With MAHA and GLP-1 Winds at Its Back, Oobli Looks to Construct Next-Gen 'Sweetening Solution'

Back in 2023, when Oobli started pushing out its line of sweet teas and chocolates to gain attention for its precision-fermented sweetener, being at the intersection of protein and a healthier sweetening system seemed like a pretty good place to be. After all, the protein-maxxing and better-for-you movements already seemed in pretty full swing, and the idea of using a protein as a sweetener seemed like a natural winner.

However, while it may have seemed like we were at peak protein and the anti-sugar pushback three years ago, that was all just a warm-up act for where we are today, as MAHA and GLP-1s have taken center stage and pushed food companies to upend their businesses, reformulate large swaths of their products, and rush new ones to market to capitalize on these trends.

Since it had been a while since I caught up with Oobli and their CEO Ali Wing, I decided to reconnect and hear how they are positioning themselves to take advantage of the new food landscape.

“We are first and foremost a sweet protein technology platform,” CEO Ali Wing told me on The Spoon Podcast last week. “We really make our money and our business model is as a specialty ingredient that can be something that replaces sugar or changes sweetening systems in packaged food and beverages.”

While the shift from a consumer-facing product to a B2B platform is a natural one for a technology company, it makes even more sense in the consumer goods and food space. Rather than trying to build a standalone brand in a crowded, capital-intensive CPG market, Oobli is pursuing partnerships with companies that already have global scale and distribution. As Wing explained, the company’s role is to enable reformulation, not own the shelf, often working through partners rather than directly with CPGs themselves.

“So we kind of think of our partners like Ingredion as an ‘and strategy,’” said Wing. “For dedicated projects where somebody really wants to get under the hood with us and we’re helping them develop a specific formula, we will invest the resources if there’s a co-investment. Otherwise, we have big partners that will spend time with them, helping them with their formulations.”

Oobli has partnered with ingredient giant Ingredion to bring sweet protein solutions into existing sweetener systems. The company is also working with food giant Mars across multiple parts of its business. The idea is to plug into the existing food manufacturing ecosystem and help partners develop new approaches to sweeteners.

“If you think of most packaged goods, packaged food and beverage very rarely has one sweetener, and it’s usually a sweetener system.”

According to Wing, the company is no longer producing its teas, which it saw as marketing proof points to open brands’ eyes to the technology’s potential. As the market increasingly demands better-for-you sweeteners and greater nutrient density (particularly among GLP-1 users), Oobli is letting its large food brand partners do the heavy lifting.

“Sweet proteins show up really well in both those places,” Wing said.

You can watch to my full interview with Ali Wing below.