Prix de la Fondation Edgard Milhaud : “The Funding Challenges of Digital Platform Cooperatives”

“The Funding Challenges of Digital Platform Cooperatives.”

présenté par notre collègue Donia Trabelsi (IMT-BS), maître de conférences lors de la conférence CIRIEC « LE RÔLE DE L’ESS DANS LA TRANSITION SOCIO-ÉCOLOGIQUE » 27-29/10/2025 a remporté le Prix de la Fondation Edgard Milhaud du meilleur article sur l’ESS (catégorie chercheur senior).

Abstract : While criticism of the harmful effects of giant digital platforms (precarious work, tax evasion, etc.) is growing, alternative platforms, such as Digital Platform Cooperatives (DPCs), remain marginal. This article aims to understand the cause of this marginality which appears to be linked to the hybridity of the DPCs. Indeed, by carrying out social and/or environmental missions and relying on commercial economic activities and digital technologies, they face tensions, particularly for accessing financing. In this article, we study four French Digital Platform Cooperatives (DPCs) to understand how they manage performing tension in their quest for financing. While the four DPCs expect to self-finance their operations through their economic activities, they must currently hybridize various funding sources, such as bank loans, crowdfunding, and subsidies. The study also identifies four levers – mutualization, philanthropy, crowdfunding, and inclusion in public policy – which represent scenarios for the development of a sustainable digital economy.