London-headquartered Octopus Energy has begun a fundraising exercise to secure up to GBP 500m as it looks to grow its energy retail and generation businesses globally, sources said.

Octopus Energy, an electricity retailer and renewables fund manager part of the larger Octopus Group, is working with KPMG on the upcoming investment round, said the sources.

The company is seeking to raise capital via the sale of a minority equity stake, one of the sources noted.

The new fundraise comes a year after its latest funding round increased Octopus’ valuation by 15% to USD 9bn.

It is not clear if existing investors in Octopus Energy are seeking to alter their stakes. Top investors include Generation Investment Management (GIM) – an investment firm of former US vice president Al Gore, as well as Australian energy developer and retailer Origin Energy, Tokyo Gas and Canadian pension fund CPP Investments.

“There is always enormous investor appetite for Octopus Energy and Kraken (its energy technology platform)”, an Octopus spokesperson said, declining to comment on the potential investment.

KPMG declined to comment for the article.

In parallel, Octopus Energy is currently also raising capital for investments in Asia.

Octopus Energy provides electricity to seven million customers in the UK and 1.2 million customers outside the UK. The business boosted its customer footprint with the acquisition of Shell Energy Retail in December 2023.

Through its Octopus Energy Generation arm, the company owns a 4.1 GW portfolio of operational and under-construction renewable power assets.

It also provides energy services and hardware such as solar panels, electric vehicles (EV), EV charging and heat pump installation, and licenses its energy management software Kraken to other retailers.

The company posted GBP 136m of EBITDA and GBP 12.4bn of revenues for 2024, according to its latest annual accounts.

In its latest funding round in May 2024, it drew USD 370m of investments from Australian superannuation fund Aware Super and another investor, while CPP Investments also increased its stake at the same time. Before then, it carried out a USD 800m funding round in December 2023.

The company is now 37.5% owned by Octopus Energy Holdco, which is a holding company of the Octopus Group, and 9.4% by the management and employees.

Origin Energy owns 22.18%, Tokyo Gas 10.02%, GIM 9.36% and CPP Investments 11.04%, according to its financial result for 2024.

Octopus Energy has operations across 32 countries and invests, builds, and manages renewable energy, operating a GBP 7bn portfolio of projects.

Earlier this month, its fund management arm, Octopus Energy Generation, launched a clean energy investment fund aimed at pension schemes and private wealth investors.

It also manages London-listed Octopus Renewables Infrastructure Trust (ORIT) and ORI SCSp (Sky) among other funds.

Octopus Energy Generation recently also acquired German renewables developer MN project, which has a 2 GW pipeline, and bought a 10% stake in the 714 MW East Anglia One offshore wind farm in the UK.