Southampton: Start-up Igloo Energy awarded grants worth £1m-plus

Start-up Igloo Energy has been recognised as a real innovator in the UK energy market, winning government backing and been awarded grants totalling over £1 million.

A £900,000 grant has been awarded by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) as part of the Thermal Efficiency Innovation Fund – a Government led scheme investing £10 million to develop technologies to boost energy efficiency in the UK.

The two-year project – in partnership with the Energy and Climate Change Division at the University of Southampton - will be to further develop Igloo Energy’s unique software that provides each individual customer with highly personalised recommendations to cut energy use, based on a variety of datasets.

Separately, Igloo Energy has been awarded a £120,000 grant from Innovate UK. Partnering with UCL, the project will develop the understanding of existing data to create more insights into consumers’ energy consumption. Igloo Energy will utilise Machine Learning to process data and derive insight into consumer behaviour.

Igloo describes itself as a new kind of energy supplier with a simple proposition: use less, pay less. People using less energy is good for their wallets, and good for the environment.

Igloo exists to help everyone make smart, hassle-free energy decisions every day so that they use less energy and save money. It does this by combining smart technology with simple actionable advice to make your home cheaper to run.

Based in Southampton and backed by private investors, including senior figures from the energy market, co-founders are Matt Clemow, CEO; Henry Brown, CCO; and Duncan Ellis, CIO.