What is startup matchmaking?
Startup matchmaking connects a corporate or government sponsor with startups that can help solve a specific challenge or contribute in a chosen domain.
It is sometimes called startup scouting, technology scouting or a startup matching program. The idea is the same: rather than waiting for the right startup to knock on the door, you go out and find it.
It sits close to the venture client model. The usual goal is a pilot or commercial engagement, where you become the startup's customer, rather than an equity investment.
Challenge led or domain led
Every matchmaking program starts with a clear brief. It can take two forms.
Challenge led means a specific problem. Lufthansa Technik Philippines wanted maintenance and inspection solutions for aircraft MRO. NTUC Income wanted better behavioural data for underwriting and automated fraud detection.
Domain led means a field you want to understand and work in, such as insurance customer experience or water demand forecasting, with room for startups to show what is possible.
Either way, we help write the brief in plain language, with the owner, the constraints and what a good outcome would look like.
What we do
We take on the heavy lifting so your team only meets the startups worth meeting.
- Search. We go to market locally and globally to identify and recruit startups and scaleups that could address the challenge.
- Evaluate. We assess applications across product, traction, team, fit and readiness to work with a large organisation.
- Shortlist. We narrow the field to the strongest candidates.
- Interview. We talk to founders to test capability and genuine appetite to work with you.
- Present. Shortlisted startups pitch to the people who can decide.
- Follow through. We help selected startups and your team move into proofs of concept, pilots or commercial engagements.
Later stage startups that are real businesses
We generally look for startups around seed or Series A, with customers and revenue. They are actual businesses that can handle a corporate pilot.
For Melbourne Water and City West Water, we specifically targeted companies with funding, working products and enterprise customers.
We bring earlier stage companies when that makes sense, for example when the best solution is new, and we are clear about the extra risk.
Alignment matters as much as capability
A startup that can solve your problem but does not really want to work with you will not prioritise your pilot.
We look for founders who see you as a customer or partner worth winning, and who understand what working with your organisation involves.
That is why interviews are a core part of our process, not an optional extra.
Matchmaking programs we have run
WaterWorks for Melbourne Water and City West Water: over 130 applications, 14 startups pitched, and several selected to pursue commercial engagements.
Springboard for the City of Casey, City of Ballarat and City of Whittlesea: over 200 applications, 11 invited to pitch, and several selected to partner with the councils.
Bank of New Zealand: over 100 applications from around the world, 10 invited to pitch in Auckland, and several selected to develop solutions.
Lufthansa Technik Philippines: over 100 applications, 12 invited to pitch in Manila to the full leadership team, including the CEO, and several selected to develop solutions.
NTUC Income: a search across Australia and New Zealand with seven startups pitching in Melbourne, followed by a global search with over 200 applications and six startups selected for paid proofs of concept.
Putting the right people in the room
The pitch is where startups meet the people who can decide. Who attends says a lot about how serious the sponsor is.
For Lufthansa Technik Philippines, shortlisted startups pitched in Manila in front of the full leadership team, including the CEO, and the wider organisation. For BNZ, they pitched in Auckland to senior stakeholders. For WaterWorks, members of both water businesses attended, along with representatives of peak bodies in the water industry.
That level of attention sends a strong signal to founders and makes it far more likely that a selected startup moves quickly into a pilot.
Startup matchmaking for government
Councils and agencies can use matchmaking too. Springboard showed how pooling a challenge across several councils makes the opportunity bigger for startups and the search cheaper for each council.
The councils offered successful startups and scaleups the chance to develop proofs of concept and work directly with local government. Several were selected to partner with the councils.
Public sector programs need extra care around procurement and accountability. We design the process so it is transparent, fair to applicants and workable for the agency.
From partnering to investing
Some organisations want to go further than a pilot and consider investing. That is a bigger decision with different criteria.
For King & Wood Mallesons, we reviewed its existing startup investment criteria and extended them to suit startups rather than mature companies, across product, company, strategy alignment, timing, market, management team, customer and finance.
For most organisations, we recommend starting as a customer. A successful pilot gives you far better evidence for any later investment decision than a pitch deck.
Making the pilot work
The match is only the start. Pilots succeed when the corporate team knows what it is testing and how it will decide.
We help agree the assumption the pilot tests and what result would mean stop, change or continue. Where it helps, we pair matchmaking with lean startup training for the team that will own the pilot.