Impact Report
Message from our Founder & Publisher and Editor-in-Chief
Anup Kaphle
Editor-in-Chief
Sophie Schmidt
Founder & Publisher
Dear readers:
2024 was a year of acceleration, disruption, and reinvention. From the rapid deployment of AI tools to the evolution of electric and autonomous vehicles, technology surged ahead — often outpacing regulation, governance, and even (occasionally) our collective understanding of its consequences. At the same time, global fault lines deepened. Longstanding economic alliances frayed, supply chains became liabilities, and nearly half of the world’s population voted in elections shadowed by digital disinformation and cyberthreats.
Rest of World exists to make sense of these seismic shifts. Technology is more than just an industry: It’s the most revealing signal of how societies are evolving, what they value, and where power is shifting. That’s why our journalism spans borders, connecting local stories to global trends, and bringing voices from every part of the world into the conversation.
In 2024, our reporting stretched across 39 countries, uncovering stories that shaped our understanding of the world’s technological trajectory:
AI innovation: Our AI coverage tracked breakthroughs, regulatory setbacks, and unexpected applications — showing that, for now, innovation is moving faster than governance. We also launched our AI Elections Tracker, looking at AI-driven misinformation in global elections, and the results surprised many: While AI-generated content flooded social media, its actual impact on electoral outcomes was limited. Why? One reason: Elections in developing economies are already really noisy. So a bit more AI-generated noise didn’t move the needle.
China and the global tech order: The U.S.-China tech rivalry dominated headlines, but we went further, bringing our readers perspectives from inside China (and Chinese perspectives from outside the country), beyond the usual geopolitical binaries. Our coverage shed light on how Chinese innovation is evolving under pressure and the growing influence of its technology abroad.
EVs and autonomous vehicles: China led the charge in EV production and sales in 2024, and our reporting covered both the Chinese EV boom and all the local rivals trying to break into the market. Certainly an area where the West is very quickly falling behind. At the heart of our coverage, we examine the most crucial question: Despite the enthusiasm, will there be enough energy, affordability, and supply chain resilience to sustain this transformation?
Amid all the uncertainty, people remain at the heart of every story we tell. Too often, tech journalism focuses on industry competition — who’s winning, who’s losing — while missing the human narratives that reveal how technology is actually transforming lives. In 2024, we uncovered stories of resilience, ingenuity, and unexpected connections, from a delivery app in Kashmir to tiny Bhutan’s first AI startup to the myriad ways technology intersects with faith.
What’s next?
Impact in journalism takes many forms. We’re proud that our work has sparked investigative follow-ups in major media outlets, brought new voices into global debates, and expanded access to high-quality reporting: free, multilingual, in audio and text. In 2025, thanks to your support, we’re doubling down by:
Expanding our China coverage to capture the nuances of its evolving tech landscape
Investing in AI, mobility, and innovation reporting — three areas where the pace of transformation is only speeding up, with significant consequences for both success and failure
Launching dedicated coverage of the Middle East, an increasingly influential tech hub and a tremendous source of innovation and capital
None of this would be possible without our readers and supporters. Thank you for trusting us to navigate this moment — and for believing in the power of global storytelling.
About Us
Our Mission
Rest of World challenges expectations about whose experiences with technology matter.
We connect the dots across a rapidly evolving digital world, through on-the-ground reporting in places typically overlooked and underestimated.
Who We Are
Rest of World is an award-winning global nonprofit newsroom that reports on how tech is transforming the daily lives of billions of people outside the West. Our reporting covers everything from electric vehicles to gig work to e-commerce to AI, all while delivering an immersive reader experience.
The premise for Rest of World is simple: Of the world’s 5 billion internet users, 4 billion people live in emerging markets. Places like Hanoi, Lagos, and Buenos Aires are using tech to innovate in unexpected ways and shaping how people live, work, and play. And until five years ago, there were no dedicated outlets covering these ecosystems or their effects on global markets.
Our journalism fills a massive information gap in the West by delivering deeply reported and visually rich stories. We are the only English-language publication that tells global tech stories in ways that not only inform our readers, but surprise and delight them.
“Lots of newspapers have international news, but Rest of World is so different. It’s the only publication I’ve seen that covers things in an ‘internationally local’ way.”
ARAVIND, SOFTWARE DEVELOPER
INDIA
We reported on 39 countries in 2024
Our Audience
750,000+
80%
67
50%
We reach more than 750K Rest of World readers per month across all platforms and channels.
Our readers find us primarily from search and via direct links and our newsletter. Social media platforms also drive readership.
About two-thirds of our readers are located in the U.S., India, the U.K., and Canada, with the remaining audience represented by the additional vast number of countries we reported on.
Demographically, over half of our readers are between the ages of 25 and 44 with 80% having a bachelor’s degree or higher. A majority of our readers work in tech, followed by nonprofits, government, and policy.
“Your coverage is fantastic. We need your perspective more than ever in the U.S. at this time in history.”
JENNIFER, PROGRAM MANAGER
UNITED STATES
Impact
The North Star for Rest of World has always been impact. Our reporting continues to drive meaningful change across industries and regions, holding Fortune 500 corporations and governments accountable while amplifying the voices of those most affected by technological and economic shifts. Our stories have sparked policy discussions, corporate reforms, new opportunities for workers and communities worldwide, and won top awards in the media industry.
Here are some of the most impactful stories from this year and the real-world changes they inspired.
Change + Accountability
Glovo, a global food delivery giant, claimed it provided health insurance for Nigerian delivery riders injured on the job. But in May 2024, Rest of World spoke to five riders who said the app had refused to cover their medical expenses for accidents caused while making deliveries. Consequently, hundreds of delivery workers for Glovo protested in Nigeria, accusing the company of creating an unrealistic and unclear insurance policy and process through a Spanish company, which had made it harder for workers to submit claims and seek reimbursement.
As a result of Rest of World’s reporting of Glovo’s refusal to pay health costs for its delivery riders, the company onboarded a local insurance partner to handle health insurance claims and started reimbursing its workers.
Gig riders who spoke to Rest of World have since told us that the local insurance partner, Sanlam General Insurance Ltd., started reaching out to them about unpaid insurance claims in August and began making the payments in September. This policy shift marks a major victory for gig workers in Nigeria, many of whom rely on these benefits for their safety and well-being. Rest of World’s reporting not only exposed the inadequacies in Glovo’s insurance system, but also helped bring tangible improvements for the riders who power the platform.
In Southeast Asia, food delivery platforms have long imposed restrictive noncompete clauses on their riders, preventing them from working for multiple platforms simultaneously. These clauses limited workers’ earning potential and flexibility, forcing them to rely on a single platform for income. Rest of World reporter Lam Le delved into the issue, speaking with riders, labor advocates, and legal experts to uncover how these clauses were stifling workers’ livelihoods.
Midway through Lam’s reporting, ShopeeFood, one of the region’s largest delivery platforms, dropped its noncompete clause. While the company did not explicitly credit Rest of World’s investigation, the timing of the policy change coincided with Lam’s outreach to Shopee. The removal of the clause has since allowed riders to work across multiple platforms, significantly improving their earning potential and job security.
This story underscores the power of investigative journalism to influence corporate policies and create tangible benefits for workers. By shedding light on restrictive labor practices, Rest of World continues to advocate for fairer working conditions in the gig economy.
The Philippines is home to one of the world’s largest call center industries, employing millions of workers who serve as the backbone of global customer service operations. The introduction of advanced AI tools, however, has made these jobs increasingly challenging, with workers facing heightened surveillance, unrealistic performance metrics, and job insecurity.
Rest of World’s reporting exposed how companies were using AI to monitor and evaluate call center workers, often leading to unfair dismissals and increased stress. Our story, which featured firsthand accounts from workers and insights from labor advocates, prompted immediate action. The companies mentioned in the report launched internal investigations, and one worker who had been unfairly terminated was reinstated. A lawyer involved in the case noted that the companies’ actions infringed on workers’ free speech rights, highlighting the broader implications of AI-driven workplace surveillance.
In response to Rest of World’s reporting, the Code AI coalition — a group of tech workers and advocates — was invited to participate in a labor task force informing an AI regulation bill in the Philippines. This marks a significant step toward ensuring that AI tools are used ethically and workers’ rights are protected in the digital age.
Awards and Recognition
In 2024, Rest of World took home our first National Magazine Award in the highly competitive Design category. The win marks the first time a digital publication has received this prestigious honor in the category.
The three prize-winning stories were 40 companies that are beating the West, How AI reduces the world to stereotypes, and China, the world’s shopping cart.
Online Journalism Awards
Society of Publishers in Asia
Society For News Design 45
Picture of the Year International
Society for Advancing Business Editing and Writing Best in Business Awards
High-Profile Citations
Rest of World’s journalists are routinely featured as experts who are interviewed and cited by prominent media and cultural organizations across the globe. Some examples include discussing Worldcoin on Al Jazeera, e-bike batteries on the BBC, TikTok Shop and the livestream shopping trend in China on NPR, Temu shopping lists on Bloomberg, the AI Elections Tracker at the Reuters Institute, and the fate of Microsoft’s China-based AI engineers at the Asia Society.
Because we’re often the first on the ground to cover a product, service, or entrepreneur, our reporting is often copied. The New York Times published a story fashioned three months after our original reporting on how Chinese TikTok experts are teaching Americans to livestream-sell. Bloomberg copied our story on Bhutan’s first AI startup in its newsletter. And PC Magazine quickly duped our story on Uruguay being a hot spot for importing Teslas.
Financials
Income & Expenses
View our financial statements
Donor Recognition
As a nonprofit organization, Rest of World relies on financial support from private foundations and individuals to deliver on our mission. We are grateful to all our donors, especially those who contributed more than $1,000. Thank you for investing in our journalism!
Institutional donors
Individual donors
Ming Yeow Ng
Peter and Lynn Wendell
Wendy Schmidt
Amy Rao
Jonathan Rosenberg
Kimberly Pressman
“The photojournalism you have is really important… It really grounds you in these places around the world.
TAYLOR, SOFTWARE ENGINEER
MEXICO
Leadership
Board of Directors
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Sophie Schmidt
Founder & Publisher,
Rest of World -
Raju Narisetti
Leader, Global Publishing,
McKinsey & Company -
Anup Kaphle
Editor-in-Chief,
ex officio, Rest of World
Leadership Team
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Sophie Schmidt
Founder & Publisher
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Anup Kaphle
Editor-in-Chief
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Eli Berger
Chief Operating Officer
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Michael Donohoe
Chief Product Officer
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Christine Glancey
Executive Editor
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Emily Tracy
Chief Development Officer
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Michael Zelenko
Executive Editor
