<article>Early stage investment firm <a style="color: #000080;" href="http://www.blumeventures.com/" target="_blank">Blume Ventures</a> has hit a third close of its second venture capital and expects to complete the fund raising process in July.</article>

Early stage investment firm <a style="color: #000080;" href="http://www.blumeventures.com/" target="_blank">Blume Ventures</a> has hit a third close of its second venture capital and expects to complete the fund raising process in July.
The firm, among India&#8217;s most prolific investors at the seed and angel stages, has made more than 20 investments from the new fund in the last 13 months.
Such deals include funding in startups like <a style="color: #000080;" href="http://www.roadrunnr.com/" target="_blank">RoadRunnr</a>, test prep platform <a style="color: #000080;" href="http://mockbank.com/" target="_blank">MockBank</a>, internet of things-based energy data analytics provider <a style="color: #000080;" href="https://www.zenatix.com/" target="_blank">Zenatix Solutions</a>, peer-to-peer money transfer and payments app <a style="color: #000080;" href="http://www.dealstreetasia.com/?s=chillr" target="_blank">Chillr</a>, Bangalore-based edtech startup <a style="color: #000080;" href="http://www.flipclass.com/" target="_blank">FlipClass</a>, and contacts management app InTouchApp. 

The firm had made first close in December, when it raised $30 million in a round led by Silicon Valley-based <a style="color: #000080;" href="http://www.iconiqcapital.com/" target="_blank">ICONIQ Capital</a>, a global merchant bank for a group of influential families. Other investors included <a style="color: #000080;" href="http://www.iiflw.com/" target="_blank">IIFL Wealth</a>, the Government&#8217;s India Aspiration Fund, administered through <a style="color: #000080;" href="http://www.sidbi.com/" target="_blank">SIDBI</a>, Infosys co-founder N R Narayana Murthy&#8217;s private investment arm Catamaran, Morgan Creek and Recruit Holdings.
The firm hit second close in January, when it raised $10 million from limited partners Kaiser Foundation and Dream Incubator.
The third close has come after three months. The firm raised a similar amount as the second close from Unilever Ventures and others. That brings its total corpus to more than $50 million. Blume is targeting $60 million for the second fund.
The firm had started the fundraising process for Fund II in early 2014, and increased the size of the fund subsequently. It had expected to close the fund in the first quarter of 2015, but that period got stretched.
&#8220;Its always been tough for new VC funds, especially first time institutional funds,&#8221; said Karthik Reddy, Blume Ventures&#8217; managing partner.
&#8220;We deploy first cheques over 30-36 months, follow on cheques into those companies between the 12th and 60th month. We are about 13 months in,&#8221; Reddy said in an interaction with DEALSTREETASIA.
Since its inception in 2011, Blume Ventures has invested in over 75 companies. The firm also scored on exits last year. Four of its portfolio companies viz., <a style="color: #000080;" href="https://www.taxiforsure.com/" target="_blank">TaxiForSure</a>, <a style="color: #000080;" href="https://zipdial.com/" target="_blank">ZipDial</a>, Promptec and 1Click.io were acquired by <a style="color: #000080;" href="http://www.dealstreetasia.com/?s=Ola" target="_blank">Ola</a>, Havells, <a style="color: #000080;" href="http://www.dealstreetasia.com/?s=Twitter" target="_blank">Twitter</a> and <a style="color: #000080;" href="http://www.dealstreetasia.com/?s=FreshDesk" target="_blank">FreshDesk</a>, respectively.
Reddy said that in the current environment, where venture funding has not been as readily available as it was in the last two years, founders of startups are better prepared when pitching. &#8220;We think quality of founders and pitches are broadly up significantly. But to find 10-15 early stage ideas a year that appeal to you on this quality can&#8217;t be so difficult in a 2016 venture market. If that were the case, we would be in trouble.&#8221;
The firm had about 2500-3000 plans pitched to them through the year, out of which they will fund about fifteen in all.
In an earlier interview, Blume co-founder Sanjay Nath had said the fund will allocate half of the second fund into startups looking to solve problems across multiple markets, and was looking to make more lead investments compared with the last fund.
Reddy said that the firm will go slow for the rest of the year. &#8220;Announcements and concluding a transaction are not necessarily in sync. About 50 per cent of the current list of investments were concluded last calendar year, and you can assume an average of $500,000 per investment for approximated math. The lesser the loose money at early stage, the more disciplined the ecosystem.&#8221;
Also read:
<a style="color: #ff0000;" href="http://www.dealstreetasia.com/stories/blumes-second-fund-to-focus-more-on-indian-startups-targeting-global-problems-34684/">Exclusive: Blume’s second fund to focus on Indian startups with global play</a>
<a style="color: #ff0000;" href="http://www.dealstreetasia.com/?s=blume" target="_blank">BHIVE Workspace raises $1m in round led by Blume Ventures</a>
<a style="color: #ff0000;" href="http://www.dealstreetasia.com/?s=blume" target="_blank">India: Unacademy raises $500k from Blume Ventures, others </a>

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Early stage investment firm Blume Ventures has had a third close of its second venture capital and expects to complete the fund raising process in July.

Exclusive: Blume Ventures' new fund hits 3rd close, to go slow on investments

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Exclusive: Blume Ventures' new fund hits 3rd close, to go slow on investments

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