Better Juice, a company that uses enzymatic technology to reduce the amount of sugar in natural juices, has raised $8 million in seed funding. The round was led by iAngels with participation from Maverick Ventures, Food Tech Lab TFTL, The Kitchen Hub, NEOME, Schestowitz Group, and Semillero.
The company’s tech comes in the form of a simple machine that can be integrated into the juice-manufacturing process. This “column” contains immobilized non-GMO microorganisms. When juice passes through the column, the food-grade microorganisms convert juice sugars (fructose, glucose, sucrose) into dietary fibers and non-digestible sugars. Better Juice says this process can reduce up to 80 percent of all sugars in the juice.
A single column can produce 1000 liters of juice per 1 liter column.
Health experts, consumers, and many others have debated the merits of juice for years now. Increasingly, critics have pointed to the amount of sugar in juices — even natural ones — and said there’s as much sugar in a glass of OJ as in a soda.
Better Juice’s technology is currently designed to target orange juice’s specific sugar composition. However, the company says seed round of investment will allow it to expand into other product lines, including ice cream, soft drinks, and jam. Funding will also go towards building a full-scale manufacturing plant in Israel, which will increase production capacity “by 40-fold.” Additionally, the company will expand its sales and marketing teams as it moves into commercialization stage.
In the next few months, Better Juice plans to bring its product to market. How seamlessly it can integrate its technology into existing manufacturing processes will be a key factor. The company has said in the past that its column is easy to install and doesn’t require special training or a specific set of skills. Once the column actually comes to market, we will see how well this assertion holds up.
The company opened its pilot production facility in January of this year and currently has partnerships with “leading beverage companies.”
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