LIVE: Octopus CEO and Founder, Greg Jackson: Building a Climate Giant

Giant Ventures is a multi stage venture fund, co-founded by Cameron McLain and Tommy Stadlen. This episode was recorded live at an event we hosted with McKinsey for Europe’s top 100 climate leaders. Asking the questions for us here is Pilita Clark, an editor and columnist at The Financial Times. 

Today on the show, we are joined by Greg Jackson, founder and CEO of Octopus Energy. You might think of Octopus as the UK’s leading green energy retailer. And you’d be right, Octopus has leapfrogged deep-pocketed legacy companies to become the UK’s second biggest energy supplier, having scaled to almost 8M households in just 9 years. They have also acquired nine energy companies across Europe and the US. 

...But you’d only be half right. Octopus is much more than an energy retailer. It’s one of the most ambitious climate tech companies globally. Octopus is in 15 countries, they offer electric car leasing, electric car charging, heat pump manufacturing, and licences its internal operating system, Kraken, to enable other green energy retailers to support over 54M customers around the world. Based in London, Octopus is now worth almost $8 billion. It’s a huge climate success story touching many of the foundational parts of the clean energy stack. 

Alongside our institutional investors, Giant is very fortunate to be backed by a group of successful technology founders, including Greg. He’s an amazing guy with an amazing life story. He was raised by a single mum in the north of England who struggled with every energy bill and Greg left school at 16 to earn money as a programmer. He’s built businesses ever since, culminating in the creation of Octopus.

They talk about the origins of the startup, the grand vision, why he believes oil companies days’ are numbered, and when Octopus might go public. 

Enjoy the episode!

Building a purpose driven company? Read more about Giant Ventures at www.Giant.vc.

Music credits: Bubble King written and produced by Cameron McLain and Stevan Cablayan aka Vector_XING.

Please note: The content of this podcast is for informational and entertainment purposes only. It should not be considered financial, legal, or investment advice. Always consult a licensed professional before making any investment decisions.