Wayra UK

Wayra UK is the British arm of Wayra, the Corporate Venture Capital and open innovation platform of Telefónica and Virgin Media O2. It invests in technology startups whose products can drive innovation across Telefónica's business units, and runs a venture-client model that pairs startups with the group's customer base of around 380 million.

The UK team focuses on 5G private networks, connectivity, IoT, enterprise SaaS and emerging technologies, and writes cheques from seed through Series C. Globally, Wayra has invested over €245m in more than 1,200 startups, currently manages an active portfolio of over 530 companies, and operates seven hubs across Europe and Latin America.

Wayra was originally launched as a startup accelerator in 2011 and consolidated into Telefónica's CVC arm in 2018. Alongside direct investment, the platform runs open innovation programmes for other corporates and institutions through its Open Future and Alaian platforms.