Indian startup Scimplify has raised $25 million to expand its AI-powered approach to making specialty chemicals and critical materials, as manufacturers look for ways to cut their dependence on Chinese suppliers. Semiconductors, defense and energy are the company's main growth markets.
The all-equity strategic round was led by Hitachi Ventures. Customers Henkel and Teknor Apex joined as new investors, and existing backers Accel India, Bertelsmann India Investments, Omnivore and 3one4 Capital also took part. A person familiar with the transaction said the round values the Bengaluru-based company at $250 million after the investment. That is up from $150 million after a $40 million Series B round in March 2025. Scimplify said its total equity funding now stands at $80 million, but it declined to disclose its valuation.
AI and advanced computing tools have sped up materials discovery. Turning a promising chemical formula into a product that can be sold at scale is another matter. Manufacturers have to develop production processes, qualify facilities and meet strict quality standards, often while relying on supply chains concentrated in a handful of countries. Scimplify wants to shorten that process.
The company, founded in 2023, says it has moved some projects from a customer's requirements to delivery of the finished material in just two months. Co-founder Sachin Santhosh said that compares with the 12 to 18 months such work would typically take.
Once an order comes in, Scimplify develops the chemical manufacturing process at research facilities in Bengaluru and Hyderabad. It then transfers the process to partner factories for commercial production. The work is coordinated by Scinode, the company's proprietary AI platform, which identifies suitable production routes and manufacturing sites and tracks quality and regulatory requirements. Scinode uses specialized AI agents for research, manufacturing and quality control.
“Each of these agents is basically solving for what [a customer] would want, working backward from the customer’s requirement,” Santhosh said. “This helps us move a lot faster and remember customer context even for future references.”
An in-house team of scientists and engineers oversees production across more than 500 manufacturing facilities. The company helps customers set up alternative sources for materials whose supply is concentrated in China and a few other countries. About 90% of its manufacturing currently takes place in India, but Santhosh said Scimplify plans to expand its production network to the U.S. and Japan over the next year.
The U.S. is already a major market. Santhosh said Scimplify’s annualized revenue run rate there has grown sixfold, to about $60 million from $10 million a year ago. The U.S. now accounts for roughly 30% of the business. Customers outside India make up more than half of revenue, up from less than 5% about 18 months ago.
Across the company, which serves more than 1,000 customers and has delivered products to more than 40 countries, the annualized revenue run rate is about $200 million. That figure has tripled from a year earlier, Santhosh said. Scimplify is targeting a $400 million run rate over the next year. It has been EBITDA-positive for the past two months and expects to become profitable after tax this month, he said.
Energy, electronics and defense now make up roughly 45% to 50% of revenue, up from less than 15% a year ago. Demand for materials used in electronics and energy infrastructure is rising as AI expands, while ongoing wars are driving demand from the defense industry.
Scimplify is working on producing tungsten derivatives from scrap, which would give customers another source for a material whose supply is heavily concentrated in China. It is also developing rare-earth materials, another category where global supply chains depend heavily on China.
Its customers include Japanese electronics maker TDK, German chemicals group BASF and Hitachi. Santhosh pointed to a project with TDK as an example of how the company can shorten development and delivery times for specialty materials, though he said timelines vary by project.
Scimplify plans to put about $7.5 million of the new funding toward its U.S. expansion, including building out its manufacturing network. Another $2 million is earmarked for further development of Scinode. Santhosh said both allocations could change as the company's plans evolve.
The startup employs about 340 people, including roughly 70 scientists. Most of its staff is in India, though it also has local teams in the U.S., Japan, Indonesia and the United Arab Emirates.
Cet article a été rédigé avec l'assistance de l'IA.
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