- WOA Raises $20M for plant-based transition, will construct Western Australia’s first oat milk factory for production of “world’s lowest carbon” plant-based drinks
Wide Open Agriculture (WOA), an Australian company whose subsidiaries include Dirty Clean Food (DCF) and OatUP, announces it has raised $20 million to transition into plant-based production and construct a factory to initially focus on oat and then produce other varieties of plant milks. The funds will also support the expansion of a planned pilot facility to develop lupin proteins.
WOA’s food brand, Dirty Clean Food, currently uses oats that are processed in Italy; the expansion activities planned with the fresh funds include the construction of what will be Western Australia’s first oat milk factory, so that the oats will be locally grown rather than imported, thus creating what the Perth company states will be “the world’s lowest carbon plant-based drinks”.
The funds will also be used for increased production at its existing plant-based site and the marketing of oat and other product lines following distribution deals in Singapore and with Woolworths, in a deal announced last week marking its biggest distribution deal to date – with Woolworth’s agreeing to carry the oat milk at around half its Australian stores.
WOA’s managing director, Ben Cole, says the funding will help the company expand globally. “In the last 12 months, we have… established the company as a leader in regenerative food and farming in Australia,” commented Cole as reported by AUmanufacturing. “As we increase our plant-based offerings, we know this segment is well aligned with our regenerative purpose and represents one of the fastest-growing and most attractive markets in the food industry.”
“This capital raise will allow us to rapidly advance our oat milk and functional protein business lines and further grow the Dirty Clean Food brand across Australia and South-East Asia,” he added.
Dirty Clean Food’s CEO, Jay Albany, stated: “The plant will be a best-practice facility for green manufacturing and will provide Dirty Clean Food with scale and operating leverage as we harvest the best regeneratively farmed produce in Western Australia and share it with the world”.
