Predge, an Africa-focused earned-media technology platform, has launched with a mission to challenge the traditional public relations model by creating a direct digital channel between organisations with newsworthy stories and journalists looking for relevant information.
Owned by Predge Media Tech Limited, the platform is designed to change how organisations distribute news, campaigns and story opportunities, while giving journalists a dedicated workspace to discover verified stories, connect with sources and manage editorial opportunities.
Predge is positioning itself as a technology layer between communications teams and newsrooms at a time when both sides are under pressure to work faster, operate digitally and make media engagement more measurable. Rather than relying primarily on conventional press-release distribution and broad media outreach, the platform uses a matching approach designed to connect stories with journalists based on their reporting interests and beats.
Gloria Agbomadzi, founder and CEO of Predge, said the platform was developed to address inefficiencies that persist in the relationship between organisations and the media.
‘Public relations has evolved, but much of the technology supporting it hasn’t kept pace,’ Agbomadzi said.
She said Predge was designed to reduce the amount of time organisations spend pursuing coverage and the time journalists spend searching for relevant stories.
‘With Predge, we have built a more intentional and efficient way for both sides to share and discover relevant information,’ she said.
The platform is currently in beta, with features including structured story submissions, journalist discovery, campaign management, relationship tracking, story-interest management and collaboration tools.
Predge said these tools are intended to give organisations greater precision when reaching media contacts while allowing journalists more control over the stories they choose to pursue.
The company is targeting a potential pool of more than 1,000 media houses across sub-Saharan Africa and is onboarding organisations from sectors including fast-moving consumer goods, finance, fintech, business, agriculture, creative industries, manufacturing and energy.
The scale of the ambition places Predge in an emerging category of African media technology seeking to digitise an area of communications that has traditionally depended heavily on personal contacts, email pitches, press releases and manual relationship management.
Akinkunmi Obakeye, non-executive director at Predge, said technology could help address longstanding trust and relevance problems between journalists and communications professionals.
‘Predge will build trust, relevance and efficiency for both communicators and journalists by adopting technology in an ever-evolving ecosystem,’ Obakeye said.
He added that the platform could help reduce misunderstandings between the two sides by reshaping how stories are discovered, verified, reported and distributed.
The technology underpinning the platform includes a matching algorithm, real-time live chat and analytics, alongside structured, role-specific onboarding, according to Olanrewaju Balogun, technical co-founder of Predge.
Balogun said the development team built the platform around the practical workflow of journalists searching for stories and communications professionals seeking more effective ways to distribute information.
‘This is just the beginning. We will learn, iterate and improve as we deliver value to both sides of the exchange for journalists and communications professionals,’ he said.
Predge’s launch comes as organisations increasingly seek measurable returns from communications spending, while newsrooms contend with tighter resources, growing information volumes and the need to identify credible and relevant stories quickly.
The platform’s proposition therefore goes beyond simply providing another channel for press releases. Its longer-term ambition is to become what the company describes as an ‘operating system’ for modern earned-media relations, incorporating newsroom collaboration, media intelligence, analytics and relationship management.
The company, however, is entering the market while still in beta and says it is continuing to refine its features based on how organisations and journalists use the platform. Predge said registration is now open to organisations and journalists as it begins expanding its network across Africa.