EnviroTech 50 company UrbanChain has named Clive Barton as group finance director as it continues to scale.
The Manchester-based startup is the UK’s leading provider of peer-to-peer exchange services and is set to turn over £22m over the next 12 months and plans to IPO within the next five years.
UrbanChain’s DeepTech platform uses integrated blockchain and AI to match generators of renewable energy and consumers on a half hourly basis – resulting in cheaper energy bills and higher margins for energy generators.
UrbanChain CEO, Somayeh Taheri, said: “Clive’s career speaks for itself and his appointment represents another landmark in UrbanChain’s journey since entering the energy market in 2017.
“Strong team culture and customer service excellence, with coherency at the heart, is what we strive for each day. Clive will help us take this to new levels.”
Barton’s impressive business career includes spells operating as interim change director at OVO, chief operating officer at Talk Straight Group and chief financial officer at Fleetondemand.
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Speaking about the appointment, he said: “I’m a great believer in doing things differently and not following the crowd.
“This is what UrbanChain co-founders Somayeh Taheri and Mo Hajhashem have done by thinking about things deeply.
“Establishing technology in a bid to make renewables mainstream is a really big thing in itself and then to engage with the market and get investment, it’s huge and I understand that.”
UrbanChain raised £5.25m in Series A funding in 2023 led by leading global investment firm Eurazeo.
The company recently revealed its plan to acquire European businesses with strong fundamentals and management teams, particularly in Ireland, Spain, France, Switzerland and Portugal.
Barton said: “My key focus now is around scalability and building a seamless finance function that looks forward while knitting that together with all other operational functions.
“UrbanChain’s billing engine is dynamic and unique in the market, so getting that automated is a key priority.
“We have made huge strides already to improve the customer experience and our team’s development.
“We are now making a paradigm shift for customers and our team including internal tech automation combined with our B2B marketplace.
“I have a track record of building best in class finance functions, operations and an award-winning business – so I believe working together with Somayeh, Mo, Eurazeo, and the team we can achieve great things with rapid growth before the next round of investment.”
UrbanChain’s peer-to-peer energy exchange platform is enabling companies from the private sector, generators of renewable energy and organisations in the public sector to build their own 100 per cent green and localised energy markets.