CoopWorks
CoopWorks is a two-month entrepreneurship program for early-stage team startups in the field of platform cooperatives.
Programme Overview
We provide co-ops know-how, coaching, mentoring and an active online community working in cooperatives and inclusive digitalization. We support teams to launch their Platform Cooperative startup with the ultimate goal to create resilient jobs and shape the Future of Work towards a regenerative economy in Europe.
Our CoopWorks programme aims to create jobs, shared wealth, protecting workers labor rights and at the same time creating positive social and environmental impact tackling climate change effects. It combines traditional business curriculum with cooperative principles to create more resilient jobs in Europe and address #COVID-19 economic impacts.
Programme Benefits
Weekly training sessions
Coaching sessions
Active Slack community
Access to a mentor pool
The Demo Day is an opportunity for startup teams to showcase their projects and progress to which they're dedicating their time. This online event is dedicated to get more prepared for fundraising processes. Startups will pitch their ideas to our jury members, who are impact investors and all event attendees +100 participants. Most advanced startups can also display their business prototypes in a virtual exhibition room. Register here for the event.
Our first cohort started in October and ends in December 2020. We designed an online programme for 10 startup teams based in Europe. Our teams are at multi-stages of business development with platforms cooperatives in the gig and sharing economy, online marketplace and platforms with network effect. Teams focus on social impact and sustainability in the following areas: co-working spaces in rural areas, job search, nurse’s empowerment, food delivery, energy transition, social movements empowerment and gamification.
“They want to change the way we work in rural areas, how we can search for fairer jobs, the way we engage with nurses, deliver sustainable food, educate people about climate change impacts, empower local communities to get access to micro-grids and support digitalization instead of monopolistic platforms”.
Our programme contributes to the efforts of Mondragon Corporation and MTA-Mondragon University to incubate and accelerate Platforms Co-ops. Therefore, teams have in common the following aspects:
- Their platforms include cooperative principles, such as: broad-based ownership, democratic governance, decentralized data, fairer algorithms, open source development, create fairer and dignifies working conditions for users and workers, among others.
- All our startup teams are highly motivated and want to have a meaningful impact.
Demo Day
Our partners
