The market for oat milk has the potential to be shaken up by a couple of major-player developments: A pioneer is going public, and Coca-Cola is getting into the act.
Oatly Group AB, the Swedish company that built the first oat-milk processing plant in the United States, has filed the paperwork for an initial public offering, according to the Wall Street Journal. Oatly raised more than $200 million last year from private equity firm Blackstone Group, which took a 10% share. It has backing from celebrities including Jay-Z, Oprah Winfrey and Natalie Portman.
The IPO paperwork, filed April 19, states that Oatly had revenue of $421.4 million last year, more than double the previous year’s, but that it lost $60.4 million overall. Oatly will be traded on Nasdaq.
Meantime, Coca-Cola has rolled out Simply Oat, its line of oat milk. It introduced almond milk under the Simply brand last summer. Simply Oat will come in original, vanilla and creamy varieties, in 46-ounce carafes.