Scimplify's $25.0 Million Round Lands in a Sector of 2,825 Companies

Scimplify, a Bengaluru-based advanced materials and specialty chemicals startup, has raised $25 million in a strategic round led by Hitachi Ventures, Indian Startup News reported. Accel, Bertelsmann India Investments, 3one4 Capital and Omnivore, all existing investors, also participated, while Henkel and Teknor Apex joined as new investors. Teknor Apex, already a customer, will also serve as a manufacturing partner for the company's United States expansion. The round takes total reported equity funding to $80 million, according to Indian Startup News.

Founded in 2023 by Sachin Santhosh, Salil Srivastava, Dheeraj Dhingra and Hersh Manek, Scimplify develops manufacturing processes that convert raw materials, industrial waste and laboratory discoveries into high-purity materials for semiconductors, batteries, defence and energy. Its AI-enabled platform, SciNode, helps identify production routes and manufacturing partners; the company says its network covers more than 500 factories and that it has served customers in more than 40 countries, StartupCity India reported. Open Magazine reported, citing Entrackr, that operating revenue rose to ₹200 crore in FY25 from ₹17.74 crore in FY24, while losses widened to ₹25.38 crore.

The sector on our record

Materials & Nanotech holds 2,825 companies on our list, out of 28,847 deeptech companies on our list in all. 330 of them are matched to patent applications in our index. By city, Bengaluru accounts for 159 companies, Pune 157, Mumbai 124, Hyderabad 109 and Ahmedabad 104. By state, Maharashtra leads with 520, ahead of Gujarat at 350, Karnataka at 313, Tamil Nadu at 251 and Uttar Pradesh at 216.

Funding in the sector has been thin and uneven. Our record shows 17 private rounds in the past 12 months, at 16 companies. Twelve of them disclosed an amount, adding to $599.4 million, about ₹4,975 crore at ₹83 to the dollar. The median disclosed round was $3.8 million, which places Scimplify's round well above the typical cheque. The largest on our record is BioCon at $542.2 million, a December 2025 round whose stage was not stated. Below it sit Modulus Housing at $8.4 million, Entellus Industries at $6.0 million and Cumin Co. at $5.0 million. Scimplify's round is recorded as $25.0 million, about ₹208 crore, a strategic round in October 2026.

What the patent record shows

Patent activity in the sector is larger than the company count suggests, and it is mostly foreign. Our index holds 30,095 patent applications in Materials & Nanotech from 2022 onward, of which 9,534 are granted, naming 66,271 inventors. 47.1% of the applications come from foreign filers, 3,499 of them. The top filers are Jfe Steel with 957 applications and 346 granted, Nippon Steel with 702 and 283, Dow Global Technologies with 463 and 137, Basf Se with 439 and 98, Tata Steel with 395 and 220, and Arcelormittal with 280 and 120.

The filing trend has climbed each year: 3,846 applications in 2022, 4,905 in 2023, 5,982 in 2024 and 6,158 in 2025. Indian filers contributed 1,492, 2,081, 2,899 and 2,894 across those years. The 2026 figure of 3,505 applications, 2,389 from Indian filers and 1,116 from foreign filers, covers a partial year on our record. Among application themes, green synthesis appears on 299 applications, machine learning on 202, microstructure control on 170, hot rolling on 170, cold rolling on 158 and additive manufacturing on 158.

What to watch

Scimplify's round tests a specific model: customers who become investors and, in Teknor Apex's case, a manufacturing partner. Open Magazine noted that equity participation does not establish how much a customer will purchase, at what price or for how long, and that the commercial strength of the round will show up in orders and production rather than in the investor list.

Two things to watch on our record. First, whether disclosed funding in the sector broadens beyond a handful of rounds; 12 of 17 rounds in the past 12 months disclosed an amount, and the median was $3.8 million. Second, whether Indian filers lift their share of applications in Materials & Nanotech, where the top of the filer table is held by Jfe Steel, Nippon Steel, Dow Global Technologies and Basf Se. Our index matches 330 of the sector's 2,825 companies to patent applications, so much of the activity in this field stays outside filings, and process scale-up rather than patent counts is where a company like Scimplify will be judged.

Who files in Materials & Nanotech

Our index holds 30,095 patent applications in Materials & Nanotech (2022 onward), 9,534 of them granted. Foreign filers account for 47.1% of them.

The filing trend

Where the companies are

We count 2,825 Deeptech companies in Materials & Nanotech on our list, 330 of them matched to patent applications in our index. The largest clusters are in Bengaluru, Pune and Mumbai.

Private rounds in the past year

Our record holds 17 private rounds in Materials & Nanotech in the past 12 months, at 16 companies. The 12 that disclosed an amount add to $599.4 million (about ₹4,975 crore).

How we counted

The news in this brief comes from the reports linked below, published in the past week. Every figure about the sector comes from Deeptech Navigator's own record: companies on our list (a yes or maybe Deeptech verdict, not merged, not closed), patent applications filed in India in our index from 2022 onward, and verified private rounds compiled from public reports.

Companies are "matched to" patent applications by name; a match is ours, not a legal statement of ownership. Patent counts cover applications from 2022 onward only, and the current year is to date. Rounds leave out grants, government schemes, debt, IPOs and listed companies; amounts reported in rupees are converted at ₹83 to the dollar.

In our data

Sources

• Advanced materials startup Scimplify raises $25 million led by Hitachi Ventures to expand US operations ↗
• Can Scimplify's Customer-Investor Model Revolutionize Advanced Materials Manufacturing? ↗
• Bengaluru-based advanced materials and... - StartupCity India | Facebook ↗