Capital B

What Capital B does

Capital B (legally Capital B News, Inc.) is a Black-led, nonprofit local and national news organization founded in 2021 and headquartered at 209 W 29th Street, Suite 107, New York, NY 10001. It publishes original journalism for Black communities across seven core verticals — Criminal Justice, Education, Environmental Justice, Health, Money, Politics & Policy, and Rural Issues — distributed through its flagship site capitalbnews.org, a free weekly email newsletter ('Seen & Heard'), active social channels (Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X, TikTok, Bluesky), and partner-content republishing arrangements with outlets including KFF Health News, the Associated Press, Grist/Vox, The 19th, InvestigateTV, Houston Landing, and Mississippi Free Press. Beyond the national desk, the organization operates two dedicated local newsroom editions — Capital B Atlanta (Georgia) and Capital B Gary (Northwest Indiana) — and a portfolio of recurring investigative series such as 'Dangerous Deliveries' (Georgia maternal health), 'The New Great Migration' (Black reverse migration), and 'Disconnected: Rural Black America and the Digital Divide' (rural broadband inequity).

The underlying publishing technology is Newspack, the WordPress-based newsroom platform built by Automattic, which provides the site's content management, membership, and donation infrastructure; no public API, SDK, or proprietary AI/ML components are offered, and the Terms of Service reference user-facing features only. The business model is a hybrid nonprofit newsroom revenue stack: tax-deductible individual donations and memberships (primary), on-site advertising via an 'Advertise With Us' intake, optional paid Subscription Services processed by third-party payment providers, and project-specific grants and fellowships (e.g., USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism, The Center for Rural Strategies and Grist, American Journalism Project, Lumina Foundation, Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust). Content is free to readers at no paywall, and the organization explicitly avoids corporate funding.

Capital B is led by co-founders Lauren Williams (CEO) and Akoto Ofori-Atta (Chief Audience Officer), with editors Simone Sebastian and Dalila-Johari Paul overseeing investigative projects. The company reports 11-50 employees, has no public stock listing, no disclosed parent company, and operates as an independent U.S. nonprofit entity with CCPA and COPPA self-attested compliance. In December 2025 it was named among NABJ's '50 Moments in Black Journalism History (1975-2025).'

Name

Capital B

Legal name

Capital B News, Inc.

Website

https://capitalbnews.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2021

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Capital B is a Black-led, nonprofit digital news organization that publishes free local and national journalism for Black communities across the U.S. via capitalbnews.org, a free newsletter, and two local newsrooms in Atlanta and Gary, funded by donations, grants, and advertising.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Nonprofit Digital News Publishing

NAICS

Newspaper, Periodical, Book, and Directory Publishers (5131), Periodical Publishers (51312)

SIC

Newspapers: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2711), Periodicals: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2721)

akta.pro primary industry

National & General-Interest Newspapers (Print & Digital) (MPAJADAA)

akta.pro secondary industry

Local & Regional Newspapers (Print & Digital) (MPAJADAB)

Keywords

• Nonprofit news publishing
• Black community journalism
• Investigative reporting series
• Local news reporting
• Weekly newsletter media

Headquarters

HQ city

New York

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Donations and membership: Capital B solicits tax-deductible donations and memberships from readers, explicitly positioning itself as independent and without paywalls or corporate funding. Multiple donation landing pages exist (e.g., FUNQNWFYNCV, FUNMLDTQHPL).
2. Advertising: Site allows advertisers to display advertisements in areas such as sidebar and banner placements and operates an 'Advertise With Us' intake ([email protected]).
3. Paid subscription services: Terms of Service contemplate Subscription Services accessed by payment of a fee via third-party service providers, supporting a subscription/recurring revenue stream for gated content.
4. Grants and fellowships: Receives grants and fellowship funding for specific reporting projects (e.g., Center for Rural Strategies and Grist grant for digital divide reporting; USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism 2022 National Fellowship and Dennis A. Hunt Fund for health reporting).

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Capital B is a Black-led, nonprofit news organization that publishes free local and national journalism for Black communities across seven editorial verticals (Criminal Justice, Education, Environmental Justice, Health, Money, Politics & Policy, and Rural Issues). Its core deliverable is original reporting — including award-winning investigative series such as Dangerous Deliveries, The New Great Migration, and Disconnected: Rural Black America and the Digital Divide — delivered through a national website, dedicated local editions in Atlanta and Gary, and a free weekly email newsletter ("Seen & Heard"). The offering is sustained primarily by reader donations and memberships, with supplementary advertising and grant funding, and is distributed without paywalls or corporate sponsorship.

Product overview

Capital B operates as a single unified digital news platform (capitalbnews.org) that serves as the core publishing product and the editorial home for its national reporting, local newsrooms, and recurring investigative series. The core product, Capital B News, is the umbrella site and is complemented by two geographically focused local sub-brands—Capital B Atlanta and Capital B Gary—each maintained as separate local editions on subdomains. Layered on top of this core publishing platform is the free weekly email newsletter "Seen & Heard," which functions as a recurring distribution product, and a portfolio of named investigative and editorial series—most prominently "Dangerous Deliveries" (maternal health in Georgia), "The New Great Migration" (Black reverse migration Southward), and "Disconnected: Rural Black America and the Digital Divide" (rural broadband inequity)—which operate as recurring editorial product lines under the Capital B News umbrella. The site is built on and powered by Newspack, and the company operates as Capital B News, Inc., a nonprofit news organization based in New York.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Capital B Atlanta: Local Capital B newsroom covering Atlanta, Georgia and the surrounding region for Black communities.
• Capital B Gary

Products and services

• Capital B News (national digital publication) The Black-led, nonprofit national news publication of Capital B News, Inc., delivering original reporting across seven editorial verticals — Criminal Justice, Education, Environmental Justice, Health, Money, Politics & Policy, and Rural Issues — to readers across the United States, available free without paywalls or corporate funding.
• Capital B Atlanta Capital B's first local newsroom, delivering Atlanta- and Georgia-focused reporting on redistricting, environmental justice, maternal health, Black political power, hurricane recovery, and state politics for the Atlanta-area Black community.
• Capital B Gary Capital B's local newsroom covering Gary, Indiana and Northwest Indiana, reporting on SNAP, homelessness, entrepreneurship, Juneteenth events, Indiana state policy, property sales, and small-business support for the regional Black community.
• Seen & Heard weekly newsletter A free weekly email newsletter distributing the biggest stories of Black America to subscribers, serving as Capital B's primary recurring reader-engagement product.
• Dangerous Deliveries (investigative series) Multi-part award-winning investigative series examining maternal care deserts and poor birth outcomes for Black women in Georgia, combining open-records reporting, data analysis, and on-the-ground narrative.
• The New Great Migration (editorial series) Ongoing multi-year editorial series documenting the reverse migration of Black Americans from Northern to Southern communities since 2020, covering culture, politics, environment, and migration patterns.
• Disconnected: Rural Black America and the Digital Divide (investigative series) Multi-part investigative series exploring disparate effects of broadband accessibility on Black Americans in the rural South, produced with grant funding from The Center for Rural Strategies and Grist.

Quantifiable outcome

• More than a quarter of Black Georgians live in a county with little to no access to maternal care; nearly half of Black counties are maternity care deserts vs. less than a third of majority-white counties (Georgia findings from 'Dangerous Deliveries').
• +3 more outcomes

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Nine partnerships are on record, tiered flagship, core and minor.

• National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ)flagshipGTM or Marketing PartnerCapital B partnered with veteran journalist Herbert Lowe to publicize the 50th anniversary of the founding of NABJ and to commemorate its contributions to journalism, communities, and democracy. Capital B was named among '50 Moments in Black Journalism History (1975–2025)'. The list was published as an op-ed on December 12, 2025.
• KFF Health NewscoreGTM or Marketing PartnerKFF Health News contributes original reporting that is republished on Capital B as Partner Content (e.g., stories on rural hospital connectivity by Sarah Jane Tribble and Holly K. Hacker; coverage of Black maternal health program funding by Ronnie Cohen; medical schools DEI coverage by Lauren Sausser).
• InvestigateTVcoreGTM or Marketing PartnerInvestigateTV's Caresse Jackman co-byline partner content with KFF Health News appearing on Capital B, including reporting on rural hospitals and patients disconnected from modern care.
• Houston LandingcoreGTM or Marketing PartnerHouston Landing reporter Monique Welch-Rutherford contributes to Capital B, including the reporting on Harris County as the deadliest U.S. county for Black maternal deaths and the Hurricane Katrina displacement story.
• Associated Press (AP)coreGTM or Marketing PartnerAP Health Writer Kenya Hunter contributes original reporting that appears on Capital B (e.g., rural communities of color and health care access).
• The 19thcoreGTM or Marketing PartnerThe 19th co-publishes content with Capital B, including Barbara Rodriguez's coverage of the federal 'Momnibus' bills and the removal of the word 'Black' from legislative language addressing Black maternal health.
• Grist / VoxcoreGTM or Marketing PartnerGrist and Vox contribute Partner Content on Capital B, including the 'Expecting Worse' series on how climate change impacts reproductive health (e.g., Virginia Gewin's story on extreme heat and preterm birth).
• Mississippi Free PressminorGTM or Marketing PartnerMississippi Free Press reporter Nick Judin is credited as a byline on Capital B coverage of the shooting of 1-year-old Kohen Kartier Wiley by a Mississippi police officer, indicating cross-publication collaboration.
• Newspack (Automattic)flagshipTechnology or IntegrationCapital B News, Inc.'s website (capitalbnews.org) is 'Powered by Newspack', the WordPress-based publishing platform built by Automattic for news organizations. Newspack provides the publishing, membership, and donation infrastructure underlying the site.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• MLK50: Justice Through Journalism: MLK50 is a Black-led, nonprofit local newsroom in Memphis reporting on the intersection of race, poverty, and power. Direct comparable as a community-focused Black-led nonprofit news organization of similar scale.
• The 19th: The 19th is a nonprofit, independent newsroom reporting on gender, politics, and policy. It is a direct comparable as a similarly sized, donor-funded nonprofit digital outlet focused on an underserved community, and is also a content partner of Capital B.
• Block Club Chicago: Block Club Chicago is a nonprofit, member-funded local news outlet covering Chicago neighborhoods. Direct comparable as a nonprofit, donor-driven digital local newsroom using Newspack and a similar membership-and-donation revenue model.
• Grist: Grist is a nonprofit environmental news outlet. Comparable as a topic-specific nonprofit media outlet with a similar foundation/fellowship funding model, and a direct grant partner of Capital B on the 'Disconnected' series.
• Prism: Prism is a nonprofit news outlet reporting on racial justice and movement-media issues. Direct comparable as a movement-rooted nonprofit media outlet covering Black and marginalized communities, and named alongside Capital B in the same ecosystem.
• Word In Black: Word In Black is a collaborative of 10 Black-owned news outlets providing national coverage of Black communities. Direct comparable as a coalition of Black-led digital newsrooms serving the same audience Capital B targets.
• Scalawag: Scalawag is a nonprofit magazine and digital outlet covering the American South with a focus on Black, queer, and working-class communities. Direct comparable as a Black-led, movement-aligned Southern nonprofit newsroom in the same network as Capital B.
• Mississippi Free Press: Mississippi Free Press is a nonprofit digital news outlet covering Mississippi, including Black-community issues. Direct comparable as a nonprofit, regional, Black-focused digital newsroom and an active content partner of Capital B.
• The Marshall Project: The Marshall Project is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization covering criminal justice. Comparable as a thematic-overlap nonprofit newsroom with a similar donor/subscription revenue mix and award-winning investigative output.

Broad incumbents

• ProPublica: ProPublica is the largest U.S. nonprofit investigative newsroom. Comparable as the established nonprofit investigative benchmark Capital B's model aspires to, though ProPublica's scale and national scope are far broader.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/capitalbnews
• Facebookfacebook.com/capitalbnews
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/capital-b
• Instagraminstagram.com/capitalbnews
• TikToktiktok.com/@capitalb.news

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles4 records

Subsidiaries2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds4 records

Investors4 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Capital B