Keeper

Here at Matrix we’re excited to partner with Paul and David — the founders of Keeper — in leading their seed round of financing. We believe their product has the potential to increase net income for every independent contractor in America.

Their mission is incredibly important today. Independent workers now make up 30% of the US working age population. In 2019 alone, Uber, Lyft, Airbnb, Postmates, and Instacart — all fueling the 1099 economy — either already registered to become publicly traded companies or are expected to do so in short order. In 2016, only 15% of independent workers had ever used an online marketplace [1]. We believe this number has and will increase drastically. For one, as an age group, young people are overrepresented in the gig economy. Second, every new entrant into the workforce from this point on will have been born in the age of the internet. Learning of income opportunities offline will seem more and more a thing of the past. It’s inevitable that online labor marketplaces will drive the majority of all new job creation in the future.

Paul and David recognized a large, grossly overlooked problem for this growing population: over-taxation. 1099 recipients unknowingly overpay the IRS by $60 billion every year. Every April, most W-2 employees take the standard deduction and call it a day. 1099 workers on the other hand must meticulously account for every single business-related expense acquired each day, throughout the entire year, in order to not overpay to the IRS. People who try to do this face two problems: (1) This record-keeping is incredibly tedious, and (2) Most people aren’t experts on the tax code and don’t know which expenses qualify as write-offs.

Enter Keeper.

Keeper automates bookkeeping for every 1099 worker by finding write-offs in bank statements. Behind the scenes, algorithms and humans combine into a “cyborg bookkeeper” that intelligently learns which expenses are business-related. (This is Matrix’s second lead investment in a “cyborg marketplace” this year.) The beauty of their product execution lies in the set-it-and-forget-it experience. The whole concept of “I have to do my expenses” goes away. Keeper’s mission is to put money back into the pockets of their users, and they’re already saving people thousands of dollars every year. So throw away that shoebox full of receipts and Keep-er your hard-earned money.

We look forward to supporting Paul and David on the journey ahead.

[1] “Independent Work: Choice, Necessity, and the Gig Economy.” McKinsey & Company, www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/employment-and-growth/independent-work-choice-necessity-and-the-gig-economy.

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