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Kraken eyes up utilities revolution

Kraken Technologies, the cloud-native platform behind the fast-growing disruptor Octopus Energy, is expanding to target industries such as water and broadband. 

Since 2020, Kraken has contracted 25 million accounts in energy, accounting for over 40% of UK energy customers, and is live in six geographies. With clients including EDF, E.On, Octopus, Origin, Tokyo Gas, Good Energy and Hanwha’s Nectr, Kraken has already delivered c. 20 rapid, successful migrations.

Its new business, Kraken Utilities, will be the first all-service dedicated technology platform for the utility industry. 

The new team will be led by Deepak Ravindran who is moving over from Boston Consulting Group (BCG). As a senior partner and managing director at BCG, Ravindran gained extensive experience transforming legacy businesses through technology, working across the UK, Nordics, US, South East Asia and India. He is already a successful entrepreneur himself, taking the tech business he founded from concept to IPO, and has been involved as a partner to Octopus Energy Group since 2018.

To build the platform, Kraken Utilities is hiring for 50 open positions, adding to the 250 technologists, spreading across product development, tech and go-to-market teams. The team will work across Octopus Energy Group’s main tech hubs in London, Houston, Sydney, Manchester, Silicon Valley and Tokyo. 

Deepak Ravindran, CEO of Kraken Utilities, said: “Kraken is well on its way to revolutionising the energy sector. It has brought a new level of customer centricity and now powers the most loved energy utilities globally. But energy doesn’t need to be the only utility which can benefit from the Kraken model. Many companies seek to become more customer centric and efficient – Kraken’s unique combination of low-risk transformation to a digital-first operation is a huge opportunity for these companies. This is an incredibly exciting time for me, and the whole team here, to help bring this transformation to great companies across the globe.”

Greg Jackson, founder of Octopus Energy Group, said: “We’ve increasingly been approached by water companies, telcos and other utilities who saw the way that Kraken has transformed customer and employee experience in energy, whilst driving down costs and opening up whole new opportunities through technology and customer engagement. With forward-thinking utilities and regulators seeking to benefit from lower operating costs, better customer experience and exploiting whole new efficiencies through machine learning and big data, we’ve been working hard to expand Kraken from its revolutionary position in energy to offer these advantages across all utilities.”

Octopus Energy Group is a global energy tech pioneer, launched in 2016 to use technology to unlock a customer focused and affordable green energy revolution. It is part of Octopus Group, which is a certified BCorp. With operations in 13 countries, Octopus Energy Group's mission is going global.

In December 2021, Octopus Energy Group was valued at approximately $5bn following a $600m investment from Generation Investment Management and a $300m investment from Canada Pensions Plan Investments Board. Both investors back businesses that drive sustainability, promote green energy and tackle climate change. It was the company’s third major investment round since launching to the market.

If you would like to contact Rob O’Connor about this, or any other story, please email roconnor@infrastructure-intelligence.com.