Daniel Wray

Venture Development

Daniel supports the formation and development of spinout companies from ideation through to external fundraising. Leveraging 8 years in the capital markets and start-up ecosystem, Daniel drives the commercial growth of spinout companies at the University of St Andrews. Areas of focus include market analysis, strategic planning, project management and investor relations. Within Lightwater Sensors, Daniel runs the day-to-day project management in addition to leading the business development efforts. Daniel has a Masters in Finance from London Business School and an MBA from Bayes Business School.

Gaining experience in both risk and investment roles including approval of £100m+ trades in addition to sourcing, due diligence and closing of acquisitions in private equity, Daniel brings a unique lens in assessing commercial opportunities, with a long term perspective. More recent experience working with start-ups, from ideation, to gaining market traction, through to global expansion, enables Daniel to bring rich and diverse experience to the founding teams in the capacity of both a sounding board as well as another pair of hands to ‘get things done’. Daniel is driven by generating a positive impact in society and believes there is a monumental opportunity for academia to harness research efforts towards benefiting society and the economy on a much broader level.