What Freethink Media does

Freethink Media, Inc. is a privately held, New York-based digital media company founded in 2011 that publishes solutions-oriented journalism about emerging science and technology — covering artificial intelligence, biotech, space, materials, energy, consumer tech, and geopolitics — to a global consumer audience through freethink.com, a Substack-hosted newsletter (Future Explored), a YouTube channel, and active Instagram, Facebook, and X accounts. The core editorial asset is a large proprietary content library comprising 240+ original video episodes across named franchises (Hard Reset, Catalysts, Challengers, Superhuman, Just Might Work, The Freethink Interview, Heretics, In The Arena with Evan Baehr, Crossing the Divide, Operation: Reimagine Surgery, and others), a multi-hundred-article long-form archive, the Hard Reset Podcast, and the Techno-Humanist Manifesto editorial collection authored principally by Jason Crawford. The technology stack is standard media infrastructure (WordPress publishing, Substack email distribution, YouTube video hosting) with no proprietary software, API, or developer platform; the offering is editorial and video media rather than SaaS.

Freethink monetizes primarily through sponsored editorial and branded video produced by an in-house Creative Studio (freethinkmedia.com/creative-studio), with named partners including BlackSky, Skoll Foundation, Axon, Arena Hall, McNulty Foundation, Global Witness, Stand Together, and Big Think. A second revenue stream is live event production, anchored by the inaugural Great Progression 2025-2050 event curated by Peter Leyden and co-produced with Big Think. All consumer-facing content is free, with no paywall or subscription fee disclosed, and pricing for branded content is quote-based. The company has cumulatively raised approximately $40 million across disclosed funding events (MaC Venture Capital 2017, Bedrock $4M in 2019, ~$16M in 2021, and a $20M Rule 506(b) exempt offering filed in March 2023 with ~$16M sold), and operates with 101-250 employees.

Name

Freethink Media

Legal name

Freethink Media Inc.

Website

https://freethink.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2011

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

Freethink Media is a private digital publisher producing solutions-oriented video series, long-form articles, podcasts, and live events on emerging technology, biotech, space, and AI, monetized primarily through brand-sponsored content and live event production for partners such as Skoll Foundation, Stand Together, and Big Think.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Digital Media Publishing

NAICS

Periodical Publishers (513120), Newspaper, Periodical, Book, and Directory Publishers (5131), Media Buying Agencies (54183)

SIC

Periodicals: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2721), Newspapers: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2711), Miscellaneous Publishing (2741)

akta.pro primary industry

Politics, Current Affairs & Social Commentary Publishing (MPAJAAAM)

akta.pro secondary industries

Alternative/Independent Newsweeklies & Opinion Press (MPAJADAH), News, Politics & Current Affairs Magazines (MPAJAEAO)

Keywords

• Digital media publishing
• Original video series
• Solutions journalism
• Branded content studio
• Newsletter publishing

Headquarters

HQ city

New York

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Sponsored / branded content: Freethink produces sponsored editorial stories and series on behalf of brand and foundation partners, with a dedicated "Creative Studio" (freethinkmedia.com/creative-studio) and a "For Brands" page that explicitly markets partnership opportunities. Confirmed sponsor engagements include BlackSky, Skoll Foundation, Axon, Arena Hall, McNulty Foundation, Global Witness, and Stand Together.
2. Private capital raise (Rule 506(b) exempt offering): In March 2023, Freethink Media, Inc. filed an SEC notice for an exempt securities offering of approximately $20 million under Rule 506(b); nearly $16 million had been sold at filing with $4 million remaining. This represents an equity / private-placement capital raise rather than operating revenue.
3. Live event production: Freethink produces flagship live event series (e.g., the inaugural Great Progression 2025-2050 event produced by Freethink and curated by Peter Leyden) that generate content and likely produce direct event-related revenue through sponsorships and partners such as Big Think.

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Freethink Media publishes solutions-oriented journalism through a flagship website (freethink.com) offering long-form articles, original documentary and interview video series, podcasts, and a Substack newsletter covering emerging technology, biotech, space, AI, and social innovation. The company also operates an in-house Creative Studio that produces sponsored editorial articles and video series for brand and foundation partners, distributed across its owned channels and YouTube.

Product overview

Freethink Media operates a single, integrated media platform centered on freethink.com, organized as a content-hub-plus-original-series architecture rather than a multi-product software suite. The flagship property, "Move the World" (freethink.com), functions as the unifying front door and topical sections (Artificial Intelligence, The Digital Frontier, Energy, The Changing World Order, Consumer Tech, The New Space Race, Materials, Biotech, plus culture/society/health verticals) host articles, long-form video, opinion pieces, and editorial collections. Layered on top of that hub are named original video series — most prominently Hard Reset (the 54-episode documentary flagship), The Freethink Interview, the Hard Reset Podcast, and The Great Progression event-plus-collection — alongside a deep catalog of additional series (Superhuman, Catalysts, Challengers, Just Might Work, Heretics, The Edge, In The Arena with Evan Baehr, Operation: Reimagine Surgery, The New Space Race, Through the Looking Glass, Future of Fertility, Future of Food, Future of Cities, Biohackers, Dope Science, DIY Science, Seachange, Crossing the Divide, Uprising, Coded, On the Fringe, Wrong, Guardians of the Apocalypse, Make It Count, Hack the Dream, Your World on Money, Hard Reset Gift Guide, and Future Explored). Distribution and audience-building are handled through Freethink's Substack newsletter, YouTube channel, Instagram, Facebook, and X accounts, with themed Playlists, sponsored Stories With Our Partners, and a freethinkmedia.com creative studio powering the For Brands / sponsored-content business. No software product, API, or developer platform is offered; the offering is editorial and video media, not a SaaS product.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Freethink Media: News and storytelling media company focused on solutions-oriented coverage of technology, science, and progress.

Products and services

• Freethink.com flagship publication Solutions-oriented digital magazine covering science, technology, biotech, space, the changing world order, and the digital frontier through long-form articles, opinion essays, embedded video, and curated collections, aimed at general-interest technology and science readers.
• Hard Reset documentary series Flagship original documentary series with 54 episodes profiling startups, scientists, and technologists tackling problems in cities, schools, power grids, prisons, money, and the internet.
• The Freethink Interview Interview series with 14 episodes hosting intimate conversations with tech and business leaders on the bleeding edge, exploring how technology works and its impact on people and society.
• The Great Progression event and collection Live-event-plus-editorial series curated by Peter Leyden and produced by Freethink, framing 2025-2050 as a great progression of world-historic, game-changing technologies scaling up, including the inaugural live event and associated on-site editorial collection.
• Future Explored newsletter Premier newsletter exploring the incredible technologies moving the world forward, hosted by Tom Carroll as a monthly guide to past, present, and future innovation, also available as a podcast-style series.
• The Techno-Humanist Manifesto collection Multi-chapter editorial collection and long-form video/essay series positioned as a playbook for the next century of progress, exploring themes of problem-solving, the flywheel of progress, the unlimited horizon, and the spirit we lost, authored primarily by Jason Crawford.
• Hard Reset Podcast Companion podcast to the Hard Reset video series with 15 episodes, hosted by Nick Tucker with members of the Freethink team, providing a deeper dive into each Hard Reset episode.
• In The Arena with Evan Baehr Podcast/interview series produced in partnership with Arena Hall and hosted by Evan Baehr, focused on solving big problems by having the audacity to try, including episodes on AI, upskilling, and the future of work.
• Heretics series Original series profiling thought leaders with unorthodox opinions, listed on the /series page of freethink.com.
• Freethink Creative Studio (For Brands) Branded-content and partnership offering that lets brand and foundation partners commission sponsored editorial articles, sponsored video series, and the Stories With Our Partners content strand, distributed through Freethink's owned channels.

Quantifiable outcome

• Raised approximately $16M out of a $20M exempt securities offering under SEC Rule 506(b) as of March 2023 filing
• +2 more outcomes

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration1 record

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Nine partnerships are on record, tiered major featured partner, major featured partner (multiple stories), featured partner, featured partner (co-branded series), major event co-production partner, long-running co-development partner and featured curator / strategic collaborator.

• BlackSkymajor featured partnerGTM or Marketing PartnerBlackSky is featured as a brand partner on Freethink's homepage "With Our Partners" section, with a sponsored story titled "Inside the network watching the world in real time," highlighting BlackSky's real-time satellite imagery and AI-driven analysis for global security decision-makers.
• Skoll Foundationmajor featured partner (multiple stories)GTM or Marketing PartnerSkoll Foundation is featured as a recurring brand partner, with multiple sponsored stories including "How local innovators are transforming the world," "Why we need social innovation now more than ever," "Indigenous Peoples standing up to corporate greed" (with Global Witness), "Meet the guardians of Earth's last untouched lands" (with Indigenous Peoples Rights International), and "When pollution poisons a community, what does justice look like?" (with Partnership for Southern Equity).
• Axonfeatured partnerGTM or Marketing PartnerAxon is featured as a brand partner in a sponsored story titled "Police spend 40% of their time on paperwork. Can AI help?" The piece highlights Axon's AI innovations for public safety and includes commentary from CEO Rick Smith.
• Arena Hallfeatured partner (co-branded series)GTM or Marketing PartnerArena Hall co-produces the "In The Arena with Evan Baehr" series with Freethink, including the episode "Adapting education for an ever-changing workforce," focused on AI, upskilling, and the future of work.
• McNulty Foundationfeatured partnerGTM or Marketing PartnerMcNulty Foundation is featured as a brand partner in the sponsored story "The hidden crisis of environmental racism – and the fight against it," highlighting solutions from frontline communities.
• Global Witnessfeatured partnerGTM or Marketing PartnerGlobal Witness is featured in the sponsored story "Indigenous Peoples standing up to corporate greed," covering Indigenous land and environmental defenders, in partnership with the Skoll Foundation.
• Big Thinkmajor event co-production partnerGTM or Marketing PartnerBig Think co-brands the Great Progression 2025-2050 live event series with Freethink, including the inaugural Great Progression event featuring speakers such as Peter Leyden, Adam Cheyer (Siri co-founder), Ryan Phelan, and Steven Johnson.
• Stand Togetherlong-running co-development partnerStrategic or Co-development PartnerStand Together is a strategic co-development partner on the original "Catalysts" series (49 episodes), which highlights social entrepreneurs tackling poverty across the United States.
• Peter Leydenfeatured curator / strategic collaboratorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPeter Leyden curates and is closely associated with Freethink's flagship Great Progression event series and contributes strategic editorial pieces, including "America's next grand mission: Build an AI-powered society for all."

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Big Think: Big Think is an ideas-and-technology media brand producing long-form interview video, articles, and newsletters, and is already a co-production partner of Freethink on the Great Progression event series. It is the closest comparable in editorial positioning (optimistic, expert-driven, solutions-leaning) and distribution model.
• Futurism: Futurism is a digital media publisher focused on emerging technology, science, AI, and the future, with a similar article/video mix and social-distribution model to Freethink. It is a direct peer competing for overlapping audience attention and brand-sponsored storytelling budgets.
• Singularity Hub: Singularity Hub is a long-running technology-and-futures publication covering AI, biotech, space, and exponential tech, with a solutions/optimism lens similar to Freethink's. It competes for the same forward-looking readership and operates a comparable newsletter and multi-channel content model.
• Nautilus: Nautilus is a science-and-ideas magazine publishing long-form articles and themed issues that blend science, philosophy, and culture. It overlaps with Freethink in long-form, premium editorial treatment of biotech, materials, and human-progress themes, and competes for similar high-intent readers and high-quality brand sponsors.
• Aeon: Aeon is a long-form ideas magazine covering science, philosophy, and society with a serious, essay-driven editorial voice. It is a direct peer in the 'premium, solutions-and-ideas' media niche and competes for overlapping reading-time share and high-value sponsorship.
• Inverse: Inverse is a digital media brand covering science, technology, entertainment, and innovation with a positive, 'good news' angle that closely mirrors Freethink's editorial stance. It targets a similar young, tech-forward audience and runs a comparable video-and-article content mix.
• Reasons to be Cheerful: Reasons to be Cheerful is a solutions-journalism publication covering people and programs solving big social problems, with a similar optimistic editorial lens to Freethink. It is a direct peer in the 'news reimagined, solutions-focused' niche and competes for the same purpose-driven audience and foundation partnerships.

Broad incumbents

• Vox Media: Vox Media operates a portfolio of large-scale digital media brands covering technology, science, and culture (The Verge, Vox, Recode, New York Magazine). It is a broad incumbent that competes for the same tech-forward audience and advertising dollars, but at much larger scale and with a more mainstream editorial lens.
• Insider: Insider (Business Insider) is a large-scale digital media brand covering business, technology, and innovation with a heavy video and newsletter footprint. It is a broad incumbent competing for overlapping advertiser budgets and tech-curious readers, though with a much wider news remit than Freethink's solutions-focused niche.

Emerging players

• Curiosity Stream: Curiosity Stream is a subscription streaming service for science, technology, and nature documentary content. It is an emerging player in the same factual/solutions-oriented video category as Freethink's Hard Reset, Superhuman, and Catalysts series, but monetizes directly from consumers via SVOD rather than sponsored content.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/freethinkmedia
• YouTubeyoutube.com/subscription_center?add_user=freethinkmedia
• Facebookfacebook.com/freethinkmedia
• Instagraminstagram.com/freethink

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds3 records

Investors2 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 Freethink Media