Octopus seeks £100m funding boost for electric vehicles arm

The electric vehicles arm of Octopus Energy's parent company is seeking a £100m funding boost to accelerate its growth amid soaring production of greener cars.

Sky News has learnt that Octopus Electric Vehicles (OEV) is working with bankers on plans to raise new funding from external investors during the coming months.

OEV is part of Octopus Energy Group, which secured a $5bn valuation just over a year ago and is now one of Britain's residential energy suppliers.

This week, a judicial review brought by rival groups including Centrica, the owner of British Gas, will challenge the government's handling of the sale of Bulb, the energy group which collapsed in 2021 and was recently sold to Octopus Energy.

The fundraising for OEV comes as data published by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders showed that the number of EVs produced in the UK in January rose by nearly 50% compared to a year earlier.

OEV offers a salary sacrifice scheme that it believes removes one of the principal barriers to electric vehicle adoption.

Its clients include Dyson, the property portal Zoopla and Bain & Company, the consulting firm, and it is adding roughly 85,000 employees to its potential customer base each quarter.

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The business is run by chief executive Fiona Howarth, a former executive at BMW and Ovo Energy.

OEV's competitors include the likes of Onto, Zenith and LeasePlan.

Octopus Energy declined to comment on the fundraising, which is being handled by advisers at Investec.

-sky news