This year, we received a record number of 156 applications from media organizations in 26 countries across Europe. The jury has selected 12 newsrooms to receive €150,000 in overall funding that will go towards designing, launching and growing their organization and product.
The 2025 edition of the New Media Incubator kicked off on August 19, bringing together 12 media organizations making plans to revolutionize their digital and revenue strategies. The New Media Incubator supports recently founded news startups in Europe. This year’s cohort presents an especially pioneering and visionary agenda for independent news, with each project offering their take on a template for how news media will be rethought.
“These projects meet the moment in a uniquely disrupted news industry, charting a way forward rooted in the fundamentals of community building, solving for discovery, addressing risks and generating revenue. After meeting with each team, two main trends provide a clear framework for how the industry might move forward: the power of harnessing entrepreneurial energy and video-first formats, and the value of taking the who behind the reporting seriously”, said IPI’s head of innovation and media business.
Over eight months, each organization will receive grants, training and personalized advisory to help them focus their product-market fit, discover new revenue opportunities and build sustainable and creative news products shaping Europe’s media market today and tomorrow.
The curriculum is thoughtfully designed to tackle the most pressing industry challenges while catering to each organization’s distinct market context and unique needs. A week-long in-person bootcamp will take place in Vienna in October, gathering the teams to ideate and collaborate, the programme coaches and the IPI Media Innovation team. This year’s cohort will also have an opportunity to attend the IPI World Congress and Media Innovation Festival, taking place on October 23-25 in Vienna.
Meet the 2025 New Media Incubator Cohort!
1. The European Correspondent (Belgium)
The European Correspondent is a not-for-profit organization that strives to create high-quality, independent journalism for their community of readers. They are driven by the belief that Europe’s biggest challenges – climate change, migration, and AI – can only be solved if Europe acts together. Citizens need journalism that explains how decisions have consequences across borders. Through their correspondents from every country in Europe, the outlet combines local expertise with a European perspective to help readers grasp the institutions and patterns that affect them. In the Incubator, The European Correspondent will work on a monthly print magazine to diversify their content delivery and the media’s revenue model.
2. Okraj.cz – JKS Média, z.s. (Czech Republic)
Okraj.cz, a digital-first local publisher, is dedicated to empowering Moravian-Silesian communities through independent, investigative and ethical journalism. Their mission is to amplify local voices and tackle overlooked issues like marginalized communities, post-industrial challenges and social issues. By delivering accessible newsletters and podcasts, Okraj simplify complex council decisions, providing stakeholders and activists with impactful, contextual analyses for accountability and reshaping regional stereotypes. In the Incubator, their team will focus on creating a partly-paid model through a subscription-based newsletter.
3. Most / “Building Bridges Project” (Moldova)
MOST was founded in 2024 and launched in 2025 to create a media project for Transnistrian audiences – a region isolated from Moldova’s democratic space for over 30 years with the continued presence of Russian troops. Their mission is to provide truthful, independent, Russian-language reporting to an underinformed population. In the Incubator, the team wants to prototype and publish several vertical video series, build a strategy to reach wider audiences and launch a Patreon campaign to fund operational costs.
4. From the Republics (FtR) (Poland)
From the Republics is an Indigenous-led media outlet dedicated to covering Russia’s ethnic republics and minoritized communities in Russian and English. Their mission is to provide accurate, independent reporting, countering both state propaganda and colonial narratives. During the Incubator, they will work on monetization and test sustainable models for an exiled, multimedia newsroom. They want to prototype workflows that allow them to produce compelling, accurate content with remote collaboration, visual storytelling, and ways to maintain credibility with audiences inside the republics.
5. Novaya Gazeta Europe (Latvia)
Novaya Gazeta Europe is an independent media outlet in exile, committed to providing uncensored, fact-based reporting on Russia for both domestic and international audiences. Their mission is to uncover the truth about political, economic, and social transformations in Russia, especially in its regions, despite increasing repression. The Incubator will help Novaya Gazeta Europe build a bold new identity as a media outlet in exile and launch their first-ever online merchandise shop to reinforce the brand and create a new revenue stream.
6. FACTA (Italy)
FACTA is an Italian non-profit media outlet that applies scientific methodology to investigative journalism. The outlet focuses on urgent environmental, health, and climate issues affecting communities often overlooked by mainstream media. After establishing in 2023, FACTA is ready to transition from a start-up to a resilient, community-centred media organization. During the Incubator, the newsroom will work on launching a niche newsletter to foster audience engagement, addressing the escalating need for independent, science-based reporting in Italy.
7. EU Made Simple (Germany)
EU Made Simple produces accessible and engaging videos on EU news and politics. Their core product is video content, tailored for YouTube and available in 8 languages: English, German, French, Greek, Italian, Romanian, Polish, and Bulgarian. With over 200,000 subscribers and individual videos reaching up to 2 million views, the outlet aims to demystify the EU for everyone. The long-term goal is to cover all 24 EU languages, reaching citizens who are often left out of international and EU-level discussions. With the support of the Incubator, the newsroom will launch a Spanish subchannel and expand the existing Polish and Romanian ones.
8. WATIF (Spain)
WATIF is a media project that explores how today’s trends could shape tomorrow. They use the future as a lens to spark reflection, debate, and connection—with journalism that is rigorous but also culturally relevant. Their hybrid model mixes newsletters, podcasts, social media, and live events to build a genuine relationship with a young audience often left out of traditional media. In the programme, WATIF will work towards financial sustainability by hiring a dedicated person to secure annual sponsorships for their podcast and live events, while increasing their visibility across social platforms.
9. Istorias Media (France)
Istorias Media is a creative storytelling studio with a mission to amplify underrepresented voices and bring forward stories that foster connection in an increasingly polarized world. With a special emphasis on the Global South, Istorias Media bridges journalism, culture, and strategic communications to tell stories that resonate across borders. The outlet blends formats—podcasts, stand-up comedy, art, hackathons, and storytelling. In the Incubator, they will focus on the podcast “Laissons Parler les Gens” (Let People Speak), targeting older generations in France and originally piloted in the Ivory Coast in January 2025. The podcast focuses on combating hate speech and misinformation in the electoral period through humour.
10. Vidbudova.Zaporizhzhia (Ukraine)
Vidbudova. Zaporizhzhia is the first and still the only regional online media outlet covering the infrastructural, economic, and psychological recovery of the Zaporizhzhia region of Ukraine, including life in occupied and frontline communities. The project is dedicated to providing the region’s residents with high-quality and unbiased information, which is critically important during the ongoing full-scale war and extensive infrastructure destruction. The proposed Incubator project will support local businesses in Zaporizhzhia with their micromedia outlet — “Business. Zaporizhzhia”, by increasing content, growing readership, and launching a dedicated website.
11. Turan Tales (Poland)
Turan Tales is a long-form newsletter and podcast featuring in-depth stories of people, politics, and social and environmental change in Central Asia, told from the local perspective. Its main goal is to go beyond the simplistic narratives of mainstream media and offer the audience a thorough analysis of events in this underreported region. The programme will help Turan Tales to take the next step and develop human-driven, narrative non-fiction podcasts featuring multiple voices and immersive soundscapes – an evolution of long reads. Specifically, the team will work on the first stages of product development, audience growth and monetization.
The New Media Incubator is part of the Media Innovation Europe programme (MIE), made possible with the support of the European Union.
