What Krautreporter does

Krautreporter is an independent, German-language online journalism publication legally structured as a cooperative (Krautreporter Genossenschaft), owned by more than 600 shareholder-members and headquartered in Berlin. The company was founded in 2015 and has since grown to an 11–50 employee operation, financed entirely through member subscriptions with no advertising or outside equity. The editorial product is built around long-form, explanatory background journalism ("Hintergrundstücke") that emphasizes context and causation over breaking news, served across twelve thematic verticals (politics, climate, health, education, migration, economics, gender, psychology, technology, etc.).

The platform's technology stack is a web-first digital publication layered with three consumption modalities: (1) the krautreporter.de web platform with member-gated premium content, (2) the Morgenpost daily newsletter that delivers three contextualized news items each morning, and (3) the KR-Audio-App (KR-Audio-App, available via onelink.to/yuh4c3) that reads all articles aloud for mobile/listening consumption. Subscription and payment infrastructure is outsourced to Steady (steadyhq.com/krautreporter), a membership-management platform serving independent reader-funded publications; member engagement polls are run via Typeform. Pricing is 8–9 EUR per month with a 30-day free trial, an automatic conversion workflow with a day-28/29 reminder email, and a stated willingness-to-discount policy for members who cannot afford the standard rate.

Revenue mechanics are pure subscription-recurring at the consumer level, supplemented by cooperative equity contributions from Anteilseigner. Distribution is fully digital and primarily domestic (Germany), with content syndicated through social channels including Bluesky, Mastodon, Instagram, Facebook and X. A journalistic collaboration with ZDF Magazin Royale in 2024 extended reach into broadcast media. The company has no disclosed funding rounds, no parent company, no subsidiaries, and operates with stated values of full advertiser/investor independence, contextual depth, transparency of editorial position, and an empathetic, solution-oriented framing of social problems.

Name

Krautreporter

Legal name

Krautreporter Genossenschaft

Website

https://krautreporter.de

Company type

Private

Founded year

2015

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Krautreporter is a Berlin-based, member-funded German online journalism cooperative (Genossenschaft) owned by 600+ shareholders. It publishes ad-free, context-driven background journalism across web, daily Morgenpost newsletter, and an Audio App, charging 8–9 EUR/month via the Steady platform.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Berlin

HQ country

Germany

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Membership Subscriptions: Krautreporter generates revenue through member subscriptions. Members pay a monthly fee (starting at 8-9€ per month) to access the publication's journalism. Membership management is handled through the Steady platform. The cooperative ownership model means excess revenue supports the publication rather than investors.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Krautreporter is a German independent online journalism platform that publishes in-depth background articles and explanatory reporting across twelve topic categories including politics, society, climate, health, and education. Revenue is generated through monthly membership subscriptions starting at €8-9 per month, with membership management handled via the Steady platform. Content is delivered through the website, a daily Morgenpost newsletter, and the KR-Audio-App for audio playback.

Product overview

Krautreporter is an independent, ad-free German journalism platform owned by a cooperative of over 600 members. The core product is the online journalism platform offering in-depth background articles and explanatory reporting. The service architecture consists of three main components: (1) the Krautreporter Online Platform as the primary product, (2) the Morgenpost daily newsletter delivering three news explanations each morning, (3) Hintergrundstücke (Background Articles) providing daily contextual reporting, and (4) the Audio App enabling mobile listening to all articles. Content spans twelve editorial categories including politics, climate crisis, health, education, and society. Revenue is generated through a membership model managed via the Steady platform, with packages starting at 8-9 EUR/month including a 30-day free trial.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Quantifiable outcome

• 30-day free trial converts to paid membership with automated transition
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers2 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration3 records

Feature2 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• ZDF Magazin RoyaleminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2024Krautreporter collaborated with ZDF Magazin Royale on investigative research into AfD activities targeting schools. This is a journalistic collaboration on specific investigations rather than a commercial partnership.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• De Correspondent: Dutch pioneering member-funded journalism platform that launched the international member-supported journalism movement. Operates with a near-identical cooperative-spirit business model, paid membership tiers, and focus on contextual 'unbreaking news' rather than daily reporting — directly comparable to Krautreporter's value proposition.
• Republik: Swiss reader-funded online magazine founded in 2018 with a similar ad-free, member-financed cooperative ethos. Comparable in offering in-depth contextual journalism in German-speaking markets and demonstrating the European reader-funding playbook.
• Correctiv: German nonprofit investigative journalism organization that relies on donations and member funding rather than advertising. Directly comparable in independent, reader-supported investigative reporting in the German market and recipient of similar cooperative-style funding support.

Regional players

• taz (die tageszeitung): German left-leaning daily newspaper also structured as a cooperative (taz Genossenschaft). Comparable cooperative ownership model in the German market, though it operates with daily news frequency rather than Krautreporter's contextual focus.
• Medieninsider: German subscription newsletter covering the German media industry itself, demonstrating a similar paid-newsletter monetization model within the same German-language market.

Broad incumbents

• Zeit Online: Major German online publication offering contextual, in-depth journalism to paying subscribers. Comparable in editorial positioning toward explanatory journalism, but operates at much greater scale and as part of a wider publishing group.

Others

• Substack: Platform enabling independent writers and journalists to launch subscription-funded publications. Relevant as infrastructure enabling a similar member-supported model and as a competitive threat for niche German writers who could bypass Krautreporter.
• Steady: Membership platform that actually powers Krautreporter's subscription infrastructure. Relevant as both a critical partner and a model for similar member-funded publications across Europe.

Emerging players

• The Intercept: Reader-funded investigative news outlet offering ad-free, in-depth reporting on politics and power. Comparable in its mission-driven, member-supported approach to journalism outside the mainstream press.
• ProPublica: American nonprofit investigative journalism outlet funded by donations and member support. Comparable in mission-driven, donor-funded investigative reporting model, though operating in the US English-language market.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/krautreporter
• Facebookfacebook.com/krautreporter
• Instagraminstagram.com/krautreporter.de
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/krautreporter-gmbh

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles10 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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 Krautreporter