UK-based clean energy tech company Octopus Energy Group announced backing from new sustainability-focused investors including Galvanize Climate Solutions and Lightrock.

According to Octopus, the new investments were made at a company valuation of $9 billion, up 15% from its recent $800 million capital raise in December 2023.

Launched in 2016, UK-based Octopus Energy Group is made up of 10 businesses across the energy value chain, spanning 18 countries, and serving more than 7 million customers and 40,000 businesses. The company’s businesses include its retail brand, which delivers energy products to nearly 8 million households, and its machine learning platform, Kraken, which helps energy sector users to automate the energy supply chain to enable efficiency, and provide customer self-service.

The deal follows another set of investments announced by Octopus last month from existing investors Generation Investment Management and Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments), which the company said would help fuel its profile in the U.S., including the extension of its Kraken platform in U.S. markets.

Octopus Energy Group Founder Greg Jackson said that the new investments “will allow us to keep up the momentum to further drive our growth across North America, Europe and into emerging markets.”

Jackson added:

“We share a mission to accelerate the clean energy transition through smarter, more sustainable systems worldwide. With their support, we’ll increase our global impact, ramp up innovation and scale our vision for reshaping the energy landscape globally.”

Galvanize was launched in 2022 by hedge fund billionaire and former presidential candidate Tom Steyer and Hall Capital Partners founder Katie Hall, as a mission-driven investment platform to provide capital, expertise and partnerships necessary to produce and scale urgent climate solutions. The new investment was made through its venture and growth equity fund, Innovation + Expansion Fund.

Veery Maxwell, Co-Head of Innovation + Expansion at Galvanize, said:

“In order to decarbonise, increased system optimisation and flexibility services for the power sector are critical, particularly as the industry grapples with escalating load growth and distributed generation. We believe Octopus’ capabilities are distinctly suited to support power market participants across the energy value chain and are looking forward to working with its leadership to accelerate growth across North America and beyond.”

London-based Lightrock manages capital across both public and private markets, with a significant portion dedicated to climate innovation.

Nigel McCleave, Partner at Lightrock, said:

“It is remarkable that in less than a decade since founding, Octopus has become the UK’s largest provider of home electricity – a testament to its fair treatment of customers, pioneering technology, and transformation of the consumer energy experience.

“However, this feels like just the beginning; Octopus has the potential to transform so much more of the energy value chain for the better.”