For investors

A different kind of media business

Most local news is in managed decline. Modern Standard Media is built on the opposite assumption: that a small, technically capable team with the right model can serve a community better than a large legacy operation — and that this model scales.

The opportunity

Two investment streams

Modern Standard Media operates two distinct but reinforcing value streams. They can be invested in together or separately, and they serve different investor profiles.

Stream one

Local news network

A proven flywheel operating in SW15 since 2023. Journalism builds engaged subscribers. Subscribers create commercial value. Commercial revenue funds more journalism.

  • Live publication with ~2,200 email subscribers
  • 30,000 monthly active website readers
  • Blueprint replicates to Battersea, Tooting, Fulham and beyond
  • Fixed infrastructure costs don’t scale with each new site
  • Revenue ceiling grows with every new area launched
Stream two

AI production methodology

A documented, proprietary approach to AI-augmented daily journalism — built and proven in the most demanding content environment: daily hyperlocal accountability reporting.

  • Original methodology with no direct equivalent in market
  • Covers triage, production, FOI strategy, audience intelligence
  • Packaged as a system, not a tool stack
  • Transferable to other publishers without rebuilding from scratch
  • Higher valuation multiple than the news network alone
2,200
Email subscribers
30k
Monthly active readers
76
NPS score
Industry avg 30–40
39%
Bot-filtered open rate
Raw ~68%. Industry avg 23.1%

Reader trust

76
Net Promoter Score
For every 100 readers we asked, 79 would actively recommend Putney.news. Three would not.
How 379 readers actually scored us
012345678910
Detractors · 12
Passives · 68
Promoters · 299
249 of 379 readers gave the maximum possible score. Twelve scored us six or below, and nobody at all gave a nought, a one or a three.
Where 76 sits against the industry’s thresholds
−100 ◂ 0 100
30+Good
50+Great
70+Excellent
80+World-class
How the score is calculated
Net Promoter Score asks one question: how likely are you to recommend us, from 0 to 10? Nines and tens count as promoters. Sevens and eights are passives and count for nothing at all. Everything from nought to six is a detractor. The score is the share of promoters minus the share of detractors – which is why it can run below zero, and why a high number is harder to reach than a percentage suggests. Ours is 78.9% promoters minus 3.2% detractors, giving 75.7, published as 76.
Based on 379 responses from our most engaged email subscribers, March 2026. Threshold bands are Bain & Company’s published ranges: 30+ good, 50+ great, 70+ excellent, 80+ world-class.

The numbers

Metrics that matter

The editorial product is proven. The engagement data is exceptional by any industry benchmark. The commercial engine is the next stage — and this is the investment opportunity.

Email engagement: Mailchimp reports ~68% raw open rates against an industry average of 23.1%. On Mailchimp's own bot-filtered methodology, the rate is 39% — still significantly ahead of benchmark.

Website engagement: 2 minutes 42 seconds average engagement time per active user. The benchmark for a news site is approximately 1 minute. Email-acquired users — the highest-quality segment — spend over 4 minutes on site per visit.

The benchmark: The Mill (Manchester) raised investment at 2.2x revenue on a comparable community news model with strong subscriber engagement. Modern Standard Media's engagement metrics — particularly the NPS score of 76 and bot-filtered open rate of 39% — make a credible case for a comparable or higher multiple once revenue is established.

Use of funds

What investment makes possible

We are seeking £250,000–500,000 seed funding.

Immediate priorities

Network expansion

  • Editor and reporter salaries
  • Technical build-out
  • Go-to-market platform testing
  • Commercial manager hire
  • New launches in Battersea, Tooting, Wimbledon, Fulham (2027)
Revenue targets

Commercial trajectory

  • Year 1: £25,000–50,000
  • Year 2: £125,000–200,000
  • Year 3: £350,000–500,000
  • Year 4: £750,000–1,000,000

Get in touch

Let's talk

If you're considering investment in independent local journalism or the AI production methodology, we'd like to hear from you. Initial conversations are informal and without obligation.

invest@modernstandard.media