Bluehill.VC Closes Maiden Rs 400 Crore Deep-Tech Fund in Chennai

Chennai-based venture capital firm Bluehill.VC has closed its maiden fund at Rs 400 crore to back early-stage deep-tech startups. The fund includes the complete subscription of a Rs 50 crore greenshoe option, drawing institutional backing from SIDBI alongside the state governments of Kerala and Uttar Pradesh.

Additional capital for the fund came from family offices and ultra-high-net-worth individuals across India and the Middle East. Bluehill.VC was founded by experienced investors Manu Iyer and Sridhar Parthasarathy, who have previously backed successful ventures in the deep-tech ecosystem.

The fund plans to build a portfolio of approximately 16 companies operating in sectors such as space, semiconductors, defence, and aerospace. It aims to provide average initial cheques ranging between $1 million and $2 million per startup.

To date, the firm has already deployed more than Rs 120 crore from the corpus. Manu Iyer, managing partner and co-founder of Bluehill.VC, stated that the firm currently has visibility to deploy another Rs 80 crore across three to four companies and is in the process of structuring those investments.

The venture firm has reserved 40 percent of the total fund for follow-on investments in its portfolio companies. Bluehill.VC expects the full disbursement of the maiden fund to be completed over the next two years.

Looking ahead, Bluehill.VC has outlined plans for its second vehicle, targeting a corpus of Rs 1,200 crore to support deep-tech companies at the growth stage. The firm intends to begin fundraising approximately four months after achieving meaningful deployment of its current fund, aiming for a target close in the first quarter of 2027.