Five Startups Set to Disrupt Your Kid’s Halloween Candy

Consensus on nutrition is a rare thing, but the goal of reducing sugar intake seems as close as we’re likely to get. In a 2016 Reuters poll , 58% of Americans told reporters they had made an attempt to decrease their sugar intake in the previous 30 days. More respondents had tried to cut out sugar than calories, sodium, fat, cholesterol, or carbohydrates.

But despite the noble cause, it’s taking some time for these startups to gain funding traction, as financing for innovative food startups remained at just $206 million in the first half of 2017, a mere 5% of the total agrifood tech industry. Douxmatok Israeli sweetener-alternative startup Douxmatok has boosted the amount of sweetness perceived per gram of sugar by binding the sucrose molecules to the mineral silica, a commonly used anti-caking agent that is approved by the FDA and the EU. According to the company, Douxmatok allows food businesses to use 40% less sugar in their products while achieving the same level of sweetness, with no aftertaste.

Doumatok secured an $8.1 million Series A round from Israeli life sciences and food tech investors in September. The round was led by Pitango , an Israeli life sciences, and healthcare VC, with the participation of existing shareholders, including Gil Horsky, global innovation lead at Mondelez International , and FoodLab Capital , an Israeli accelerator and early-stage food tech investor. MycoTechnology MycoTechnology is using mushrooms and fungi to remove bitter tastes from food and drinks.

Through a system dubbed the MycoZyme process, the startup puts foods through a seven to 21-day sterilization, inoculation, myceliation, and drying process using mushroom and fungi roots. The food product is first inoculated with the mycelium then left to ferment and later dried to remove the mycelium.

MycoTechnology has applied this process to chocolate, coffee, and green tea to remove the bitterness and therefore, the need to use sugar and sweeteners, the firm argues. The business is currently offering two products for commercial use, going to its website. ClearTaste, which the business calls a “flavor modulator” or “bitter blocker” that can offset the need for sugar and salt.

PureTaste is protein powder made from mushrooms that the business called “the most sustainable protein on the market.” The business shut down its Series B funding on $42 million this month. The business’s first product is a sweetener designed to mimic the flavor of the West African “miracle berry”.

Since the berries are very difficult to grow, process and store, Miraculex is attempting to synthesize miraculin using lettuce. The company was part of the Spring 2016 cohort at SOSV-backed accelerator Indie.Bio from which it received two seed backing rounds in 2016 and 2017. The firm in addition makes chicory syrup, which per to Blue Prairie, “includes the many benefits found in chicory flour, but can be used as a binder in nutrition bars, a subtle sweetener in dough and a source of fiber for drinks.” Blue Prairie pulled in a $6 million in Series A funding in 2016 led by S2G Ventures and joined by DSM Venturing and existing shareholders Middleland Capital and Invest Nebraska.

Arzeda secured a $12 million Series A round to grow the capacity of its synthetic protein and enzyme development operation in July. The nine-year-old firm designs proteins for Fortune 500 companies in fields including but not limited to food and agriculture.

This round was led by OS Fund , which, going to its website, “finances and supports inventors. Scientists who are working on audacious breakthroughs to solve the greatest issues and opportunities facing humanity today.” Bioeconomy Capital and Sustainable Conversion Ventures also joined the round as well as a return investment from seed investor WRF Capital .