Key details
Date
- 19 November 2025
Author
- RCA
Read time
- 1 minute
The Royal College of Art is delighted to announce that the RCA Design & Innovation S/EIS Investment Fund I, managed by Infinity Asset Management LLP, has successfully closed.
Launched to back the very best early-stage companies founded by RCA graduates and staff, the Fund offers investors access to a diverse pipeline of design-led, multi-sector investments addressing scalable markets that are open for innovation, while also benefiting from tax reliefs under the Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme (SEIS) and Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS). This Fund is part of the College’s long-term strategy of ensuring that the best talent from the RCA can realise innovative commercial ideas and transform the world in a positive way.
The RCA is consistently ranked among the top 10 universities in the UK for the number of spinouts created and the number of equity deals secured by its spinouts. This Fund builds on the success of the RCA’s incubator, InnovationRCA, in supporting companies founded by RCA graduates. InnovationRCA has backed over 90 design-led ventures, which have gone on to raise more than £150 million from other investors. Around 40% of InnovationRCA’s portfolio consists of impact-for-profit companies, 60% are patent based, and in the past five years 51% have been women-led.
Following its first close, the Fund has invested in 10 companies, driving innovation across multiple sectors including MedTech and CleanTech. The companies include:
BlueNose – a London-based startup developing AI-driven aerodynamic retrofits on cargo ships to reduce air-drag, designed to significantly reduce fuel consumption, lower emissions, and ensure regulatory compliance without disrupting operations. BlueNose was a winner of the Terra Carta Design Lab 2024, a global competition to design high-impact solutions to the climate and biodiversity crisis.
Ponda – a Bristol-based biomaterials company developing technologies to transform wetland plants grown in regenerated peatlands into next generation textiles for the fashion industry. Their first product BioPuff® is an innovative, plant-based insulation material launched with brands such as Stella McCartney, Parley for the Oceans, Yoox, and Melina Bucher.
Revive Innovations + – a MedTech spin out poised to transform emergency medicine and defence medical response with its patented, miniaturised auto-injector platform. The company’s mission is to eliminate critical barriers in emergency drug administration – whether on city streets or the battlefield – ensuring that life-saving medications are readily available.
The Fund’s portfolio also includes Carbon Cell, Flomark, PulpaTronics, Reporti Pro, Digital Heat, CTEye, and Trueview Medical, and will be fully deployed within the next 12 months. InnovationRCA will support the companies the Fund invests in, helping transform today’s innovations into tomorrow’s solutions.