Better Juice raises $8 million in Seed funding

The Israeli startup’s enzymatic technology uses all-natural ingredients to convert fructose, glucose, and sucrose into prebiotic dietary fibers and other non-digestible molecules

Better Juice, which has developed a technology to reduce all sugars from natural juices, announced on Wednesday that it has raised $8 million in Seed-round funding. This round was led by iAngels and includes investors: Maverick Ventures Israel, Food Tech Lab TFTL of Spain, The Kitchen Hub, as part of the Strauss Group and Israel Innovation Authority (IIA), NEOME, Schestowitz Group, and Semillero of Puerto Rico.

 

The Israeli startup’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. Better Juice opened a pilot plant in January 2021.

 

Better Juice was founded in 2018 by Eran Blachinsky, in collaboration with the Hebrew University, Jerusalem. The company was incubated in The Kitchen Hub – Strauss Group’s foodtech and IIA incubator, and received early funding from Maverick Ventures and other global partners.

 

Better Juice team. Photo: Lotem Friedland

 

“We strongly believe in Better Juice’s outstanding technology to lead the sugar reduction revolution in natural juices,” said 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 $50 million 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,” said 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.”