Octopus Energy

Octopus Energy was born in 2015 as an offshoot of Octopus Group, a UK investment firm active in renewable energy. Serial entrepreneur Greg Jackson, together with co‑founders James Eddison and Stuart Jackson, aimed to disrupt the oligopolistic UK energy market by applying technology and data to deliver cheaper, greener power. The team built Kraken, a cloud‑native platform that automates billing, customer service, network balancing and smart‑tariff management. From day one the company committed to sourcing 100 % renewable electricity and offering transparent, competitive tariffs. Growth has been rapid. By 2017 Octopus had reached 100,000 retail customers and launched Octopus Electric Vehicles. In 2019 it surpassed one million customers in the UK and began licensing Kraken to other utilities, shifting its identity from an energy supplier to a technology provider. Investment rounds in 2020 valued the company above US$2 billion and funded the launch of divisions such as Octopus Energy Generation and Kraken Flex. In 2021 investments from Generation Investment Management and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted the valuation to roughly US$5 billion and supported expansion into Spain, France and Italy. A further US$800 million from existing shareholders in 2023 pushed the valuation to about US$8 billion, and market estimates in 2025 put it around US$9 billion. Today Octopus serves more than 7.2 million residential customers and over 40,000 business customers in 18 countries. Through Kraken it manages more than 50 million energy accounts for other utilities, providing one of the most advanced energy operating systems in the world. Its mission of “making a big green dent in the universe” manifests in investments in renewable generation, the sale of electric vehicles and charging solutions, and advocacy for policy reforms. Octopus’s competitive edge lies in Kraken: a scalable, API‑driven platform that enables dynamic tariffs, demand flexibility, integration of batteries and renewables, and efficient customer service. The company argues that technology can strip out 30–40 % of the costs associated with legacy utilities, allowing it to offer cheaper prices while maintaining margins. The strategy pairs organic expansion in retail markets with partnerships and licensing deals that bring Kraken to incumbent utilities around the world. Yet the landscape is becoming more crowded as big utilities modernise their IT stacks and startups offer similar services. Volatile energy prices and differing national regulations pose additional risks. Octopus mitigates these by investing in data science, building a loyal brand community and working closely with regulators to modernise market rules.