Octopus Energy valuation jumps to nine billion dollars as investors double down

Octopus Energy’s valuation has jumped to nine billion US dollars (£7.2 billion) after two of its biggest investors increased their stakes in the business.

Generation Investment Management and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, already major investors, took even bigger shares in the energy and technology group, pushing its value up 15% on a previous estimate.

Generation, which focuses on sustainable investments, upped its stake to 13% after getting new backing from pension funds in the US and Australia, including Australian superannuation fund Aware Super.

CPP Investments, which manages about 590.8 billion Canadian dollars-worth of assets, increased its stake to 12%.

Greg Jackson, founder of Octopus Energy Group, said: “Bringing globally respected long-term investors on board helps raise our profile in key markets, and open up new opportunities to continue our international expansion.”

Octopus has been expanding abroad for some years and now has a presence in 18 countries.

The increased valuation comes as it pushes its energy software platform, Kraken, in North America, having signed its first licensing deal in Texas last year.

Closer to home, it recently became the largest domestic electricity supplier in the UK by customer numbers, after the company added 1.3 million customers via its takeover of Shell Energy last year.

The eight-year-old company overtook Centrica-owned British Gas, which had been the largest supplier for the last 20 years, according to Ofgem data.

The new valuation also exceeds publicly listed Centrica’s market capitalisation, which is estimated at £6.99 billion according to market data.

Octopus closed its last funding round in December, when it raised 800 million US dollars.

Tom Hodges, co-head of private equity at Generation Investment Management, said: “The company has accelerated ahead of its UK peers in energy and in Kraken has developed the first credible digitisation platform for utilities.”

Octopus also recently invested in Ocergy, a tech company specialising in floating offshore wind farms, and entered a partnership with Energisa Group, an energy utility company in Brazil, in its first foray into the South American country.

Bill Rogers, global head of sustainable energies at CPP Investments, added: “Through this increased commitment to Octopus Energy, we are pleased to support the business as it enters this next period of growth.

“As a pioneering, and tech-enabled energy company, Octopus Energy has an expanding global footprint and remains a leader and innovator in the energy sector, through both its customer propositions and its support of the global energy transition.”