• Swindon & Wiltshire News
• Monday January 24 2022
• Author Name: Peter Davison

Matter completes pre-series A investment round with $500,000 backing to help tackle microplastics

Bristol-based technology start-up Matter has completed a successful pre-series A investment round securing $500,000 of new funding from Builders Vision’s Rising Tide Fund.

This follows the recent £150,000 investment from the British Design Fund and the company’s entry into the Elemental Excelerator programme for climate technologies.

It marks an exciting phase in Matter’s growth as it now launches a series A investment round to scale its innovative solutions for the capture, harvest and recycling of microplastics.

Adam Root, founder and CEO of Matter, said: “Builders Vision stands behind those on the frontlines working to build a more humane and healthy planet. Through their investments, they aim to drive positive change and show that the most successful businesses are purpose-driven.

“This is intrinsically aligned to what we have set out to achieve with Matter. We are thrilled to welcome Peter and his team into the Matter family and the added value they have already brought was instrumental in our choice to bring them on to the cap table.”

Peter Bryant, a senior program officer at Builders Initiative, the impact investing and philanthropic platform of Builders Vision, added: “Investing in Matter perfectly aligns with our Oceans strategy to protect our ecosystems.

“Matter offers a critical and scalable solution addressing microplastics, which is increasingly being recognised as a serious threat to marine life and ocean ecosystems.”

Since founding the company in 2017, Adam, a former Dyson engineer, has been using his skills and experience to create a retrofit filter solution for domestic washing machines to help prevent microplastics from clothing entering the water system.

An estimated 5.25 trillion particles of plastic are already in the world’s oceans, the majority of which is in the form of microplastics that have been generated through the process of washing clothing.

Matter is also working with researchers and universities to develop new technologies for reusing the captured microfibres, to create a truly closed-loop system.