Bengaluru-based advanced materials and specialty chemicals startup Scimplify has raised $25 million in a strategic funding round led by Hitachi Ventures, with participation from Henkel, Teknor Apex and an unnamed Japanese chemical company.
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Existing investors Accel, Bertelsmann India Investments, 3one4 Capital and Omnivore also participated in the round, taking the startup’s total reported equity funding to $80 million.
Henkel and Teknor Apex have joined as new investors. Both companies are also customers of Scimplify, while Teknor Apex is expected to support the startup’s expansion in the United States as a manufacturing partner.
Scimplify plans to use the funding to expand its research, processing and manufacturing capabilities, with a focus on rare earth and critical metals, semiconductor chemicals and battery materials.
The investment will also support additional scientific and engineering teams, research facilities, manufacturing partnerships and further development of its AI platform, SciNode.
What does Scimplify do?
Founded in 2023 by Sachin Santhosh, Salil Srivastava, Dheeraj Dhingra and Hersh Manek, Scimplify helps companies scale laboratory-developed materials for commercial production by providing technical expertise and manufacturing support.
The startup develops manufacturing processes to convert raw materials, industrial waste and laboratory discoveries into high-purity materials used in industries including semiconductors, batteries, defence and energy.
Rather than concentrating on discovering new materials, Scimplify primarily helps businesses move existing laboratory developments into reliable, large-scale production.
It combines in-house scientific expertise with a network of manufacturing partners to develop production methods, test materials and identify suitable factories.
The startup operates research and development facilities in Bengaluru and Hyderabad. These are supported by SciNode, its AI-enabled platform designed to predict chemical synthesis routes, simulate factory production and coordinate research, quality, sourcing and regulatory workflows.
According to the startup, the platform maps more than 500 manufacturing facilities, assessing their technical capabilities, equipment, capacity and compliance requirements to help match projects with suitable production partners.
“The future is being invented faster than the world can manufacture it. Global innovators need more than factories – they need deep technical expertise and the ability to manufacture complex materials at scale. That’s what we’re building, with India at the center,” said Sachin Santhosh, co-founder of Scimplify.
Scimplify plans to expand US manufacturing capabilities
Scimplify’s planned US expansion will initially focus on materials for which domestic processing capabilities remain limited, particularly rare earth and critical metals purification, semiconductor chemicals and high-purity battery materials.
The startup intends to establish physical processing capabilities in the US while qualifying American manufacturing partners to support technology transfers, pilot production and validation batches.
It also plans to expand its US-based research and process development teams and secure feedstock, or raw material supplies, for critical metals and rare earth processing.
These proposed investments are intended to strengthen local production capabilities for specialised materials used in semiconductors, defence, energy and AI infrastructure.
Scimplify has cited several projects as examples of its manufacturing capabilities.
In one case, the company said it developed a purification process for a high-purity chemical used in semiconductor manufacturing. It delivered a sample that passed a customer’s process test within two months.
In another project, the startup developed a process to recover tungsten from industrial scrap and spent catalysts for a US-based metals manufacturer.
The company said these projects demonstrated how its combination of laboratory research, process engineering and manufacturing partnerships could help customers bring specialised materials into commercial production.
Growing international customer base
Scimplify said it now serves more than 1,000 customers across over 40 countries, compared with more than 600 customers across 16 countries approximately 18 months earlier.
According to the startup, more than 40% of its portfolio is focused on advanced materials used in semiconductors, batteries and critical minerals.
Radhika Ananth, managing director of India at Hitachi Ventures, said the company was addressing a gap between existing manufacturing capacity and the technical expertise required to serve international customers.
“Specialty chemicals demand has outgrown the models built to serve it. India has the manufacturing capacity, but much of it sits underused, without the science and quality systems global customers require. We believe Scimplify is building the platform that closes this gap,” Ananth said.
Rachit Parekh, partner at Accel, said Scimplify’s expansion reflected its ability to connect India’s scientific and manufacturing capabilities with global markets.
“Its ability to take India’s scientific and manufacturing capabilities to global markets is creating a differentiated advanced materials business, and we are thrilled to continue partnering with Salil, Sachin and the entire team on this journey,” Parekh said.
The latest investment follows Scimplify’s $40 million Series B funding round in March 2025, which was co-led by Accel and Bertelsmann India Investments.
With the new capital, Scimplify is seeking to expand beyond its existing manufacturing network by building US-based processing capabilities and strengthening partnerships with American manufacturers, as it targets growing demand for high-purity materials across critical industries.
