Matcherino

Matcherino is a technology company that provides software and financial infrastructure for running esports tournaments. Its platform covers bracketing, player registration and signups, ticketing, entry fees, streaming overlays and e-commerce for both online and in-person events, alongside crowdfunding tools that let fans add to tournament prize pools by contributing directly or by purchasing custom in-game content such as DLC and merchandise. Brands can also add to prize pools through click-through sponsor campaigns.

The company also operates a financial layer around tournaments: prize-pool escrow, and documented, tax-compliant distribution of prize money after events conclude, with payouts reaching more than 120 countries and Matcherino handling the associated tax forms. Separate dashboards serve organizers, sponsors and game publishers; the publisher dashboard, supported by Matcherino staff, is used to distribute cash and in-game prizes to an organizer community, while a sponsor activation product provides dedicated placements, engagement quests and post-final overlays. Real-time metrics are surfaced across organizer, sponsor and publisher dashboards.

Matcherino has hosted tournaments across titles including Apex Legends, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, Dota 2, Fortnite, League of Legends, Overwatch, PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds and Rocket League, and operates a branded tournament program with Supercell in which contributors to qualifying events earn contributor pins and top-placing teams earn winner pins.

Founding story

Matcherino was founded in 2015 by Grant Farwell, Mario Gutierrez and Ryan Atkinson, after the founders concluded there was no straightforward way to fund the growing esports field and that past incidents of organizers raising money and disappearing with it had made backers wary. The service began with small tournament donation amounts and gradually built trust with contributors.

Business model

Matcherino supplies tournament infrastructure and payment/escrow services to tournament organizers, game publishers and brands, and takes a percentage of the revenue generated through its platform from advertising and e-commerce sales; it also takes a portion of revenue generated by events hosted on the site.

Revenue-share on advertising and e-commerce transactions processed through the platform, plus a cut of revenue generated by events; products include entry fees, ticketing and sponsor activation.

Traction

The company's site reports $5,321,309 paid out, 14,927 tournaments and 60,607 matches. Press coverage in August 2019 reported more than 6,000-6,500 Matcherino-powered events, roughly 500 tournaments a month, over $2.4m in prize money paid out since launch, and 20 employees.

Latest developments

Matcherino continues to operate its tournament platform, publisher dashboard, sponsor activation products and global payout service, including a Supercell-branded tournament program with contributor and winner pins for qualifying gold, silver and bronze events.