About us
Overview
Factal is a breaking news technology company that helps the world's largest organizations protect people, avoid disruptions and expedite disaster relief when global events put them at immediate risk.
Founded in 2018, Factal is the only company that combines instant social media discovery with trusted verification in a single platform. From outbreaks and active shootings to wildfires and severe weather, Factal blends AI technology with a 24/7 newsroom of experienced journalists to enable global organizations to see precisely where and how they're at risk in real time. Learn how Factal works.
Factal is trusted by many of the world's largest companies, technology platforms, newsrooms and NGOs for security, business continuity, crisis communications, disaster response and content verification. We provide our service for free for humanitarian aid NGOs and fact checkers. See our solutions and integration partners.
Based in Seattle with a London office, Factal was created by the founders of BreakingNews.com at NBC News. Scroll down to learn about our mission, team and investors. Interesting in learning more? We'd love to hear from you.
Mission
Factal is a news organization founded on a public service mission to protect people from imminent harm and help those in immediate need. We work hard to earn your trust through high standards in our code of ethics.
Our Story
Most startup stories begin with an idea. Factal's story begins with another organization called Breaking News.
Team
Charlie Tillinghast, co-founder and CEO
charlie@factal.com
Charlie was the President & CEO of MSNBC Interactive, LLC. where he chartered the formation of Breaking News as an internal startup under a separate brand. During Charlie’s 13-year tenure, msnbc.com was consistently the #1 news site, as measured by unique users. Following Microsoft’s 2012 divesture of its stake in the MSNBC joint venture, Charlie served as CEO of a video content security company in England; and later as CEO of Seattle-based Mixpo, Inc., a digital advertising platform that was acquired by Netsertive. Charlie is the 2015 recipient of Geekwire’s Hire of the Year award. He has an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA from Brown University.
Ben Tesch, co-founder and VP of technology
ben@factal.com
Ben was the co-founder, technical director and creative director of Breaking News, leading the technology and design teams. Earlier at NBC News, he was the manager of the Labs Group, an R&D group of developers and designers tasked with conceptualizing new products and businesses. Prior to NBC, Ben led the design and front-end development of Minnesota Public Radio and its network of websites for stations and programs, which won multiple Edward R. Murrow awards during his tenure. He also led the initial design and front-end development of American Public Media and its network of programs websites, one of which received a George Foster Peabody Award.
Cory Bergman, co-founder and VP of product
cory@factal.com
Cory was the co-founder and general manager of Breaking News. Earlier at MSNBC Interactive (msnbc.com), he worked as the director of new product development, identifying and fostering innovative product efforts. Prior to msnbc.com, Cory led the digital team at KING TV in Seattle, winning the highest national awards for a local TV site. Separately, he co-founded and built hyperlocal site MyBallard.com, which won a national Online Journalism Award; and Lost Remote, a popular media blog acquired by AdWeek. Prior to his work in digital, Cory covered breaking news for NBC News as an assignment editor and field producer. He has an MBA from the University of the Pacific.
Tyler Adams, senior marketing manager
Tyler is an experienced B2B marketer and public relations practitioner. He began his career in community management for Newsvine. Later, he served as Director of Community for NBC News Digital's family of websites. He's an alumnus of Goucher College - but graduating from Garfield High School comes up a lot more in Seattle.
Amanda Aldrich, developer
Amanda is a developer based in rural Idaho. After graduating from the University of Washington with a degree in Computer Science, she worked as an AI specialist and, more recently, as a full stack developer, before joining Factal. When not at her laptop, you can find Amanda out snapping photographs or working with the animals on her small farm.
Rebecca Bratek, senior editor
Rebecca was most recently a producer on CBS News’ social team, where she managed the network’s flagship accounts, produced videos and wrote on a variety of topics. Prior to that, she was an editor for Breaking News, where she focused on politics and helped plan coverage of the 2016 election. She has an MA from the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism in New York and a BA in English from the University at Buffalo.
Zira Cook, developer
Zira is a software developer and native Seattleite. She holds a degree in Computer Science from the University of Washington, and worked as a game developer before joining Factal. Her interests include backpacking, mechanical keyboards, and video game collecting.
Jessica Fino, editor
Jessica is a journalist who has worked for financial newswires and trade publications in the financial and educational sectors for the past five years. More recently, she was a reporter at Press Association's local data unit, covering health and government policy stories. She graduated from London Metropolitan University in 2011 after moving from Portugal, where she is from originally.
Imana Gunawan, editor
Imana is a Texas-born Indonesian multimedia journalist and dance artist. She was most recently a manager at Dataminr, where she led nightly coverage of Asia-Pacific news and regularly oversaw global coverage. Prior, she was an editor at Breaking News and producer for Humanosphere reporting on the humanitarian aid and development sectors. Her works have been published by NBC News, The Jordan Times, ColorBloc Magazine, and more. In her art, she creates surreal dance-based worlds that center stories of marginalized peoples, their ancestry, and their futures. She has performed and choreographed dance works across the US and internationally in Indonesia, Italy, and Jordan.
Bada Kim, managing editor
Most recently an editor at Agence France-Presse’s Asia hub in Hong Kong, Bada developed and launched the agency’s first Korean-language platform focusing on misinformation. Before this, she led Dataminr’s Asia desk in London, specialising in breaking news, and held roles at the Associated Press’ live video desk and South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency and Korean Broadcasting System, covering North Korea news.
Jeff Landset, editor
Jeff is an Emmy Award-winning journalist who has worked as a television news producer at stations in Massachusetts, Las Vegas and Seattle. He produced the coverage of a deadly Amtrak derailment that won a 2018 Murrow Award for best Newscast in the Pacific Northwest region. He has a master's degree in Broadcast Journalism from Syracuse University.
Corwin Light-Williams, developer
Corwin is a developer in Seattle, Washington. He has worked on everything from video games to biochemistry software, as well as the original Breaking News. His favorite drink is an Arnold Palmer.
Jimmy Lovaas, senior editor
Jimmy was most recently a manager at Dataminr, where he oversaw a team of domestic news domain experts and regularly supervised global coverage. Prior to that, he was an editor at Breaking News and a freelance reporter for Reuters, McClatchy, and The Seattle Times covering state and local politics, music events and crime. He’s covered virtually every type of major breaking news story. Jimmy came to journalism after graduating from the University of Washington with a BA in Journalism following more than 20 years of jobs ranging from flight attendant to retail manager. He loves cats.
Alex Moore, editor
Alex was most recently a part of the Domain Experts team at Dataminr where he oversaw coverage of breaking news from regions ranging from Eastern Europe to Latin America. Prior to moving to Seattle, he worked in the policy world in Washington, D.C., studying arms control and non-proliferation. He holds a master's degree in International Conflict and Security from the Brussels School of International Studies.
Ryan Nagle, senior developer
Ryan builds software to help others better understand and get along with the world around them. Before joining Factal, he spent time in the federal healthcare space, contributing to a variety of Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services projects, including HealthCare.gov. Going farther back, Ryan's also worked at several news organizations, including Breaking News.
Ahmed Namatalla, editor
Ahmed is a reporter and editor who relocated to the US in 2017 after spending more than 13 years in the Middle East, based in Cairo and Dubai. He was a member of the Bloomberg News team that covered the Arab Spring and its aftermath across the region, writing extensively about economic crises that broke out in North Africa and the rising political and economic influence of Persian Gulf countries. He is fluent in Arabic and a graduate of Washington State University.
Ryan Ockuly, director of sales
ryan@factal.com
Ryan is a sales executive with startup, growth and management experience in security, unified communication, life safety and emergency communication. Ryan has designed, sold and managed successful delivery of technology solutions and service at the enterprise level for Fortune 1000, healthcare, education and government organizations. Prior to joining Factal, Ryan worked nine years at Alertus Technologies where he was an integral part of growth in sales, product development, partnerships and OEM channel relationships.
Sophie Perryer, senior editor
Sophie has written for the Press Association, the Independent, the Sunday Times and Condé Nast, covering global politics, economics, technology and travel. She completed her journalism training with the Press Association following her graduation from King's College London. Sophie speaks fluent French and previously lived in Paris.
Jacob Quinn Sanders, developer
A versatile reporter and editor for more than a decade before becoming a software developer, Jacob is intimately familiar with covering, supervising and building technology around breaking news events. He began covering law-enforcement on both coasts and in the South before reimagining crucial real-time workflows and content strategies at Western Pennsylvania's largest news operation. After a jump into tech, he wrote software relied on during statewide emergencies.
Jillian Stampher, head of news
jillian@factal.com
Jillian is a journalist with a focus on news editing and mobile platforms. Most recently at HuffPost, she worked as a front page editor, assigning and editing evening news coverage, often as the only editor on the site. While there, Jillian helped redevelop HuffPost’s editorial mobile initiatives, tracking alert analytics and coordinating the launch of push categories. Prior to HuffPost, Jillian was an editor at Breaking News, where she covered major stories from the aftermath of the Boston bombing to the Nice terrorist attack while also growing Breaking News’ social platforms.
Rea-Lynne Starbird, member success manager
Rea-Lynne is a Member Success expert from Orlando, Florida. She graduated from the University of Florida. She worked at Chick-Fil-A throughout her time in school, and became passionate for providing meaningful customer experiences. She worked as a social media manager and photographer, learning to create unique content that fosters relationships and loyalty with customers. Most recently, she was the customer success manager for POS Nation.
Brian Stoots, developer
A long-time software developer striving to create elegant software platforms that allow humans to get things done. Before joining Factal he was involved in a diverse set of projects ranging from Public Health to Robotics. Hailing from the City of Bridges, Brian enjoys craft brewing, motorbikes, and telling stories with friends.
Mary Taft, sales development manager
mary@factal.com
Mary was a Project Manager at MSNBC.com in the sales group where she managed client sponsorship and advertising campaigns, oversaw the 2002 Olympic schedules, worked closely with the Editorial team and interfaced with such NBC programming as the Today Show, Dateline and Meet the Press. Before that, Mary worked in sales at King5, Redhat and Visio (acquired by Microsoft). Mary attended the University of Washington and currently resides in Bend, Oregon.
Joe Veyera, editor
Joe was the editor of the Queen Anne & Magnolia News, managing the news operation of a hyperlocal weekly paper in Seattle. During his tenure, the paper won the Small Business Award from the Queen Anne Chamber of Commerce. Before becoming editor, he briefly served as staff reporter for the full chain of neighborhood papers operated by Pacific Publishing. He graduated from the journalism program at the University of Washington, and served as editor of the campus newspaper, The Daily.
Irene Villora, editor
Irene is a multi-lingual journalist based in London who has worked for Agencia EFE and for Thomson Reuters as a visuals breaking news editor. She worked in Colombia between 2016 and 2019, where she specialised in the coverage of Latin American news and conflict in the region. More recently she worked in Poland for one year. She previously worked as a lifestyle, gastronomy and culture writer in Spain, where she's from. She graduated from the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid on a full scholarship.
Vivian Wang, editor
Before joining Factal, Vivian led news coverage of the Asia-Pacific as part of the Domain Expert team at Dataminr. Her area of expertise is East Asia, and she is proficient in Japanese, Mandarin, and Cantonese. She has a BS in International Relations from Carnegie Mellon University. She grew up in Southern California and is now based in Seattle.
David Wyllie, editorial development manager
Most recently a senior journalist for BBC News, David was one of the first employees of Breaking News and a London-based editor for six years. While at Breaking News at NBC News, he was on the Emmy-winning team covering the downing of MH17. David also served as notifications editor for Sky News.
Advisors
Stephanie Clary
Stephanie Clary is vice president of Digital Entertainment at VICE. She was previously the director of social publishing for CNN, the managing editor at Mic and the managing editor for Breaking News. Stephanie shares a Pulitzer Prize with The Seattle Times staff for the 2010 breaking news coverage of the 2009 Lakewood police shooting. She also shares the 2016 Gannett Foundation Award for Technical Innovation with the Breaking News staff and a SPJ Northwest Excellence in Journalism award for her coverage of the 2010 winter Olympics. For her work at CNN, she shares 2019 Edward R. Murrow, Webby and Shorty awards with her team.
Mike Davidson
Mike Davidson is vice president of Partnerships & Community at InVision. Before joining InVision, he spent three years building the Design & Research org at Twitter. Mike has also worked in design leadership roles at NBCNews, ESPN, Disney, as well as founding his own company, Newsvine, which was eventually acquired by MSNBC. Mike earned a B.A. in Business Administration from the University of Washington and studied Creative Advertising and Management at the University of Oxford.
Steve Dowling
Steve Dowling is vice president of Communications at OpenAI in San Francisco. He began his career as a broadcast journalist, covering Washington, D.C. for CNBC and establishing the network's Silicon Valley bureau. He later served as vice president of Communications at Apple.
Hanson Hosein
Hanson Hosein is the co-founder of the Communication Leadership graduate program at the University of Washington and the President of HRH Media Group LLC, a media production and communications strategy firm. He's an award-winning documentary filmmaker and former broadcast journalist, earning an Emmy while working with NBC News in overseas conflict zones. Hanson hosts the UW's "Co-Existing with COVID-19" Public Lectures series, and leads conversations on misinformation in partnership with the UW Center for an Informed Public. He’s presently intent on recalibrating the power dynamic between people and technology as Co-Principal of MIRA! — Mobilize Innovation, Reimagine Agency — a community-first approach to learning and innovation.
Mandy Jenkins
Mandy Jenkins is general manager of The Compass Experiment, a partnership between Google and McClatchy to explore sustainable business models for local news. Compass has launched two digital-only local news operations: Mahoning Matters, in Youngstown, Ohio in October of 2019 and The Longmont Leader in Longmont, Colorado in May 2020. Prior to her work with Compass, Mandy was a 2019 John S. Knight journalism fellow at Stanford University, where she studied the disconnection between disinformation consumers and mainstream news. She has served in leadership roles at Storyful and Digital First Media’s Project Thunderdome and has driven innovative digital and social journalism projects within The Huffington Post, TBD.com, The Cincinnati Enquirer and The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Mandy is on the Board of Directors for the News Leaders Association and is former board president of the Online News Association.
Investors
Factal's seed investment round was led by SeaChange Fund in Seattle with additional funding by Grubstakes, Frontier Angels, Sierra Angels, OF Partners and Dave Smith.
Press
Breaking News founders launch Factal, delivering real-time news and incident alerts to companies
GeekWire (August 2018)
This Startup Wants To Sell Verified Breaking News Alerts To Companies
BuzzFeed (August 2018)
I want bad news and I want it fast: That’s the business model for Factal, a business-focused company from the founders of Breaking News
NiemanLab (August 2018)
For press inquiries, email us at hello@factal.com
Jobs
We're always on the lookout for news editors, developers and sales execs. Factal is headquartered in downtown Seattle with offices in New York and London. Interested in learning more? Email us at jobs@factal.com
Interns (US-based)
Factal, a breaking news startup based in Seattle, is offering two paid summer internships for students or recent graduates looking to build a career in digital journalism, with a priority for applicants in the New York and Seattle area. Under this program, an intern will help run a real-time breaking news feed, gathering and verifying reports from around the world. Students work in a forward-thinking newsroom experimenting with unique digital products and with part of a small team of editors based out of Seattle, New York and London whose backgrounds vary from BBC, CBS, Agence France-Presse, HuffPost and Bloomberg News.
This is a part-time paid internship of 24-28 hours per week at $16.69 an hour, and would include evenings and weekends. It is open to college juniors, seniors, and graduating seniors, as well as graduate students. Experience working as an editor or reporter in a newsroom, or past internships, is preferred. There is some flexibility with start and end dates. Work will be remote.
An ideal candidate would:
- Be located in New York City, Seattle or in either time zone and open to remote work
- Be a degree-seeking student majoring in journalism, or with proven experience in journalism
- Have excellent real-time news judgment in a high-pressure environment
- Have the ability to write quickly, accurately and well
- Has a knack for finding and making sense of news events from social media
- Has experience using digital tools and techniques for verifying information
- Thrives in breaking news situations and can cope with strong online content
- Is a self-starter who works well with others in a startup environment
- Must be authorized to work in the United States without visa sponsorship
To apply:
- Send a cover letter, resume, and three news clips to hello@factal.com. Include contacts for at least two references.
- Deadline: May 15
Interns (London-based)
Factal is a breaking news technology company that helps the world's largest organizations protect people, avoid disruptions and expedite disaster relief when global events put them at immediate risk. We’re launching an internship programme to offer aspiring journalists the chance to gain valuable experience in a fast-paced newsroom environment and learn from our skilled global team of editors.
What you’ll bring to Factal:
- You’re a current university student or recent graduate in journalism or a journalism-related field.
- You can demonstrate your commitment to journalism, either through work experience such as a university paper or writing a personal blog.
- You’re organized, diligent and confident working autonomously.
- You’ll identify with our key mission to protect people by providing them with the facts.
- (Desirable but not required) You’re able to understand multiple languages.
This is a paid internship. We’re particularly interested in hearing from candidates who are underrepresented in journalism or who have struggled to gain newsroom experience as a result of economic circumstances.
What Factal can offer you:
- Factal covers every single kind of breaking news event, across the world, on a 24-hour rolling news schedule. During your three-month internship, you’ll gain an understanding of how we ensure our coverage is both rapid and accurate during fast-moving stories.
- You’ll learn how to use social media tools to discover and verify news stories.
- You’ll learn about our journalistic code of ethics and understand how our editors apply those standards to their reporting.
- You’ll create a portfolio of breaking news coverage which you can draw on in any future role.
- You’ll be first in line for consideration when a permanent opportunity to join the Factal team arises.
Interns will work with us on a part-time basis (24 hours per week) which will include a weekend shift. You will be paid the London Living Wage. You’ll begin working remotely and will join us in our London Bridge office once coronavirus restrictions allow.
We offer equal employment opportunities to all candidates. Factal does not discriminate in employment on the basis of race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy and gender identity), national origin, political affiliation, sexual orientation, marital status, disability, genetic information, age, membership in an employee organization, retaliation, parental status, military service or other non-merit factor.
To apply, send a copy of your resume to hello@factal.com.
Product Design Lead
Factal is looking for an experienced front-end web/app designer to join our Seattle-based technology team (remote candidates welcome). Factal is a quickly-growing news and technology startup that provides real-time coverage and data to help protect people from harm and help those in need. We think of breaking news in a fundamentally new way, applying journalists and technologists together to solve new information problems in an increasingly volatile world.
We’re looking for a designer to join our team and lead all aspects of product design at Factal. As the sole designer on the team, you’ll get to work at all levels: everything from contributing to the product roadmap, all the way through to crafting delightful micro-interactions, as well as building out our brand and design patterns across our applications, web site, and sales & marketing materials. We have client web and mobile applications (a blend of features akin to working on Twitter, Facebook, Maps, and News apps), as well as administrative interfaces that need good design thinking and execution.
This is a senior-level full-time design role at an early-stage startup. You’ll be leading multiple initiatives from start to finish, working collaboratively with others, as well as executing design work as an individual contributor. We are a small and agile company, so you can have a huge impact on shaping the product, and will have the opportunity to grow your skills and role.
The ideal candidate:
- Has 5+ years experience designing consumer software
- Has a diverse portfolio of shipped work
- Has experience taking customer and business goals and applying the design process to deliver practical and creative solutions
- Likes working in environments where you are empowered to find projects and make decisions on your own
- Prefers to work for a small company, one with a mission, and wants to contribute
Factal pays competitively, and we offer equal employment opportunities to all candidates. Factal does not discriminate in employment on the basis of race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy and gender identity), national origin, political affiliation, sexual orientation, marital status, disability, genetic information, age, membership in an employee organization, retaliation, parental status, military service or other non-merit factor.
Interested? Apply here!
Mobile developer
Factal is looking for an experienced mobile developer to join our Seattle-based technology team (remote candidates welcome). The ideal candidate would have experience with native iOS and/or Android app development, or an interest and flexibility to do both.
Factal is a quickly-growing news and technology startup that provides real-time coverage and data to help protect people from harm and help those in need. We think of breaking news in a fundamentally new way, applying journalists and technologists together to solve new information problems in an increasingly volatile world. Our apps are a blend of features and technologies akin to working on Twitter, Facebook, Maps, and News apps.
The ideal candidate:
- Can develop a platform-native app from scratch to release
- Has experience working on high-use, large-scale applications
- Has experience with geolocation, real-time publishing, notifications, or mapping
- Has a strong design sense and attention to detail
- Doesn't need complex instructions/specs/workflows to get things done
- Can work with a small, distributed team
- Prefers to work for a small company, one with a mission, and wants to contribute
Factal pays competitively, and we offer equal employment opportunities to all candidates. Factal does not discriminate in employment on the basis of race, color, religion, sex (including pregnancy and gender identity), national origin, political affiliation, sexual orientation, marital status, disability, genetic information, age, membership in an employee organization, retaliation, parental status, military service or other non-merit factor.
Interested? Apply here!
