{"id":45284,"date":"2023-10-20T15:42:22","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:42:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/startupsmart.test\/2023\/10\/20\/sharing-economy-only-just-getting-going-says-airtaskers-tim-fung-startupsmart\/"},"modified":"2023-10-20T15:42:22","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T15:42:22","slug":"sharing-economy-only-just-getting-going-says-airtaskers-tim-fung-startupsmart","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/uncategorized\/sharing-economy-only-just-getting-going-says-airtaskers-tim-fung-startupsmart\/","title":{"rendered":"Sharing economy only just getting going, says Airtasker\u2019s Tim Fung – StartupSmart"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/div>\n

Australia will soon see a much more diverse and expansive sharing economy as more people begin to embrace two-way marketplaces, Airtasker CEO Tim Fung says.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The sharing economy, championed by the likes of startup giants Uber and Airbnb, will soon hit the mainstream, he says.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019ll just keep growing,\u201d Fung says. \u201cIt\u2019s a thing here right now because it is niche, but I don\u2019t think it\u2019ll be niche for too much longer.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019ll be like how people used to say, \u2018hey, do you buy stuff online?\u2019. Nobody says that anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Charting the growth of the sharing economy<\/b><\/h2>\n

New research from UK startup JustPark shows just how diverse the sharing economy has become around the world, and the potential for growth within Australia.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

JustPark has created a nifty interactive chart covering 864 companies worldwide and what they\u2019re offering within the sharing economy, including 23 Aussie ones, covering everything from Christmas trees to mountain biking.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The chart shows what some local founders have been saying recently: the sharing economy is much more than just Uber and Airbnb.<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Using information from AngelList and Crunchbase, the study finds that over half of the sharing economy startups were founded from 2013 onwards, and 80% were created after 2011.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

According to the research, the five most popular categories of the sharing economy are buying, hiring, sharing, borrowing and swapping goods.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Money lending, tasks and car-based transactions are the most common among the startups.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

JustPark CEO Alex Stephany says the sharing economy will only continue to expand.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cThe sharing economy will grow to be pervasive in an even wider array of industries,\u201d Stephany says.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cThere are barely any sectors that won\u2019t be impacted by the efficiencies of sharing economy and peer-to-peer online platforms.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

<\/h2>\n

Peer-to-peer lending<\/b><\/h2>\n

While money lending is the most popular aspect globally, it still hasn\u2019t really taken off in Australia yet.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

DirectMoney is one of only two Aussie startups listed in this space, and CEO Peter Beaumont says it\u2019s on the verge of big popularity locally.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s growing and it\u2019s taking many forms,\u201d Beaumont says. \u201cDirectMoney is developing a form of connecting retail lenders with retail investors.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re perhaps the only listed company that is doing it.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Taking the sharing economy to task<\/b><\/h2>\n

Job outsourcer Airtasker is another very prominent sharing economy startup in Australia, and Fung also says this realm still has room for a lot of growth locally.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s reaching a very interesting point,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cWe did some research in January then in June. In January we found that 4% of people were actually participating in the sharing economy, and that doubled to 8% by June.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s pretty huge in terms of becoming a movement and groundswell.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Fung says there are three main areas that the sharing economy covers in Australia at the moment: homes, cars and jobs.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cThese three big areas are covered by Uber, Airbnb and Airtasker in Australia, but we\u2019ll see how more nichey pieces fit around that,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cSharing economy businesses will always succeed first in the areas which have the biggest incentives. They\u2019re the ones that make people jump over the fence and say they\u2019ll do it because it\u2019s worthwhile.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unsurprisingly, America is leading the sharing economy charge, with the study finding that over half of all businesses are headquartered there.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

DirectMoney founder David Doust says Australia is playing catch-up with the US at the moment.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cAustralia is participating in the global sharing economy, but we\u2019re probably 18 months behind the US in terms of development,\u201d Doust says.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

From Christmas trees to boats<\/b><\/h2>\n

The chart also provides a very insightful and entertaining look at some of the more zany and outlandish sharing economy concepts. Among them is a startup offering to set up your Christmas tree, one helping you mountain bike, a way to obtain a box to store your bike in and just about everything else you can think of.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Among the more unusual Aussie ones are a veggie swap venture, a platform allowing homeowners to offer up their backyards to campers and a boat-borrowing service.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Want to grow your business with Instagram?<\/i> StartupSmart School can help<\/i><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Australia will soon see a much more diverse and expansive sharing economy as more people begin to embrace two-way marketplaces,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":58819,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45284"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45284"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45284\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58819"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.startupsmart.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}