money moves
Energy company with US HQ in Houston secures $300M in investment
Renewable energy retailer Octopus Energy Group, whose U.S. headquarters is in Houston, has landed a $300 million investment from the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board that will further propel the company’s global expansion.
The deal with the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments), one of the world’s largest pension funds, follows a recent $600 million funding round from Al Gore’s Generation Investment Management and boosts Octopus Energy Group’s estimated valuation to $5 billion.
CPP Investments now owns a 6 percent stake in Octopus Energy Group. Generation Investment Management controls a 13 percent stake.
The infusion of cash will enable Octopus to grow its Kraken technology platform and to activate 30 more wind turbines, among other activities. Octopus aims to have 100 million energy accounts on Kraken, the company’s proprietary smart grid technology platform for customer service, by 2027. Today, the Kraken platform has about 17 million accounts.
The CPP Investments deal caps a busy 2021 for London-based Octopus. Earlier this year, for instance, the company established its U.S. headquarters in Houston.
“This investment delivers a huge boost to our mission of expanding access to renewable energy and delivering exceptional customer service across all markets, ” Michael Lee, CEO of Octopus Energy U.S., says in a news release. “Octopus Energy has turned energy on its head — thrown away the call centers, confusing bills, and tired systems — to create a better customer experience for everyone that takes into consideration how consumers interact with their energy and smart home devices, while making the experience more enjoyable, visually appealing and understandable.”
Octopus’ renewable energy investment arm, Octopus Energy Generation, is one of Europe’s largest renewable energy investors and manages assets exceeding $4.5 billion.
“Octopus has pioneered the technology that allows citizens to benefit from cheaper energy as it gets greener,” says Greg Jackson, founder and CEO of Octopus Energy Group.
Octopus serves more than 3 million customers in the United Kingdom, and also supplies energy in the U.S., Germany, Spain, Italy, New Zealand, and Japan. Octopus is on track to supply enough wind and solar energy to power 2 million more homes by 2025.
