Octopus Energy spins out Kraken after $1B raise
Octopus Energy, the UK’s largest household gas and electricity supplier, has completed the separation of its software platform Kraken into an independent company following a $1 billion first standalone funding round that values the business at $8.65 billion.
The financing marks the first time Kraken has raised external capital directly, a milestone that underscores how the platform has evolved from an internal tool into a large-scale technology provider for utilities. The demerger, first set in motion in 2025, gives Kraken its own governance, leadership structure, and shareholder base—positioning it to sell to utilities as a neutral partner rather than a captive technology arm of a single energy supplier.
Investors back a utility operating system
The round was led by D1 Capital Partners, with participation from Fidelity International, Durable Capital Partners, and the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board through Teachers’ Venture Growth. Existing Octopus Energy investors also joined the financing.
For investors, the appeal is a platform that targets a persistent pain point across the sector: many utilities still rely on legacy IT stacks that struggle to support real-time pricing, distributed energy resources, and the operational requirements of electrification. Kraken positions itself as an end-to-end operating system for utilities, covering customer accounts, billing, and grid flexibility—areas where modernisation is becoming increasingly urgent as the energy transition accelerates.
A platform that outgrew its original role
Kraken began as an internal system built to address inefficiencies in running a modern energy supplier. Over time, it expanded beyond that remit into a modular platform used by multiple companies through licensing partnerships. The company says it now supports more than 70 million accounts globally, reflecting both the scale of utility operations and the demand for modern customer and asset management tools.
The independence created by the spinout is designed to remove perceived conflicts for prospective clients. Utilities evaluating vendor platforms often weigh whether a system owned by a competitor could create strategic or data sensitivities. With separate governance and a broader investor base, Kraken can pitch itself as a standalone technology provider, while still maintaining a commercial relationship with Octopus Energy.
Commercial traction and international footprint
Kraken has pointed to growing contracted revenue as evidence that its software is moving beyond pilot deployments and into core operations. In September, the company disclosed contracted annual revenues exceeding €424.5 million in 2025.
From headquarters in London and New York, and regional hubs in Paris, Tokyo, and Melbourne, the platform is used by major utilities including EDF Energy, E.ON Next, National Grid, and Tokyo Gas. The customer roster signals that Kraken is increasingly embedded in large organisations with complex regulatory and infrastructure environments—an important threshold for enterprise utility software.
How Kraken works: modular systems for modern utilities
Rather than offering a single monolithic replacement for legacy systems, Kraken is structured as a modular, data-rich platform intended to integrate with real-world utility operations.
Kraken Customer
This module unifies customer service, billing, and account data into a single view. The goal is to reduce fragmented workflows that force support teams to jump between disconnected systems, improving resolution speed and enabling more tailored customer interactions.
Kraken Asset / KrakenFlex
Focused on real-time optimisation of distributed energy resources, KrakenFlex uses predictive intelligence to balance assets such as batteries, electric vehicles, and solar installations. Utilities are increasingly seeking these capabilities to manage peak demand and unlock grid flexibility as more intermittent renewables and electrified loads come online.
Kraken Field
Designed for on-the-ground operations, this tool supports engineers planning, installing, and managing smart hardware deployments, including heat pumps, solar panels, and EV charging equipment—areas where utilities and energy retailers are scaling physical rollouts alongside digital transformation.
Together, the company says the platform enables utilities to automate up to 40% of digital customer communications, improve demand forecasting, and deploy new pricing models faster. Kraken also underpins offerings such as Intelligent Octopus Go, a smart EV charging tariff in the UK.
Expansion beyond energy
While energy remains the core market, Kraken has also been adopted outside the sector. The company cited water utility Severn Trent and telecom provider Cuckoo as users, suggesting the platform’s customer operations and asset management capabilities may translate to other infrastructure-heavy industries.
Two businesses, clearer focus
Alongside Kraken’s funding, investors led by Octopus Capital injected an additional €271.7 million into Octopus Energy to support innovation and expansion. Following the spinout, Octopus Energy retains a 13.7% stake in Kraken, preserving a strategic link while separating day-to-day operations.
For Octopus Energy, which operates across 27 countries and manages an €8 billion renewables portfolio alongside businesses spanning EV leasing, heat pumps, and solar, the separation is intended to sharpen its focus as a global clean energy operator. For Kraken, the move creates room to scale as a foundational technology provider for utilities seeking to modernise systems under the pressures of decarbonisation, electrification, and changing customer expectations.
Leadership comments
Greg Jackson, founder of Octopus Energy Group, said the platform’s technology and scale set it apart and that independence would allow it to grow faster with new backers and leadership.
Amir Orad, CEO of Kraken, said the company’s new structure would help it scale as a neutral global operating system for utilities, while keeping Octopus Energy as an innovation partner and customer. He added that the new funding would be used to accelerate the company’s role in modernising energy systems globally, with an ambition to “positively impact a billion lives within a decade.”
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