems revenue losses caused by piracy and the buoyant used text book market.

Perlego say they're getting a 100% increase in new subscribers month-on-month, which is very strong traction to build on. With over 15 million users on the Perlego database, growth should continue smoothly.

Benefits

  • 🏠 Flexible: We're making learning accessible to all and we want our ways of working to be accessible too. Choose between our impressive office in Chancery Lane, remote work or a bit of both. Work in a way that supports your needs and your life. We trust people to know what works best for them. We are flexible if you wish to work remotely overseas for short-periods of time, as long as you remain a UK tax resident 🗺
  • 🧠 L&D Budget: We value continuous learning, you will get £100 per year to spend on training of your choice
  • 🌱 Unlimited Coaching Opportunities: Unlimited access to MoreHappi, an on-demand professional coaching platform to offer all employees access to unbiased and professional coaching opportunities
  • 🤓 Learning Time: All employees have dedicated Learning Time
  • 🌴 Work-Life Balance: Everyone needs a break, so enjoy 30 days off (incl. bank holidays) + 1 additional day annual leave for every year of service (up to 35 days)
  • 🛐 Flexi Bank Holidays: We understand that not everyone aligns to the same calendar; we offer the flexibility to take your local countries bank holiday allowance for other religious or cultural days E.g. switch UK Easter Bank Holidays Days for Eid celebrations
  • ❄️ Office Reset: All employees an also enjoy the days between Boxing Day and New Year off, to reset and refresh for the New Year - this is additional to your annual leave 🙂
  • 🏖 Sabbatical: After three years there is an opportunity to take a 1-month unpaid sabbatical, and after five years there is an opportunity to take a 1-month paid sabbatical
  • 💛 Personal Days: Life happens and we want you to be able to use your annual leave for resting, relaxing or taking time out to do something you love! We offer 1 additional day a year for life events (your wedding, relocation, moving house, or a child starting school)
  • 🍏 Health & Wellbeing: We want everyone to feel healthy and happy, so you get the choice of a wellbeing subsidy or private medical insurance via Vitality
  • 💭 Mental Health: All employees also get access to a free counselling support service via Spill
  • 💸 Financial Wellbeing: Track your financial goals and receive financial advice all via Mintago
  • 🚲 Cycle to Work Scheme: We're committed to building a sustainable business, so we encourage cycling to work. Perlego will buy your bike of choice, which you'll pay back over 12 months
  • 🎉 Social: We're a tight-knit bunch who enjoy our time to play. We have regular social events and activities for everyone - everything from white water rafting to board game nights
  • 🍼 Family time: We believe family is really important; we offer new parents a competitive matched parental leave as well as phased return to work after 6 months leave.
  • 👼 Workplace Nursery Benefit: We want to support working parents and carers, so we offer a workplace nursery benefit scheme, helping our employees potentially save thousands of £££ against the cost of nurseries each year

Company values

  • We are leaders - We empower our users and each other to grow. We are passionate and proactive, taking ownership of the work we do, always striving to be better and embracing challenges, together, without fear of failure
  • We learn - We know the power of knowledge. We are curious, brave and never stop trying new things - always striving to continue learning and to share knowledge with each other and our users
  • We are open - We’re open & inclusive in how we build our product & the people we choose to build our product & business. We’re transparent in our communication: with users & each other, always willing to listen, learn and take on feedback
  • We care - We care about our users/publishers/partners & about creating a more fair and sustainable solution for learners globally. We care about our impact on the world and each other. We think before we act and act with kindness, always
  • What you’ll get - At Perlego we believe in the key role you will play to achieve our shared mission. You'll belong to a culture of dreamers, team players and avid learners with a flexible, value-based approach. Here, you can become your best self, and through your talent, make a real impact in the world of education

Funding (last 2 of 5 rounds)

Mar 2022

$50m

SERIES B

Nov 2019

$9m

SERIES A

$65m

Total funding

Founders

Serial founder, having previously started Iconic Matter, a youth oriented marketing company

Started Perlego straight after his degree in Computer Science at Warwick

People progressing

Joined as a Graphic Design Intern, promoted to Junior Designer 8 months later

Joined as a UX/UI Designer, promoted to Head of Design after 7 months, then again to VP of Product after 9 months

Diversity & Inclusion at Perlego

Ashleigh Otter headshot

Ashleigh Otter (COO)

  • Perlego's mission is to make education accessible to all. Beyond our product, we believe we have a responsibility to support diverse communities to have equal opportunity within our industry.
  • We have partnered with LMF, a global not for profit focused on empowering, enabling & educating women and minority groups into tech, entrepreneurship & digital. Our VP of People, VP of Product, Design Director, Partner Success Director & Partner Success Manager have all signed up to be mentors to women who are breaking into the tech/digital industry
  • We have also invested in a Perlego Scholarship & Bursary program to support people from diverse backgrounds in the US & the UK to receive education in computer science and/or engineering
  • We try and foster an environment and culture of openness, to encourage and allow everyone to bring their authentic selves to work *(this well never be 'done' and is constantly evolving as we learn how to improve)*
  • When recruiting, we are proactive in our hiring process to ensure all pipelines are balanced, and we use assessment methods to remove bias from the interview process. We also offer a flexible interview process, which can be tailored to each candidates needs/availability, and make sure we are using a broad range of hiring platforms, making sure to actively include platforms that are accessed by a broad spectrum of candidates
  • This is by no means an exhaustive list of activities. As an ed-tech company we value learning, and we're committed to continuing to learn and better ourselves

Endorsements

All

Opportunities to learn (7)

Nice people (4)

Team energy (3)

Challenging work (2)

Autonomy (2)

Hard working team (2)

Open and honest communication (2)

Great work is recognised (2)

Inspiring mission (2)

Career progression (1)

Perlego is an amazing company, the best I even worked in! People here are super friendly and supportive, corporate culture is great! Hard work is always noticed and appreciated. I love working here!

Software Engineering

Nice people

Feb 2021

We always open to each other, we know everything that is happening with the company in general, plans are transparent

Software Engineering

Open and honest communication

Feb 2021

Hard work is always noticed and appreciated

Software Engineering

Great work is recognised

Feb 2021

Everyone is given a lot of responsibility, ownership and the opportunity to directly impact/grow the business.

Design

Autonomy

Jan 2021

We are at a critical stage of our growth and as we scale we are all learning and embracing new challenges together.

Design

Challenging work

Jan 2021

Working for a business that has the potential to truly improve the lives of learners around the world (and solve real problems) means we have a very passionate and ambitious team who works tirelessly to make sure we reach our goals.

Design

Hard working team

Jan 2021

Perlego are growing fast, and it feels like the company and work seems to change each month to adapt to whatever opportunity arises. You'll get to use new technologies and you'll be given the opportunities to suggest and make changes you see fit along that process

Software Engineering

Growing fast

Jan 2021

You'll get the chance to work on interesting projects, as long as you put yourself forward for them. Within the engineering team, we have time set aside each iteration to solve a problem that isn't part of the current workflow

Software Engineering

Opportunities to learn

Jan 2021

Perlego is a really social company. Every single person I've worked with has been great company - just a really enjoyable place to work, which is vital when working remotely during the pandemic

Software Engineering

Nice people

Jan 2021

I've made some great friends here. Everyone is very friendly, easy to get on with and have interesting backgrounds.

Software Engineering

Nice people

Jan 2021

Projects vary, there is always something new and different waiting to be worked on. A very fun domain to work in.

Software Engineering

Challenging work

Jan 2021

People at Perlego are very expressive about the work they think is great. You will receive feedback frequently and you will know when you're doing well.

Software Engineering

Great work is recognised

Jan 2021

I've been given full ownership of projects fairly soon after joining which required some learning, additionally we have time dedicated to learning at work. I feel learning and up-skilling is highly valued at Perlego

Software Engineering

Opportunities to learn

Jan 2021

Teams within Perlego are given a large amount of autonomy when it comes to building solutions, everyone's opinions and input is valued regardless of seniority. It's up to the teams to architect and suggest solutions to the higher ups which then gets tweaked and approved, rather than the other way around which I've found to be the case in previous companies.

Software Engineering

Autonomy

Jan 2021

Perlego highly values culture, everyone working at the company is very friendly and approachable. Impromptu socials are organised fairly often between employees and organised company wide socials take place too. There's a lot of diversity within Perlego and everyone gets along really well

Software Engineering

Nice people

Jan 2021

I've joined Perlego right after graduating from University as I was eager to apply what I had learnt there to the working world, and my experience at Perlego was above my expectations already from the start. I was given a lot of responsibility from the beginning meaning that I was continuously learning by doing and I had the opportunity to work on many different tasks which offered more chances to develop new and different skills and knowledge.

Operations & Strategy

Opportunities to learn

Jan 2021

One of the greatest things about Perlego is the balance between a friendly environment, where your colleagues are not just colleagues but people you enjoy spending time with, and a group of extremely motivated and hard working people. Working closely with ambitious and hard working people is very stimulating

Operations & Strategy

Hard working team

Jan 2021

My manager is really great! He cares a lot about my development and when I first joined has dedicated a lot of time to helping me grow. Now he is giving me much more autonomy but he is always available to support and give constructive feedback. He also cares a lot about everyone in the team on a personal level and like to be relationships that go beyond just work

Operations & Strategy

Supportive management

Jan 2021

There is no ceiling on where you can go at Perlego, ideas are always valued and we are encouraged to try new ways of working. During my interview process, we went through my career goals to make sure that they aligned with what Perlego could offer. In a short time I've been able to manage projects and step up in a way that wasn't offered in previous roles.

People, HR, Recruitment

Career progression

Jan 2021

I joined Perlego because of the mission. Education should not be a privilege, and access to educational materials should not determine the rest of your life. I love that Perlego is democratising educational materials, and working to change the ways we can learn.

People, HR, Recruitment

Inspiring mission

Jan 2021

Perlego is committed to cutting out bias in the hiring process, and to making sure the office is a safe space for all. We have a dedicated team who work to make sure we are learning, training and communicating openly across the business.

People, HR, Recruitment

Diversity is a priority

Jan 2021

Company culture is very important at Perlego, which was clear from the day I started. While the energy and welcoming vibe has been built up over time in the office, we've worked hard to maintain the social side while we work remotely due to COVID-19. The company is made up of genuine, hard-working, dependable people from a variety of different backgrounds. I love how international our team is!

Operations & Strategy

Team energy

Jan 2021

Working at a startup is hard, but Perlego's ethos is based on everyone mucking in and helping out where they can. While the workload can sometimes seem a lot, there are plenty of opportunities to learn and grow (both within your role and in terms of professional skills). Employees are given the freedom to share ideas and knowledge, suggest improvements, and take ownership of a project.

Operations & Strategy

Opportunities to learn

Jan 2021

One of the main reasons I joined Perlego was their mission: to make education more accessible and affordable for everyone. This, alongside our new and improved company values, is taken into consideration whenever we make a business or product decision. It helps to guide our progress and makes the everyday tasks seem more meaningful.

Operations & Strategy

Inspiring mission

Jan 2021

I first joined as a BD intern with lots of things to learn. In less than a year I felt my learning curve was just going up. Since the start, I was given a lot ownership to lead projects and learn by doing but I was also given the space to seek for help when I needed it. Despite being in the business development team, I learnt a lot about marketing, sales, content and operations.

Operations & Strategy

Opportunities to learn

Jan 2021

Personally, I've always considered work as something I need to enjoy and believe in. With Perlego this is exactly how I feel. Firstly, I feel a connection to the company's mission: Making education accessible to all. Secondly, the work itself is challenging and that keeps me always motivated as I am always learning something new. Finally, the people! Everyone in the team is incredibly friendly and always willing to help, great energy which makes coming to work fun!

Operations & Strategy

Meaningful work

Jan 2021

Probably what I miss the most from the office is being around the people. At Perlego, I don't feel as an employee x, I truly feel part of the "family" and part of the mission. Everyone is incredibly friendly, always willing to help when it's needed. We love to organise activities outside work to get to know each other and have fun also outside of work. I am happy to say, when I wake up I am actually happy to go to work, it's not something dreadful (and I think the people have a big impact on this.)

Operations & Strategy

Team energy

Jan 2021

Perlego has gone from strength to strength in the last few years, enjoying significant growth on all levels. Even having only been at the company for 4 months, I am currently in the process of setting up a new department as Perlego recognised my skillset and provided me an opportunity to grow. My on-boarding involved meeting all the heads of department which gave me insights into all areas of the company. We also do weekly all-hands meetings, I join in on bi-weekly sprints and we do monthly catch-ups to ensure everyone in the company is aligned. We also have a very flat hierarchy, so everyone can learn from each other.

Operations & Strategy

Opportunities to learn

Jan 2021

We have our 4 central values which we often give our recognition awards to celebrate those who have made significant achievements in these areas and are incorporated into our company-wide strategy.

Operations & Strategy

Clear values

Jan 2021

As we are doing something truly disruptive in the market, we are all passionate about our deliverance and thrive off being mission-led.

Operations & Strategy

Innovative product

Jan 2021

One of the values at Perlego is being open and transparent in their communication, always willing to listen, learn and take on feedback.

Operations & Strategy

Open and honest communication

Jan 2021

Everyone is passionate about the mission of making education accessible to everyone and it translates in the team's spirit and investment in the product, users, but also in building solid partnerships with institutions.

Operations & Strategy

Team energy

Jan 2021

I'm an inquisitive person and always trying to learn. When I joined Perlego, I was given the opportunity to be curious and always striving to learn and gain insights in order to be better and share knowledge with others.

Operations & Strategy

Opportunities to learn

Jan 2021

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