A new venture capital fund with a mission to invest in the cybersecurity sector has raised £50m in its opening funding round. Named Osney Capital, the oversubscribed fund has been backed by the UK government’s British Business Bank and is reportedly the first in the country to specialise in seed investments for British cybersecurity startups. Institutional and private investors, including IronGate Capital Advisors and East X Ventures, have also backed the fund, alongside contributions from UK cyber entrepreneurs and other senior personnel in the cyber and national security communities. The fund has received accreditation from the UK’s National Security Strategic Investment Fund (NSSIF).
Government figures show that the UK cyber security market reported revenues of £13.2bn, a 12% rise compared to the prior year. The growth is largely driven by the escalating cyber threats, more stringent regulatory requirements, and the accelerated adoption of AI technologies.
Osney plans to invest in early-stage cyber enterprises
Osney Capital plans to support early-stage cybersecurity startups, which often face difficulties accessing capital. The VC firm will invest in 30 portfolio companies at the pre-seed and seed stages, offering investments ranging from £250,000 to £2.5m. Osney Capital may also provide follow-on investments during the Series A funding rounds.
“The UK’s cyber ecosystem is one of the country’s greatest untapped strengths,” said Osney Capital founding partner Joshua Walter. “With world-class talent and the scale to produce the next generation of industry leaders, we have a unique opportunity to compete on the global stage. Our mission with this fund is to identify and back the next wave of UK cyber founders — providing them with the specialist capital they need to build globally significant companies, products and technologies.”
Before establishing this fund, the London-based VC firm had already invested in several early-stage UK cyber companies. This includes AI security testing provider MindGard, network security specialist Sitehop, binary analysis platform RevEng.AI, and security investment platform ESProfiler.
“Osney Capital’s fund is an opportunity for the UK to build on the UK’s strong advantage and excellence in cyber security,” said NATO Innovation Fund Board of Directors Vice-Chair Dame Fiona Murray, who also serves on the UK Prime Minister’s Council for Science and Technology. “In times of global uncertainty, we must foster a safe, secure and trusted digital economy in the UK — across all our digital and physical infrastructure.”
Last month, the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), a part of the UK GCHQ, released fresh guidelines to help organisations brace for the upcoming challenges posed by quantum computing. The recommendations emphasise the need to transition to an advanced encryption technique called post-quantum cryptography (PQC) to protect sensitive data from future quantum-enabled threats.
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