Berlin-based startup informed raises €5 million seed funding by HV Capital and 468 Capital to revolutionize the consumption of news

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The funding will be utilized to further develop informed’s product and grow its team. The startup has set up an advisory board that already includes the former editors-in-chief of TheEconomist and Financial Times, as well as the former CEO of Washington Post

With the goal of helping people stay up to date with the news and topics that matter most, informed has successfully raised €5 million in seed funding. European venture capital firm HV Capital is leading the current financing round. 468 Capital, a prominent venture capital firm based in Berlin and San Francisco, also participated in the most recent fundraising after leading informed’s €1 million pre-seed round, which also included investments from business angels, last year.

Founded in Berlin in 2021 by Benjamin Mateev (ex-Wunderlist, Microsoft), Martin Kaelble (ex-Capital, Financial Times Deutschland), and Axel Bard Bringéus (ex-Spotify, EQT Ventures), informed is a platform that enables its users to discover and read the most important news stories from the best publishers, all in one subscription.

informed Co-Founders - From left to right, Martin Kaelble, Benjamin Mateev, Axel Bard Bringeus
informed Co-Founders – From left to right, Martin Kaelble, Benjamin Mateev, Axel Bard Bringeus

Informed is collaborating with top industry brands and leading news publishers such as The New York Times, The Financial Times, The Economist, The Washington Post, The Guardian, The Telegraph, Reuters and Foreign Policy.

A powerful app for the age of information overwhelm and ‘fake news’

The informed app bundles and curates the best-trusted news sources in the world. Based on the curation of informed’s own editorial team and the in-app recommendations of leading online creators and experts, readers can explore and take deep dives into topics that matter.

The curation is done by humans, not purely algorithms, out of a strong belief that smart human curation is the best way to provide different perspectives across the political spectrum, a good mix of niche and big publishers as well as a variety of Western and non-Western sources—all to fight filter bubbles and misinformation.

By doing so, informed wants to create a safe haven for news consumption that is easily accessible and digestible for mainstream and younger audiences. Informed’s mobile app is currently in beta and will go live before the end of the year.

Creating a truly global product, supported by an industry-leading advisory board

The recently raised seed funding will be used to further develop informed’s product and grow its team. The informed team is working fully remote, but also offers its members physical office locations in Berlin and London (opening in 2022).

With its international team spread across several countries and comprising 17 nationalities from five continents, informed is already well on its way toward achieving its goal of becoming a fully global company in the coming years.

To guarantee the highest journalistic standards for its digital product, informed has set up an advisory board.

The idea behind this board is to create a platform of exchange with the publishing industry, to understand publisher needs and to have the input necessary to build a complex digital news product in a responsible way.

The informed team is honoured and proud to have gained its first three board members, each with outstanding experience in the news industry:

  • Katharine Weymouth (CEO of Washington Post Media, 2008-2014)
  • Lionel Barber (Editor-in-Chief of The Financial Times, 2005-2020)
  • Bill Emmott (Editor-in-Chief of The Economist, 1993-2006).

The company aims to establish an advisory board as diverse as possible, representing a variety of different perspectives. Accordingly, informed will add at least two more members that are soon to be announced.