Founded

What Founded does

Founded is a Swiss niche media business that publishes editorial content about the domestic startup and innovation ecosystem. It operates two primary surfaces: a digital publishing platform at founded.ch updated daily with founder interviews, success stories, scaleup coverage, investor/fundraising analysis, and thought-leadership rubrics, and an annual print magazine released each October with a circulation of 60,000. The company also produces multimedia sub-brands including the '23 Questions with...' one-take video series (launched Spring 2025), the 'How I Founded...' podcast/video format, and 'Pitch Videos by Founded' (two-minute startup pitches targeted at investors and corporates). The platform reaches roughly 25,000 users and 130,000 page views per year and maintains a LinkedIn audience of 4,900+ followers with 20,000+ monthly impressions.

Underlying technology is a standard digital publishing stack (WordPress-class CMS based on assets and URLs) combined with in-house video production capabilities; no proprietary AI, API, SDK, or app layer is disclosed. The publisher is Entrepreneur Club Winterthur (ECW), a Swiss nonprofit, which also organizes Startup Nights - Switzerland's largest startup event with 9,500 visitors - giving Founded privileged access to founder stories, event-driven content, and cross-media partnership activation that independent media cannot easily replicate. The team is small (1-10 employees) and operates with freelancers across editorial, design, and production, led by co-founder Alyssia Kugler (Editor-in-Chief) and co-founder/advisor Raphael Tobler.

The business model is content-partnership / sponsored-content monetization directed at corporates, SMEs, and institutions seeking Swiss-startup ecosystem visibility. Revenue streams (in CHF) include Sponsored Content posts (single 750 to 12-post 8,000), Brand Content positioning articles (single 500 to 12-post 5,000), Co-Branded Rubriks (8,000 per year for 12 placements), Pitch Videos (5,000 per year), 'How I Founded...' series (15,000 per year), and exclusive partnership on the '23 Questions with...' series (25,000 per year). Distribution is exclusively domestic (Switzerland/DACH region), with no disclosed international footprint, no funding rounds, and no revenue disclosure.

Name

Founded

Legal name

Founded

Website

https://founded.ch

Company type

Private

Founded year

2018

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Founded is a Swiss niche media business that publishes daily editorial content and an annual print magazine (60,000 circulation) covering founders, startups, and investors in Switzerland, monetized through content partnerships, sponsored posts, and video-series sponsorships with corporates and SMEs.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Winterthur

HQ country

Switzerland

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B and B2C

Offering type

Digital Commerce or Content

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Content Partnerships & Sponsored Content: Revenue generated from branded content partnerships including Sponsored Content (750-8,000 CHF per year), Brand Content (500-5,000 CHF per year), Co-Branded Rubriks (8,000 CHF per year with 12 placements), Pitch Videos (5,000 CHF per year), How I Founded podcast/video series (15,000 CHF per year), and 23 questions with video sponsorship (25,000 CHF per year).

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Founded is a Swiss media platform covering the startup and innovation ecosystem through a digital publication (founded.ch), an annual print magazine (60,000 circulation), video series, and a podcast. The company monetizes through sponsored content partnerships, brand content articles, co-branded content rubrics, and video/podcast sponsorship packages sold to corporates, SMEs, and institutions.

Product overview

Founded is a Swiss media company operating as a digital platform (founded.ch) combined with an annual print magazine (circulation 60,000). The company publishes editorial content about the Swiss startup ecosystem including news, interviews, success stories, and startup profiles across multiple categories. Founded also produces video content including the '23 Questions with...' series (launched Spring 2025) and podcast 'How I Founded...'. Revenue is generated through content partnership offerings: Sponsored Content (750-8,000 CHF), Brand Content (500-5,000 CHF), and Co-Branded Rubrik (8,000 CHF/year). The company is published by Entrepreneur Club Winterthur and reaches 25,000 users/year with 130,000 page views and 9,500 Startup Nights visitors.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• 23 questions with... Video series featuring founders in one-take interviews while walking through their company - no script, no cuts, no studio, just real startup life.
• Pitch Videos by Founded
• How I Founded...

Products and services

• Founded Online Platform
• Founded Print Magazine
• 23 Questions with... (Video Series)
• How I Founded... (Podcast/Video)
• Pitch Videos by Founded
• Sponsored Content
• Brand Content
• Co-Branded Rubrik

Quantifiable outcome

• 25,000 annual users, 130,000 annual page views, 60,000 print magazine circulation
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers2 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Partnerships

Two partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• Entrepreneur Club Winterthur (ECW)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerFounded is published by the Entrepreneur Club Winterthur (ECW). The ECW is also the organizer of Startup Nights, Switzerland's largest startup event. This connection allows the editorial team to be at the source of the most exciting stories and personalities from the startup environment, while opening cross-media branding opportunities for partners.
• Startup NightscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSwitzerland's largest startup event, organized by Entrepreneur Club Winterthur. Founded has 9,500 visitors per event and benefits from close integration with this flagship event for the Swiss startup ecosystem. The event provides content opportunities and partner activation possibilities.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves4 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Startupticker.ch: Startupticker.ch is a Swiss online news service covering Swiss startups, fundraising rounds, and ecosystem news. It is the closest direct domestic peer to Founded in terms of geography, audience (founders, investors, corporates), and content format (frequent short-form startup news and interviews).
• Sifted: Sifted is a digital-first media outlet covering the European startup ecosystem with daily editorial, newsletters, and events. It overlaps directly with Founded's niche — startup storytelling for an innovation audience — but operates at pan-European scale rather than Switzerland-only.
• EU-Startups: EU-Startups is an online media platform covering European startups with editorial content, job board, and an annual flagship event. It mirrors Founded's combination of startup journalism and event-driven brand partnerships, but at European rather than Swiss scale.
• Crunchbase News: Crunchbase News produces editorial content on startups, funding, and ecosystems, layered on top of Crunchbase's startup-data platform. It overlaps with Founded's startup-storytelling niche while adding a data/research layer that corporate subscribers and investors consume.

Broad incumbents

• BILANZ: BILANZ is a Swiss monthly business magazine covering companies, leadership, and the Swiss economy, including corporate-innovation topics. It competes with Founded for Swiss corporate and advertiser attention but sits in the broader business-magazine category rather than pure startup journalism.
• TechCrunch: TechCrunch is the global incumbent in startup and venture journalism, with daily editorial, large events, and a much broader scope. It competes for the same founder/investor attention but operates at a vastly larger scale and across geographies.
• The Next Web (TNW): TNW is a tech-and-startup media brand combining editorial coverage with large conference events (TNW Conference). Like Founded it monetizes through content marketing and event-linked partnerships, but at much larger European scale.
• NZZ (Neue Z\u00fcrcher Zeitung): NZZ is Switzerland's leading national newspaper with a dedicated business/startup desk covering the Swiss economy and innovation ecosystem. It overlaps with Founded's coverage of Swiss innovation but operates as a broad national newspaper rather than a startup-specialist brand.
• Forbes: Forbes is a global business media brand with extensive startup, entrepreneur, and venture coverage as well as branded-content and list-monetization models. It overlaps with Founded at the high level of founder storytelling and sponsored content but at global scale and with a much broader scope.
• Bloomberg: Bloomberg is a global business and financial media outlet covering startups, venture capital, and ecosystems. It overlaps with Founded at the level of in-depth founder/scaleup reporting, but Bloomberg's audience and scope are global and institutional rather than Swiss-startup-specific.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/founded-ch

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 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 Founded