My next Open Research report (see my body of research) will be about the Rise of the Collaborative Economy. If you’d like to be interviewed for this upcoming report, please fill out this submission form. In my career as an analyst, I often list all the players in a category, announce a formal research effort, then publish a series of analyses, as part of my continuing methodology. In this case I will also be presenting my findings as a speaker at LeWeb, whose theme, “Digital Hippies” is directly related to this trend. Thanks to friend Loic Lemeur for triggering this idea.
[Collaborative Economy Defined: A digital system that manages the coordination of buyers and sellers who offer or exchange used products and remnant services]
[Market impact: These startups enable the crowd to get what they need from each other –rather than go to corporations]
The Three Categories of Collaborative Economy Markets
Within this market, there are multiple use scenarios. Right now, we see the following three categories:
| Market Type | Description | Examples |
| First Collaborative Market | Manufactures and business owners that are now offering products for rent or barter | BMW and Toyota have made motions to offer cars for rent from their lots beyond selling them. |
| Second Collaborative Market | Often denoted as the “Used or Second Hand” market a consumer may offer to rent or lease of used products or remnant services. | Lyft allows for any consumer to act like a taxi, and pick up members of the service. Craigslist and eBay (disclosure: client) empowers the selling of used products, worldwide |
| Third Collaborative Market | Barter, gifting, or non-currancy exchanges of used products or remnant services. | Toyswap allows parents to exchange toys with other parents, rather than purchase products that their kids will outgrow. Giftflow encourages users to ask for what they need, then to help others in the future, paying it forward |
Market Rises: Media Attention, Over $2billion in Funding
There’s been remarkable media coverage on this topic as vendors like AirBnB, Lyft, Uber and TaskRabbit have gained the media’s attention. Pushbacks against this category have emerged in San Francisco, as well as in Amsterdam, as unofficial places of rent. We don’t foresee this space going down, as a cursory analysis indicates that there’s been a whopping $2 billion in venture funding across a sampling of 200 startups within this category. A spinoff from the consumer social networking category, this movement will have significant runway before true winners are determined.
Disruptions to CPG, Retail, Service Industry, and Governments
There are potentially extensive disruptions for companies that create products or services. If this trend continues at the current speed and trajectory, it may force retail and product-based companies to acquire startups within this space or to offer products in their own stores for lease or barter. Furthermore, governments could be displaced if the barter economy rises. Tax revenues are diminished as people share products with no money exchanged. We’re also seeing new forms of nontraditional currency emerging, including peer-to-peer BitCoin, which is not backed by any central bank or precious metal. It’s backed by processing power.
How You Can Get Involved with this Research
- Submit a startup in the comments below
- Request to be interviewed for this upcoming Open Research report in this web form.
- Share this post with others.
List of 200 Companies in the Collaborative Economy
Using the spirit of this space, I contacted a TaskRabbit (thanks Rachel) to conduct significant research from a variety of sources over 22.5 hours to compile a list of startups in this space. This database will be the primary source of a sample which I’ll use to parse trends and data for my upcoming report.
Update: Many of these examples and specific language were from the Collaborative Consumption Hub, to which I failed to provide full attribution (my fault) upon first publication of this piece. Please see the many resources available there, including their many service offerings.
Update: March 26: They’ve built a dynamic directory on their website, which you should visit.
- Personal Services
- Rent a Friend Rent a friend for family events, social, business, workout, companionship
- Hire A Boston Wingwoman Your WingWoman will put YOU in the spotlight (help you meet women in a social scene).
- Airtime The platform for great video conversation
- Miscellaneous Services
- Nanny in the Clouds Changing the way young families fly by connecting them with an in-flight nanny
- Wello Bye Bye Gym, Hello Convenience
- GetMaid Instant booking, effortless payments, and exceptional home cleaning at your door within two hours.
- Car sharing
- Uber Everyone’s Private Driver
- Zipcar Wheels when you want them
- Sidecar Connects people with space in their car to those who need a ride
- Lyft Your Friend with a Car
- GoGet Get going fast. Never look back.
- WhizzCar Wheels on Demand (Singapore)
- Autoshare Keys to Wonderful (Toronto)
- Stattauto CarSharing – Munich Germany
- CarSharing CarSharing Austria (operated by Zipcar)
- Zazcar Car Share Brazil
- City Car Club Book, jump in, drive away…
- Cambiocar CarSharing
- Autolibre Car Share – very small cars, maybe electric with battery packs and stations around France to recharge. No English translation
- Enterprise has purchased IGO carsharing in Chicago
- Car sharing (from big automobile manufactures)
- BMW Drive NOW Premium Car Sharing by BMW i, Mini, and Sixt
- Volkswagen Quicar Car Share by VW (Hanover)
- Peugeot Mu Mobiliy Services Rentals
- Daimler Car2Go Spontaneity on Wheels
- Peer-to-Peer Car Sharing
- Whipcar Rent cars from real people in your neighborhood
- RelayRides Rent Cars from People in Your Community
- Drivemycar Rentals Rent Out Your Car
- Getaround Rent a car from someone nearby
- Tamyca Take My Car
- Buzzcar Borrow the Car Next Door (Europe)
- SnappCar The Ideal Car Loan – Netherlands
- Nachbarschaftsauto German Neighborhood Car Share
- Autonetzer Car Rentals Near YOU
- Bike sharing
- Velib Parisian Bike Share
- Bixi Canadian Bike Share (Montreal)
- Barclays Cycle Hire Transport for London (Brand)
- B-Cycle Pedal it Forward.
- Call-A-Bike Call A Bike – Munich
- CyclOcity Bicycle Freedom (Europe and starting in Japan)
- Niceride Twin-Lakes Bike Sharing System (Minnesota)
- HZ Bike China Bike Share
- Social Bicycles GPS-enabled Bikes
- Spinlister (rebranded as Liquid) peer to peer bike rental
- Ride sharing
- Zimride Grab a Seat. Save money and meet people heading your way.
- Nuride Get rewards for greener trips
- Liftshare Travel Together UK
- Jayride Travel A to B with Jayride – UK/Ireland, AUS, NZ
- GoCarShare Life’s a journey…share it
- Carpooling Join the leading Global carpooling network!
- Caronetas Smart Rides – Brazil
- DuckSeat Ridesharing for Events
- Avego Welcome to Avego, your ride sharing network
- Amovens Find ridesharing partners
- Tickengo Click to get a ride
- Solar Power
- Solar City America’s leading full service Solar provider
- Solar Century intelligent generation – UK
- PretaSol Renewable energy for homeowners in Spain
- CitizenRe renewable energy
- One Block Off The Grid save money on solar energy
- Toy Rental
- Dim Dom Save time, space and money
- BabyPlays committed to fun not clutter!
- Rent-a-toy Singapore toy rental
- Speelotheken Netherlands toy lending
- Brinquedoteca Brazil Toy and book lending
- Textbook Rental
- Chegg Your Academic Hub
- CampusBookRentals You Textbook Alternative
- Zookal Save HUNDREDS of dollars
- BookRenter Rent your textbooks, save a bundle
- Art Rental
- Art.sy Learn about and collect the worlds greatest art
- Artsicle What’s Your Art Style?
- TurningArt Art that speaks for you
- Fashion Rental
- Bag Borrow or Steal Heart-Stopping Style
- Fashionhire Why Buy When You Can Hire
- Shopittome Your favorite brands. Yours sizes. 40-70% off.
- Love Me and Leave Me Rent or buy designer fashion
- Rent The Runway Like Netflix, but with fantastic dresses and accessories
- The Outnet The most fashionable fashion outlet
- Movies
- Netflix Watch TV shows and movies anytime, anywhere
- Quickflix Smart Movies /
- LoveFilm Out of thie world films
- General Online Rental
- Getable Equipment rental from your mobile phone
- AnyHire Your hire and rental marketplace
- Toolspinner Find tools in your area
- Snapgoods Want it. Get it. Give it back.
- Peer-to-Peer Rental
- Zilok Zilok Rent anything, On-line! Rentals from Businesses and Individuals.
- Neighborgoods Save money and resources by sharing stuff with your friends
- Rentoid The place to rent anything
- Ecomodo The marketplace of good returns
- HireThings Hire in what you need, hire out what you have
- Rentalic Rent anything anywhere (site under construction for another month)
- RentStuff A RentalCompare Company
- Open Shed Why buy when you can share?
- Neighborhood Rental/Share/Market
- Share Some Sugar Why buy when you can borrow?
- Neigh*borrow Things people need to use but don’t need to own
- The Sharehood Meet your neighbors, share with them…
- Frents Collect and share
- Friends With Things Connect with your neighbors. Borrow things from them or share things with them. Share skills, expertise, local knowledge and more. It’s free.
- Hey Neighbor! Create your neighbor network!
- Toolzdo Connect with neighbors. Life gets easier.
- Streetbank Sharing in your neighborhood
- Garage Sale Trail Find sales via your phone
- Unique Eperiences
- Gidsy Find Unique things to do
- Vayable Book an experience when you travel
- Sidetour Challenge the Ordinary
- Peer-to-Peer Travel
- Airbnb Find a Place to Stay
- Globetrooper Globetrooper helps you find travel partners
- Zozi Explore the Zozi Lifestyle…
- Roomorama Quality accomodations for the discerning traveler
- One Fine Stay Live like a local
- Bed and Fed …Be our guest!
- 9Flats The alternative to hotels
- Flipkey The alternative to hotels
- Errand/Task Networks (general and professional)
- RedBeacon Trusted Pros for a Better Home
- Expert Bids Submit your bids. Get proposals and reviews. Save time and money.
- Crowdflower “The World’s Largest Workforce – large, data-heavy projects broken into small tasks, distributed to < 1.5 million on-demand global contributors”
- Taskrabbit Outsource Errands or Tasks at the Touch of a Button
- Zaarly Life is short. Do what you love.
- Airrun It’s everyone’s personal assistant.
- Mytaskangel An online marketplace where people connect to get everyday tasks done in their local communities
- Gigwalk Gigwalk connects businesses with the best people to get work done anywhere
- Airtasker Find people to help you around the home and office.
- Social Food Networks
- Gobble Personalized Dinners Delivered
- Grubwithus Never eat alone on Grubwithus
- Eatwithme Food. Photos. Writing.
- Wok+Wine Wok+Wine is the world’s most effective serendipity machine
- Storage Networks
- Storpod Your storage search begins here
- Spaceout Your one-stop place for space
- Sharemystorage Find a place to store
- Parking Spots
- Parkatmyhouse Smarter Parking
- Parkcirca Take your parking space with you
- Park on my Drive Find a parking space
- Shared Studios/Workshops/Workspaces
- 3rd Space Studios 3rd Space Studios benefit from large spaces and studio members with a range of disciplines
- Techshop Build your dreams here
- Newworkcity Working for yourself doesn’t have to mean working by yourself.
- Studiomates STUDIOMATES is a collaborative workspace of designers, illustrators, bloggers, writers, and developers.
- Bees Office Work alongside amazing people!
- Coloft LAs startup hub
- Desksnearme Need a space to work?
- Deskwanted Find your ideal working community
- Opendesks OpenDesks helps you find, share, and manage places to meet and work
- Desksurfing Coworking spaces around the world
- Social Lending
- Zopa Get a loan today
- Prosper We connect people who want to borrow money with people who want to invest money
- Lending Club Investors earn better returns, borrowers pay lower rates
- Enterprise Den The marketplace for success
- Qifang P2P Lending for Chinese Student Loans
- Social Currencies
- Ven It’s time for a new kind of money
- The Liquidity Network Developing a complementary currency for Ireland
- Timebanks Building equality and caring community economies through inclusive exchange of time and talent
- Letsystems Local exchange trading system
- Taxi Sharing
- Bartering
- Ourgoods A barter network for the creative community
- Itex Connect. Trade. Save.
- Bartercard The card that works for you
- Tourboarding How to stay and play in China for Free
- Crowdfunding (investments, not loans)
- Kickstarter Fund and follow creativitiy
- Startsomegood Igniting Ideas, Investment, and Impact
- Pozible Crowdfunding creative projects and ideas
- Crowdcube Raising business finance through online investments
- Catarse The first crowdfunding platform from Brazil
- Dodge Dart Registry New rules for buying your car
- Gardens
- Urbangardenshare Urban Garden Share pairs together eager gardeners with eager gardens
- Landshare Connecting growers to people with land to share
- Yardshare Front yard, side yard, & backyard landscaping ideas & garden design pictures shared by homeowners and landscape contractors.
- Servicevines Cherry pick the best landscapers from your back yard
- Skill Sharing
- Brooklyn Skill Share Community-based, community-led, & community-building learning events organized and taught by Brooklyn residents
- Skillshare Learn differently
- Tradeschool Helps people find a trade school
- Weteachme Be interesting
- Floqq What do you want to learn?
- Optini Social Discovery platforms
- Big Marketplaces
- Craigslist Online bulletin board
- Gumtree UK’s #1 Classifieds site
- Free/Gift Exchanges
- Freecycle Changing the world one gift at a time
- Giftflow Give what you can. Ask for what you need. Pay it forward.
- Ziilch Where good stuff goes free
- Exchango Welcome to the freeconomy!
- Freally An online community that help you save money and environment.
- Used Electronics
- Gazelle Sell you phone, iPad or Mac
- Ebay Instant Sale Cash in your electronics
- Apple Recycling Program Reuse and recycling program
- Swap Sites for Books/Media
- Paperbackswap Your source for swapping and buying books online!
- Bookmooch Give books away. Get books you want.
- Swap/Netcycler Swap, buy and sell kids’ items
- Swapsity Canada’s #1 Swapping Community
- Swap Sites f0r Baby Goods/Toys
- Toyswap Swap, Buy, and Sell New and Gently Used Toys
- Thredup Just Like a Consignment Shop – But All Online!
- Kinderado (formerly Tauschteddy) Second hand children’s clother for parents. From parents.
- Clothing Swaps
- The Clothing Exchange Imagine a giant clothing store where everything is free…
- 99 Dresses Gain access to an infinite closet
- Poshmark A fun and simple way to buy and sell fashion
- Dig N’Swap Swap, fashionably!
- Pets
- Education/Language
Summary and Next Steps
This trend is just getting started. Expect many traditional business models to be disrupted as these startups and large companies adopt new methods for deploying and consuming goods and services. Don’t expect more than 20% of these startups to survive, as categories will expand and collapse in the traditional innovation environment. I’ll keep a continued focus on this market trend over the coming future. Please leave a comment with your thoughts and submissions.
Sweet lord, who knew there were so many of these kinds of services?!?! It’s almost as if a person no longer actually has to buy….well, just about anything. I don’t have any suggested adds to this list, but will be very interested in the output.
More from mike walsh (@mwalsh)
@jowyang let me know if you want to talk about this — über, boatbound, surfair, Rentalic, nextdoor experience…
More from Canal Mercer Designs @CanalMercer
@jowyang you might want to check out Yerdle. Sharing economy.
For years, we have been going from addressable “documents” to addressable “people” – back in 2009 Danny Sullivan described how Twitter was facilitating faster answers. Ultimately I think this collaboration trend is about managing business processes, not just the stuff we use computers for, but tapping people’s expertise for the insights you can’t find on a search engine.
http://searchengineland.com/how-we-search-with-twitter-16920
This is an awesome list!
A few more: Odesk, Elance, Freelancer, 99designs, CrowdFlower, CrowdSpring, Amazon™s Mechanical Turk, MobileWorks, TaskUs, FancyHands, Exec
More here http://www.wishuponahero.com
Via =Wade W. Pierson@ChiefPeopleExec
@jowyang A Collaborative Helping platform – @wishuponahero
You can add Cookening.com in the “Social Food Networks”, or perhaps take Grubwithus apart from this category and put them with us in a “Meal Sharing” one.
Baptiste, you’re right, I can’t believe I missed that early deployer. I recall hearing about them a few years ago.
Jeremiah, check out GetAround in the car rental category. This is an incredible list. I wonder how many of these can possibly be successful?
Great to hear from you Mark! I’ll take a look at GetARound. Note that a few Auto Brands are now renting from dealerships to combat the P2P sharing economy.
How many can survive? Low barriers to entry, but with funding (average is funded about 20m) they can sustain for a few years. I expect lots of M&A, but will find out more through the research interviews. Love to pick your brain if you’re up for it.
Also see http://samasource.org/services/ which offers a number of outsourcing options
Peer to peer payments between friends http://vimeo.com/43418279?autoplay=1
Boatbound.com is AirBnB for boats. Nextdoor is a community software platform within which lots of sharing, giving and commerce is happening. Great list – great project – I look forward to seeing the research, and an interview sounds great! Well done!
Great list Jeremiah. I’d add Hailocab.com to the car sharing list and VRBO.com and Homeaway.com to the travel list.
The first places that I think of are Quirky and Innocentive, riskier environments that have real companies on the back end. Collaboration after all should have more lofty goals. Additionally, as far as the world of code is concerned, this is an area that needs to be altered in legislation. As a result of the fact that we can now see what a person is witnessing via cache and other impressive technologies, it seems only fitting that when someone “walks on the shoulders of giants” that they should serve their giants porridge on the back end – ideally without a guiding hand of threatening litigation.
A large part of the problem with any world wide and anonymous collaborative project (as seen in some of my research on Wikipedia) is a tragedy of the commons. Even in something as idealistic as Wikipedia, it is EXTREMELY rare that someone edits more than once a year.
Trip4real, peer-to-peer travel experiences
Happily Ever Borrowed – http://www.happilyeverborrowed.com – rents bridal accessories to brides for their wedding day
Here’s another from Mel Blake, who Altimeter works with as our Speaking Agent.
http://www.marksandspencer.com/Shwop/b/1672188031
Hey – don’t forget the music category. Being from Sweden i feel Spotify belongs on this list and so does probably some of their competetion. 🙂
FLOOW2
Business to business sharing of equipment and services
http://www.floow2.com
Fantastic list, really insightful to see what other startups have accomplished. A few more for the task/errand network category, though more focusing on home services: Thumbtack, ServiceSeeking, Oneflare, etc.
Amazing list! Just need to add Sold (usesold.com). We sell your high demand goods for you. Simply download the app, easily post an item and we price, sell, ship, and pay. No hassle. No hidden fees. No tomfoolery.
There’s also BorrowedByDesign.com – rental community for women with formal/semi-formal wear. They can rent out the dresses already in their closets or find something to wear at a fraction of the cost to purchase. Rental platform is launching Fall 2013. (early stage startup at the moment)
EvoLux Transportation is building the world’s first helicopter charter marketplace with rideshare, making helicopter travel more affordable and accessible as an alternative mode of transport! We plan to go live with a more robust per-seat reservation platform in 3-6 months. Stay tuned!
Here’s another service on top of hotels, a bellhop.https://urbanbellhop.com thanks Linda Ziffrin.
http://peerby.com – Borrow the things you need from people in your neighborhood within 30 minutes
Jeremiah, please add m.brightneighbor.com for selling, renting, bartering, and lending. Thank you, great list!
Couchsurfing has fallen greatly, sadly, but it still has potential
http://www.nithincoca.com/2013/03/27/the-rise-and-fall-of-couchsurfing/
I knew you were on to something talking about this being an emerging trend but this list makes it appear like the “emerging” has already occurred. Great page to bookmark and return to again and again. Thanks.
Good job! Thanks. I’m looking for such collaborative business or
social projects in China.
What is cool is that http://www.weezoo.com does sll these things.
People are getting app fatigued.
ourthings.co.nz – just launching, but a really slick interface.