Honeycomb 3.0: The Collaborative Economy Market Expansion
The Collaborative Economy enables people to get what they need from each other. Similarly, in nature, honeycombs are resilient structures that enable access, sharing, and growth of resources among a...
The honeycomb is a market map to help you understand how every industry can benefit from the Collaborative Economy by partnering with new startups. You can download a hi-res version here.
Our Research and Design Process
Honeycomb 3.0 was a large undertaking. At least 460 startups were reviewed, and 280 were chosen to be included in Honeycomb 3.0.
We researched and analyzed the impacts of new startups within the sharing economy since the publishing of Honeycomb 2.0 in December 2014 (and, before that, the original Honeycomb in May 2014). This time around, we specifically focused more on international startups, startups that are on the upswing, and those receiving a lot of funding. The goal was to take a current snapshot of the “A-list” companies in the space.
Determining which startups to include required reviewing vendors included in previous Honeycomb versions, startups included in our funding spreadsheet, the overall market, and suggestions from our network. Each startup that was considered was evaluated separately for meeting sharing economy criteria, its relevance to the market, its function, and location.
This process led to uncovering new trends in the sharing economy and establishing new categories, subcategories, and some re-organization of previously established categories. There was also some startups from previous Honeycomb versions that no longer exist or had been cannibalized, so they were removed.
Honeycomb 3.0 is not intended to be a complete market picture, as there are thousands of other startups out there. We chose those that we found best met our criteria. You can use this blank template to fashion your own version, too.
Make Your Own Honeycomb,with this Blank Template.
You can create your very own honeycomb, for your specific region or industry sub-category, or simply one that’s focused on your view of the world. We’d love to share it, collaborate, and make this a resource for everyone. Find the blank template here.
Additional Resources
Honeycomb 1: Started with six industriesHoneycomb 1& 2: Expanded to twelve industriesSpreadsheet: Funding sheet of startups
Find a detailed overview of all startups and services featured in the infographic here (at the bottom of the post).
(Feature picture by Silke Baron on flickr)
