Cheltenham-based VC Agency Osney Capital right this moment introduced the primary shut of its debut Fund to spend money on the British cybersecurity startups, marking it the UK’s first specialist cybersecurity Seed Fund – the Fund is oversubscribed from its unique goal of €58.3 million.
The fund obtained a cornerstone funding from the British Enterprise Financial institution and is accredited by the UK’s Nationwide Safety Strategic Funding Fund (NSSIF). The brand new fund is additional supported by a gaggle of institutional and personal buyers, together with: IronGate Capital Advisors and East X Ventures, the enterprise capital arm of East X. As well as, the fund has raised capital from a variety of exited UK cyber entrepreneurs and senior leaders within the cyber and nationwide safety communities.
Joshua Walter, Accomplice of Osney Capital, mentioned: “The UK’s cyber ecosystem is without doubt one of the nation’s biggest untapped strengths. With world-class expertise and the size to supply the following era of business leaders, we’ve got a singular alternative to compete on the worldwide stage. Our mission with this Fund is to establish and again the following wave of UK cyber founders – offering them with the specialist capital they should construct globally vital firms, merchandise and applied sciences.”
Osney Capital was based in 2021 and is led by three founders, Adam Cragg, Josh Walter and Paul Wilkes, who collectively have a long time of expertise in technical, industrial, and regulatory environments in cyber and nationwide safety in addition to early-stage investing.
Osney Capital was chosen as a part of the British Enterprise Financial institution’s Enterprise Capital Funds (ECF) programme, which commits cornerstone capital to a small variety of UK rising managers who deal with high-potential fairness funding gaps within the UK’s startup ecosystem.
The staff plans to spend money on 30 portfolio firms at pre-Seed and Seed stage, writing cheques between €291k and €2.9 million, with capability for follow-on investments in Collection A rounds. Previous to launching this fund, the staff made a variety of investments into early-stage UK cyber firms, together with:
- MindGard, a Lancaster College spin-out that delivers AI safety testing Sitehop, a Sheffield-based hardware-enforced community safety specialist.
- London-based RevEng.AI, an AI powered binary evaluation platform for reverse engineering and malware evaluation.
- ESProfiler, a Manchester-based safety funding platform delivering steady optimisation of the safety tech stack to CISOs.
Christine Hockley, Managing Director and Co-Head of Funds on the British Enterprise Financial institution, added: “We’re happy to make this dedication to Osney Capital’s Fund I, which aligns with our goal of supporting promising firms to entry the long-term funding they should fulfil their progress potential. Cyber resilience lies on the coronary heart of the UK’s position as a accountable cyber energy.
“Our dedication to Osney Capital will capitalise on the sturdy funding alternative supplied by rising UK firms inside the sector whereas additionally constructing the UK’s nationwide resilience.”
The UK cyber safety business reached €15.4 billion in income in 2025, marking a 12% YoY improve, with progress pushed by the growing complexity of cyber threats, heightened regulatory pressures, and the fast adoption of AI and different applied sciences.
On the similar time, sustained funding in UK universities and the enlargement of specialist pc science and cybersecurity programmes have reportedly boosted the nation’s expertise pipeline, fuelling innovation nationwide.
Nonetheless, the early-stage cybersecurity ecosystem is structurally difficult for generalist capital to entry because of its decentralised and closed-networked nature. This presents a possible alternative for a specialist Seed investor like Osney Capital to again these firms early, and supply tailor-made help and capital to assist them scale and appeal to international funding.
Dame Fiona Murray DCMG CBE, who serves on the UK Prime Minister’s Council for Science and Expertise and Vice-Chair of the Board of Administrators of the NATO Innovation Fund, mentioned: “Science and know-how are important to nationwide competitiveness and more and more, our competitiveness is grounded in nationwide safety. Osney Capital’s Fund is a chance for the UK to construct on the UK’s sturdy benefit and excellence in cyber safety.
“In instances of world uncertainty, we should foster a protected, safe and trusted digital financial system within the UK – throughout all our digital and bodily infrastructure. This implies investing in and selling innovation within the UK’s cyber safety ecosystem. The work of Osney Capital’s Fund is a matter of nationwide safety, digital sovereignty, and financial management.”
