Latest investment will accelerate delivery of trading and automation technology for green energy
Cambridge, 10 June 2021 – Origami is pleased to announce that it has raised £20.5m of new funding to help drive its next phase of growth. Barclays PLC led the round, investing as part of their Sustainable Impact Capital initiative, set up to back companies that are focused on sustainability and driving the transition towards net zero. Follow-on investment was provided by Origami’s existing shareholders, including Octopus Ventures, Aggreko, and Cambridge Innovation Capital.
Origami is a technology company on a mission to build a green energy world, powered by smart technology. As ambitious climate targets drive a transition to renewables, energy systems are becoming more distributed, complex, and volatile. We cannot turn the wind and sun on or off to meet supply and demand in the same way that we have done previously with power stations. Smart digital solutions are required to better manage our power grid as more and more renewable assets are added. Powerful real-time solutions are critical to coordinate networks of renewables, flexible demand, and energy storage, to build a green energy system that is efficient, profitable, and sustainable for the long term. Origami’s trading and automation software provides power traders with real-time data and machine-learning decision support tools to reduce risk, improve visibility and capture valuable opportunities within new and rapidly evolving energy markets.
This new investment enables Origami to enhance its products, serve a growing customer base and scale up for international markets. The success of this funding round also highlights the increasing investor appetite to back leading tech companies pursuing the reduction of global carbon emissions.
Peter Bance, CEO, Origami, said: “This investment recognises that with powerful real-time software solutions underpinning our emerging green energy systems, tackling the world’s greatest threat of climate change can also become the world’s greatest commercial opportunity. Barclays shares our vision and has a broad customer base in the UK and internationally, which includes many energy businesses. I am looking forward to working with them to help achieve our ambitious goals.”
Steven Poulter, Head of Principal Structuring and Investments, Barclays, said: “It is becoming increasingly clear that powerful digital solutions, like Origami’s, are critical enablers for maximising the potential of green energy assets such as renewables, batteries, and EVs. Their technology is essential for a successful and timely transition to a low-carbon economy, and the opportunity for Barclays to partner with such a compelling business in the world-class Cambridge Greentech ecosystem is an exciting prospect.”
Origami was advised by Silverpeak, the technology investment bank.
About Origami
Origami is on a mission to build a green energy world, powered by smart technology. As renewables grow, energy markets are becoming more complex and volatile. Origami’s intelligent trading and automation software enables energy companies to continuously harness the shifting commercial opportunities of the global energy transition and optimise increasingly complex physical, financial, and contractual positions.
Origami’s real-time data platform provides a modular suite of solutions incorporating state-of-the-art machine learning technology, all designed to deliver more efficient, resilient, and profitable trading operations across the entire power production, planning and energy trading workflow.
Origami’s team combines deep domain knowledge of the energy industry, with advanced software engineering and operational delivery specialists at its offices in Cambridge UK – a global centre of excellence in Artificial Intelligence.
For more information about Origami visit: www.origamienergy.com
About Barclays
Barclays is a British universal bank. We are diversified by business, by different types of customers and clients, and by geography. Our businesses include consumer banking and payments operations around the world, as well as a top-tier, full service, global corporate and investment bank, all of which are supported by our service company which provides technology, operations and functional services across the Group.
Barclays Sustainable Impact Capital initiative
As part of its broader commitments, Barclays will invest £175m of its own capital, led by the Principal Investments team, in fast-growing, innovative, environmentally-focused companies whose values are aligned with those of Barclays and which target the goals and timelines of the Paris Agreement. Investments will be strategic to Barclays, its clients and the communities it serves, with clear scalable propositions that deliver both environmental benefits and economic returns.
For more information about Barclays visit: https://home.barclays/
About Silverpeak
Silverpeak provides independent advice on M&A and financing transactions to outstanding growth technology companies.
The team has 150 years combined experience and over 200 completed deals with deep domain expertise in Enterprise Software & SaaS, Enabling Technologies, Business Services, Internet & Digital Media, FinTech, Mobility and Healthtech.
Silverpeak’s network of relationships and reach is truly global, serving clients across Europe and beyond: the vast majority of deals involve counterparties from the US, Europe and Asia.
Silverpeak LLP is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.
For more information, please visit www.silverpeakib.com
