Blume Ventures announces closing its fund for start-ups at $250 mn

VC firm's Fund IV will invest in some 35 companies in edtech, fintech, health and other sectors

Blume Ventures, the homegrown venture capital firm focused on early-stage technology start-ups, said on Wednesday it has closed its Fund IV at more than $250 million. The company’s assets under management (AUM) stand at over $600 million.

The fund, which was oversubscribed compared to its initial $200 million target, will invest in some 35 companies in edtech, fintech, health, commerce, and consumer internet. It is also considering investing in businesses dealing with robotics, artificial intelligence, SaaS and enterprise software.

"It has been satisfying to see the brand scale and be able to raise a fund size that is finally commensurate to its needs and more so when there is an overall gloom around fundraising and liquidity globally. The fund size, diversity of LPs (limited partners) and oversubscription is a testament to the coming of age of Blume, the institution. We will continue to work and evolve with our portfolio’s needs and build large companies that India will be proud of," said Ashish Fafadia, a partner in the venture capital firm.

The firm was founded in 2010 by Karthik Reddy and Sanjay Nath.

Fund IV, Blume’s largest fund, will be managed by its more than 15-member team comprising Fafadia, Sajith Pai, Sanjay Nath and others.

Fund investors include Indian and foreign family offices, sovereign wealth funds  and emerging market funds..

“Whether building domestically or for global markets, the best founders and LPs would like to work with a Fund that can be considered world-class, which has spurred us to keep institutionalizing and bolstering our platform, team and capabilities,” said Sanjay Nath, co-founder of Blume Ventures.

“Thanks to an increasing reality of IPO and M&A exits, there is a resurgence of 2x founders and operators, as well as higher quality first-time founders. We are excited for Blume to become the preferred seed partner of choice for both categories,” he said.

The company closed its previous fund at $102 million and has made investments in Unacademy, Slice, Spinny, Dunzo, Koo, Locus, Healthifyme, Euler, Jai Kisan and Pixxel.