Our history
Every company starts somewhere. Ours started at a family dining room table with an idea, a determination to solve a real environmental challenge and a £250 Prince’s Trust grant.
What began as a founder’s vision has grown into a team of engineers and innovators working to intercept microfibre pollution at source. Along the way, we’ve developed breakthrough technologies, secured global partnerships, scaled from concept to commercial reality and gained international recognition, including being named an Earthshot Prize Finalist in 2025.
Explore the milestones, breakthroughs and moments that have shaped Matter from those early beginnings to where we are today, and where we’re headed next
Will it work?
A £250 Will It Work? grant. A family dining table. One big idea.
Driven by a passion for engineering and protecting the oceans, Adam Root founded Inheriting Earth with support from The Prince’s Trust. What started as a concept designed at the family dining table, would go on to become Matter, a business built to tackle some of the world’s most pressing environmental challenges.
Inheriting Earth really begins
Inheriting Earth came into full force. Operating from a converted unit on a turkey farm, this unlikely setting became the birthplace of our patented Regen® technology. It was here that years of experimentation, testing and discovery led to the breakthrough that would form the foundation of Matter.
Innovate UK
With just five engineers and a bold vision, Matter secured a £240,000 Innovate UK grant alongside industry partners to accelerate the development and commercialisation of our technology. The funding marked a major milestone, transforming an ambitious concept into a market-ready solution and laying the foundations for the company we are today.
Setting up home
Matter established its headquarters and officially began trading under the Matter name. Despite the challenges of a global pandemic, the team continued to grow, securing three UK patents with a further four patent applications in development. With a permanent base, expanding expertise and growing intellectual property, the foundations were put in place for the next stage of growth.
Investment and Acceleration
Matter secured seed investment from Sky Ocean Ventures and joined the Katapult Ocean accelerator programme, gaining the backing, expertise and network needed to accelerate growth. The year culminated in the successful close of our investment round, providing the platform for the next stage of commercial development.
Series A secured
Matter reached a major growth milestone with the successful completion of its Series A funding round. The investment provided the capital to accelerate product development, expand the team and scale commercial operations. It marked a significant vote of confidence in Matter’s vision and technology, creating the platform for the next phase of growth and impact.
Innovating with Whirlpool
Entering industrial textiles
Matter took a significant step into the industrial textile sector, securing its first commercial contract with Paradise Textiles to deploy our technology into textile manufacturers. The project marked the beginning of Matter’s expansion beyond home laundry, demonstrating how our technology could help textile manufacturers reduce their environmental impact and drive more sustainable production at scale.
Global recognition and market launch
2025 was a landmark year for Matter. We were named a finalist in the Earthshot Prize’s Revive Our Oceans category, recognising our mission to prevent microfibre pollution from entering waterways. Building on this momentum, we launched Regen® for Home Laundry as a white-label solution with B/S/H, bringing microfibre filtration technology to consumers through the trusted Bosch and Siemens brands. Together, these milestones marked a significant step in scaling our impact from industry innovation to everyday households.
Taking Regen® for Textiles to industry
Matter’s Regen® for Textiles technology took a major step towards commercial deployment, with pilot installations launched alongside global textile manufacturers supplying some of the world’s leading brands. These pilots marked a significant milestone in demonstrating how microfibre capture can be integrated into textile production at scale, helping manufacturers reduce fibre emissions and move towards more sustainable operations.
