Who says local news is dead? Indiegraf, a Vancouver startup dedicated to revitalizing independent news and the content business, announced the close of a CAD $3 million seed round. Leading the financing was Toronto-based StandUp Ventures, with participation from Coralus and Mucker Capital.

What does Indiegraf do? In a few words: empower news and media entrepreneurs across the world. The company has built a “media business in a box” solution, which offers a news website builder, email newsletter platform, subscriber payment system, ad platform, marketplace, and access to growth capital. The startup hopes that its product can help new and established digital and print news businesses innovate their operations, as well as offering a new way for community-run news organizations to launch.

Why should you care? Over the past decade, legacy media companies — as well as newer startups — have struggled to breakeven in an environment that favours free content. While in the U.S. this has led to billionaire owners taking over the largest news corporations (think Amazon’s Jeff Bezos buying the Washington Post), Canadian media has lacked wealthy benefactors. As a result, newsrooms have shrunk by more than 10,000 jobs in the past five years, with local journalism taking the biggest hit. This has created thousands of “news deserts” — a geographical area that has few or no news outlets and receives little coverage — creating huge gaps in public knowledge.

Oh — and it’s impossible to ignore the fact that funding is scarce across all industries in 2024. Successfully completing a raise points to the investors’ confidence in Indiegraf’s product.

Who’s running it? Indiegraf’s CEO will be familiar to those in the Vancouver media ecosystem. Erin Millar, the founder of the startup, is also behind Discourse Media, which produces the Discourse and IndigiNews.

Who said what? StandUp Ventures, the lead investor, expressed strong confidence in Indiegraf’s vision. “We believe that the most important media organizations of the future are just getting started or don’t yet exist,” said Michelle McBane, the fund’s managing director. “Indiegraf’s smart and original approach to empowering the next wave of media entrepreneurs makes them the ideal partner to lead this transformation.”

What’s next for the startup? Millar believes that a “generational transition of media ownership is underway,” from large corporate to community ownership. The capital raised will be used to further expand Indiegraf’s platform, making it accessible to more local media entrepreneurs, particularly in underserved communities across the United States and Latin America. 

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