Another plant-based sweetener is a few developmental steps away from entering the market. Miraculin, a protein “sourced” from the miracle berry fruit, is being developed by Joywell Foods – which on July 21 announced a $6.9 million round of funding led by Kraft Heinz’s Evolv Ventures venture capital fund.

The Davis, Calif., company, previously known as Miraculex, claims the ingredient could be up to 5500 times sweeter than sugar. Joywell has patents pending on the bioconversion process and has published a peer-reviewed toxicology study on the miracle berry protein.

The company is focused on commercializing miraculin and other "sweet proteins,” many of which are over 1000 times sweeter than sugar, according to CEO Karen Huh. Joywell now has a total of $13.2 million in venture funding. In addition to Evolv, investors include Khosla Ventures, SOSV, Alumni Ventures Group and others.