Draft:TopGum Industries

Top Gum Industries Ltd is an Israel-based global leading producer in the gummy supplements and candies industry. Founded in 2004, TopGum is a public company and operates from its factory in Sderot, Israel, and provides bespoke gummies to some of the world's largest retailers and brands including Walmart, in the dietary supplement and food industries. With over 250 products, TopGum has over 35 customers (B2B business model) from 20 countries across the world. All of the company’s products are nut-free, lactose-free, gluten-free, and kosher and halal certified. TopGum also sells candies mainly as a wholesaler to 181 customers in Israel.

TopGum generated $ 43.9 million in annual revenues (2022), employs 160 people, and traded in the Tel-Aviv Stock Exchange (TPGM) at a market cap of NIS 625 million (17/03/2024).

History
In 2003 Hai Yakov Hayoun sold his supermarket business and founded GumyGum, a Kosher and Halal gummy bear candy (based on fish gelatin) factory in Sderot. GumyGum was the first Kosher gummies factory in the world. A year later, in June 2004 Dov Lusternik led an investment by Neto Group in a new company of Hayoun - TopGum. TopGum sold gummy bear candies both as a white label to large retailers and under the brand name - ‘Tenta’, which means to entice and include gummy sweet and sour candies, Jellybeans, lollipops, licorice, marshmallow, and chocolates. The company imported some of its candies. In 2010, Dov Lusternik bought Neto Group shares and made his son – Roy, one of the stakeholders in TopGum. In 2012, as the company grew, it opened a large warehouse equipped with over 6,000 storage slots for finished goods pallets to support its growing demand for raw materials and gummy candies. In 2016, the company decided to change its focus and started developing a healthy line of gummy supplements... . After investing millions of Dollars in R&D and purchasing new machinery with high-precision manufacturing technology for its new production lines. in 2017 it developed a patented formulation based on a vegan dietary sugar-free gummy, rich in fiber and probiotics with no added sweetener. At the end of 2019, the company started selling gummy supplements in Israel and abroad, a few months after receiving GMP approval from the Israeli Ministry of Health. At the beginning of 2020, when Covid-19 became a global pandemic it forced people to stay indoors and start focusing more on their health. This resulted in increasing sales and interest in nutrition supplements and gummy supplements in particular.

In Sep. 2020, a group of investors comprised of AP Partners, Discount Capital, and Arkin Investments, invested in the company $ 20 million for 33% of the company. This investment allowed the company to expand its operation to the US and in February 2021 the company opened an office in New Jersey, as part of its expansion into the US market. Later that year the company launched Gummiceuticals – a sugar-free vegan gummy supplement line. The formulation is based on a dietary prebiotic fiber formulation uses no added sugars or sugar alcohols and is labeled as “sugar-free” in the US. Shortly after, in August 2021 the company completed an IPO on Tel-Aviv stock exchange and raised 100 million NIS at a market cap of 460 million NIS. Most of the raised capital was allocated to building a new factory. The company completed 2021 by signing 3 new strategic agreements with international corporations that TopGum will produce and provide them with gummy supplements based on the Gummiceuticals formulation. In that year TopGum also started to develop its microencapsulation capabilities based on different technologies using unique formulas and know-how. In February 2022 the company received the Non-GMO Project Verified seal which ensures that TopGum products are made according to the best practices and avoid GMO. In March 2022 the company completed a new line of bottling and labeling that became operational. By that, it completed the transformation to a one-stop shop for its customers from production to delivering an end product. It made the company more attractive to global clients aside from the fact that it increased the company’s revenue and profitability. In July 2022, Israel’s Authority for Investments and Development approved a grant of 19 million NIS for the company’s investment plan of 140 million NIS in building a new 11,000 meters factory in Sderot, next to its existing factory. The new factory will employ 100 new employees and will be equipped with robotics and automated systems throughout the production line and will triple the company’s production capacity to 1 million gummies per hour (2.5 tons). The factory will meet TGA regulations at the supplement gummies production and FDA standards to comply with its quest to develop a pharma-grade OTC gummy Later that month, the company was awarded as a USDA-certified organic manufacturer of gummies from Organic Certifier, an international certifier. The seal certifies that TopGum’s sourcing, processing, and manufacturing techniques conform to USDA's National Organic Program standards At the end of 2022, the company showed increasing sales of gummy supplements which was responsible for most of its sales. With that understanding, the company decided to move the production line of its candies to a subcontractor and focus on its gummy supplements. At the beginning of 2023, Top Gum launched a new production line - USDA-certified organic sugar-free gummies, answering consumers' growing demand for such nutritional supplements. The new line includes five gummy supplements includes gummies that deliver a range of ingredients, such as the B-vitamin biotin (ream Orange), vitamin D (Cherry), Zinc (Pineapple Mango), Ashwagandha (Cherry), and an antioxidant-balanced (berry blend). This line joined its existing line that produces a Nutraceuticals gummy supplement including vitamin B-12, VITA-C (vitamin C), calcium, Mag 100+ (magnesium), iron, spirulina, curcumin, lycopene, and organic gummies. It also launched Gummiccino - a high-caffeine cappuccino gummies, containing 40mg of caffeine per gummy (equal to a shot of espresso), available in three flavors: espresso, cappuccino, and mocha. It was developed using the company’s new proprietary TopCaps microencapsulation technology.

In February 2023 the company signed a contract with Neopharma Group to distribute and sell the company’s gummy supplements in Israel. In April 2023 the company acquired ParamItBe and appointed its CEO - Dr. Evgenia Lozinsky, as TopGum’s head of R&D. TopGum will use PharmItBe's equipped, FDA-certified laboratory to ensure strict quality standards and accelerate the development of new formulations and delivery formats including pharma-grade OTC gummies

On October 3rd 2023, the company celebrated with its employees its 20th anniversary.

After Hamas attacked Israel on October 7th 2023, and the killing of Leonid Luzovsky - the company’s security guard, the factory was shut down for a few days, which later became gradually operational. Later that month, TopGum signed a 2 million € deal to manufacture and bottle a line of 2 gummy supplements out of 30 planned deals with a 150 billion $ corporation.

On the 9th of November 2023, Target Global VC joined as an investor in the company with a holding of 2.5% at a private funding round where the company raised 70 million NIS.

In Dec. 2013, Eyal Shohat, former Chief Executive Officer at SodaStream International was appointed the Chief Executive Officer of TopGum. Shohat replaced Amichai Bar Nir, who was appointed as the company’s CEO of its US operation.

The company holds several awards from previous years including 1st place (2022) and 2nd place (2023) at Vitafoods Europe's Best Tasting Functional Food category.

The technology
TopGum uses raw ingredients to compose its products, including prebiotic fibers, pectin, vitamins, minerals, natural flavorings, auxiliary and coating materials, and various oils. Its R&D department has developed a highly scalable patent-pending delivery system with the capacity to deliver a wide range of nutrients and API, manufactured with a healthy and safe standard. TopGum's unique delivery system is based on a pectin-based formula with no added sugar, sweeteners, artificial flavors, colors, or sugar alcohols, and the plant-based fibers are easily digestible with a strong prebiotic effect. TopGum’s additional patent-pending products involve proprietary Gummiceuticals formulations able to carry several active agents inside its delivery system. Its proprietary functionality of micro-encapsulation technology, called, containing Probiotic + Prebiotic, allows making various flavors, and slow release of the formula and it also enables new active ingredients with improved stability. It will also enable the introduction of new active ingredients in gummies. TopGum launched a Synbiotics gummy that comes in 2 colors and 2 flavors: orange + strawberry, in a 3-gram fruit slice-shaped gummy.

In spring 2023, the company launched the highest dosage of Vitamin C in a gummy ever – 1000 mg per gummy. TopGum has 13 patents pending.

TopGum was granted in 2021 and 2022 $ 308k and 270k $ from the Israeli Authority of Innovation to develop a gummy supplement that will improve the absorbent in the body.

Sustainability
The company is operating in number of ways to ensure corporate social responsibility. For example: - Sustainable energy – using solar power via solar panels in the company’s logistics and factory. - Donations to nonprofit organizations that work to end the cycle of poverty through education. - Equal employment opportunities employing women and people of different religious faiths.

At the end of 2020, TopGum hired an environmental consultant company to find solutions to its factory effluents. It also works with Israeli recycling corporation – T.M.I.R, to clear all dangerous and solid waste. TopGum also publishes public reports of its gender equality employment policy.