Unacademy-backer Blume Ventures marks final close of its largest-ever fund at $250 million

Blume Ventures, which has backed unicorns like Unacademy, Slice, Purplle, Spinny and Ola, has marked the final close of its fourth and largest-ever fund at $250 million, the homegrown venture capital (VC) firm said on December 7.

The VC has become the latest investor to raise large India-dedicated funds for investing in startups amid an economic downturn.

"Thanks to an increasing reality of IPO (initial public offering) and M&A (mergers and acquisitions) exits, there is a resurgence of 2x founders and operators, as well as higher quality first-time founders. We’re excited for Blume to become the preferred seed partner of choice for both categories,” said Sanjay Nath, co-founder, Blume Ventures.

All of Blume Ventures' previous investors (limited partners or LPs), which include family offices, sovereign wealth funds, and emerging market fund of funds, invested in the fund, the VC said in a statement. The fund was oversubscribed as its initial target was $200 million, the firm said.

Blume raised $105 in the first close of its fourth fund, Karthik Reddy, managing partner had told Moneycontrol in December 2021.

Blume Fund IV would be managed by the VC's 15-member investment team led by Sajith Pai, Arpit Agarwal, Ashish Fafadia, Sanjay Nath and Karthik Reddy, the VC said. Through the fund, the VC will invest in 30-35 companies across different technology verticals, Blume said.

So far, Blume has invested in sectors such as edtech, fintech, health, commerce and consumer internet, along with robotics and artificial intelligence, SaaS (software-as-a-service) and enterprise software, over the last 12 years. Blume says it is managing assets worth more than $600 million.

Tracxn Technologies data shows that two of Blume Ventures portfolio companies, including foodtech unicorn Zomato, have listed on exchanges.

Blume Ventures joins a growing list of India-dedicated VCs, which includes some of the world’s biggest players such as Sequoia Capital, Accel, Elevation Capital, and Matrix Partners, to raise a large fund amid macroeconomic headwinds.

Data compiled by Moneycontrol shows that 13 India-dedicated PE/VC firms have raised close to $7 billion from limited partners in 2022. Investors still expect the much-talked-about funding winter to last for another 12-18 months.