Cellares Secures $257 Million Series D to Revolutionize Cell Therapy Manufacturing

Cellares, the pioneering Integrated Development and Manufacturing Organization (IDMO), has announced a successful $257 million Series D financing round co-led by investment funds from BlackRock and Eclipse, bringing its total capital raised to an impressive $612 million. This latest funding round also welcomes a new array of prominent investors, including T. Rowe Price Investment Management, Inc., Baillie Gifford, Duquesne Family Office, Intuitive Ventures, EDBI, and Gates Frontier, alongside ongoing support from existing investors like DC Global Ventures, DFJ Growth, and Willett Advisors.

“Cellares is building the high-tech, industrial backbone required for cell therapy to scale globally,” remarked Andrew Farris, Managing Director at BlackRock. “Validated and cutting-edge automation, regulatory recognition, and growing commercial demand make Cellares a category‑defining platform in a rapidly growing global market projected to reach tens of billions of dollars per year over the coming decade.”

The funding will facilitate the global expansion of automated IDMO Smart Factories in locations such as South San Francisco, CA; Bridgewater, NJ; Leiden, the Netherlands; and Kashiwa City, Japan. This will enable the commercial launch and unconstrained manufacturing of cell therapies for hundreds of thousands of patients each year.

“For decades, cell therapy manufacturing has been constrained by artisanal, manual processes,” stated Joe Fath, Partner and Head of Growth at Eclipse. “Cellares has shown that integrated and high-throughput automation can meet regulatory standards, support commercial programs, and scale globally to unlock life-saving cell therapies for hundreds of thousands of patients worldwide.”

Cellares is set to support clinical manufacturing in the first half of 2026, with commercial-scale production anticipated to commence in 2027. “The barrier to curing more patients is no longer scientific – it is industrial,” asserted 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.”

Cellares’ innovative IDMO model replaces traditional manual labor-intensive manufacturing with advanced technologies for production and quality control. The company’s Cell Shuttle™ system facilitates end-to-end cell therapy production, while the Cell Q™ platform automates testing processes, allowing for up to roughly tenfold higher throughput and reduced per-patient costs compared to conventional contract development and manufacturing organizations (CDMOs).

The platform has successfully automated various cell therapy processes for biotechnology and pharmaceutical partners. Notably, Cellares secured a $380 million global manufacturing agreement with Bristol Myers Squibb, ensuring commercial-scale capacity across the U.S., Europe, and Japan. The Cell Shuttle™ has also received the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Advanced Manufacturing Technology (AMT) designation, expediting regulatory submissions.

About Cellares: Cellares is dedicated to the automated, large-scale manufacture of cell therapies, providing biopharmaceutical partners with comprehensive development and commercial manufacturing services. The company operates fully automated manufacturing and quality control platforms across its network of IDMO Smart Factories, enhancing process reproducibility and manufacturing success rates.

Cellares Contacts: Investors can reach out at ir@cellares.com, while media inquiries can be directed to pr@cellares.com.