Middle Tech

In this episode, we sit down with Raechele Smalls, Director of Invest Blue, and Eric Hartman, Senior Associate Director at UK Innovate, to explore how Invest Blue is building a mission-driven community of angel investors dedicated to backing Kentucky startups. Through a founder-friendly syndicate model, Invest Blue is making early-stage investing more accessible—connecting small checks with big ideas to fuel innovation across the Commonwealth.Expect to learn why the real barrier to capital isn’t money but know-how and networks, how Invest Blue is helping first-time investors deploy smart capital alongside experienced operators, what role the University of Kentucky plays in commercializing deep tech and attracting follow-on funding, and how this syndicate is creating a pipeline of future fund managers, super angels, and ecosystem builders—all rooted in Kentucky.