Our story

Zetland turned ten in 2026. Here is how a small Danish experiment became a group of member-funded publications in four countries.

2012–2015: The idea

Zetland was founded in Copenhagen in 2012 by Lea Korsgaard, Jakob Moll, Silke Bock and Hakon Mosbech, publishing long-form e-singles once a month. In 2015, a crowdfunding campaign asked Danes to back a new kind of daily journalism – and they did.

2016–2019: A new kind of newspaper

In March 2016, Zetland relaunched as a daily digital newspaper, funded by members and built on six principles. When members asked to listen instead of read, we made every story available as audio – and audio soon became the most popular way to use Zetland. In 2019, a members-get-members campaign helped make Zetland profitable.

2020–2023: Growing up

During the pandemic, audio journalism brought thousands of new members. Tav Klitgaard became CEO in 2020, and Zetland has been consistently profitable since. In 2023, we wrote the strategy “Rainbow” and launched Good Tape, an AI transcription service born out of our own newsroom, which has since been sold to new owners.

2024–2025: Across borders

In 2024, we started publishing books, and almost 10,000 Finns crowdfunded Uusi Juttu, which launched in January 2025. In September 2025, Bonnier News became majority owner – a long-term partner that lets us think in decades instead of quarters.

2026: Four markets and counting

Demo launched in Norway in August 2026, our book Inden året er omme became an international bestseller, and the team behind tbd started listening to all 401 German districts. The Rainbow years taught us that Zetland’s model is not a Danish curiosity. Our new strategy, The Truth Interests Me, is about taking it further.