Simple, Purpose-Driven Tech

CoLab Cooperative was founded in 2010 to co-create simple, purpose-driven web technology for a better world.

CoLab was born of diversity, with intercultural collaboration a part of its organizational DNA. In growing, we have prioritized heart-centered and inclusive cooperation, welcoming committed and aligned collaborators into the owning membership as they become woven into our team through the practice of work together.

Today, we have invested member-owners on three continents, and a larger collaborator member network in seven U.S. states and eight countries from Austin, Texas to Chandigarh, India. These CoLabrs are working their way toward member ownership at various stages. By choosing to work with the CoLab Network, our clients support our efforts to include more CoLabrs as invested members.

We’re proudly building platforms with clients ranging from established educational institutions like Virginia Tech University, Stanford University, and Cornell University; to B-Corporations like Seventh Generation, to cooperatives like Green Worker Cooperative, and the innovative platform cooperative Up&Go, one of the only digital tools owned and governed by its members.

As a co-op, we’re especially committed to cooperative alternatives. In 2017, we completed a study for the International Cooperative Alliance on financing for co-op startups. In 2018, we collaborated with Vancity Credit Union to validate new concepts for high-impact, community-led investment. In 2019 we are published with Democracy Collaborative a report on scaling democratic organizations. It gives an overview of the many models for scalable democratic organizations to inform our own efforts to grow from a single transnational cooperative into a cooperative network.

As of 2021, CoLab Coop established a new entity based in the EU via Slovenia.