Capital city

What Capital city does

Hauptstadt is a reader-funded, non-profit online magazine based in Bern, Switzerland, focused on local politics, culture, society, economy, and gastronomy for the city of Bern and its surrounding canton. Founded in 2021 by the association 'Verein für Berner Medienvielfalt' in response to Tamedia's consolidation of Bern's Bund and BZ editorial desks, the publication launched in March 2022 after a successful crowdfunding campaign. The editorial team of approximately 8 FTE is composed of veteran Swiss journalists with prior experience at Berner Zeitung, Bund, Blick, SRF, Tamedia, and Ringier, and operates under a transparent financial and salary model disclosed to subscribers.

The product surface consists of daily online journalism delivered via web and mobile, supported by a tiered newsletter portfolio (Hauptstadt-Brief three times weekly, Kantons-Brief weekly, Wirtschafts-Brief biweekly, Stadtrat-Brief after each city parliament session, and Gastro-Brief twice monthly) and the award-winning 'Aussenredaktionen' format that relocates editorial operations to different Bern neighborhoods and municipalities. The technology stack is built on the WePublish open-source CMS, shared in a network partnership with peer publications Bajour (Basel) and Tsüri (Zürich), hosted on Google Cloud Switzerland and Hetzner with Cloudflare CDN.

The business model combines reader subscriptions (three annual tiers: Basis at CHF 120, Abo Plus at CHF 240, and Gönner at CHF 360) with display advertising, cooperative partnerships, a B2B Gäste-Abo product providing QR-code access via local businesses, crowdfunding for specific projects, and institutional foundation grants from Stiftung für Medienvielfalt, Volkart Stiftung, and FERS-Stiftung. All revenue is reinvested in journalism under the non-profit mission. The subscriber base of approximately 2,700-3,000 paying readers, plus a free newsletter audience exceeding 4,900 (Hauptstadt-Brief) and over 15,000 Instagram followers, anchors the operation within a geographically constrained but loyal Bern civic audience.

Name

Capital city

Legal name

Verein für Berner Medienvielfalt

Website

https://www.hauptstadt.be

Company type

Private

Founded year

2021

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Hauptstadt is a reader-funded, non-profit online magazine based in Bern, Switzerland, providing independent local journalism on politics, culture, economy, and society for the city and canton of Bern. It operates on a tiered subscription model supplemented by foundation grants and community engagement.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Independent Local Digital Journalism

NAICS

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

SIC

Periodicals: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2721)

akta.pro primary industry

Investigative & Nonprofit News Organizations (MPAJADAF)

akta.pro secondary industry

News, Politics & Current Affairs Magazines (MPAJAEAO)

Keywords

• Local online journalism
• Reader-funded magazine
• Independent news media
• Digital news subscription
• Civic journalism

Headquarters

HQ city

Bern

HQ country

Switzerland

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Subscription Revenue (Reader-Funded): Primary revenue stream from three subscription tiers (Basis, Abo Plus, Gönner) paid annually. Reader-funded model with no profit motive. Revenue is entirely reinvested in journalism.
2. Advertising & Sponsorships: Display advertising placements across newsletter and Instagram channels. Includes sponsored content in the Hauptstadt-Brief, Gastro-Brief, and Instagram posts.
3. Foundation Grants & Cooperations: Financial support from foundations (Stiftung für Medienvielfalt, Volkart Stiftung, FERS-Stiftung) and media partnerships. Also supported by advertising and cooperative arrangements disclosed transparently in the impressum.
4. Crowdfunding: Project-specific crowdfunding campaigns to finance individual products such as the Gastro-Brief newsletter.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Hauptstadt is a non-profit, reader-funded online magazine for politics, culture, society, economy, and gastronomy in Bern, Switzerland. It sells annual digital subscriptions (Basis, Abo Plus, Gönner tiers priced at CHF 120-360/year) that grant access to professionally-reported articles on its website and app, plus a suite of curated email newsletters covering city, canton, business, parliament, and gastronomy. Additional revenue comes from display advertising, sponsored newsletter placements, and institutional foundation grants, with all income reinvested into journalism.

Product overview

Hauptstadt is a reader-funded online magazine focused on politics, culture, society, and gastronomy in Bern. The publication operates as a single digital platform offering multiple newsletter products as subscription benefits. The product portfolio consists of three paid subscription tiers (Basis-Abo at CHF 120/year, Abo Plus at CHF 240/year, and Gönner-Abo at CHF 360/year) that unlock access to the website content and various curated newsletters including the Hauptstadt-Brief (3x weekly), Stadtrat-Brief (after council sessions), Gastro-Brief (2x monthly), Kantons-Brief (weekly, Abo Plus+), and Wirtschafts-Brief (bi-weekly, Abo Plus+). Additionally, the Gäste-Abo provides QR-code based access for businesses to offer free reading to their customers. All content is created by professional journalists with no AI used in article writing or editing.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Hauptstadt Digital Magazine Subscription Annual digital subscription (Basis CHF 120/year, Abo Plus CHF 240/year, Gönner CHF 360/year) granting access to professionally-reported articles on Bern's politics, culture, society, economy, and gastronomy via the website, mobile app, and a suite of curated email newsletters (Hauptstadt-Brief 3x weekly, Kantons-Brief weekly, Wirtschafts-Brief biweekly, Stadtrat-Brief after each council session, Gastro-Brief twice monthly). Targeted at urban, educated residents of Bern and the surrounding agglomeration.
• Gäste-Abo (Guest Subscription) A B2B subscription product enabling local Bern businesses (cafés, restaurants, waiting rooms) to provide free Hauptstadt reading access to their customers and guests via QR code. Available in three tiers: Kompakt (1-30 places, CHF 290/year with 3 QR carriers), Standard (31-50 places, CHF 550/year with 4 QR carriers), and Premium (51-100 places, CHF 790/year with 6 QR carriers).
• Gastro-Brief Newsletter A twice-monthly newsletter covering news and reviews from the Bern culinary scene, researched and written by culinary journalist Claudia Salzmann. Available to all subscribers with over 6,000 recipients.

Named customers1 record

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• WePublish NetworkcoreTechnology or Integration · 1 January 2021Hauptstadt is part of the WePublish open-source media network, joining forces with Bajour (Basel) and Tsüri (Zürich). The WePublish CMS and platform infrastructure is shared among the three independent online magazines. This partnership enables cost-efficient technology operations and fosters cross-media collaboration in independent Swiss journalism.
• Berner Fachhochschule / Fachhochschule GraubündenminorOthersA reader survey was conducted by the multimedia production study programs at Bern University of Applied Sciences and University of Applied Sciences Graubünden, providing demographic and behavioral data about subscribers (e.g., 69.5% have a university degree).
• BewegungsmeldercoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerWeekly collaboration with the Bern cultural magazine Bewegungsmelder on the 'Bärner Nachtläbe' curated cultural calendar, published every Wednesday on Instagram. This is a co-created content product combining cultural coverage from both publications.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves11 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Bajour: Independent, reader-funded online magazine for Basel, sharing the WePublish open-source CMS and tech stack with Hauptstadt. Directly comparable in business model (subscriptions + foundation grants + advertising), nonprofit structure, and target audience (urban, educated residents of a Swiss city).
• Tsüri: Zurich-based reader-funded online magazine and the third member of the WePublish network alongside Hauptstadt and Bajour. Directly comparable on funding model, audience profile (urban educated Swiss readers), subscription tiers, and open-source technology infrastructure.
• Republik: Swiss reader-funded, nonprofit online magazine launched in 2018 with national rather than hyperlocal scope. Closely comparable on reader-funded subscription model, nonprofit/cooperative ownership, premium positioning (CHF ~240/year), and editorial independence ethos.

Broad incumbents

• Berner Zeitung (BZ): Established Bern regional newspaper now owned by Tamedia/CH Media group. Competes directly in the same Bern local news market as Hauptstadt, but with substantially larger newsroom, broader regional coverage, and traditional/print legacy. Hauptstadt was explicitly founded in response to Tamedia's consolidation of BZ and Bund local desks.
• Der Bund: Historic Bern newspaper now under Tamedia/CH Media. Direct local news competitor to Hauptstadt for Bern politics, culture, and city parliament coverage, with deeper archives and larger editorial resources but with reduced local presence following the editorial consolidation that triggered Hauptstadt's founding.
• Watson: Swiss German-language digital news portal owned by CH Media. Operates nationally rather than hyperlocally, but competes for the same Swiss digital news audience and advertising spend; Adrian Müller (former Watson reporter) is now on Hauptstadt's team.
• 20 Minuten: Switzerland's largest free newspaper and digital news brand (TX Group). Operates nationally with strong local Bern coverage; competes for the same advertiser budgets and a portion of the same reader attention, though positioned as free vs. Hauptstadt's paid model.
• CH Media: Major Swiss media group operating BZ, Der Bund, Watson, and other titles. Largest incumbent competitor in Hauptstadt's Bern home market and the consolidated group whose editorial decisions created the local news vacuum Hauptstadt was founded to address.
• Tages-Anzeiger: Flagship Tamedia newspaper based in Zurich with national political and cultural coverage. Competes for advertising share and senior Swiss journalistic talent (multiple Hauptstadt team members previously worked at Tamedia titles per source), but does not focus on Bern hyperlocal content.

Others

• SRF (Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen): Swiss public broadcaster with Bern regional journalism (SRF-Regionaljournal Bern). Not a direct competitor (publicly funded, no subscription), but competes for attention on Bern local news and is where multiple Hauptstadt team members previously worked.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Instagraminstagram.com/hauptstadt.be
• Xx.com/hauptstadt_be

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles18 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 Capital city