Oat Milk Giant Oatly Rumored to Be Planning Initial Public Offering This Year

As new plant milk brands continue to launch on what seems like a weekly release, Swedish brand Oatly has cemented itself on the front line of the competition. Oatly products began cropping up at coffeeshops four years ago across New York City and have since been propelled into fridges of coffee drinkers across the US. The company hopes that its growing popularity will translate to a stock surge as rumors about an Initial Public Offering (IPO) begin to grow.

Last July the company sold a 200 million dollar stake in the brand to a group of investors. Spearheaded by the equity giant Blackstone Group, this move caused some controversy as a fraction of the seemingly sustainable milk alternative brand was now owned by an equity group that was also funding rainforest deforestation in the Amazon. Other investors include Oprah Winfrey, vegan actress Natalie Portman, former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, and Jay-Z’s company Roc Nation. These notable investors proved that the company is thriving and that coffee drinkers are warming up to milk substitutes like Oatly. The company saw a doubling in profit over the course of 2020, making $400 million in the last year.

After taking the milk substitute market by storm, sources predict that Oatly’s IPO could raise as much as $1 billion. The brand has seamlessly entered the lives of coffee lovers nationwide with its cheeky, irreverent advertisements that target millennial and Gen-Z customers with precision, and has expanded to make non-dairy ice creams and yogurts. Dunkin’ added Oatly products as a dairy-free option to menus nationwide, and the product can also be found in Starbucks locations across the US.

The Oatly surge can be attributed to its cutting edge marketing and trendiness, but also the product's palatable texture and taste. The milk substitute has gained a following because it froths like dairy milk and offers a creamy, rich taste. Coffee snobs who crave a cappuccino or latte find that Oatly gives them the treat of a fancy coffee drink without breaking from their vegan or plant-based diets.

Not since Beyond Meat IPOed in 2018 have we seen such a popular plant-based company decide to go public, shattering a stock record that year. The meatless brand became the first vegan meat company to go public and its stock leaped to 163% during its first day, making it the top-performing first day stock of the year. This leaves Oatly looking at a bright future if the company does decide to go public in 2021. For coffee lovers and investors, Oatly is making its name known and becoming a necessity for coffee shops as well as a household staple.