MATR

Description

MATR is an award-winning circular economy startup based in Vienna offering an innovative mattress-as-a-service solution to hotels. Their mission is to save hotels time, money and CO2, all whilst providing their guests with a premium sleep experience.

Story

MATR is an award-winning circular economy company based in Vienna, Austria offering an innovative mattress-as-a-service solution to hotels. Their mission is to save hotels time, money and CO2, all whilst providing their guests with a premium sleep experience.

The company was founded in 2022 by Verena and Michaela, two impact-driven entrepreneurs passionate about designing out waste from the mattress industry. It all started when they came across the shocking statistic that 30 million mattresses end up as waste in Europe every year, equivalent to 20,000 stacked Eiffel towers of mattress waste.

The problem? Mattresses are designed to end up as waste after being used once. Verena and Michaela decided it was time to put this problem to bed. That’s why MATR was born: The first all-in-one mattress solution that embeds circular economy design right from the start, featuring a premium mattress made from just 2 high quality materials, a unique service model and flexible financing. MATR mattresses never end up as waste and always go back into the material cycle, resulting in a carbon footprint 50% less than conventional mattresses.

MATR’s vision is to make sleep matter in the hospitality industry and to wake up in a world where waste is no longer a problem.

Link

• https://matr.eco/

Images

Judge’s Comments

Guillaume Charny-Brunet

SPACE 10 Co-founder & Director of Strategy

Circular by Design Prize

Unlike many “as-a-service” companies out there, MATR is tackling the issue of mattress life cycles from the onset - with design. By using only two materials (steel and polyester) and developing its click-on click-off glue, the company is manufacturing products designed for easy refurbishment and recycling. Hence, reducing their carbon footprint by 50% compared to conventional mattresses (which are notoriously hard to resell or recycle) and creating exponential value per mattresses over time within their subscription model. This is good for both the planet and their business. Down the line, looking into other materials (i.e. post-consumer recycled polyester, or natural kapok filling) could help MATR bring their emissions down even more. In the meantime their service model and flexible financing seems to bring a real value proposition for their clients - the hotels. Having found their circular-product-market-fit, it seems MATR is on track for scaling their model and their impact.

Aining Ouyang

REnato lab Chief Operations Officer

Very good circular partner Prize

The MATR project focuses on the demand in the B2B market, which has two advantages: first, it is easier to achieve reverse logistics and recycling; second, the hotel industry uses a significantly larger quantity of mattresses compared to households. Additionally, the project introduces the concept of DPP, making it more feasible to extend the product lifecycle. This is a very interesting and smart approach.

Kosuke Kinoshita

FabCafe Kyoto MTRL Marketing and Production

Virtuous-Circle-as-a-Service Prize

This is a really appealing example of service design. It not only provides hotels with an affordable and sustainable solution to a waste disposal problem, it also offers significant benefits to hotel guests who can enjoy the comfort and reassurance of a mattress that is regularly replaced. I think the impact could be spread beyond Austria and Europe by creating a system that enables cooperation between local bedding manufacturers and the tourism industry, which would be more cost-effective from a logistical point of view.