Cellares Secures Additional $50 Million Investment, Expanding Series D Financing to $327 Million to Accelerate Global Cell Therapy Manufacturing Network
Cellares, the world’s first Integrated Development and Manufacturing Organization (IDMO) dedicated to advancing automated cell therapy production, has announced a significant new investment that further strengthens its position in the rapidly growing cell and gene therapy industry. The company revealed that Prime Radiant Fund SLP SICAV-RAIF, a fund advised by Prime Radiant Partners, has committed $50 million in growth equity financing as part of Cellares’ ongoing Series D funding round.
The new investment increases the total value of the company’s Series D financing to an impressive $327 million, providing additional capital to support the expansion of its global manufacturing footprint and the continued commercialization of its proprietary automated cell therapy manufacturing platform.
The financing round has attracted participation from a broad group of leading institutional and strategic investors. Prime Radiant joins an extensive roster of backers that includes prominent investment organizations such as ARK Invest, investment funds managed by BlackRock, Eclipse, T. Rowe Price Investment Management, Duquesne Family Office, Baillie Gifford, Intuitive Ventures, EDBI, Gates Frontier, DC Global Ventures, DFJ Growth, and Willett Advisors.
The latest funding underscores growing confidence in Cellares’ vision of transforming how advanced cell therapies are manufactured and delivered to patients worldwide.
Addressing a Critical Bottleneck in Cell Therapy Commercialization
Over the past decade, cell therapy has emerged as one of the most promising areas of modern medicine. Treatments such as CAR-T therapies have demonstrated remarkable clinical outcomes in certain cancers, while emerging TCR-T and other engineered cell therapies are showing potential across oncology, autoimmune diseases, and additional therapeutic areas.
Despite these scientific advances, manufacturing remains one of the industry’s greatest challenges. Producing personalized cell therapies often involves complex, labor-intensive processes that can be difficult to scale efficiently and consistently across different regions.
According to Walid Gardezi, Co-Founder and Partner at Prime Radiant Partners, the commercial success of cell therapies has highlighted the urgent need for a new generation of manufacturing infrastructure capable of supporting widespread adoption.
He explained that while cell therapy has successfully transitioned from scientific concept to commercial reality, the infrastructure required to manufacture these treatments at scale has not yet matured sufficiently to meet future demand. He noted that Cellares is addressing this challenge by building manufacturing capabilities in multiple major healthcare markets simultaneously.
Gardezi also emphasized that Prime Radiant’s extensive experience within European pharmaceutical services provides valuable insight into the operational requirements necessary to establish and maintain advanced manufacturing operations across the continent. He indicated that the firm intends to play an active role in supporting Cellares as it expands its European presence.
Building a Global Manufacturing Ecosystem
Cellares has developed a strategy centered on creating a worldwide network of highly automated manufacturing facilities, known as Smart Factories, designed specifically for cell therapy production.
Unlike traditional manufacturing models, which often require significant manual intervention, Cellares utilizes its proprietary Cell Shuttle® platform to automate many of the critical steps involved in cell therapy manufacturing. The company believes that automation can improve consistency, increase production capacity, reduce manufacturing costs, and ultimately accelerate patient access to potentially life-saving therapies.
Fabian Gerlinghaus, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Cellares, highlighted the importance of establishing manufacturing capacity simultaneously across multiple regions rather than focusing on a single market.
According to Gerlinghaus, the future of cell therapy requires a truly global manufacturing network capable of serving patients wherever advanced therapies are approved and delivered. He noted that Prime Radiant’s expertise in pharmaceutical services throughout continental Europe makes the firm a valuable strategic partner as Cellares continues its international expansion efforts.
Gerlinghaus further stated that the caliber of investors participating in the Series D financing reflects confidence in both the company’s technology platform and its long-term vision for transforming cell therapy manufacturing.
Accelerating Smart Factory Development in Europe
The newly secured capital will primarily support the next phase of Cellares’ global Smart Factory deployment strategy.
One of the company’s most significant ongoing projects is the construction of a large-scale manufacturing facility in Leiden, the Netherlands. This facility is expected to become a key component of Cellares’ international manufacturing network and will serve pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies developing advanced cell therapies for global markets.
The Leiden Smart Factory is being designed to provide the same automated manufacturing capabilities available through the company’s U.S. operations, ensuring consistency in production standards across different regions. The facility is expected to be Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) ready in 2027, positioning it to support both clinical and commercial manufacturing programs.
The Netherlands location is strategically important due to its strong life sciences ecosystem, established pharmaceutical infrastructure, and proximity to major European healthcare markets.
Prime Radiant’s presence in Europe, including offices in Milan and Munich, is expected to provide additional operational support as Cellares scales its manufacturing activities across the region. As demand for cell therapies continues to increase throughout Europe, the company believes its automated manufacturing model can help address capacity constraints and accelerate therapy availability.
Expanding Commercial Momentum
The extension of the Series D financing comes at a time when Cellares is experiencing significant growth in commercial activity.
The company reports that its manufacturing platform is currently supporting programs across several advanced therapeutic modalities, including chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) therapies, T-cell receptor-engineered therapies (TCR-T), and progenitor T-cell therapies.
These programs span multiple stages of development, ranging from early clinical research to commercial manufacturing.
Several biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies have already adopted the Cell Shuttle platform as part of their manufacturing strategies. Among the organizations working with Cellares are major industry players and innovative biotechnology firms, including Bristol Myers Squibb, Cabaletta Bio, TScan Therapeutics, and ProTgen.
These collaborations demonstrate increasing industry acceptance of automated manufacturing solutions as companies seek scalable approaches to producing complex cell therapies.
Landmark Manufacturing Agreements Strengthen Pipeline
A major contributor to Cellares’ growing commercial momentum is its previously announced global manufacturing agreement with Bristol Myers Squibb.
Valued at approximately $380 million, the agreement provides Bristol Myers Squibb with access to commercial-scale manufacturing capacity across multiple regions, including the United States, Europe, and Japan. The partnership is among the largest manufacturing agreements announced in the cell therapy sector and reflects growing confidence in automated production technologies.
The agreement positions Cellares as a key manufacturing partner for one of the world’s leading biopharmaceutical companies while helping secure long-term utilization of the company’s Smart Factory network.
In addition to the Bristol Myers Squibb collaboration, Cellares recently strengthened its relationship with Cabaletta Bio through a long-term commercial manufacturing arrangement.
In April 2026, the companies entered into a 10-year commercial supply agreement following the successful production and delivery of GMP-manufactured cell therapy doses to patients using the Cell Shuttle platform. The milestone represented an important validation of Cellares’ ability to support real-world clinical and commercial manufacturing requirements.
These agreements provide strong evidence that automated manufacturing technologies are becoming increasingly integrated into the broader cell therapy ecosystem.
Positioning for the Future of Cell Therapy Manufacturing
As the number of approved and late-stage cell therapies continues to grow, industry experts expect manufacturing demand to increase substantially over the coming years.
Traditional manufacturing methods may struggle to meet the volume, consistency, and geographic requirements necessary to support widespread adoption of personalized therapies. Cellares aims to address these challenges through a globally connected network of automated facilities capable of delivering standardized manufacturing processes across major healthcare markets.
The additional $50 million investment from Prime Radiant Partners further strengthens the company’s financial position as it works to execute this vision. With total Series D financing now reaching $327 million, expanding commercial partnerships, and major infrastructure projects underway, Cellares is positioning itself as a central player in the evolution of cell therapy manufacturing.
As construction progresses in Europe and commercial collaborations continue to expand, the company’s automated manufacturing model could play an increasingly important role in helping advanced cell therapies reach more patients worldwide while supporting the next generation of personalized medicine.
About Prime Radiant Partners
Prime Radiant Fund SLP SICAV-RAIF is a Luxembourg based alternative investment fund advised by Prime Radiant Partners, an advisory firm specializing in middle-market high-growth, innovation-driven private equity investments within the healthcare and life sciences sectors across North America and Europe. Prime Radiant Partners’ leaders have more than 70 years of combined experience as investors, operating executives, and strategic partners who bring differentiated sector expertise, a data-driven investment process, and relentless focus on operational excellence. Prime Radiant has offices in New York, Milan, and Munich. For more information, visit: https://www.primeradiantpartners.com.
About Cellares
Cellares is the first Integrated Development and Manufacturing Organization (IDMO), providing global cell therapy development and manufacturing services through an Industry 4.0 approach to the mass manufacture of the living drugs of the 21st century. The company enables drug sponsors to develop, scale, and commercialize cell therapies with the capacity, reliability, and economics required to meet total patient demand.
Cellares’ fully automated platforms — Cell Shuttle® for end-to-end cell therapy manufacturing and Cell Q™ for automated in-process and release quality control — are deployed across its network of IDMO Smart Factories worldwide. These technologies deliver industry-leading manufacturing economics, higher process success rates, and the ability to produce up to 10× more cell therapy batches than conventional CDMOs with comparable footprint and headcount, resulting in the lowest cost of manufacturing in the industry.
The Cell Shuttle is the first cell therapy manufacturing platform to receive the FDA’s Advanced Manufacturing Technology (AMT) designation, and has demonstrated a 100% automation success rate across more than a dozen automated processes.
Cellares has achieved key clinical validation milestones, including a successful IND Amendment enabling active clinical manufacturing on the Cell Shuttle platform, and the successful dosing of first patients in a partner clinical trial — marking the platform’s transition from development-stage technology to clinically validated manufacturing infrastructure. These milestones span multiple therapeutic areas and cell therapy modalities, including both oncology and autoimmune indications.
Headquartered in South San Francisco, California, Cellares operates its first commercial-scale IDMO Smart Factory in Bridgewater, New Jersey, with additional facilities under construction in Europe and Japan. Through its global manufacturing network, Cellares is purpose-built to support both clinical and commercial programs and to expand access to life-saving cell therapies worldwide.
