[dokein]

I suspect that VCs are disproportionately exposed to people (e.g. upper and upper-middle class tech workers in SV) that are open to e.g. oat milk, meat substitutes, etc., and so bias towards everyone in the US being similarly open. Of course they probably know intellectually it's not true but it's hard to overcome the subtle biases formed by one's day-to-day experiences.

Similarly my understanding is that Cambly had a hard time raising their early round because all those VCs already knew English.

[Semaphor]

It’s not even just that, imo. Our supermarket (in Germany) has a ton of plant-based not-milks. Those seem to sell pretty well. It’s just that oatly does not seem special in any way besides having hipster-friendly marketing. I see no reason to get their milk over any of the competitors.

[Klonoar]

Oatly has a full fat variant that is 10x better for baking usage than any other plant milk I’ve tried.

(This in no way justifies that valuation but I wanted to randomly chime in here.)

[mistrial9]

oat milk is the only non-milk that tastes good in coffee, to me

[forgetfulness]

I recently cut back on seed oils, and the taste of sunflower oil in oat milk is now very noticeable.

I don't mind it because of thinking that having a bit of it in every other cup of coffee is poison, it's more that the aftertaste is less enjoyable than straight espresso or an americano now that I notice it.

Time to give soy lattes a try, lactose intolerance is a literal PITA.

[Semaphor]

I’m not diluting my tasty coffee ;)

[omgwtf1000]

Hear! Hear!

[Ekaros]

And they might think they have done so well with software and SaaS in low interest rate enviroment that they will do well with physical products. Not seeing that food is much harder market to penetrate, with often low margins and products spoiling in various ways, not forget fun of manufacturing and distributing to more than Amazon or single warehouse.