Sharing Cities Alliance
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2017
- HeadquartersAmsterdam, Netherlands
- Headcount1–10
- GTM typeB2B
- OfferingServices
What Sharing Cities Alliance does
Sharing Cities Alliance is a privately held consultancy and city-to-city network organization headquartered in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Co-founded in 2017 by Harmen van Sprang and Pieter van de Glind—previously the founders of the innovation consultancy shareNL—the alliance was created to help municipal governments and urban professionals navigate digital-age governance, sharing economy policy, and emerging technologies including XR and the metaverse. Its core deliverables are advisory services, original research reports, and curated events rather than a software product or technology platform.
The organization operates through a network-led go-to-market model, connecting 40+ cities across North America, Europe, Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and South America with global institutions such as the European Commission, the World Economic Forum, MIT, and the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, and with corporate partners including IKEA, PwC, Mercedes-Benz, and H&M. Revenue is generated through professional services: consulting engagements with municipal authorities, research and report production, flagship events such as the Sharing Cities Summit and the Metaverse & The City roundtable series, and keynote speaking delivered primarily by the two co-founders. Pricing is quote-based and negotiated per engagement, with no publicly disclosed fees or subscription tiers.
The company is a services organization with no proprietary software product, API, or technology stack. Its defensibility derives from its network of municipal and institutional relationships, its pioneering role in the sharing city movement (it helped Amsterdam become Europe's first sharing city in 2015 and organized the first Sharing Cities Summit in 2016), and the personal expertise and global network of its co-founders. The organization has no disclosed parent company, no recorded funding rounds, and operates as a lean, founder-driven entity.
Sharing Cities Alliance firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Sharing Cities Alliance
- Legal name
- Sharing Cities Alliance
- Website
- https://sharingcitiesalliance.com
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2017
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 1–10 employees
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Sharing Cities Alliance industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Urban Policy Consulting
- NAICS
- Professional Organizations (81392), Convention and Trade Show Organizers (561920)
- SIC
- Services-Membership Organizations (8600), Services-Management Consulting Services (8742)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Partner, Channel & Alliance Summits (THAHAMAC)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Regional/Field Leadership Meetings (Territory/Market Summits) (THAHAMAK)
Keywords
Where Sharing Cities Alliance is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Amsterdam
- HQ country
- Netherlands
- HQ region
- Europe
Offices1 record
Markets served
Sharing Cities Alliance business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2B
- Offering type
- Services
- Cost components
- Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations
Revenue model
- Consulting Services: The alliance provides consulting services to city governments and urban professionals on topics including digital governance, emerging technologies (XR, metaverse), sharing economy policies, and sustainable urban development. This includes advisory work for municipal authorities on regulating platforms like Airbnb and shaping sharing economy action plans.
- Research and Reports: The alliance conducts cutting-edge research into the impact of technologies, policymaking, and climate change on the urban environment and city residents. This research is compiled into reports by the alliance's communications team and made available, serving as a knowledge product revenue stream.
- Events and Keynotes: The alliance organizes and hosts events including the Sharing Cities Summit, Metaverse & The City roundtables, and webinar series. These events range from intimate roundtables to large-scale summits, often delivered in collaboration with partner cities and institutions.
- Speaking Engagements: Co-founders Harmen van Sprang and Pieter van de Glind serve as keynote speakers and guest lecturers at conferences, universities, and government forums worldwide, including events with Urban Land Institute, Malmö University, and various international summits.
Go-to-market motion3 records
Distribution channels3 records
Marketing channels6 records
Sharing Cities Alliance product offering
Product offeringCore offering
The Sharing Cities Alliance is a consultancy network that brings together city governments, corporations, and thought leaders to collaborate on research, share data and knowledge, and craft effective policies for urban sustainability, sharing economy governance, and digital-age city leadership. It delivers bespoke consulting, research reports, events (Sharing Cities Summit, Metaverse & The City roundtables, Re:shaping Cities webinars), and keynote speaking engagements to municipal authorities worldwide.
Product overview
Sharing Cities Alliance is a consultancy network organization that facilitates city-to-city collaboration on urban sustainability, sharing economy governance, and digital transformation policy. Rather than a software product company with traditional modules or add-ons, it offers advisory services, research reports, and organizes events, workshops, and keynote presentations for municipal authorities. The organization connects cities, corporations, and thought leaders through roundtables, webinars, and its annual Sharing Cities Summit. It does not offer a traditional software-as-a-service product, platform, or API-based offering.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Consulting Services
Companies that use Sharing Cities Alliance
Customer profileNamed customers13 records
Segments4 records
Ideal customer profiles2 records
Sharing Cities Alliance technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Sharing Cities Alliance partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
20 partnerships are on record, tiered core founding partner, key institutional partner, thought leadership partner, academic partner, professional services partner, event partner, corporate partner, founding partner city, key partner city, core partner city, government partner, international partner, regional partner network, technology partner, academic partners and thought leader partner.
- City of Amsterdamcore founding partnerCity of Amsterdam was the first municipal government to embrace the alliance's vision in 2015, declaring itself Europe's first sharing city. The alliance worked with the city to shape their sharing economy action plan, including consulting on negotiations with Airbnb over platform regulation within the municipality.
- European Commissionkey institutional partnerThe alliance attracted attention from the European Commission by end of 2016, hosting groundbreaking sessions to define the potential of the sharing economy across the continent. Collaborated on Digital Cities Challenge and European Citizens' Virtual Worlds Panel.
- Ellen MacArthur Foundationthought leadership partnerThe alliance has worked with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation on various initiatives including the Disruptive Innovation Festival and system-level thinking about circular economy in cities.
- World Economic Forumkey institutional partnerRecognized partner providing input on sharing economy policies and urban innovation at the global level.
- MITacademic partnerAcademic institution recognized for inspiring collaboration on urban innovation and sharing economy research.
- PwCprofessional services partnerCollaborated on metaverse and public sector advisory work, including presentations on metaverse use cases in the public sector at PwC Germany.
- Urban Land Instituteevent partnerPartnered on the Re:shaping Cities webinar series (June-October 2020) covering urban topics including mobility, tourism, work, living, sustainability, and technology. Also collaborated on events in China.
- IKEAcorporate partnerEngaged partner providing inspiration on urban sustainability and participating in alliance events and forums.
- City of New Yorkfounding partner cityMajor partner city that has actively championed the alliance. Hosted the Sharing Cities Summit in May 2017. Former Deputy Mayor Alicia Glen described the network as 'phenomenally useful' for cities like New York.
- City of Washington, DCkey partner cityActive partner city represented by Director of Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs Ernest Chrappah, who highlighted how the platform enables cities to openly share ideas, challenges, and solutions.
- City of Rotterdamcore partner cityMajor Dutch partner city collaborating closely on Metaverse & The City initiatives, Community of Knowledge sessions, and hosting events during Immersive Tech Week. Multiple collaborations documented from 2022-2025.
- Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth (Singapore)government partnerSingapore government ministry that collaborated on Sharing City workshops (June 2019) and Metaverse & The City events (November 2022), providing input on Arts and Culture Digital Roadmap.
- Mercedes-Benzcorporate partnerEngaged partner discussing mobility services and urban requirements, exploring how the alliance's know-how might help provide mobility services that capture benefits from cleaner air to less congestion.
- Malmö Universityacademic partnerSwedish university where alliance co-founders delivered guest lectures to the Department of Urban Studies. Positive feedback received from students on talks about cities and sharing.
- Share Summit Japan / Sharing Economy Association Japaninternational partnerJapanese partner organization for sharing economy collaboration. Alliance co-founders served as advisors and speakers at Share Summit events.
- Sharing Cities Swedenregional partner networkSwedish national sharing cities program with which the alliance collaborates on summits, workshops, and knowledge sharing events.
- Sidewalks Labstechnology partnerUrban technology innovation organization that recognized the alliance's work as unique in the smart cities space.
- New York University + Cornell Techacademic partnersAcademic institutions that partnered with the alliance to host the Metaverse & Cities Summit in New York City (April 2023), with videos and collaborative programming.
- April Rinnethought leader partnerRenowned futurist and author who collaborated on fireside chat about 'Flux: 8 Superpowers for Thriving in Constant Change' and contributed to discussions on future of work and cities.
- H&M Groupcorporate partnerSwedish fashion retailer engaged in discussions about sustainability, innovation, and metaverse implications for the fashion industry.
Scale indicators3 records
Recent moves6 records
Expansion highlights5 records
Sharing Cities Alliance competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- Resilient Cities Network (formerly 100 Resilient Cities): Resilient Cities Network is a membership organization of city governments focused on urban resilience and sustainability strategy. It is a direct peer because it operates the same network-and-advisory model serving municipalities on long-horizon urban planning challenges.
- NewCities Foundation: NewCities is a non-profit focused on making cities more inclusive, connected, healthy and vibrant through research, events and convenings. It is a direct peer given its nearly identical operating model (research, summits, city-network convenings) and overlapping urban-innovation and governance themes.
- C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group: C40 is a global network of mayors and cities collaborating on climate action and urban sustainability. It is the most direct peer to the Sharing Cities Alliance: both are city-network organizations convening municipal governments for peer learning, policy development, and thought leadership on cross-cutting urban challenges.
- Smart City Expo World Congress: Smart City Expo World Congress is the largest global event dedicated to cities and urban innovation, where the Sharing Cities Alliance co-founders have spoken. It is a direct peer through its event-driven GTM and convening of municipal governments on smart-city themes.
- Urban Land Institute (ULI): ULI is a global research and education organization focused on land use and real estate. It is comparable because it operates the same membership-network-plus-events-plus-research model for city leaders and has been an explicit event partner of the Sharing Cities Alliance (Re:shaping Cities webinar series, 2020).
- Ellen MacArthur Foundation: EMF is a circular-economy focused foundation that the Sharing Cities Alliance has collaborated with on city-level circular economy work. It is a direct peer through its joint events, shared city-network constituency, and overlapping urban sustainability mission.
- Sentience (formerly shareNL): Sentience is the direct predecessor firm co-founded by Pieter van de Glind and Harmen van Sprang before they established the Sharing Cities Alliance. It is a direct peer through shared founders, overlapping sharing-economy consulting practice, and Dutch-market urban-innovation focus.
- Sharing Cities Sweden: Sharing Cities Sweden is a Swedish national program and partner network that the Alliance collaborates with on summits and workshops. It is a direct regional peer running the same sharing-economy network model in a defined national market.
Emerging players
- Sidewalk Labs: Sidewalk Labs is an Alphabet-affiliated urban technology organization that has publicly recognized the Sharing Cities Alliance's unique work in the smart-cities space. It is an emerging player peer because it overlaps on urban innovation and city-government engagement but applies a venture/tech-investment lens rather than a pure advisory one.
Broad incumbents
- World Economic Forum (Centre for Urban Transformation): The World Economic Forum is a broad international institution recognized as a partner of the Sharing Cities Alliance. It is a broad incumbent peer because its urban work spans far more topics and geographies than the Alliance and operates at a much larger scale.
Market position
Strengths4 records
Weaknesses4 records
Competitive moat5 records
Key risks5 records
Key highlights6 records
Customer concentration
Sharing Cities Alliance social profiles
Digital presenceSharing Cities Alliance financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Sharing Cities Alliance leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles2 records
Sharing Cities Alliance funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Sharing Cities Alliance M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Sharing Cities Alliance
What does Sharing Cities Alliance do?
The Sharing Cities Alliance is a consultancy network that brings together city governments, corporations, and thought leaders to collaborate on research, share data and knowledge, and craft effective policies for urban sustainability, sharing economy governance, and digital-age city leadership. It delivers bespoke consulting, research reports, events (Sharing Cities Summit, Metaverse & The City roundtables, Re:shaping Cities webinars), and keynote speaking engagements to municipal authorities worldwide.
Is Sharing Cities Alliance a public or private company?
Sharing Cities Alliance is a private company. It is classified as founder individual operated bootstrapped and is currently operating.
When was Sharing Cities Alliance founded?
Sharing Cities Alliance was founded in 2017. It employs 1 to 10 people.
Where is Sharing Cities Alliance based?
Sharing Cities Alliance is headquartered in Amsterdam, Netherlands, in the Europe region.
How does Sharing Cities Alliance make money?
Four revenue lines are on record. Consulting Services are the primary driver. The others are research and Reports, events and Keynotes and speaking Engagements.
Who are Sharing Cities Alliance's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are Resilient Cities Network (formerly 100 Resilient Cities), NewCities Foundation, C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, Smart City Expo World Congress, Urban Land Institute (ULI), Ellen MacArthur Foundation, Sentience (formerly shareNL) and Sharing Cities Sweden. Sidewalk Labs is listed as an emerging player. World Economic Forum (Centre for Urban Transformation) is listed as a broad incumbent.
Does Sharing Cities Alliance have an API?
No public API is recorded for Sharing Cities Alliance.
What industry is Sharing Cities Alliance in?
Sharing Cities Alliance's product category is Urban Policy Consulting. Its primary akta.pro industry code is THAHAMAC, Partner, Channel & Alliance Summits, with a secondary code of THAHAMAK, Regional/Field Leadership Meetings (Territory/Market Summits). Its NAICS code is 81392 and its SIC code is 8600.