Beverage technology company ALTR has finalised a US$5m seed funding round to help commercialise its alcohol removal technology.
The Phoenix-headquartered business’ ‘Flavour-First’ process has been backed by French investment fund Demeter (which led the latest round), with participation from Suntory Global Spirits, Techmind, AZ Venture Capital, FTW Ventures, Bluestein Ventures, Solvable and Xinomavro. ALTR said the financing will accelerate product development and expand its partnerships with “some of the world’s best wineries”.
The process itself revolves around precision ethanol removal at a molecular level, and will target the wine industry initially to create low-alcohol products, rather than alcohol-free. ALTR, which was founded in 2020, describes the method as “non-destructive and non-intrusive”.
“ALTR is on a quest to remove the stigma of less alcohol for both the consumer and the beverage maker, pairing cutting-edge technology with craft traditions,” said founder & CEO Richard Schatzberger.
Last month, Treasury Wine Estates spent just under US$10m on bringing its production of no- & low-alcohol wine in Australia in-house.
