Royal College of Art fuels startup success with incubator and seed funding

The founders of Revive Innovations + never imagined they would launch a med-tech business. Urshita Gautam studied architecture as an undergraduate, and Abhisheik Kamal worked as an accountant at PwC before they applied to the Royal College of Art (RCA). Less than two years later, they created and patented a compact auto-injector device designed to rival commercial alternatives and transform emergency medicine.

Kamal, who developed the device during his master’s in design products, credited the RCA for making the business viable. “It really helped us translate a student project into something investible and defensible,” he said.

After Kamal’s final graduation show, Revive joined InnovationRCA, the university’s award-winning incubator program. The founders have since benefited from substantial intellectual property and patent support, access to technical facilities and mentorship, and investment from the university’s seed fund.

“They were our first cheque, which gave us a lot of confidence,” Gautam said. “We still use their office space, and it’s great to be around other founders all the time – everything is just less overwhelming. Without the RCA we wouldn’t have created this business. It’s such a specific field and the RCA has really gone out of its way to find us mentors that would suit our needs.”

The RCA counts among its alumni David Hockney, Dame Tracey Emin, Sir James Dyson and fashion designer Erdem Moralıoğlu. In 2025, it was named the world’s leading university for art and design for the 11th consecutive year by the QS World University Rankings by Subject. Graduates pursue careers in architecture, automotive, culture, design, film, technology and more.

A recent Graduate Careers Report found that 74% of RCA alumni said studying at the university enabled them to pursue their career ambitions, and 83% rated the university good or excellent for at least one element of how it prepared them for life after university.

Dr. Nadia Danhash, lead of the RCA’s innovation centre, said startup support for students is wide and varied. Students can access one-to-one career advice via the student success team up to two years after completing their studies, and employability workshops and lectures help build real-world skills.

Sodexo, a global leader in sustainable food services, recently collaborated with the RCA on the Eats and Algorithms project. In a past event, LG Displays set a 12-week Luminous project competition for RCA Information Experience Design students. The university also runs an annual interdisciplinary Grand Challenge that invites students to tackle key global issues. The theme for 2025/6 is Design for Betterment, with students collaborating with Tesco, Holland & Barrett and the Design Council.

Such industry involvement offers valuable hands-on experience, Dr. Danhash added. “[Students] have to work on something with a short deadline, meet business targets and work in interdisciplinary teams,” she said. “We try to cater to all sorts of different career goals after the RCA … [but] we are a very entrepreneurial university and we do attract very entrepreneurial students.”

Frith Kerr and her classmate Amelia Noble founded their graphic design studio after graduating from the RCA in 1997, before Kerr launched Studio Frith independently in 2009. “I look back at that confidence to go and start from scratch with nothing but utter determination as a mad, wonderful gift,” Kerr said. “What helped was that the RCA’s School of Communication had a lineage of people doing just that, so you felt it was possible.”

Since then, Studio Frith has worked with clients including the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Guggenheim Museum in New York, Selfridges, Liberty and Shakespeare’s Globe. In 2025, Kerr was appointed a Royal Designer for Industry by the Royal Society for Arts, a prestigious accolade awarded to creatives who have made a significant contribution to society through design. “The RCA teaching imbued in me a rigour and tenacity about creativity that I feel underpins all my work,” she said.

Dr. Danhash believes the RCA excels at supporting entrepreneurs to start their own businesses. A recent report by Beauhurst and the Royal Academy of Engineering ranked the college among the top 10 UK universities for creating startups, alongside institutions such as Oxford University and Queen’s University Belfast. One-third of RCA founders come from minority ethnic backgrounds and more than half are female.

In her InnovationRCA role, Dr. Danhash has helped evolve the incubator considerably over the past two decades, supporting the creation of 100 companies from various sectors. In 2015, the university added AngelClubRCA, an investment network, followed by a £2.5m-£5m seed fund in 2024. “In the early days, founders were having to work part-time on the business and have a part-time job because there wasn’t enough cash in the business,” she said. “This early investment gives them a slightly longer runway before they have to go out and fundraise again.”

Those who do not join the incubator can still access business-building support and advice. Each year, InnovationRCA runs a high-growth startup programme and a brands accelerator for those wanting to build smaller creative businesses focused on painting, ceramics, photography or jewellery. Regular training sessions cover topics such as manufacturing and building a team.

“Graduates tell me that they had no idea how many doors the RCA would open for them, and how magical they’re going to be,” Dr. Danhash said. “You’re surrounded by amazing people from all over the world.” Some startups hire student body members part-time – Revive Innovations + currently works with three.

For Gautam and Kamal, collaborating with students and faculty from other disciplines has been significant. “Learning how to engage with all of these different partners and taking their input is really important,” Gautam said. “It’s easier at the RCA – you can go to the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design and grab someone who works on something very specific to help you.”

Their company’s auto-injector works with seven different medications, but their focus is now on finding a pharmaceutical partner to take their device to market to administer tranexamic acid, a clotting agent used to treat excessive bleeding that could be used by emergency services, midwives and even the Ministry of Defence.

Kamal is hopeful they will succeed, thanks to the RCA’s support. “It really opens doors with its network, its prestige and the credentials it has. It’s been an amazing platform,” he said.

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