Distil, the Bengaluru specialty chemicals startup, has raised $7.7 million in Series A funding, led by the Singapore-based Jungle Ventures and the UAE-based corporate venture fund CE-Ventures, an arm of Crescent Enterprises venture investment. Strategic investors such as Rubamin, Piramai Industries vice chairperson Mayank Singhal, and India Quotient also took part in the round. With this new funding, Distil has raised a total amount of $10.8 million after raising $3.1 million in its seed round in June 2024. 

Growing investor confidence

Atanu Agarrwal and Viraj Shah founded Distil in 2021. Distil is designing a new supply chain around an R&D-first, asset-light, agnostic specialty chemicals supply chain. The startup deals with the creation of innovative chemical formulas applied to painting and coating, to plastics, and to building materials. With the untapped manufacturing infrastructure that India possesses, Distil has the opportunity to expand production in an efficient manner without capital-intensive investment.

It leverages its primary strategy of integrating deep scientific insights and flexible operation, enabling it to compete in high-value industrial use, but it can also be flexible with sourcing and production. The model has enabled Distil to grow very fast from a pre-revenue model to a $7 million annual sales with more than 100 enterprise clients across industries.

The Series A funding is an indicator of increasing investor confidence in the specialty chemicals industry enjoyed by India due to the increasing attention by manufacturers to India as a substitute for the expensive, unreliable Chinese suppliers. The support of Jungle Ventures, the predecessor that had already spearheaded the seed round of Distil on its platform, First Cheque@Jungle, was also a positive indication that the Middle East takes scalable industrial innovation seriously.

Rubamin and PI Industries provide domain-specific strategic insight and possibly some synergistic manufacturing and distribution to the cap table. The further support provided by India Quotient is an indication of the capacity of the startup to implement and grow in what is otherwise a highly fragmented market.

Competing and targeting the global manufacturers

Distil will invest the new capital to broaden its portfolio, increase investigation and growth, and enhance enterprise associations. The corporation has a workforce of 19 within its current R&D and engineering team, but the company wishes to expand the group to rapidly innovate in the line of formulations and streamline its process.

The startup would also ensure the improvement of its export pipeline to global manufacturers requiring high-performance specialty chemicals. As the markets in the US, EU, and the MENA regions continue to grow and demand is sustained, Distil is establishing itself as a competent company ready to provide global customers with quality, compliance, and supply chain resilience.

Distil has to compete in a competitive environment where players such as Scimplify, with a recent raise $40 million in a Series B round, are present, and other emerging players, including Mstack, Atomgrid, Covvalent, and Elchemy. Most of these startups involve digitalization of the procurement process or the creation of personalized  production, but what makes Distil unique is the innovation behind its own production and commitment to the research and development process.

The fact that it provides custom chemical solutions to custom industrial applications provides an advantage in the market, which measures its performance and compliance with regulations highly. Through the use of science and the agility of operations, Distil aspires to be a reliable franchisee in the world of specialty chemicals.

The specialty chemicals business is evolving due to the changes in global supply chains, environmental controls, and particular demands. India is a potential central home to this transition due to the presence of a skilled labor force and production capacity. 

These trends fit well with the model of Distil, which provides scalable innovation without requiring significant manufacturing capital. The emphasis of the startup on export-led developments and the business relationship with other companies sets it to access international prospects without losing the lean and responsive organizational framework.

Conclusion

The $7.7 million Series A of Distil is an important milestone down the path towards redefining the process of innovation at specialty chemicals. The startup should be supported with a set of leading investors and strategic partners, as it allows the company to intensify its R&D activities, increase the quantity of offered products, and extend territories. Distil has proposed an attractive blueprint with an asset-light, science-driven model as industries around the world work towards more intelligent, sustainable, and chemical solutions. It is one of the most prospective market participants in the deeptech and industrial innovation of India because of its fast growth, the successful rate of enterprise penetration, and an international approach.