The Knowledge

What The Knowledge does

The Knowledge is a UK-based digital media company that publishes a daily curated news newsletter targeting busy, affluent professionals. Founded in 2022 by Jon Connell, the creator of The Week magazine, the product is positioned as a five-minute read that distills content from hundreds of newspapers, websites, and social media outlets into a single daily email with sharp analysis, striking statistics, witty anecdotes, and a balanced political perspective. The company is operated through DMGK Limited and is headquartered in London, with a team of 11–50 employees.

The core product is a daily email newsletter delivered via the beehiiv platform, supported by an iOS mobile app for paying subscribers. The technical stack is intentionally lean: content distribution, subscriber management, and subscription processing are all handled by beehiiv, with the company's value concentrated in editorial curation and brand rather than proprietary technology. Adjacent product lines include a portfolio of published books (Notes & Quotes, Book of Insults, Book of Love) and a Complete Set bundle sold through a separate e-commerce storefront.

The business model combines three revenue streams. The primary stream is a tiered subscription offering a three-month free trial followed by paid access at £8/month or £80/year, with a 50% first-year discount for new annual subscribers. The second stream is advertising, sold through a dedicated sales team across Solus Display, Native Content Integration, and bespoke sponsorship packages. The third stream is one-time revenue from book and merchandise sales. The company serves a horizontal consumer segment of "curious, busy readers" — predominantly ABC1 (91%) and AB (78%) socio-economic groups aged 17–70 — and has scaled to over 150,000 readers since launch. The company appears bootstrapped with no disclosed external funding.

Name

The Knowledge

Legal name

DMGK Limited

Website

https://theknowledge.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2022

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

The Knowledge is a London-based digital media company publishing a daily curated news email newsletter for over 150,000 busy professional readers, monetized through subscriptions, advertising, and branded book sales.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Digital News Newsletter Publishing

NAICS

Periodical Publishers (513120), Book Publishers (513130)

SIC

Periodicals: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2721), Books: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2731)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYMPACAIAA

Newsletter Publishing Platforms

Media, Entertainment & Sports/Digital Media & Content Platforms (Online Video, Podcasts, Creators)/Digital Publishing Platforms (Blogging/Newsletters)

SECONDARYMPACAKAD

RSS/Feed Readers & Subscription Aggregators

Media, Entertainment & Sports/Digital Media & Content Platforms (Online Video, Podcasts, Creators)/Digital Content Aggregators & Discovery (Feed/Curated)

SECONDARYBPAMAJAK

eBook & Digital Reading Platforms

Business & Public Services/Web, Mobile & Digital Platforms/Media Streaming, Publishing & Content Platforms

Keywords

• Daily email newsletter
• Curated news digest
• News aggregation publishing
• Subscription newsletter service
• Digital media content

Headquarters

HQ city

London

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Premium Newsletter Subscription: The Knowledge generates revenue through a subscription model where users can upgrade from a free tier to a paid premium subscription. The free version provides an abridged version of the newsletter, while paid subscribers receive full access to all content and the archive.
2. Advertising: The Knowledge sells advertising placements including Solus Display Advertising, Native Content Integration, and bespoke sponsorship packages to brands seeking to reach its engaged subscriber base.
3. Books and Merchandise: The company sells physical books including The Knowledge Notes & Quotes, The Knowledge Book of Insults, The Knowledge Book of Love, and complete book sets through its e-commerce store.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

The Knowledge is a daily email newsletter that curates content from hundreds of newspapers, websites, and social media outlets, distilling it into a five-minute read featuring sharp analysis, striking statistics, funny anecdotes, and apt quotes written in a distinctive witty editorial voice. The company operates a freemium subscription model (3-month free trial, then £8/month or £80/year) and complements the newsletter with a mobile app for paying subscribers and a line of published books sold through an external e-commerce store.

Product overview

The Knowledge is a daily email newsletter service that serves as a single, unified product offering curated news summaries. Every day, the editorial team scours hundreds of newspapers, magazines, and other media outlets to select the most compelling content—surprising views, viral videos, quirky facts, and pithy quotes—which is then boiled down into easy-to-read stories delivered in approximately five minutes. The core product is complemented by a mobile app for paying subscribers, a paid subscription tier system (Simple/Premium) offering full content access, and a line of published books including The Knowledge Notes & Quotes, The Knowledge Book of Insults, The Knowledge Book of Love, and a Complete Set bundle. The subscription is free for a three-month trial, then costs £8/month or £80/year with a 50% first-year discount.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• The Knowledge Newsletter A daily email newsletter curated by The Knowledge's editorial team, summarising the best content from hundreds of newspapers, magazines, and media outlets. Designed to be read in five minutes and delivered via email during weekdays and earlier on weekends.
• The Knowledge App A mobile application available via the Apple App Store that provides access to The Knowledge newsletter content, exclusively available to paying subscribers.
• The Knowledge Notes & Quotes A printed book featuring sharp notes, memorable quotes, and curated content from The Knowledge newsletter, available for purchase through The Knowledge's external book store.
• The Knowledge Book of Insults A printed book of perfectly crafted insults compiled from The Knowledge newsletter content, available for purchase through The Knowledge's external book store.
• The Knowledge Book of Love A printed book about love featuring curated content from The Knowledge newsletter, available for pre-order through The Knowledge's external book store.
• The Knowledge Complete Set A bundled package containing all The Knowledge books at a discounted price, offering the complete collection of their published titles.

Quantifiable outcome

• 58% daily open rate (industry average for newsletters is typically 20-30%)
• +2 more outcomes

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Home-Start UKminorOthersThe Knowledge featured a charitable advertisement for Home-Start UK's School Readiness Programme in its newsletter content, supporting their fundraising efforts for children who need help starting school ready to learn.

Scale indicators9 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Axios: Axios built a media franchise around the 'Smart Brevity' newsletter format, distilling news into tight, scannable summaries for professionals. Its newsletter-led distribution and tone are highly comparable to The Knowledge's approach.
• The Week: The Week is a weekly news digest magazine and digital publication founded by Jon Connell, the same founder of The Knowledge. It serves the same curated-news use case for time-pressed readers, making it the closest possible direct peer.
• Morning Brew: Morning Brew is a daily business and news newsletter targeting young professionals with a witty, condensed tone. It mirrors The Knowledge's editorial approach (curated, five-minute reads for busy readers) and operates a similar freemium subscription + advertising model.
• The Skimm: The Skimm is a daily newsletter for busy professionals distilling news and lifestyle content into a digestible format. It targets the same audience (ABC1 women, time-pressed readers) with the same subscription + advertising revenue model as The Knowledge.

Broad incumbents

• Daily Mail (MailOnline): Daily Mail / MailOnline is the UK's largest mass-market news publisher and a major source The Knowledge aggregates from. It is a broad incumbent competitor for British readers' attention and a partial comparable in tone and audience reach.
• Flipboard: Flipboard aggregates news and magazine content into a personalized, curated feed for readers. It overlaps with The Knowledge's content aggregation and curation use case, though delivered via app rather than email.
• The Economist: The Economist is a long-established weekly news and analysis publication serving an affluent, ABC1 professional audience. It targets the same readership demographic as The Knowledge and competes for subscription spend from news-hungry professionals.
• New York Times (The Morning): The New York Times' flagship 'The Morning' newsletter is a daily curated briefing for engaged news consumers. It is a broad incumbent player in the daily-newsletter category competing for the same time and wallet share.

Emerging players

• Substack: Substack is the leading independent newsletter platform powering thousands of subscription-based writers. It is a partial competitor (hosting comparable newsletters) and an enabling ecosystem player (beehiiv competes with it) relative to The Knowledge.

Others

• beehiiv: beehiiv is the email newsletter platform The Knowledge is built on for content delivery, subscriber management, and billing. It is an enabling technology provider and infrastructure peer rather than a content competitor.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/theknowledgeldn
• Facebookfacebook.com/theknowledgeldn

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles8 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 The Knowledge