Octopus Energy Group has announced a major strategic partnership with Generation Investment Management which values the renewable energy trailblazer at $4.6 billion.
GIM, which backs businesses driving sustainability and the fight against climate change, will invest 拢439 million for a 13% stake in Octopus. This is alongside a 拢40m equity investment from Origin Energy.
Octopus will use the proceeds to 鈥榯urbo boost鈥� its mission to drive the renewable revolution globally.
Octopus鈥檚 technology platform, Kraken, delivers cleaner and smarter energy solutions to 17 million energy accounts globally, through Octopus鈥檚 own retail businesses in the UK, USA, Germany, Spain and New Zealand, plus licensing agreements with Good Energy, Hanwha Corporation, Origin Energy, nPower and E.ON. It has an ambition of supporting 100m energy accounts on Kraken by 2027.
The UK market is in dire straits due to massive increases in the wholesale price of gas, with a series of small energy providers going bust in recent weeks and many more set to follow.
鈥淲hilst the UK energy market is currently in a tough state, it鈥檚 highlighted the need for investment in renewables and technologies to end our reliance on fossil fuels,鈥� said founder and CEO Greg Jackson.聽
Former US Vice President Al Gore, whose fight to highlight the impact of climate change is documented in An Inconvenient Truth and an Inconvenient Sequel, is the co-founder and chairman of Generation Investment Management.
鈥淲e are delighted to announce our agreement with Generation Investment Management, created to back sustainable companies changing the world for the better,鈥� added Jackson.
鈥淭hree years ago, the management team of Octopus Energy met to discuss growth plans for our fledgling company. We watched An Inconvenient Sequel and were inspired to accelerate and expand our mission to make energy greener faster, cheaper, across the globe.鈥�
Managing over 拢3bn of renewable generation, Octopus is one of the UK鈥檚 leading electricity generators, creating enough green energy to power about 1.5m homes.
/blog/2021/09/27/diversely-to-tackle-global-discrimination-in-hiring/
The firm has also established the Centre for Net Zero, an independent London-based research facility that is taking the fight against climate change to government level, by bringing together the biggest and best brains in tech, environment, econometrics and policy to create research and tools that governments and businesses around the world will be able to use to accelerate the update of clean technologies and green energy.
It is also investing 拢10 million into an R&D and training centre dedicated to creating a greener, cheaper way of heating our homes by investigating heat pump and electric boiler solutions.
In the UK, Octopus has launched Electric Juice, the UK鈥檚 first electric vehicle roaming network which has rapidly grown to over 100,000 charge points across Europe, and also partnered with Tesla to launch Tesla Power in the UK and Germany.