News October 31, 2022 2 min reading time

Immer declared winner of ContentShift Accelerator 2022

Immer declared winner of ContentShift Accelerator 2022

On October 20, Immer was declared the winner of the ContentShift Accelerator 2022, a German competition program focused on innovations for the book trade, organized by the Börsenverein des Deutschen Buchhandels (the Association of German Publishers and Booksellers).

The announcement took place at the Buchmesse in Frankfurt, where four start-ups pitched their product plans to a live audience in the program’s finale. Immer presented its innovative reading technology, that helps people to read more and better, and can be used by companies in their own digital applications.

Immer (the only non-German participant) can now call itself ‘Content Start-up of the Year’ and has received a prize of 10,000 euros. Jury spokesperson Stefanie Penck (TeNeues Publishing House) explained the decision:

This business model is convincing, comprehensible and certainly disruptive for the industry. The Immer team went through an impressive learning curve […] and set a clear focus: together with companies from the book sector, they want to inspire more people to read on their mobile phones or tablets. They have succeeded in doing this by preparing content that offers readers new, meaningful chunks of text that are fun to read and easy to absorb, instead of the previously familiar endless streams of text. Furthermore, we have no doubt that the information they collect about reading behaviour within their app will also prove to be extremely helpful input for our sector.

— Jury report ContentShift Content Start-up of the Year 2022

Founders Niels ’t Hooft and Lennart de Meij are in talks about their product with international parties including reading platforms, library and educational services, and professional and academic publishers.

Easy and attentive reading through digital innovation

Since 2020, Immer has been developing reading technology that encourages more frequent and pleasant reading of long-form text, including books. A few features of this technology:

  • Immersive presentation: Divide e-books into digestible portions for the (phone) screen, using an adaptive design that is ideal for holding attention and drawing readers into the story or topic.
  • Navigate and note: Readers can easily navigate through an e-book, and add highlights, bookmarks and comments.
  • Interaction: Readers can exchange experiences with others, reading and discussing books together.
  • Choose and sort: Immer helps to choose new e-books, organizing them into stacks of books.
  • Develop a reading habit: Schedule reading sessions to help build a regular routine.

Try the Immer technology in early access

The newest version of the Immer technology is now available in early access, giving publishers and investors a taste of the possibilities. Anyone can sign up for the early access wait list and be invited to be among the first to try new features.

School, leisure and professional applications of the Immer app