Ad Fontes Media
Westminster, US · Founded 2018 · Colorado corporation · 44 employees on LinkedIn · 3 known investors
Ad Fontes Media rates news sources for bias and reliability, publishing the Media Bias Chart and offering content analysis and ratings technology for advertisers, publishers, and other media buyers. The company operates as a public benefit corporation and uses teams of analysts to evaluate news content.
Also known as Ad Fontes Media
Founders & leadership
Ad Fontes Media was founded in 2018 by Vanessa Otero.
Board
Investors · 3
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Reported raises · per SEC filings
Form D private placements$5.2M disclosed across 2 rounds · 2022–2023
▶$3.6MraisedApr 2023 · 5 investors · OtherRule 506(b)
- Troy RootDirector
- Vanessa OteroExecutive Officer, Director
- Clay GordonDirector
- Crista BaileyDirector
- Daina MiddletonDirector
- Offering amount
- $5.1M
- Amount sold
- $3.6M
- First sale
- Apr 2023
- Incorporated
- Corporation, Colorado
- Federal exemptions
- 06b
▶$1.6MraisedNov 2022 · 24 investors · OtherRule 506(b)
- Vanessa OteroExecutive Officer, Director
- Clay GordonDirector
- Daina MiddletonDirector
- Offering amount
- $2.3M
- Amount sold
- $1.6M
- First sale
- Apr 2022
- Incorporated
- Corporation, Colorado, 2018
- Federal exemptions
- 06b
Source: SEC EDGAR Form D. Amounts as filed; amended filings shown once at their latest values.
Company profile
researched Aug 2026Ad Fontes Media rates news and information sources for reliability and political bias, and is the publisher of the Media Bias Chart, available in both a static version and an interactive version. Ratings are produced by teams of analysts drawn from across the political spectrum who apply a defined methodology to evaluate news content.
The company packages this ratings work into data, tools and educational resources aimed at four stated audiences: brands, agencies and technology platforms seeking to advertise on higher-quality news; individual news consumers who want to assess the sources they use and improve media literacy; educators, researchers and institutions teaching news literacy or using the data in research; and publishers who wish to display a high reliability rating to support monetization. It also markets a data platform to enterprise customers and partners.
Business model
Ad Fontes Media licenses and sells its news reliability and bias ratings data and a related data platform to enterprise customers, including advertisers, agencies, technology platforms and publishers, and has a sales department for these accounts. It also operates a paid annual membership program ("News Nerd") for individuals, which includes premium access to the Interactive Media Bias Chart, rating requests, merchandise such as a Media Bias Chart wall poster and coffee mug, and discounts on additional merchandise.
Revenue sources indicated include enterprise data and platform services for brands, agencies, platforms and publishers; annual individual memberships; and merchandise sales.
▸Full profile — market position, technology, go-to-market
Market position
Ad Fontes Media presents itself as working with companies in the information ecosystem and serving multiple stakeholder groups in quality news media through its ratings data.
Ad Fontes Media positions its ratings on the use of analysts spanning a wide political spectrum applying a consistent methodology, with results consolidated into a single publicly recognizable chart covering many news sources.
Technology
The company produces reliability and bias ratings of news content through analyst teams following a stated methodology, and delivers the results via the Media Bias Chart in static and interactive formats and through a data platform for enterprise users.
Go-to-market
Direct enterprise sales to advertisers, agencies, platforms and publishers alongside a consumer-facing funnel built on the freely available static and interactive Media Bias Chart, an email list, and a paid annual membership community.
Brands, advertising agencies and technology/social media platforms; publishers; educators, researchers and institutions; and individual news consumers.
Compiled by commissioned research from 1 cited public sources — announcements, filings, and press listed under research sources below.
Competitors · 2
by search overlap
Companies competing with Ad Fontes Media for the same Google search keywords, organic and paid, via search-intersection analysis.
Legal entities · 1
corporate structure▸Research sources · 1
primary sources listed
- Ad Fontes Mediaadfontesmedia.com · web
1 public sources were cited for this profile; the first-party ones are listed here.
Frequently asked questions
- What does Ad Fontes Media do?
- Ad Fontes Media rates news sources for reliability and bias and publishes the Media Bias Chart.
- Who founded Ad Fontes Media?
- Ad Fontes Media was founded by Vanessa Otero in 2018.
- Who are Ad Fontes Media's investors?
- Ad Fontes Media's investors include Gaingels, New Community Transformation Denver, Stout Street Capital.
- How much funding has Ad Fontes Media raised?
- Ad Fontes Media has disclosed $5.2M raised across 2 rounds.
- Where is Ad Fontes Media headquartered?
- Ad Fontes Media is headquartered in Westminster, US.