OUR STORY

OUR  STORY



Our story is the result of a sequence of events in the life of Prof. Avraham Baniel (recently celebrated 102) that led to the birth of our innovation platform and technology.



Haifa, 1944, 2nd WW, British Mandate in Palestine

All essential ingredients are rationed, especially sugar. Avraham’s neighbor, an elementary school teacher, observes that children have a hard time concentrating in school claiming they crave sugar. Prof. Baniel, a young chemist fresh out of university, tries to think of a way “to make small quantities of sugar taste like plenty”. A challenge worth revisiting.

Chicago, 2001, Headquarters of a leading sugars & sweeteners manufacturer

An urgent management meeting is convened to discuss the slow market-penetration of their new and improved sweetener upon the realization that children and most adults totally refuse products sweetened by their sugar substitute. Prof. Baniel, a participant in this meeting, has a flashback from almost 60 years earlier, and begins to connect the dots: Can the sweetness of sugar – real sugar – be enhanced to allow for the reduction, and still satisfy consumers? 


Jerusalem, 2013, Prof. Baniel’s home

Prof. Baniel concocts in his kitchen the first ever targeted flavor delivery system for sugar and shares his POC with leading food manufacturers, who confirm the effect and assure him that: “the two most acute health-related problems in the food & beverage industries are sugar and salt. Solving one of these, or both, with no aftertastes has huge potential!”

2014, Petach Tikva, Israel 

Prof. Baniel at the age of 96 with 75 years of worldwide experience in industrial chemical research along with his son, Eran, founded DouxMatok. Following seed investments, they began R&D on two subleased benches in a pharmaceutical research lab.

2017, Petach Tikva, Israel 

DouxMatok announces over $8M in funding (led by Pitango, Israel's largest VC) to accelerate the development of its patented sugar reduction solution. The company attracts a leading multidisciplinary team of R&D, engineering and commercial experts, and focuses on scaling up the technology.

2018, Jerusalem, Israel  

DouxMatok is awarded the Prime Minister of Israel’s prestigious innovation prize as part of the Prime Minister's Conference on Innovation. This follows a number of national and international food-tech competitions and acknowledgments, such as EIT Food’s RisingFoodStar and “ one of the highest potential sugar reduction technologies in the world” by Lux Research.

2019, Petach Tikva, Israel

Douxmatok raises $22M in series B funding and starts engaging with food companies in sugar reduction and product innovations projects. 

2020 – Kiryat Arye, Israel and Montréal & Vancouver, Canada

With the growth and expansion of the company, DouxMatok outgrows its previous lab space. The move to a brand new, state-of-the-art facility has allowed branching out into new fields of research, increased output and variety of applications and the construction of an advanced pilot system. 
In October, DouxMatok announces partnership with Rogers Sugars Inc. (Lantic), one of North America’s leading sugar manufacturers, to secure industrial and high-quality supply to the food industry.
Professor Baniel and his son Eran, the founder of Douxmatok in the study room
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