Interview with Kirill Artemenko: Building trust and sustainable business model

”We get 40 % of our revenues selling VPNs that we developed ourselves”, says Kirill Artemenko, co-founder of Bumaga. This innovative idea came about after the Russian media was forced into exile following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Bumaga was one of Russia’s largest independent regional media outlets. Following the invasion, the Russian government blocked access to Bumaga’s website, accusing them of spreading “fake information about the military operation in Ukraine”. In response, Bumaga made the decision to go into exile. Despite the challenges they faced, they managed to establish a strong and viable media company in exile.

”Now we needed to find a new business model fast”. Bumaga’s idea was as simple as it was genial. They capitalized on the trust associated with their brand and the loyalty of their previous 2 million readers. They developed their own VPN, leveraging the expertise of their IT team and their good relationship with Google.

”The reason people buy our VPN is that we are well-known, they know we are independent and they know that we don’t collect and sell their data. People trust us, and that trust is our most valuable asset.” The VPN they created was user-friendly and easy to install. However, using a VPN carries inherent risks, so trust in the seller was crucial.

Although Bumaga does receive some support, such as from Fojo Media Institute (Linnaeus University), they aim at avoiding being reliant on donor funding. ”You cannot rely on donor funding if you want to build a sustainable business model. Donor funding is not forever, it can only be a temporary solution”, says Kirill Artemenko.

Bumaga has diversified their offerings and now sells two different versions of their VPN at a low price range (2.5-4 euros). They have effectively marketed the VPN through influential YouTubers who share similar values and interests.

Currently, they have 17,000 paying VPN subscribers and their customer base is growing at a rate of 10-15% per month. As the number of VPN customers increases, so does the trust in their brand, leading to more editorial subscribers. This symbiotic relationship between VPN subscriptions, trust and editorial customers is beneficial for the business and ensures their news are spread, both within Russia and those abroad. Check out this site if you want to know more: https://papervpn.io/