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The Ken
Founded2016
FoundersRohin Dharmakumar, Seema Singh, Sumanth Raghavendra and Ashish Mishra
Headquarters
Bangalore, India
,
India
Websitethe-ken.com

The Ken is an Indian business news website based out of Bangalore, India.[1][2][3][4] It was launched in 2016 as a premium subscriber-only platform that publishes one article per day.[5][6][7] Its founders include Rohin Dharmakumar, Seema Singh, Sumanth Raghavendra and Ashish Mishra. PayTM founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma is an investor.[8]

As of September 2021, it had over 30,000 individual subscribers and over 150 corporate subscribers.[9]

History and funding

The Ken was launched by Rohin Dharmakumar, Seema Singh, Sumanth Raghavendra and Ashish Mishra in 2016 as a premium subscriber only platform.[5]

Till 2018, the website raised ₹4.46 crore (US$530,000) and in 2018, it raised ₹10.32 crore (US$1.2 million) from several investors including the Omidyar Network.[10][11][12] It later said it had raised a further $1.9 million between the two rounds.[13] In August 2023, it closed a ₹16 crore ($2 million) Series B round of funding from two new investors, Rainmatter Capital and Baskar Subramanian, in a mixed round consisting of primary and secondary investments by both.[13]

Controversies and lawsuits

From 2019 to 2022, The Ken and another business news website, The Morning Context, were involved in lawsuits against one another. In 2019, Ashish Mishra left The Ken and started a rival online publication called The Morning Context.[14] The Ken then filed a lawsuit against Mishra alleging unauthorised use of confidential information which it alleged was used to "set up and operate" The Morning Context . Following this The Morning Context filed a defamation suit against The Ken alleging “false, derogatory & slanderous public statements amounting to defamation”. The Ken responded to the notice by "categorically rejecting" the claims made in it.[15] Later, The Ken withdrew its lawsuit against The Morning Context, Ashish Mishra and others on 24 May 2022.[16]

Content

The Ken publishes articles that focus on Indian business, healthcare and other similar topics. In 2019, The Ken expanded to Southeast Asia by launching a Southeast Asia Edition which is also run as subscriber-only platform that publishes one article per day.[17] In 2021, The Ken started a "business newsletter bundle" named “The Stack” that publishes newsletters that focus on specific sectors like Climate Technology, Financial Technology and Personal Finance among others.[18] Additionally, in 2021 the Ken also started its first podcast, "Unofficial Sources" (since discontinued), which was followed by two more podcasts: "First Principles" and "Cost to Company".[19] In late 2022, The Ken launched its third podcast "Daybreak" that aimed to provide business news in less than 15 minutes.[20]

See also

References

  1. ^ Russel, John (10 March 2017). "The Ken wants to fix business journalism in India with a subscription model". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on 11 December 2017. Retrieved 10 December 2017.
  2. ^ Bansal, Shuchi (27 October 2016). "The big digital paywall question". mint. Archived from the original on 11 April 2020. Retrieved 20 October 2022.
  3. ^ "India's 'The Ken' Goes Against the Grain with One Long-Form Story Per Day – And a Paywall". MediaShift. 28 November 2017. Archived from the original on 20 October 2022. Retrieved 20 October 2022.
  4. ^ Sharma, Shardul (14 March 2019). "Success of The Ken's subscription-only revenue model - Indian Printer & Publisher". indianprinterpublisher.com. Archived from the original on 9 December 2022. Retrieved 20 October 2022.
  5. ^ a b Wang, Shan (14 June 2017). "India's The Ken publishes one longform story each weekday. So far, subscribers are willing to pay". Nieman Foundation for Journalism. Archived from the original on 11 December 2017. Retrieved 10 December 2017.
  6. ^ Bansal, Shuchi (27 October 2016). "The big digital paywall question". Mint. Retrieved 10 December 2017.
  7. ^ ""Nobody thought it would work": India's The Ken looks to expand beyond borders, on the wings of its unlikely success with subscriptions". What’s New in Publishing | Digital Publishing News. 12 February 2020. Archived from the original on 18 October 2022. Retrieved 18 October 2022.
  8. ^ Dharmakumar, Rohin (17 February 2017). "The Ken announces angel funding". The Ken. Archived from the original on 19 October 2022. Retrieved 19 October 2022.
  9. ^ "How an Asian business site attracted 30,000 subscribers by publishing one story a day". Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism. Archived from the original on 19 October 2022. Retrieved 19 October 2022.
  10. ^ Khatri, Bhumika (18 July 2018). "Subscription-Based News Company The Ken Raises $1.5 Mn". Inc42. Archived from the original on 21 March 2019. Retrieved 21 March 2019.
  11. ^ Russel, Jon (18 July 2018). "The Ken raises $1.5M to grow its subscription journalism business in India". Tech Crunch. Retrieved 21 March 2019.
  12. ^ "The Ken | Omidyar Network India". www.omidyarnetwork.in. Retrieved 18 October 2022.
  13. ^ a b Dharmakumar, Rohin (9 August 2023). "The Ken closes $2M Series B funding". The Ken. Archived from the original on 1 November 2023. Retrieved 1 September 2023.
  14. ^ Entrackr, Team (23 September 2019). "Former journalists at The Ken launch subscription-only publication 'The Morning Context'". Entrackr. Archived from the original on 19 October 2022. Retrieved 19 October 2022.
  15. ^ Rohin Dharmakumar (16 April 2020). "The Ken's Response to a "Defamation" Notice". Archived from the original on 27 September 2020. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
  16. ^ "Vindication for The Morning Context". The Morning Context. Archived from the original on 24 May 2022. Retrieved 16 June 2022.
  17. ^ ""Nobody thought it would work": India's The Ken looks to expand beyond borders, on the wings of its unlikely success with subscriptions". What’s New in Publishing | Digital Publishing News. 12 February 2020. Retrieved 19 October 2022.
  18. ^ "Newsletters". The Ken. Archived from the original on 19 October 2022. Retrieved 19 October 2022.
  19. ^ "Podcasts". The Ken. Archived from the original on 19 October 2022. Retrieved 19 October 2022.
  20. ^ "Daybreak". The Ken. Archived from the original on 8 December 2022. Retrieved 8 December 2022.
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