We are pleased to announce that Palumba.org has been named the second-place winner in the 2026 Venture Challenge (Media Track), hosted by the Brown Institute for Media Innovation in partnership with StartUp Columbia. Out of eighteen initial entries, Palumba.org was selected as one of eight finalists to pitch to a panel of industry experts. We were awarded $10,000 in funding to support our ongoing mission: understanding and engaging the next generation of voters.
This recognition comes as we continue to build on the momentum of the past two years. Since our initial launch ahead of the 2024 European Elections, Palumba has reached nearly 200,000 users. Following successful deployments in the 2025 German Federal Elections and the New York Mayoral Elections, we are now refining our platform for a broader stage.
The Brown Institute noted a fundamental insistence on reliable media and information integrity across this year’s cohort, a theme that sits at the core of our work. We congratulate our colleagues at SiSe and Hey Kahani for their important work and promising ventures. On our end, as we look toward the 2026-2027 election cycle, our focus remains on providing trustworthy information about candidate platforms to those who need it most.
We are not resting on this achievement, as our vision still needs more work and resources. Yet our sense of urgency and purpose is renewed after seeing how a respected institution with expert knowledge in this space belives we can help make a difference. For this reason, we look forward to working with them to meet the scale of the challenges ahead for democracy and election information integrity.
