Chicago, IL — January 26, 2016 Viri, the indoor gardening systems startup that's crowdfunding on Wefunder, has launched the first open-sourced company. For the first time ever, anyone can request full access to the startup team's files granting them access to all contracts, financial information, research, and other documents. The Viri team is attempting to build new collaboration methods that, in the future, hopes to enable a very large network of people to own the company rather than ownership remaining in the hands of few individuals.

Some key points:

• The Viri team is recording a daily vlog on YouTube as a method of giving collaborators updates that enable them to anonymously contribute solutions to challenges Viri faces as it launches.

• A distributed private company ownership model is not totally unprecedented and has been piloted by projects like the DAO (decentralized autonomous organization) which is built on "smart contracts."