Fast-growing energy industry disruptor moves to bigger offices
Energy technology company, UrbanChain, has relocated to a larger office and made a batch of new hires to keep pace with its expansion.
Launched in 2017, the deep tech company behind a peer-to-peer (P2P) energy exchange, has moved to a 2,030 sq ft space in Enterprise House, Manchester Science Park.
Having hit £2.6m turnover last year UrbanChain has a £22m sales pipeline for the next 12 months, with 1.2 terawatt hour (TWh) of renewable energy generation available in the company’s energy exchange.
The latest UrbanChain recruits are Gareth Richards, as operations manager, who has joined from Verastar, head of sales Scott Andrew, previously of Brownlow Utilities and Love Energy Savings, account manager PJ MacDonald, who has worked for Shell Energy and Uber, and business analyst Kelly Thompson, formerly of LoveEnergy.
Somayeh Taheri, UrbanChain CEO, says the company’s headcount will grow further by the end of 2023: “Hiring the best talents and enhancing an already strong company culture is of the utmost importance to UrbanChain as our growth continues.
“With that in mind we are very pleased to welcome Gareth, Scott, PJ and Kelly to our growing team which is now housed in Enterprise House.
“Our mission is to build a formidable and dedicated team that delivers the highest level of excellence for our clients, which ultimately enables the delivery of the best possible prices for consumers of renewable energy and the best gains for generators.”
Driven by blockchain technology and AI, UrbanChain’s peer-to-peer exchange matches the best renewable energy generators to consumers on a half-hourly basis.
The company has more than 200GWh (gigawatt hours) of power under management and continues to disrupt the energy market by reducing bill prices for businesses and households, while driving forward the net zero agenda.
Clients active in UrbanChain’s renewable energy trading market are generators of renewable energy, private companies from multiple sectors, local authorities, social housing associations, manufacturers, households and energy suppliers.
UrbanChain’s new space in Enterprise House marks its fourth expansion with Bruntwood SciTech after starting with a couple of desks in the Tech Incubator at Manchester Technology Centre on Oxford Road, before moving into Greenheys at Manchester Science Park, and then onto larger space in Enterprise House.
In May this year it raised a £5.25m Series A round led by global investment firm Eurazeo.
Following the conclusion of the Series A, UrbanChain will expand into new international markets, starting in Ireland.
