A platform cooperative or platform co-op is a cooperatively owned, democratically governed business that establishes a digital platform, and uses a website, mobile app or a protocol to facilitate a marketplace of transactions (Airbnb, Ebay, Lyft are corporate-owned examples). Platform cooperatives are an alternative to venture capital-funded platforms, owned and governed by those who depend on them most—workers, users, and other relevant stakeholders.
Source: Wikipedia
Eva is a ride-sharing application that offers a service similar to Uber, but in line with its cooperative members priorities: cheaper for rider members and better wages for driver members.
Fairbnb.coop is an online marketplace and hospitality service for people to lease or rent short-term lodging. Foremost, it is also a community of activists, coders, researchers and designers working to create the platform to enable hosts and guests to connect for travel and cultural exchange, while minimizing the cost to communities. It is an alternative to commercial platforms.
Fairmondo is an online marketplace for ethical goods and services, that originated from Germany and has expanded to the UK. Joining as a stakeholder is open for all and the minimum share is limited to an affordable amount, with stakeholders exercising a democratic control through one-member-one-vote principle. It is a cooperative alternative to Amazon and eBay.
Green Taxi Cooperative is the largest taxi company in the Denver metro area. Organized by the Communications Workers of America Local 7777, its members buy into the cooperative for a one-time membership fee of $2000 and then pay fees amounting to a "fraction" of what large companies charge drivers. Despite having a mobile application through which riders can schedule pickups, and thus competing directly with ride-hailing applications like Uber and Lyft, as of November 2016 the Green Taxi Cooperative reportedly held 37% market share in Denver.
Meet.coop is an open source meeting and conferencing tool.
Midata is a cooperatively owned, Zurich-based, online platform that seeks to serve as an exchange for members' medical data. Using an open-source application, members are able to securely share their medical data with doctors, friends, and researchers, and are provided access to "data analysis, visualization and interpretation tools". Members can also consent to their data's use in medical research and clinical trials. In a pilot project, post-bariatric-surgery patients are able to upload data to the platform, including their weight and daily step count, and follow their own post-surgery progress.
Savvy Cooperative is a multi-stakeholder patient-owned research insights cooperative that seeks to match patients with patient engagement leaders, digital health companies, and clinical innovation leads, enabling industry and start-up tech companies to easily conduct user research with patients to ensure the products that go-to-market are patient-centric and focused on patient needs. Using Savvy's platform, patients can find and apply for gigs that match their conditions, get reimbursed for their participation, and qualify for dividends based on their co-op participation. Savvy is majority patient-owned.
Stocksy United is a platform cooperative headquartered in Victoria, British Columbia. It is a "highly curated collection of royalty-free stock photography and video footage that is 'beautiful, distinctive, and highly usable.'" In 2015, Stocksy earned $7.9 million in sales—doubling its revenues from the year prior—and paid a dividend of $200,000 to its members.
Up & Go is a digital marketplace for professional home services that allows users to schedule services such as house cleaning, dog walking, and handywork with worker-owned businesses that have fair work practices.
Resonate is music streaming coop similar to Spotify.
Collective Tools is a cooperatively owned cloud service that offers storage, communication and canvas boards to organisations as well as storage and email to private persons.
Transitioning a failed commercial app to community ownership
Platform Cooperative Consortium - The Platform Cooperativism Consortium (PCC) is a hub for research, community building, and advocacy for co-ops that make the digital transition. The PCC supports the growth and conversion of hundreds of platform co-op businesses with tens of thousands of worker-owners around the world.