Octopus Energy Group, the UK’s largest power supplier and owner of the Kraken technology platform, has raised £625 million additional investment from its existing shareholders.
The new investment values the private company at £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’s 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.
Octopus has just completed the acquisition of Shell’s Energy and Broadband business in the UK and Germany, and in clean transport the group has secured a £550m funding facility from Lloyds Bank for Octopus Electric Vehicles.
“Octopus Energy’s focus on customer service and technology has not only driven us to market leadership in UK power, but we’ve built the UK’s leading specialist electric vehicle leasing business, in just two years we’ve almost doubled our renewable generation portfolio to $7.6bn (£6bn), and tripled the contracted accounts on our technology platform Kraken from 17 million to 52 million,” said Greg Jackson, founder of Octopus Energy Group.
“2023 saw us launch into heat pump installation and manufacture our own models – we now need to drive real scale.
“With 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.”
Origin Energy CEO Frank Calabria said of the investment: “The 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.”
Nobuhiro Sugesawa, chief digital officer at Tokyo Gas, commented: “Tokyo 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.
“Tokyo 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.”