The Future of Local News
Today’s featured startup is delivering personalized city updates every morning, turning local communities into engaged audiences while creating new opportunities for advertisers
Project Overview
6AM City lives up to its slogan: “We’re locals everywhere.”
Every morning at 6 AM, the team sends city-specific newsletters packed with local news and events to subscribers across the U.S. Each city gets its own editorial team curating stories that actually matter to its readers.
Today, the startup covers 26 U.S. cities, reaching over 1.3 million subscribers and generating around 50 million monthly content views. Most of the audience are women, active readers who engage with both newsletters and local social channels.
The newsletter is free, but loyal readers can join a membership club to support their local edition. Paying members don’t get extra articles, but they do get local perks — birthday shoutouts, discounts from partner businesses, and community recognition. Memberships range from $50 to $500 per year, depending purely on how much you want to support the project.
Beyond the news, the company also runs a marketplace called Six & Main, featuring local products from independent makers. Advertising in newsletters remains the main source of revenue — which reached $8 million in 2023, up from $6.3 million in 2022 and $3.6 million in 2021.
After raising $10 million in new funding (bringing the total to $21.5 million), the startup is doubling down on expansion and operational growth.
What’s the Gist?
Platform Accounting Group, a startup providing centralized services for small local accounting and finance firms, illustrates a similar approach to combining local expertise with scalable operations.
This is a strong example of a hyperlocal business — one that scales by repeating the same proven model across multiple local markets.
Instead of going global, they go deeply local — building loyal audiences city by city. It’s a sustainable model: start small, perfect the process, then replicate it elsewhere.
Some of the world’s biggest tech platforms followed a similar path. Facebook and Tinder both began by focusing on single university campuses before expanding outward. But for hyperlocal media, the endgame isn’t global domination — it’s local presence at scale.
The key insight: local businesses don’t need nationwide exposure. They need to reach the people who live nearby — their real customers. That’s why platforms like Hummingbirds, SnapAds, and Claim emerged — helping small businesses reach local audiences through micro-influencers.
6AM City, however, takes a simpler, more traditional approach. Instead of influencer deals or social media sponsorships, it offers a trusted editorial channel — you pay for an ad, it runs in the local newsletter, and people see it. Reliable, predictable, measurable.
That’s the edge: institutional reliability over influencer volatility. You don’t have to worry about whether a creator delivers. The newsroom always will.
As a result, their model combines the credibility of journalism with the flexibility of modern local marketing, making it scalable, repeatable, and highly attractive to advertisers.
Key Takeaways
News is an evergreen business — but the format keeps evolving.
Where small towns once had print newspapers, now they have digital newsletters and community-driven content.
6AM City found a sweet spot between traditional journalism and influencer culture. The tone is conversational yet edited, approachable yet reliable. They’re not just reporting — they’re building communities around shared local experiences.
This hybrid model — local tone with centralized operations — could reshape how local media and marketing coexist. It’s a blueprint for scaling authenticity: letting each city feel unique while keeping the business machinery efficient and unified.
The future of local media might look less like a single outlet — and more like a network of “collective bloggers” that combine human warmth, editorial quality, and scalable reach.
Company Info
6AM City
Website: 6amcity.com
Latest Round: $10M, 02.02.2024
Total Funding: $21.5M across 4 rounds