Oatbox has announced a CAD 7.1 million (approx. $5.2 million) financing round to finalise the construction of its oat base manufacturing facility.

Financial partners included Desjardins Group, the government of Quebec through Investissement Québec, and Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions. Located in St-Damase, the plant will support Oatbox in developing a wide range of plant-based oat products, such as beverages, as well as allow it to partner with companies requiring oat base for their operations.

Marc-Antoine Bovet, co-founder and president of Oatbox, commented: “This funding is a strong endorsement of our business plan and will allow us to have excess production capacity in order to sell oat base to other food processors in Eastern Canada or the Northeastern part of the US”.

“There is a shortage of quality oat base on the market. However, it is a perishable product. Both food processors and consumers will benefit from a fresher product, as it is processed locally and transported over shorter distances.”

Oatbox says that it has been working on the development of its Canadian oat milk for the last two years.

In this new financing round, Desjardins, which has been supporting Oatbox for several years, has provided capital for production equipment as well as an operating credit to the company.

Jean-Yves Bourgeois, executive vice president of business services at Desjardins Group, said: “With this new product, Oatbox meets a need in a booming industry, where supply is struggling to meet demand. Consumers and processors can now count on a new, high-quality, local source of supply.”

Pierre Fitzgibbon, Minister of Economy, Innovation and Energy for the Metropolis and the Montréal Region, said: “This new plant will allow Oatbox to achieve two important goals for our government: innovate through product development and increase our exports. The market for oat-based products is growing, and Oatbox stands out.”

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