Better Juice Raises $8 Million in Seed Funding
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Seed-round, led by iAngels, will propel production and technology to reduce sugars in fruit juice
Better Juice, Ltd., the first company to reduce all sugars from natural juices, announces it has raised US$8M in seed-round investment. This new influx of support was led by iAngels, Israel and includes investors: Maverick Ventures, Israel; Food Tech Lab TFTL, Spain; The Kitchen Hub, Israel, as part of the Strauss Group and IIA; NEOME, Israel; Schestowitz Group, Israel; and Semillero, Puerto Rico.
The start-up’s enzymatic technology uses all-natural ingredients to convert fructose, glucose, and sucrose into prebiotic dietary fibers and other non-digestible molecules. Reducing up to 80% of all sugars, Better Juice’s non-GMO technology is designed to target orange juice’s specific sugar composition to naturally create a low-calorie, reduced-sugar product with a delicate sweetness. Better Juice opened a pilot plant in January 2021, an important milestone in the startup’s commercial scale-up timeline.
“We strongly believe in Better Juice’s outstanding technology to lead the sugar reduction revolution in natural juices,” says Mor Assia, CEO and founding partner of iAngels. “Better Juice’s know-how and technology is perfectly in-line with our portfolio and vision of future, advanced impact technologies. The company has created exceptional partnerships with leading beverage companies and is paving the way to better-for-you products.”
Better Juice will use the investment to build its first full-scale manufacturing plant in Israel to serve the growing demand. The high-tech plant will increase production capacity by 40-fold while generating up to US$50M sales annually. The company will use the funds to expand the sales and marketing teams to support its commercialization stage.
“We are excited to complete this investment round with the support of leading venture capital and CPG companies from around the globe,” says Eran Blachinsky, PhD, founder and CEO of Better Juice. “This investment will enable us to accelerate our growth and expand into other product lines, such as ice cream, soft drinks, and jam.”
“We are very proud of this achievement, which reflects the investors’ trust in our technology,” adds Gali Yarom, co-founder, COO, and VP of Business Development for Better Juice. “There is a significant need in the beverage industry to effectively reduce sugar and we anticipate bringing our solution to market in just a few months.”
“I feel lucky to be involved in this journey since day one,” notes Amir Zaidman, VP of The Kitchen Hub. "I am very impressed by the technological and commercial milestones achieved by Better Juice and the can-do attitude of its management. Over consumption of sugar is an enormous challenge for humanity. Better Juice is a key pillar in overcoming it.”
