Collaborative Economy Industry News, July 14, 2014

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Welcome, this industry newsletter shares key market changes, in a twice-monthly publication, curated by Jeremiah Owyang, Founder of Catalyst Companies™, you can subscribe to the email newsletter on the footer of the homepage.

Funding Grows for Sharing Startups
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The statistics are amazing. A survey of startup funding taken in July 2013 indicated that the average amount of funding for the 200 entities surveyed was $29.0 million. The average amount of funding per company in 2014 has increased by 251% to $102.0 million. The percentage of increase is dramatic, in part, because one of the 200 (Uber) received $1.2 billion alone. Nonetheless, the same 200 companies were included in both surveys. Removing the $1.2 billion factor, the average still increase by 80%. Read more.

Lyft Follows Uber to Freelancers Union
Ride-sharing leader, Lyft, continues to improve its services, including those that it offers to its drivers. By partnering with the 250,000 member Freelancers Union, independent Lyft drivers now have access to a broad spectrum of benefits including group health insurance and retirement plans. The union, which was established in 1995, estimates that one of every three persons in the American workforce are now freelancers. Read more.

LiquidSpace Helps Major Hotel Chains Leverage the Space-Sharing Sector
San Francisco’s own LiquidSpace, a leader in the space-sharing economy, has added to its already 4,000 available workspaces by collaborating with visionaries at Marriott, Ritz-Carlton, Hyatt and other major hotels to turn their empty spaces – be they rooms or lobby areas into on-demand workspaces. Not only are mobile workers more easily able to find a convenient place to work or meet for an hour or longer, but the hotels benefit by increasing their room usage and occupancy rate. Read more.

Not Your Grandfather’s Fast Food
The original fast food concept was a no-seating, walk-up window arrangement. Eventually it changed to dine-in or drive-thru. Today, the concept of fast food is undergoing another radical transformation as sharing startups, like Sprig, Munchery and Feastly are infusing new paradigms into the sector. The new fast food has no walk-ups, no dining in, no pick-up and no drive thrus. It is about fresh meals prepared in a centrally located, ordinary, inexpensive commercial space to be delivered to your locations. Delivery is not new, but there is much more to the concept that meets the eye, and it spells convenience for consumers and higher margins for these visionary businesses. Read more.

The Maker Movement Is About More Than Trinkets and Art
What do a South African carpenter, a nine-year-old boy with no fingers on his right hand, a teenager and the Johnson County Library (KS) have in common? The answer is one of the most compelling stories to come out of the Maker Movement. Sixteen-year-old Mason Wilde wanted his friend, Matthew Shields, to have working fingers. In the “Makerspace” of the library, he found the plans for a robotic hand designed by carpenter Richard Van As. Using the library’s shared 3D printer, Mason printed the components and connected them per the specifications. For less than $60, Matthew now has a working hand. This is the heart of the Maker Movement. Read more.

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