Better Juice Ltd., a company which developed non-GMO enzymatic technology which can reduce up to 80% of all sugars from natural juices, announced that it has raised $8 million in seed-round investment. Investment was led by iAngels, and included investors such as Maverick Ventures, Food Tech Lab TFTL, The Kitchen Hub, NEOME, and Semillero.
 
The start-up’s technology uses all-natural ingredients to convert fructose, glucose, and sucrose into prebiotic dietary fibers and other non-digestible molecules. 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, which was an important milestone in the company’s commercial scale-up timeline.
 
“We strongly believe in Better Juice’s outstanding technology to lead the sugar reduction revolution in natural juices,” Mor Assia, CEO and founding partner of iAngels, said. “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 company said. This plant will increase production by 40-fold, generating up to $50 million in sales annually. These funds will be used to expand the sales nad 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,” Eran Blachinsky, PhD, founder and CEO of Better Juice, said. “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,” Gali Yarom, co-founder, COO, and VP of Business Development for Better Juice, said. “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,” Amir Zaidman, VP of The Kitchen Hub, added.  “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.”