Scimplify secures $25 million to use AI to challenge China’s control over critical materials.

Scimplify raised $25 million to scale a platform that uses AI to turn specialty chemicals — high-performance formulations designed for specific industrial uses — and critical materials from customer specifications into factory-scale products. The round matters because manufacturers are trying to reduce dependence on suppliers concentrated in China, while semiconductors, defense, and energy are becoming important demand areas.

Background: The Gap Between Materials Research and Commercial Supply

Scimplify was founded in 2023 and operates from Bengaluru. It entered an industry in which AI and advanced computational tools have already made materials discovery faster, but the path from promising chemistry to a purchasable product remains slow. Companies still need to create manufacturable processes, qualify plants, satisfy quality requirements, and work through supply chains limited to a small number of countries.

The startup’s model is to take a customer’s specification, develop the chemical manufacturing process in its Bengaluru and Hyderabad research facilities, and then hand the process to partner factories for commercial output. In that workflow, Scinode is the coordinating system.

Development: AI Agents Link Research, Factories, and Quality Checks

Scinode identifies possible production routes and selects manufacturing facilities while monitoring quality and regulatory obligations. The platform uses specialized AI agents for research, manufacturing, and quality control, according to co-founder Sachin Santhosh, who spoke with TechCrunch. The agents are built to work backward from a customer’s requirement and keep that context available for future orders.

Santhosh said the company has, in some projects, delivered the finished material within two months of receiving customer requirements, compared with a typical 12 to 18 month cycle. Its in-house scientists and engineers supervise production across more than 500 partner facilities. About 90% of current manufacturing happens in India, and Scimplify plans to add production capacity in the US and Japan over the next year.

Latest Progress: Valuation, Revenue, and New Markets Move Together

The financing was an all-equity strategic round, meaning it was funded through equity rather than debt, led by Hitachi Ventures. Henkel and Teknor Apex, both customers, joined as new investors. Accel India, Bertelsmann India Investments, Omnivore, and 3one4 Capital, existing backers, also took part. A person familiar with the transaction said the post-investment value is $250 million, compared with $150 million after a $40 million Series B round in March 2025. Scimplify confirmed that the round brings total equity funding to $80 million but declined to disclose a valuation.

The company says it serves more than 1,000 customers, has delivered products to more than 40 countries, and has reached an annualized revenue run rate — a projection based on recent sales pace — of about $200 million, up threefold from a year earlier. It is targeting a $400 million annualized run rate over the next year. In the US, annualized revenue rose sixfold to about $60 million from $10 million a year ago, and the US now represents roughly 30% of the business. Revenue from customers outside India is more than half of the total, compared with less than 5% about 18 months ago.

Energy, electronics, and defense account for about 45% to 50% of revenue, up from less than 15% a year ago. Santhosh connected that shift to AI demand for materials used in electronics and energy infrastructure, as well as defense demand driven by ongoing wars. Scimplify is also working on tungsten derivatives made from scrap and on rare earth materials, two areas where supply remains heavily concentrated in China.

Customers include TDK, BASF, and Hitachi. Santhosh pointed to a TDK project as an example of shorter development timelines, while noting that schedules vary by project. Scimplify employs about 340 people, including roughly 70 scientists. Most are based in India, with local teams in the US, Japan, Indonesia, and the United Arab Emirates.

Around $7.5 million of the new funding is earmarked for US expansion, including building out the manufacturing network, and another $2 million is planned for Scinode development. The startup reported positive earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization for the past two months and expects to become profitable after tax this month. The next test is whether the two-month delivery model, the $250 million valuation, and the US and Japan expansion can lift the company from a $200 million annualized revenue base toward its $400 million target.

Meta description: Scimplify raises $25 million to expand AI-powered specialty chemicals, with US revenue reaching $60 million and a $200 million annualized run rate target.

Tags: Scimplify; AI materials; specialty chemicals; Hitachi Ventures; supply chains

Featured image: Abstract AI network connecting chemical plant silhouettes, no people, no logos, no text.