January 22, 2024

By Lynda Kiernan-Stone, Global AgInvesting Media

Ingredion Ventures, the venture investment arm of specialty food and beverage ingredients leader Ingredion, is leading the Series A funding round for Better Juice to fast-track the penetration of its breakthrough sugar reduction solution in the U.S. market. 

Joining Ingredion in this Series A are returning investors, including Connecticut-based Emil Capital Partner, who participated in the company’s Seed round. Other partners are The Kitchen Hub, part of Strauss Group, iAngels, Maverick Ventures Israel, NEOME–Women’s Investing Club, Semillero Partners LLC, theFoodTechLab (TFTL), and S. Schestowitz.

Founded in 2018 by a team of biochemists and microbiologists from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Better Juice works to help beverage manufacturers to produce better-for-you, lower sugar fruit juices. 

Its cutting-edge enzymatic sugar reduction technology removes simple sugars and other natural sugar-containing liquids by converting them into non-digestible compounds such as dietary fibers and non-digestible sugars while maintaining the nutritional vitamin, mineral, and organic acid profiles in the final product. 

More specifically, Better Juice’s process applies proprietary beads made of non-GMO microorganisms that produce enzymes that convert the juice’s composition of fruit sugars include sucrose, glucose, and fructose, into better-for-you prebiotic fibers and other non-digestible molecules, enabling sugar reduction of between 30-80 percent. 

“The Better Juice technology adds a completely new dimension to our portfolio of sugar reduction solutions for food and beverage brands on a mission to meet increased consumer demand for less sugar,” said Nate Yates, sugar reduction business leader, Ingredion. “This technology also provides manufacturers with more options to successfully reduce sugar without compromising on great taste or nutrition.”

Originally funded with $8 million in Seed funding and with support from The Kitchen Hub, Strauss Group’s food tech incubator, Better Juice has secured several patents for its technology and has grown to have an advanced facility to fully serve its clients. 

In recent years the company has established a partnership with GEA Group – one of the largest suppliers of food processing technology, and since 2022, the groundbreaking GEA Better Juice Sugar Converter Skid has been included in GEA’s test center in Ahaus, Germany. Through this partnership, GEA manufactures the bioreactor, and together with Better Juice, they install the technology in customers’ facilities. 

Better Juice also has demonstrated its proof of concept through collaborations with juice manufacturers in the U.S. and Asia. These companies are now ready to progress to the next stage of commercialization, and Better Juice stated it is fully prepared for market entry with a capacity to produce 250 million liters of sugar-reduced juice per year. 

“Better Juice has achieved important milestones in the past two years and has positioned itself as the leading company for reducing simple sugars from natural sources,” stated Amir Zaidman, VP, The Kitchen Hub. “The timing is perfect for serving the rapidly expanding trend of consumers striving to cut down on simple sugars in their diet.”

Now, with this new backing from Ingredion, Better Juice explained that it will be in an even better position to advance its growth strategy in the U.S. and to engage with new opportunities. 

“This alliance will accelerate our go-to-market journey,” added Eran Blachinsky, PhD, co-founder and co-CEO of Better Juice. “Ingredion’s capital support will allow us to extend the technology to other liquids with natural sources of sugar, such as milk, beer, and wine.”

“This important partnership step is truly exciting,” added Gali Yarom, co-founder and co-CEO, Better Juice. “It dovetails perfectly with the Better Juice strategy to penetrate the North American market. Ingredion was impressed by our non-GMO technology, and its uses in a wide variety of applications. This move will open doors to leading food and beverage companies seeking sugar-reduction solutions for their products.”

~ Lynda Kiernan-Stone is editor in chief with GAI Media, and is managing editor and daily contributor for Global AgInvesting’s AgInvesting Weekly News and  Agtech Intel News, as well as HighQuest Group’s Unconventional Ag. She can be reached at lkiernan-stone@globalaginvesting.com.

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