Blue Lake VC

My VC journey has never been smooth sailing. A big vision, combined with ongoing wins, big or small, keeps me moving forward, and last week was clearly one of those '𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠' moments. 🤯 Last Thursday, we held our Blue Lake Get-Together 2024, bringing together our portfolio companies, syndicate members, LPs, and close friends and partners from the tech ecosystem. Around 70 people, including international guests, gathered to celebrate Blue Lake's progress, learn about our plans, and most importantly - build meaningful connections. Standing in front of those 70 people, some of whom have been with us since day one, I felt immense gratitude, realising that nothing we have achieved so far would have been possible without their support, in whatever form it came over the past few years. ❤️ Special thanks to Sonia Kaurah, Michael Smith, Artem Yaremchuk and David Webster for sharing their pivotal moments during the fireside chat, the only formal-yet-informal part of the evening. I cannot count how many times I thought, '𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘮𝘺 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦', when their stories resonated so deeply with my own journey. In an industry as tough and challenging as VC, I believe we have created a space where people can be their true selves, where sharing your story - no matter how twisted - is encouraged, and where support is always available, 𝐧𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐨𝐫 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦. This is what attracts like-minded people (startups, angels, LPs, partners) and helps build the community that is at the core of the present and future of Blue Lake VC. Thank you to everyone who made it. Onwards and upwards! 🚀

Some investors bet on verticals, others on technologies, my bet is always on the Founders. Resilient, gritty determined, obsessed, a type of founder that is so often found amongst the immigrant community. At Blue Lake VC we working on giving these international founders a physical home, a space where they can connect, learn and work. ❗ We are looking for volunteers to become the beating heart of this new hub as community managers. In person, part-time, very flexible. Ping me a DM for more details. If you are an investor or a potential partner and would like to find out more or better still join us as we are building, drop me a line!

𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐎𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐇𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬 3.0, 𝐃𝐚𝐲 3/3 (𝐎𝐟𝐟𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐞) Last Thursday was, without exaggeration, one of the most important days in my career. It marked the culmination of our 3rd International Office Hours programme and featured our first offline component. For the very first time, we physically brought together great international founders and top UK investors for 1-2-1 informal meetings. When David and I started Blue Lake VC, we built our hypotheses around the strength of immigrant founders based on our own experiences. Ten investments and hundreds of interactions with international founders later, I am more confident than ever that we are on the right track. However, like any founder, I am always keen to have any hypotheses tested by markets. In-person IOH provided the necessary validation. The overwhelming positive feedback I received from the founders and investors indicates a ‘market fit’. We discovered a huge gap in the UK tech ecosystem when it comes to international founders. More importantly, in IOH we have developed a solution. Here are just a couple of examples of feedback that illustrate exactly why we came up with IOH and why there is a gap no one has quite filled yet (hint - because it’s bloody hard work 😅): 😎 "The best event in the last 1 year in London, with no major hype or marketing yet delivered beyond the basics. The management, ops, and quality of matches in 1:1 was on the spot, can't thank you enough for creating a space for international founders at this scale" 😍 "Thanks to investors for their time in the 1:1 meeting we had yesterday, this was very important for the development of our company in the UK market and was indispensable for the launch of our next round of investment in the UK" 💪 "This initiative went far beyond the typical "pitch and run" format, truly bridging the gap between the UK's VC ecosystem and international founders.Huge thanks to David Gilgur and Lyubov Guk for orchestrating an incredibly refreshing and interactive International Office Hours (IOH) event!" 🙌 "Thank you for your commitment to supporting international founders in the UK! Your efforts in creating such a valuable networking and learning opportunity are truly appreciated" 👀 "I learned some stuff about blockers and the challengers international founders face in trying to get things moving here, in fact some of it was quite sobering" 💥 "International office hours 3.0 by Blue Lake VC was the very best startup event that I've ever attended! You guys are true stars of the industry" 😍 "I LOVED to meet with other non-Brit entrepreneurs changing the world one startup at a time" 🤔 What’s next? We are now processing the feedback from the third and largest IOH so far, and have specific ideas we have already started working on. An online community and an offline hub are among them. Watch this space and feel free to reach out if you want to join forces! "No power in the verse can stop us" 💫

Really pleased to announce Blue Lake VC latest investment into Cogniss. Cogniss is a no-code ecosystem to develop sophisticated consumer and patient-facing digital health solutions. What is (in my opinion) key here is that Cogniss helps developers navigate the hellish landscape of compliance and data protection issues that developers face when creating applications for the health segment. A great team of Leon Young and Dr Lloyd Humphreys hits the real sweet spot of technical & sales combo. This is our first investment with a founder from the land down under and very much in line with our thesis of being THE early-stage investor for international founders in the UK. Leon, Lloyd, we are very pleased to join your story! Big shout out to Blackfinch Group for leading the round and doing much of the heavy lifting!

🎉 I am thrilled to announce that Blue Lake Syndicate has been named a finalist for the Angel Group of the Year at the UK Business Angels Association Angel Investor Awards! This recognition is a testament to our hard work and commitment to supporting exceptional immigrant founders in the UK. A huge shout out to our amazing and diverse syndicate members and portfolio companies, thanks to whom we have achieved so much impact with more to come. Looking forward to the award ceremony in July to celebrate the achievements of the early-stage investment community. DM me or David Gilgur if you would like to learn more about our group and how to get involved. https://lnkd.in/d7F-rYAb #UKBAAAwards

We are very pleased to announce Blue Lake VC latest investment in Inploi, a leading HR and Candidate Experience Platform. 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 🐕 !

Really enjoyed my time on a panel discussion organised by LMarks and Tokyo Met. Government. We are yet to invest in any startups with founders from Japan but I have been blown away by the quality of the companies that were pitching so it is just a matter of time. Thanks to Dan Dsouza 🚀, L Marks and JETRO - Japan External Trade Organization for the invite!

It was a great session! Thank you, everyone, who joined us.

Blue Lake portfolio is growing! We are very pleased that Blue Lake VC and Blue Lake Syndicate are part of the Stackt Seed round and join their story!