Dutch online journalism website De Correspondent has raised $2.5m via crowdfunding to launch a version of their platform in the US.

In total, almost 43,000 people have put money into the project to produce an English language version of the site, which promised in depth background articles and no advertising.

Prior to the latest crowdfunding campaign, the Correspondent had raised $1.8m to launch its American adventure. That money, the company said in May, would mainly go on setting up a US campaign office, and creating promotional videos and other campaign materials.

De Correspondent was launched in September 2013 after raising more than €1 million in a Dutch crowd-funding campaign. The Dutch website has some 60,000 paying members but this is the first year it has made a profit, the NRC reported on Friday.

It also attracts considerable sponsorship from Dutch media funds.

The company plans to launch its US service in mid 2019, promising at least one major article a day produced by a team of five correspondents.