A business leader is someone who doesnt look to make quick money, but really wants to change their industry for the better, do something different and lead from the front, rather than worry about what their competitors are doing. There are companies whose entire asset base [is] in gas, he continues, and they will relentlessly try to tell us gas is the solution, or hydrogen is the solution. With the pandemic, we took the 15 years it usually takes to make a vaccine, and did it in less than a year. Alongside its tech, all Octopus marketing is developed in-house, from design and copy through to booking, sitting side by side with operations and customer support. We scaled the business by repeatedly cloning micro businesses, and what works for us wont work for other businesses. As someone whose LinkedIn profile professes a love of disrupting industries that underserve customers and society, its no surprise Greg is passionate about enhancing the customer experience. Or whether we organise a boycott of you". It was at that point she founded Octopus Electric Vehicles, and since then has been building a team of experts passionate about helping consumers and businesses make that transition to electric vehicles. For those that don't know Octopus Energy, they are UK's fastest growing green energy retailer and are currently valued at $2 billion. Elon has the vision and reach to be able to disrupt so many industries for the better, and I believe we have similar approaches in disrupting industries to help save the planet. Are you happy doing what youre doing? Europe is going to go into this winter with more gas storage than last year, but if Russia stops sending gas to Europe, prices will skyrocket.. The division is also behind Octopus Energys Fan Club, a local energy tariff that provides cheaper energy when the wind blows. Octopus Energy is one of the fastest growing energy firms to ever launch in Britain and is on track to join the Big Six utility providers. survey and was one of three recommended providers. The green energy firm's founder on his sympathy for those struggling with bills - and his exasperation at net zero opponents Rebecca came to Octopus Energy following an eight-year career at UK energy company British Gas. Jackson reaffirmed that Octopus had not boycotted the channel. Now his mission is to turn Britain on to renewables, despite the efforts of a small noisy group, including Nigel Farage, attacking net zero goals. [5], In December 2021, Octopus Energy announced a long-term partnership with Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, raising US$300m and taking the valuation of Octopus Energy Group to approximately $5bn. Energetic and emotionally intelligent, Tara has almost 20 years of experience in developing breakthrough customer strategies and bringing out the best, most caring sides of individuals and teams doing the most vital of jobs, customer operations. Before starting KrakenFlex, Devrims professional career saw him take up executive roles with blue chip management consultancies and finance companies such as Publicis Sapient, Kearney and Lansdowne. Launched in 2016, the companys mission is to bring cheaper, greener power to all. Energy companies around the world still maintain that natural gas (perhaps cleaned up with a puff of hydrogen) is the transition fuel that will take us to net zero. Thats an amazing 658% growth in your domestic customer based alone, and within the span of 2 years. [60], In March 2020 it was announced that E.ON and its Npower subsidiary had licensed the technology to manage their combined 10 million customers. Driving full energy system change, the Group consists of 10 businesses across the energy value chain, operating in 8 countries globally and supporting 3.2 million customers in the UK. Greg Jackson was born in Washington D.C. to Kris and Jim Jackson, who were Quakers originally from the Midwest. Greg is the founder and CEO of Octopus Energy Group, the green energy tech pioneer based in the UK with over 3.1 million customers, further operations in 13 countries and over 23 million accounts licensed worldwide to its green technology platform, Kraken. What advice do you have for other businesses on environmental sustainability and its impact on climate change? Epitomising the agile leadership that is synonymous with disruptive businesses, Zoisa leads both the generation the business retail arm of Octopus Energy. .more. The project, which coincided with COP26, was realised in Glasgow through collaboration with the local art community, and was designed as a call for global leaders to invest in renewable energies such as solar PV, in order to power a sustainable future. Prior to joining Octopus Energy, Lara worked at US-based Opower, a customer engagement start-up and pioneer of Behavioural Energy Efficiency. It was founded in 2015 with the backing of British fund management company Octopus Group, a British asset management company. Greg: While we cant change who our founders are, our leadership team is made up of 50% women, with BAME, LGBT+ and working class representation throughout. The collection of projects reflects Jacksons entrepreneurial background. [19], In 2020 Octopus completed two funding rounds totalling $577m, making the company the highest funded UK tech start-up that year. [22], In February 2021, CEO Greg Jackson said on a BBC News interview that Octopus does not operate a human resources department. Three Co-op brands were affected: Octopus acquired the customers of the GB Energy and Flow Energy brands, and began to operate the accounts of Co-op Energy customers on a white label basis, while Midcounties retained responsibility for acquiring new Co-op Energy customers. [62][63] The Kraken software was also licensed to Australia's Origin Energy as part of their May 2020 agreement. Rebecca is a highly experienced marketer and known for breathing new life into technology products. As the Observer arrives at the headquarters near Oxford Circus, in central London, for our interview, Jackson cheerfully leaps up from his desk among the troops. This long-term mission is not only to supply renewable energy all of Octopuss tariffs are advertised as 100 per cent green, and power either comes directly from renewable sources or is certified as renewable using the Rego certificates that Ofgem uses to match power sourced from the open market to renewable supply but to disrupt the UKs dysfunctional energy market. [36], In September 2021, Generation Investment Management, co-founded and chaired by Al Gore, purchased a 13% stake in Octopus Energy Group in a deal worth $600m. Passionate, creative, innovative CEO, entrepreneur and investor. Our first guest is Greg Jackson, CEO and founder of Octopus Energy who will kick the series off on Thursday 26 January. These days, Greg Jackson is the founder behind the only energy company recommended by Which?. In our experience this leads to strong relationships between managers and team members, happier employees and higher productivity. Jon played a key role in establishing leading Australian challengers Simply Energy (now part of Engie) and Alinta East Coast retail holding a number of senior roles across operations, customer experience and market development. Now we see this as a national security issue as well if thats not the final nail I dont know what to do.. Greg: Dont get me wrong, profit and value are incredibly important to a companys life-cycle, but happiness should be put above all else. You have cofounded a number of companies over the last 20 plus years, so its fair to say you are a serial entrepreneur. [26], In September 2021, Octopus was appointed as the Supplier of Last Resort (SOLR) for Avro Energy, acquiring Avro Energy's domestic customers and increasing their customer base to 3.1m customers. You are also expanding globally into Australia and Japan, making you one of the fastest growing green energy companies globally. Octopus took on 600,000 customers from bust Avro Energy last year, and Jackson accuses the administrators of arguing and quibbling over completely unimportant technical points. Octopus Energy recent commitments: 10,000,000 to build a decarb of heat R&D centre 5,000,000 to establish the Centre for Net Zero 108,000 to its BLM fund 1,000 ad on a right wing . Upstream reported that Jackson joined Greenpeace at the age of 16, and his expertise was in mirror manufacturing, coffee shops and software before launching Octopus Energy in 2015. [citation needed]. Before joining Octopus, Rachel served as the Chief Executive of Ofwat, the UK's water regulator, and as a Senior Partner and Board member of Ofgem, the UK energy regulator. [72], Responding to Octopus Energy's decision on Twitter, Andrew Neil, founder of GB News, said "Let me know if you want to advertise. In November 2021, Octopus acquired Italian energy retailer SATO Luce e Gas, rebranding the business as Octopus Energy Italy, investing an initial 51m and targeting 5% of the Italian market by 2025. By expanding to so many other countries and really capitalising on the technology we create, we are able to have an edge on the competition. What is the secret behind the growth and success of Octopus Energy? He refers to Octopus as an en-tech business rather than an energy company, and uses an unusual management structure, dividing its 1,600 employees into highly independent teams, obviating the need for a formal HR department. Octopus Energy is also a leading investor in solar and wind energy, managing a 3.4bn portfolio of renewable energy assets across Europe. These are things we should do everything to avoid., He believes the energy crisis has underscored the need for Britain to move away from oil and gas. [42], As part of their partnership agreed in August 2019, Midcounties Co-operative and Octopus established a joint venture to develop the UK's community energy market and encourage small-scale electricity generation. He began developing software (in the form of video games) at 16, then studied economics at Cambridge before running a mirror factory, then founding a number of technology-led businesses. To be the first to hear about our events, get immediate access to new podcast episodes, and hear news picked just for you Join our community! The New Statesmans global affairs newsletter, every Monday and Friday. We then realised the change within the energy industry we could enable with a strong technology platform underpinning us, and thats how Octopus Energy came about. You can meet Greg Jackson and hear more about where he got where he is today at My Entrepreneurial Journey with Greg Jackson on Thursday, 21 November. The companys flexibility platform KrakenFlex will be used together with Elia Groups energy data affiliate, re.alto, to enable electric vehicles, heat pumps and other green technologies to be used for grid balancing. Energy companies are going to end up more like technology companies, like AirBnB, Amazon, Google and Monzo says Greg. We are also able to license out Kraken to other energy companies, allowing them to make use of the same efficiencies. Greg Jackson isnt your average energy company CEO. [66] The campaign artwork was exhibited at over 5,000 sites, making it the largest ever digital out-of-home (DOOH) art exhibition. Our researched showed that Octopus Energy has grown its domestic customer based in UK, from just 198,000 customers in 2018 to over 1.5 million customers in 2020. [65], In 2019 Octopus launched a 'Portraits from the Precipice' campaign, which sought to raise awareness of climate change and encouraged customers to switch to greener energy deals. We speak to Greg Jackson, CEO of Octopus Energy Group, the technology-to-investment energy platform, about the importance of government intervention in energy policy, the role of technology, and how a greener future could be nearer than we think. In 2009, Jackson released an instructional book about his fighting style called Jackson's MMA - The Stand Up Game. Greg Jackson - Founder, CEO @ Octopus Energy - Crunchbase Person Profile Oops! Currently, Octopus Energy has more than 750,000 customers with 100 per cent renewable electricity, despite only setting up three years ago. Headquartered in London, the company has operations in the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Australia, Japan, New Zealand and the United States. What we have to do now is a million times more complicated., The result of this simplified central planning could be seen the previous week, when electricity prices were colossally high, we were having to use lots of back-up supplies [and] we were literally paying wind generators in Scotland to turn off, because there werent enough cables connecting Scotland, where the electricity was being generated, to England, where we needed it., The solution, he says, is for the energy grid to become more like the internet. You cant become a car dealer if you havent got the money to buy cars, says Jackson, exasperated. Greg Jackson on Twitter: "Octopus Energy recent commitments: 10,000,000 to build a decarb of heat R&D centre 5,000,000 to establish the Centre for Net Zero 108,000 to its BLM fund 1,000 ad on a right wing channel So, 15,108x more on progressive stuff More soon, but hope perspective helps." / Twitter. Besides industry-standard fixed and variable tariffs, the company is known for innovative tariffs which are made possible by the national rollout of smart meters. As a Senior Partner and Managing Director at BCG, Deepak gained extensive experience transforming legacy businesses through technology, working across the UK, Nordics, US, South East Asia and India. [27], In November 2021, Octopus announced in Manchester that it had signed a deal with the city region as part of a bid to become carbon neutral by 2038. Greg: Octopus is unusual. The first nail in the coffin should have been climate change, then it should have been the fact that renewables are now cheaper than fossil fuels. [12], Besides the Octopus Energy brand, as of September2021[update] customers are supplied under the Ebico Energy, Affect Energy, Co-op Energy, M&S Energy and London Power brands. Currently, Octopus Energy breathing new life into technology products, so its fair say... 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