Scimplify, a Bengaluru-based speciality chemical manufacturing startup, has raised USD 25 million (about Rs 238 crore) in a fresh funding round led by Hitachi Ventures, the venture capital arm of Japan’s Hitachi Group. The company said the money will go into widening its research, processing and manufacturing reach and into scaling its semiconductor chemicals and battery chemicals businesses.
The round brought in new strategic investors, including Teknor Apex, Henkel and an undisclosed Japanese chemical company. Existing backers Accel, Bertelsmann India Investments, 3one4 Capital and Omnivore also participated. With this round, the company’s total funding stands at about USD 80 million, according to reports.
The Funding Round And Its Investors
The investors in this round are strategic rather than purely financial. Scimplify co-founder Sachin Santhosh told Mint that Hitachi, Teknor Apex and Henkel are also customers of the company, and that a Japanese company would be announced as an investor soon. Backers who already buy speciality chemicals understand the supply chain problem the startup is trying to solve, he said.
Accel partner Rachit Parekh said Scimplify had grown fast since the fund first invested. In the 18 months since that initial investment, he said, the company has moved from serving more than 600 customers across 16 countries to more than 1,000 customers across over 40 countries.
Where The Money Will Go
A large part of the fresh capital is earmarked for rare earth and critical metals purification, an area where global supply is concentrated in a handful of countries. The startup will also spend on its research laboratories, on processing capacity and on its semiconductor chemicals and battery chemicals lines. A portion goes into deepening its presence in the United States and Europe.
Read more: For a closer look at how India’s semiconductor supply chain is drawing capital, see Semiconductor Startup Tessolve Raises USD 75 Million Led By Vector Line Capital.
SciNode, The AI Platform Inside The Business
A chunk of the money will strengthen SciNode, Scimplify’s in-house agentic artificial intelligence platform. SciNode connects research, process development, control and physical manufacturing, and supports the journey from early chemical discovery through to large-scale production. The company argues that the gap between a laboratory result and commercial volume is technical rather than commercial, and that software can shorten that path.
Business, Customers And Financials
Scimplify runs a B2B platform for end-to-end sourcing and manufacturing of speciality chemicals, and also offers contract research and commercial manufacturing for agrochemicals, active pharmaceutical ingredients and fragrances. Its network includes more than 500 manufacturing partners along with thousands of scientists and technical partners. The company operates across five countries and counts Henkel, Coromandel, Dr Reddy’s, Coherent, Holcim, BASF, Sanyo and Marubeni among its customers. Overseas markets already contribute about half of its revenue, a share the company expects to rise further.
Before this round, Scimplify had raised USD 40 million in a Series B round co-led by Accel and Bertelsmann Investments in March last year.
Background And Founders
Scimplify was founded in 2023 by Sachin Santhosh, Salil Srivastava, Dheeraj Dhingra and Hersh Manek. The startup operates research and development facilities in Bengaluru and Hyderabad, with the SciNode software platform supporting its manufacturing operations.
What Happens Next
The company plans to expand in the United States first, targeting sectors where domestic processing capabilities remain limited, including rare earth and critical metals purification. Demand is being driven as much by supply chain diversification as by growth, with companies looking for alternatives to single-source chemical supply, particularly for materials used in batteries and semiconductors. Funding for India’s manufacturing startups has climbed from USD 164 million in 2020 to USD 1.92 billion in 2026, according to data platform Venture Intelligence, a trend that has opened room for companies sitting between chemical discovery and factory production.
