How Startups Will Play a Pivotal Role in Driving Development After the Pandemic

We talked to Alexey Raevsky, CTO and Co-Founder of Bloomio, a fully comprehensive structure aimed to maximize investment opportunities through a series of unique features. Here is what he said about it.

First of all, how are you and your family doing in these COVID-19 times?

Alexey Raevsky: Thanks for asking. We are keeping healthy. Obviously, it’s quite a challenging time for anyone else around, but we know that we will come out stronger from this experience.

Tell us about you, your career, and how you founded Bloomio.

Alexey Raevsky: After connecting at the Executive IMD MBA program with Max Lyadvinsky and Emile Osumba, we saw room for disruption within the traditional VC model, and Bloomio was born.

How does Bloomio innovate?

Alexey Raevsky: Bloomio is an equity crowdfunding platform that connects early-stage startups with individual investors. The platform allows startup founders to raise capital by tokenizing equity and gives investors the possibility to trade startup stakes through a secure blockchain-based marketplace.

How the coronavirus pandemic affects your business, and how are you coping?

Alexey Raevsky: The economic instability following the pandemic has made access to venture funds harder than before. At the same time, we see a growing interest in startups, from new actors on the scene, who believe that the grit and innovation these types of companies bring is the right mix to deliver commercial success in this evolving economic and business landscape.

Did you have to make difficult choices, and what are the lessons learned?

Alexey Raevsky: We did, unfortunately. We had to downsize our workforce in 2020, and we put in place this drastic decision following two pillars: 1. being fair in the conditions offered to the people, and 2. being flexible as a business to operate with reduced support.

What specific tools, software, and management skills are you using to navigate this crisis?

Alexey Raevsky:: We didn’t see a massive change from this perspective. As a company operating out of 3 locations, we massively used remote working tools already before the pandemic.

Who are your competitors? And how do you plan to stay in the game?

Alexey Raevsky: Seedrs, Wefunder, Funderbeam, and other equity crowdfunding portals.

Our approach is very different in the way we assess any investment opportunity we present to investors. Unlike other industry players who conduct in-house due diligence, we leverage a panel of 3rd party experts. We believe that this approach ensures full independence in evaluating a startup, and as well it allows technical assessment in a wide range of industries.

Your final thoughts?

Alexey Raevsky: The business landscape will be subject to major changes following the pandemic. I cannot say if for good or for bad. What I know is that startups will play a pivotal role in driving post-Covid economic development.