| Mati is an identity verification company that makes authenticating users simple and powerful while respecting privacy concerns. The company is riding a tailwind given its cutting-edge tech and the pandemic-related boom in the digital economy. Digital ID space is like payments industry 10 years ago. CEO Filip Victor told The Scroll that the digital ID and verification space is commoditized, just like the payments space was 10+ years ago until companies like Paypal, Stripe and Shopify entered the scene. The rest is history in the payments industry, but the digital ID space is wide open territory for a nimble startup. According to Victor, that’s what Mati wants to be. What is Mati’s tech all about? Instead of wading through arcane code, Mati's trust tools make it easy and effective for businesses to verify the identity of their users so they can make sales and not worry about building a difficult verification system in-house. It’s exactly like what Stripe did in payments – it made it easy for small businesses to accept credit cards for payment without the complication and expense of building their own IT infrastructure in-house. Mati has an API that does all the heavy lifting, plug and play. Digital reputation API. At its core, Mati tech is a “digital reputation API that turns anonymous strangers into trustworthy users,” the CEO told us. Identity verification is key for fintech startups and other companies operating in the sharing economy. More than just taking a picture of documents. Instead of taking a photograph of important documents, Mati can help you connect to a government database or a utility provider to download and share data from those services directly. Entry into the blockchain space is expected CEO Victor explained to The Scroll that different types of transactions require different layers of identity verification, which he called ‘trust blocks.’ Obviously, buying socks is different from renting an Airbnb in terms of verification to make the transaction efficient and fraud free. Blockchain is one of the trust blocks that the company wants to get into, according to Victor. The level of security afforded by blockchain is not needed in all situations, but it is the most elegant solution for many use cases. Focus on emerging markets. Mati has chosen to focus its efforts on emerging markets in the near term, such as Latin America and South East Asia. These markets are underserved even more than the digital ID space in developed economies, creating even more opportunity for the company. Some notable global Mati clients include Te Creemos, Taptap Send and Tropipay. Privacy is paramount. Victor believes that Mati “has found the right balance between privacy and trust.” Victor says the company takes a consumer-first approach, meaning that the privacy concerns of the individual have a seat at the table when it comes to creating trust to get a transaction done. That’s a refreshing approach for the industry and another feather in the cap for the company as it continues to scale in the digital ID space. P.S. In case you’re wondering, the article pic is of the ID of the infamous McLovin from the movie Superbad who tries to buy booze for the ill-fated high school party thrown by his friends. |
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