Eliminating sugar: Joywell Foods nets US$6.9m to strengthen sweet proteins platform

22 Jul 2020 --- Following Joywell Foods’ recent netting of US$6.9 million in Series A financing, the food technology company is sharpening its strategy of “reinventing the experience of everyday foods”. The cash injection, which takes the total funding to US$13.2 million, allows the company to develop its proprietary technology platform, broaden its sweet protein portfolio and expand R&D operations.

In an in-depth interview with FoodIngredientsFirst, Joywell CEO, Karen Huh, explains how the company is focused on eliminating the prevalence of sugar in diets and how formulating naturally sweet proteins derived from exotic fruits into healthy, nutritious new future food, is the key objective.

“Nature has provided us with a variety of sweet proteins through plants and their fruits. Our proprietary technology platform enables Joywell Foods to scale the production of these naturally sweet proteins for use as food ingredients. With recent breakthroughs in synthetic biology, we can produce many of these sweet protein ingredients at high volume and low cost through fermentation, much like brewing beer,” she explains. 

Low sugar products requires consumers to compromise on taste, their health, or both: Joywell Foods is putting an end to that. Joywell Foods (previously known as Miraculex) has identified several naturally sweet proteins that share a very similar flavor profile to sugar, but without the negative health effects. 

Protein potency 
The uniqueness of these proteins is in their potency, Huh continues, “up to 5,500 times sweeter than sugar on a weight basis, requiring a very small amount for the desired sweetness in many consumer food applications. “In addition, these sweet protein ingredients digest easily unlike other alternative sweeteners, such as sugar alcohols, which are known to cause gastrointestinal distress.”

“The beauty of the sweet protein ingredient platform is that the applications are wide-ranging across traditional CPG categories with the ability to disrupt the better-for-you marketplace. We’ve built a number of delicious concepts in-house ranging from confectionery, puddings, yogurts and cereals,” she notes. 

Sugar reduction is a growing trend driven by health-conscious consumers as well as government-driven regulation forcing manufacturers and brands to cut sugar content across food and beverage categories. However, despite expecting a wealth of reduced-sugar options, consumers will not compromise on taste and Joywell Foods is extremely conscious of that. “Right now, consuming low sugar products requires consumers to compromise on taste, their health, or both. We are asking shoppers to make concessions when they consume these products,” Huh continues. “With our sweet proteins, we are able to create products that are truly ‘suffer-free.’ They are not only low in sugar, but they taste naturally sweet without the negative effects of artificial sweeteners.”

“We have expertise in producing, scaling, and formulating naturally sweet proteins into delicious new food products. The team is a diverse blend of chefs, scientists, engineers, and marketers bound by a love of food, all operating with the single goal of commercializing sweet protein ingredients for mainstream use in consumer goods.”

“In the coming months, we're excited to share a sneak peek of our sweet proteins in action,” Huh reveals. 

The company is focused on driving down sugar via naturally sweet proteins derived from miracle berry fruits. Funding the future
The latest round of funding was led by EvolvVentures, a venture fund backed by Kraft Heinz. The company also plans to test a number of consumer offerings through direct-to-consumers and limited retail.                

“We believe in the sweet protein space and its application in consumer products,” says Steve Sanger, Founder and Partner of Evolv Ventures. “Joywell Foods is pioneering solutions that enable great taste and reduce mainstream sugar consumption. The company has the potential to make a big impact in the sweet protein space.”                                                        

The last ten months have been pivotal for Joywell Foods. The company published a peer-reviewed toxicology study on the miracle berry protein commonly known as miraculin, filed three provisional patent applications, and commercialized a first-to-market protein sweetened concept – the Pop Lolly – a reduced sugar popsicle product utilizing miraculin as a sweetener.        

Huh also joined CTO and Co-Founder Jason Ryder to lead the team as CEO in September 2019 and led the company’s rebranding from Miraculex to Joywell Foods to better reflect the company’s pursuit of several sweet proteins.                    

By Gaynor Selby