Chennai: Bluehill.VC, a venture capital firm, has closed its Rs 400 crore maiden fund, with institutional participation from SIDBI, govts of Kerala and Uttar Pradesh, alongside family offices and ultra-high-net-worth individuals (UHNIs) from India and the Middle East.It is the maiden fund of the deep-tech focused firm founded by Manu Iyer and Sridhar Parthasarathy, experienced investors and one of the early backers of successful deep-tech startups. The fund includes the subscription of Rs 50 crore greenshoe option.It targets a portfolio of about 16 companies across space, semiconductor, defence, and aerospace, with an average first cheque of $1 to $2 million. The fund has deployed over Rs 120 crore. Manu Iyer, managing partner and co-founder of Bluehill.VC said they have visibility to deploy another Rs 80 crore across 3–4 companies and are currently in the process of structuring. It has reserved 40% for follow-on investments and expects the disbursement to be completed in two years.Bluehill.VC plans its next fund with a target corpus of Rs 1,200 crore to back deep tech in the growth stages. It will start fundraising about 4 months after meaningful deployment of the current fund, with a target of the first quarter of 2027.The maiden fund focuses on frontier technology companies with an IP-led approach and with the potential to compete globally, Iyer said, adding that they look for companies building technologies that are not only commercially significant but strategically important, as geopolitical priorities and industrial policy change the calculus.Parthasarathy said frontier-tech investing requires a different kind of conviction. “These companies take longer to build, but when they succeed, they create technologies that are difficult to replicate, globally competitive and capable of defining entire industries. Our focus is on founders building from first principles, creating genuine technological breakthroughs rather than incremental improvements.”The Chennai-based venture capital firm invests from Seed to Series A in deep-tech startups, and its portfolio includes EtherealX, a startup building reusable launch systems, optoML, which is building an AI system-on-chip platform.
