Sri Hollema
Sri Hollema founded Mat Zero, creating heated mats for humanitarian and sustainable heating. A Loughborough University product design graduate, she won the Innovate UK Women in Innovation Award for delivering warmth to underserved communities.
Sri Hollema's Bio
Sri Hollema is the founder and CEO of MatZero, a company that designs heated mats for personal, sustainable heating. The mats range from seat-sized to full yoga-mat dimensions and are USB-C powered, running on battery, mains, or solar, making them suitable for off-grid use. Priced between 109 and 295 GBP, MatZero products serve humanitarian relief, camping, healthcare, and consumer markets.
Hollema earned a degree in product design and engineering from Loughborough University in the UK. She grew up internationally as the child of humanitarian aid workers, an upbringing that exposed her to energy poverty and the struggle to stay warm in winter. That context, combined with her own intolerance for cold, sparked the idea for safe, low-voltage heating that could reach people traditional space heating misses.
MatZero was founded on that principle: direct personal warmth instead of heating entire spaces. The products have been deployed in extreme environments - Everest Base Camp, Ukraine, and the Himalayan region - and are lab-tested down to minus 20 degrees Celsius. Manufacturing is contracted across Europe with scalability to tens of thousands of units. Built-in sensors automatically regulate temperature.
Hollema's work has drawn recognition, including the Innovate UK Women in Innovation Award for delivering warmth to underserved communities. MatZero operates as a for-profit business with a clear mission - to make efficient, safe heating accessible where it is needed most.
Career Timeline
2018 — Graduated from Bangkok Patana School
Completed secondary education at Bangkok Patana School, graduating as part of the Class of 2018.
2022 — Earned BSc in Product Design and Technology
Graduated from Loughborough University with a degree in Product Design and Technology, laying the foundation for MatZero's innovative heating solutions.
2023 — R&D and Lab Testing at Energy House 2.0
Conducted extensive research and development and lab testing at the world-renowned Energy House 2.0 to validate MatZero's heating technology under simulated extreme conditions.
2024 — AidEx Innovation Challenge Finalist
Recognized as a finalist in the AidEx Innovation Challenge, highlighting MatZero's potential to make an impact in humanitarian and disaster relief contexts.
2025 — Awarded Innovate UK Women in Innovation
Selected as one of 50 winners from over 1,400 applicants for the Innovate UK Women in Innovation Award, receiving £75,000 in funding, coaching, and support to scale MatZero's solar-powered heating technology.
2025 — Completed Pilot Study in Rural Nepal
Successfully launched and completed a pilot study deploying MatZero heating mats in rural Nepal, validating the product's effectiveness in harsh, off-grid environments.
2025 — Launched MatZero Founder's Edition
Reached commercial launch phase with the MatZero Founder's Edition heated product range, marking the transition from field trials to market availability while maintaining a social-impact business model.
2025 — Expanded Humanitarian Deployment to Ukraine and Himalayan Regions
Scaled deployment of MatZero products to support communities in Ukraine and remote medical centres in the Himalayan region, demonstrating the technology's reliability in extreme cold conditions.
