From angel network to venture firm: how Geek Ventures is building around immigrant founders

Immigrant founders have long played a significant role in U.S. technology, but access to early-stage capital often still depends on local networks, customer introductions and proximity to established investors. That gap has created room for a small number of venture firms focused on immigrant, diaspora and cross-border founders, a category that has grown in recent years.

Geek Ventures is part of that category. The firm, which invests across the U.S., Europe and Israel, has built its strategy around founders who often sit outside the networks where early venture capital usually flows. Its first fund closed at $23 million in 2023. Since then, Geek Ventures has been working to move closer to founders earlier, especially in technical markets where access to U.S. customers and co-investors can change the path of a company.

Geek Ventures was founded by Ihar Mahaniok, who now leads it alongside partner Alexander Zemlyak, both with roots in the former Soviet Union. Mahaniok made more than 60 angel investments before launching the firm, while Zemlyak joined in 2023 after working across Israel, London and Eastern Europe, including four years at LETA Capital.

Fund I was built around a conviction that immigrant founders, particularly technical ones, are often overlooked by investors despite having the technical backgrounds and cross-market experience that early-stage investors often look for. Over time, that thesis became more specific. The firm was not just looking for immigrant founders, but for founders who had already crossed markets, networks and technical barriers, and were building companies where early access to U.S. capital and networks can make a material difference.

Over time, the firm may put more capital behind the strategy, but the more important shift is operational: turning what began as Mahaniok’s angel network into a more structured early-stage firm with stronger sourcing, a repeatable process and a more active role around the companies it backs.

From instinct to process

Geek Ventures’ first fund was built around Mahaniok’s network and the angel investments he had made before launching the firm. He spent two decades as an engineer at Google, Meta and WeWork, and his approach focused on companies outside the networks where most venture capital flows.

The fund closed at $23 million and backed more than 35 companies. With first checks of $100,000 to $300,000, Geek Ventures could get into rounds early, but rarely had enough capital to lead them, build larger ownership positions or take board seats.

When Zemlyak joined in 2023, Geek Ventures began moving from a founder-led network into a more structured venture firm. He brought experience from Israel, London and Eastern Europe, including four years at LETA Capital, where he was Principal and Head of Israel. There, he worked on sourcing and early-stage investments across the region.

At Geek Ventures, Zemlyak helped turn the existing network and approach into a more formalized investment process. The firm now has a system for reviewing hundreds of inbound companies each month, a clearer framework for evaluating early-stage companies and defined criteria for deciding when to take a more active role in a round rather than remain a passive participant. Zemlyak was promoted to Partner in May 2025.

“Talent may be equally distributed globally,” Zemlyak says, “but access to capital and networks is not. Founders who have already navigated that gap tend to show a kind of adaptability that is hard to find elsewhere and harder to teach.”

Getting closer to founders earlier

Geek Ventures wants to meet founders before rounds are fully formed, when a company may still be testing early customers or deciding how to enter the U.S. market. The risk is still early-stage risk. The difference is timing: the firm is trying to build conviction before a round has momentum.

The team is based in New York, Austin, Kyiv and Tel Aviv. That gives Geek Ventures proximity to founder communities in the U.S., Europe and Israel and to operators and investors who have built or backed immigrant-led technology companies. Its network includes AppLovin founder Adam Foroughi and the founders of PandaDoc.

“At pre-seed, investing is not really about data,” Zemlyak says. “There is never enough of it. What you are evaluating is how a team handles not knowing things: whether they test assumptions quickly, update their thinking when something fails and move from uncertainty toward something they can actually act on.”

What the portfolio shows

Geek Ventures’ investments are focused on AI infrastructure, vertical AI applications, robotics, deep tech and data-heavy software. Cytronic and Spacer Robotics are on the hard-tech side. Spike aggregates health data from more than 600 IoT devices, while Caremaze closed a $3 million pre-seed round in March 2025 with Geek Ventures alongside early Palantir investors.

Across the portfolio, the common thread is immigrant founders building technically difficult companies in markets where access to U.S. capital, early customers and the right networks can materially change the trajectory of the business.

The firm is also preparing to launch an accelerator for founders who are close but not quite ready for a fund check, ones who need more customer validation, sharper positioning or a clearer path to their first institutional round.

Next steps

The company plans to establish a West Coast office in the United States, reflecting the fact that much of its portfolio, investor base, and co-investor network is already concentrated around the Bay Area. For Geek Ventures, the move is meant to put the firm closer to the customers, operators and investors that immigrant technical founders often need when they try to build in the U.S.

“Venture capital has historically underestimated how large and strong the immigrant founder pool really is,” Mahaniok says. “Our goal is simple: back those founders, write checks and earn a place in the best rounds before they become obvious.“