New Cooperatives: Platforms and Beyond

How cooperative ideas are being applied to digital platforms, gig work, renewable energy and more, as alternatives to investor-owned businesses.

Cooperative ideas are being adapted to new sectors.

Platform cooperatives

Digital platforms like ride-hailing and delivery apps are usually owned by investors. Platform cooperatives are owned by their workers or users.

Examples include driver-owned ride-hailing cooperatives in some cities. In India, there have been efforts to create cooperative taxi services, such as a government-backed plan announced in 2025 for a cooperative ride-hailing platform.

Why interest is growing

Gig workers face low pay and little control over algorithms.
Platform commissions can be high.
Cooperatives could share profits more fairly.

Challenges

Capital: building apps and marketing is expensive.
Network effects: competing with dominant platforms is hard.
Management and technology skills.

Energy cooperatives

In countries like Germany and Denmark, citizens formed cooperatives to own wind turbines and solar farms, sharing profits and building local support for renewables.

Other new cooperatives

Care cooperatives, where care workers own the business.
Data cooperatives that pool members’ data and negotiate its use.
Community-owned shops and pubs.

The future

Cooperatives offer an alternative model for sectors where fairness, local control and worker power matter.

The driver-owned app

A group of taxi drivers launches a cooperative app, charging lower commissions than big platforms. They struggle at first to attract enough customers, but earn more per ride and vote on the app's rules.

Thinking cooperatives belong only to the past

New cooperatives are emerging in digital platforms, energy and care.

Key takeaways

Platform cooperatives are owned by workers or users.
They aim to give gig workers fairer pay and control.
Capital and network effects are major challenges.
Energy, care and data cooperatives are growing.