Octopus Energy Group, the UK鈥檚 largest power supplier and owner of the Kraken technology platform, has raised 拢625 million additional investment from its existing shareholders.
The new investment values the private company at 拢6.2 billion, a 60% increase since its previous investment round in December 2021. It said it expects to create 3,000 green jobs in the UK.
Australian and Japanese giants Origin Energy and Tokyo Gas, one of the world鈥檚 largest pension funds, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments), and sustainability-focused investors, Generation Investment Management are all participating in this round.
This news follows a number of Octopus Energy Group announcements around the world, including its inaugural project in Africa – a wind and solar farm in Sierra Leone – in partnership with Idris Elba. This will be the fifth continent and eighteenth operating country for the group.聽
Octopus has just completed the acquisition of Shell鈥檚 Energy and Broadband business in the UK and Germany, and in clean transport the group has secured a 拢550m funding facility from Lloyds Bank for Octopus Electric Vehicles.
鈥淥ctopus Energy鈥檚 focus on customer service and technology has not only driven us to market leadership in UK power, but we鈥檝e built the UK鈥檚 leading specialist electric vehicle leasing business, in just two years we鈥檝e almost doubled our renewable generation portfolio to $7.6bn (拢6bn), and tripled the contracted accounts on our technology platform Kraken from 17 million to 52 million,鈥� said Greg Jackson, founder of Octopus Energy Group.
鈥�2023 saw us launch into heat pump installation and manufacture our own models 鈥� we now need to drive real scale.
鈥淲ith the renewed commitment seen at COP and our model proven, we will invest to accelerate our growth and create a truly global clean energy giant.鈥�
Origin Energy CEO Frank Calabria said of the investment: 鈥淭he success of Octopus since our initial investment in May 2020 has exceeded all expectations and cemented our belief in its unique capabilities and strong platform for future growth.鈥�
Nobuhiro Sugesawa, chief digital officer at Tokyo Gas, commented: 鈥淭okyo Gas has been advancing the retail electricity business in Japan through our joint venture, TG Octopus Energy, with Octopus Energy and most recently, we have started cooperating in renewable energy investments in Europe.聽
鈥淭okyo Gas believes that technology innovation is essential for future corporate growth. Through our partnership with Octopus Energy, we aim to provide our customers with services using the latest technology and clean energy. We look forward to growing with Octopus Energy.鈥�