Immigrants from Belarus, Ukraine and other Eastern European countries, whose numbers have increased significantly in recent years, are actively exploring the market for American IT startups. Venture capital firms help them find investments.
Geek Ventures managing partner Igor Makhanek has been investing for several years. He worked in Belarus, Switzerland and the United States, including in the largest IT corporations. Since his founding in 2021, his venture capital firm has raised a $23 million fund and invested in 35 startups.
Venture capital funds support companies that consider the future. Geek Ventures places special emphasis on immigrants from Eastern Europe, including Belarus and Ukraine. And Igor considers this choice to be quite logical.
“We focus on immigrants of different types. Both those who recently arrived in the United States and those who arrived 10 or 15 years ago. Our goal is to work primarily with people who have this dual cultural code. “They have connections, they have overcome the complexities of the American immigration system, the difficulties of cultural adaptation and they have demonstrated their ambition and ability to overcome difficulties.”
The startups the Geek Ventures team works with also include early-stage companies from China, India, and Israel. According to Igor, there is no geographical priority. The main criterion is the efficiency and potential of the new business.
“We don’t have any additional bonuses for coming from a specific country,” says Igor Makhanek. – But it turns out that thanks to our team (I’m from Belarus, I have several people on my team from Ukraine) we see a lot more companies from Eastern Europe, and these are absolutely wonderful teams. For example, one of the most impressive companies is called New Homes Mate. The founders are Ukrainians from Lvov, they have a team in Ukraine, in Lvov, and now they are in Austin, Texas.”
Another example of successful market entry is Filmustage on the west coast of the United States. Its specialty is web service for filmmakers, producers and professionals working in large and small studios.
“We analyze the script of the film, this is the main document, and from this script we generate various types of documentation and technical specifications using a neural network,” says co-founder and director of Filmusstage, Egor Dubrovsky. – Of course, investments are always the driving force of any startup. So naturally, it helped grow faster, but in addition to money, Geek Ventures provides even more help with the necessary connections.”
The Geek Ventures team sees its mission as creating a kind of bridge between entrepreneurial talents from Eastern Europe and other countries and the United States, where there is not only demand for them, but also more opportunities.
“Talents are distributed evenly, but opportunities are not,” says Igor Makhanek. – The greatest financial opportunities are found in the US, both in terms of clients and investors. And we see that talent, especially entrepreneurial talent, can and should come to the United States to create truly great companies here.”
Among immigrants coming to the United States from Eastern European countries, American investors hope to find creators of promising new companies, continuing the American tradition of betting on new ideas and an innovative business approach.
