Jaca Trades Equity for Airtime in $1M Mercurius Media Capital Deal

Jaca, a Florida brand selling pure allulose, has taken a $1M strategic investment from Mercurius Media Capital — but not in the form a founder usually banks. The October 8 arrangement is media-for-equity: MMC supplies premium advertising inventory in exchange for ownership, according to the investor's announcement.

The distinction matters for how the money gets read. MMC describes the deal as access to advertising inventory to build awareness of Jaca and allulose, and its investment model as equity-aligned access to television, digital, streaming and out-of-home distribution. The release leaves the equity stake, valuation, campaign dates and any cash component undisclosed. That $1M should not be read as a disclosed balance of unrestricted cash for salaries, manufacturing or other expenses; it is a distribution resource whose usefulness depends on the message, the audience and the experience awaiting a prospective buyer.

Piyush Puri, MMC's Founding Partner, frames the opportunity around introducing the ingredient to more consumers. The investor participates in the longer-term value of the businesses whose audience it helps build, which applies the same logic to Jaca: linking a brand's need to communicate with a media owner's ability to supply attention, while preserving cash the brand would otherwise have to spend on advertising.

Jaca's commercial task is harder than logo recognition. It sells pure allulose, with consumer purchases through its own storefront and a business serving wholesale and co-brand partners. Its 16 oz product page identifies the ingredient as 100% allulose and places cooking and baking within its use case — meaning a prospective customer has to imagine using a different ingredient in something familiar. Pete Ferrari, founder and president of Global Foods Group, the company behind Jaca and Healthy For Life Foods, is pursuing broader consumer recognition that can carry into ordinary food choices.

There is a specific regulatory backdrop to that explanation. FDA guidance issued in October 2020 describes enforcement discretion for using 0.4 calories per gram for allulose and excluding it from Total Sugars and Added Sugars declarations. Allulose still belongs in Total Carbohydrate. Those are ingredient-labeling provisions, separate from any claim that a particular brand treats disease or guarantees a health outcome.

One piece of disclosed traction: Global Foods Group reported that its Amazon revenue increased 470% year over year in June 2026. The October 1 disclosure provides no dollar base, so it describes momentum on Amazon while leaving the absolute size of the business and the economics of repeat purchasing open. A percentage can describe acceleration from very different starting points, and figures on repeat orders, supply capacity, margin and cost of serving demand are not supplied by this announcement.