REHOVOT, ISRAEL — Better Juice and Ingredion, Inc. are partnering to offer Better Juice’s sugar reduction solution in the US. Ingredion Ventures, the company’s venture investment arm, will lead a Series A funding round for Better Juice to fast-track the expansion. In June 2021, Better Juice raised $8 million to build its first manufacturing plant in Israel.

Better Juice’s sugar reduction technology removes simple sugars in juice-based beverages, concentrates and other natural sugar-containing liquids. Better Juice developed an enzymatic technology, which converts sugars into non-digestible compounds, such as dietary fibers and non-digestible sugars, while maintaining the natural profile of vitamins, minerals and organic acids in the final product, according to the company.

“This important partnership step is truly exciting,” said Gali Yarom, co-founder and co-chief executive officer of Better Juice. “It dovetails perfectly with the Better Juice strategy to penetrate the North American market. Ingredion was impressed by our non-GMO technology, and its uses in a wide variety of applications. This move will open doors to leading food and beverage companies seeking sugar-reduction solutions for their products.”

Better Juice’s conversion process uses proprietary beads made of non-GMO microorganisms, which produce enzymes. The enzymes then convert the juice’s composition of fruit sugars, including sucrose, glucose, and fructose into better-for-you prebiotic fibers and other non-digestible molecules, enabling sugar reduction by 30% to 80%, the company said. The technology also enables manufacturers to select the amount of sugar they want to reduce in products. ­­

Better Juice has advanced its sugar reduction solution to commercial scale in the United States and has the capacity to process approximately 250 million liters of sugar reduced juice per year, according to the company.

The company partnered with GEA Group, a supplier of food processing technology in Germany, in January 2021 to push and scale its global footprint. The GEA Better Juice Sugar Converter Skid is in GEA’s test center in Ahaus, Germany. Better Juice works with GEA for manufacturing the bioreactor and the companies install the technology together in other facilities, the company said.