Better Juice

Headquartered in Israel, Better Juice is a startup founded by a team of industry experts driven to redefine the food landscape with its enzymatic technology. The company’s patent pending technology uses natural ingredients to convert fructose, glucose, and sucrose into prebiotic dietary fibers and non-digestible compounds. As a result, it claims to reduce sugar levels in natural fruit juices (and in the future, honey and syrups) and fruit-based compositions by up to 80%.

During a one-time setup, Better Juice’s continuous-flow bioreactor is inserted into the production line. The process, which allows manufacturers to control sugar removal, involves the product, such as natural fruit juice or fruit-based compositions, being passed through specially designed immobilized microorganisms containing active enzymes provided by Better Juice. During this passage, these enzymes facilitate the conversion of sucrose into dietary fiber, glucose into gluconic acid, and fructose into sorbitol. The final product does not contain any of the immobilized microorganisms, ensuring a clean and natural outcome.

With its commitment to environmental sustainability, Better Juice operates as a clean label brand, leaving minimal waste, according to the company. This enzymatic process, performed by non-GMO microorganisms, reduces sugars without compromising the nutritional content, vitamin composition, or product characteristics. In June 2024, the company upgraded its sugar-reduction technology to lower sugar loads in fruit sorbets. This technology claimed to reduce sugar content by 50% to 70% and calories by 40%, resulting in sorbets with ~2% percent sugar.

Key customers and partnerships

In January 2021 , Better Juice collaborated with GEA Group AG, a Germany-based supplier of food processing technology, to scale up and expand its global footprint. In this collaboration, GEA would handle the engineering, design, manufacturing, and installation of the sugar-reducing bioreactor, while Better Juice would be responsible for producing the immobilized microorganisms used in the enzymatic process. It launched the new pilot facility for juice manufacturers to test its sugar-reduction technology in July 2022 . In January 2024 , the company partnered with Ingredion to help expedite the application of its sugar reduction solution in the US market.

Funding and financials

In its latest funding round in June 2021 , Better Juice raised USD 8 million in seed funding led by iAngels. The funding was to be used for expanding the sales and marketing teams to facilitate the commercialization phase. Moreover, the company had plans to construct its inaugural full-scale manufacturing facility in Israel, which was anticipated to boost production capacity by a substantial 40x, potentially resulting in annual sales of up to USD 50 million.