The first investor in Descartes leads a multi-million dollar raise in digital book publishing

Spines, Yehuda Niv's AI-based self-publishing platform, raised $29 million led by Oren Zeev and an additional $35 million in debt. The company, with an annual revenue run rate of $50 million, plans to expand to 20 languages.

Spines, Yehuda Niv's AI-based self-publishing platform, raised $29 million led by Oren Zeev and an additional $35 million in debt. Zeev, the first investor in Descartes, which is in negotiations to be acquired by Amazon for about $7 billion, leads the round. The company reports an annual revenue run rate of $50 million, up from $3.5 million two years ago. Its library includes 8,000 authors and 12,000 books. Spines allows amateur authors to publish books for a fee, using AI for editing, proofreading, and design, and distributes to Amazon and Barnes & Noble. The company plans to expand to 20 languages in the next six months. Niv stated that the average cost is $5,000–7,000, and the book is released within two weeks. The company employs 350 people, 90 of them in Herzliya.