Coop Exchange, a firm established to facilitate the connection between capital and cooperatives, is winding down following a review of its funding position.

The company set up its EU base in Malta in 2024, with the stated intention of “revolutionising the economic landscape.”

Speaking at its launch, Prime Minister Robert Abela said the company’s decision to set up a base in Malta “aligns with the country’s efforts to drive funds towards activities that support climate neutrality and societal welfare.”

However, Coop Exchange ultimately ran into funding troubles – an ironic turn of events that was not lost on Founder and CEO Stephen Gill.

Taking to social media to announce that the firm would be proceeding with a solvent wind-down of its activities, he said: “One of the hardest things to accept is the irony – a business designed to address the sector’s capital challenge has been stopped by precisely that challenge.”

Shedding light on the structural challenges the cooperative sector faces in raising capital, he said “there was real understanding of the need, real alignment around the vision, and real goodwill.

“But goodwill, endorsement and shared conviction were not enough to bridge the gap to investable commitments at the scale required to launch.”

A key hurdle, said Mr Gill, was that many financial institutions’ mandates or structures did not allow them to participate fully in the cooperative sector.

“The smaller and mid-sized co-operatives and mutuals that most need sustainable capital cannot unlock it on their own. That capital, in turn, wants the confidence signal that comes from large co-operatives and mutuals standing alongside them. But many of the larger institutions do not feel compelled to act, because they are not currently under the same pressure when it comes to raising capital.”

He continued: “The tragedy is that this logic only holds while market conditions and the wider geopolitical climate remain stable. I hope we never reach the point where large co-operatives themselves are struggling to raise capital, or paying serious mutual premiums, before the need for a shared solution becomes impossible to ignore – because by then it will almost certainly be too late.”

Mr Gill opened up about the experience, admitting that building Coop Exchange “has consumed a huge part of my life for the last eight years,” pointing to the “years of pushing, persuading, rebuilding, carrying uncertainty, and trying to hold something together long enough for it to become real.”

The Founder was also frank about the personal cost: “I have burnt the candle at both ends for a long time trying to make this work, and I know I gave it everything I had,” adding that he will be taking time to recover before deciding what the future brings.