Kompreno: Quality news without borders
Finding quality news texts from all over the world and making them available to people no matter their language, that is Kompreno’s mission. Nowadays, it can be overwhelming to keep up with what is going on across the globe. People are expected to be up to date, yet the information overload on social media makes it difficult to get an overview of quality and trustworthy information. That is why German startup Kompreno combines a curation of quality journalism with automated translation technology to bring its users various news publications they otherwise would not have been able to read due to language barriers. They have built a partner centric technology platform, with language technology at its core, that enables the startup a wide range of business models. In Kompreno’s mobile app, you’ll find quality articles offering various perspectives from all over Europe.
Handy mobile application
Inside Kompreno’s mobile app, users find over 12.000 ad-free translated exclusive news articles from various well reputed European news sources, such as Le Monde. Kompreno uses language technology for personalization, to produce quality automated translations and to break language barriers. They also always keep a ‘human in the loop’ and never let the technology run autonomously to guarantee an accurately translated article. The articles then become readily available to Kompreno subscribers in 5 different languages: English, French, German, Spanish and Italian. Users speaking other languages still need to read Kompreno articles in a non-native language.
The AI personalization within the app is able to avoid being overwhelmed by such a vast array of quality news. This makes it very easy for Kompreno users to stay informed and read more than just one news outlet’s viewpoint. They receive different perspectives on pressing global issues, while also informing themselves on local issues from all over Europe. Content they would otherwise not have found out about when only consuming news from the typical broadcasters and publishers. Kompreno even made their app free for anyone under 25 as they believe that having access to diverse quality news sources is a cornerstone of democracy.
Subscription- and curation-based models seem to pop up everywhere in today’s market and articles of all sorts are being turned into different formats; audio is being turned into text, text is being turned into podcasts. Although such features are being asked for and Kompreno founder and CEO Jochen Adler sees a possible future where Kompreno articles will be turned into audio, the focus for now remains on text as a medium.
Helping hand for content partners
Having thousands of publications in one easy app is not only a win for the readers, but it also helps Kompreno’s content partners tackle certain market challenges, such as converting paper subscriptions into digital ones. So far, Kompreno has teamed up with 27 content partners across Europe who publish in ten different languages. By reaching international readers through translated news articles, Kompreno is also helping its partners build larger audiences across language borders and keep existing readers loyal and more engaged through fresh perspectives and a new “window to the world”.
Kompreno was introduced to the Sandbox Hub by Media City Odense and Media Lab Bayern.
