Cellares, which last year became the first company to receive the FDA’s new advanced manufacturing technology designation, expects to support clinical production this year and offer commercial-scale manufacturing services in 2027.
Cellares has raised $257 million in series D financing to complete the construction of cell therapy manufacturing plants in anticipation of supporting commercial-scale production next year.
San Francisco–based Cellares has developed its Cell Shuttle platform, a closed and automated platform for making cell therapies. By integrating end-to-end cell therapy production capabilities into a box, the company claims to reduce process failures, labor needs and facility space requirements, ultimately reducing the cost of CAR Ts and other cell therapies.
Last April, Cellares became the first company to receive advanced manufacturing technology (AMT) designation from the FDA. The company’s customers include Bristol Myers Squibb, which in 2024 struck a worldwide CAR T capacity reservation and supply deal worth up to $380 million in upfront and milestone payments.
Having built a production facility in New Jersey, Cellares will use its newly raised series D funds to finish construction of manufacturing plants in Japan and the Netherlands. BlackRock and Eclipse co-led the round.
Cellares disclosed the leasing of a 105,000-square-foot facility in the Netherlands earlier this month. The new life sciences facility is under development with construction expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2026. Cellares will then prepare the site for operations with the aim of supporting clinical production later this year and offering commercial-scale manufacturing services in 2027.
The facility will position Cellares to make cell therapies for patients in Europe. Because cell therapies are often personalized and time-sensitive, the company sees regional production capacity as an important enabler of the progress of programs through the clinic and into commercial use.
The BMS agreement positioned Cellares to make CAR T cell therapies for the pharma in the U.S., European Union and Japan. BMS, which operates its own cell therapy plants, sells the CAR T cancer treatments Abecma and Breyanzi.
Cellares has also partnered with Cabaletta Bio, with whom the contract manufacturer expects to make the first good manufacturing practice cell therapy product for clinical use on its Cell Shuttle platform. The FDA recently cleared an amendment to Cabaletta’s clinical trial authorization, positioning the biotech to start infusing patients with CAR T cell therapies made on Cell Shuttle in the first half of 2026.
The series D round moves the total raised by Cellares above $600 million. The company raised a $255 million series C round in 2023. After a series of private rounds, the company is planning an initial public offering as early as the fourth quarter of 2027, according to Endpoints News.
