Chemican

What Chemican does

Chemican (株式会社ケミカン) is a Japanese SaaS company founded in 2023 and headquartered in Chuo-ku, Tokyo, that provides cloud-based management solutions for Safety Data Sheets (SDS) — the standardized 16-section documents required for chemical substances in regulated industries. The company's flagship platform, Chemican SDS Management (ケミカンSDS管理), combines AI-OCR technology specialized for SDS documents with human verification by chemically knowledgeable staff to extract structured data from supplier-provided SDSs in diverse formats, including image-based PDFs. The platform supports 146+ data fields per SDS, daily automated regulatory compliance checks against 50+ Japanese and international laws (安衛法, 化管法, 毒劇法, TSCA, Proposition 65, REACH), risk assessment workflows, and native integration with CREATE-SIMPLE, the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare's official risk assessment tool. A second product, Chemican Distribution Management (ケミカン配布管理), handles SDS distribution to downstream business partners.

Chemican sells primarily to Japanese enterprise customers in manufacturing, chemicals, automotive, pharmaceuticals, food, and consumer goods, with 23+ publicly documented case studies including Resonac (16,000 SDS items), Toyota Motor East Japan (~960), Mizkan (~3,000), and Sumitomo Bakelite (~2,000). The company employs a hybrid go-to-market combining consultative enterprise field sales, a self-serve free trial (up to 10 SDS for 2 weeks), and an extensive seminar/webinar education program. Revenue is generated through a three-tier subscription model: free trial, paid standard plan starting at ¥50,000/month, and a premium customization tier with inquiry-based pricing. Major differentiation rests on AI-OCR accuracy reinforced by human verification, deep specialization in Japanese chemical regulations, and the regulatory database of 50+ laws maintained with daily automated patrols. The company is privately held, ISO 27001 certified, and GDPR-compliant, with CEO 清水 俊博 (Toshihiro Shimizu) as Representative Director.

Name

Chemican

Legal name

株式会社ケミカン

Website

https://chemican.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2023

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Chemican is a Japanese SaaS company providing AI-OCR-powered SDS (Safety Data Sheet) management, regulatory compliance checking, and distribution solutions for Japanese manufacturing enterprises handling chemical substances across automotive, chemical, pharmaceutical, and food industries.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

SDS Management Software

NAICS

Software Publishers (513210)

SIC

Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)

akta.pro primary industry

IT Governance, Risk & Compliance (IT GRC) Platforms (HDAEALAK)

Keywords

• SDS management software
• Chemical compliance platform
• Safety data sheet automation
• Chemical substance management
• Regulatory compliance SaaS

Headquarters

HQ city

Tokyo

HQ country

Japan

HQ region

Asia

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations

Revenue model

1. Subscription - Free Trial: Free tier offering limited to 10 SDS items with 2-week storage period. Targets evaluation and trial purposes, converting users to paid tiers.
2. Subscription - Paid Plan: Monthly subscription based on SDS management volume. Provides unlimited users, unlimited storage, checklist functions, CREATE-SIMPLE integration, tag functionality, and two-factor authentication. Pricing starts at ¥50,000/month for 250+ SDS items.
3. Subscription - Premium + Customization: Enhanced subscription adding customization options including checklist customization, data format customization (146+ exportable items), document management attachments, and dedicated Customer Success Pro support. Priced based on customization scope and requirements.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Chemican provides a cloud-based SDS (Safety Data Sheet) data platform that uses AI-OCR technology combined with human verification to digitize SDS documents into structured records, centralizes their management, runs automated compliance checks against 50+ domestic and international chemical regulations, supports risk assessment (with native integration to the Japanese CREATE-SIMPLE tool), and enables secure SDS distribution to downstream partners. The platform is sold as a tiered SaaS subscription with a free trial, paid standard plan (from ¥50,000/month for 250+ SDS items), and a customized premium tier.

Product overview

Chemican offers a unified SDS (Safety Data Sheet) data platform comprising two core cloud services: (1) ケミカンSDS管理 (Chemican SDS Management), which digitizes, stores, and manages SDS data with automated regulatory compliance checks, risk assessment tools, and SDS update monitoring; and (2) ケミカン配布管理 (Chemican Distribution Management), which handles secure SDS distribution to downstream partners. Together, the two services cover the full SDS lifecycle from data extraction and central management through to regulatory compliance and distribution. Pricing tiers include a Free Trial, a paid Standard Plan (starting at ¥50,000/month, covering 250+ SDS items), and a Customized Plan with tailored features.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• ケミカンSDS管理 (Chemican SDS Management): Cloud service that accurately digitizes SDS data and manages it centrally, with risk assessment and regulatory compliance checking capabilities.
• ケミカン配布管理 (Chemican Distribution Management)
• ケミカン ナレッジセンター (Chemican Knowledge Center)

Products and services

• Chemican SDS Management (ケミカンSDS管理) Cloud-based service that accurately digitizes Safety Data Sheets (SDS) from diverse supplier formats into structured database entries using AI-OCR plus human verification, enabling centralized management, automated regulatory compliance checking against 50+ laws, risk assessment support (with CREATE-SIMPLE integration), tag-based organization by factory/facility/product, conditional search, Excel batch export, and SDS update notifications. Sold as a tiered subscription (free trial, paid plan from ¥50,000/month, customized premium).
• Chemican Distribution Management (ケミカン配布管理) Cloud-based service that enables users to distribute SDS and related data safely and easily to business partners, with centralized tracking and management of SDS distribution status to support compliance workflows between chemical suppliers and downstream users.

Quantifiable outcome

• Resonac reduced compliance verification risks and administrative workload while managing 16,000 material SDS items centrally
• +10 more outcomes

Named customers12 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration1 record

AI capability3 records

Feature9 records

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• CREATE-SIMPLEcoreTechnology or IntegrationNative data integration with CREATE-SIMPLE, the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare's risk assessment support tool. Chemican enables one-click export of digitized SDS data in formats compatible with CREATE-SIMPLE, significantly reducing manual data entry for risk assessment operations.

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Ideagen: Ideagen provides compliance, audit, risk, and EHS software to regulated industries including manufacturing and chemicals. Comparable to Chemican on regulatory compliance but operates as a broader GRC and quality platform rather than an SDS-specialist.
• Sphera: Sphera is an enterprise EHS, operational risk, and product stewardship platform serving large manufacturers with integrated chemical compliance modules. Overlaps with Chemican on SDS and chemical compliance but operates across broader EHS and sustainability categories.
• SAP (Product Safety & Stewardship / EHS): SAP offers Product Safety & Stewardship / EHS modules integrated with its ERP, including substance/SDS data management and chemical compliance. Comparable to Chemican for large manufacturers but bundled inside a much broader enterprise suite.
• Intelex Technologies: Intelex is an EHS and quality management software platform with modules for chemical/hazardous substance management, SDS handling, and regulatory compliance. Adjacent to Chemican in chemical compliance but broader in scope across EHS categories.
• Wolters Kluwer (Enablon): Wolters Kluwer's Enablon is an enterprise EHS, risk, and compliance platform acquired from Wolters Kluwer. Comparable to Chemican on chemical compliance workflows, but positioned as a broad enterprise platform serving large multinational manufacturers.

Direct peers

• Lisam Systems: Lisam Systems is a Belgium-headquartered software company offering SDS authoring, distribution, and chemical compliance management (EcoMundo, ExESS) for manufacturers globally. Directly comparable to Chemican as both serve chemical manufacturers needing SDS digitization, regulatory compliance, and downstream distribution workflows.
• EcoOnline: EcoOnline is a Nordic-origin chemical compliance and EHS software platform serving manufacturers across Europe and Asia. Closely comparable to Chemican in chemical substance/Safety Data Sheet management, regulatory tracking, and risk assessment support for enterprise manufacturers.
• Verisk 3E: Verisk 3E (now part of Verisk) provides authoritative SDS/chemical regulatory data and a compliance platform used by manufacturers worldwide. Comparable to Chemican in SDS data curation and regulatory intelligence, though with broader global regulatory scope and an enterprise-grade data licensing model.
• VelocityEHS: VelocityEHS is a North American EHS software platform offering SDS/chemical management (MSDSvault), compliance tracking, and risk assessment modules. Comparable to Chemican in targeting manufacturing customers with SDS-centric workflows, though with a much broader EHS portfolio.
• UL Solutions (ChemADVISOR): UL Solutions (incorporating the former ChemADVISOR / UL WERCS) provides regulatory content, SDS data, and chemical compliance software to manufacturers globally. Directly comparable to Chemican's regulatory intelligence and SDS management capabilities, with deeper global regulatory coverage.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/chemican-inc

Compliance2 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 Chemican