The Ken Explained

The Ken
Founded:2016
Founders:Rohin Dharmakumar, Seema Singh, Sumanth Raghavendra and Ashish Mishra
Location City:Bangalore, India
Location Country:India

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.

Till 2018, the website raised and in 2018, it raised 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.

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

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: Russel. John. The Ken wants to fix business journalism in India with a subscription model. 10 December 2017. TechCrunch. 10 March 2017. 11 December 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20171211053950/https://techcrunch.com/2017/03/12/the-ken/. live.
  2. Web site: Bansal . Shuchi . 2016-10-27 . The big digital paywall question . 2022-10-20 . mint . en . 11 April 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200411073404/https://www.livemint.com/Opinion/wezx5YVSz0kIE6EOxU5ZhL/The-big-digital-paywall-question.html . live .
  3. Web site: 2017-11-28 . India's 'The Ken' Goes Against the Grain with One Long-Form Story Per Day – And a Paywall . 2022-10-20 . MediaShift . en . 20 October 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20221020132513/http://mediashift.org/2017/11/india-ken-make-pay-per-story-model-work/ . live .
  4. Web site: Sharma . Shardul . 2019-03-14 . Success of The Ken’s subscription-only revenue model - Indian Printer & Publisher . 2022-10-20 . indianprinterpublisher.com . en-US . 9 December 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20221209102136/https://indianprinterpublisher.com/blog/2019/03/success-of-the-kens-subscription-only-revenue-model/ . live .
  5. News: Wang. Shan. India’s The Ken publishes one longform story each weekday. So far, subscribers are willing to pay. 10 December 2017. Nieman Foundation for Journalism. 14 June 2017. 11 December 2017. https://web.archive.org/web/20171211053746/http://www.niemanlab.org/2017/06/indias-the-ken-publishes-one-longform-story-each-weekday-so-far-subscribers-are-willing-to-pay/. live.
  6. News: Bansal. Shuchi. The big digital paywall question. 10 December 2017. Mint. 27 October 2016.
  7. Web site: 2020-02-12 . "Nobody thought it would work": India’s The Ken looks to expand beyond borders, on the wings of its unlikely success with subscriptions . 2022-10-18 . What’s New in Publishing Digital Publishing News . en-US . 18 October 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20221018054543/https://whatsnewinpublishing.com/nobody-thought-it-would-work-indias-the-ken-looks-to-expand-beyond-borders-on-the-wings-of-its-unlikely-success-with-subscriptions/ . live .
  8. Web site: Dharmakumar . Rohin . 2017-02-17 . The Ken announces angel funding . 2022-10-19 . The Ken . en-US . 19 October 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20221019040320/https://the-ken.com/blog/ken-announces-angel-funding/ . live .
  9. Web site: How an Asian business site attracted 30,000 subscribers by publishing one story a day . 2022-10-19 . Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism . en . 19 October 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20221019040320/https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/news/how-asian-business-site-attracted-30000-subscribers-publishing-one-story-day . live .
  10. News: Khatri . Bhumika . 18 July 2018 . Subscription-Based News Company The Ken Raises $1.5 Mn . Inc42 . 21 March 2019 . 21 March 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190321231424/https://inc42.com/buzz/subscription-based-news-company-the-ken-raises-1-5-mn/ . live .
  11. News: Russel . Jon . 18 July 2018 . The Ken raises $1.5M to grow its subscription journalism business in India . Tech Crunch . 21 March 2019.
  12. Web site: The Ken Omidyar Network India . 2022-10-18 . www.omidyarnetwork.in . en.
  13. Web site: Dharmakumar . Rohin . 2023-08-09 . The Ken closes $2M Series B funding . 2023-09-01 . The Ken . en-US . 1 November 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20231101222327/https://the-ken.com/blog/the-ken-closes-2m-series-b-funding/ . live .
  14. Web site: Entrackr . Team . 2019-09-23 . Former journalists at The Ken launch subscription-only publication 'The Morning Context' . 2022-10-19 . Entrackr . en-US . 19 October 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20221019040322/https://entrackr.com/2019/09/ken-mint-journalists-morning-context/ . live .
  15. Web site: Rohin Dharmakumar . 16 April 2020 . The Ken’s Response to a "Defamation" Notice . October 12, 2020 . 27 September 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200927193913/https://the-ken.com/blog/the-kens-response-to-a-defamation-notice/ . live .
  16. Web site: Vindication for The Morning Context . 2022-06-16 . The Morning Context . 24 May 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220524111021/https://themorningcontext.com/blog/vindication-for-the-morning-context . live .
  17. Web site: 2020-02-12 . "Nobody thought it would work": India’s The Ken looks to expand beyond borders, on the wings of its unlikely success with subscriptions . 2022-10-19 . What’s New in Publishing Digital Publishing News . en-US.
  18. Web site: Newsletters . 2022-10-19 . The Ken . en-US . 19 October 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20221019040321/https://the-ken.com/newsletters/ . live .
  19. Web site: Podcasts . 2022-10-19 . The Ken . en-US . 19 October 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20221019071733/https://the-ken.com/podcasts/ . live .
  20. Web site: Daybreak . 2022-12-08 . The Ken . en-US . 8 December 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20221208022836/https://the-ken.com/podcasts/daybreak/ . live .

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