Is it possible to innovate without investors and grow without losing control? Is it possible to create a start-up without relying on venture capital? The answer seems obvious: no. But what happens when the technological ecosystem rebels and aspires to reverse the economic order?
In an economy marked by immediacy, funding rounds, and pressure to scale rapidly, it seems difficult to imagine digital projects that advance outside of large investment funds and the almost unquestionable norm of accelerated growth. However, are there those who take the risk?
Amidst the fierce competition of an ecosystem where hundreds of companies aspire to become the next unicorn , other alternative models also emerge, such as platform cooperativism. The concept, which emerged after the 2008 financial crisis, advocates for cooperative platforms against the so-called “collaborative economy,” represented by companies like Uber or Airbnb. Sustainability, rootedness in the territory, shared governance, and, above all, ethics carry more weight here than accelerated growth and immediate profitability in the face of the drift of the internet into the hands, increasingly, of a few global players.
From economic power to ethical power
“Here there are two aspects: on the one hand, technology as an infrastructure of power, and, on the other, the origin of the first technological tools with which they told us that we would gain efficiency and connectivity, in addition to democratizing access to knowledge and citizen participation, but which over time have become infrastructures around which we organize ourselves and on which our social and economic life depends”. This panorama described by Albert Muntanyola, project technician at the Confederation of Cooperatives of Catalonia (CoopCat), highlights the centralized and extractive model of platforms that are a priori collaborative, but which in practice exemplify the concentration of economic power.
“It is not only an economic problem but also a political one, because many of these companies control information flows, algorithms, and determine what we should see, search for, or buy”, emphasizes Muntanyola. The oligopoly formed by Google (Alphabet), Apple, Facebook (Meta), Amazon, and Microsoft – GAFAM, in its acronym – is, according to this expert, the ultimate expression of this concentration of power, capable of influencing not only markets, but also the habits, decisions, and access to information of millions of people around the world.
The GAFAM: the world at their feet
Google, Amazon, Facebook/Meta, Apple, and Microsoft
The GAFAM (Google, Amazon, Facebook/Meta, Apple, and Microsoft) represent the largest corporate oligopoly in the world. Their power is unprecedented, and they control the global economy, dictate the rules of the digital market, and monopolize data and artificial intelligence. The five companies are worth over 17 trillion dollars, and their control over daily digital infrastructure is almost absolute. Google owns more than 90% of the global market share. Android (Google) and iOS (Apple) control practically 100% of the global smartphone market. Meta and Google capture more than 50% of all online advertising investment, and Amazon processes almost 40% of online sales in the United States and dominates the market share in much of Europe. Furthermore, Amazon, Microsoft, and Google control cloud storage services, and their dominance continues to expand thanks to generative AI.The data monopoly they have woven also makes them the 'gatekeepers' for smaller companies, setting regulatory guidelines in the European Union, despite legislative efforts and punitive fines. They are the main global investors, which leads to their hardware being systematically implanted and integrated into the world's technological fabric.
In Barcelona, companies like Glovo or Typeform have consolidated this model, especially in areas like 22@ Barcelona, which has become the epicenter of innovation in Southern Europe. Companies like Peck —formerly TravelPerk—, located in an imposing six-story office building in the city's technology district, symbolize the success of this model based on innovation, scalability, and attracting investment, but also on the concentration of power and control over data, algorithms, and profits, while workers or users have little or no decision-making power, often subjected to precarious jobs.
Peck, co-founded by Avi Meir 10 years ago in Barcelona, is considered the most valuable unicorn in Catalonia. In its last funding round, it was valued at 2.5 billion euros and has not stopped growing since, even though it now has its headquarters in Boston and London. Other success stories like Glovo, in the home delivery sector, have been in the spotlight due to their legal issues for hiring false self-employed workers – now regularized – or for the penalty received last year from the European Commission for unfair competition and exchange of critical information, along with Delivery Hero.
“Technology companies always seek economic gain. Often the investors are foreign, so in these types of companies we end up having only people sitting in front of the computer. The profits go to outsiders, and we are just renting offices and seats occupied by workers without a voice or vote, many of whom are also foreigners,” warns Lorena Torró, director of CoopCat, from where actions are promoted to encourage the creation of cooperatives in the sector capable of innovating, growing, and generating impact by following different rules.
Beyond venture capital firms, technology-based cooperatives are born without the profit motive of the former because, “first, they do not have to answer to an investor, and second, because neither the economic nor the ethical needs are the same: they do not speculate with data or algorithms, and power rests with their workers —Torró emphasizes—. That is why, from the Confederation, we take such great care of those who want to create from this base”.
The CoopCat incubator
Open source technologies, such as the Linux operating system, created in the 90s, continue to make their way, and technological cooperatives are leading this change. Based on community governance and very powerful structures with clear rules, needs, conflict resolutions, sanctions, and guidelines for compliance, they are based above all on transparency. “They are non-centralized federative structures that have thousands of collaborators, even in other countries. This is the case with Wikipedia or, in our region, with the citizen participation platform of the Barcelona City Council, Decidim.barcelona. In all cases, you can adjust their software to your needs because it is open,” explains Albert Muntanyola.
The TechBloc4 program is now being promoted by the Confederation of Cooperatives of Catalonia, together with the consultancy Tandem Social, to help in this transformation. “We are a kind of innovation center that promotes technologies with an environmental and social commitment —points out Muntanyola—. We have two years of activity and have achieved interesting results. What we promote are technologies at the service of the community and people with an ethical stance against inequality, outside the logic of the market and that are not utilitarian,” he adds. TechBloc4 acts as a project incubator and connection platform, offering training on disruptive technologies, acceleration programs, mentoring, and spaces for inter-cooperation between organizations, companies, and public administration.
Precisely, cooperation between cooperatives makes it possible to overcome many of the limitations of a model that proposes a paradigm shift and a different way of scaling: not vertically, but in a network. The goal is not to grow rapidly or concentrate power, but to build a digital economy in which ownership, governance, and profits are distributed more equitably and outside the control of large technology companies.
