Week in Review: Kiva bonuses and the share-able economy

August 11, 2012

By: Kate Talbot

This week at Kiva we launched our Kiva bonus program. If you haven't already heard the good news, you can earn $25 dollars by inviting friends to join Kiva. When a friend signs up, you are rewarded with credit to make a new loan. The numbers of bonuses you can receive are unlimited!

Here at Kiva, we are big proponents of this new trend sweeping the start-up landscape known as collaborative consumption. In other words: What’s Mine is Yours.

Kiva is based in San Francisco, which is home to a number of companies that exemplify this phenomenon. With technology ruling our daily lives, these new disruptive innovations have shifted the way we live, drive, and run our everyday tasks.

We wanted to share a few with you, because as our mothers told us, “sharing is caring.”

AirBnb is an online marketplace that matches people seeking short-term accommodations with those that have rooms to rent. Airbnb was founded in 2007 and has grown globally in the past five years. Currently valuated at $1 billion dollars, the site has over 200,000 listings in 26,000 cities and 192 countries. Airbnb is the proven leader of the “access economy” -- share more/own less -- and is a start-up to watch in the next couple of years.

Getaround is an online peer-to-peer sharing service that allows drivers to rent cars from private car owners. With over 250 million cars in the United States which sit idle for 22 hours a day, Getaround has tapped into a large market. The site has differentiated itself from its' competitors because it is free to join and owners can instantly rent out their cars. Getaround was last year's winner of TechCrunch's Disrupt NYC and more and more car owners are signing up everyday.

TaskRabbit is an online and mobile marketplace that allows for errands to be outsourced. As people have less time in the day to get everything done, Taskrabbit harnesses the community by forming a virtual neighborhood.

Head of Corporate Marketing Jamie Viggiano is passionate about this space and notes, "The most interesting aspect of this shareable economy is that people are now grasping the notion of access over ownership. Consumers no longer have to spend money to acquire assets. In our case, taskrabbits can leverage their time and skills to help out their community."

Taskrabbit has expanded to six cities in the U.S. and has received $24.7 million in funding.

The collaborative consumption marketplace has changed the business ecosystem. The consumer has more choices, information, and power. So we ask you as a consumer to spread the Kiva love. Invite your friends to join Kiva and make an impact!