Bengaluru's Scimplify raises $25M led by Hitachi Ventures to take chemicals to US, Japan

Scimplify, a Bengaluru start-up that makes specialty chemicals and critical materials through a network of partner factories, has raised $25 million in a strategic round led by Hitachi Ventures, the venture arm of Japan's Hitachi group. The round was made public on Wednesday, October 14, 2026. Two of the company's customers, the German consumer and adhesives group Henkel and the US plastics compounder Teknor Apex, joined as new investors, while existing backers Accel India, Bertelsmann India Investments, Omnivore and 3one4 Capital also took part. A person familiar with the deal put the company's value after the round at $250 million, up from $150 million after its $40 million Series B in March 2025. Scimplify itself did not disclose its valuation.

For years, much of the world's supply of speciality chemicals, the ingredients that go into paints, coatings, electronics, medicines and batteries, has depended heavily on China. Manufacturers in the US, Europe and Japan have been looking for second suppliers so that a trade dispute or export curb does not halt their factories. Scimplify is pitching itself as one answer to that problem, and the backing of a large Japanese industrial group, alongside two of its own customers, shows that buyers are willing to put money behind that idea.

The company does not run one large plant. When an order arrives, it develops the chemical process in its own laboratories, then hands production to partner factories that have spare capacity. Its in-house software, called Scinode, is used to choose a production route, find a suitable factory and track quality and regulatory paperwork. Co-founder Sachin Santhosh has said the company has gone from a customer's request to delivered material in about two months, compared with the 12 to 18 months he says is common in the industry. That speed, if it holds at scale, is the main thing buyers are paying for.

The company says semiconductors, defence and energy are its fastest-growing markets. It is working on producing tungsten compounds from scrap and on rare earth materials, two areas where supply is tight and where governments are pushing for sources outside China. A move into US and Japanese production would let it sell to customers who need material made close to home for security or regulatory reasons.

For Indian founders, the deal is a reminder that "going global" does not only mean software. An asset-light model built on India's large base of chemical factories is now drawing strategic money from overseas industrial groups. India's chemical sector has long been strong in generic drugs and dyes; start-ups such as Scimplify are trying to move it up into higher-value materials.

Short-term: The money will fund the company's first steps to make materials in the US and Japan and to grow its work for chip, defence and energy customers. Henkel and Teknor Apex, as investors and buyers, are likely to give it larger orders to prove the model.

Long-term: If the approach works, more Indian factories could become suppliers to Western and Japanese manufacturers that want to cut their dependence on China. Success in tungsten and rare earth materials would place an Indian start-up in one of the most strategic supply chains in the world.

Who is affected: Global manufacturers seeking non-Chinese chemical suppliers, Indian chemical plants that act as Scimplify's partners, investors watching Indian deep-tech and manufacturing start-ups, and Japanese and US firms looking for local sources of critical materials.

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