Osney Capital is a London-based venture firm founded by Joshua Walter, Adam Cragg, and Paul Wilkes, the UK's first dedicated cybersecurity seed fund. The firm focuses exclusively on early-stage UK cybersecurity companies, backed by a thesis that AI-driven threats, rising demand for sovereign cyber capability, and an accelerating vulnerability exploitation cycle are creating the conditions for a new generation of global category winners to be built from the UK. The fund is accredited by the UK's National Security Strategic Investment Fund (NSSIF) and backed by the British Business Bank.
Osney backs pre-seed and seed stage UK cybersecurity companies across AI security, software supply chain protection, identity governance, disinformation detection and response, vulnerability management, threat intelligence, and security operations.
The firm targets the intersection of growing enterprise complexity and the speed at which new attack surfaces are created by AI, a gap incumbents cannot close fast enough. It writes checks of $320K–$3.2M into a target portfolio of 30 companies.
Osney Capital Fund I reached final close oversubscribed at $76M in June 2026, hitting its hard cap after originally targeting $63M. The British Business Bank contributed $46M through its Enterprise Capital Funds programme as cornerstone investor.
Additional LPs joining at final close include Imperial College London's Endowment and Planet First Partners, alongside exited UK cyber entrepreneurs, national security leaders, and funds of funds.
The fund features a unique waterfall structure, private investors receive 1.5x of profits relative to a market-standard waterfall. Seven investments have been made since first close: Refute, Ploy, Aviel, Strand Intelligence, Huntbase, and two others.
Leadership
Joshua Walter is Founding Partner, an Oxford-educated investor who led the fund's formation and fundraising.
Paul Wilkes is Partner, an Oxford Said Business School graduate with deep expertise in AI security and LLM security, who previously spent years working directly with enterprise cyber teams on vulnerability and threat research.
Adam Cragg is Partner, active across all portfolio investments alongside Walter and Wilkes.
Investment Strategy
Osney invests at pre-seed and seed, writing $320K–$3.2M checks into UK cybersecurity founders and targeting meaningful early ownership ahead of Series A valuations normalizing to US levels.
The firm's structural thesis is that UK cybersecurity startups are valued at approximately 50% of comparable US companies at seed, creating a compression opportunity for early-stage investors who secure meaningful ownership before international expansion.
The NSSIF accreditation extends Osney's reach into defense, critical national infrastructure, and national security-adjacent portfolio companies.
Notable Investments
Joshua Walter — Founding Partner
joshua.walter@osneycapital.com
Adam Cragg - Partner
adam.cragg@osneycapital.com
Paul Wilkes — Partner
United Kingdom
