We are currently working on launching a new VC fund, which will enable us to expand both our support and investments in the best immigrant founders solving global problems. For now, we’re temporarily pausing new investments as we wrap things up. We’ll be back VERY soon and can’t wait to continue backing top-tier immigrant founders. In the meantime, check out Oasis London — our community space for international founders, offering events, workshops, and co-working opportunities.
B2B — Software
INVESTING & SUPPORTING IMMIGRANT FOUNDERS
WITH GLOBAL AMBITIONS
More about our approach
Pre-Seed — Seed
WHO
WE ARE
We find and back extraordinary immigrant founders in the UK, in the b-2-b, software space
Immigrants ourselves, we speak your ‘language’, our mission is to help you to achieve your full potential in the UK and globally
WE SUPPORT WITH
UK-focused or based
SEIS/EIS
B-2-B
Pre-Seed/Seed
Software
International Founders
Sector agnostic
Why immigrant founders?
It is a self-selecting group that achieves outsized success and is frequently overlooked by investors at early stages. It's time for a change.
OUR
TEAM
Blue Lake consists of the core team and the advisory board. Additionally, we are supported by a wide network of mentors and advisors in the United Kingdom and internationally
DAVID GILGUR
Founding Partner
Prior to Blue Lake VC, David founded an international trade consultancy and before that worked in Global Data at Bloomberg in the City of London. His vision is to foster a more diverse and inclusive entrepreneurship ecosystem where talent and innovation are celebrated regardless of their origin.
LYUBOV GUK
Lyubov started her career in Ukraine in corporate finance before launching Blue Lake VC and moving to London. Lyubov knows first-hand what it is like to be an immigrant founder and what it takes to grow and support international talent in the UK.
Founding Partner
OUR
WALL OF FAME
The startups we invest in are at the core of Blue Lake VC. 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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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
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.
AI team member that is integrated with all communication tools, and becomes an indispensable assistant to any developer
Don't miss out on the opportunity to have Blue Lake as an early stage investor. The team is a rare breed among investors: thoughtful, kind and respectful on the one hand and dynamic, sharp and driven on the other. If you would like to have a true and honest relationship with your investor, this is the right address.
JAN WYRWIŃSKI
Trusted Twin
It was clear to us well before they invested in SearchSmartly, that David and Lyuba live and breathe supporting founders. From proactively connecting the dots to make helpful introductions, to picking up the phone whenever we needed their advice - Blue Lake has in many ways been the ideal partner for our journey as a startup.
TAHA DAR
Search Smartly
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
Ready to take your startup to the next level?
GET IN TOUCH
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Analytics & research: Ilya Gut illya@bluelakevc.com
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