Better Juice Raises $8M for Sugar-Reducing Food Tech Concept

Brad Avery

Better Juice, an Israel-based food tech company which has developed an enzymatic technology to reduce the sugar content in fruit juice, has raised $8 million in a seed funding round that will support the company as it goes to market next year, targeting international brands.

What is Better Juice?

Founded in 2018 by food scientist and CEO Eran Blachinsky and COO and VP of business development Gali Yarom, Better Juice produces a proprietary, non-GMO enzyme that, when added to juice through a specialty machine, converts fructose, glucose and sucrose into prebiotic fibers and non-digestible sugars. The process occurs without adding or removing any ingredients. According to the company, the process can reduce up to 80% of all sugars in juice, as well as other naturally sweet products such as honey and syrups.

Prior to founding Better Juice, Blachinsky served as VP of technology at jam and fruit syrup maker Hadarom Food Industries in Israel, overseeing R&D and quality assurance. Yarom is a dairy industry veteran, spending more than 14 years at Tara Dairies in Tel Aviv, including three years as deputy CEO from 2016 to 2019.

The company has partnered with food industry machinery maker GEA Group to develop specialty equipment that utilizes Better Juice’s biotechnology and which will then be sold business-to-business. GEA has constructed the device so that juice flows through a column, exposing the liquid to Better Juice enzymes in what the company says is a fermentation-free process. Speaking to BevNET today, Blachinsky explained that Better Juice plans to exclusively produce the enzyme and that after customers purchase the equipment they will need to regularly repurchase the enzyme roughly every two months, ensuring a steady revenue stream.

“Our sales are the ink from the printer and ink model,” Blachinsky said. “It’s like the razor and the razor blade model invented by Gillette where you have to change the razor every time.”

Targeting industrial scale juice producers and suppliers, as well as food and beverage companies, Blachinsky told BevNET that Better Juice intends to sell its products in the U.S. and internationally. While the company is nearly ready to go to market, sales will begin in earnest in January.

What’s the opportunity?

In recent years the juice category has seen a sales decline as consumers increasingly have questioned the product’s sugar content. However, during the pandemic, the category has rebounded as shoppers sought out immunity and other functional benefits traditionally associated with juice drinks.

According to IRI, aseptic juice drinks in the U.S. saw sales increase 3.2% to $1.4 billion in the 52-week period ending March 21. Bottled juices rose 8.5% to $7.7 billion and refrigerated juices jumped 12.7% to $7.4 billion in the same period.

Better Juice’s technology, the company says, comes at an opportune time, striking at a moment where the category has received renewed attention from American consumers and the company’s sugar reduction technology could offer some brands a way to maintain this growth. By converting sugars into prebiotic fibers, the process also creates additional functionality in the liquid, creating an opportunity for brands to tap into the emerging market for gut health promoting beverages.

Blachinsky noted that the company will also target food manufacturers, noting juice is a popular ingredient in ice creams, marmalade, jams, powders and confections. In beverage, he also sees opportunity to sell to kombucha brands and other fermented drink producers.

Where will the funding go?

The seed round was led by Israeli venture capital firm iAngels and also included an array of international financiers including Maverick Ventures, The Kitchen Hub, NEOME, Schestowitz Group, Food Tech Lab TFTL and Semillero.

“Better Juice’s know-how and technology is perfectly in-line with our portfolio and vision of future, advanced impact technologies,” said Mor Assia, CEO and founding partner of iAngels, in a press release. “The company has created exceptional partnerships with leading beverage companies and is paving the way to better-for-you products.”

Blachinsky said the new funding will primarily go towards building a full-scale manufacturing plant in Israel which will increase production capacity by 40x.

Better Juice currently employs nine full time employees and intends to roughly double its head count within the next year, adding sales and marketing, production and engineering positions, he noted.

While many of the investors are traditional VC firms, Blachinsky said some — such as Israel-based The Kitchen Hub and Spain-based Food Tech Lab TFTL, bring food and beverage industry knowledge to the company and will help the company to navigate the juice category nationwide.