Would You Rather be a Unicorn or a Zebra?

Let’s take a look at Zebras Unite to learn more.

You’re probably familiar with the popular term “unicorn” to refer to private companies valued at more than $1 billion. These are fast-growing, typically disruptive startups that rapidly win huge market share in what some view as a “winner takes all” environment in the tech industry.

Unicorns are rare by definition. Gaining unicorn status means getting there first, or quickly surpassing competitors. It means rising to the top, often at the exclusion of someone else.

Zebras Unite takes a different view of how the startup world could work. Instead of idealizing a paradigm that places unicorns at the top and failed startups at the bottom, Zebras Unite is working to foster collaboration through a cooperative funding model.

“People will pay to become a member and one of the member benefits will be access to funding. As the fund invests in companies, which ideally will earn profits, the co-op members will also glean profits,” wrote TechCrunch reporter Megan Rose Dickey in a March 2020 story about the organization.

Zebras Unite thinks this model, combined with the organization’s inclusive culture, can help ensure founders from more diverse backgrounds get the support they need to succeed.

“It’s really exciting to think about this cooperative of zebras, which as we grow and as they succeed and as they receive financing, their successes will feed the broader ecosystem and the continuation of the broader ecosystem and not just continue to concentrate wealth,” Zebras Unite co-founder board member Mara Zepeda told Dickey.

As of March 2020, Zebras Unite had just filed its articles of incorporation and was planning to start raising funding for its Zebras Unite Capital fund later in the year.

What are your thoughts? Can a cooperative model work for funding new businesses?