Frame (1)

Reinventing the news with mobile-first, interactive documentaries Problem:We are in the middle of a news crisis. More than 40% of American adults are actively avoiding the news, and nearly 70% are overwhelmed by it. This is not only a major concern for our democracy, but a big opportunity to create a new kind of media company that reengages news consumers. Solution: Frame rethinks the voice, format, and distribution of news in order to deliver an experience that both solves news avoidance and fundamentally expands the market for digital journalism.Frame stories are 10-15 minute short documentaries in the style of narrative non-fiction (think Netflix’s Wild Wild Country or the podcast, Serial). Every Frame story takes a major issue in the news, from the opioid crisis to the rise of immigration enforcement, and tells a plot-driven, human story at the heart of it. News can be dry, boring, or confusing, and Frame changes that by combining cinematic human stories with depth and context about the issue at hand.In addition to our unique editorial voice, we have developed a new kind of story format for mobile. Frame stories are published in a vertical video, tap-through format, that includes interactive features throughout (from maps to timelines) that allow viewers to dive deeper into the piece.We then deliver our mobile-first, interactive documentaries primarily through SMS, where subscribers can receive news updates on stories they’re interested in following and ask our journalists questions directly via text.Traction:We believe the Frame format outperforms industry standards. Our stories have an average watch time of more than 5:00 minutes, which is 18x  the average watch time for a video on the Facebook newsfeed (:17). In addition, our subscriber count has been growing more than 18% MoM. In Q4 2019 we landed a branded content deal with a major U.S. nonprofit and plan to launch paid subscriptions in Q2 2020.

A one-year free membership to Frame (worth $50) which will start when paid memberships launch in Q2 2020
A limited-edition Frame t-shirt
Quarterly update call with members of Frame's executive team
Annual private meeting and strategy session with founder and executive team
Quarterly update call with members of Frame's executive team
Annual private meeting and strategy session with founder and executive team
Quarterly update call with members of Frame's executive team
Invitation to become a Frame founding member which will include your name on our site’s masthead
Annual private meeting and strategy session with founder and executive team
Quarterly update call with members of Frame's executive team

Graduated and received investment from Snap Inc.’s Yellow Accelerator
Grew subscribers more than 18% month over month (from December 2019 to January 2020)
Secured a paid, branded content deal with a major U.S. nonprofit
Press coverage from notable publications including TechCrunch, Poynter, and Journalism.co.uk
Our stories have an average watch time of more than 5:00 minutes, which is 18x+ the average watch time for a video on the Facebook newsfeed (:17)

Ben Moe
Founder & Chief Executive Officer
Ben Moe is the founder and CEO of Frame, a newsmagazine made for the mobile era. Frame was selected to participate in Snap Inc.'s Yellow Accelerator, and has been covered by TechCrunch, Poynter, and Journalism.co.uk. Ben is a 2019 Folio Rising Star Honoree and graduated magna cum laude from Columbia University in 2016.

Tom Barnes
Chief Product Officer
Tom Barnes is Frame's Chief Product Officer. After graduating from NYU, he worked at Mic, becoming the music editor for the site. After Mic, Tom worked as a media planner for Byte, helping to manage digital marketing for Spotify in the US. Tom was accepted into and participated in the NYC Tech Talent Pipeline.

Round type: Seed Round size: US $1,000,000 Minimum investment: US $1,000 Target Minimum: US $150,000 Raised to date: US $104,000 US $4,000 (under Reg CF only) Security Type: Tiered Crowd Note  (SWIFT) Conversion discount: 20.0% Interest rate: 5.0% Note term: 24 months