Tech coops list
A list of tech coops and resources concerning tech coops and worker owned cooperatives in general.
Contributions to this list are very welcome. Just clone this repo, edit this file (README.md) or edit it directly (open it and click on the pencil icon on the upper right) and create a pull request.
What are worker-owned tech cooperatives?
A very general definition:
Worker-owned cooperatives are business enterprises that are owned and governed by their employees. All worker cooperatives have two common characteristics: 1) member-owners invest in and own the business together, and share the enterprise’s profits, and 2) decision-making is democratic, with each member having one vote.
Tech cooperatives are worker-owned cooperatives that operate in the information technology industry. This list focuses on tech coops that are providing software development and consulting services.
Tech cooperatives could be a solution if you feel alienated by big software corporations and startup culture or you feel alone and in search of solidarity as a freelancer.
Table of Contents
- Coops
- Networks of coops
- Resources
- Information on tech coops and coops in general
- Talks
- Mailinglists
- Chat rooms
- Tools
- Products created by tech coops
- Jobs and contracts
Coops
| Coop | Business Areas | Region/Country | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agaric | Web development, tech consulting | USA / Nicaragua / Germany | Worker-owned collective building online since 2006, lately contributing to the Drutopia platform for grassroots groups. |
| Agile Collective | Web development | UK | |
| Albatros Tech Cooperative Initiative | Design, Development | Istanbul, Turkey | Worker-Owners |
| Alma | Software development | Saint-Martin-d’Hères, France | Founded 1979 |
| Atomised | Web development, mobile apps, UX design | Cupar, Scotland | Founded 2008 |
| Autonomic | Free software infrastructure and bespoke web development | Cypherspace | |
| bits.coop | webgl, maps, p2p, offline data replication | ||
| Black Shuck | Producing moving image, audio and digital projects (websites, apps and installations). | Europe | |
| blinkenbox | Sysadmin, Web Development, Hosting | Berlin, Germany | |
| Brierwood Coop | Mobile apps | Ottawa, Ontario, Canada | |
| A Bunch of Hacks | Video game development, software development | Amsterdam, the Netherlands | |
| Cambá | Web and mobile Development, Consulting, FLOSS Development | Buenos Aires, Argentina | |
| Camplight | web and mobile development, tech consulting | EU, Bulgaria | A digital cooperative that creates experiences for the web, mobile and beyond |
| Caravan Web Worker Cooperative | Web design, Software development (Python) | Montreal and Quebec City, Canada | |
| C4 Tech & Design | Web Design, Business IT Services, Computer Repair | New Orleans, USA | |
| CoLab | Ithaca, NY, USA | "CoLab’s mission is to contribute to a new economy of justice and cooperation while bringing clients beautiful, cutting-edge technology." | |
| Coopdevs | Development | Barcelona, Catalonia | Non profit association and workers cooperative focusing on non-profit & grassroots social change projects e.g. Open Food Network amongst others |
| Co-operative Web | Web Development, Mobile Development, Web Hosting, legacy software support | Birmingham, UK | |
| ctrl.alt.coop | Software Development, Consulting | Berlin, Germany | |
| Devtopia | Consulting, project management, design and UX, web development, app development, marketing | Spain | Distributed company |
| Diciannove | Consulting, project management, open source development, hosting, web design | Italy | |
| Digicoop | Product company, makers of kantree.io | France | Distributed company |
| dtc innovation | Web development, design and engineering, cooperation, open {data|source} | France, UK, Québec | |
| EITA | Open Source Development | Brazil | Our goal is to deliver open source technologies to social moviments |
| Electric Embers | Hosting | San Francisco, CA, USA | |
| Enspiral | NZ | Network-type | |
| Equality | Web development (Django/Angular) | Rosario, Santa Fe, Argentina | |
| Eryx | Full-stack development, Data Science, Operations Research, UX, Consulting | CABA, Buenos Aires, Argentina | |
| Feel Train | Portland, OR, USA | "Feel Train will never consist of more than 8 people." | |
| Fiqus | Web and mobile development | Buenos Aires, Argentina | |
| fnordkollektiv | software development, infrastructure devop, tech consulting | Siegen, NRW, Germany | Founded 2020 |
| gcoop | Hosting, Consulting, Web Development, FLOSS Development | Buenos Aires, Argentina | "Transformamos los sistemas." |
| GNU Coop | Open source development, training, e-learning, project management | Italy | |
| Go free Range | Web development | UK | |
| Happy Dev | Anything digital | France | Freelancers network federating tech collectives around France |
| Hostsharing | Hosting | Germany | |
| Hypernova | Web Development, Web Design, Digital | Italy | Freelancers network, part of the Doc Servizi coop network |
| Hypha Worker Co-operative | Digital coaching, (decentralized) web design, and development | Tkaronto (Toronto), Ontario, Canada | Founded in 2019 with the mission to help organizations and communities redesign their relationships with digital technology. |
| Igalia | Free Software consultancy | A Coruña, Spain; Global | 40+ workers |
| IT Kollektiv | Cross-platform apps, web development, backend development, consulting | GER | Network-type |
| IT Kollektivet | Copenhagen, Denmark | ||
| Jamgo | Front-end dev, design services, e-commerce, Drupal/WordPress | Barcelona, Spain | |
| Kedu | Software, infrastructure | Barcelona, Spain | |
| Koumbit | Hosting, Websites, Sysadmin | Montreal, Quebec, Canada | |
| Loomio | Online decision-making app | Wellington, New Zealand | Wikipedia |
| Les-Tilleuls.coop | Web development, Tech consulting, Open Source Development | Lille, Paris, Nantes, Lyon (France) | Tech worker-owned cooperative founded in 2011. Creators of the API Platform framework and major contributors to Symfony. |
| Lyseon Tech | Web development, Apps and Hosting | Rio de Janeiro, BR | Cooperative of free software developers |
| Motion Twin | Video game development | Bordeaux, France | |
| MuchDifferent | Game technology, Engineering | Uppsala, Sweden | |
| Nayra | Web development, UX | Buenos Aires, Argentina | |
| Nilenso | Development (Clojure, Javascript, Ruby, Haskell, Go, Java) | Bangalore, India | |
| NOVA Web Development | Django sites, graphic design | USA / El Salvador / elsewhere | Worker-owned co-op developing LibreOrganize and Business Tracker primarily for unions, labor movement, social justice, etc. |
| Outlandish | Web development | London, UK | Sponsored 2016 Outlandish Fellowships |
| Palante Technology Cooperative | Web development, CiviCRM, Tech support, Training | Focus on NGOs | |
| Plausible Labs | Development, Design | New York and San Francisco, USA | Bylaws |
| Position Development | Software Development | Brooklyn, NY | Focused on independent media, cultural institutions, and socially minded organizations |
| Protozoa | Web development | NZ | |
| Quilted | consulting, graphic design, web development | Berkeley, California, USA | "Quilted is a worker-owned, cooperatively-managed company stitching together technology and social change." |
| Rabotnik | graphic design, web-development, video production and animation, campaign and concept development | Denmark | |
| RadicalDesign | Web development | Oakland, CA, USA | Focusing on non-profit and grassroots social change organizations |
| Reinblau | Web development | Berlin, Germany | |
| Resonate | Music Streaming | Berlin, Germany / Dublin, Ireland | A multistakeholder platform co-operative - with contributors (workers, contractors, volunteers) represented with a 20% ownership stake. |
| Root Systems | Consulting | NZ | "Pod" within Enspiral; Inactive. |
| Sassafras Tech Collective | Research, User experience design, Development | Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA | |
| Seattle Developers Cooperative | Web development, React, Node.js | Seattle, Washington, USA | Founded 2018; Working on P2P projects in JavaScript |
| Sofi Cooperative | Web development, Design, Vue, Node.js | Jerusalem, Israel | Founded 2018; "Sofi is a workers cooperative of designers and developers, we focus on websites and applications that bring positive value for society and the planet" |
| TableFlip | Web development. Javascript, Node.js, Meteor. | London, UK | Founded 2013; "We're your technical co-founder." |
| TechCollective | tech support | San Francisco & Boston, USA | |
| the Tech Support Cooperative | POS software, open-source web development, consulting | US + CAN | Maintainers of the CORE-POS / IS4C software project |
| Tecso | Development, Information services | Rosario, Argentina | Founded 2002; 150+ associates |
| Vulk Coop | Design, Development | Austin, TX, USA | Worker-owned, Founded 2013, Organizers of Austin Software Co-operatives Meetup |
| Webarchitects Co-operative | Hosting, Sysadmin | Sheffield, UK | Multi-stakeholder, including workers, organisations and investors |
| ZO | Design, Development, Translation, Copy-editing |
Other lists
- Awesome Tech Cooperatives - A collection of awesome cooperative tech companies and projects
Networks of coops
- CoTech - Network of tech coops in the UK.
- CoTech Wiki
- CoTech Forum - active tech cooperatives forum from CoTech
- FACT[TIC] - Federation of tech worker-cooperatives in Argentina.
- Tech Co-op Network - North American Technology Worker Cooperatives.
Meetups
Resources
Information on tech coops and coops in general
Handbooks / Guides
- A Technology Freelancer's Guide to Starting a Worker Cooperative, 2009
- A Document To Help You Start A Tech Cooperative - By Feel Train.
- Crisp DNA - Handbook for Crisp, a Swedish network of consultants.
- The Loomio Co-op Handbook
- Discussion on Hacker News.
- Enspiral Handbook - More information about the Enspiral network.
- Root Systems Handbook - Defunct livelihood pod within Enspiral Network.
Books
- Patterns for Decentralised Organising by Richard D. Bartlett - Practical guidance for teams, organisations and networks to manage without hierarchy.
- Ours to Hack and to Own: The Rise of Platform Cooperativism, a New Vision for the Future of Work and a Fairer Internet By Trebor Scholz and Nathan Schneider
Articles
- Can Coops Revolutionize the Tech Industry?
- Co-op of digital co-ops – arise, er, Megazord?
- The Argument For Worker-Owned Tech Collectives (Fastcompany)
- The Case for Technology Worker Coops from a Former Freelancer
- Post-Capitalist Solutions: How Worker-Owned Tech Co-ops Are Boosting the Solidarity Economy (occupy.com)
- Incorporating Notes: On Cooperatives, Nonprofits, and Better Accountability by the Collective for Liberation, Ecology, and Technology
- Tales from a digital cooperative and friends that are evolving human collaboration (by Camplight)
- Tech co-operatives are leaving the startup rat race behind
Financing / Salaries
- A new financial model for consulting - How we’re making our salaries fair and transparent
- Coopensation - Worker-Owned Incentive System.
- How a Worker-Owned Tech Startup Found Investors—and Kept Its Values
- "Loomio Points" - A system to acknowledge the work people did for free to get the project off the ground.
Legal
Conflict
Other links
- Ask HN: Examples of tech worker cooperatives? - Interesting discussion with lots of links.
- /r/cooperatives - Subreddit about cooperatives.
Videos / Talks
- Applying the Advice Process to a Software Service Co-op
- Grow Your Own Economy in a Company, Don’t wait for the system out there to change — make your own rules and live in the economy you want, right now.
- Two Years Wiser, The Nilenso Experiment - Steven Deobald
- Ela Kagel on Platform Co-ops in Berlin
Mailinglists / Forums
- tech-coop listserv - Main mailinglist about tech coops. Check out the archive for interesting threads in the past.
- Cooperative Technologists Community - CoTech (UK) community forum.
Chat rooms
- #cooptech:autonomic.zone (Matrix chat for CoTech)
Tools
- Cobudget - Crowdsource and fund projects within an organization. Developed and used by Enspiral.
- Loomio - Online decision-making
Software/Products created by tech coops
- API Platform - REST and GraphQL framework on top of Symfony and React.
- Cobuy - Group wholesale purchases as a consumer co-op (by Root Systems).
- CoopHub - Git repos from cooperatives around the world!
- Up & Go - Cooperative Home Cleaning Services (by CoLab).
- Moodlight - Emotional intelligence for teams (by Camplight)
- Assista - Effortless time tracking for Trello (by Camplight).
- CoopCycle - A federation of bike delivery co-ops with an open-source logistics platform.
Jobs and contracts
- Tech coops growing - Tech coops forming or looking for new members.
- CoTech Jobs - Jobs category on the CoTech Network (UK) community forums.
License
This work and all contributions to it are released into the public domain under the terms of the CC0 1.0.