Press Release

Mazza Innovation Ltd. is pleased to announce that it has raised Cdn$2.8 million from existing and new shareholders to fund an expansion of operations at its Delta, BC PhytoClean™ extraction facility. Details of the financing are not being released at this time. The company is also happy to announce the appointment of three highly experienced senior executives to manage rapidly expanding customer demand for its solvent-free ingredients and PhytoClean™ extraction process.

Mazza’s financing round was comprised of several institutional and individual investors, including Natural Products Canada (NPC), a not-for-profit corporation that streamlines commercialization of natural products. “NPC is very proud to partner with Mazza and the other investors in this opportunity,” says Shelley King, chief executive officer of Natural Products Canada. “Mazza has a proven technology, high-growth potential in an expanding market, and a service that can benefit the whole natural products industry.”

Mazza Innovation CEO Benjamin Lightburn commented: “Demand for Mazza’s botanical ingredients has been growing at a rapid pace since our opening last year, and experienced senior executives are now required to help us manage that growth. Enabled by $2.8 million in new financing from investment partners such as NPC, we’re pleased to welcome Chris Tower, Andry Tjahyana and Jim Pratt to our management team. This financing will also fund a number of accompanying expansion programs in service, sales and marketing, and extraction capability. These changes will enable us to meet rising customer demand from around the world. We look forward to meeting with potential customers and partners at our exhibit booth PP-173 at Supply Side West September 25–29.”

Chris Tower, VP, Sales

Chris Tower joins the Mazza Innovation executive team as vice president of sales. Chris is a highly experienced, senior-level sales executive with an extensive range of skills and more than two decades’ sales and operations expertise in the U.S. and global ingredients market. Prior to joining Mazza, he was founding CEO of Layn USA, a subsidiary of Guilin Layn Natural Ingredients Corp. of Shanghai. While there, he spent five years as director of sales and product management, building sales from startup mode to the company’s eventual distinction as the world’s largest manufacturer and supplier of both stevia and monk fruit sweeteners. Prior to Layn, Chris spent three years as director of sales and business development at Indena USA, and five years with Martin Bauer NA as executive vice president and director of sales and product management.

Andy Tjahyana, VP, Business Development

As vice president of business development, Andy Tjahyana will apply his more than 25 years’ experience in B2B business development. Drawn to innovative, first-to-market and advanced technology projects, Andy has held leading positions in a number of different industries, among them fast ferries, green building construction, and commercial stevia production. Andry was president and CEO of Canadian Stevia Corporation, a public company and early leader in the natural sweetener industry, active in developing proprietary stevia and stevia extraction technology.

Jim Pratt, President

After graduating from the University of Western Ontario with an MBA, Jim Pratt became an investment banker at a national investment dealer in Toronto. In his early work, he invested in Sepp’s Gourmet Foods, a food manufacturing company located in Vancouver. The company grew from $1 million in sales to $88 million, and was listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Jim held various positions over the years, including CFO and, ultimately, CEO. Prior to joining Mazza Innovation, he was co-owner of Prosnack Natural Foods, makers of healthy snack foods. Jim has served as director for the Food Innovation Centre of BC, the Food Processors of Canada and Timia Capital, and as chairman for the Functional Foods Alberta Centre of Excellence and the BC Food Processors Association (current).

About the PhytoClean™ Method

The PhytoClean™ Method water-based extraction process concentrates bioactives by pressurizing water at moderate temperatures; this greatly increases the water’s ability to solubilize bioactive compounds. In effect, this extraction process generally provides better yields and purities than industrial solvents. This environmentally friendly, clean process can be applied to extract a wide range of compounds for use in nutraceuticals, cosmetics, flavourings, colourings, pharmaceuticals, and functional foods and beverages. Mazza is working with a number of leading companies, among them Naturex, which has exclusively contracted Mazza’s award-winning cranberry extract production, and Chromadex, which is partnering in the expanded use of the PhytoClean™ Method.

About Mazza Innovation         

Mazza Innovation specializes in extracting solvent-free bioactives from botanical sources for use as ingredients in functional foods, dietary supplements, natural food colourings/flavourings, and personal care and cosmetics products. Mazza’s environmentally friendly PhytoClean™ pressurized water extraction process produces ingredients that are free of any carrier compounds or residual solvents. The company is fully certified as GMP and organic, and currently offers 15 extract ingredients, including blueberry, green tea, cranberry (all three of which won product innovation awards at Engredea 2015), flaxseed and algae. Based in Vancouver, Canada, Mazza’s portfolio of award-winning ingredients gives product manufacturers the opportunity to tap into consumer demand for high-quality, 100% clean-label products, all while preserving a healthy planet. Visit mazzainnovation.com.