Educating for Cooperation: The Coopstartup Case

Abstract

In the panorama of resources and programs for supporting startup phases of companies, there is also a support program specifically for new cooperatives. Coopstartup, organized annually by Coopfond, the company that manages Legacoop's mutual fund, is supported by various regional branches of the same organization. Its mission is to engage potential new cooperators and help them structure their entrepreneurial ideas with experts’ support and an initial seed-grant to launch their activities. Considering the experience gained over the years—since the program has been in place since 2013—it is worth asking what role it has played in spreading the cooperative culture through informal education practices. To assess the effects Coopstartup has had on participants, especially regarding their adherence to cooperative values and their ability to manage a collective enterprise, the research utilized two tools: an online survey involving 21 participants from past editions and three case studies to delve into training experiences. The results show that although many participants already had some entrepreneurial know-how, they were generally unfamiliar with the cooperative model. Therefore, it is possible to define Coopstartup’s work as a form of informal education that helps impart essential knowledge and skills about the cooperative model and values, converting business ideas into innovative cooperatives that operate in non-traditional fields for cooperatives.

Introduction

In the world of business and economic development, startup programs play a crucial role in guiding people with potential ideas for new products or services who need support in building their businesses through the assistance of experts from different fields.

In Italy, a significant boost was provided by the "Startup Act" of 2012, which established a legislative framework to foster the growth of innovative companies and support ecosystems favorable to their development (Menon et al., 2018). The idea behind these programs is to support and encourage individual entrepreneurship to develop original and innovative ideas applicable across various fields; among the areas where startups have flourished, we find the digital and service sectors, as well as the cultural and social spheres (Buffardi & Savonardo, 2019; Campagnoli, 2019).

Within this vibrant context, the Italian cooperative movement has also shown interest in supporting new businesses and forming ecosystems capable of fostering their growth. Through Coopfond, the company created to manage the mutual fund generated by resources from associated members, Legacoop has promoted the “Coopstartup” program since 2013, aimed at activating new cooperative enterprises. Notably, among the international principles of the cooperative movement, there is the principle of "Education, Training, and Information" (Principle No. 5); it is thus likely that implementing a program like this aligns with embodying this principle.

Training for Cooperation

Since the origins of the cooperative movement, its promoters have focused on how to convey values like mutualism, democracy, and horizontality to future generations or those unfamiliar with this type of economy (Woodin, 2014). These are primarily the values that differentiate cooperatives from other forms of business organization for producing goods and services (Novkovic, 2006). Cooperatives are democratic organizations structured around horizontal relationships among members to foster mutual benefit (Somerville, 2007).

Promoting education for cooperation is therefore aimed at fostering the growth of cooperative members, particularly those in management roles, and becomes essential in the various ecosystems where cooperatives can grow, supported by adequate structures and support systems (Corcoran & Wilson, 2010). This can occur both through structured initiatives focused on training and support, as well as through the informal relationships that develop within the cooperative experience.

Regarding structured initiatives, as Woodin (2014) explains, referring to the roots of the British cooperative movement, there is a desire in the cooperative world to impart the values and worldview of cooperative pioneers to people of all ages through education. Subsequently, this influenced the expansion of offerings, especially in the Anglo-Saxon world, with cooperative schools and advanced training programs. Notably, Italy’s first academic course, the "Master in Cooperative Economics" at the University of Bologna in collaboration with AICOON, merits special mention. Education also contributes to the professional growth of human resources, a method to make cooperatives more adaptable to the market areas where they operate (Nicol & Taherzadeh, 2020).

Beyond formal education offerings on cooperative values and managing collective businesses, literature indicates that learning and transforming people into cooperators is also possible through informal practices, a form of “learning by doing” through direct experience in cooperative business dynamics (Herbel et al., 2015; Battilana et al., 2022). This learning may occur as individuals adapt to a new environment where they are both managers and workers and participate in collective and democratic decision-making processes. Although such practices can be challenging, they informally educate about cooperation, allowing individuals to absorb values directly in practice (Vieta, 2012, 2014). Hence, considering this aspect of the value acquisition process, we can also proceed toward an “informal education” in cooperation. By “informal education,” we mean the transmission of meanings, experiences, skills, and competencies outside institutions designated for this purpose, taking place in spontaneous contexts and dynamics beyond codified spaces for formal education (Tramma, 2009).

Startup Support Programs

Startup activation programs could be seen as informal education forms, falling between the typical Anglo-Saxon training programs and the spontaneous, unstructured “learning by doing,” which may leave cooperators without adequate tools for managing a business.

Coopstartup joins numerous other international experiences, variously tied to different cooperative movements operating in the same countries. In the USA, “Start.Co-op” and the “Co-operative Development Institute” are organizations explicitly dedicated to this task. In the UK, the central “Co-operative UK” provides various programs and incentives for starting new cooperatives, while Canada’s “Co-operative First” and several cooperatives have received support from the “Co-operative Development Initiative,” a foundation supporting participatory local development models. Startup programs for cooperatives have also garnered interest from consulting firms specializing in broader business development.

These organizations and programs aim to support the creation of solid and long-lasting cooperatives that can introduce significant economic and social innovations. This mission becomes particularly relevant when considering some of the structural weaknesses of the cooperative model, which could threaten the sustainability of new enterprises. Cooperatives require high levels of trust among members and a pervasive and shared culture of collaboration and mutuality (Jones & Kalmi, 2009; Pesämaa et al., 2013; Jensen-Auvermann et al., 2018). They also face additional challenges in applying cooperative values to business dynamics, which can be complex (Novkovic, 2008). Cooperatives need suitable governance structures to manage democratic and horizontal dynamics, face organizational challenges like attracting capital, and handle growth pressures while maintaining a democratic and horizontal structure (Webb & Cheney, 2013) and manage institutional tensions when they qualify as social enterprises.

These challenges highlight, among other things, the need for the cooperative movement’s growth to be supported by cooperative member education and training, especially for cooperative leaders who must develop skills and attitudes consistent with cooperative economic principles. It’s no coincidence that many courses focused on cooperative business management have emerged in colleges and universities, particularly in the Anglo-Saxon world (Woodin, 2014; Hancock & Brault, 2016).

Coopstartup

Considering the challenges mentioned above and the mission of startup development programs and organizations to provide adequate support, it becomes important to ask how these initiatives promote cooperative education and what impacts they have on participants. The Coopstartup case is particularly interesting because it provides access to a wide array of companies that have participated in the program; Through a combination of an online questionnaire and case studies, this research analyzes Coopstartup’s role in promoting cooperative values and fostering new businesses that even venture into fields beyond the traditional activities of cooperatives.

Founded in 2013, Coopstartup is promoted by Coopfond and Legacoop as the main tool supporting innovative cooperative initiatives. The program aims to be a cooperative startup incubator through collaboration with Legacoop's regional offices, which annually promote and co-finance new editions in their territories. Coopstartup supports entrepreneurial projects that aim to enhance cooperative values and promote social and technological innovation, youth leadership, sustainability, and the expansion of cooperative economy into new markets. Over the years, 23 regional calls have been issued, which received 1,131 project ideas evaluated by local committees, selecting more than 800 feasibility projects. Coopstartup operates as a “business pre-accelerator” (Merguei and Costa, 2022) and supports cooperatives in various areas—from adopting the cooperative model to creating and managing the business to market positioning—utilizing experts in specific fields (e.g., marketing, business plan creation, labor law, etc.).

However, in the context of this study, it is essential to highlight, as noted by Moreschi (2020), that Coopstartup primarily impacts people and their capacity to collaborate before addressing the development of the business itself. In this sense, understanding the role that this program has played over the years in training new cooperators becomes even more critical. Applying the concept of informal education to the program described here, two research questions have guided this project:

What educational role has Coopstartup played for its participants?

What impact has it had on the functioning of cooperatives following participation in the program?

Research Methodology

This study presents research aimed at evaluating the experiences of participants in the Coopstartup editions between 2015 and 2020. More recent editions were excluded as it was deemed beneficial to examine cooperative members' assessments a few years after their program experience.

The primary data collection tool was an online questionnaire, sent to all participants of the selected editions who either launched a cooperative or participated with an already active enterprise. A total of 28 cooperatives received the survey, with 21 of them responding and completing the online form. The questionnaire was structured with a series of closed or Likert-scale questions to enhance the comparability of the results.

The second data collection tool were three significant case studies, selected with Coopfond’s support among the 28 program participants. For each cooperative, a member of the Board of Directors was contacted and a semi-structured interview was conducted. Topics included the founding group’s history, their cultural background, prior cooperative experiences, how they conceived their business idea, their experience during the Coopstartup training months, and the cooperative’s growth in the following years. The results are reported and analyzed here, highlighting the role that the incubation program's training played and the effects produced in the years after its conclusion.

Results

Participants’ Information

First, it is appropriate to analyze the information related to the pool of cooperatives that participated in the study.

The regions with the highest number of research participants include Emilia-Romagna (5), Liguria (4), and Tuscany (3). This distribution is also influenced by the number of editions promoted by each regional office; Coopstartup is organized territorially, with regional offices choosing to activate this opportunity. Consequently, the number of editions promoted by each region over the years may vary (and in some regions, the program was not activated).

The investigation also provides a balanced distribution regarding the founding years of the cooperatives, ranging from 2015 to 2020, reflecting the decision to select cooperatives with at least three years of activity to obtain meaningful feedback on their post-Coopstartup experiences.

It is also relevant to highlight the various fields in which the different cooperatives operate, illustrating how Coopstartup has successfully supported enterprises in highly diverse sectors over its different editions. This also demonstrates the cooperative model’s adaptability to different sectors and the program’s ability to attract innovative startups exploring new fields beyond traditional cooperative business areas. Among the 21 participants, four operate in agriculture, another four in tourism, two in cultural production, two in environmental services, and the remaining are active in various fields such as aerial photography, publishing, hydrogen technologies, and architecture.

Continuing with the description, it is useful to note that the cooperatives vary in terms of the number of members and workers; while the first factor shows greater variety, the involved cooperatives are almost all micro-enterprises with fewer than ten employees. In terms of annual turnover (considering 2022), the average was €195,921.67, with a couple of businesses reporting less than €20,000. About half of the remaining businesses had a turnover between €20,000 and €100,000, while others exceeded this threshold.

Analyzing the data on the channels through which participants learned about Coopstartup, it is clear that the promotion work by Coopfond and Legacoop played a central role in attracting candidates and remains the main means through which participants learn about this initiative. Notably, participation in Legacoop/Coopfond promotional events stands out, followed by online promotion through social media channels or other announcements and website references.

Level of Knowledge of the Cooperative Model

Following the descriptive information about participants and the channels through which they engaged with the Coopstartup program, the survey included a series of self-assessment questions regarding participants’ prior knowledge of the cooperative model as a business form before joining the program.

Table 1 – Assessment of Prior Knowledge of the Cooperative Model and Economy

The values in the table clearly indicate the level of knowledge, experience, and preparation that candidates had at the beginning of the program; naturally, when asking participants to reflect on past experiences after completing a training program and gaining experience as cooperators, it is possible that their perceptions may have been influenced by their subsequent self-assessment of their condition from several years prior. Nonetheless, it is evident and indisputable that, upon entering Coopstartup, many of these future cooperators were unfamiliar with the cooperative model or economy and had no prior experience in this field.

Knowledge and Skills Provided by Coopstartup

This section presents the results concerning participants' evaluations of the knowledge and skills they acquired during the program.

Table 2 – Assessment of Coopstartup’s Impact

Table 3 – Specific Assessment of Knowledge and Skills

The survey results indicate that Coopstartup had a significant impact on fostering participants' cooperative culture by providing relevant knowledge and information for their development as cooperators. As highlighted in the previous section, participants entered the program with minimal knowledge and skills related to the cooperative model, and they acknowledge that Coopstartup played a key role in expanding their cooperative understanding. However, when it comes to more specific business management skills, the results are more evenly distributed across the Likert scale levels. Opinions on market positioning, context analysis, main product/service development, marketing, and relationship-building with potential partners are generally moderate, indicating that many participants may have required more extensive training in these areas. The program likely provided partial support in these aspects, though participants may have already possessed a degree of knowledge and skills in these areas.

Post-Program Evaluation

After evaluating the support received during the training program, the questionnaire examined the impact in the years following. The survey tool was designed to enable former participants to provide a clear evaluation, aiming to identify any program shortcomings. In an initial general assessment, 20 out of 21 respondents affirm that the information and skills they acquired were beneficial for independently managing their cooperative.

Table 4 – Areas where Coopstartup has had an impact

The considerations reported here (the questions allowed for multiple-choice answers) pertain to the effects that the teachings and skills acquired have had over the years following the program, that is, how cooperators have utilized them and in which areas they have found the greatest need and necessity. Compared to previous results, issues related primarily to understanding legislation in the relevant field, managing relations with members, marketing, improving governance, and acquiring resources stand out. In contrast, other areas reveal a level of autonomy in developing competencies and solutions.

Table 5 – Post-Coopstartup Impacts

Although the main support of Coopstartup ends with the conclusion of the program, cooperatives can still seek individual assistance and moments of discussion with local leaders to address problems and difficulties. Table 5 shows opinions on how the information and skills were used and whether or not they had an impact. Additionally, it includes information about post-program support and an evaluation of its usefulness. It emerges that the information received during the training was helpful during times of difficulty and was used in managing internal and external relations, as well as improving the entrepreneurial skills of the cooperators. The post-program support is widely considered useful and effective in addressing the difficulties that may arise during the first years of managing a cooperative enterprise. In the evaluation questions in the later part of the questionnaire, most cooperatives (18) noted that they had requested the support of Legacoop and Coopstartup trainers at least a couple of times. Reasons included assistance with business management issues, help with fundraising, support in developing new strategic relationships, or marketing strategies. This post-training support element is therefore very important in helping businesses improve and structure themselves. In fact, 16 out of the 18 cooperatives that requested assistance after the training consider it to have been helpful. The same number believes that they have increased their managerial autonomy as a result of this intervention.

Case Studies

Cooperativa Demoela

Demoela was founded in 2016 as a result of participation in the Coopstartup Liguria 2015 call. This cooperative is a publisher of its own board games, with various products that have distinguished themselves in the market by promoting local traditions and dialects. Initially, the three founders’ idea was to create their own game, an inspiration that came during a New Year’s Eve party among friends. The seed of the business was this game and the search for a publisher to produce it. The Coopstartup call provided them with the momentum to launch a more structured business by creating their own publishing house and becoming producers of their own game ideas.

This group entered the selection process with a clear and precise idea, strengthened by university and professional training in economics. Therefore, the founders already had a solid business idea. Although little known to them, the cooperative model caught their interest and was chosen as the right form for their enterprise.

"I didn’t know the details well, but I had an idea that the cooperative economy could respond to my ambition to create an ethical and sustainable form of capitalism that doesn’t maximize profit but creates value."

The call opportunity allowed them to access the grant that covered the initial expenses. From this experience, however, the group also gained many insights into the cooperative model and benefited from the trainers' support. The second phase of the training was considered the most helpful, especially in standardizing the product and replicating the game model.

"The support from the experts was very useful in business planning, management control, and marketing, as well as collaborations and synergies."

After the program, the cooperative tested itself independently in the market, refining its idea over time. In 2018, Demoela increased production, which led to a reduction in unit costs, and began offering its games in other regions such as Milan, La Spezia, Cuneo, Novara, Pesaro, and Sardinia. Today, it offers a catalog of over 60 titles spanning different types of board games. With the launch of e-commerce in 2020, the market grew substantially. As mentioned in the interview, the conditions of the lockdown favored the board game market, and thus, also benefited the cooperative.

After the program, the cooperative received coaching from experienced managers on various topics to manage and grow the business. In 2023, Demoela faced a new challenge, launching its first four games to enter the German market, and targeting the French and American markets for the future. The interview revealed that the greatest contribution was in understanding what a cooperative is, rather than improving managerial skills, which were already part of the founders' background.

Cooperativa Experience

Founded in 2015 after participating in the Coopstartup Puglia 2014 call, this cooperative aims to manage real estate for tourist accommodation and social community housing projects. Today, the cooperative manages 400 apartments and has consolidated its presence in Bari, its founding location, while also expanding to Matera. Experience combines short-term rental services with eco-design furniture developed through collaborations with local artists and artisans.

The origin of this cooperative was the idea of three founders to meet the housing needs of Erasmus students in the Puglian capital. After participating in the regional "Principi attivi" call and other startup competitions, the group founded a general partnership and began its adventure. After refining its business model, the group found an opportunity in Coopstartup and decided to convert the company into a cooperative.

"As a general partnership, there were rules we didn’t like, like the fact that those with the highest percentage have more influence and that profit was the main focus. We liked the idea of the cooperative because it represents values like horizontality and democracy, which also help engage other members so that everyone counts the same."

This group entered the call with a clear business idea and how to execute it after their first entrepreneurial experience with Erasmus students. What emerged as innovative and interesting for them were the principles and dynamics of cooperation.

In the years following the program, Experience grew, reaching 15 employees today. Alongside the insights gained from Coopstartup, many decisions were made based on the cooperators’ own thinking, such as introducing smart working before the pandemic and choosing not to place employees on unemployment benefits during the lockdowns.

"We thought we had everything figured out and had the right business plan, then COVID came and reset everything. There were difficult times for us, the members, we were on unemployment benefits but not the employees. We took out loans from the bank. We came out of the two years of COVID without losing staff, apartments, or enthusiasm, and now we’re investing more than before, so it's a successful business."

Over the years, they found it very useful and fruitful to interact with many experts from Legacoop Puglia. Through their professionalism, they were able to better structure their cooperative. Additionally, the cooperators’ vision led to other outcomes, such as collaborations with artists, which also grew. Today, Experience also offers residency opportunities for artists in their homes to beautify them with works that remain as permanent furnishings. Of the many properties they manage, most are on loan agreements between the cooperative and property owners, but one apartment is now owned by the cooperative.

Cooperativa Multicoopter Drone

Multicoopter Drone is an innovative cooperative that focuses on using drones for topography and security inspections, introducing a new system in the technical analysis of buildings and land in the Umbria region. It was born from the idea of three members who met during a course about the use of drones. The company was founded in 2016, and through the Coopstartup call by Unicoop Tirreno, they had the opportunity to formalize their idea and access the available grant to cover initial expenses. The original project, which was quite broad, also involved the use of drones in the fields of artistic production and videomaking, a choice they later abandoned. The call, however, pushed the group to explore the cooperative model.

"We didn’t know the different types of businesses at the time, and the cooperative model was mostly associated with the social sector."

During the Coopstartup program, the group received support to refine the initial idea, develop a business plan, and create an efficient development plan. Meanwhile, the three founding members grew by learning new skills and competencies, also through direct exchanges with experts and other cooperatives. It was during the training that the group discovered that the cooperative enterprise model perfectly aligned with their ideals and their vision of work organization.

"Our vision for managing the company at the beginning was to give our all for the business, so it aligned well with the cooperative principles. Our model is based on teamwork, where no one works alone but everyone contributes to the final result. We combine forces when needed; we are a single force within the cooperative."

After the startup incubation phase and their initial work experiences, the group realized they needed to identify a more specific field to focus on. After working outside the region, the members developed relationships with the local cooperative world and various professional firms, contributing to the production chain of construction sites.

"The Legacoop program helped us to define ourselves better. Of course, we grew by facing the market, but without the initial push from Coopstartup, I don’t think we would have gone far or even started a business."

Today, Multicoopter Drone also handles large contracts across Italy and operates in renewable energy, cultural heritage, and engineering sectors, while continuing to develop its main business centered on inspection services and topographical surveys.

"Several years have passed since we started; it feels like time flew by. Although many things have changed, and we ourselves have changed, we don’t forget where we started or who helped us in the beginning. This is a source of pride and satisfaction for us, although there is still a long way to go."

In the future, Multicoopter Drone aims to make strategic investments for the company's growth, including further development in the online positioning and possibly expanding their staff by acquiring new members.

Discussion

The results highlight the formative role that the program has played and the effects it has had on the entrepreneurial capacities of the participants involved. One key finding that emerges clearly is that Coopstartup represents an important tool for promoting the values of the cooperative economy. Although for some participants the main attraction was the opportunity to access the grant for starting their business activities, throughout the program participants acquired skills and developed their ideas within the cooperative model. Initially, the results confirm Coopstartup’s role as a strategic tool for Legacoop, in its capacity as a meta-organization (Maiolini & Giudici, 2023), proposing its approach to developing a cooperative culture, as well as encouraging experimentation with new fields for the cooperative model.

The second significant point from the results is that cooperative values and the operational concepts of cooperation were the least understood elements by participants at the start of the program and were later considered the most impactful in their educational journey. As highlighted by at least two of the three case studies, the founders arrived with a clear idea of how to develop the product and what type of business strategy to adopt, but it was only through Coopstartup that they were able to translate these ideas into a business model, one they sometimes discovered for the first time, as revealed in the survey results. In practice, the value of the program lies less in management training and more in transmitting an alternative way of doing business. The survey data also show that the  contribution of the program had a greater impact on participants' understanding of the cooperative model and their ability to manage it, rather than on business strategy areas (see Tables 3 and 4). This is consistent with Somerville’s (2007) observation that cooperatives distinguish themselves from other business forms primarily by the values they place on how business is conducted. Coopstartup thus has an educational effect, transmitting values that participants had not previously considered but later identified with their personal principles. The cooperative model is chosen because it allows the organization of a business around a collective project of several people, enabling them to involve others at the same level as the founders. As Duguid et al. (2015) argue, this model maximizes democratic participation and structures a collective project aimed at achieving a common and shared goal.

As Noble and Ross (2021) indicate, cooperative identity is the first and most important trait to transmit to new cooperators as a defining element of the business, and this must be supported with the proper tools. While Coopstartup’s goal is to provide practical support to new cooperators, it also functions as an informal education initiative for cooperative values. In this sense, especially during the post-program phase, with the possibility of requesting support, Coopstartup becomes a tool for growth through cooperative practices and collective development (Woodin, 2011), as well as shared and cooperative education (Woodin, 2014), facilitated by annual meetings and discussions.

Additionally, Coopfond’s ability to create a community of practice that meets annually for exchanges with previous cohorts is an essential element for building a network of key contacts and for continuous peer-to-peer learning. Some interviewees viewed this as crucial for growing a network of contacts and for ongoing discussions to learn from others’ experiences. As Schugurensky et al. (2013) argue, such relationships constitute another important dynamic of informal education and learning among cooperators, which helps build the competencies of those who can only learn through experience as cooperators.

In general, the assessment of the experience by cooperators who have participated in Coopstartup does not focus primarily on the knowledge and management skills of the business in the strictest sense (market positioning, context analysis, product and/or service development, marketing, and relationship-building with potential partners), as these skills were largely acquired prior to the program or developed independently by many of the cooperatives (as seen in the case studies). The primary theme that emerges as characteristic of the Coopstartup experience is the acquisition of values and concepts related to the cooperative model.

In comparison to international examples mentioned earlier, Coopstartup activates local groups of cooperators who have the opportunity to get to know each other and cultivate relationships between cooperatives over the years, aided by the annual events organized by Coopfond. Unlike other cases that provide desk support, online courses, or informational materials such as manuals, Coopstartup implements a process of accompaniment, peer learning, and offers access to a catalog of experts for tailored consultations based on specific needs.

Conclusions

Coopstartup aims to support potential new cooperators by transmitting knowledge and providing direct support from sector experts on technical aspects such as creating business models and canva, marketing strategies, product and service design, and market positioning. However, the program’s primary merit lies in its informal education on cooperative values, which become ingrained in people who, at the start of the program, had little to no knowledge or experience of what cooperation entails. In contrast, the management skills and capabilities required to run a business are already present in those who approach the program, seeking growth opportunities, often driven by the possibility of a “seed grant” to start the business. Coopstartup thus serves as an educational agent for the cooperative model, even though it is not formally codified as such, i.e., not structured as a training course or part of an academic curriculum, as in many other parts of the world, especially in the Anglo-Saxon region. This specific Italian initiative represents an important case study for the cooperative world because it combines the provision of financial resources for the start-up phase with expert assistance and support on the topics of business creation. The results indicate that the main elements acquired by participants are cooperative values, rather than the definition of their business ideas or the products and services they wish to market. It is therefore possible to affirm that the program fulfills the task given to it by Legacoop and Coopfond, acting as implementers of strategies for the growth of the cooperative movement in order to disseminate its values and explore potential new areas of application for the cooperative business model.

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Conflict of Interest Statement

The author was commissioned by Coopfond S.r.l. to conduct an evaluation study of the Coopstartup program. In order to disseminate the data collected and share the conclusions of the study, it was mutually agreed with the commissioning party to produce this article. Although the work is the result of a commissioned project, it is a scientific piece as it follows a specific methodology outlined in the relevant section. The author was not influenced by the commissioning party in determining the value of the research findings or in the production of this article.

Research Funding

This research was funded by Coopfond S.r.l., the implementing organization of the Coopstartup program.