Cellares has raised $257 million in a Series D financing co-led by investment funds managed by BlackRock and Eclipse, bringing total capital raised to $612 million. The round brings in a slate of new investors, including accounts advised by T. Rowe Price Investment Management, Baillie Gifford, Duquesne Family Office, Intuitive Ventures, EDBI, and Gates Frontier, alongside existing backers DC Global Ventures, DFJ Growth, and Willett Advisors.
The company is known as the first Integrated Development and Manufacturing Organization (IDMO), aiming to replace traditional, labor-intensive cell therapy contract manufacturing with fully automated, GMP-compliant production and quality control systems.
Cellares said the new capital will fund a global buildout of automated IDMO “Smart Factories” across South San Francisco, California; Bridgewater, New Jersey; Leiden, the Netherlands; and Kashiwa City, Japan. The company expects to support clinical manufacturing in the first half of 2026, with commercial-scale manufacturing beginning in 2027. Management framed the expansion as a step toward enabling “unconstrained” cell therapy manufacturing capacity for hundreds of thousands of patients annually, while also reinforcing a longer-term trajectory toward becoming a public company.
At the core of the company’s model are two automation platforms. The Cell Shuttle system is designed for end-to-end, closed-system cell therapy production, while Cell Q automates in-process and release testing. Cellares claims these combined systems can deliver up to 10x higher throughput and lower per-patient costs than conventional CDMO facilities of similar scale, reducing the number of facilities and staffing levels required to reach commercial capacity.
Cellares also highlighted commercial and regulatory momentum. The company has entered into a $380 million global manufacturing agreement with Bristol Myers Squibb that reserves commercial-scale capacity across the United States, Europe, and Japan. It also noted that its Cell Shuttle platform has received the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Advanced Manufacturing Technology (AMT) designation, a status that can support expedited review of regulatory submissions incorporating the technology.
KEY QUOTES:
“Cellares is building the high-tech, industrial backbone required for cell therapy to scale globally. 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.”
Andrew Farris, Managing Director, BlackRock
“For decades, cell therapy manufacturing has been constrained by artisanal, manual processes. 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.”
Joe Fath, Partner and Head of Growth, Eclipse
“The barrier to curing more patients is no longer scientific — it is industrial. 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.”
Fabian Gerlinghaus, Co-Founder and CEO, Cellares
