Storyloom

The problem

Hundreds of millions of children have no picture books in the language they speak at home, because print runs that small never pay.

The solution

Storyloom commissions local authors and illustrators, publishes on any phone and prints on demand for schools, in 30 languages so far.

Who it's for

Parents and primary schools in multilingual countries.

Market

Bottom-up: about 120,000 customers like this in Ethiopia and nearby, worth roughly $80 million a year at our prices.

Competition and edge

Headline metric

16,800 active users, growing 14% a month

The team

Selam knows the customer and has sold to them before; Dawit has built this kind of system at scale. We have worked side by side since before Storyloom had a name.

Worked together

6–12 months

Hiring

A senior engineer and our first customer-success hire.

About the founder

Selam Tesfaye

Founder & CEO · Addis Ababa, Ethiopia · 5 years of experience

Selam edited children's books for a publisher and translated in four languages. Started Storyloom in 2025 and works on it full-time from Addis Ababa.

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