Canada: Organic oat firm Oatbox raises $7m

Funds will be used to support growth, market, position, development and production of organic oat milk, and a production line.

Montreal-based organic oat products start-up Oatbox has raised C$7million from investors.

The company said it has delivered hundreds of thousands of boxes to customers since its foundation in 2014 and hundreds of thousands of bags have been sold in grocery stores since 2019.

Oatbox stated that the funds will be used to support its growth and position in the market, and for development and production of Canadian organic oat milk, as well as the construction of a production line. It added that support from its mentoring investors with strategic expertise in marketing, operations and food distribution will allow it to achieve its ambitions more rapidly.

Marc-Antoine Bovet, co-founder and chief executive of Oatbox, said: “This investment, which is a vote of confidence in our brand and business model, will fuel our ambition to be the reference in Canadian organic oat-based products. Thanks to this major investment, Oatbox will remain at the forefront of trends, and will be able to offer its customers additional products adapted to its lifestyle. Oatbox will also be able to sell its oat base to other manufacturers, hereby answering to an increasing demand.”

The funding will also go towards accelerating the company’s expansion in grocery stores in the rest of Canada. “Everything is now in place for us to increase distribution in the network,” said Bovet.