Drivers Cooperative: worker-owned alternative to Uber/Lyft
Hi friends, I recently invested in The Drivers Cooperative, a new worker-owned/operated ridehailing service in NYC. They're still actively fundraising, and although it's not quite a "giving" opportunity, Stacey encouraged me to tell the folks on this list! So, allow me to give you the pitch!
[image: coop-ride2.webp] *Why invest in The Drivers Cooperative?* * Drivers keep 85% of the fare vs. 60% on average with Uber/Lyft. * The company is 100% driver-owned and -operated. Any profits are shared amongst driver-owners rather than disproportionately benefiting executives and VCs, and drivers take part in decision-making. * A successful ridehailing cooperative in NYC will create interest in more such cooperatives in other metro areas, including the SF Bay Area! It will also create interest in making cooperatives work in other industries.
*Can they really compete with Uber/Lyft?* * Yes, the app works! I personally used it several times on a recent visit to NYC (early July, a month after their launch). Most of the time, I was matched with a driver with only a 7-minute wait time, and a slightly lower price than what Uber/Lyft offered. I talked to the drivers about their experience, and they were universally over-the-moon excited about the company. There were a few times the app could not find a nearby driver, in which case it was easy to turn to Lyft as a backup. I anticipate that a significant segment of riders like you and me will prefer Coop Ride for ethical and price reasons, knowing that they can always fall back to Lyft/Uber if for some reason a particular ride request doesn't work out. * They've put together a high-quality software engineering team including former Facebook employees. * The NYC ridehail market is so huge, and they've worked out the unit economics enough, that they only need 0.2% market share to break even. (Details in their deck, linked below.)
*How does the investment bit work?* * The minimum investment is $100. * The first three years of your investment are a grace period for the company during which you won't receive payments. * Starting in Year 4, you are paid back on a quarterly basis. 2.5% of quarterly revenues after driver payouts are reserved for investors. You will be paid every quarter until you have been paid back 250% of your investment. For example, if you invest $100, you will be paid a small amount every quarter until you have been paid back $250 total. (Their deck, linked below, includes several examples of payback schedules.)
*Interested?* * Check out their deck and fundraising campaign at https://wefunder.com/driverscoop! * Email me with any questions or concerns! Happy to answer. * If you do end up investing, please let me know, it would put a smile on my face and also let me know that this email accomplished something :)
Thanks for reading! I'm excited to support companies that share power amongst all workers and simultaneously provide high-quality service to the general public, and I hope that some of you will join me in this effort.
<3 Topher
Thanks Topher - I invested! Excited to help build a more sustainable alternative to Uber/Lyft. I also like wefunder -- what an interesting idea.
--igor
On Tue, Aug 03, 2021 at 02:12:56PM -0700, Christopher Lin wrote:
Hi friends, I recently invested in The Drivers Cooperative, a new worker-owned/ operated ridehailing service in NYC. They're still actively fundraising, and although it's not quite a "giving" opportunity, Stacey encouraged me to tell the folks on this list! So, allow me to give you the pitch!
coop-ride2.webp Why invest in The Drivers Cooperative?
- Drivers keep 85% of the fare vs. 60% on average with Uber/Lyft.
- The company is 100% driver-owned and -operated. Any profits are shared
amongst driver-owners rather than disproportionately benefiting executives and VCs, and drivers take part in decision-making.
- A successful ridehailing cooperative in NYC will create interest in more such
cooperatives in other metro areas, including the SF Bay Area! It will also create interest in making cooperatives work in other industries.
Can they really compete with Uber/Lyft?
- Yes, the app works! I personally used it several times on a recent visit to
NYC (early July, a month after their launch). Most of the time, I was matched with a driver with only a 7-minute wait time, and a slightly lower price than what Uber/Lyft offered. I talked to the drivers about their experience, and they were universally over-the-moon excited about the company. There were a few times the app could not find a nearby driver, in which case it was easy to turn to Lyft as a backup. I anticipate that a significant segment of riders like you and me will prefer Coop Ride for ethical and price reasons, knowing that they can always fall back to Lyft/Uber if for some reason a particular ride request doesn't work out.
- They've put together a high-quality software engineering team including
former Facebook employees.
- The NYC ridehail market is so huge, and they've worked out the unit economics
enough, that they only need 0.2% market share to break even. (Details in their deck, linked below.)
How does the investment bit work?
- The minimum investment is $100.
- The first three years of your investment are a grace period for the company
during which you won't receive payments.
- Starting in Year 4, you are paid back on a quarterly basis. 2.5% of quarterly
revenues after driver payouts are reserved for investors. You will be paid every quarter until you have been paid back 250% of your investment. For example, if you invest $100, you will be paid a small amount every quarter until you have been paid back $250 total. (Their deck, linked below, includes several examples of payback schedules.)
Interested?
- Check out their deck and fundraising campaign at [1]https://wefunder.com/
driverscoop!
- Email me with any questions or concerns! Happy to answer.
- If you do end up investing, please let me know, it would put a smile on my
face and also let me know that this email accomplished something :)
Thanks for reading! I'm excited to support companies that share power amongst all workers and simultaneously provide high-quality service to the general public, and I hope that some of you will join me in this effort.
<3 Topher
References:
chrysalis.giving mailing list chrysalis.giving@moomers.org https://mailman.moomers.org/listinfo/chrysalis.giving
participants (2)
-
Christopher Lin -
Igor Serebryany