New Delhi, Oct. 29 -- Early-stage venture capital firm Blume Ventures said Wednesday it has closed the first round of commitments for its fifth fund at $175 million (around Rs 1,545 crore).

The firm aims to raise between $250 million and $275 million for the final close by early 2026, it said in a statement.

VCCircle had exclusively reported about the launch of Blume's fifth fund last year. VCCircle also reported, in June this year, that the VC firm was set to bring on board an offshore investor as a limited partner for the fund.

The VC firm said that new fund has received commitments from existing limited partners along with new institutional investors, multilateral agencies, corporates, and family offices. It didn't name any of the LPs.

Blume has already started deploying capital from the new vehicle, investing in companies such as Mave Health and Confido in healthtech, Lucira and Ozi in consumer brands, PowerUp Money in fintech, and iDO in deeptech.The firm said that 2025 has been an active year for returns and exits, particularly from its first two funds. Blume expects aggregate distributions to limited partners to exceed $80 million this year. It also has several companies preparing to list, including insurance marketplace Turtlemint, which has filed its draft IPO papers.

Blume Ventures, set up by Karthik Reddy and Sanjay Nath in 2010, backs seed and early-stage startups building for India and global markets. It started with raising only Rs 100 crore ($20 million back then) for its first fund nearly 14 years ago. It raised nearly $60 million for its second fund and $102 million for its third fund. The VC firm made the final close of its fourth VC fund at $290 million in 2022.

The firm manages over $800 million in assets across five funds and several continuation vehicles. It has offices in Bengaluru, Mumbai, Delhi, Gujarat's GIFT City, and San Francisco. Its portfolio includes startups such as Battery Smart, Cashify, Classplus, Pixxel, Purplle, Servify, Slice, Spinny, Turtlemint, and Ultrahuman.

Blume also manages a set of growth-stage funds under its Opportunity Fund series, supported largely by existing limited partners from its earlier vehicles. These funds allow the firm to reinvest in its most successful portfolio companies. It launched Opportunity Funds in 2018, 2021, and 2022 to expand its exposure to category leaders, including Exotel, GreyOrange Robotics, Smallcase, Slice, Unacademy, and WebEngage.

Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from VC Circle.