Oasis Softlanding Series #2: Fundraising in the UK as an “Outsider”
When you move your startup to a new country, you don’t just leave your home market - you leave behind the professional network you spent years building. Finding the right UK investors means starting that network again, understanding what UK investors look for, knowing who invests in businesses at your stage and making the right connections before you need them.
What we will cover
Finding and contacting YOUR investor
Getting to a ‘Yes’ or a ‘No’
How to stand out
About the speakers
David Gilgur is a Partner at Blue Lake VC, an early-stage, pre-seed fund investing in international founders building B2B companies. As a co-founder of Oasis, David regularly advises founders on manoeuvring early-stage UK venture capital, refining their positioning and avoiding common pitfalls of entering the London startup ecosystem. He’s known for candid, unfiltered feedback and hosting regular 1:1 office hours.
Tim Luft is a UK-based CEO and innovation leader specialising in business growth, international expansion, and emerging technologies. As Head of European Innovation, he delivers high-impact programmes supporting start-ups, scale-ups and inward investment. With deep experience in digital innovation, AI and partnerships, Tim has led initiatives across the West Midlands and beyond. He runs a business incubator and is the founder of a regional Business Angel Network, with interests including XR for simulation and training.
Who is this for
An early-stage UK startup or an international founder planning to move your business to the UK in the next 6 to 12 months
You are building your network from scratch and wanting an investor’s unedited take on what works and what fails
You are sitting on a burning questions about pitching to the UK VCs
You will leave with
An understanding of how early-stage UK investors “read” your pitch story
Tactics to find the right investors and get their attention
First connections within the UK startup ecosystem
About the Softlanding Series
The Oasis Softlanding is an exclusive, free online series, led by investors, experts, and exited founders to support international founders before they arrive in the UK.
Next: November — Legal, SEIS and EIS.
About hosts
Oasis
Oasis is a London-based community bringing together international founders, investors and operators around the ethos of #GiveGiveAsk.
The Global Entrepreneur Programme (GEP)
The Global Entrepreneur Programme (GEP) is the UK Government’s highly selective initiative supporting ambitious international scale-ups to establish a UK presence and use it as a launchpad for global expansion. GEP focuses on enabling founders to scale their global businesses by leveraging world-class research, diverse talent, deep capital markets and an innovation-rich environment.
Important: This is general information, not legal advice. Please seek professional advice for your specific situation.