Bengaluru: Chennai-based venture capital firm Bluehill.VC has closed its maiden fund at Rs 400 crore, including a Rs 50 crore greenshoe option. The fund will back early-stage companies working in defence, space, semiconductors, energy and advanced manufacturing.A greenshoe option allows a fund to raise more capital than its original target when investor demand is strong.Investors in the fund include SIDBI and the govts of Kerala and Uttar Pradesh. Family offices, entrepreneurs and wealthy individuals from India and the Middle East have also invested.Bluehill plans to build a concentrated portfolio of 15-16 companies. It will invest from seed to Series A, with initial cheques typically ranging from $1 million to $2 million.The firm has already deployed more than Rs 100 crore across seven companies and plans to invest another Rs 80 crore over the next six months.Bluehill focuses on businesses where technology and intellectual property form the core of the product. Its areas of interest include nuclear energy, electric vehicles, semiconductors, advanced materials, defence, space, robotics, water and industrial technologies.“For the past two decades, venture capital has largely been driven by consumer, software and internet businesses,” said Manu Iyer, managing partner and co-founder of Bluehill.VC. “We believe the next wave of enduring value will be created by companies solving hard engineering and scientific problems.”Its existing investments include space-tech startup EtherealX, which is developing reusable launch vehicles, and Zebu Intelligent Systems, which builds counter-drone technology. The portfolio also includes semiconductor startups Sophrosyne Technologies and optoML, and biotech company Helex.Managing partner and co-founder Sridhar Parthasarathy said frontier-tech companies typically take longer to build and require deeper technical understanding from investors.“Our focus is on founders building from first principles, creating genuine technological breakthroughs rather than incremental improvements,” he said.Bluehill was founded in 2024. The firm said it is already planning its second fund for 2027.
