Journalism is investable
Capital Stacks of Journalism exists to crowd in more capital—from private investors, philanthropy and the public sector—by showing where viable journalism businesses can be built, how they are financed, and what makes them work.
Investment that helps businesses start, grow and scale.
Risk-tolerant funding for journalism and infrastructure the market will not build on its own.
Policies and subsidies that create better conditions for independent news businesses.
Journalism is built with different kinds of capital
Viable journalism is rarely built with a single source of capital. Different kinds of money are useful at different stages, for different purposes. Together they form the capital stack.
We went looking for proof
There is a persistent assumption that independent journalism is structurally uninvestable.
So we followed 21 viable independent news ventures across 15 European countries, from their first capital to profitability: who funded them, how they grew, what went wrong, and what happened to the money.
Download the whole report as a PDF
Capital Stacks of Journalism: The Investable Media Playbook
Capital Stacks
for investors
If you are a family office, philanthropist or fund, this is where you can see how twenty-one viable ventures were financed, what equity, loans and grants did in each stack, and which questions to ask before committing money.
Capital Stacks
for founders
If you are a founder, publisher or operator, this is where you can see how twenty-one successful information ventures launched, raised money, grew and reached profitability, and what the people who fund journalism expect in return.
We are taking this report on the road
Through 2026 we are presenting the findings in European capitals, to rooms of investors and media operators, and building the route for 2027.
We have a newsletter on media funding
Media Finance Monitor comes out weekly and covers Europe and beyond: who invested, who got the grant, which calls are open.