Column
Collaborative public notice platform
- 21-100 employees
- B2B
- Publishing
- Content
- Digital Media
- SaaS
- Social Impact
- Wynwood Art District, Miami, FL
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Company mission
Column's mission is to improve the utility of public interest information and support the distribution of that information by journalists that serve their communities.
Our take
One of the lesser known ways that newspapers generate money is through public notices i.e. legally required government updates on things like municipal budgets, foreclosures, and public meetings. As advertising revenue dwindles, public notices have become critical, particularly for local papers, but the communication lines between publishers and governments have long been fraught with inefficiency.
In a bid to solve this issue, Column offers a collaborative platform for officials to draft, order, and pay for public notices, and for reporters to easily access them. Though only founded in 2020, the startup has made rapid progress, and works with hundreds of papers across the US, including The Washington Post.
Founder Jake Seaton, whose family has run Kansas-based local newspaper The Manhattan Mercury for five generations, was able to tap into his relatives’ network of news media leaders to help launch the company and grow quickly.
The fact that many of this network, including Nancy Gibbs, the faculty director of Harvard's Shorenstein Center on Media, and David Chavern, CEO of the News Media Alliance, work in an advisory capacity – and in Gibb’s case at board level – suggests that Column could grow into a company of great importance over the next few years.
Kirsty
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Benefits
- Unlimited PTO
- Productivity stipend to invest in an office set-up
- Equity
- Wellness stipend, gym memberships, mental health therapy, student loan repayment, and more
- Remote-first company with team members on multiple continents
- Health, Dental & Vision Insurance
Funding (2 rounds)
Aug 2022
$30m
SERIES A
Sep 2020
$3.3m
SEED
Total funding: $33.3m
This company has top investors
Leadership
Jake Seaton
(CEO)Forbes 30 under 30. Former Google Software Engineer. Was on the founding team at Quorum Analytics, a public affairs software platform.