Israel’s DouxMatok, a startup that developed a patented sugar reduction solution, announced on Wednesday that it raised $22 million in a series B funding round led by Singapore’s BlueRed Partners. The startup said the funds will help it drive the commercialization efforts for its solution.

Strategic investors in the round also included Südzucker AG, the largest European sugar company with whom DouxMatok has a production and a marketing agreement; Royal DSM, a global leader in science-based nutrition, health and sustainable living; and Singha Ventures, a corporate venture fund of Singha Corporation, one of Thailand’s largest food & beverage conglomerates.

Additional participants in the round included existing shareholders Pitango Venture Capital, Jerusalem Venture Partners (JVP), Food Lab Capital, as well as new financial investors, including btov Partners, OurCrowd and La Maison.

“DouxMatok provides an answer to the growing concern from consumers around too much added sugar in their diets and the global call, including from regulators, for reduced sugar in food products”, the company said in a press statement.

According to the company, tests conducted by Food & Beverage multinationals have confirmed that, when using DouxMatok sugars, they can reduce up to 40 percent of the sugar content in their products while retaining the same taste profile.

DouxMatok says its technology platform is backed by 20 granted patents, developed for over 6 years by a leading multidisciplinary team of scientists with specializations in material sciences, organic and green chemistry, sensory sciences, drug delivery, and food science.  

According to the company, it is soon expected to complete the industrial manufacturing of its sugars in Europe jointly with Südzucker AG, followed by commercialization in North America. DouxMatok said it’s also engaged in multiple collaborations with leading food companies to “reformulate popular products and to offer consumers a way to enjoy their favorite food and snack products with a greatly improved nutritional profile.”

Initial DouxMatok products are set to be available commercially by the end of the year.

DouxMatok co-founder and CEO Eran Baniel said the company was “thrilled to have the opportunity to speed up commercialization so that we can lead the quest for reducing added sugars, while providing consumers with the tastes they love and want.”

“The task of providing a sugar reduction solution is not only important for the consumer, but also for food corporations that rely on sugar to create the world’s top-selling products. We’re looking forward to supporting DouxMatok’s team in scaling their breakthrough technological platform globally, the only one that enables to reduce sugar with sugar,” said Yishai Klein, managing partner of BlueRed Partners.

This article was first published on NoCamels on June 19th 2019. Click here to view the article.