During the 90-minute The People’s Pitch, each of this year’s graduates will share the story of their cooperative and engage in Q&A with the audience. This annual celebration is always an energizing experience full of hope and optimism for the future of the cooperative movement.
The graduates of this year’s Start.coop accelerator program are at the forefront of the cooperative movement and are building shared-owned businesses all across the economy. These real-world cooperatives are focused on solving some of society’s most complex and entrenched problems, including climate change, racial wealth inequality, worker equity and online hate, among others. Keep reading to learn more about this year’s class:
Guilded builds gig/contract workers’ economic and political power through a freelancer cooperative platform that provides income smoothing, contract payment-guarantees and workers benefits.
Navajo Power Home is a solar service provider for off-grid homes on Navajo and Hopi lands. The co-op is a joint venture between Navajo Power and Iluméxico and will be owned by the Native families it serves.
Novlr is the platform for creative writing: empowering writers to produce better work, build a readership and earn from their words.
Radish Cooperative is an online food delivery platform owned by its workers and the consumers, couriers, and restaurants it serves.
SMAT is a tech platform that democratizes access to threat intelligence by providing easy-to-use tools for activists, journalists, researchers and the public to analyze and visualize hate and disinformation online.
StyleCrush is a member-owned online resale market offering an easy and sustainable alternative to fast fashion by filtering the endless volume of secondhand clothes into hyper relevant, personalized mini-collections.
The Guild is a Black and Brown-led cooperative that seeds, develops, and scales cooperative real estate models supporting marginalized communities to build power, wealth, and self-determination through collective land ownership.
The Nearness is an online spiritual home for people seeking moral and spiritual learning, growth, and connection who are tired of old-school religion and want a new kind of ballast for their lives.