Mason-Chem

What Mason-Chem does

Mason-Chem (legally MakeChem, Inc., d/b/a Make-Chem) is a privately held B2B specialty chemical manufacturer and distributor headquartered at 3941 E Bayshore Road, Palo Alto, California. The company sells research-grade chemicals and pharmaceutical intermediates to corporations, academic institutions, and research institutes — explicitly excluding individual buyers and home-address shipments, which positions the firm squarely in the enterprise research-supply vertical. Its primary customer segments are research institutions and academia, pharmaceutical and biotech companies, and industrial/commercial laboratories.

Name

Mason-Chem

Legal name

MakeChem, Inc.

Website

https://make-chem.com

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Short description

The company operates a Zen Cart-based e-commerce storefront that lists 2,580+ specialty chemical compounds (nucleosides, heterocyclic compounds, pharmaceutical intermediates) with detailed CAS numbers, molecular formulas, molecular weights, and purity specifications, sold in milligram or gram unit sizes. Beyond catalog sales, Mason-Chem runs a custom/special-request synthesis service: customers submit CAS number, name, molecular formula, amount, and purity requirements, and the company either locates the reagent in inventory or synthesizes it to order. Platform integrations include FedEx (primary global carrier, with DHL used for India) and PayPal (credit card processing), while enterprise buyers can also pay via wire transfer or purchase order on net-30 terms. Unit prices range from roughly $50 to $2,000+ per SKU, domestic FedEx shipping from $15 to $60, and revenue is generated entirely through one-time transactional product sales plus bespoke synthesis work. The company is independently operated with no disclosed parent, institutional investors, funding rounds, patents, certifications, or named customer logos.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Specialty Chemicals

NAICS

Pharmaceutical and Medicine Manufacturing (32541)

SIC

Medicinal Chemicals & Botanical Products (2833), Chemicals & Allied Products (2800)

akta.pro primary industry

Compounding Ingredient & API Distributors (Pharma Supply) (HLAIAJAO)

akta.pro secondary industry

Impurity / Reference Standard Synthesis & Characterization (HLAGAHAG)

Keywords

• Specialty chemicals
• Research reagents
• Custom synthesis
• Pharmaceutical intermediates
• Laboratory chemicals

Headquarters

HQ city

Palo Alto

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Chemical Product Sales: One-time transaction-based sales of research chemicals. Products are sold in various unit sizes (mg, g) with unit pricing. The company also offers custom synthesis services for reagents not in their catalog.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Mason-Chem (MakeChem, Inc.) manufactures and distributes a catalog of 2,580+ specialty research chemicals, pharmaceutical intermediates, nucleosides, and heterocyclic compounds sold in milligram and gram unit sizes to research institutions, pharmaceutical companies, and academic laboratories. It supplements the catalog with a special-request custom synthesis service, locating or synthesizing reagents that are not in standard inventory, and ships worldwide via FedEx (DHL to India).

Product overview

Mason-Chem operates as a specialty chemical e-commerce platform offering a catalog of 2,580+ research chemicals and pharmaceutical intermediates to corporations, academic institutions, and research institutes. The core offering consists of the main Chemicals Catalog, supplemented by a Custom/Special Request Chemical Synthesis service for compounds not in inventory, and an Inactive Products section for discontinued items. All products are intended for research and development laboratory use only, not for human or animal application.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Mason-Chem: A branded poster item (Mason-Chem Poster) sold through the website. The sub-brand 'Mason-Chem' appears on a promotional poster product priced at $1.00.

Products and services

• Chemical Products Catalog Main catalog of 2,580+ specialty chemical compounds — research chemicals, pharmaceutical intermediates, nucleosides, and heterocyclic compounds — sold by milligram or gram unit size with detailed CAS numbers, molecular formulas, molecular weights, and purity specifications, for research and development laboratory use by corporations, academic institutions, and research institutes.
• Custom/Special Request Chemical Synthesis Custom chemical synthesis and sourcing service where customers request reagents not in the standard catalog by providing CAS number, name, molecular formula, amount, and purity requirements; the company either locates the compound in existing inventory or synthesizes it to order, for research institutions, pharmaceutical, and biotech buyers.
• Inactive Products Catalog Separate catalog section listing 24 specialty chemicals that are no longer actively stocked or have been discontinued from the main product catalog, maintained as a reference for prior customers.

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration4 records

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves4 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Direct peers

• Oakwood Chemical: Manufacturer and distributor of specialty organic chemicals and intermediates with online catalog sales to research institutions and industry. Closely comparable in SKU profile and customer base to Mason-Chem.
• TCI Chemicals: Japanese specialty chemical manufacturer/distributor with a deep catalog of organic research chemicals, intermediates, and reference standards sold online to global academic and industrial buyers. Closely matches Mason-Chem's catalog model and international e-commerce footprint.
• Combi-Blocks: Specialty catalog vendor focused on building blocks, heterocyclic compounds, and pharmaceutical intermediates sold online to pharma and academic researchers. Closely comparable to Mason-Chem's catalog scope and customer segments.
• Santa Cruz Biotechnology: Direct-to-researcher catalog supplier of biochemicals, antibodies, and specialty reagents for academic and pharma research. Comparable online-only sales motion and research-use-only product positioning.
• Biosynth Carbosynth: Specialty chemicals supplier of carbohydrates, nucleosides, and biochemicals with catalog e-commerce sales plus custom synthesis. Highly comparable on product category overlap (nucleosides, intermediates) and customer segments in pharma/biotech research.
• Chem-Impex International: Specialty chemicals and intermediates supplier with online catalog sales of reference standards, building blocks, and pharmaceutical intermediates. Highly comparable in business model and buyer base to Mason-Chem.

Broad incumbents

• MilliporeSigma (Sigma-Aldrich): Life science and specialty chemicals arm of Merck KGaA. Operates the largest research-chemicals catalog globally and serves the same academic, pharma, and biotech R&D buyers that Mason-Chem targets, with much broader SKU coverage and procurement integrations.
• Alfa Aesar (Thermo Fisher Scientific): Thermo Fisher's research chemicals catalog of organics, inorganics, metals, and intermediates. Sells to the same research institution and pharma R&D buyer base via direct e-commerce and is a benchmark mid-size research chemicals storefront similar to Mason-Chem's positioning.
• Fisher Scientific (part of Thermo Fisher): Broad laboratory supplies distributor carrying chemicals, reagents, and consumables sold to academic, pharma, and industrial labs. Overlaps with Mason-Chem on the chemical/reagent SKUs and on institutional B2B buyers but with vastly broader product scope.

Emerging players

• Frontier Scientific: Smaller specialty chemical supplier of porphyrins, phthalocyanines, and custom synthesis services for research buyers. Comparable in custom synthesis service and niche research-customer focus, with somewhat narrower product breadth.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

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 Mason-Chem