An e-reader company built to give Amazon's Kindle a Canadian competitor
Kobo
Founded in Toronto in 2009, Kobo built its own e-reader devices and bookstore to compete directly with Amazon's Kindle, later finding a lasting niche after being acquired by Japanese e-commerce company Rakuten.
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Kobo launched in Toronto in 2009, founded with backing from Indigo Books & Music and other investors to build a Canadian e-reader and digital bookstore capable of competing directly with Amazon's Kindle, which had launched two years earlier and had no serious Canadian rival at the time. Kobo built both its own e-reader hardware and a digital bookstore platform, an ambitious two-sided undertaking for a startup entering a market Amazon already dominated.
A lasting niche under new ownership
Japanese e-commerce giant Rakuten acquired Kobo in 2012, giving the company access to substantially more capital and international distribution while keeping its Toronto operations and product development intact. Under Rakuten's ownership, Kobo carved out a durable niche as a genuine Kindle alternative, particularly strong in markets outside the United States, continuing to develop new e-reader hardware from its Toronto base well over a decade after its founding.
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