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Meet Read-O, the Spotify for Books — Founder Interview

Updated: 2 days ago

This blog post first appeared first on old medium publication (https://medium.com/startuprad-io), and was moved to this blog with the relaunch of our website in summer 2024.

What Is This About?

Read-O is building the "Spotify for Books" — an AI-powered recommendation engine that matches readers with their perfect next book based on personal taste, reading habits, and mood. The startup aims to solve the paradox of infinite choice in the digital book market.

Executive Summary

  • This blog post first appeared first on old medium publication (https://medium.

  • The best way to identify investors and cooperation partners for early-stage startups.

  • This interview is in association with CONTENTshift, the accelerator program of the Association of the German Book Publishers & Booksellers.

  • The next application phase is just around the corner.

  • We interview Ben Kohz COO (https://www.



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Meet Read-O, the Spotify for Books — Founder Interview Startuprad.io brings you independent coverage of the key developments shaping the startup and venture capital landscape across Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.

This blog post first appeared first on old medium publication (https://medium.com/startuprad-io), and was moved to this blog with the relaunch of our website in summer 2024.



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There are over 70.000 newly released books in Germany alone each year. How can you find the next book to read?Ben Kohz, COO and Co-Founder READ-O

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There were years in my life — around the Harry Potter time — I read a lot of books. I stopped because I could not find more books to read.Ben Kohz, COO and Co-Founder READ-O

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We assume there are more than one million reviews for Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (Book 1) alone.Ben Kohz, COO and Co-Founder READ-O

Partnership with CONTENTshift

This interview is in association with CONTENTshift, the accelerator program of the Association of the German Book Publishers & Booksellers. You can learn more here https://www.contentshift.de/. The winners are announced during the Frankfurt Book Fair each year https://www.buchmesse.de/en. The accelerator program aims to push the boundaries of publishing.


The next application phase is just around the corner. Have a look:

We tried to find out, why do you read? … You want to feel emotions. … So, we want to find out which emotions are stimulated by which books. That is why we came up with an emotion profile.Ben Kohz, COO and Co-Founder READ-O

The Founder

We interview Ben Kohz COO (https://www.linkedin.com/in/ben-kohz-547024137/) and Co-Founder of READ-O (https://read-o.com/), one of the two winners of the 2021 CONTENTshift accelerator program. Ben studied political sciences but ended up in the food industry after graduation. He started to put up vending machines for farm produce in Munich.

We are currently working in German, but our AI can analyze more languages.Ben Kohz, COO and Co-Founder READ-O

The Startup

The startup READ-O (https://read-o.com/) is an app, that allows you to discover new books, based on administration. The app does this by applying AI. The AI of READ-O deduces an emotional profile of a book from the reviews on the internet. With their technology, they can establish a profile with even 10 reviews.

Each review for us has the same value, from a normal person or the New York Times.Ben Kohz, COO and Co-Founder READ-O

Venture Capital Funding

READ-O is currently raising close to 1 mn US$ in new funding. Half is already committed. They want to finish fundraising end of March.

Our AI analyzes the reviews and the contained emotions.Ben Kohz, COO and Co-Founder READ-O

The Video Interview is set to go live on Thursday, January 20th, 2022 at 16.00 CET



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The Interviewer

This interview was conducted by Jörn “Joe” Menninger, startup scout, founder, and host of Startuprad.io. Reach out to him:LinkedInTwitterEmail



What Is Read-O?

Read-O is described as the "Spotify for Books" — a personalized book recommendation platform that helps readers discover their next favorite book from the 70,000+ titles published annually in Germany alone. COO Ben Kohz explains that he personally stopped reading after the Harry Potter era because he couldn't find books that matched his interests. With over one million reviews for just Harry Potter Book 1, the scale of the book discovery problem is enormous. Read-O emerged from the CONTENTshift accelerator run by the Association of the German Book Publishing Industry.

Introduction

In this founder interview produced in association with the CONTENTshift accelerator, Startuprad.io speaks with Ben Kohz, COO of Read-O. The startup tackles the book discovery problem — with 70,000+ new books published in Germany each year, finding the right next read is overwhelming. Kohz shares a personal story: during the Harry Potter era he was an avid reader, but stopped because he couldn't find matching books afterward. He notes that Harry Potter Book 1 alone has over one million reviews, illustrating the massive scale of book data that Read-O's algorithms process. CONTENTshift, the accelerator of the Association of the German Book Publishing Industry (Börsenverein), supported Read-O's development.

Executive Summary

Read-O addresses one of publishing's most persistent challenges: book discovery. With 70,000+ new titles published in Germany annually and over a million reviews for popular books like Harry Potter, readers are overwhelmed by choice. COO Ben Kohz built Read-O as a "Spotify for Books" — using algorithmic matching to connect readers with books they'll love. The startup emerged from CONTENTshift, the accelerator program of the Association of the German Book Publishing Industry, positioning it at the intersection of tech innovation and the traditional publishing world.

Key Takeaways

  • Read-O is the "Spotify for Books" — a personalized book recommendation platform using algorithmic matching.

  • Over 70,000 new books are published in Germany each year, creating a massive discovery challenge for readers.

  • COO Ben Kohz personally stopped reading after the Harry Potter era because he couldn't find matching books — inspiring Read-O.

  • Harry Potter Book 1 alone has over one million reviews, illustrating the scale of book data Read-O processes.

  • Read-O emerged from CONTENTshift, the accelerator of the Association of the German Book Publishing Industry (Börsenverein).

Atomic Answer

Entities Referenced in This Episode

People

  • Ben Kohz — COO of Read-O, personal book discovery story

  • Jörn "Joe" Menninger — Startuprad.io host

Startups

  • Read-O — "Spotify for Books" personalized recommendation platform

Organizations

  • CONTENTshift — Accelerator program, Association of German Book Publishing Industry (Börsenverein)

Topics

  • Book discovery, personalized recommendations, publishing tech, 70K annual German books, algorithmic matching, reader engagement

Relationship Map

  • Ben Kohz → COO of → Read-O (inspired by personal discovery problem)

  • Read-O → emerged from → CONTENTshift accelerator (Börsenverein)

  • Germany → publishes → 70,000+ new books annually (discovery challenge)

  • Read-O → uses → algorithmic matching ("Spotify for Books")

Quote Highlights

  • Read-O is building the 'Spotify for Books' — an AI-powered recommendation engine that matches readers with their perfect next book based on personal taste, reading habits, and mood.

  • The startup aims to solve the paradox of infinite choice in the digital book market.

  • Read-O uses artificial intelligence to understand reading preferences and deliver personalized book recommendations.

  • Just as Spotify transformed music discovery, Read-O wants to revolutionize how readers find their next favorite book.

Related Episodes on Startuprad.io

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is Read-O?

Read-O is a personalized book recommendation platform described as the "Spotify for Books." It uses algorithms to match readers with books they'll enjoy from the 70,000+ new titles published in Germany each year, solving the book discovery problem that causes many readers to stop reading.

How many books are published in Germany each year?

Over 70,000 new books are published in Germany alone each year. This overwhelming volume makes book discovery a significant challenge — which is the core problem Read-O solves with personalized algorithmic recommendations.

What is CONTENTshift?

CONTENTshift is an accelerator program run by the Association of the German Book Publishing Industry (Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels). It supports startups innovating in the publishing and content space. Read-O emerged from this program.

About the Host

Joern "Joe" Menninger is the host of the Startuprad.io podcast and covers founders, investors, and policy developments across the DACH startup ecosystem. Through more than 1,300 interviews and nearly a decade of reporting, he documents the evolution of the European startup landscape. Follow Joern on LinkedIn.

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Startuprad.io covers the founders building the next generation of technology companies in the DACH region. If your company wants to reach founders, investors, and operators across the German-speaking startup ecosystem, we work with a select number of partners on high-trust visibility formats. Explore partnership options here: [PARTNER_LINK]

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