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Many people are busy predicting "the death of publishing" with the rise of e-books. And even if we're far from the end of print, the pressures to rethink how textbooks are published and sold have put the online textbook rental company Chegg in a good position.

According to BoomTown, Chegg has secured another funding round -- $75 million from Asia-based Ace Limited. This brings the amount raised by the company to almost $220 million.

That much funding means that investors predict huge returns from Chegg, which has become the leading player in the $10 billion college textbook market. But it's a fiercely competitive market. Chegg currently serves around 7000 schools.

While renting a textbook is a great option in lieu of actually purchasing one, I do wonder if renting a print book will be the winning idea, so to speak, in the college textbook market, or if it'll be the move towards free and open content that can be distributed electronically. I'd invest -- philosophically, at least, as I'm a few bucks sort of $75 mil -- in the latter.

Audrey Watters


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Hack Education

The History of the Future of Education Technology

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