From Insight to Impact: Supporting YUMI Sleep's Circular Economy Vision
How do you disrupt an industry built around products designed to be thrown away? In March 2026, YUMI Sleep partnered with the LURA Doctoral Innovation Consultants (DInC) programme, drawing on doctoral research expertise to explore opportunities that could help shape the future of its innovative circular mattress business.
YUMI Sleep
Company Overview:
YUMI Sleep is a UK-based startup and tenant at Loughborough University Science and Enterprise Park (LUSEP), developing innovative modular mattresses designed around circular economy principles. The company’s designs allow for mattress materials to be recovered and repaired, upgraded or recycled, therefore helping to reduce waste while delivering personalised comfort and improving sustainability within the sleep industry.
Challenge Addressed:
The DInC programme helped fill a capacity gap for YUMI Sleep, to undertake in-depth research as part of the company’s business development. Through the programme, doctoral consultants produced valuable outputs including a detailed competitor analysis of the sustainable mattress market and a framework for evaluating mattress materials from a circular economy perspective, providing evidence-based insights to support future investment decisions.
Motivations for Joining the Programme
YUMI Sleep joined the DInC programme to access research expertise and obtain evidence-based insights that could help inform future business decisions and strengthen its investment proposition.
As a pre-revenue startup with limited resources and competing priorities, beyond additional research capacity, YUMI Sleep valued the academic credibility the programme provided. The doctoral consultants’ work gave the company independently researched evidence that could be used to provide confidence that business decisions were grounded in robust data.
They went well beyond what I thought they would do… I can't praise the team highly enough. I think from my experience, it was a really good project or initiative from the university... I love the ecosystem, I like the positivity, I like the mix of people that I get to meet through these programmes… and it’s been supremely positive for me."
Working with the Consulting Team
YUMI Sleep worked closely with a team of four doctoral researchers over the 16-week programme, combining regular online and in-person meetings to ensure the project remained focused on the company's needs.
A key factor in the project's success was the initial scoping phase, where the team worked collaboratively with Richard to identify achievable objectives. By investing time upfront to align expectations and define deliverables, the team was able to focus their efforts effectively and maximise the value delivered within the timeframe. Richard later highlighted this early planning process as one of the most important contributors to the project's success.
Reflecting on the experience, Richard described the collaboration as "highly positive", highlighting the team's ability to understand YUMI Sleep's commercial objectives and deliver high-quality outputs. He was impressed by how the researchers drew on their varied backgrounds and skill sets to work effectively as a cohesive team.
Richard particularly valued the researchers' academic approach, which provided robust, evidence-based insights that could confidently be used to support future business planning, investment discussions and sustainability claims.
Business Outcomes
The DInC project provided YUMI Sleep with two valuable research outputs: a framework for assessing mattress materials from a circular economy perspective, and a detailed analysis of the sustainable mattress market and competitor landscape.
Beyond the immediate deliverables, the project helped shape YUMI Sleep's future strategic thinking. The materials assessment framework provided a practical tool for evaluating future material choices, while the competitor analysis helped the business refine its market positioning and better articulate its unique value proposition.
While there is still work underway to implement the recommendations from the DInC consultancy, Richard emphasised the significant value generated though the project. The depth of the research and quality of the reports were comparable to work that organisations might typically commission from professional consultancy firms, providing YUMI Sleep with access to expertise that would otherwise have been difficult for an early-stage startup to obtain.
Reflecting on the programme’s value, Richard noted similar pieces of work commissioned from a specialist consultancy could potentially cost £30,000 to £40,000 per report. He added: "If they were working for McKinsey or Boston Consulting or something like that, they would have produced a similar document.”
Reflections
Richard described the programme as a highly positive opportunity that exceeded his expectations.
Reflecting on the experience, he particularly valued the combination of academic rigour, practical business insight and collaborative working, highlighting the team's professionalism, organisation and ability to quickly understand the needs of the business.
The experience also reinforced Richard's positive view of working with universities and researchers, and he would readily recommend the programme to other businesses. As he summarised: “What have you got to lose? A little bit of your time can pay great dividends in the end."