6AM City – a fast-growing local daily newsletter company – announced it had closed its series A funding round led by TEGNA. And 6AM City, which focuses on economic development and positivity in its communities, has grown to over 1.3 million subscribers in 26 U.S. cities since its launch in 2016.
Along with TEGNA, the funding round was materially supported by follow-on investments from existing stakeholders, including American Investment Holdings, VentureSouth, and Harbright Ventures.
As part of TEGNA’s investment, 6AM will include news and weather from TEGNA’s local broadcast stations in its daily newsletters in overlapping markets, promoting morning newscasts and integrating local sports headlines from Locked On, TEGNA’s leading network for local sports. Additionally, TEGNA and 6AM will collaborate to launch newsletters in two additional markets.
This partnership and funding will drive the continued growth of 6AM City’s audience and facilitate additional expansion. This comes after 6AM City has successfully launched in 19 new cities since 2021, adding top-tier markets to the company’s already extensive portfolio. And 6AM City’s core innovation is its business model that allows for sustainable expansion and continued investment in the communities it serves. It gets harder to find local sources of news and the company has remained focused on providing a valuable resource to keep locals informed – which has driven audience engagement and consistent growth for the business.
6AM City continues identifying additional expansion markets for 2024 and has established partnerships with organizations looking to expedite growth and development in their communities, including economic development entities, professional sports teams, top local employers, and the entrepreneurial ecosystem. These relationships, along with the company’s 1.3 million subscribers and strong advertising partnerships, are accelerating the company’s expansion and are a driving force behind market selection. Through these partnerships, 6AM City announced the next expansion market to include Charlotte, North Carolina (CLTtoday), which will launch in March 2024.
Communities that are interested in having 6AM City expand into their market can connect via 6AM City’s PickMyCity portal. And this is where interest from local economic developers, investors, advertisers, editorial talent, and publishers with established audiences helps 6AM City identify the markets where it will launch in 2024.
6AM will be hiring full-time local editorial and sales staff that exude CurioCity — a 6AM City value that highlights the company’s focus on maximizing the live, work, and play environment in which its team is immersed. The local editorial team will publish daily newsletters highlighting the best the city offers, avoiding politics and divisive news and focusing on driving economic impact by building trust and credibility with the community.
KEY QUOTES:
“We’re looking forward to extending the reach of our valuable local news, weather and sports content to new platforms and audiences through 6AM City. 6AM City has cultivated a highly engaged audience in their local markets. Our local content perfectly complements the daily, must-read information and updates 6AM subscribers have come to rely on in their city.”
– Adam Ostrow, chief digital officer, TEGNA
“We are excited to partner with such a highly regarded local broadcast group whose values align so directly with ours. This partnership with an established and trusted network of local news and sports content brands across the country will accelerate our reach and ability to innovate across platforms.”
– 6AM City CEO Ryan Johnston
