Utilities innovator The Bunch has bolstered its growing team with a flurry of strategic hires, in support of its continued expansion and striving to double its customer base this year.

Industry expert Oli Dickinson joins as COO, having been part of the team that took Glide from startup to £200m sale. In his new role, Oli will draw on his 11 years of experience spanning energy, telecoms and bill splitting to improve operational efficiency across the business.

Bringing top level technical expertise in-house, developer, serial entrepreneur and all-round technology professional Ashton Clapp has been appointed as CTO. With over two decades’ expertise in software and hardware development, Ashton will facilitate the next stage of The Bunch’s technological evolution, which includes an app for customers to manage their bills.

Completing Ashton’s tech team is talented Senior Software Engineer, Max Maybury, and Junior Software Engineer, Claudiu Bejan.

Newly-appointed Operations Manager Victoria Ward has spent the past four years enhancing the growth and developed capabilities of the UK’s first app-only energy supplier and tech startup Pure Planet Energy. She strengthens the ops team alongside new Operations Executive Catherine Chapman.

This increases the headcount of the Bristol-based scaleup – which consolidates all household bills into a single monthly payment and grants individual liability for tenants – to 26. You can read more about The Bunch’s origins in our interview with the founder here. 

Continued growth for The Bunch

The hires follow a highly successful year of trading for the company, having grown by 350% and made the move to US soil to set up operations across the pond in partnership with Pario Ventures.

The private equity firm, which has a New York office, has completed successful investments in the likes of Rivian, BVR LLC and Intelysis in a joint venture with Chase Manhattan.

Existing investors in The Bunch include Haatch, SFC Capital and Bristol Private Equity Club.

Elliott Herrod-Taylor, founder and CEO at The Bunch, says, “I’m extremely pleased to be welcoming this cohort of new starters to the business, who I have no doubt will make a huge impact across so many areas of the company.

“With ambitious expansion plans, including launch into the homeowner market, I am confident we now have the internal infrastructure to support the trajectory we are on.”