Comment by jszymborski

2 years ago

Especially in Canada, where capital is tight and productivity is low, I think incentivizing co-ops is a great idea.

The Canadian gov't offers some grants for co-ops, but they are a pittance. Making debt cheaper for co-ops relative to corps (maybe via additional tax breaks on interest?) is, I think super important.

Quebec probably has the single best cooperative financing ecosystem in the world (1B+$). There’s a need for more risk-driven investment instruments in the sector however to seed early stage ventures. Most of the funds end up getting reinvested in existing cooperatives who can already access traditional funding.

  • What do you mean by trad funding? Loans? Bonds? Equity investments?

    • Mainly debt instruments (loans, lines of credit, etc.) and occasionally preferred shares.