Tortoise revealed

The business acumen behind Tortoise Media underestimated their Kickstarter market potential yesterday. They launched a bid for £75,000 - and, at time of writing, have reached 153% of their goal with thirty days still to go. 

A laid back video, with James (Harding), Katie (Vanneck-Smith)  Matthew (Barzun) explains the Tortoise concept, with the Harding family pet, Agatha, on hand - not yet in hibernation. £250 a year gets you access to the news site and app, with no ads. It will offer a minimum of five stories a day, on the themes of technology, natural resources, identity, finance and longevity. There'll be a digital quarterly of 'long reads'.

Members will have a chance to take part in daily ThinkIns, a sort of traditional morning news conference where hacks debate the day's agenda. Some of these meetings will be held around the country, with Tortoise on Tour.

Kickstarter subscribers get various goodies and discounted rates. We're promised the first proper stories in January 2019.