Bristol start-up tackling washing machine microplastics raises £7.9m

Biotech company Matter has announced that it has raised £7.9m in Series A funding.

The firm specialises in harvesting and recycling microplastics and the investment will enable it to
scale its microplastic filtration technology and accelerate its roadmap of solutions for commercial and industrial applications.

The round was led by S2G Ventures, the direct investment team for Builders Vision, and SOUNDWaves, the sustainability-focused investment vehicle backed by Ashton Kutcher and Guy Oseary.

READ MORE: Bristol-based Matter secures $0.5m backing to develop microplastic filtration system

Kate Danaher of S2G Ventures and Katherine Keating of SOUNDWaves will both join Matter’s expanded Board of Directors.

Additional investment came from Leonardo Dicaprio backed Consumer ClimateTech fund Regeneration.VC, and Katapult Ocean, which has made a significant follow-on investment via its new Deep Blue Fund since co-leading the Seed investment round, along with a small number of strategic investors.

Microplastics are tiny plastic particles less than five millimeters in size and are produced through the production and use of our clothing and textiles.

For each laundry cycle, up to 700,000 microplastic fibers are released from washing machines and into waterways. An estimated 171 trillion microplastic particles currently float within our oceans, and growing research suggests that microplastics are harmful to the environment, as well as human and animal health.

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Adam Root, founder and CEO of Matter, said: “Matter’s vision is to live in a world without micropollutants. We are dedicated to building the necessary tools, techniques, and scalable solutions to drive this transformation.

“We knew from the start that as a small company intent on tackling this global problem, we’d need to work with partners who have the scale, vision and resources to help us deliver our technology as quickly and effectively as possible. The combined support and expertise of our investors enables us to accelerate our work, moving beyond laundry into industrial-scale applications of our technology, and drive globally meaningful reductions in micropollutant emissions with confidence and speed.”

Matter is working with domestic and commercial laundry appliance manufacturers to integrate its technology into their products ahead of incoming French legislation requiring new domestic and commercial washing machines to be fitted with microfibre filters by January 2025. Matter is also partnering with textile brands and manufacturers to help them better understand and prevent pollution from microfibre fragmentation in the textile manufacturing process.

“As established partners of Matter, we’ve been impressed by the relentless determination and speed at which they’ve been able to develop innovative solutions and demonstrate an instant impact on the industry,” said Kate Danaher, Managing Director at S2G Ventures. “Continued investment in solutions like the ones Matter provides are critical, if not essential, to ensuring the long-term health of our oceans, and subsequently, the overall health of our planet.”