Pioneering Bristol microplastic filtration tech firm Matter has bolstered its senior leadership team with two key appointments as it continues to aim for rapid global growth.
The firm, which earlier this year completed a $10m (£7.88m) Series A funding round from investment vehicles backed by movie actors Leonardo DiCaprio and Ashton Kutcher, is developing a way of capturing and recycling microplastics from textiles and laundry before they can pollute the world’s oceans.
These include Gulp – a sustainable, long-lasting washing machine filter that catches up to 90% of all microfibres from every laundry cycle.
Matter, which was founded in 2018 by former Dyson engineer and keen scuba diver Adam Root, pictured, has now recruited industry experts Martin Allman and Jess Middlemiss as chief commercial Officer and chief technology officer respectively.
Martin Allman, a former British Army Officer, has joined Matter after almost two decades in the green energy sector and will be tasked with scaling-up its technology to international markets.
Jess Middlemiss, also formerly of Dyson, where she was head of operations at the Dyson Institute, will focus on driving forward innovation in microfibre capture and recycling.
Matter CEO Adam Root said: “Our new hires are about culture as much as they are about technical ability.
“We look to appoint the very best industry talent who are committed to our mission of living in a world without micropollutants in the environment. Martin and Jess embody this spirit perfectly.
“Our new C-suite team is an integral part of Matter’s evolving story and will support in driving industry transformation.”
Martin Allman said: “Matter has established itself as one of the most exciting, fast-growing companies in the clean tech space.
“We have ambitious plans to accelerate delivery of our solutions across the laundry and textile spaces and beyond. There is no more exciting industry to be in right now.”
Jess Middlemiss added: “I feel privileged to be working alongside the Matter team to build on the wonderful foundation of technology that the entire team has worked so hard to establish to-date.
“Matter has developed technologies that work for both industry and the environment. And I’m confident that the speed of innovation shows no sign of letting up in 2024 and beyond.
“Cutting-edge technology is a central element of any global solution to the plastics crisis and Matter will continue to strive to be at the forefront of this change.”
Most microplastics are generated by clothes washing. Modern clothing tends to contain plastics, such as polyester, nylon, acrylic and polyamide, meaning a staggering 700,000 microfibres are released into the ocean after every machine wash.
When Adam discovered that 5.25trillion particles of plastic are currently in the world’s oceans he set about using his skills and experience to engineer a solution to stop them reaching the ocean in the first place, then recycling them.
Matter’s tech captures the microfibres straight after washing and reusing them – so creating a truly closed loop system.
