Odilo raises $2.8 million from Active VP to continue to make digital content lending easy

Odilo is one of the leading providers of technology to discover, manage and distribute print and digital content. The Murcia-based company, founded in April 2011 and led by Rodrigo Rodríguez, works with public libraries, schools and private institutions to facilitate content lending, something that libraries have been doing for decades with physical products and are now starting to apply to digital content.

To continue to expand in the US and Latin America, the Spanish startup has raised $2.8 million from Active Venture Partners (AVP), the Venture Capital firm founded by Philipp Schroeder, Ricard Soderberg and Christopher Pommerening that is headquartered in Barcelona.

According to a statement from Odilo, the company currently operates in the US, Latam, Europe and Australia and has “tripled its sales in the past two years”; figures that don’t mean much without additional context. As visible on its website, many of Odilo’s customers are public institutions such as city councils and state-funded libraries, but the company also works with publishers and multinationals like Pemex (Mexico).

Active VP: one of the most active Spanish VCs in recent months

Active Venture Partners raised €54 fund in September 2012 and has been one of the most active Spanish VC firms in recent months. Although the firm is based in Barcelona, it invests in both Spanish and foreign startups, something that very few local VCs do (Nauta Capital and Axon Partners Group) and a trait that differentiates them from most other firms in the country.

The firm has led multiple and significant rounds of financing lately –Traity ($4.7 million), FishBrain (based in Sweden, $2.4 million) or adjust (Berlin, $7.6 million)- and has also co-invested with Accel Partners in Madrid-based PackLink. AVP’s international experience and connections might be key in Odilo’s expansion, which has offices in Cartagena (Murcia), Madrid, New York and Miami.