In Switzerland, Evolva signed a collaboration agreement with Cargill for the production and commercialization of EverSweet, a next-generation stevia sweetener that delivers better sweetness intensity, faster sweetness onset and improved sweetness quality – without the bitterness or off-note aftertaste common to existing stevia sweeteners.
Cargill will retrofit a fermentation facility on their Blair, Nebraska campus to begin EverSweet production and for the fermentation of other Evolva products. In parallel, Evolva will build and operate a new state-of-the-art bioprocessing facility on adjacent land leased from Cargill. This bioprocessing facility will manufacture Evolva products such as nootkatone and resveratrol and is expected to come online in 2019.
Over the next three years, Evolva expects to invest an estimated $60 million in the combined fermentation and bioprocessing facilities for EverSweet and its other products. Evolva will receive up to thirty percent of the EverSweet business, determined as a function of the strain efficiencies achieved.