What Platform Cooperativism Consortium (PCC) does

Platform Cooperativism Consortium (PCC) is a New York-based nonprofit consortium founded in 2014 by Trebor Scholz and housed at The New School. It functions as a global hub for the platform cooperativism movement, providing resources, research, and community-building infrastructure for digital platforms that are collectively owned and democratically governed by their workers and users. Its product portfolio centers on six interconnected assets: the PCC Hub (coordination body), the Institute for the Cooperative Digital Economy (ICDE) research arm, the Platform Co-op School (online courses), a public Directory of platform cooperatives, a digital Library of case studies and research, and a Tools repository for cooperative development. Distribution is entirely digital and free-to-access via platform.coop, available in 20+ languages, supplemented by annual international conferences that have rotated through NYC, Hong Kong, Berlin, Rio de Janeiro, Thiruvananthapuram, Mombasa, Istanbul, and Bangkok.

PCC's underlying technology stack emphasizes open-source principles, open data, and democratic governance frameworks rather than proprietary software. Documented partnerships illustrate operational scope: co-design support for Cataki (Brazil, organizing 600+ catadores across 150 cities), feature partnerships with CoopCycle to enable BF Couriers' worker-owned delivery platform in Ghana, and advocacy partnerships with the Sustainable Economies Law Center on California platform-cooperative policy. The revenue model is donation-based via GiveCampus, with a single documented capital event being a $1,000,000 grant from Google.org in May 2018. The organization operates with 1-10 employees and serves a heterogeneous global audience including platform cooperatives, gig workers, student entrepreneurs, policymakers, and academic researchers across at least 18 countries spanning North America, South America, Europe, Africa, and Asia.

Recent strategic direction has pivoted toward AI governance: the 2025 Istanbul "Cooperative AI" conference and 2026 Bangkok "Solidarity AI" conference, combined with ICDE-published research on trustworthy AI governance and blockchain governance for digital commons, indicate PCC is positioning itself as a thought-leadership convener on how cooperative principles apply to AI infrastructure and data governance. This thematic expansion, alongside geographic broadening into Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia, suggests continued mission growth within the consortium's small operational footprint.

Name

Platform Cooperativism Consortium (PCC)

Legal name

Platform Cooperativism Consortium

Website

https://platform.coop

Company type

Private

Founded year

2014

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

The Platform Cooperativism Consortium (PCC) is a New York-based nonprofit hub, housed at The New School, that provides research, education, and community resources for the global platform cooperativism movement serving worker-owned digital platforms across 18+ countries.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

New York

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Donations: The organization relies on donations from the public to fund operations. The website features a donation page through GiveCampus for supporting the Platform Cooperativism Consortium.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

PCC is a global hub that helps organizations and individuals start, grow, or convert to platform cooperatives. It provides educational courses (Platform Co-op School), research and fellowships (Institute for the Cooperative Digital Economy / ICDE), a Directory of platform co-ops, a Library of research and case studies, and a Tools toolkit, all accessible free of charge through its multilingual website platform.coop.

Product overview

The Platform Cooperativism Consortium (PCC) operates as a centralized hub providing resources, research, and education for the platform cooperativism movement. The organization offers a portfolio of interconnected services centered around the PCC Hub as the main coordination body, supported by the Institute for the Cooperative Digital Economy (ICDE) for research and fellowships, the Platform Co-op School for education, and resource platforms including a Directory, Library, and Tools for practical implementation. The Consortium helps organizations start, grow, or convert to platform co-ops—businesses that sell goods or services primarily through websites, mobile apps, or protocols with democratic decision-making and shared platform ownership.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Institute for the Cooperative Digital Economy (ICDE): Research arm of PCC focused on cooperative digital economy studies, runs fellowship programs for researchers.
• Platform Co-op School
• PCC Solidarity Collaboratory

Products and services

• Platform Co-op School Educational platform offering courses and learning materials on platform cooperativism, cooperative principles, and digital economy topics for practitioners, founders, and organizations.
• Institute for the Cooperative Digital Economy (ICDE) Research institute conducting studies on platform cooperativism and the digital economy, running annual fellowship programs for researchers, and publishing reports and analysis on cooperative digital initiatives.
• ICDE Fellowship Program Annual research fellowship program selecting researchers and practitioners to study cooperative digital economy topics, producing case studies and policy recommendations.
• Directory Searchable directory of platform cooperatives, resources, and organizations in the cooperative digital economy ecosystem, available at directory.platform.coop.
• Library Digital library of research papers, reports, case studies, and educational materials on platform cooperativism and related topics, hosted at resources.platform.coop.
• Tools Collection of practical tools and resources for developing and managing platform cooperatives, including development kits and implementation guides, hosted at tools.platform.coop.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 1,500 students supported through cooperative entrepreneurship programs (PERÚ TRES i)
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers5 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• CoopCyclecoreTechnology or Integration · 17 August 2024BF Couriers Association in Ghana partnered with CoopCycle, a platform cooperative, to customize an app for Ghanaian couriers to build their own worker-owned delivery platform. PCC features this partnership as an example of platform cooperative technology transfer.
• Cataki (Brazil)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 3 September 2018PCC worked with Cataki, a Brazilian cooperative organizing garbage pickers (catadores) in Sao Paulo and other cities. PCC provided co-design sessions and developer support to improve Cataki's labor platform and organize workers as a democratically-run cooperative. The partnership helped register 600+ workers in 150 cities through the Cataki app.
• Sustainable Economies Law Center (SELC)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 12 March 2017PCC partnered with SELC on California Assembly Bill 626 policy advocacy, supporting proposals to mandate that web platforms in the homemade food market be organized as worker cooperatives, consumer cooperatives, or nonprofits. SELC proposed this framework and PCC fully supported the proposal.
• U.S. Federation of Worker CooperativesminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerListed as a partner organization on PCC website, representing worker cooperatives in the United States.
• Agaric (Worker-owned web development cooperative)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerWorker-owned web development cooperative that participated in MIT's civic media course and contributed to platform cooperativism curriculum development, including Drupal-based platform development for community platforms.
• The New School (NYC)coreOthersPCC is housed at The New School in NYC, which serves as its institutional home and provides academic support for the platform cooperativism movement.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Sustainable Economies Law Center (SELC): Provides legal infrastructure, advocacy, and education to build resilient local economies and cooperatively owned enterprises; PCC has formally partnered with SELC on California AB 626 platform cooperative policy work.
• U.S. Federation of Worker Cooperatives: National membership body representing worker cooperatives in the United States; directly comparable to PCC in mission to grow the worker-coop sector, and is listed as a partner on PCC's website.
• Agaric (worker-owned web dev cooperative): Worker-owned technology cooperative that builds Drupal-based community platforms and has contributed to platform cooperativism curriculum alongside PCC; demonstrates the practitioner cooperative model PCC promotes.
• CoopCycle: Open-source, federation-of-cooperatives software for food delivery co-ops; a core platform cooperative technology partner of PCC and exemplar of the open-source stack PCC promotes.

Emerging players

• Open Collective: Platform that lets open-source communities, collectives, and mutual-aid groups fiscally host and transparently manage shared funds; overlapping with PCC's open-source, democratic-governance, and donation-receiving ethos.
• Demos: Public-interest think tank that has published and funded research on platform cooperativism and the future of work; overlaps with PCC on research, narrative-shaping, and policy in the digital economy space.

Broad incumbents

• International Cooperative Alliance (ICA): Global apex organization representing cooperatives across all sectors (not just digital platforms), with a near-200-year history; PCC explicitly frames platform cooperativism as extending the cooperative movement into digital platform models.
• Mondragon Corporation: One of the world's largest cooperative conglomerates and frequent reference point in platform-cooperative literature; PCC cites the broader cooperative movement's 200-year history when positioning platform cooperativism.

Regional players

• Civic Innovation Lab / Code for America (adjacent civic-tech): Civic-tech nonprofit building technology and policy for more equitable government services and worker-friendly digital infrastructure; adjacent in advocating cooperative and public-interest alternatives to venture-backed platforms.

Others

• The New School (parent institution): NYC academic university that hosts PCC physically and institutionally; provides the academic legitimacy, mailing address, and curricular scaffolding for PCC's research and fellowship activities.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/PCC_Global
• Facebookfacebook.com/groups/1487620331468306
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/the-platform-cooperativism-consortium

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds1 record

Investors1 record

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Platform Cooperativism Consortium (PCC)