As cell therapies edge closer to mainstream clinical use, the bottleneck is no longer scientific innovation but industrial scale. Cellares, a California-based cell therapy contract manufacturer, is betting heavily on that reality, securing $257 million in a Series D round to accelerate its global expansion ahead of commercial production in 2027.
The financing brings Cellares’ total capital raised to $612 million and will fund new manufacturing sites in the Netherlands and Japan. These will complement the company’s existing footprint, which includes a commercial-ready facility in Bridgewater, New Jersey, and its original manufacturing site in South San Francisco.
Earlier this month, Cellares confirmed it had signed a long-term lease for 105,000 square feet of laboratory and office space in Leiden, the Netherlands. The site will support both commercial manufacturing and serve as the company’s European headquarters, anchoring its expansion into a region seen as critical for advanced therapy scale-up.
The Series D round was led by Eclipse and new investor BlackRock, with additional participation from T. Rowe Price, Baillie Gifford, Gates Frontier, Duquesne Family Office, Intuitive Ventures, and EDBI. Existing investors DC Global Ventures, DFJ Growth, and Willett Advisors also joined the round.
“Cellares is building the high-tech, industrial backbone required for cell therapy to scale globally,” said Andrew Farris, managing director at BlackRock. He pointed to automation, regulatory validation, and growing commercial demand as factors positioning the company as a “category-defining platform” in a market projected to reach tens of billions of dollars annually.
Cellares has attracted attention for its Cell Shuttle system, a compact, automated “factory-in-a-box” designed to perform end-to-end cell therapy manufacturing. Roughly the size of a truck, each unit aims to standardise production, reduce variability, and overcome the logistical challenges that have limited broader adoption of CAR-T and other cell therapies.
The company’s commercial momentum was underscored in 2024, when Bristol Myers Squibb signed a $380 million deal with Cellares to reserve manufacturing capacity across the US, Europe, and Japan. The agreement supports production of CAR-T therapies including Breyanzi and Abecma, alongside potential future BMS assets.
“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.” He added that the new financing puts Cellares on a “clear, disciplined path” toward becoming a public company.
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