Digital Innovation Digital Publishing
2 mins read

The New Paper launches first text-based daily news digest

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Out of beta, fact-focused model already boasts 7,000+ paid subscribers & $400,000 in ARR

The New Paper just announced the launch of its text message-based daily digest, which aims to make fact-first news easy to consume. By summarizing the day’s top stories into a concise daily text message, The New Paper helps people start their day with a common set of facts.

The New Paper was started by Michael Aft and John Necef, Harvard Business School and Georgetown grads who worked at LinkedIn, The Hustle, Accel-KKR, and on Wall Street. The company raised $300,000 in pre-seed funding last year, including $80,000 from a pitch competition held by the Indiana state-backed VC fund Elevate Ventures. In only six months of private beta, The New Paper experienced significant growth with its subscription-based model that is already profitable with over 7,000 paid subscribers and $400,000 in annualized recurring revenue. The company offers users a 7-day free trial, after which it charges $5 per month.

“It’s hard work to stay informed on what’s happening in the world since the news is dominated by clickbait and sensational content,” said Michael Aft and John Necef, co-founders of The New Paper. “We make it easy with the first-ever text message-based news digest. We initially focused on SMS because text messages have a 98% open rate, as opposed to email which is only 20%, but in the future we plan to develop an ecosystem of news products that offer the first touch of daily news across channels.”

Each weekday morning, The New Paper’s editorial team:

  1. Curates the day’s top news – prioritizing the most impactful stories across business, politics, the economy, and global affairs
  2. States each story factually – leading with the event that happened rather than an opinion.
  3. Provides easy access to more context – linking to a helpful reference or primary source.

“The New Paper’s text is a refreshing change from all of the emails and push notifications that crowd my inbox every morning. It’s a simple and easy way to start my day feeling informed,” said Melissa Landry of Dallas, TX.

To learn more or sign up, visit: thenewpaper.co/learnmore