Cellares raises $257M to expand automated cell therapy manufacturing

Cellares, an integrated development and manufacturing organization (IDMO) for cell therapies, announced a $257 million Series D financing round. The funding brings Cellares’ total capital raised to $612 million, according to the announcement.

The company said proceeds from the Series D will be used to fund the global buildout of automated IDMO “smart” factories in South San Francisco, Calif., Bridgewater, N.J., Leiden, the Netherlands, and Kashiwa City, Japan. The facilities are intended to support commercial launch and large-scale manufacturing of cell therapies, with capacity to serve hundreds of thousands of patients annually.

Cellares expects to begin supporting clinical manufacturing in the first half of 2026, with commercial-scale manufacturing starting in 2027.

“The barrier to curing more patients is no longer scientific — it is industrial,” Cellares CEO Fabian Gerlinghaus said in a statement. “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.”

Cellares’ IDMO model is designed to replace labor-intensive contract manufacturing with fully automated, GMP-compliant manufacturing and quality control systems suitable for clinical and commercial production, the company said. Its Cell Shuttle platform provides closed, end-to-end cell therapy manufacturing, while the Cell Q system automates in-process and release testing.

According to the company, the integrated platform can deliver up to approximately 10-fold higher throughput and lower per-patient manufacturing costs compared with conventional contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO) facilities of similar scale. Cellares said its approach enables commercial-scale capacity with fewer facilities and a smaller workforce than traditional manufacturing models.

Cellares has automated multiple cell therapy processes and modalities across biotechnology and pharmaceutical partners, the company said. It previously entered into a $380 million global manufacturing agreement with Bristol Myers Squibb to reserve commercial-scale capacity in Europe, Japan, and the U.S. The company’s Cell Shuttle platform has also received the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Advanced Manufacturing Technology (AMT) designation, which can enable expedited regulatory review for submissions incorporating the technology.