Food tech startup The Oater secures millions in pre-seed funding

The capital will be used to finance the launch and volume production of their sustainable oat drink machines, which produce plant-based milk alternatives for on-site catering.

Cologne, Germany - The Oater, a Cologne-based food-tech startup, has successfully closed a seven-figure pre-seed financing round. The capital injection comes from business angels in the food and tech industries, with the lead investor being Rüdiger Koppelmann. Koppelmann brings extensive industry knowledge as the former CEO of SodaStream in France and Germany/Austria. In addition to the funding round, The Oater was able to raise six-figure funding, including the WomenTech EU grant of €75,000, which supports female founders in the tech sector. With the fresh capital, the startup plans to enter the market and start mass production of its oat drink machines.

We need to move away from single-use packaging and centralized production with long transport routes and towards plant-based, sustainable and fresh alternatives, produced locally.

Sarah Nesti, CoFounder & CEO The Oater

The Oater was launched in 2021 by founders Sarah and Lisa Nesti, Henrik Burger and Benjamin Auer. Their vision is to produce plant-based dairy alternatives in a more sustainable, fresh and experiential way. The start-up develops special equipment for the catering industry that can be used to produce milk alternatives such as oat drink on site. This approach enables freshness and true sustainability. The Oater's business model is referred to as "Oat Drink as a Service," as the start-up not only provides its foodservice customers with the oat drink machine, but also provides the necessary ingredients to make barista oat drink within the machine on a subscription basis.

With its B2B focus on the restaurant industry, The Oater responds to the prevailing, strong demand for more freshness, regionality and less packaging waste in this industry.

Rüdiger Koppelmann, Lead Investor & Managing Director SodaStream

The category of milk substitutes with an oat drink content of more than 50% (Gfk 2022) is booming in Europe and already generated sales of USD 2.6 billion in 2022 with an expected annual growth of 15% until 2027 (Statista 2023). However, oat drink is 90% water, which is transported across Europe in composite cartons. For this reason, mechanical engineer and visionary Sarah Nesti (CEO) sought a more sustainable product solution with compelling foam and taste. Together with her co-founders, she developed the concept of a compact automated oat drink machine.

The Oater considers itself an impact start-up and aims to save 1 billion kilograms of CO2 by 2030. Independent research shows that The Oater already produces 57% less CO2 equivalent compared to traditional oat drink and 93% less than cow's milk. The founding team originally started with two engineers in the Aachen startup ecosystem around RWTH University and has been based in Cologne since 2022.

The pilot phase for the Barista Oat Drink will begin in August 2023 in Cologne and Berlin in selected catering establishments. Tests in sensory panels and with baristas have already been extremely positive and generated enthusiasm. The Oater will soon start the first serial production in Germany and the dedicated founding team is looking forward to the upcoming commercial launch.