Two Lactose Intolerant Friends From Kanpur Start An Oat Milk Brand And Have Already Raised 1cr

Childhood friends Rishabh Gupta and Akash Wadhwani from Kanpur realised they were lactose intolerant and sought out dairy alternatives as a replacement.

While living in London, it was easy for them to find non-dairy alternatives. But when they came back to India, they found it hard to find suitable alternatives.

They put their heads together and decided to bootstrap a dairy alternative brand to fill the gap.

THE BEGINNINGS

But the leading up to the final selection of oats as the main ingredient was a long process. They tried soy, coconut, almond and oats before finally selecting oats as their choice. Both of them tried over 162 variations of oat milk and chose one they both liked.

In 2020, they founded Oat Mlk, an oat beverage brand with an initial capital of Rs.15 lakhs. They hired a third-party manufacturer in Punjab and were able to initially produce 100 bottles every month.

Akash said, “People still don’t know what oat milk is. Many people were asking us about how it is made and so on. So, if we put a brand name on top, it would be too much to explain. We thought it would be best to name our product Oat Mlk. We also plan on staying as a milk company for a long time.”

In April 2022, they were able to raise Rs.1Cr from Angel investors.

GROWTH STORY

Currently, Oat Mlk has tied up with different producers in every city who are able to deliver the product to the consumer within 24 hours.

Oat Mlk has tie-ups in 25 cities in India and is also available in over 300 retail stores across the country. 80% of their sales come from B2B markets. Their partnerships include supplying to 25 hotels including The Four Seasons, Ritz Carlton, Taj and more than 100 cafes.

For the future, both Rishab and Akash agree that they would like to work on expanding their direct-to-consumer reach.

Oat Mlk is priced at Rs. 149 for 500ml.

"WE'RE THE MILK OF MODERN INDIA"

Our future plans are to compete with A2 milk in 2 years at the same price point and then the milk down the line. The investment happened with our investors trying our product, and us connecting over how they really liked it, adds Akash.