Heaven Avena

Heaven Avena is an Italian food and beverage company specializing in plant-based dairy alternatives made from oats. The company was co-founded in Milan in 2019 by Brendan Harris and Inga Jasiuvian to bring innovative, high-quality oat-based products to the mainstream Italian market, extending beyond the typical vegan or lactose-intolerant consumer base. Harris, with a background as a manager in the food and beverage sector including President for Coca-Cola Company in Italy, and Jasiuvian, a food technologist, previously collaborated on 'Froosh', a successful smoothie brand in the Nordic countries, before launching Heaven.

The company's product lines, developed in its Milan research and development lab, include oat drinks and fermented oat-based yogurts. The beverages feature a higher oat percentage than the market average and come in various flavors like cacao, cinnamon, and honey, all without added sugars. A key product is the 'Barista' oat drink, designed to create a creamy foam for coffee, which has won a Superior Taste Award. In 2024, Heaven introduced a line of oat yogurts, noted for their creamy texture, live fermented cultures, and lack of added sugars. These products are sold in over 4,000 supermarkets and 600 cafes across Italy, including major retailers like Carrefour, Coop, and Eataly.

Heaven operates with a focus on sustainability, emphasizing that oats require less water and land than dairy and other plant-based alternatives. Its packaging uses 50% recycled plastic. The business model relies on in-house R&D for product innovation while outsourcing production to maintain a lean structure. To fund its growth and product expansion, the company launched an equity crowdfunding campaign on CrowdFundMe in late 2024, aiming to build on a near-tripled turnover in the preceding two years.

Keywords: oat milk, plant-based dairy, dairy alternative, Italian food startup, oat yogurt, sustainable food, beverage producer, food and beverage, Brendan Harris, Inga Jasiuvian, plant-based products, lactose-free, natural ingredients, vegan food, supermarket distribution, HoReCa, equity crowdfunding, food technology, Milan-based company