2 days ago
9. Octopus Energy
Founders: Greg Jackson (CEO), Stuart Jackson, James EddisonLaunched: 2016Headquarters: LondonFunding: N/AValuation: $9 billionKey Technologies: N/AIndustry: EnergyPrevious appearances on Disruptor 50 list: 2 (No. 11 in 2024)
The politics of the moment may have shaken some faith in the future path for climate investments, but in actual on-the-ground (and sometimes in the water) deployment of solar, wind, and tidal power, Octopus Energy keeps on growing its reach and building a big business.
The U.K.-based provider of energy utility, energy generation, and transmission services is both challenging and in some cases partnering with established utilities on both sides of the pond, from British Gas to NRG and Con Edison.
It is now the largest energy supplier in the U.K., serving 7.3 million households across roughly 13 million electric meters.
Octopus has a portfolio of nearly $10 billion, and 11,000 employees across the 32 countries in which it is actively serving nine million customers, most still in the U.K., but with its international customer base nearing 2 million and growing quickly.
And, it is doing all of this on a profitable basis.
"In just ten years, Octopus Energy has gone from being a startup run by a handful of whiz kids, to a successful global business," the Wall Street Journal noted in a recent article.
One of the keys to its success is its digital transformation of the utility business. Last year, Octopus separated its tech platform as a stand-alone company, Kraken, which now handles not only Octopus accounts, but work for EDF in Europe and National Grid in the U.S. across six million East Coast accounts.
The Kraken platform has already collected 60 million accounts, according to an FT report, with Octopus CEO Greg Jackson telling the FT his goal is an "embarrassingly unambitious" 100 million by 2027. Kraken's CEO Amir Orad told the FT it is already crunching five billion data points a day, which can include information from solar panels, heat pumps, and EV chargers.
The Octopus Electroverse is Europe's largest EV charging platform, supporting around half of electric car drivers in the U.K. and hundreds of thousands more internationally.
The U.K. remains its home base, and home to one of its most ambitious residential programs, "Zero Bills" homes, constructed with renewable power that Octopus can sell back to the grid, with a goal of 100,000 by 2030 in the U.K. With solar panels, heat pumps, and batteries that generate a profitable business for Octopus, it can generate $0 bills for homeowners for up to a decade. That innovation is being extended to existing homes in the U.K. which can be retrofit with renewable power, and being taken to Germany and New Zealand.
Across Europe, Octopus continues to add to its project pipeline and development. It recently struck deals for solar and wind energy to power 150,000 homes in France, bringing its total in the country to 500 megawatts across operational and planned wind and solar projects.
It also recently acquired a 2 gigawatt pipeline of 70 renewables projects in Germany, including solar and battery storage. Octopus estimates the solar power alone will cover 500,000 German homes (equal to every household in Frankfurt) and offer battery storage capacity for an additional 150,000 homes.
Investors in the company include notable political personalities tied to the climate theme and deep-pocketed pension funds, such as Al Gore's Generation Investment Management, the $700 billion Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, and Galvanize Climate Solutions, where John Kerry is a co-chair.
