MatchMade's Reconciliation Startup: Unveiling the Day Zero Expedition

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Do you prefer making non-cash payments? However, did you know that the amount you pay and what appears on the point-of-sale (POS) machine may not be the same? This is what is commonly referred to as the merchant discount rate (MDR) or the service fee charged to the merchant.

The difference in amounts poses a challenge for the finance team in validating and reconciling data between payments, POS machines, and the company’s Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system.

MatchMade aims to solve this problem. As a software-as-a-service (SaaS) company, MatchMade wants to make life easier for finance teams by ensuring data consistency across different platforms.

Tedo Esmu Ziraga, Gilang Gibranthama, and Kornelius Samuel are the brains behind MatchMade. The idea sparked from Tedo’s experiences while interviewing candidates for the head of finance position. Many candidates discussed reconciliation, sparking Tedo’s interest in exploring the concept further.

“From there, I realized that reconciliation is a big thing. I delved deeper into research, gathered co-founders, and invited Gilang, who has experience in business to business (B2B), and Samuel, who has experience in engineering and data. That’s how we combined forces,” said Tedo.

Tedo also discovered that despite being crucial in business management, reconciliation had not been extensively addressed by local players. While there are some global-scale reconciliation tools, their costs are too high for adoption in Indonesia.

According to Tedo, luck played a significant role in MatchMade’s journey. Networking and seizing opportunities were equally crucial.

Backed from Day Zero

The MatchMade journey began with the founders – Tedo and Gilang – meeting at Gojek back in 2015. Fast forward a few years, they applied to Antler to be part of a community of like-minded innovators and builders. Initially, they didn’t plan on joining forces, but the idea sprouted during their brainstorming and discussions with Antler.

According to Gilang, developing this startup was like debating whether the egg or the chicken came first. They understood the importance of proving the product concept and validating the market but hadn’t finalized the product itself.

“We knew we wanted to create reconciliation tools, but we didn’t know what form it would take because reconciliation is a broad concept,” explains Gilang.

Over a 10-week residency, they split their roles, with Tedo focusing on the product and technical aspects, and Gilang taking charge of the business side. MatchMade faced two crucial challenges early on: They had to provide a proof of concept and recruit team members, the latter of which could only be possible after securing pre-seed funding (which they eventually managed to get from Antler!).

MatchMade proactively engaged with potential clients even before finalizing its product, aiming to discern and address specific market needs. Through these dialogues, it became evident that there was a substantial demand in the market for reconciliation solutions. Following impactful presentations to potential clients, MatchMade successfully pinpointed both the potential and market demand for reconciliation solutions, culminating in the formalization of agreements through the creation of written contracts or letters of intent (LOI).

Guided by Antler, the startup’s emphasis on sales and product development has propelled them forward – now boasting 20 employees and 9 clients, with some enterprises as part of the clientele.

Tedo and Gilang highlighted the fantastic community and backing they got from Antler. Besides personal mentoring sessions, they provided a dynamic environment for founders to discuss and get feedback on their ideas.

According to Tedo, Antler is a multi-stage investor that also invests in pre-team, pre-money, and pre-product stages, offering a lifeline for emerging founders navigating the challenges of launching a startup.

“When you become a founder, there are two choices: bootstrap or find the right VC partner. With Antler, we took the leap to see what we can do. In this time span, we put all or nothing. It’s something very different from bootstrapping,” says Tedo.

Antler, with over 1000 portfolio startups globally, backs founders from day zero. Besides being the earliest backer for startups, they are also a long-term capital partner that provides expansion support and scale-up funding to breakout companies from Series A onwards. The 10-week residency is specifically designed to help founders at the early-stage, by providing unique access to co-founders, building expertise, global networks, and funding opportunities from day zero.

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