The fund, managed by an outside investment firm, has backed 10 companies so far.
The Royal College of Art, a London-based postgraduate art and design college, has formed a fund to invest in its spinouts.
Managed by Infinity Asset Management, the RCA Design & Innovation S/EIS Investment Fund I will invest in design-led companies in a diverse range of sectors including medtech and cleantech.
The Royal College Art ranks among the top 10 UK academic institutions for the number of spinouts it produces. It spun out 72 companies between 2011 and January 2025, according to a Beauhurst and Royal Academy of Engineering March 2025 report, placing it in seventh place.
The Royal College of Art runs an incubator, InnovationRCA, which has backed more than 90 ventures that have gone on to raise more than £150m ($197m) from investors.
The fund has invested in 10 companies so far. These include BlueNose, a spinout developing AI-driven aerodynamic retrofits on cargo ships to reduce air-drag; Ponda, a biomaterials company transforming wetland plants grown in regenerated peatlands into next-gen textiles for the fashion industry; and Revive Innovations, a medtech spinout developing a miniaturised auto-injector product.
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