Blue Lake VC: Closing the funding gap for immigrant founders in the UK

Addressing a critical funding gap for immigrant founders

The founding thesis of Blue Lake VC is rooted in a stark data point: more than 90% of immigrant founders in the UK struggle to access early-stage networks and capital, according to a proprietary survey of over 1,200 immigrant founders conducted by Blue Lake . This is despite the fact that immigrants are behind more than half of the UK's fastest-growing companies and about 46% of UK unicorns . Blue Lake explicitly targets this gap by providing the first institutional cheque to founders who are still off the radar of mainstream investors .

Support beyond capital: Oasis and International Office Hours

Beyond investment, Blue Lake runs Oasis, a London-based community hub at 60 Strand that gives immigrant founders hands-on help with banking, visas, incorporation, and network-building—the single biggest challenge for founders new to the UK ecosystem . The firm also launched International Office Hours, an initiative that has connected over 300 startups from more than 60 countries with UK VCs since 2022 . Co-founder Lyubov Guk has described the funding challenge for international founders as "a symptom of a deeper issue: the lack of a network and social capital, particularly within the VC space" .

Track record and broader ecosystem role

Blue Lake has been active since 2019, running a syndicate with an existing portfolio of early-stage startups . It also leads the TechBridge accelerator in partnership with the UK Government and Ukraine's Ministry of Digital Transformation, supporting 20 high-growth Ukrainian tech companies per cohort with investment readiness and market entry support, culminating in a pitching showcase at London Tech Week .

Team and advisory board

The founding partners are David Gilgur (formerly at Bloomberg and founder of Vimes Group) and Lyubov Guk (background in corporate finance). Their advisory board includes experienced operators and investors such as David Galperin, David Burrows (ex-Microsoft, UiPath), and Maurice Beckand Verwee . Gilgur has described the firm's mission in personal terms: "We know how wonderful this ecosystem is, but also how pretty damn hard it can be for early-stage founders to build those connections" .

The broader context: Investor Pathways Capital

Blue Lake's selection is part of a larger push by the British Business Bank to increase diversity in UK venture capital. The £400m Investor Pathways Capital initiative, announced in July 2025, is the BBB's first programme to specifically set aside capital for underrepresented investors . Among the 10 selected funds, 57% had women GPs and 43% came from ethnic minority backgrounds, including what is described as the first Black-led VC in the UK and Europe . The fund sizes range from £10 million to £20 million each, targeting pre-seed and seed-stage startups across sectors including deeptech, defence, and climate tech .