Splainer / Souk / Advisory

Splainer / Souk / Advisory

Splainer (incorporated in Singapore as Splainer Pte Ltd)

History and Founding

Splainer was founded in June 2020 by Lakshmi Chaudhry, a veteran Indian journalist and digital media entrepreneur, as a paid daily news newsletter targeting English-speaking Indians. Its founding was the direct product of two prior ventures — one a defining success in Indian digital media, the other an instructive near-miss — and of the particular conditions of pandemic-era India.

Chaudhry spent roughly two decades in American journalism before returning to India, working in that period for Wired.com and writing for publications including Salon, The Nation, and the New York Times. She also interned at Mother Jones, where her job was to fact-check everything. When she moved back to India, she co-founded Firstpost in 2011 — one of the first standalone digital-native news publications in the country, which at its peak reached more than 20 million unique monthly users and helped create the 24/7 continuous publishing cycle in Indian digital media. Firstpost was later acquired by the Reliance group, and Chaudhry departed after being told there would be no criticism of certain political figures. She subsequently served as an investment adviser and mentor to media startups through the IPS Media Foundation.

In June 2018, Chaudhry co-founded Broadsheet, a weekday news newsletter modelled partly on The Skimm and aimed primarily at Indian women — a demographic she had observed being systematically excluded from serious news coverage during her time at Firstpost, on the assumption that "women don't care about the news." Broadsheet attracted a surprisingly diverse readership (35–40% male, including most Indian newsrooms and students), raised angel funding, and proved the appetite for the format. But it never resolved its revenue model, and closed in March 2020 when a co-founder split rendered it unviable.

Three months later, in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, Chaudhry launched Splainer — this time with a subscription-first business model built in from the start. She incorporated the company as Splainer Pte Ltd in Singapore. Her stated principle was that she would not relaunch without a direct financial relationship with her readers: "I was very clear that whatever I was going to build was going to have a direct relationship with my consumer or audience." The publication was designed as a deliberately slow, curated counterpoint to the high-volume, algorithmically driven news environment — described by Chaudhry as "the anti-Firstpost." It carried no advertising and depended entirely on subscriptions.

The News Edition (2020–2025)

In its news phase, Splainer operated as a daily paid newsletter delivered via email and WhatsApp, with each edition also readable on a browser — a deliberate design choice that allowed richer visual presentation than a standard email template permitted. Annual subscriptions were priced at Rs 1,500 (approximately €17 at launch). A founding member tier invited early supporters to contribute Rs 2,000–10,000 in recognition of the publication's independence. A student discount of 40% was available, reflecting Chaudhry's intention to reach young Indians who might not afford standard pricing. The editorial model also included gifted subscriptions, which functioned as an important but imperfectly converting growth channel.

Each edition was structured around a flagship section called "The Big Story" — a deeply researched explainer on a significant current or evergreen topic, chosen to meet two criteria: it must be important, and it must add to readers' understanding of how the world works. Following the Big Story were "Headlines That Matter," a curated round-up of eight to ten global headlines that passed an internal "so what?" test: any story that consisted merely of announcements, plans, or statements with no real-world impact was excluded. The edition also included sections on science, culture, travel, and recommendations.

Chaudhry described the editorial curation formula as "knowledge plus delight" — a deliberate rejection of the negativity-maximising, outrage-driven model of news that she believed was alienating a significant share of potential news consumers, particularly women. The publication was run predominantly by women, though it was always aimed at a general audience. Over half of its subscribers were women.

By its own account, Splainer acquired 3,000 subscribers in its first six months — a notable achievement in a market where paying for digital news remained exceptional. It cultivated a conversational relationship with readers, writing in second person and actively soliciting feedback. The publication later underwent a design overhaul by Bull Design and a technology rebuild by Blackcurrant Labs, producing an interface described as resembling a glossy magazine. It also launched a mobile app with bookmark and archive features, a free Substack-hosted version called Splainer Lite offering select sections, and an events programme — dinners, museum tours, art walks, and wellness workshops — to build community offline.

Splainer was recognised at the time as among the most significant experiments in subscriber-funded daily news journalism in India, and was cited by WAN-IFRA and the International Journalists' Network as a model for independent newsletters in emerging markets.

Closure of the News Edition and Pivot to Advisory (2025)

In January 2024, Lakshmi Chaudhry suffered a serious heart attack. In the months that followed, she reassessed Splainer's sustainability. The news edition's subscriber base had been declining, and the publication was being supported by Chaudhry's personal funds. In July 2025, she published a detailed farewell essay acknowledging that the news edition had failed as a business, citing the broader structural collapse of subscription-funded independent news in India, the destruction of ad-supported journalism models by platforms, the difficulty of competing with emotionally amplified content, and the looming impact of AI on newsrooms. The last daily news edition was published on August 29, 2025.

In the farewell essay, Chaudhry offered a candid diagnosis of why the experiment fell short: the Indian news market increasingly rewarded outrage and partisan amplification over impartial explanation; AI was beginning to commoditise the core value proposition of curation and synthesis; and readers who might benefit from a service like Splainer were, in practice, unwilling to pay for it in sufficient numbers. She described Splainer not as a failure of journalism but as a failure to read a market.

Following the closure of the news edition, the Splainer brand and website (splainer.in) pivoted to host Advisory, a free weekly newsletter covering culture, lifestyle, travel, arts, entertainment, and shopping recommendations. Advisory explicitly positions itself as human-curated ("Zero ChatGPT involved"), editorially led, and free from advertising and data misuse. It also hosts Souk, a curated shopping recommendation portal. Advisory is published every Saturday and is free to subscribers.

Access and Funding

Advisory, Splainer's current editorial product, is free to readers at splainer.in. No subscription is required. The associated Souk portal offers curated product recommendations. Splainer Pte Ltd remains the operating entity. Readers can contact the team at talktous@splainer.in.

Splainer / Splainer Pte Ltd
India (operations); incorporated in Singapore

Website: splainer.in
Advisory newsletter: splainer.in (free, published Saturdays)
Souk (shopping): souk.splainer.in
Contact: talktous@splainer.in

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Metadata

Categories: Independent News Organizations · Subscription-Supported Media · India and South Asia News · Digital Publications · Newsletter Journalism · Lifestyle and Culture

Mission (original news edition): To make it effortless and pleasurable for English-speaking Indians to be well-informed — sifting through a media environment polluted by negativity, fake news, and high-volume low-quality reporting to deliver carefully researched, curated daily news with intelligence, humour, and empathy.

Mission (current Advisory): To help readers navigate internet abundance and skip the garbage, offering thoughtful human-curated recommendations on culture, travel, art, food, and entertainment — with zero AI involvement and no spam.

Year Founded: 2020

Description: Splainer was founded in June 2020 by Indian journalist Lakshmi Chaudhry as India's first subscription-funded daily news newsletter, offering deeply curated current affairs with an editorial formula of "knowledge plus delight." After acquiring a loyal readership and winning recognition as a model for independent digital journalism in India, its daily news edition closed on August 29, 2025, following declining subscriptions and the founder's health crisis. The Splainer brand continues as Advisory, a free weekly culture and lifestyle newsletter at splainer.in.

URL: https://splainer.in