xigxag, the Cornwall-based next-gen audio visual reading app, is well set on its course to be a disruptive challenger in the global $109.3bn publishing marketplace. xigxag has now announced that its latest £250k fund is now publicly open to all investors on the Seedrs platform. Seedrs investors have already raised over 72% of the quarter million pound crowd fund thus far and now welcomes registered and qualified investors from the wider market to join the movement to revolutionise and democratise the audiobook - a format that has not innovated in a decade.

This is the second fund-raise for xigxag which only started in 2019, in response to the growth in audiobook consumption and lack of innovation in this space.

“I am hugely optimistic about the potential of audio to transform publishing” stated Kelli Fairbrother, CEO and Co-Founder at xigxag. “We co-founded xigxag because we felt totally underserved as consumers. Any time a market is not being served well, it creates an opportunity for someone else to do it better. We believe innovation in channel, messaging and especially format has the potential to attract new audiences to books.”

A single, flexible digital format
The xigxag app, which recently hit 9k users, is the first to offer users the audiobook and ebook in a single format, which they call the x-book®. It’s a fully integrated format, based on proprietary technology that indexes human-voiced narration to the corresponding text. Customers no longer need to choose between listening or reading - they can listen on the go, switch to reading at home - or listen and read at the same time.

A better deal for authors and publishers
Furthermore, xigxag offers publishers straightforward, per-title payments, as they want to make sure authors and publishers are paid fairly for their work. They aim to build an unrivalled approach to data and insight sharing with publishers and authors, enabling more experimentation and diversity in publishing. 

Established platform and industry adoption
The xigxag app is live on Google Play and the App Store and has thousands of titles from leading publishers, including HarperCollins, Hachette, Penguin Random House as well as self-published authors and leading independent publishers including Faber, Canelo, Boldwood and Chelsea Green. They’re working hard to build the most relevant catalogue of content for the UK market, with a focus on British narration.

xigxag has been shortlisted as the Futurebook Start-Up of the Year and their CEO, Kelli Fairbrother, will be speaking at the Futurebook Conference, on the panel discussing ‘On the up and up: Innovation in audio formats’ on Friday November 19th at 12 Noon. 
To read more about the crowdfund please visit Seedrs.com. For more information about xigxag please visit here.