Chasing zebras instead of unicorns - More socially-responsible funding for business?

Quick post to share something I stumbled upon recently:

There’s apparently a new movement where some funders/investors are trying to move away from the dominant venture capital model of chasing “unicorns”. Instead, they call themselves “zebras” and focus on slower “growth” and more social responsibility:

https://www.mondragon-corporation.com/en/

Two of the founders of the zebra movement were recently interviewed:

Might be a new way to get financial support for open source hardware (and software) projects/organisations? Anyone here familiar with zebras?

Also reminds me of this old thread.

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Slightly related: I stumbled upon this article about “revenue-based” investment funding (instead of traditional vulture capital) in the excellent Rest of World news site about tech news from outside the Global North.

From the article:

…Bhavik Vasa is the founder of GetVantage, an alternative funding platform based in Mumbai that provides startups revenue-based financing (RBF), where entrepreneurs don’t need to dilute equity or pay interest. GetVantage makes money through one flat fee that’s charged as a share of future revenues…

Not sure how much this would support open source work, but it’s another data point on how there may be a move away from the crazy growth unicorns that people used to chase…

Also somewhat related, a few more links that came up in the talk by @Paul to the oh-researchers group earlier today:

Making Mondragón - The Growth and Dynamics of the Worker Cooperative Complex: Making Mondragón by William Foote Whyte | Paperback | Cornell University Press

Worker/resident cooperatives:

Thanks to @Paul and @moritz.maxeiner for the links!

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