VENICE, Calif., May 07, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Nutrition Innovation (NI), a food and technology company striving to make the world a healthier place through sugar innovation, today announced it has raised $5 million in Series A funding with ambitions to now tackle the important North American market. This new round of funding puts NI’s valuation at $40 million.
Nutrition Innovation's technology empowers global sugar companies to produce Nucane™, a range of healthier, naturally low glycemic sugars designed for both sugar replacement and even sugar reduction by up to 70%. These technologies can be licensed to the industry to be rapidly and efficiently produced at scale for all major food and beverage brands. Their first licensed technology, Nucane Raw Sugar has already been deployed in key markets of Asia-Pacifc (Australia, Malaysia and New Zealand), Latin America and Africa.
In these markets, Nucane Raw Sugar is already being used and tested by a number of leading food and beverage companies who strive to offer their consumers healthier choices. NI’s next generation technologies will leverage the science of food structure to achieve significant sugar reduction together with additional health benefits.
“Nutrition Innovation purpose is to make the world a healthier place by creating natural, scalable, efficient and effective sugar reduction and replacement solutions for manufacturers everywhere," said NI Founder and Chairman Dr. David Kannar. “This is of vital importance as the world is experiencing an obesity and diabetes epidemic which is costing both lives and trillions of dollars. In America alone, there are over 100 million people who may have “pre-diabetes” and without significant changes in diet, lifestyle or innovation as much as 30% of them may go on to have Type 2 Diabetes*.”
“We have prioritized inventing a technology that could rapidly help the world’s brand’s meet this obesity and health challenge,” said NI CEO Matthew Godfrey. “Our innovative pipeline of products, including our next-generation technology, Nucane™ Life, a new natural sugar carbohydrate, can help food brands achieve sugar reduction of up to 70 percent while integrating a range of substrates for additional health benefits such a protein and fibre. We believe it is this type of innovation that will be of great benefit to both brands and consumers in the US market ”
The Series A funding, led by VisVires New Protein (VVNP), the first venture fund in Asia focusing exclusively on finding disruptive solutions for our global food and feed system, NI’s funding includes an investment from Enerfo Group, a leading global commodity trading company. The funding represents a capital round that will aid in the company’s North American expansion.
“Nutrition Innovation presents an opportunity to overhaul the global sugar market with a healthier product,” said VVNP Founder and Managing Partner Matthieu Vermersch. “Food ingredients, like sugar, are characterized by their specific functional properties, making them essential but extremely challenging to replace in food products. The value proposition of Nutrition Innovation is compelling not just for the sugar mills and refineries, but also for food manufacturers and consumers. Despite being less than two years old, the swift establishment of their global supply footprint is a true testament to the relevance of their technology and product.”
Traditionally, sugar is highly refined, high on the glycemic index and stripped of naturally occurring antioxidants. Food manufacturers have found it difficult to replace refined sugar with alternative sweeteners. Both natural and artificial sweeteners can be expensive to produce, and lack the functional properties of sugar, which limits the application of those products in food and beverage items. Through its patent-protected process, the Nucane range retains the antioxidants and minerals, like calcium and magnesium, that occur naturally in cane sugar, slows the metabolism of sucrose and helps blocks the absorption of glucose. The result is a high-quality, flavorful, low glycemic, family of natural sugar products that can be produced at an industrial scale at a competitive cost to refined sugar."
Visit https://nucanethegoodsugar.com/home/ and www.nutritioninnovationgroup.com for additional information.
* Source: BRFSS Data 2018 https://www.stateofobesity.org/diabetes/
About Nutrition Innovation Group:
Founded Singapore in 2017, Nutrition Innovation is dedicated to transforming world health through sugar innovation. NI’s licensed technology enables sugar mills and refineries to efficiently produce a variety of natural sugar products that are healthier and assist in dietary sugar reduction. NI maintains operations in Singapore, Brazil, Australia, Thailand and California and its premier product, Nucane Life, is a 2019 finalist of the World Food Innovation Awards.
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