What Old College Capital does

Old College Capital (OCC) is the dedicated in-house venture investment fund of the University of Edinburgh, operated through Edinburgh Innovations Ltd, the university's wholly-owned commercialisation subsidiary. Established in 2022, OCC provides growth and development capital to early-stage companies spun out from the University of Edinburgh's research base, participating primarily in pre-seed, seed, and Series A funding rounds. The fund invests across a deliberately diversified set of verticals including biotechnology, healthtech, AI, climate tech, clean energy, and proptech, reflecting the breadth of the university's research output.

The fund operates on standard venture capital economics, deploying equity capital and realising returns through exits, IPOs, or follow-on funding rounds. OCC functions almost exclusively as a co-investor alongside other institutional and development finance investors such as Archangels, Scottish Enterprise, the Scottish National Investment Bank, Pi Labs, and Axeleo Capital. Its deal flow is structurally embedded in Edinburgh Innovations' commercialisation pipeline, giving the fund preferential visibility into spinout opportunities originating from one of the UK's top-five research universities.

The investment team is small (1-10 employees) and includes Kate Fox as Head of Investment, Dougal Adamson as Senior Investment Manager, and Andrea Young as Head of Old College Capital. Since 2023 OCC has built a portfolio of ten or more identifiable companies, with notable investments including Exergy3 (£10M seed), Bioliberty (£7.7M Series A), VerbaFlo ($7M seed), Carbogenics ($3M), BIOCAPTIVA (£1.58M), Forge Minerals (£1M pre-seed), Prothea Technologies (€12M Series A), AlveoGene, Concinnity Genetics, and Cytomos. The fund's portfolio increasingly supports international expansion into US and European markets alongside UK-based operations.

Name

Old College Capital

Legal name

Edinburgh Innovations Ltd (operating as Old College Capital)

Website

https://edinburgh-innovations.ed.ac.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

2022

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Old College Capital is the University of Edinburgh's in-house venture fund, investing pre-seed to Series A equity into university spinouts and early-stage startups across biotech, healthtech, AI, climate tech, and clean energy, operating via Edinburgh Innovations.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Venture Capital Investment

NAICS

Other Financial Investment Activities (5239), Other Investment Pools and Funds (5259), Portfolio Management and Investment Advice (523940)

SIC

Investment Advice (6282)

akta.pro primary industry

Late-Stage Venture Capital (Series C+) (FSANAAAC)

akta.pro secondary industry

Impact Investment & Development Investment Funds (BPADACAO)

Keywords

• Venture capital fund
• University spinout investment
• Early-stage equity financing
• Deeptech startup funding
• Technology transfer investing

Headquarters

HQ city

Edinburgh

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Others

Revenue model

1. Investment Returns: Old College Capital generates returns through equity investments in early-stage companies, primarily university spinouts. The fund takes equity stakes in portfolio companies and realizes returns through exits, IPOs, or follow-on funding rounds.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels2 records

Core offering

Old College Capital is the University of Edinburgh's in-house venture investment fund, providing early-stage equity capital to university spinouts and startups. The fund participates in pre-seed, seed, and Series A funding rounds across biotech, AI, climate tech, and healthcare sectors. It sources deal flow directly through Edinburgh Innovations' commercialisation pipeline and co-invests alongside other venture capital firms and institutional investors.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Pre-seed Equity Investment
• Seed Equity Investment
• Series A Equity Investment
• Commercialisation Support Services

Named customers8 records

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Edinburgh InnovationscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerOld College Capital is managed by Edinburgh Innovations, the University of Edinburgh's commercialisation service. The fund serves as the university's in-house venture investment vehicle, sourcing deal flow from Edinburgh Innovations' spinout pipeline.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Oxford Science Enterprises: Investment arm of the University of Oxford that builds and backs companies from Oxford's research base. Closest analogue to OCC — university-affiliated VC investing across life sciences, deeptech, and AI spinouts. Co-invested alongside OCC in AlveoGene.
• Cambridge Innovation Capital: University of Cambridge-linked venture investor providing capital to deeptech and life-sciences spinouts. Mirrors OCC's structure as a university-affiliated evergreen fund focused on early-to-growth stage spinouts in the Cambridge ecosystem.
• IP Group: Listed UK IP commercialisation group that partners with leading research universities (including Oxford, Cambridge, Manchester, Bristol) to form and fund spinouts. Direct analogue to OCC's university spinout commercialisation model at much larger scale.
• Parkwalk Advisors: UK fund manager specialising in university spinout and deeptech investments, managing EIS funds backed by university research. Closely comparable early-stage university-spinout investor with similar sector exposure.
• Cambridge Enterprise: University of Cambridge's commercialisation office, providing seed funding, equity investment, and venture-building services to Cambridge spinouts. Direct structural parallel to Edinburgh Innovations / OCC for the University of Cambridge.
• UCL Business (UCLB): UCL's technology transfer and venture investment arm, supporting spinouts across life sciences, engineering, and AI. Comparable university-affiliated vehicle investing early-stage in deeptech spinouts.
• Imperial College Innovations / Imperial Create Lab: Imperial College London's commercialisation and venture activities that back spinouts from one of the UK's top STEM universities. Parallel to OCC's role for Edinburgh, especially in deeptech and biotech.

Regional players

• Archangels: Edinburgh-based business angel syndicate and one of OCC's most frequent co-investment partners (led BIOCAPTIVA's £1.58M round, participated in Bioliberty Series A). Comparable in stage and Scottish geographic focus, but structured as an angel syndicate rather than a university fund.
• Epidarex Capital: Edinburgh-based early-stage life sciences VC investing across UK and US. Comparable in sector (biotech/healthtech) and regional base, providing parallel coverage of Scottish spinouts alongside OCC.
• Scottish Enterprise: Scotland's national economic development agency and a co-investment partner in nearly all of OCC's portfolio rounds (Exergy3, Carbogenics, Forge Minerals, BIOCAPTIVA). Comparable as a regional development investor in early-stage Scottish companies.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/old-college-capital-lp

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments88 records

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Old College Capital