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 outsised success and is frequently overlooked by investors at early stages. It's time for a change.

APPLY HERE

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

Tackling unconscious bias in the initial stages of the recruitment process.

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.

Imaginario

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.

Imaginarion does 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.

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!