Some sectors are more competitive than others. Energy supply, long dominated by the Big Six, is one of them. But Octopus Energy, founded in 2015 and launched in 2016, is a pioneering renewable energy company that's managed to not only compete within the sector, but transform it as well.

With a background in technology and entrepreneurship (he originally left school at 16 to make video games) Jackson launched Octopus with the vision of making green energy affordable, transparent and accessible using its own cloud-native billing and operations platform, Kraken. Growth was accelerated by acquisitions during the 2021-22 energy crisis, with Octopus notably taking on the collapsed Bulb Energy's 1.5 million customers in 2022. In 2025, the business overtook British Gas to become the UK's largest household energy supplier outright, reported as the first time the market lead had changed hands since privatisation in 1986.

In its eleventh year, Octopus now powers around 26 per cent of the UK home energy market, and it is reinventing itself. Kraken has been spun out as a business in its own right, licensed to utilities including E.ON, EDF and Tokyo Gas. Octopus keeps a 13.7 per cent stake and we estimate the energy business itself is now worth £4.9bn.

Jackson, who was appointed CBE for services to the energy industry in 2024, has kept a comparatively modest personal stake and salary throughout. While his roughly 6 per cent shareholding has carried him onto the Sunday Times Rich List, he remains hands-on as CEO, still spurning a private room to work from the middle of Octopus Energy's office floor.