INVESTING & SUPPORTING IMMIGRANT FOUNDERS
WITH GLOBAL AMBITIONS
About Us
We are Immigrants ourselves. We speak your language. We know you are all in. We know you are resilient. Our mission is to help you to achieve your full potential in the UK and globally
David started his career in the Data department at Bloomberg before leaving to set up a company supporting Ukrainian SMEs entering the UK market, working with businesses ranging from honey producers to heavy machinery. This was where David fell in love with tech and startups, leading him to co-found Blue Lake VC.
David Gilgur
Lyubov started her career in corporate finance in Ukraine before launching Blue Lake VC, moving to London and obtaining a Global Talent visa. Lyubov knows first-hand what it is like to be an immigrant founder, and what it takes to grow and support international startups in the UK.
Lyubov Guk
Our Board & Advisors
David has founded and exited a number of successful businesses in marketing and fintech. An active angel investor, he brings a wealth of experience in building and scaling companies to the board at Blue Lake VC.
David Galperin
David brings a wealth of experience helping us assess and support startups on their go-to-market and business models, particularly in B2B, drawing on senior roles at Microsoft, UiPath and others.
David Burrows
Maurice is a successful exited founder and now an active investor and GP at Curiosity VC. He supports Blue Lake VC as an adviser and serves on our board.
Maurice Beckand Verwee
WHY IMMIGRANT FOUNDERS
A self-selecting group that achieves outsized success and is frequently overlooked by investors at early stages. We see an opportunity.
You are not alone. Oasis
Building a network is the single biggest challenge for any founder in a new ecosystem. Our Oasis community is here to change that, with unique access and real support.
· A community of international founders, investors, experts, operators, corporates
· A London base to call your own
· Hands-on help with the local maze: banking, visas, incorporation
Portfolio (Blue Lake Syndicate)
We are very proud to be part of the journey of the following teams
Google Forms on steroids including data and AI analysis of user's mouse and trackpad movements.
An exciting neo bank with a vision to provide individual entrepreneurs and small teams with tools to grow and scale their businesses. Why we invested?: GoSolo's determined founder and a unique niche in neo-banking created a compelling opportunity in the industry.
Cogniss offers both technology and regulatory solutions for developers looking to launch apps in the health sector. Why we Invested?: We can see a great combination of a niche play with huge upside potential backed by a great team with grit, technical talent and sales acumen
AI team member that is integrated with all communication tools, and becomes an indispensable assistant to any developer
An simple and scalable way of storage and for home and SMEs. Why we invested?: We had a chance to observe and communicate with the founder for a while before making the decision to invest. We were impressed with his focus, grit and the ability to execute.
The world's leading platform for early-stage funding. Connectd links early-stage startups with investors and advisors. Why we invested?: Startup - Investor platforms are generally a hard play. The founder, his team and advisors convinced us that this was the right deal.
Smart software for Electric Vehicle home charging points allowing for more efficient charging for EV owners. Why we invested?: The car industry is firmly on the path of electrification creating an exciting and growing market for supporting infrastructure and services.
Inploi is leading HR and Candidate Experience Platform providing both the candidates and HR managers cutting edge, sleek and intuitive experience. Why we Invested? What truly made inploi stand out is a clear go-to-market strategy, a client base that is passionate about the product, significant potential for growth, and an outstanding, well-balanced team. Visiting their offices and meeting the four legged team members was also a plus
Move over RightMove and Zoopla! SearchSmartly is an AI driven, hyper-personalised home rentals and purchasing search engine. Why we invested?: Real estate is a traditional behemoth that seemingly refuses to yield to startup innovation. We have known the founder for a while and observed his approach and progress before building conviction that he is the right person to tackle this market.
The team is on a mission to reduce the environmental impact of video streaming and enable significant cost reductions for their customers. Why we invested?: Environmental and cost forces are driving cloud usage towards greater efficiency. Outstanding team that can deliver a solution to this space.
Fast, secure and scalable digital product creation, data collaboration and enterprise level data access and sharing. Why we invested?: Team, team, team. Every so often we come across a team of founders that have the combination of track, record, complementary skills and temperament that make you want to take a bet on them there and then. The fact that we have knows the founders for number of years and that they are tackling a huge market has helped as well of course.
Imaginario offers in-video search, spotting an exact moment you are after just by describing it. If you are a company and still spending a tonne of time doing manual searches of your video archives you should be speaking with Imaginario. Why we Invested? : For us this is yet another validation of our thesis that immigrant founders offer an outsized opportunity for the investors, particularly at early stages.
HNR were fortunate to meet David and Lyuba when we took part in the first Blue Lake accelerator program. Conversations with Blue Lake are always knowledgeable, passionate, thoughtful and challenging. We especially like being challenged as it helps to build our skills, knowledge and ensure we are taking the business in the right direction for success!
KRISTAN BULLETT
Humans Not Robots
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