BioHarvest Sciences Inc. (CSE:BHSC, NASDAQ:BHST) this week announced a significant move for the company, a partnership with Tate & Lyle to develop plant-based sweeteners.
The collaboration aims to create botanical, plant-derived sweeteners that are sustainable, low-calorie, and offer superior taste.
CEO Ilan Sobel joined Proactive to discuss the milestone.
Proactive: Welcome back inside our Proactive newsroom. Joining me now is Ilan Sobel. He is the CEO of BioHarvest Sciences. Ilan, it's great to see you again. How are you?
Ilan Sobel: It's a real pleasure to see you on a day where we have really achieved a major milestone in the company's history.
Yes, that is a partnership with a company called Tate & Lyle to develop a plant-based sweetener. We'll talk about that in a second, but can you first tell us a little bit about Tate & Lyle?
Tate & Lyle is a 100-year-old company with deep expertise as a world leader in ingredient solutions for healthier and tastier food and beverages. They have significant competence and capabilities in the sweetener and broader ingredient worlds. This partnership validates the power of our technology.
So, this is about sustainable plant-based sweeteners. Can you tell me a little more about that?
The partnership will initially focus on developing botanical, plant-derived sweeteners. These will enable the industry to have additional critical solutions for sugar replacement options, allowing consumers to enjoy better taste, better sustainability, and importantly, plant-based, low- or no-calorie options.
This really shows the breadth of the company. You've talked in the past about how your technology can be applied across various industries. This partnership seems like one of those examples.
Correct. We've discussed critical anchor partnerships spanning nutrition, ingredients, cosmeceuticals, and pharmaceutical companies. Tate & Lyle exemplifies a partner with strong distribution and customer relationships. Together, we aim to democratize better-for-you ingredient solutions to provide healthier food and beverage options. Ultimately, this is a foundational step toward building a society anchored in healthier solutions.
Tate & Lyle, being a 100-year-old company, must have significant regulatory knowledge and experience. I imagine that’s a big advantage for you.
Absolutely. Tate & Lyle has best-in-class capabilities across the entire value chain. Partnering with them is a privilege and an exciting journey to develop the next generation of plant-based, non-nutritive sweeteners. Together, we will provide consumers with better, healthier solutions.
You mentioned this as a big step for the company. How do you see this milestone shaping the rest of the year and leading into 2025?
We've spoken about our direct-to-consumer wellness business performance, highlighting 101% revenue growth and a 1,200-basis-point improvement in gross profit margin in Q3. This partnership showcases one of the major catalysts in our pipeline and reinforces our ability to execute. It positions us well for sustained growth and impactful outcomes as we move into 2025.
Quotes have been lightly edited for clarity and style