Bluehill.VC announces final close of maiden deep-tech fund at ₹400 crore

The fund received participation from SIDBI, the Kerala and Uttar Pradesh governments, family offices, entrepreneurs and UHNIs from India and the West Asia

Deep-tech venture capital firm Bluehill.VC on Thursday announced the final close of its maiden ₹400 crore fund, including the subscription of the ₹50 crore greenshoe option. The fund received strong participation from institutional investors including SIDBI, the governments of Kerala and Uttar Pradesh, alongside leading family offices, entrepreneurs and ultra high net worth individuals (UHNIs) from India and the West Asia.

 

According to the firm, the fund received interest from a broader pool of institutional and HNI investors than could be accommodated within the fund's targeted closing timeline. Although the firm said it could not accommodate all commitments in the maiden fund, it expects to engage with these investors for the next fund, planned for 2027.

 

Bluehill.VC invests from seed to Series A in startups building proprietary technologies across energy, electric vehicles (EVs), nuclear, semiconductors, advanced materials, defence, space, manufacturing, robotics, industrial technologies and the Internet of Things (IoT).

 

The firm plans to deploy ₹80 crore over the next six months. In all, the fund aims to build a concentrated portfolio of 15-16 companies, investing an average of up to $1-2 million in the first institutional round. Since commencing investments, Bluehill.VC has already deployed over Rs 100 crore across seven portfolio companies.

 

A few of its investments include EtherealX, which is pioneering reusable launch systems, counter-drone technology company Zebu Intelligent Systems, medical-tech startup Helex, and fabless semiconductor startup Sophrosyne Technologies, among others.

 

Commenting on the development, Manu Iyer, managing partner and co-founder of Bluehill.VC, said, “For the past two decades, venture capital has largely been driven by consumer, software and internet businesses. We believe the next wave of enduring value will be created by companies solving hard engineering and scientific problems. India today has the talent, policy momentum and entrepreneurial ambition to build globally competitive businesses across defence, semiconductors, space, energy and advanced manufacturing.”

 

Sridhar Parthasarathy, another co-founder and managing partner, said, “Frontier-tech investing requires a different kind of conviction. These companies take longer to build, demand deeper technical understanding and solve problems that few others are willing to tackle. But when they succeed, they create technologies that are difficult to replicate, globally competitive and capable of defining entire industries.”