Greg Jackson CBE

Greg Jackson grew up far from the corridors of energy policy, but his early life instilled the values that would later shape Octopus Energy’s mission. Born in Germany and raised in Halifax, Yorkshire, he saw both the discipline of an engineering family and the challenges of working-class Britain. 

Before ever running a global clean-tech company, Greg had already tested his entrepreneurial streak: his first ventures included software and ecommerce start-ups, along with helping to scale an early internet business to 1,000 employees. Those experiences gave him a taste for fast growth, but also taught him what not to replicate: opaque billing, poor customer service, and lack of purpose.

By 2015, Greg spotted an opening in one of the UK’s most entrenched industries. The energy market was dominated by the “Big Six”, notorious for confusing tariffs and under-investment in renewables. He founded Octopus Energy that year, determined to prove that customer-centric technology and sustainability could go hand in hand. Starting from a small London office, the business built its own operating system, Kraken, to automate processes and keep costs low. That decision became Octopus’s secret sauce: the platform is now licensed to major utilities worldwide, powering more than 54 million customer accounts across Europe, Asia and North America.

Growth came quickly. Within five years, Octopus had expanded to 18 countries, reached 7 million customers, and attracted investments from Origin Energy, Tokyo Gas and Generation Investment Management, valuing the company at over $20 billion. Greg steered the business through defining acquisitions too, taking on 1.5 million households from collapsed rival Bulb in 2022, and later adding Shell’s UK and German retail customers, overtaking British Gas to become the country’s largest supplier.

Recognition has followed. Greg was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2024 for services to the energy industry. He also serves on the UK government’s Industrial Strategy Advisory Council, shaping how policy aligns with net zero goals.

Yet Greg’s leadership style is far from corporate orthodoxy. On BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs, he described building a culture where doing the right thing for customers is at the heart of the business. Octopus is known for quirky touches such as pinball machines in offices, transparent communication, and a refusal to use call centres, combined with serious purpose. He has also emphasised that electrification is central to the energy transition, stressing the importance of grid reform and smarter pricing to accelerate progress.

Alongside commercial growth, Greg has built philanthropic and social-impact initiatives into the company’s DNA. Octopus established the Equality Foundation, a registered charity with Greg as trustee, to support marginalised communities. In 2020, the business pledged an internal fund of over £100,000 to support anti-racism causes during the Black Lives Matter movement. The company also launched the Centre for Net Zero, an independent research hub backed by Octopus to accelerate clean-tech adoption.

Greg remains a restless founder. He has been open in dismissing traditional IPO hype, arguing that patient capital is better suited to tackling climate change. He is equally candid about the personal side of entrepreneurship, stressing that resilience, culture, and long-term thinking matter more than short-term financial engineering. His own interests reflect that philosophy too: he is a pinball enthusiast, a reminder that even in one of the world’s fastest-scaling clean-tech companies, playfulness still has its place.