What Fluorochem does

Fluorochem is a privately-held UK-based specialty chemical supplier founded in 1967, headquartered in Hadfield, Derbyshire. The company distributes over 400,000 chemical products — including fluorinated chemicals, HPAPIs, ADC linkers, PROTACs, peptides, and oligonucleotides — with 180,000 in-stock items available for immediate delivery from warehouses in the UK and Germany. It serves customers in 80+ countries across pharmaceutical, biotechnology, academic, and materials science segments through a direct-to-consumer e-commerce model, with EU subsidiaries in Ireland and the Netherlands established post-Brexit to maintain European trade flows.

The company's underlying capabilities span catalog distribution, custom synthesis, and through its partnership and planned merger with ChemExpress (2026), full contract research (CRO) and contract development and manufacturing (CDMO) services. Technical differentiators include ISO 6 clean room pre-weighing capabilities (2025), ISO 14001 and ISO 45001 certifications, GMP manufacturing for small molecules and targeted therapeutics, and REACH registration on select items. Fluorochem sources from a diversified supplier base built over nearly 60 years, including relationships with Chinese manufacturers established in 1998.

Fluorochem generates revenue through three streams: catalog chemical product sales (one-time purchases of 400,000+ SKUs), CRO services for research projects, and CDMO services for pharmaceutical manufacturing. Pricing is not publicly disclosed and customers are directed to contact sales for quotes. The company's GTM motion is primarily direct-to-consumer e-commerce supplemented by direct enterprise sales for CRO/CDMO engagements, with geographic reach anchored in the UK and Europe while distributing globally.

Name

Fluorochem

Legal name

Fluorochem Limited

Website

https://fluorochem.co.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

1967

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Fluorochem is a UK-based specialty chemical supplier founded in 1967, distributing over 400,000 products including fluorinated chemicals, HPAPIs, ADC linkers, and peptides to pharmaceutical, biotech, academic, and materials science customers across 80+ countries, with CRO/CDMO services via ChemExpress.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Specialty Chemicals

NAICS

Chemical Manufacturing (325), Pharmaceutical and Medicine Manufacturing (32541)

SIC

Chemicals & Allied Products (2800), Medicinal Chemicals & Botanical Products (2833), Pharmaceutical Preparations (2834)

akta.pro primary industry

Contract Development & Manufacturing for Generics (CDMO/CMO) (HLAIABAI)

akta.pro secondary industries

mRNA/LNP & Nucleic Acid Therapeutics CDMO (HLAGABAF), Clinical Trial Material (CTM) Manufacturing & Supply CDMO (HLAGABAK)

Keywords

• Fluorinated chemicals
• Pharmaceutical intermediates
• Custom chemical synthesis
• Life sciences chemicals
• Contract manufacturing services

Headquarters

HQ city

Hadfield

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Supply Chain, Operations, Personnel, Infrastructure, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Chemical Product Sales: Sale of over 400,000 chemical compounds including building blocks, biochemicals, catalysts, peptides, nucleotides, and specialty chemicals. Stock of 180,000 in-stock products available for immediate delivery.
2. Contract Research Services (CRO): Synthetic chemistry, medicinal chemistry, and technology transfer services for research and development projects.
3. Contract Development and Manufacturing (CDMO): Scale-up and GMP manufacturing services including cGMP manufacturing, process development, formulation, and CMC regulatory support. Services for small molecules, ADCs, and targeted therapeutics like PROTACs.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Fluorochem manufactures and distributes a catalog of over 400,000 chemical compounds (180,000 in-stock) including biochemicals, building blocks, catalysts, peptides, nucleotides, fluorinated compounds, HPAPIs, ADC linkers, PROTACs, and oligonucleotides. The company also provides Contract Research Organisation (CRO) and Contract Development and Manufacturing Organisation (CDMO) services including custom synthesis, cGMP manufacturing, and process development for pharmaceutical and biotech customers.

Product overview

Fluorochem is a chemical supply company with a comprehensive portfolio encompassing HPAPIs, ADC linkers, PROTACs, Peptides and Oligonucleotides, offering both Contract Research Organisation (CRO) and Contract Development and Manufacturing Organisation (CDMO) services. The company operates a unified platform offering over 400,000 products across 10+ major chemical categories including biochemicals, building blocks, bioconjugation products, catalysts, peptides & amino acids, nucleotides, carbohydrates, materials & supramolecular chemistry, photochemistry & fluorescence products, and essentials & consumables. The product ecosystem is supported by complementary service offerings including custom synthesis services for small molecules, protein degraders, oligonucleotides, peptides and antibodies; ADC & bioconjugation services; scale-up & GMP manufacturing services; and contract research services. In 2023, Fluorochem partnered with global CRO & CDMO ChemExpress to provide extensive synthesis, manufacturing and drug development services. The company serves over 80 countries with 180,000 in-stock products across UK and Germany warehouses.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• HPAPIs (High Potency Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients) High Potency Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients sold as part of the chemical portfolio and supplied through CDMO services for pharmaceutical customers developing drug substances.
• ADC Linkers Antibody-Drug Conjugate linkers for bioconjugation and targeted therapeutics development, sold to pharma and biotech customers developing ADCs.
• PROTACs (Proteolysis Targeting Chimeras) Protein Degradation technology products including PROTAC linkers, E3 ligase ligands, molecular glues, and targeting ligands for targeted therapeutics development.
• Peptides Peptide products including dipeptides, tripeptides, oligopeptides, cyclic peptides, and peptide coupling reagents sold to researchers and pharmaceutical customers.
• Oligonucleotides Oligonucleotide products including nucleobases, nucleosides, nucleotides, phosphoramidites, and oligonucleotides for research and pharmaceutical applications.
• Biochemicals Comprehensive biochemical range including small molecule inhibitors (GPCRs, Ion Channels, Kinases, Nuclear Receptors, Oxidoreductase, Proteases, Transferases), small molecule activators, metabolites, natural products (alkaloids, flavonoids, terpenes), and antimicrobials for research and pharmaceutical applications.
• Building Blocks Chemical building blocks including aromatics and heterocyclics (boronates, halides, SnAr), aliphatic compounds, chiral compounds, macrocyclic, fluorinated compounds, organometallics, silanes, organoboron, and isotope labelled compounds for synthesis and research.
• Bioconjugation Products Bioconjugation products including ADC linkers, payloads, conjugation reagents (carbodiimides, click chemistry, cysteine/thiol conjugation, lysine conjugation, maleimides, NHS esters), and crosslinkers and spacers (cleavable, heterobifunctional, homobifunctional, PEGs).
• Catalysts Catalyst products including organocatalysts (diols, NHC, Bronsted acids, secondary amines, ureas/thioureas), transition metal catalysts (metathesis, nickel, palladium, platinum, rhodium), phase-transfer catalysts, hydrogenation catalysts, and ligands for synthetic chemistry research.
• Peptides & Amino Acids Amino acids and peptide products including non-proteinogenic and proteinogenic amino acids, beta-amino acids, dipeptides, tripeptides, oligopeptides, cyclic peptides, peptide coupling reagents, and solid-phase resins for research and pharmaceutical applications.
• Nucleotides Nucleotide products including nucleobases, nucleosides, nucleotides, phosphoramidites, and oligonucleotides for research and pharmaceutical applications.
• Carbohydrates Carbohydrate products including monosaccharides, disaccharides, oligosaccharides, and polysaccharides for research and pharmaceutical applications.
• Materials, Soft Matter & Supramolecular Chemistry Advanced materials including metal-organic frameworks (MOFs, ZIFs), covalent organic frameworks (COFs), polymers, lipids and surfactants, liquid crystals, surface chemistry products, ionic liquids, organic semiconductors, and macrocycles and cages (chelators, fullerenes, porphyrins, cyclodextrins, calixarenes, crown ethers, cucurbiturils) for materials science research.
• Photochemistry, Fluorescence & Indicators Photochemical products including fluorescent dyes (xanthenes, BODIPYs, cyanines, polyaromatics), indicators, photoinitiators, photoswitches, and photocatalysts (acridine, carbazole, iridium, ruthenium, thioxanthone) for research and imaging applications.
• Essentials & Consumables Laboratory essentials and consumables including common reagents, fluorinating reagents, NMR solvents and tubes, solvents, protecting groups, salts and inorganics, chromatography supplies, acids and bases, and functionalised resins for laboratory use.
• Custom Synthesis Services Custom synthesis services for small molecules, protein degraders, oligonucleotides, peptides/proteins, and antibodies, provided to pharmaceutical and biotech customers from bench to bulk scale.
• ADC & Bioconjugation Services ADC and bioconjugation services including payload-linker development, bioconjugation services, and ADC development, offered to pharmaceutical and biotech customers developing targeted therapeutics.
• Scale-Up & GMP Manufacture Services Scale-up and GMP manufacturing services including cGMP manufacturing, process and analytical development, biologics, formulation and drug product manufacturing, CMC and regulatory support, HPAPIs and RSMs, and production capacity for pharmaceutical customers.
• Contract Research Services (CRO) Contract Research Organisation (CRO) services including synthetic chemistry, medicinal chemistry, and technology transfer for pharmaceutical and biotech research projects.
• Pre-weighing Services Fully customized pre-weighing services for diverse compound libraries in plates or bottles, available since 2025 with ISO 6 clean room accreditation.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 400,000 products available
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers2 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature6 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• ChemExpresscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2023In 2023, Fluorochem entered a partnership with global CRO & CDMO ChemExpress to provide extensive synthesis, manufacturing, and drug development services. This collaborative merger enables Fluorochem to offer custom synthesis and end-to-end support including RSM, GMP intermediates, APIs, Process Development and Formulation. With ChemExpress expertise in small molecules, ADCs and targeted therapeutics like PROTACs, they support the pharmaceutical industry with expanded capabilities.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves10 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• TCI Chemicals: Tokyo Chemical Industry is a global fine-chemicals catalogue supplier with a similarly broad portfolio of organic building blocks, fluorinated compounds, and biochemicals. Direct overlap with Fluorochem in catalogue-driven research chemicals and the same European and academic customer base.
• Combi-Blocks: Combi-Blocks specializes in screening compounds, building blocks, and custom synthesis for drug discovery, with a comparable focus on pharma and biotech customers. Its catalogue breadth and custom-synthesis service model closely mirror Fluorochem's building-blocks and CRO offerings.
• Enamine: Enamine is a leading supplier of building blocks, screening libraries, and custom synthesis services with deep pharma and biotech penetration. Comparable to Fluorochem in catalogue scope (hundreds of thousands of SKUs), custom-synthesis capability, and geographic reach into European and US research markets.
• Bide Pharmatech: Bide Pharmatech is a China-headquartered fine-chemicals and building-blocks supplier serving pharma and academic customers globally. Comparable to Fluorochem in catalogue scale, API intermediates, and cross-border chemical distribution; competes directly on similar SKU categories.
• ChemBridge Corporation: ChemBridge supplies screening libraries, building blocks, and custom chemistry services to pharma, biotech, and academic researchers. Comparable in catalogue scale and customer overlap with Fluorochem, particularly in medicinal-chemistry building blocks and screening compounds.
• Bachem: Bachem is a leading peptide and oligonucleotide CDMO serving innovator pharma and biotech customers worldwide. Comparable to Fluorochem's peptide and oligonucleotide offerings, with deeper CDMO scale-up and GMP manufacturing capacity for nucleic-acid therapeutics.

Broad incumbents

• Sigma-Aldrich (Merck KGaA): Sigma-Aldrich, part of Merck KGaA's Life Science business, is the dominant global fine-chemicals and research-reagents supplier with a catalogue exceeding 250,000 products. Overlaps broadly with Fluorochem but operates at much greater scale with deeper life-science adjacencies (biopharma, diagnostics).
• Alfa Aesar (Thermo Fisher Scientific): Alfa Aesar, owned by Thermo Fisher, supplies inorganic and organic fine chemicals, metals, and reagents with global research and industrial customers. Comparable to Fluorochem's research-chemicals catalogue but with the financial and operational backing of a top-3 life-science tools player.
• WuXi AppTec: WuXi AppTec is one of the largest global CRO/CDMOs with extensive small-molecule, biologics, and oligonucleotide capabilities. Comparable to Fluorochem + ChemExpress in CDMO scope and customer base, but with vastly greater scale, integrated discovery-through-manufacturing services, and global footprint.
• Lonza Group: Lonza is a leading global CDMO with deep capabilities in small molecules, biologics, and peptide manufacturing. Comparable to Fluorochem's CDMO direction (especially peptides and small-molecule APIs) but operates at substantially larger scale with broader modality coverage and integrated development services.

Market position

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/fluorochem

Compliance3 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Fluorochem