Vegan Oat Milk Brand Oatly to IPO This Year, Sources Say

Swedish vegan brand Oatly is planning an initial public offering (IPO) this year that could raise as much as $1 billion, sources told media outlet CNBC. The company has hired Morgan Stanely, JPMorgan Chase, and Credit Suisse to manage the offering. Oatly’s IPO valuation would “depend on the status of the economy in the face of the uncertain Covid pandemic,” CNBC reported, citing sources familiar with the matter.

Last July, Oatly sold a $200 million stake in its company to a group of investors led by equity giant Blackstone Group along with media mogul Oprah Winfrey, vegan actress Natalie Portman, former Starbucks CEO Howard Schulz, and Roc Nation—an entertainment agency founded by rapper Jay-Z. While the brand has wide availability in many parts of Europe, Oatly’s popularity in the US began in coffee shops throughout New York City around 2017. Since then, the brand has expanded to the retail sector and landed on the menu of Dunkin’ nationwide and at Starbucks locations across the country. According to reports, the company made $400 million in 2020, double what it earned in 2019. 

Beyond Meat IPO
In 2018, Beyond Meat became the first vegan meat company to go public and saw surges in stock prices up to 163 percent on its first day of trading, making it the top-performing first-day stock that year.