Partner, Blume Ventures
Mumbai, India
Joined July 2013
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Ashish Fafadia retweeted
Congratulations to the @confidohealth team on their Series A!
Today over 1,500 clinics rely on Confido to keep the front desk running, so their staff can spend more of the day with patients.
We’ve loved watching the team build this, one workflow at a time.
@mchetanreddy500 @vichar_shroff we’re so glad to be on this journey with you. Excited to be a part of the journey with @z47_vc, Justin Saks and Together.
@sanjaynath @BKartRed @AshishFafadia @sajithpai @arpiit @udayanpandey @sameeraculous
Warm birthday wishes Hon’ble Prime Minister.
The PE and VC industry is committed to contribute to the ambition of a stronger, more prosperous India and looks forward to working together with the GOI to support innovation, entrepreneurship, investment, and the overall development of our nation.
Wishing you good health and continued success in the service of the country.
#HappyBirthdayPMModi
@narendramodi @PMOIndia @FollowCII
Congratulations to Hon’ble PM Shri @narendramodi on 12 years of decisive leadership — and on becoming India’s longest-serving elected Prime Minister.
A decade of reforms. A trillion-dollar economy in the making. An India that the world looks to with respect.
We salute this milestone and CII reaffirms its commitment to the shared vision of a Viksit Bharat. 🇮🇳
@PMOIndia @PiyushGoyal @CimGOI @mygovindia @FollowCII
#12YearsOfSeva
#LongestServingElectedPMModi #12yearsOfDevelopment #NewIndia #CII4India
Ashish Fafadia retweeted
slice credit card is now live for everyone. We appreciate the patience of our 1.2 million waitlisted customers over the last few months. We will shortly begin processing your applications and start accepting all new ones
This is India's first UPI credit card that actually rewards everyday spending, whether it is a ₹10 chai or a ₹1 lakh flight ticket
This is also the first large-scale use of the UPI network to build credit on top of it. Affirm and Klarna in the West offer no-cost instalments at only 0.5 to 1 million merchants. The slice UPI credit card brings 3 months no cost EMI with zero charges at 60 million merchants
Since the UPI credit card ecosystem is still in its early days, some merchants may not accept it yet. Our built-in savings account covers those gaps, and your remaining balance continues to earn 100% of the repo rate
UPI will bring credit to 300 million Indians over the coming decade. We’ve spent the last few years quietly building from risk to infrastructure to make credit feel as seamless as UPI itself. This is just the beginning!
Ashish Fafadia retweeted
Highlight - India's IPO Flywheel Effect!
Thanks @SiliconVlyBan for having @BlumeVentures share our perspectives at your flagship Global Private Market Trends report launch event in San Francisco!
lnkd.in/dKNMvD7z
The "Flywheel Effect of India's Public Markets" in particular, resonated deeply with key stakeholders of India VC/PE -- across LPs, GPs and Founders alike.
Given the nature of SVB's thoroughly researched and prepared Report, I'm capturing some of the key takeaways from Blume's vantage point:
Around India's vibrant Public Markets --
* A 5x increase in IPO listings in 5 years! A reopened IPO window has restored liquidity to the market, with public listings up from 70 in 2020 to 350 in 2025
* Proven script on what it means to be a publicly listed company, at scale
* Mutual funds are driving demand for public companies, bolstered by a growing middle class. Demand for "profitable tech" from domestic Indian investors has been on a growth tear
* Exits are being realized thanks to multiple liquidity windows, from secondaries (to PEs / specialists) to pre IPO to finally post IPO sales
On the rise of AI & Deep tech from India --
* Newer, younger AI-first startups are moving to the valley early on, hiring here, and building close their customers from day one. They are integrating closely with customer workflows, and key investment focus areas include Applied AI, Vertical AI, Voice agents, Dev & Tooling and more
* Hiring top Talent is one of the biggest drivers and reasons to raise funding
* Earlier goal of $10m ARR in the first few years, is now $100M ARR
* In Deep tech, there is a massive push from the Indian Government on new funding initiatives like the RDIF (R&D Innovation Fund)
* An increased demand for indigenous deep/space/aero tech companies and an increasing affiliation with engineering/tech incubators and research parks. * Key investment areas include Physical AI - Robotics, aerospace, drones, space tech/defence and more
---------
Thanks again to our wonderful partners at SVB and the crew for pulling off another awesome event!
Ashish Fafadia retweeted
Every year at Blume Day, we take a moment to celebrate what matters most in venture, returning capital to the people who believed in us.
Exits are more than milestones. They're proof that the conviction was right.
This year, at Blume Day 2026, we celebrated six companies across our portfolio:
🔵 @myspinny (Fund II) — the full-stack pre-owned car platform that brought trust and transparency to India's fragmented pre-owned auto market.
Amount Invested: ₹185.9 Cr (~$21.6M)
MOIC: 32.4x
🔵 @ServifyHQ (Fund II, IIA) — the device lifecycle management platform powering after-sales service for Apple, Samsung, and 50+ brands across 12 countries.
Amount Invested: ₹176.7 Cr (~$20M)
MOIC: 14.7x (Fund II) , 5.1x (Fund IIA)
🔵 @letspurplle (Fund I vintage, IIA) — India's largest beauty e-commerce platform, making personalised skincare and cosmetics accessible to millions beyond metro India.
Amount Invested: ₹119.9 Cr (~$13.6M)
MOIC: 3.8x (Fund I) , 8.4x (Fund IIA)
🔵 @smallcaseHQ (Fund II, IIA) — the wealthtech platform that redefined retail investing in India through expert-curated, theme-based stock portfolios.
Amount Invested: ₹84 Cr (~$9.8M)
MOIC: 12.1x (Fund II) , 3.3x (Fund IIA)
🔵 @getidfyed (Fund I vintage) — India's leading identity verification and fraud prevention platform.
Amount Invested: ₹34.3 Cr (~$3.9M)
MOIC: 4.3x
🔵 @locus_sh (Fund II) — the intelligent logistics automation platform that optimised last-mile delivery for enterprises, found home at Ingka Group (IKEA).
To the founders who built these, this is your win as much as ours.
Watch the full celebration here: shorturl.at/gXUly
@BKartRed @AshishFafadia @sajithpai @sanjaynath
@arpiit @riashroff @saritaraichu @mehtaalok @mitul_am @SeekingN0rth @DeepikaDakuda @gauthamsiv @ray_elton99 @vikramg05
Ashish Fafadia retweeted
Full-stack platform for distributed #solar, #AeremSolutions raises $15 million.
With solar 3-4x cheaper than grid power but underpenetrated at just 20%, the opportunity is huge.
Founder Anand Jain talks to @ShrutiMishra_ about scaling solar adoption, financing & profitability.
Ashish Fafadia retweeted
The Three Rails That Will Define India's Payment Future
UPI put India's payments infrastructure on the global map. Record-breaking transaction volumes, worldwide adoption, instant settlement, and more. But this is only the beginning.
In our latest Bluprint, @jatinmadhra (Jatin) and Charulika Raman from our Investments Team explore how India's payment infrastructure is evolving from a single-rail success story into a multi-layered ecosystem that could redefine how money moves globally.
Picture these scenarios:
- Your UPI app doesn't just process domestic payments but settles cross-border transactions in real-time, competing directly with card networks.
- A farmer receives a government subsidy as programmable digital rupees that can only be spent on certified seeds and fertilizer—eliminating middlemen and leakage.
- A startup pays its global contractors in stablecoins, converting rupees seamlessly through compliant on-ramps, bypassing legacy forex rails entirely.
In every case, the rail isn't just infrastructure, but it is evolving into an intelligent, programmable, and purpose-built scaffolding for specific use cases.
This is how we envision the future of payments in India.
Read the full Bluprint here: blume.vc/reports/beyond-upi-…
@BKartRed @AshishFafadia @sajithpai @sanjaynath
@arpiit @riashroff @saritaraichu @mehtaalok @mitul_am @SeekingN0rth @DeepikaDakuda @gauthamsiv @ray_elton99 @vikramg05
Ashish Fafadia retweeted
Is the credit card ready for disruption? @slicebank @rajan_bajaj weighs in.
India continues to double down on scale with Budget 2026. Capital for MSMEs, a hard push on semiconductors, cloud and AI, and policy continuity create the right risk-reward setup for long-term tech investing for Investors, Indian and Global. This is less about short-term tax sugar and more about building durable pipes—capital, talent, and digital infrastructure. For growth equity and venture, the opportunity set just got deeper, broader, and more investable. It’s time to Keep Calm and Go All In(dia).
@BlumeVentures @BKartRed @sanjaynath @arpiit @sajithpai
Ashish Fafadia retweeted
PM @narendramodi urges industry and startups to focus on quality. Let excellence become our benchmark.
#MannKiBaat
Ashish Fafadia retweeted
It was great speaking with @dilipasbe at @NPCI_NPCI about slice’s journey from fintech to bank, and the road ahead
India’s payments and banking infrastructure is one of the most remarkable stories of our time. The RBI, NPCI, and leaders like Dilip have built the foundation for what comes next
#NewEpisodeAlert
Ep:8 slice’s Leap: From Fintech Disruptor to India’s Next Big Bank
In this episode of Innovators Playground, @dilipasbe, MD and CEO, NPCI, sits down with @rajan_bajaj, Founder and ED, @slicebank, for a candid conversation on how a fintech company is rethinking banking itself, from core technology and credit models to AI, #UPI, and population scale design.
Here is what the episode dives into:
✅ What it means to build a banking stack in house:
✅ Why building for the first time users creates the best bank for everyone
✅ How UPI and credit are converging into a new financial primitive
✅ Where AI actually matters in banking at scale
🎧 A must listen for engineers, product leaders, and fintech founders building for India’s next decade of growth.
Listen now: youtu.be/0CG2zLM5vpQ
#InnovatorsPlayground #NPCI #slice #TechLeadership #OpenSource #DPI #Fintech #IndiaTech #EngineeringCulture #Startups #UPI #CreditonUPI #credit
Ashish Fafadia retweeted
Minimalist didn’t go global with hype. It went global with proof.
When asked whether Minimalist could become a truly global brand, Mohit Yadav’s answer wasn’t aspirational — it was empirical.
The first international bet was the GCC, chosen for a simple reason: distribution ease via Amazon.
No big marketing push. No brand blitz. Just product, reviews, and data.
Within 5–6 months, something stood out: retention and repeat rates were as strong as India.
That signal mattered.
It led to the next markets — South Asia, and then the most intimidating one of all: the US. A market Mohit openly admits is cluttered, hyper-competitive, and unforgiving. The “right to win” wasn’t obvious.
Yet today, the US is Minimalist’s largest market.
And the next milestone is physical: 1,600 Target stores — a validation few Indian consumer brands ever reach.
Global expansion, in this case, wasn’t about exporting a brand story.
It was about letting product performance travel first.
🎧 Watch the full episode to hear Mohit break down Minimalist’s global journey, market by market — in conversation with Karthik B. Reddy on S4 of The Blume Podcast: youtu.be/8Aye210Mt4k
@BKartRed @AshishFafadia @sajithpai @sanjaynath
@arpiit @riashroff @saritaraichu @mehtaalok @mitul_am @SeekingN0rth @DeepikaDakuda @gauthamsiv @ray_elton99 @vikramg05
Ashish Fafadia retweeted
Why did Japan’s most conservative megabank write a ~₹40,000 Cr cheque for an Indian NBFC?
In the latest Decoding Exits episode, @BKartRed (Karthik) breaks down why Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) announced a ~₹40,000 Cr investment to acquire a 20% stake in Shriram Finance Limited.
It is an endorsement of Shriram’s multi-decade playbook: serving underbanked Indians in rural areas, a segment long dismissed as “too risky” to be profitable.
Today, Shriram has 3,200+ branches, ~10M active customers, and an AUM of ~₹2.81 lakh crore. Here’s how it started. 🧵
@BKartRed @AshishFafadia @sajithpai @sanjaynath
@arpiit @riashroff @saritaraichu @mehtaalok @mitul_am @SeekingN0rth @DeepikaDakuda @gauthamsiv @ray_elton99 @vikramg05
Ashish Fafadia retweeted
Servify (Fund II) is quietly redefining one of the most overlooked parts of consumer technology — what happens after you buy the device. Operating across 50+ countries, @ServifyHQ powers the global after-sales infrastructure behind some of the world’s biggest tech brands, including Apple and Samsung.
By stitching together underwriting, service centres, logistics, parts, call centres, and AI-led operations into a single seamless claims journey, Servify has turned after-sales from a cost centre into a strategic profit centre.
Watch the full video to learn more: youtube.com/watch?v=sGKEjivu…
I spent time inside @Servify to understand a part of the tech industry most of us never think about - what happens after a device breaks.
That single moment triggers a global chain of decisions, logistics, diagnostics, compliance, replacements, underwriting - all of it invisible to the customer.
Servify quietly runs that system for some of the world's biggest tech brands.
I sat down with founder @sreevathsap to understand how a company built in Mumbai ended up managing after-sales operations across 50+ countries.
We spoke about why after-sales was long treated as a cost centre, how it quietly became infrastructure, and why the future of consumer tech increasingly depends on what happens after the sale.
New episode of This Is Business is live.
Full story here youtu.be/sGKEjivuC6M?si=6EZM…
#10YearsOfStartupIndia#
Each time I visit large buildings in other financial centres as we pitch for capital, we see clocks showing time of various countries. Very few of these buildings / offices have a clock showing time of any Indian city. And each time I wait at those reception areas, heart prays and kind asks a question - let’s do all that it takes to get there. Question is - when will our time come ??
Over the past decade, Startup India has evolved from a policy intent into a functioning economic engine. What began in 2016 as an ecosystem enabler has today become a FORCE MULTIPLIER for entrepreneurship in India and the outcomes have been measurable. Over 100,000 startups recognised, spanning 650+ districts, with founders emerging well beyond Tier-1 cities due to capital access—especially at the seed and early stages—having improved. Programs such as tax exemptions, DPIIT recognition, Fund of Funds, and public procurement access have a potential to shift the odds in favour of first-time founders.A critical pillar of this success has been the role played by SIDBI, which translated policy vision into deployable capital. Through the Fund of Funds for Startups and targeted ecosystem initiatives, SIDBI acted as a catalytic anchor—crowding in private capital, professionalising fund management, and ensuring risk capital reached beyond traditional startup hubs.Startup India has, in some sense, also contributed in making Entrepreneurship in India as a mainstream career choice. Universities, state governments, PSUs, and private capital have aligned around a common startup vocabulary. India today produces globally competitive companies across fintech, SaaS, logistics, climate, and deep tech and we believe theres lot more to come.
Like any ambitious initiative at this scale there will always be lots to solve for. The next phase, we hope will solve for capital distribution into varied strategies and focus areas, late-stage depth, flexible terms and exit velocity.
But judged on intent, scale, and systemic impact, Startup India has delivered real outcomes—not just slogans. Ten years on, the programme stands as proof that when policy focuses on enabling rather than controlling, markets respond. The next decade from hereon should hopefully drive towards global leadership and scale of outcome.
Coming back to where I began this post - I believe our time is coming and we will see more clocks at global offices showing Mumbai, Delhi or Bengaluru time and the startup and funds ecosystem has lots to do and deliver as we get there. Thanks #10yearsofstartupIndia# for the head start
Thank you @startupindia @narendramodi @PMOIndia @DPIITGoI @sidbiofficial @FinMinIndia and the entire machinery that has made this possible and all the best for the journey hereon.
@BlumeVentures @BKartRed @sanjaynath @arpiit @sajithpai
Ashish Fafadia retweeted
Blume 2026 Perspective: Atoms, Ambition, and the Audacity of Youth
We asked @sajithpai (Sajith), Partner at Blume Ventures, what he’s most excited about heading into 2026. As usual, the Indus Valley cartographer didn’t disappoint.
Here are a few of his sharpest takeaways from our ongoing ‘Blume 2026 Perspectives’ series. It's part Berkshire Hathaway annual letter, part Rilke's Letters to a Young Poet—and quintessentially Sajith.
1. The Contrarian "Atoms" Bet: While everyone's chasing AI, he points to physical businesses that remain "vast, under-innovated spaces”, ripe for disruption. @myspinny (Fund II), @ServifyHQ (Fund II), @BatterySmartIN (Fund IV) exemplify this.
2. VCs are globalising alongside founders: Indian funds are backing founders worldwide, recognising that Indian talent can now build from anywhere, for anywhere. @atomicworkhq (Fund IV), @NiqoRobotics (Fund III), @UltrahumanHQ (Fund III) are perfect examples of this.
3. The Super-Young Founder Phenomenon: There's a new generation of extremely young founders tackling frontier tech (AI, deep tech, aviation, space) with unusual confidence. His only advice is to not chase the hype, build what truly calls out to you.
To read his full perspective, please click here: blume.vc/commentaries/blume-…
@BKartRed @AshishFafadia @sajithpai @sanjaynath
@arpiit @riashroff @saritaraichu @mehtaalok @mitul_am @SeekingN0rth @DeepikaDakuda @gauthamsiv @ray_elton99 @vikramg05
Ashish Fafadia retweeted
The Unlikely Bridge: Consumer Internet 🤝🏼 Deeptech
@arpiit (Arpit), Partner at Blume Ventures, was featured recently in an Economic Times article about how successful consumer internet founders/operators are making an unexpected leap into deeptech ventures.
This seems counterintuitive.
Keeping aside the different expertise needed, the “startup physics” for both sectors is also different. Consumer startups let you move the needle almost immediately with visible metrics, while deeptech is a long game where timelines stretch into years before any meaningful movement happens.
Yet the transition is accelerating.
ShareChat cofounders are building @GeneralAutonomy in robotics. Udaan cofounder Amod Malviya launched AI manufacturing startup Pre6. Zomato's @deepigoyal (Deepinder) is self-funding longevity and aerospace ventures.
Arpit explains: "When you think in decades, the answer often points to solving fundamental problems and many of those fall under deeptech. That's why you see founders from fintech, or consumer internet moving into areas like aerospace, robotics or longevity."
For those willing to make the leap, the bridge exists for founders ready to trade velocity for depth. Read the full article here: shorturl.at/7gEJ8
@BKartRed @AshishFafadia @sajithpai @sanjaynath
@arpiit @riashroff @saritaraichu @mehtaalok @mitul_am @SeekingN0rth @DeepikaDakuda @gauthamsiv @ray_elton99 @vikramg05
Ashish Fafadia retweeted
🚀 Reinventing the Enterprise Finance Stack: bluecopa Raises $7.5M (~₹67Cr)
@bluecopahq (Fund IV) has raised $7.5M led by Analog Partners with participation from us and Dallas Venture Capital.
Founded in 2021, bluecopa is building an AI-native platform that automates core enterprise finance workflows (reconciliations, receivables, payables, reporting etc.) replacing batch-based, manual finance processes with continuous, audit-ready operations. Over the past year, bluecopa has delivered 5x revenue growth while tripling its customer base.
The fresh capital will deepen product development around autonomous finance capabilities, expand bluecopa’s footprint across APAC, North America, and the Middle East, and support the build-out of specialised AI models for finance teams handling large transaction volumes.
Satya Prakash Buddhavarapu, Co-Founder & CEO, bluecopa, said, “We’re building specialised foundation models so every finance leader has an AI-native platform that doesn’t just automate tasks but fundamentally reimagines how financial operations should work.”
@sanjaynath (Sanjay), Co-Founder & Managing Partner, Blume Ventures, said, “Autonomous finance is emerging as a core pillar of the modern CFO stack, and bluecopa is at the forefront of this shift with a purpose-built, AI-first platform for transaction-intensive enterprises.”
As enterprise transaction volumes explode, bluecopa is helping finance teams move faster—with shorter close cycles, higher process efficiency, near real-time reporting, and far fewer manual errors.
Read the full press release here: entrackr.com/snippets/blueco…
@BKartRed @AshishFafadia @sajithpai @sanjaynath
@arpiit @riashroff @saritaraichu @mehtaalok @mitul_am @SeekingN0rth @DeepikaDakuda @gauthamsiv @ray_elton99 @vikramg05
