About Mental Floss
Mental Floss is a Media & Entertainment company based in New York (United States) founded in 2001 by Mangesh Hattikudur and Will Pearson, and was acquired by MinuteMedia in September 2018. Educational articles and quizzes are published online on diverse topics. Its website mentalfloss.com draws about 3.5 million monthly visits. Mental Floss offers products and services including Mental Floss Website and Newsletters. Its focus areas include Internet First Media, Lifestyle, Thematic and Knowledge Gaining. Its competitors include Brightly, LittleThings and Puck; 2 of its 3 listed competitors have raised funding.
Company details
Mental Floss was established in 2001 in New York, United States, as an online platform in the digital media sector. Content focused on knowledge acquisition is delivered through articles covering history, science, pop culture, language, music, true crime, and entertainment. Quizzes and inspirational stories are also featured to engage users. Operations center on content publishing accessible via mentalfloss.com.
- Headquarters New York, United States
- Founders Mangesh Hattikudur, Will Pearson
- Stage Acquired
- SectorsMedia & Entertainment
- Website category News and Media
- Email••••••••
- Website mentalfloss.com
- Social LinkedIn X Facebook Instagram YouTube
- Acquired by MinuteMedia (Sep 2018)
- Investors
- Acquired byMinuteMedia
(Sep 2018)
Products & Services of Mental Floss
Mental Floss offers a comprehensive portfolio of products and services, including Mental Floss Website and Newsletters.
Website for accessing articles, quizzes, and videos on various topics
Email updates delivering fun facts and entertainment content regularly
Apps and channels of Mental Floss
its YouTube channel Mental Floss has 256 subscribers and 30 videos.
Videos from Mental Floss
The most watched videos on Mental Floss's YouTube channel, Mental Floss (256 subscribers). Click a video to play it here.
More on Mental Floss.
Investors in Mental Floss
Mental Floss has secured backing from 1 investor. Prominent investors backing the company include MinuteMedia.
| Investor | Description | Founded Year | Domain | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Provider of digital content and advertising solutions for publishers and advertisers | 2011 | minutemedia.com | New York, United States |
Investor details for Mental Floss
The complete investor list, round-by-round participation and investor portfolios require an active premium plan.
- Complete investor list
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Verified entity values are shown only after access is granted.
People of Mental Floss
3 people are tracked at Mental Floss (3 in leadership).
| Name | Role | Group |
|---|---|---|
Mangesh Hattikudur | Co-Founder | Leadership |
Will Pearson | Co-Founder | Leadership |
Sikandar Mulani | CEO | Leadership |
Complete people profiles for Mental Floss
Full employee and board profiles, team structure, tenure and professional contact details require an active premium plan.
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- Team structure
- Board tenure
- Professional contacts
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Timeline of Mental Floss
2 dated milestones of Mental Floss across 17 years, from founding to its latest funding, stage changes and deals.
- Founded Mental Floss is founded.
- Exit Acquired by MinuteMedia.
Competitors of Mental Floss
Mental Floss has 3 listed competitors in our database, 2 of them funded. They include Brightly, LittleThings and Puck.
| Company Name | Domain | Founded | HQ Location | Total funding | Employees | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| brightly.eco | 2018 | San Francisco, United States | $1.9M | 185 | Online platform offering diversified lifestyle news | |
| littlethings.com | 2014 | New York, United States | 93 | Digital media platform with inspirational content | ||
| puck.news | 2021 | Brooklyn, United States | $20M | Blogs on Hollywood, media, fashion, and related topics are published. |
Detailed competitors of Mental Floss
The full competitor set, operating metrics and side-by-side benchmarks require an active premium plan.
- Full competitor set
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Web traffic of Mental Floss
The website of Mental Floss (mentalfloss.com) receives about 3.5M visits a month and ranks #18,497 among all websites worldwide, #1,660 in News and Media.
- Monthly visits3.5M
▼ 6.2% vs previous month
- Unique visitors2M
per month
- Global rank#18,497
among all websites
- Category rank#1,660
News and Media
- Bounce rate63%
- Pages per visit2.1
- Average visit1 min 17 sec
- DevicesDesktop 27% · Mobile 73%
Websites whose visitors overlap most with Mental Floss. Affinity shows how closely the audiences match.
| Website | Domain | Audience affinity | Monthly visits | Global rank | Profile |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| boingboing.net | 100% | #25,028 | View details | ||
| fark.com | 84% | #19,273 | View details | ||
linkiest.com | linkiest.com | 82% | #377,568 | – | |
twistedsifter.com | twistedsifter.com | 80% | #13,473 | – | |
smithsonianmag.com | smithsonianmag.com | 79% | #12,993 | – | |
| •••••••••• | ••••••.com | ••% | •.•M | #••••• | – |
| •••••••••• | ••••••.com | ••% | •.•M | #••••• | – |
| •••••••••• | ••••••.com | ••% | •.•M | #••••• | – |
All 40 similar websites and full traffic analytics for Mental Floss
The complete similar-websites list, audience overlap and engagement analytics require an active premium plan.
- 40 similar websites
- Audience overlap
- Engagement analytics
- Traffic by brand
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Top companies in DTC Media Innovators
3 companies that operate in the same segment as Mental Floss (DTC Media Innovators) in United States, ranked by their profile score on The Company Check.
| Company | Description | Founded | Location | Total funding | Revenue | Employees |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Multi-category news is delivered through an app-based platform. | 2016 | Arlington, Virginia, United States | USD 30 M | 356 | ||
Online platform publishing content focusing on investment | 2011 | Chicago, Illinois, United States | USD 60.4 M | |||
Subscription-based sports media is delivered to local premium audiences. | 2016 | Chicago, Illinois, United States | USD 134.42 M |
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Related news about Mental Floss
Complete news archive for Mental Floss
Full article history, source details, and older brand coverage require an active premium plan.
- Full article archive
- Source and publication date
- Older coverage
- Brand-specific news history
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Frequently Asked Questions about Mental Floss
Mental Floss was founded in 2001.
Mental Floss is headquartered in New York, United States. It is registered at New York, New York, United States.
Mental Floss was established in 2001 in New York, United States, as an online platform in the digital media sector. Content focused on knowledge acquisition is delivered through articles covering history, science, pop culture, language, music, true crime, and entertainment. Quizzes and inspirational stories are also featured to engage users. Operations center on content publishing accessible via mentalfloss.com.
Mental Floss's top competitors include Brightly, LittleThings and Puck.
Mental Floss offers Mental Floss Website and Newsletters.
Mental Floss has 1 investor. Key investors include MinuteMedia.
Yes. Mental Floss was acquired by MinuteMedia in September 2018.
The website of Mental Floss receives about 3.5 million visits a month and ranks #18,497 among all websites worldwide.