Osney Capital has finished raising its first fund, reaching a \u00a360 million limit and surpassing its original \u00a350 million goal. The firm says this is among the largest debut seed funds ever in the UK.<\/p>\n
This is the UK\u2019s only venture fund focused just on early-stage cybersecurity. It is backed by the British Business Bank and approved by the UK government\u2019s National Security Strategic Investment Fund.<\/p>\n
Since its first close, Osney has invested in seven companies working on AI security, disinformation detection, and software supply chain protection.<\/p>\n
The UK has built a respected cybersecurity community, supported by groups like GCHQ and top universities such as Imperial College London and the University of Edinburgh. The number of graduates grows by 20% each year. <\/p>\n
Until now, no venture fund has focused only on helping the sector at its earliest and riskiest stage, when companies are small, and most generalist VCs are hesitant to invest. Today, Osney Capital<\/a>, the UK\u2019s first seed fund focused solely on cybersecurity, announced it had closed its first fund at \u00a360 million, surpassing its original \u00a350 million target. <\/p>\n The firm says this is one of the largest debut seed funds in UK history.<\/p>\n \u201cThe UK\u2019s cyber sector is one of the most exciting early-stage opportunities globally, and it benefits enormously from specialist capital on the ground, supporting the formation of the next generation of global category winners from the UK,\u201d says Joshua Walter<\/a>, founding partner at Osney.<\/p>\n In the year since its first close, Osney has invested in seven pre-seed and seed-stage companies, including Refute, Ossprey, Aisy, Huntbase, Overmind, Ploy, and Aviel, with amounts ranging from \u00a3250,000 to \u00a32.5 million. <\/p>\n The goal is to build a portfolio of 30 companies. Taken together, these companies show a clear view: future threats will be driven by agents and automation, moving faster and on a larger scale than older detection tools can handle.<\/p>\n Who is backing Osney Capital?<\/p>\n This fund\u2019s close is different from most. The group of investors shows a wider national commitment, not just the usual mix of limited partners.<\/p>\n Fund I is anchored by the British Business Bank <\/a>through its Enterprise Capital Funds programme, the government\u2019s main vehicle for directing institutional capital into less-served parts of the UK startup scene. <\/p>\n The fund is also accredited by the National Security Strategic Investment Fund, a government group that supports technologies important to national security. Imperial College London\u2019s Endowment and Planet First Partners joined at the final close, along with former UK cyber founders and senior leaders from the cyber and national security fields.<\/p>\n \u201cOsney Capital brings the specialist focus required to strengthen the UK\u2019s cyber ecosystem. The quality of their early investments highlights the depth of talent and innovation in this country, and NSSIF is proud to support the Osney team as they fund and scale world\u2011class UK cyber technologies,\u201d says Paloma McGuiness<\/a>, chief executive of the National Security Strategic Investment Fund.<\/p>\n \u201cCybersecurity is an area of growing economic and strategic importance to the UK, with significant potential for home-grown innovations to become major commercial successes. Our investment in Osney Capital\u2019s first fund will give us exposure to this opportunity through a highly experienced specialist team, supporting our Endowment\u2019s objective of generating financial returns to support Imperial\u2019s mission of science for humanity,\u201d adds John Anderson<\/a>, chief investment officer at Imperial College London.<\/p>\n Osney\u2019s backers want more than just financial returns. Investors are making a strategic effort to provide specialist funding at the seed stage, hoping to help the UK turn its cyber talent into companies that can compete worldwide. Without this support, some of this talent might not get funding or could leave the country.<\/p>\n The bigger challenge Osney aims to address<\/p>\n The UK cyber sector faces a long-standing challenge. Even with great talent, strong research, and top national security resources, the UK has found it hard to create global, independent cyber companies. Instead of growing into major public companies, many are bought early by American or Israeli firms.<\/p>\n Part of this problem is structural. Some generalist VCs have invested in cyber, but few have the expertise, network, or confidence to back founders at the pre-seed stage, often before there is revenue or even a product. This has left a funding gap at a key moment when important decisions are made. <\/p>\n As a result, strong technical founders have had to bootstrap, rely on non-specialist funding with limited benefits, or seek funding in the US, where specialist cyber funds are more common.<\/p>\n