Seed-round, led by iAngels, will propel production and technology to reduce sugars in fruit juice

Better Juice, Ltd., the first company to reduce all sugars from natural juices, announces it has raised US$8M in seed-round investment. This new influx of support was led by iAngels, Israel and includes investors: Maverick Ventures, Israel; Food Tech Lab TFTL, Spain; The Kitchen Hub, Israel, as part of the Strauss Group and IIA; NEOME, Israel; Schestowitz Group, Israel; and Semillero, Puerto Rico.

The start-up’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 with a delicate sweetness. Better Juice opened a pilot plant in January 2021, an important milestone in the startup’s commercial scale-up timeline.

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 US$50M 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,” says 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.”

About Better Juice
Better Juice was founded in 2018 by Eran Blachinsky, PhD, 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, Israel and other global partners.

Downgauging innovations yield thinner, more sustainable BIB films

One word, more than any other, is guiding Bag-in-Box (BIB) film purchasing decisions today: sustainability. Whether for wine, fruit juice or dairy products, the people in the buyer center – product and packaging managers, technical engineers and purchasing agents – are tasked with finding sustainable packaging solutions.

Fortunately for them, the Mondi Styria plant in Austria, has racked up more than 60 years of experience as market leader and technology innovator. When it comes to multilayer technical films that are thinner, lighter and more sustainable – and do not sacrifice any performance properties – the Mondi experts are always extending the boundaries of technological advancement. Now, they are launching a pair of next-generation films developed for multilayer BIB products used to package liquid food products and more.

Introducing … Styria Form Bar 50

“We have now determined it is possible to replace the usual 66- or 70-micron polyethylene film with a 50-micron film, and we are the first company to be able to offer such a product,” explains Günter Leitner, Managing Director at Mondi Styria. “Downgauging in this manner results in the use of about 25 % less material while also reducing transport weight and hence the overall carbon footprint.”

A current customer is already running trials of this new product, and says it has experienced no negative impact on machine performance and that no equipment changes have been needed to successfully run the film, Leitner notes.

… and Styria Form Bar 90 DW

Separately, Mondi now has also found a way to combine what is the industry-standard, two-ply film comprising a 70-micron polyethylene layer plus a 40-micron barrier layer into a mono-layer film that measures only 90 microns thick –– a reduction of nearly 20 %. Currently, Mondi provides its 70-micron film to customers who combine it with a barrier layer provided by another supplier to get the desired end result.

“Mondi, once again, is the first and only supplier of technical BIB films able to offer this type of mono-layer product,” says Leitner. “Since this thinner film also yields more running metres per reel this leads to enhanced efficiency and productivity for our customers.”

In addition to the previously noted sustainability advantages, this latest innovation greatly simplifies matters for customers, eliminating a step from the converting process, and allowing users to buy and store only one type of film instead of two.

Customers also will benefit from reduced machine setup time due to having to change out only two reels instead of four, and having to change two reels less frequently. All of this translates into greater productivity for the converter.

Additionally, both new films are suitable for both hot-fill (up to 85 ºC) and cold-fill applications, again offering increased convenience and flexibility to the users.