Higher education 🇬🇧 Bournemouth, United Kingdom Since 2013 4.5 · 2K ratings

Kortext

Digital textbooks and study tools for universities.

Visit kortext.com All companies
institutions, according to Kortext
5,000+
students worldwide
2M
publishers
8,000+
group turnover, year to June 2025
£26.6M

About Kortext

Kortext is a Bournemouth company that supplies digital textbooks, study tools and learner analytics to universities. Libraries buy eBook licences through Kortext acquire, and students read them on a personal bookshelf in the Kortext app on iOS, Android, Windows, Mac and the web. Kortext IQ and study+ add AI summaries, notes, quizzes and translation that draw only on institution-approved content. Kortext sells to institutions on request and runs a separate eBookstore for students. In 2025 it bought the Talis reading list system from Sage and became the eBook platform for Follett’s campus stores in North America.

Kortext sells digital learning content and software to universities and colleges. Libraries order eBooks through Kortext acquire, academics add them to reading lists in the virtual learning environment, and students open them on their own bookshelf in the Kortext app. Students can highlight, take notes, use read aloud and create citations, and downloaded books work offline. Kortext stream and insights turn engagement data into dashboards for student support teams and university leaders.

James Gray founded Kortext in 2013, and Kortext Limited was registered on 19 July 2013. The company partnered with John Smiths and Samsung in 2014, launched its app in 2016 and won a Jisc tender in 2017. dmg ventures, the venture arm of Daily Mail and General Trust, invested in the seed round in 2018 and led later rounds, including £15 million in June 2021. In 2022 Kortext bought the learner analytics company Solutionpath, and Textbookweb, a market data service for publishers, joined the group.

Kortext launched Kortext Premium, now study+, in 2023 and later built Kortext IQ, an AI assistant co-built with Microsoft and first piloted at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford. In March 2025 Follett Higher Education chose Kortext as its eBook platform from the fall 2025 term. In October 2025 Kortext bought Talis from Sage. Group turnover rose from £23.1 million to £26.6 million in the year to June 2025, and the loss after tax fell from £7.1 million to £2.4 million.

History

  1. 2013 James Gray founds Kortext. Kortext Limited is registered on 19 July.
  2. 2014 Partners with the bookseller John Smiths and with Samsung.
  3. 2016 Launches the first Kortext app.
  4. 2017 Wins a tender from Jisc, the UK digital agency for higher education.
  5. 2018 Launches KeyLinks for reading lists. dmg ventures invests in the seed round.
  6. 2019 dmg ventures leads a new round in June, and its CEO Manuel Lopo de Carvalho joins the board.
  7. 2021 Raises £9 million in March with dmg ventures and QVentures, then £15 million from dmg ventures in June.
  8. 2022 Buys Solutionpath, maker of the StREAM learner analytics platform. Textbookweb joins the group.
  9. 2023 Launches Kortext Premium with AI study tools, later renamed study+.
  10. 2025 Follett picks Kortext for its North American campus stores in March. StREAM becomes Kortext stream. Kortext buys Talis from Sage in October.
  11. 2026 Kortext IQ becomes a Moodle Certified Integration and joins the Instructure Partner Program for Canvas. In October IQ reaches all Kortext apps.

Kortext funding and investors

£34 million disclosed since 2021
  1. 2018
    Seed Amount not disclosed

    dmg ventures

    Source: Kortext
  2. June 2019
    Scale-up round Amount not disclosed

    Lead: dmg ventures dmg ventures

    Source: Kortext
  3. March 2021
    Series A £9 million

    Lead: dmg ventures QVenturesPrivate investors and a family office

    Source: UK Business Angels Association
  4. June 2021
    Series B £15 million

    Lead: dmg ventures dmg ventures

    Source: BESA, Private Equity Wire
  5. Year to June 2025
    Equity and bank facility about £10 million

    Existing and new investorsHSBC

    Source: Kortext group accounts, Companies House

Sum of the £9 million round of March 2021, the £15 million round of June 2021 and about £10 million raised in the year to June 2025, as stated in the group accounts. Kortext said in June 2020 that it had raised £15 million in three rounds since 2013. Amounts for the 2018 and 2019 rounds were not disclosed. BESA describes the June 2021 round as additional funding, Private Equity Wire calls it Series B.

Leadership

  • James Gray Founder and CEO
  • Andrew Bates Chief Product Officer
  • Paul Johnson Partnerships Director
  • Jeremy Duckworth Director since 2015, named CFO in 2020 and 2021 releases
  • Manuel Lopo de Carvalho Board director since 2019, for dmg ventures

Companies House lists 6 current directors, among them Steven Harris since 2016 and Tim Collier and Mark Edmondson since October 2023. James Gray is the only person with significant control on the register.

Careers

Careers site
3 open roles on 6 October 2026
  • Application support1
  • Partnerships1
  • Automation1

How Kortext works

eBooks and digital resources
5M+
open eBooks in the Open Resources Collection
35,000+
languages for translation in study+
130+
  • Personal bookshelf
  • Offline reading
  • Highlights and notes
  • Read aloud
  • Citations in common styles
  • AI summaries and notes
  • Multiple-choice questions
  • Translation
  • Microsoft Teams
  • Moodle and Canvas
  • Library system integration
  • Learner analytics

Products

  • Kortext study A personal bookshelf with a student’s core textbooks. Search, highlights, rich-text notes, read aloud, citations and offline reading in the app on Apple, Android and Windows devices. About study
  • Kortext IQ An AI assistant for universities that answers from course content, journal articles and the institution’s own resources, with links back to sources. It runs in Canvas and Moodle and, since October 2026, in all Kortext apps. About IQ
  • Kortext study+ AI tools inside course materials: summaries, study notes, multiple-choice questions, translation into 130+ languages and 5GB of storage for a student’s own files. Built on Microsoft Azure. About study+
  • Kortext acquire Ordering for libraries with EDI and API links to Alma, OCLC WMS, SirsiDynix and Talis, upfront pricing, library licences and demand-driven acquisition. About acquire
  • Kortext stream Learner analytics from Solutionpath, formerly StREAM. It combines data from university systems so support teams can see which students are disengaging. Our platforms
  • Talis A reading list management system that links library resources to course lists. Kortext bought it from Sage in October 2025. Sage announcement
  • Kortext store An eBookstore where students buy titles themselves, with 500,000+ books. Kortext advertises 25% off eTextbooks for students who sign up. About the store

Kortext for universities

Talk to us
  • 01Libraries buy eBooks under library licences, demand-driven acquisition or perpetual licences through partners such as Delbanco.
  • 02Kortext is an approved supplier on the SUPC and APUC consortium frameworks in the UK.
  • 03The catalogue is also available in EBSCO GOBI and Clarivate Rialto.
  • 04Fusion connects content, analytics and AI in one platform built with Microsoft.

Kortext does not publish prices for institutions. Quotes come after a discovery call, checked on 6 October 2026.

App ratings

2.2Trustpilot · Bad 11 reviews · profile not claimed by the company

Is Kortext worth it?

What students like

What students criticise

What users write in reviews, not our rating. Most students get Kortext through their university, so reviews come mainly from people who bought a single eBook.

Kortext reviews

  • Horrible Reading and Studying Interface
    “It takes at least 5X as long to highlight anything, as the delay is significant, or doesn’t happen at all and I have to keep trying.”
    Happy Customer · 12 September 2026 · App Store
  • Poor service and zero customer support
    “I bought a book a week ago, and have not had access to the book.”
    Francis Makamure · 28 April 2026 · App Store
  • Problems Accessing Content While Traveling
    “I am unable to use my textbook while I am traveling because it will not allow me to access (citing privacy issues).”
    Lakisha Applon · 18 January 2026 · App Store

Latest news

  1. Kortext IQ comes to the iOS, Android, Windows and Mac apps
  2. Kortext IQ becomes a Moodle Certified Integration
  3. Kortext joins the Instructure Partner Program for Canvas
  4. Partnership with Delbanco brings 3.9 million eBooks to Scandinavian libraries
  5. Kortext acquires Talis from Sage
  6. Follett and Kortext announce a partnership for North American campus stores
  7. Kortext raises £15 million from dmg ventures

Contacts and company data

Legal entity
Kortext Limited, 2nd Floor, Lowey House, Aviation Park West, Hurn, Christchurch, Dorset, BH23 6EW, United Kingdom
Company number
08617088, England and Wales
Incorporated
19 July 2013
Result, year to June 2025
Loss after tax of £2.4 million, 2024: £7.1 million
Cash, 30 June 2025
£10.3 million
Auditor
Cooper Parry Group Limited
US entity
Kortext LLC publishes the iOS app

Alternatives to Kortext

How we built this profile

  1. Sources. Facts come from the company’s own website, press room, imprint and careers page, from Wikipedia, the App Store, Google Play and Trustpilot. Every source is listed on the page.
  2. Checks. Kinescope checked every number on 6 October 2026. Prices, ratings and job counts change, and we refresh them with each update.
  3. Our words. Descriptions are written by the Kinescope team. Quotes from reviews are marked with the author and source, and we do not rate the company ourselves.
  4. Corrections. The company can send new facts or corrections, and we update the profile.

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Kortext FAQ

A UK company that supplies digital textbooks, study tools, AI and learner analytics to universities. Students read their course books in the Kortext app or in the browser.

Usually the university pays. When a library licenses titles, students open them on their Kortext bookshelf at no charge. Students can also buy books themselves in the Kortext store.

Kortext does not publish prices for institutions and quotes after a call. In the student store each eBook has its own price, and Kortext advertises 25% off for students who sign up.

Yes. Books downloaded in the Kortext app on iOS, Android, Windows or Mac can be read offline, and notes sync when the device reconnects.

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