In Full Blume: The future of money is digital, Slice is merging with North East Small Finance Bank, and Blume is surging in Silicon Valley
Updates from the Blume team and portfolio companies
It’s nice to have you back here. Welcome to In Full Blume, our monthly roundup of updates from our team and our portfolio.
Let’s see what’s in store in this edition:
Take a peek into the future of payments and the future of batteries through our in-depth reports
A pivotal moment in the Indian fintech ecosystem as our portfolio company, Slice merges with North East Small Finance Bank
Blume portfolio companies continue to shine with top reps in LinkedIn awards, G2, and more
Networking, learning, and the joy of unlocking growth at the annual Blume Ventures Silicon Valley Summit
Funding Spotlight
Bengaluru-based e-commerce start-up Flash, founded by Ranjith Boyanapalli, raised USD 6.7M in its pre-series A round led by Blume Ventures and existing investor PeerCapital. Other existing investors, including Emphasis Ventures and White Venture Capital, also participated in the round. Here’s Karthik Reddy’s take on why Blume invested in Flash.
Ranjith Boyanapalli, Founder and CEO of Flash
Collection tech start-up DPDZero closed its USD 3.2M seed funding round led by Blume Ventures and IndiaQuotient. The company was founded in 2022 by Ananth Shroff and Ranjith BR, and will deploy the capital raised to expedite product development, strengthen its product distribution, and increase its team size. Sajith shares his thoughts on the investment rationale here.
Ranjith BR (left) and Ananth Shroff, the co-founders of DPDzero
The Future of Money
The report Future of Money, co-authored by Subhendu Panigrahi and Ashish Fafadia, sheds light on the evolving landscape of Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) and their role in the monetary ecosystem. In this two-part thesis, they explore these topics comprehensively, presenting a compelling case supported by data and analysis.
Blume’s fintech team envisions CBDC emerging as a pivotal element in the future of money and payments, poised to replace physical cash in the coming decade. Backed by central banks and driven by blockchain technology, CBDCs promise enhanced efficiency, security, and financial inclusion, transforming domestic payment systems worldwide.
Ashish spoke to CNBC TV18 to deconstruct the report and share his views on the future of CBDC.
The Battery BLUprint
As the world strides towards a Net Zero future, the role of energy storage in the energy system will expand rapidly. Whether it be electric vehicles, grid-connected battery energy storage systems, or industrial applications, it is increasingly clear that energy storage is critical to achieving a Net Zero future.
To put some structure to the wide range of new chemistries in new geometries, applications, and form factors and develop guidelines that can be widely used to match their innovations to the most likely go-to-market, Blume's climate tech team released the Battery BLUprint report. Authored by Mudit Narain, it provides a comprehensive perspective on the innovation and investment outlook of the battery sector.
Read the full report
Blumiers and Shakers
Slice is merging with North East Small Finance Bank
In a landmark moment in the Indian fintech ecosystem, Slice (a Blume Fund II company), backed by Tiger Global and Insight Partners, is merging with the North East Small Finance Bank. Slice had a valuation of USD 1.5bn in its last funding round, and the merger is expected to help it combine its efforts with North East Small Finance Bank to reach more customers who lack access to banking services and better serve its existing customers with new products. Read more about it in Slice Founder Rajan Bajaj’s tweet.
Classplus and Ethereal Machines featured in The Generalist
Mario Gabriele, noted tech whisperer and publisher of the widely popular newsletter, The Generalist (over 100k subscribers), asked 8 Indian VCs to highlight a company they consider exceptional.
Representing Blume Ventures, Sajith Pai wrote about Classplus (Fund III company), and Karthik Reddy wrote about Ethereal Machines (Fund III company).
Despite monetization being a challenge for SaaS companies and current SaaS unicorns relying heavily on the US, Sajith reiterated Blume’s conviction in a Bharat SaaS play by exemplifying Classplus’ growth. Classplus is a vertical SaaS company operating in the education space in a unique SaaSTra (SaaS + Transactions) model.
Karthik doubled down on Blume’s bullish bet in the manufacturing sector via Blume’s investment in Ethereal machines. He writes about India’s manufacturing power, whose full potential will be unveiled over the next quarter of the century to 2047. He delves into how Ethereal Machines came about its business model and widened its funnel of repeat customers.
To go deeper into these insights, check out the post here.
UN World Food Forum honors Stellapps in Agtech and Food Tech Awards
Stellapps Technologies (Fund II company), an end-to-end dairy tech solutions provider, made it into the top 8 finalists in the 3rd annual United Nations World Food Forum Agtech and Food Tech Start-ups Innovation Awards. It is the only India-based start-up to have been shortlisted.
LambdaTest scores over 90 Badges in G2 Fall 2023 Ratings
LambdaTest (Fund III company), a digital cloud testing SaaS provider, won 90+ badges in the coveted G2 Fall 2023. The badges are a testament to the top-notch experience LambdaTest provided and reinforce the company's market leadership in the software testing market.
Sprinto sweeps G2 Awards and secures LinkedIn India's Top Start-ups 2023 recognition
Sprinto (Fund III), a Bengaluru-based compliance automation software provider, received G2 honors in not one but ten categories. It has been voted as a category leader not only in Asia but in Europe and the Americas as well.
Continuing its winning streak, Sprinto is also listed in Linkedin India’s Top Start-ups' 2023 list.
WebEngage's EngageMint 2023: A resounding success
WebEngage (Fund I), which assists businesses in creating personalized customer experiences at scale, hosted their marquee event EngageMint, hosting 1000+ marketers and 40+ speakers who imparted deep insights on diverse topics. It received a heartwarming response from all the participants. Now Engagemint is off to Riyadh as the next stop.
Carbon Clean was honored with the Clean Energy Technology Innovation of the Year award at the ADIPEC Awards
Carbon Clean (Fund I), a firm assisting industries to decarbonize and servicing businesses like CEMEX and Chevron, won the prestigious ‘Clean Energy Technology Innovation of the Year’ award at ADIPEC Awards 2023 for its breakthrough technology CycloneCC.
Blume’s investment strategy and the current investment landscape
Karthik Reddy spoke to ET NOW on the VC funding environment and Blume's investment strategy. He talked about the conservative risk appetite VCs have at the moment, which is likely to continue for the next few years. He also spoke about winning strategies for start-ups and elucidated how a tech-first approach is disrupting traditional business models.
Blume Ventures at SIDBI's Investor Connect Program
Mudita Narsaria from Blume’s investor success team was a part of the Investor Connect Program organized by SIDBI(Small Industries Development Bank of India) and Start-up Odisha in Bhubaneshwar. She spoke about “How to be Investment Ready - VC’s bird's-eye view on start-up journeys in smaller cities.”
AMA with Karthik Reddy
Karthik sat down with Suresh Venkat at the "Economic Times Start-up Awards" to talk about all things start-ups, fundraising, and company building. In this live AMA session, Karthik shared the inner workings of a venture fund and how it raises capital from other institutional investors. He explained how the moral and fiduciary duties of a VC towards their investors (LPs) drive many investment decisions.
Are you in the business of AI, or are you using AI for your business?
Blume's Ashish Fafadia joined Orios Venture Partners' Rehan Yar Khan to discuss how AI is powering the latest shift in business. They were hosted by Mitesh Shah, co-founder of Inflection Point Ventures, on the 3rd episode of The Viewpoint.
In Your “Community” Corner
The Blume community team (with Deepika Jain and Sarita Raichura at the helm) is hard at work curating the best sessions for our portfolio founders to help them learn, build, and network better, and perhaps ease (even a little bit) the arduous journey of building amazing products. This section will showcase the sessions we conduct and the ideas that emerge when great minds come together.
Blume Ventures Silicon Valley Summit
We kicked off September, the month of tech meet-ups in the US, right before SaaStr and SaaSBOOMi Caravan in the company of founders (who are friends), friends (who are founders), investors, and experts from the US SaaS ecosystem at the Blume Ventures's Annual Silicon Valley mixer on Sep 5th.
Amidst panel discussion on cracking the GTM in the US, engaging chats on winning in the global markets, and deep insights from experts, we could see deep bonds forged and new learnings absorbed. Click on the photos below to get a glimpse of the wonderful evening from our partner Sanjay Nath’s camera.
Blume Velocity - a bootcamp for Start-up Founders like no other!
In the early stages, start-ups often lack CXOs, leaving founders to take on multiple roles, such as CMO, CHRO, and CSO, managing all aspects of the company. Blume Velocity, a bootcamp for early-stage Blume portfolio companies, offers early-stage founders a structured learning program, providing strategic and tactical advice on key organizational functions (Product, Design, Marketing, Sales, Technology, HR, and Fundraising) from experienced experts.
Our first Blume Velocity was in 2020. It packed 15 sessions over seven weeks – and boasted 18 rockstar mentors (& 10 portfolio companies). This year, we decided to go physical and amp things up by conducting not just one but two Velocity boot camps.
The second Velocity of 2023 was held this month, with founders coming to Blume’s Bangalore office for two power-packed days. It was also one of our biggest yet, with 15+ sessions attended by 25+ founders.
Here’s what Arpita Kapoor, a two-time Blume founder and attendee of Velocity 2023, says about her takeaways from these sessions.
