The Pulse
Spines secures $64M and reports $50M revenue run rate
Spines secured $64 million in growth capital, including a $29 million equity round and a $35 million financing facility. The AI publishing company reports a $50 million revenue run rate, and Spines says more than 8,000 American authors have
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Funding and growth
Spines secured $64 million in growth capital to expand its AI publishing platform, alongside a reported $50 million revenue run rate. The funding combines a $29 million Series A-1 equity round with a $35 million non-dilutive growth financing facility from Twelve.
Zeev Ventures led the equity round, with Aleph, NordStar, M-Fund, LionTree and angel investor Dan Senor also participating. The company reported a $50 million revenue run rate, with year-over-year growth of 400%. More than 8,000 American authors have published books using the platform, according to Spines, and around 400 new authors join each month, the company says.
Founder and CEO Yehuda Niv said the company aims to use AI to support authors rather than write books in their place. “We don't believe the future of publishing is AI writing books. We believe the future is AI giving authors superpowers,” Niv said.
Publishing workflow
Spines describes its platform as a way for authors to bring their own manuscripts through publishing, using AI agents for tasks that include editing, proofreading and cover design. The platform also includes formatting, metadata, translation, audiobook production, distribution, royalty management and marketing.
Authors can also work with Spines' in-house editors, proofreaders, designers and native-speaking language professionals. Its distribution reaches more than 100 global channels and includes tools to track sales across platforms and manage royalties centrally, giving authors visibility into earnings across markets, Spines says.
The process can take publishing from a traditional 12-to-18-month timeline to a matter of weeks, the company says. It also offers campaign-management tools for authors to create, launch and manage marketing campaigns intended to reach relevant readers and build demand for their titles.
Translation and other tools
Its translation service currently translates from English into seven target languages: Spanish, Italian, French, German, Portuguese, Polish and Hebrew. It combines AI-powered translation with review by native speakers and plans to expand the service to 20 target languages over the next six months, Spines says.
Spines also offers synthetic-voice audiobook narration, and authors can create a model of their own voice from a short recording to narrate their books, including in other languages. For children's books, the company has developed AI illustration technology that Spines says is designed to keep characters consistent across a book.
Investors' view
Oren Zeev of Zeev Ventures led the round. The release describes Zeev as an early investor in Audible and a longtime investor in technology companies. “Spines has all the ingredients to become the category leader in the next generation of publishing,” Zeev said.
Aleph, which led Spines' Seed round, also participated in its Series A and Series A-1 rounds. Aleph co-founder and general partner Michael Eisenberg, who the release says has written nine books, said the platform could use technology to reduce friction in publishing without removing authors from the process.