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Our investment in Switchee

Reading Time: 3 mins

29 Jul 2024

By Richard Bolton

Investment thesis

Octopus Ventures is committed to backing the people and ideas setting out to change the world. With its dual mission, to improve life for residents of social housing and mitigate the climate impact of real estate, Switchee exemplifies the qualities we’re looking for.

17% of the UK’s households live in social housing, provided by local authorities or private, registered providers.

The UK’s housing stock is the oldest in Europe, and not built to meet modern energy-efficiency requirements. They’re expensive to heat and prone to issues such as damp.

The UK is committed to meeting the target of Net Zero carbon by 2050; at the same time, the cost-of-living crisis has impacted millions, with an estimated 13% of households in England living in fuel poverty.

Switchee’s solution leverages Internet of Things (IoT) technology to dramatically improve quality of life for tenants of rented homes and offering real-time insights into property maintenance for social housing providers.

The company’s touchscreen, smart thermostat enables residents to control energy usage, offering heating bill savings of up to 17%. The device also contains sensors, feeding real-time property data back to the landlord.

The Switchee platform centralises the information, giving landlords real-time feedback on the condition of the property, allowing them to take timely steps to prevent damp and mould and offering actionable insights into property management.

Switchee reduces landlords’ operating costs by up to £188 per property, every year. The device also offers tenants two-way communication with Switchee’s team, to help them maximise the advantages of the service.

As a registered B-Corp, Switchee is fully committed to leveraging new technology to reduce emissions, and drive energy efficient innovation across the UK’s social housing. Property is the slowest major industry to decarbonise – Switchee’s solution is bringing it up-to-speed, even as it improves quality of life for millions in social housing.

Who are the pioneers?

Switchee co-founders, Adam Fudakowski and the late Ian Napier, started the business in 2015 as postgrads studying at INSEAD. On the hunt for a way to improve life for people living in rented accommodation, they recognised the potential for new, networked digital technology to disrupt property management and positively impact domestic heating bills.

In 2020, Tom Robins (CEO) joined bringing with him a wealth of practical, scale-up strategy experience. With a strong commercial track record and his passion for the Switchee mission, he’s done brilliant work helping the business through its growth journey.

Why us?

As a registered B-Corp, we’ve made a public commitment to driving positive change through business, and we have a natural affinity for any organisation working towards the fulfilment of a similar mission.

When we met Adam, Tom and the Switchee team, and learned more about what they do, we knew that we had to lend our support. It’s not often that an organisation sets out to take on two of society’s major crises – but Switchee’s solution does just that. Their device offers social housing tenants the chance to make major savings on their energy costs, at a time when people need it most. At the same time, it’s driving property towards a greener future, offering providers of social housing insights into upgrading the homes in their portfolios.

Beyond value alignment and personal synergies (there’s no question that we clicked immediately), we recognised the value of their solution through the first-hand experience of our colleagues. Octopus Real Estate, also part of the Octopus Group, looks after a dedicated Affordable Housing fund, liaising directly with housing associations and local authorities to bring much-needed social housing to the UK.

Switchee’s fantastic service represents a key step in bringing social housing into line not just with climate targets – but also the needs of residents. We’re delighted to lend our support: congratulations to Adam, Tom and the team!