Biotech firm Captain T Cell announced today the successful closing of an equity financing round, bringing its total available funding to €20 million, together with previously secured grants. The funds are earmarked to drive the company’s proprietary pipeline—specifically its lead autologous TCR-T program, CTC127, into a first-in-human Phase I trial, and push its allogeneic “off-the-shelf” TCR-T platform toward clinical readiness.
The financing round saw new investment from Springboard Health Angels and Pluton Asset Holding AG, joined by Sintra Limited and Technologiegründerfonds Sachsen. Existing backers—including i&i Biotech Fund I SCSp, HIL‑INVENT, and Brandenburg Kapital—also participated.
With this funding, Captain T Cell’s lead program, CTC127, will advance into the TOMATA clinical trial (Toolbox-modified MAGE-A4 TCR-T cell therapy for HLA-A1). The Phase I trial will be led by Prof. Antonia Busse at Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, in collaboration with eight other major German cancer centres. The patient population will include multiple advanced solid tumour indications positive for MAGE-A4, such as lung, bladder, gastro-oesophageal, ovarian and head & neck cancers.
The therapeutic platform is built on the company’s proprietary engineering “toolbox”, which is designed to perform functional “armouring” of T cells—enhancing anti-tumour activity, persistence, and resilience within the challenging solid tumour microenvironment. In parallel with the autologous lead, Captain T Cell also plans to progress a first-in-class allogeneic TCR-T platfor,m which, according to preclinical data, has already shown complete solid tumour responses in vivo. The company also intends to broaden its toolbox to in-vivo T cell therapy applications.
Captain T Cell was founded as a spin-off of the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) in the Helmholtz Association, with Ascenion serving as the technology-transfer partner.
The company cited a “challenging fundraising environment” yet said that the breadth of investor participation demonstrates confidence in the competitive profile of its next-generation T cell therapy platform. Management emphasised that the €20 million budget now enables the TOMATA trial to be fully funded, and positions the allogeneic platform for upcoming value inflection.
This latest raise marks a critical milestone for the company as it transitions into the clinic for solid tumour indications—a segment historically difficult for T cell therapies. With the funding in place and the trial structure underway, Captain T Cell is poised to deliver meaningful data in the years ahead.
KEY QUOTES:
“Despite a challenging fundraising environment, we have gained broad investor support, which underscores the strong competitive profile of Captain T Cell’s best- and first-in-class next-generation T cell therapy platform and enables us to advance these therapies for the benefit of cancer patients.”
“Our best-in-class autologous program CTC127 will enter the fully funded TOMATA clinical trial and our first-in-class allogeneic TCR-T platform is progressing toward clinical readiness. We are optimistic that our best-in-class toolbox technologies will be clinically validated in the upcoming trial and subsequently expanded into off-the-shelf approaches.”
Dr. Felix Lorenz, CEO, Captain T Cell
“We are excited to co-lead this recent financing round of Captain T Cell. The company’s lead program CTC127 holds the potential to become a highly effective and safe therapy for solid tumour patients who urgently need novel treatment options. With funding secured through the upcoming Phase I readout, Captain T Cell is well positioned for a major value inflection.”
Dr. Andreas Schmidt, Partner, Springboard Health Angels
“MAGE-A4 is a de-risked and commercially validated target. The available preclinical data convincingly demonstrate that Captain T Cell’s toolbox-enhanced approach is conceptually superior to on-market cell therapies against solid tumours, providing strong evidence that the Company can deliver competitive efficacy in large solid tumour indications.”
Dr. Theis Terwey, Representative, Pluton Asset Holding AG
“Since our initial investment, the Captain T Cell team has consistently executed with exceptional speed and quality, achieving every milestone set at the seed round funding stage. We are proud to continue supporting the Company as it advances towards becoming a clinical-stage company.”
Dr. Barbora Šumová, Investment Director, i&i Biotech Fund
“There remains a profound unmet need for effective therapies for patients with advanced solid tumours. We look forward to initiating the clinical safety and efficacy evaluation of CTC127 together with eight other leading cancer centres in Germany.”
Prof. Antonia Busse, Principal Investigator, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin
