Oprah and Jay Z invest in Swedish alt-milk brand Oatly

16 Jul 2020 --- Swedish sustainable food company Oatly has bolstered its plant-based movement through an agreement to invest US$200 million in equity led by Blackstone Growth. Celebrity investors in the funding round include Oprah Winfrey, Jay Z and Natalie Portman. Additional high profile investors include Roc Nation, former Starbucks Chairman and CEO Howard Schultz, Orkila Capital, and Rabo Corporate Investments, the investment arm of Rabobank.

“Leaders in asset management like Blackstone play an essential role in order to create real sustainable change. It is my belief that capital has to turn green and do so for the right reasons. Since we re-launched our brand in 2013, our focus has been to positively impact society by enabling people to change their lives with better, more environmentally responsible food choices, and in so doing, re-shape the food system to better contribute to the future of the planet,” says Oatly’s CEO Toni Petersson.

“Our new partners’ commitment to supporting us and furthering our mission is a clear indication of where the world is heading, which is in a new, more sustainable direction,” he adds.

The injection of capital will fund the company’s overall growth plans, which include expansion in current markets and new production plants and related jobs in Europe, the US and Asia.

From small Nordic brand to global movement
The demand for a more sustainable food system is global and growing fast, with much of the shift being led by Millennials and Generation Z. Oatly’s patented original oat milk created the fast-growing oat milk category. It is considered a pioneer in the plant-based food space and its products are available in more than 50,000 locations in 20 countries.

Oatly has gone through a successful transformation from a Nordic brand into a global movement by delivering unique, high-quality engaging products, based on proprietary, patented oat-technology to the new emerging generation of conscious consumers.

The injection of capital will fund the company’s overall growth plans, which include expansion in current markets and new production plants and related jobs in Europe, the US and Asia. 

By bringing facilities closer to consumers, the company will make the Oatly product range more readily available to the growing community of health and environmentally conscious consumers worldwide.

Since its founding in Sweden in the 1990s, Oatly has been at the forefront of the rapidly growing plant-based movement. As part of the company’s overarching mission to reduce the C02e footprint of the food industry by shifting consumers’ consumption choices, the company last year added a carbon footprint label to their products in Europe. 

By making that data available, Oatly enabled consumers to consider the carbon footprint of their food choices before they buy, just as they do with nutritional content. The label was accompanied by a challenge to the larger industry titled “Hey, food industry: show us your numbers!”

 The Oatly campaigns delivered several industry-changing results:
• Multiple retailers moved to enhanced product labeling, showing carbon footprints;
• Mandating enhancing carbon footprint product declarations into law will be debated in the German Parliament;
• Food giant Unilever committed to begin carbon labeling for 70,000 of its food products.

As minority shareholders, the new investors will join the company’s existing partners, including Verlinvest-CR JV and the company’s founders, on Oatly’s dynamic journey. As part of this transaction, Oatly’s founders will also be reinvesting in the company’s growth by providing additional capital.

Edited by Gaynor Selby