Ethelo
Digital democracy platform for fair group decision-making.
| Date | Investors | Amount | Round |
|---|---|---|---|
| investor investor investor | €0.0 | round | |
| N/A | €0.0 | round | |
| N/A | $150k | Grant | |
| Total Funding | 000k | ||
| USD | 2021 |
|---|---|
| Revenues | 0000 |
| EBITDA | 0000 |
| Profit | 0000 |
| EV | 0000 |
| EV / revenue | 00.0x |
| EV / EBITDA | 00.0x |
| R&D budget | 0000 |
Source: Dealroom estimates
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Ethelo is a company that developed a patented digital democracy and group decision-making software platform. Founded in 2011 by John Richardson and headquartered in Vancouver, Canada, the company's technology is designed to help groups of any size find fair and broadly supported solutions to complex and contentious problems. The platform, which is a certified B Corp, has been used by over 150 government organizations, primarily in Canada, for public engagement in processes like budgeting, planning, and policy-making.
The founder, John Richardson, is a mathematician and lawyer who previously founded Pivot Legal Society, a prominent Canadian human rights organization. His experience at Pivot inspired him to find better ways to conduct group decision-making, leading to the creation of Ethelo. The name "Ethelo" comes from an ancient Greek word for "intention" or "willpower," reflecting the platform's goal of unifying individual intentions into collective action. The technology is rooted in the philosophical principles of John Rawls, emphasizing fairness in social decisions.
Ethelo's platform operates as a software-as-a-service (SaaS) and uses a patented algorithm to model complex decisions. It breaks down problems into various issues and options, allowing participants to evaluate trade-offs and priorities. The system then analyzes responses to identify outcomes with the highest average support while minimizing polarization, a process it calls "optimized consensus." Its clients include government bodies, non-profits, and corporations, which use the tool for public consultation, strategic planning, and internal decision-making. For example, it has been used for developing climate action plans, land-use planning, and even by angel investors to evaluate companies.
Keywords: digital democracy, group decision-making, public engagement, consensus building, civic technology, collaborative software, policy making, stakeholder engagement, participatory budgeting, decision science, fairness algorithm, e-democracy, conflict resolution, collective intelligence, social enterprise, multi-criteria decision analysis, crowd wisdom, deliberative democracy, strategic planning, community engagement