With its vast vegetarian population and the fact that even non-vegetarians eat a sizable proportion of vegetarian meals here, India has always been a promising place for veganism. While the movement has gained traction, there is also a booming buzz in the entrepreneurial sector. According to a survey by Expert Market Research, the global market for vegan food is predicted to expand between 2023 and 2028 at a CAGR of 26 percent, making it an excellent growth opportunity for vegan startups.

After completing graduation from IIT BHU (Gold Medal), Rishi Korde went for a Master in Innovation, Entrepreneurship Management at Imperial College London, Business School. He established his innovative startup with the knowledge he acquired during his time in college. Dr. Sanjay Korde, MD (Medicine), his father, is a 35-year experienced physician who assists him in developing good nutritional products.

Rishi established his first company in London, offering vegan products. While back in India for COVID-19, he missed his regular consumption of Oat Milk but being unable to find it anywhere in India, he began to work on his formulations. Within a week, he had the first blend ready; he iterated the process, refined it, and eureka! He finally figured out the best way to make it, and that led to the foundation of Oatmax, a project backed by Imperial College London's Enterprise Lab.

“We are proud to be India's first dedicated Oat Milk manufacturing facility. We are expanding on the vision of combining conscious nutritious choices with environmental sustainability in food and beverages. Oatmax aspires to make a significant difference in the way Indians consume oat milk and to contribute to the development of the plant based food space in Asia by developing the next generation of plantbased meals to improve the nutrition, taste, and environmental footprint of food”, speaks Rishi Korde, Founder, Oatmax.

Oatmax offers unsweetened Oatmax Oat milk as a dairy alternative, as well as Vanilla & Choco flavors in the Ready to Drink segment

Renowned as 'The Oat Milk Specialist', Oatmax believes that everyone has different Oat milk preferences, and the firm caters to those preferences. The firm can customize to meet the needs of anyone who is calorie conscious, looking for a culinary alternative, or looking for a ready-to-drink beverage. “We position ourselves as a premium, 100 percent natural ingredients, nutritionally conscious company. From a sustainability point of view, we source and process our raw material consciously and in an ecofriendly manner in terms of transportation, packaging, and processing to minimal carbon footprint emissions”, says Rishi. Oatmax is a centrally licensed manufacturing facility that is currently undergoing an FSSC 22000 V5.2 Gold Standard audit with Bureau Veritas, a French auditing firm with a nearly 200-year history. This audit is extremely important in terms of cleanliness and food safety. The company has nearly 2000 different SOPs, over 200 safety checks and dedicated quality control personnel to ensure that each batch is tested and goes through rigorous tests before dispatch.

The company is pleased that its formulation and processing were successful in thickening Oat milk without the use of artificial thickeners. “We customize oat milk as per the B2B need with blends as 1 percent, 3 percent, and 6 percent. We also offer different packaging options in glass bottles, spout pouches, pillow bag pouches from 200 ml to 1 L packaging which is our USP in the market”, shares Rishi. Oat Milk can be used as a culinary ingredient in tea, coffee, cold brew, shakes, smoothies, vegan bakery products, cookies, and other delicacies. Oatmax is currently aiming to create new innovative plant-based products with out-of-the-box concepts in the food and beverage industry. The firm is all set to venture into ready to cook segment by launching Vegan meat alternatives without preservatives and high-protein snacks.