2024-01-17 13:12:07
The start-up company from the worlds of food-tech “Better Juice ltd” announced today (Wednesday) a strategic cooperation with the giant corporation “Ingredion Incorporated (INGR)”, a leading global supplier of ingredients and extracts for the global food and beverage industry.
Ingredion will lead a series A investment round for Better Juice which will enable the acceleration of the introduction of the breakthrough technology to reduce sugar, into the American juice market. The breakthrough sugar reduction technology developed by Better Juice converts simple sugars into natural juice-based drinks, concentrates and other sugar-containing liquids.
The company has developed an enzymatic technology based on several exclusive patents, which converts sugars into dietary fiber and indigestible sugars, while maintaining the natural profile of vitamins, minerals and organic acids in the final product. “This important partnership with Ingredion is particularly exciting,” says Gali Yarom, co-founder and CEO of Better Juice, “it fits perfectly with our strategy to penetrate the North American market. At Ingredion, be impressed by our exclusive Non-GMO technology and its extensive use in a variety of applications. This move will undoubtedly open doors for food and beverage companies looking for a natural solution to reduce the sugar in their products.”
“Better Juice technology adds a completely new dimension to our portfolio of sugar reduction solutions for leading food and beverage brands to meet increased consumer demand for sugar reduction,” says Nate Yates, Director of Sugar Reduction at Ingredion. “This technology also provides manufacturers with more options for successfully reducing sugar and without compromising on the great taste, or the nutritional values.”
The process of converting the sugars is environmentally friendly, reduces the sugar in natural juices between 30% and 80% and turns them into probiotic fibers and a natural sugar substitute. It harnesses natural enzymatic activity in microorganisms that have not undergone genetic engineering (Non GMO) to convert monosaccharides and disaccharides (fructose, glucose and sucrose) into probiotic fibers that are better for the human body and into other non-digestible molecules. This breakthrough leads to a simple process for assimilation in the beverage production chain, which preserves the natural taste and the natural minerals and vitamins in the juice.
This alliance will accelerate our journey to market,” explains Dr. Eran Balchinsky, co-founder and CEO of Better Juice. “Ingredion’s capital support will allow us to expand the technology we have developed to other liquids with natural sources of sugar, such as milk, beer and wine”.
This achievement follows Better Juice’s established partnership with GEA Group, one of the world’s largest food processing technology providers. Since 2022, the breakthrough technology of the GEA Better Juice Sugar Converter Skid has been included in the GEA Innovation Center in Haus, Germany. Better Juice collaborates with GEA to manufacture the bioreactor, and together they install the advanced technology in many customers’ production facilities.
Better Juice’s technological solution has successfully advanced to commercial scale in the United States. In recent years, he has even demonstrated the ability to successfully collaborate with juice producers both in the United States and in Asia, so that today these companies are in a position that allows them to advance to the next stage of commercialization. Better Juice is now fully prepared for the market penetration phase, with a proven ability to process 250 million liters of juice per year.
Better Juice has achieved important milestones in the last two years and has positioned itself as the leading company for reducing simple sugars from natural sources,” notes Amir Zeidman, VP of Business Development at The Kitchen Hub. “The timing is also perfect and provides a response to the growing need of consumers who strive to reduce simple sugars in their diet.” .
The start-up company was established in 2018 by a team of biochemists and microbiologists from industry and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, with the aim of helping beverage manufacturers produce better fruit juice with a reduced sugar concentration thanks to unique patents it developed. The company was financed and supported at the beginning by The Kitchen Hub, the food-tech incubator of the Strauss Group, and raised 8 million dollars in the SEED round of investments. In the last year, Better Juice established an advanced factory, in order to serve its customers in an optimal way.
Headquartered in suburban Chicago, Ingredion Incorporated (INGR) is a leading global ingredient solutions provider serving customers in more than 120 countries, with 2022 net annual sales of approximately $8 billion. Ingredion transforms grains, fruits, vegetables and other plant materials into value-added solutions and ingredients for the food, beverage, animal nutrition, beer and industrial markets.
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