Today Romanian-founded SaaS marketplace Tekpon has acquired 100 per cent of the TNW media and events brands from the FT.
The financials of the deal have not been disclosed, but the transaction is Tekpon’s largest investment in media and events so far.
Alexandru Stan is CEO of Tekpon, a SaaS marketplace he founded in 2020 after building 21 companies and exiting five. In late 2025, he quietly acquired TNW from the FT — without seeing any financials before signing the deal.
I spoke to him about why he bought TNW, his view on the role of journalism, what the new editorial strategy will look like, and how he plans to position TNW in Europe’s evolving tech ecosystem.
From SaaS entrepreneur to media owner
Founded in 2020, Tekpon is a marketplace and buying/ procurement service for software (especially SaaS & AI tools). It helps businesses discover, compare, and purchase software through a combination of a software tool directory and a human-led procurement service.
Stan describes himself as a serial entrepreneur:
“I built 21 companies, did five exits, the rest failed — which is normal for an entrepreneur. In 2020, I launched Tekpon with former co-founders from previous businesses.
We built a SaaS marketplace with the idea of becoming the first honest software review platform.”
When I queried Stan to understand the state of the financials at TNW, he admitted,
“The deal happened without me seeing any data. TNW is so well-known—especially across Europe and the US—that the brand’s strength alone meant they didn’t show me anything.”
The acquisition is part of Tekpon’s long-term plan to build an international ecosystem connecting software, media, events, advisory, and innovation.
“TNW was too small for FT”
I wanted to understand why Stan thinks TNW was closed down. I mean, I’ve heard everything from the post-COVID financials to the lack of profitability of its much-esteemed annual conference.
Stan asserts:
“The Financial Times is extremely powerful. TNW was a strong brand and community—but too small for the FT. TNW wasn’t a business that could generate a billion dollars in annual revenue
It’s like someone very rich buying a bicycle: it doesn’t matter to them.”
According to the deal with FT, TNW’s brand and editorial standards will be maintained, while its events and digital platforms will be integrated into Tekpon’s wider strategy.
The FT will continue to own and operate TNW Spaces, offering private offices and coworking spaces that support a thriving community of startups, scale-ups, and innovators.
TNW will support all major European ecosystems—Germany, France, Spain, the Netherlands, the Nordics, and more, as well as Romania, even though it’s still a small market.
When asked about verticals or niches, Stan says TNW will stay away from politics and by default defencetech, but focus on:
- AI, especially startups with a positive societal impact.
- The software industry.
- What’s next in tech, staying true to the brand’s name.
- M&A and investment insights:
“We have multiple M&A partners in Tekpon’s community who give us information months before it becomes public as well as a community of 136,000 people at Tekpon who can provide insights from across the ecosystem.
Journalists can turn those insights into real news. It will become very powerful for Europe.”
TNW staff to have independence — and better conditions
Tekpon already hosts annual awards, an AI summit, a podcast and a magazine. With this in mind, I asked Stan about editorial independence. He asserts that “independence is essential. Tekpon makes money selling software. We take commissions on HubSpot, Monday.com, etc."
"This means TNW can stay 100 per cent independent. We don’t need to mix software sales with journalism.”
However, Stan also admitted that he loves writing, saying, “I’ll be involved daily in finding what’s interesting in the market, supporting the community, and avoiding conflicts of interest. I’ll help the newsroom understand what deserves coverage, but journalists will stay independent.”
And, he shared that he has no intention of making journalists work for peanuts. “I care about people first. I want them to have a good life and the means to perform well.”
Stan is undecided on how many journalists the publication will fund throughout Europe, but shared that the company is calculating how many new quality pieces it needs monthly. He asserts:
“If I need 10 people, 20, or even 30, I’ll hire them. And if I need capital, it’s easy to raise it.”
According to Stan, the first order of business is to transfer the 100,000-plus TNW articles currently in FT's possession.
Plans for 2026 include an expanded TNW Conference, new SaaS and AI program tracks curated by Tekpon, and cross-regional executive programmes. The brand also plans to launch a 1,000-member exclusive TNW community called TNW Inner Circle — an exclusive community for founders and executives. It aims to help members succeed and to make Europe more competitive globally.
“Europe doesn’t fully know what’s coming, so we need strong networks” shared Stan.
“I’m a big fan of real journalism. I analyse articles deeply—why something was written, what’s behind it. There are not many tough tech journalists — you are one of them —, and Europe needs them.
With TNW, I want people — executives, founders — to share things they don’t usually share in public. That’s how we’ll build something meaningful.”
The state of tech media in Europe
It's not been an easy year for Europe’s tech media. Private equity firm Regent LP bought Techcrunch from Yahoo Inc. in March 2025 and shed the vast majority of its European office. June saw European layoffs at Business Insider by 21 per cent, and TNW’s media and event management closed in September.
That said, it's not all doom and gloom.
Defender Media was launched in April. etn began its YouTube channel in September, and Pathfounders started publishing articles in October.
In June, The Recursive tripled revenue, and announced the launch of a global advisory board. Resiliience Media bagged funding in August.
There are other acquisitions, too. Silicon Canals was sold to Brown Brothers Media in September, while EU-Startups was sold to MeOut Group in November. These moves reflect a broader consolidation across European tech media—but also raise questions about editorial integrity and long-term strategy.
However, the most controversial example is Silicon Canals, which has rapidly shifted away from its original newsroom model and now resembles an AI-driven content mill producing low-quality, click-optimised articles at scale.
Having seen this pattern before, I’m wary.
As I noted on LinkedIn, I previously worked at ReadWriteWeb — once one of the world’s top ten tech blogs, syndicated by The New York Times and ranked in Technorati’s top 100. After multiple ownership changes, it too devolved into AI-generated clickbait. It devalues the ecosystem for us all.
That said, competition is always a good thing. There are enough stories in Europe for all of us.
Disclosure: I’m a former Senior Writer at TNW, where I focused primarily on mobility. TNW always felt like FT’s errant little brother compared to the more stoic Sifted — but being under the FT banner had its perks.
People recognised the FT name, even if they’d never heard of your publication. And it’s the only newsroom I’ve ever worked for that paid out a Christmas bonus — much less to freelancers — so for that alone it has a place in my heart.
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