Michaela Stephen

MATR® is an award-winning and female-founded startup from Austria who are transforming hotel interiors with the first fully circular economy mattress solution - zero waste, recyclable, EU-eco design made and ESG-driven. The company was founded by Michaela and Verena, two female impact-motivated entrepreneurs. It all started when they came across the shocking statistic that 30 million mattresses end up as waste in Europe every year (source: European Commission), equivalent to 20,000 stacked Eiffel towers of waste. The problem? Mattresses are designed to end up as waste after being used once, and customer groups such as hotels who contribute to this problem have no easy solutions to help them end this waste. 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.  As a young SME, we have already secured traction with 18 paying hotel partners across Austria and Germany, and we are now looking to prepare to grow into more EU markets. We have also become founding members of the Austrian Mattress alliance, enabling us to champion circularity in the industry and beyond.