The Future Awaits It: The Israeli Company Transforming the Global Infant Formula Industry
Else Nutrition developed the world’s first infant formula, , alternative to milk-based and soy-based formulae. The company developed a plant-based formula modeled after the human milk composition and advantages and was lauded as one of the most prominent global foodtech companies. Thanks to wide marketing activity around the globe and a revolutionary series of products, it gained a status of one of the leading innovative baby food companies, playing in a market circulating 80 billion dollars per annum.
Our children are the most precious thing for us on Earth. From the moment of their birth, we provide them with the best quality of life, emphasizing on healthy nutrition supporting their growth and development. A central element of feeding comes from the human milk substitute industry, which grew exponentially. It adds to the trend of more and more women choosing to supplement breastfeeding or completely supplant it using various formulae.
While up to this day, the options available to these women were only milk-based or soy-based formulae, it appears that we are facing a major revolution in this filed, spearheaded by the Israeli company Else Nutrition (TSX:BABY, OTC:BABYF, FSE:OYL,) (Else Nutrition Holdings Inc.). The company, which was issued at the Toronto Stock Exchange, launched a series of groundbreaking products in the US in late 2020, using a plant-based formulae, which revolutionize the baby food industry. This is a formula based on the human milk composition , and which aims to optimally imitate its advantages, including use of whole food ingredients and providing a full-scale nutritional solution, while fulfilling the strictest regulations by the various health regulatory organizations, headed by the FDA.
The Promise: Uncompromising Freedom of Choice for Babies
“We are proud to be the first company in the world to develop a baby formula adhering to the highest standards, which brings an enormous change to the global market with a single alternative to the existing formulae, using a new plant-based protein, based on advanced processing methods, and, more than anything, being completely natural”, says Hamutal Yitzhak, the company’s CEO and Co-founder, who formerly headed Similac Israel, in a fiery interview where she presents all the advantages of the product series already marketed to North America, and recently to China as well. Alongside her, the company’s senior management includes the two founding partners, Michael Azar, former Materna CEO, and Uriel Kessler, former GM in the Promedico Group, which manufactured a baby formula for the Ultra-Orthodox sector.
“The formula we developed is intended for babies with sensitivity or allergy to milk or soy, as well as for families wishing to avoid consuming milk and milk products, whether for health reasons or due to a vegan ideology, for example. This is the first time these families enjoy a solution tailored for their specific needs, alongside a processing method ensuring the retention of whole ingredients, without any nutritional breakdown process, which makes the existing formula into processed food. Else owns a series of patents leading to the creation of a formulae with minimal processing, a fact permitting us to preserve the food ingredients in their whole form, as in mothers’ milk, and at the highest standards required by global regulatory authorities. As noted above, this method provides healthy, natural nutrition, supporting all the baby’s developmental and nutritional needs”. She says that alongside the baby formula, which is in advanced process of approval stages by the FDA, the company’s series of products is already marketed worldwide, and includes, among others, formulae for toddlers aged 12 months or higher, a series of nutritional drinks for kids aged 3-10 years, which can substitute a meal, and a series of porridges for babies from the age of 6 months.
International Success
The buzz Else Nutrition enjoys and the brand-new market it penetrated in a particularly conspicuous manner, lead it to appreciable financial achievements as well. In 2019 alone, it was issued in the Toronto, Canada stock exchange, while being traded in the OTC’s main stock exchange in New York and Frankfurt.
The company’s products were first sold, in late 2020, in the US, online through the company’s web store and by Amazon. After enjoying particularly high demand, and, especially, considering mass interest, Else Nutrition quickly signed distribution agreements with two of the largest US distributers, UNFI and KEHE. Additionally, the company’s products began to be marketed through leading retailer chains, especially Walmart and CVS.
In terms of revenues, the company is also in the right direction. Per its recent financial statements, it arises than in the past quarter alone, Else Nutrition marked a growth of approx. 44% in sales, together with a growth of 84% on Amazon alone.
In an attempt to make its mark in other markets as well, the company recently began marketing its series of products in Canada and China, with a planned activity in the UK in early 2023, as the first attempt to enter European markets. In the second half of 2023, its products are expected to be sold in Australia as well.
When asked what made the company a leading name in the baby formula market, Yitzhak answers plainly and clearly: “this is an exceedingly conservative market, where it is rare that a groundbreaking company appears and presents unprecedented products, based on sound scientific evidence and support of the greatest minds in the field of baby nutrition. We managed to enter this niche by making a radical change, which is a fresh breath of air for millions of consumers worldwide, who lack any freedom of choice”.
And what about Israel? Else Nutrition hope that soon, their products will be marketed in the Holy Land as well. Meanwhile, the Israeli consumer can purchase the company’s various food products online from the international iHerb store.
Where is Else Nutrition Headed?
Yitzhak: “We are in the midst of a worldwide expansion process, which intensifies on a day-to-day basis. We will continue to invest vast resources in sustainable natural ingredients, contributing to fighting the climate crisis and global warming, including an average reduction of approx. 65% in CO2 emissions from our products’ raw materials compared to existing milk-based formulae on the market. Myself and my partners are proud to lead a company with a vision serving as a true nutritional alternative for many populations across the world”.
In Collaboration with Else Nutrition
