Cellares raises $257M to industrialize cell therapy manufacturing

Cellares announced that it raised $257 in a Series D financing round to support its pharmaceutical manufacturing efforts.

The South San Francisco, California-based integrated development and manufacturing organization (IDMO) had its round co-led by BlackRock and Eclipse. It said the funds bring its total capital raised to $612 million to date. Additional investors included accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Investment Management, Inc., Baillie Gifford, Duquesne Family Office, Intuitive Ventures, EDBI, and Gates Frontier. Existing investors DC Global Ventures, DFJ Growth, and Willett Advisors continued to provide funding as well.

According to a news release, the company’s IDMO model replaces manual, labor-intensive contract manufacturing with advanced technologies for pharmaceutical manufacturing and quality control. Its Cell Shuttle system delivers end‑to‑end, closed‑system cell therapy production, while its Cell Q platform automates in‑process and release testing for thousands of patients per year. The company already brought its platform to a number of biotechnology and pharmaceutical partners, including Bristol Myers Squibb.

Cellares plans to use the funds to support the global buildout of automated IDMO smart factories. Its plans span its South San Francisco base, along with Bridgewater, New Jersey, Leiden, the Netherlands, and Kashiwa City, Japan. The company hopes to enable the commercial launch and unconstrained manufacturing of cell therapies for hundreds of thousands of patients annually.

With the funding, Cellares expects to support clinical manufacturing in the first half of 2026. It then expects commercial-scale manufacturing to begin in 2027.

“The barrier to curing more patients is no longer scientific — it is industrial,” said Fabian Gerlinghaus, Co-Founder and CEO of Cellares. “With FDA validation, global commercial demand, and the capital to scale, we are building the high-tech infrastructure required to deliver cures and life-changing treatments worldwide. This financing puts Cellares on a clear, disciplined path toward becoming a public company.”