We scour the internet to find the most interesting news on the collaborative consumption front. Here are our picks for the week:
Korea’s sharing economy rocket-propelled as domestic ride-sharing service gets $18M
Nathan Millard, VentureBeat
Bain Capital has today announced that they have led a series A investment into Korean car sharing company, Socar. The total investment raised in this series A round is 180 billion won (equivalent to around $18 million).
Checkr raises $9M to help on-demand and sharing economy business with background checks
Kia Kokalitcheva, VentureBeat
Checkr provides background checks-as-a-service and is announcing today that it has raised $9 million in a first round of institutional funding.
How Uber and the Sharing Economy Can Win Over Regulators
Sarah Cannon, HBR Blog
Regulation is often the most significant barrier to future growth for sharing economy firms. This is particularly unfortunate since the incentives of city governments and sharing economy firms are often aligned. Given the benefits these types of firms bring to cities and firms’ vested interest in the very consumer protections that city governments are seeking to ensure, one would expect a less rocky start for these new entrants.
Going Dutch: Sharing Economy Turns Student Project Into A Global Business
Alison Coleman, Forbes
Housing Anywhere is an online platform that helps university students find safe, affordable short-term accommodation overseas.
Who protects the workers powering the new sharing economy?
Jordan Vesey, PBS News hour
For people working on these platforms it can often be difficult to break even. Because most peer-to-peer companies take a percentage of the supplier’s gross income, workers end up with less money per hour than the price advertised and paid by consumers. Suppliers end up having to work more hours in order to make a decent living.
