ONA has long supported start-ups for their tenacious willingness to take a risk in creating a new venture to fill critical gaps in the journalism industry. We’re thrilled to welcome six innovative startups to the ONA25 Start-Up Alley, where they will showcase their wide range of cutting-edge solutions for the journalism industry. Dive in to learn more about each of them, then come by the Midway Exhibit Hall in New Orleans to meet them!
Help a Reporter Out(HARO) is the world’s most recognized platform connecting journalists with expert sources. Since 2008, HARO has powered thousands of media stories by streamlining how reporters gather quotes, insights, and expert commentary.
Every day, journalists from top-tier outlets and niche publications use HARO to submit queries and get connected with sources. In turn, a diverse network of hundreds of thousands of vetted experts respond with timely, relevant insights. The result: faster sourcing for journalists and greater visibility for experts.
HARO is free for journalists and sources, with monetization from newsletter ads. With built-in tools like masked emails, AI-detection filters, and a journalist dashboard, HARO makes sourcing credible voices efficient, safe, and reliable.
HARO serves all types of media—from global newsrooms to local reporters to independent publishers—helping journalism thrive through better access to expertise. Start sourcing today at helpareporter.com.
InPress is the first social news app that makes engaging with facts exciting, rewarding, and socially connective. Users swipe react to vetted journalism and swipe AI-powered news summaries to earn insights, streaks, and even compatibility matches for dating or friendship. Each interaction strengthens media literacy while creating a positive sense of self-improvement, regardless of what’s in the news. With the youngest, most engaged news audience in America after just 1 year on the market, InPress is proving that truth can be more engaging and scalable than misinformation. Welcome to news that brings out the best in people and publishers.
LiveBreak is the first AI-powered hyperlocal news and information platform built to empower independent journalists, small news outlets, and communities. Users get instant access to trusted local updates, personalized feeds, and AI-powered summaries across topics that matter most to them. Reporters benefit from writing assistants, trust metrics, and distribution tools that make it easier to reach audiences and build credibility.
With features like real-time local news, text-to-speech, multi-language support, live score updates, and video clips, LiveBreak transforms how communities stay informed. Each interaction strengthens local journalism while making news more accessible, engaging, and reliable.
In just its first year, LiveBreak has attracted thousands of users across Arizona and built a network of 2,500+ independent journalists through its India platform, MeeNews. By combining cutting-edge AI with grassroots reporting, LiveBreak is proving that local journalism can be scalable, sustainable, and impactful in today’s media landscape.
Welcome to news that empowers communities, strengthens local voices, and builds trust in journalism.
NewsGenie is a MediaTech company delivering AI that helps newsrooms produce more balanced journalism and safer communities. DeBiasIt™ (patent-pending) analyzes sentence-level bias across nearly 70 types and generates editor-guided rewrites—preserving each newsroom’s voice via Journo-Twinning™. CivilyzeIt™ (patent-pending) provides jurisdiction-aware comment moderation powered by our Dynamic Trust & Reputation System (DTRS) and micro-training that nudges healthier participation. We support scale via APIs and offer a lightweight portal for small publishers and individual journalists—always with human-in-the-loop review for full editorial control.
Supertab helps publishers unlock revenue beyond ads and subscriptions with a seamless pay-as-you-go model. Instead of hitting readers with hard paywalls or one-off fees, Supertab lets them open a running “tab” as they read, watch, or listen. Small charges add up in the background, and users only pay once their tab reaches a threshold, making micropayments practical, transparent, and frictionless.
For news organizations, Supertab provides a powerful new way to monetize casual and loyal audiences alike, while also creating a clear path to subscription. With fast integration through Google Ad Manager’s Offerwall and a flexible design that works across articles, podcasts, newsletters, and AI tools, Supertab is building a sustainable model for digital journalism.
The Measure is a data storytelling exchange featuring insights from custom surveys, measurement and data companies, and social, video and TV platforms. Created to help people understand human behaviors in snackable formats, our analysts service newsrooms with fresh insights that make people smarter.
Packed inside spreadsheets and buried in dashboards are reams of data that, when put into context, can tell true stories about life, business and culture – stories that can help us do our jobs better, make smarter decisions and see the world around us a little more clearly.
