The Ken is a pan-Asian, subscribers-only digital publication headquartered out of Bengaluru, India. Founded in October 2016 by a team of experienced journalists and entrepreneurs, The Ken pioneered subscribers-only online business journalism in India and is backed by venture funding from Omidyar Network India and highly respected angel investors.

Based across India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore, our talented and experienced team of reporters write original, analytical and deeply reported stories on business, internet, fintech, healthcare, telecom and edtech for over 30,000 paying subscribers spread across the world. Our reporters and editors are supported by an equally talented set of product experts, engineers, designers and marketers.

The Ken’s diverse subscriber community comprises innovative and successful entrepreneurs and senior executives, venture investors, knowledge professionals, policy makers, college students and dozens of the world’s best-known companies.

About the role

The last few years have seen an explosion of financial and corporate dealmaking in India. Venture capital exits in 2021 crossed $14 billion, according to Bain & Company, 10X higher than in the previous year. Every other week sees news of large conglomerates and well-funded startups acquiring other companies to accelerate their own growth.

While these deals do get covered in the news, the focus is almost always on valuations, revenue or marquee investors and funds.

The Ken is seeking a sharp, thoughtful and enterprising reporter for whom these deals are only the tip of much more interesting stories that lie beneath the surface, waiting to be pieced together and told. For the past five years, The Ken has told insightful stories about how some of these deals shape the future of companies and even sectors. Now, we’d like to take our coverage forward and chronicle how some of these deals are crafted, how the dealmakers operate, what their incentives are, and how complex transactions are executed.

We want to put out stories that dive into how some of the biggest deals came together or fell apart. Or stories on the most innovative dealmakers, whether investment bankers or board members. Or stories on the creativity and diligence required from those who make these deals possible, like lawyers and advisors, as they deftly navigate regulations, jurisdictions, and egos. We’re also keen on stories that talk about the people, strategies, and challenges behind the scenes.

Even though we aren’t solely focused on chasing “scoops” at The Ken, this beat lends itself to exclusives and newsbreaks. This is a rare opportunity for an energetic and enthusiastic reporter to create, shape, and own this beat. The Ken also offers reporters the opportunity to tell stories across different formats—long form, newsletters, audio, and visual stories.

The Ken follows a hybrid work model, and this reporter would need to be based in either Bengaluru or Mumbai.

Experience

We are looking for journalists who have covered deals, VCs, and PEs before. They should have connections with people at various levels of deal making and deal crafting organisations. This is a junior- to mid-level role, so we are looking for a minimum of 2 years of experience. The Ken’s newsroom is both supportive and welcoming of diversity, so non-journalists with experience in these areas are also welcome to apply.

Desirable attributes

– Self-driven and ambitious, able to source original stories and insights from their network

– Ability to synthesise multiple reporting perspectives into a compelling, explanatory narrative

– Able to see ahead of news cycles, and see what is likely to happen over a 6-12 month horizon

– Able to stick your neck out with informed opinions when required

The Ken is an egalitarian organisation that gives primacy to honesty, informality, accuracy, transparency, and subscriber-impact in everything it does. Alignment with these values is a prerequisite.

Compensation

One of our tenets is to offer the most competitive salaries and meaningful benefits we can to our colleagues. While we do keep an eye on what our peers or larger media incumbents pay, we are neither limited nor guided by them. This means promising candidates can almost always assume they will be compensated well.

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