Audio-everything: When reading becomes entertainment

Voxa is the streaming app for audiobooks, eBooks, summaries, podcasts and tutorials for emerging markets and is available on iOS and Google Play. With a fixed monthly subscription, the company offers unlimited access to content in English and Romanian.The team consists of 8 members with multidisciplinary experience from successful companies and startups. In addition to the core team, 50 storytellers work with Voxa.

Today we talk to Dan Vidrașcu, a successful Romanian entrepreneur, co-CEO of Litera Publishing Group and co-founder of elefant.ro.

Hello Dan, it's good to see you! You’ve recently stepped forward as the new CEO of VOXA. What drives you to take the lead?

Hello, it’s good to be here. Thank you for the interview!

We started the project in 2020, after noticing the huge opportunity in the digital content world. My experience as CEO at elefant.ro and General Manager at the Editorial Group “Litera”, combined with the entrepreneurial drive of Catalin Mester, led to Voxa, a global app for audiobooks and ebooks.

Here we are now, 8 months after launch. The venture started to grow in such a rapid way, that we have decided it’s best for the business that I would get more involved in the process and take the lead. Catalin decided to remain an important shareholder but focus on developing the other projects he is attached to.

How has Voxa been doing in terms of traction since your last round (10 months ago)?

Voxa has grown amazingly. We’ve seen the traction that confirmed us that people were indeed eager for the audiobooks market to develop, they only lacked the offer. So we’ve given them more than a thousand audiobooks in their local language and 8,000 ebooks in Romanian and English; and the offer expands each month. Since launch, we’ve reached more than 69,000 users and almost 9,000 subscribers, and achieved €79,500 in monthly recurring revenue.

How would you describe the support you've received from investors & SeedBlink during this time?

SeedBlink made the process run smoothly. We appreciate all the support your professional team has provided.

Could you tell us a bit more about your current customers and how they are using Voxa?

Our main target is the B2C audience. Our customers are Romanians, not only those residing in Romania but everywhere on the globe (25% of our users are from outside Romania). Our readers are 80% women and 20% men, aged between 24 - 45 years old, in a multitasking era in which finding a moment of peace for enjoying the book in our hands has become increasingly harder.

We facilitate access to an amazing digital library for customers who encounter difficulties getting access to printed books – which is even harder for those living abroad. From the feedback we’ve collected from our community we have learned that they now include Voxa in their daily life while driving, doing chores, taking walks, at bedtime, or as part of the morning routine. A major share in our audience is represented by the community of mothers; they are the most active customers, either consuming parenting titles, romance novels, personal development books, or reading children’s books together with their kids.

You are planning a new round to scale your solution. What are your objectives? What is the roadmap?

We’re constantly working on improving the app to bring the user experience to the level found on the main international platforms. The marketing efforts have to be consistent, leading not only towards growing our subscriber database and reach the 25,000 target by the end of the year, but also to educate the market and boost the digital content consumption (with focus on audiobooks).

Last week we have officially launched in the Republic of Moldova and we are now in the process of signing with few Moldavian publishing houses, expanding thus the offer for our Moldavian customers. The number of users from this country already reached 12%.

In 2023, we plan to expand further, to Hungary.

In terms of content, how do you plan to expand it? Are you tackling new topics, or podcasts?

We have new & exciting projects coming up. Besides signing with new publishing companies, we will soon bring new types of content in the app. For example, this week we’ve signed with Ringier and we have added magazines in ebook format. Another project we’ll launch this year is the “Voxa mini-series”, in which we will get the help of editors to offer our subscribers simplified versions of some challenging books.

What is the current number of audiobooks you can add on the platform each month?

When we started Voxa we were able to list around 40 audiobooks per month. Once the process was optimized we have reached the efficiency of being able to add no less than 200 audiobooks per month into the application.

Interesting! What challenges do you see going forward, considering the ones you’ve faced so far?

In the current socio-economic context, the digital market continues to increase its footprint against the physical one. Voxa offers a handy, premium digital solution to its readers, with up-to-date content, relevant to our days.

The market changes constantly, no matter the times we live in, so it is important to be able to adapt rapidly to the customers’ needs. It’s said that “the only constant in life is... change” so we feel compelled to be always ready to find solutions for whatever life will throw at us. Only by having this mindset we’ll be able to bring our business ideas into reality.

Where do you see Voxa in the next 3 years?

We’ll go with the natural development pace of the business, which means to expand on other markets with great potential – from Europe, but not only. We’re set to become present in 6 new countries, starting with Hungary, next year. In terms of active clients, our estimations are that we’ll reach 70,000 users, solely in Romania. From the point of view of our catalog, we intend to list over 5,000 audiobooks (in English and Romanian) and 100,000 ebooks, most of which are international ones. Also, we’ll add to Voxa any type of original, digital content we’ll be able to find in the market gaps.

Why should investors have you in their portfolio?

Voxa – the most popular application for audiobooks & ebooks in Romania – brings content right to the “eyes and ears” of our customers. We have built from scratch an app that offers unlimited access to our catalog, for a unique monthly subscription.

A clear & simple business plan, impressive traction, partnerships with international distributors and the largest publishing houses in Romania, a vast catalog offered to our customers living anywhere, various types of digital content to meet all tastes, and efficient customer support. This is Voxa.

Learn more about this investment opportunity.