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The basics:

• Cellares raises $257M in Series D financing, bringing total funding to $612M
• Funding to expand automated Smart Factories in the US, Europe, Japan
• Cell Shuttle, Cell Q platforms enable end-to-end automated manufacturing
• Key investors include BlackRock, Eclipse, T. Rowe Price, Baillie Gifford, Gates Frontier

Cellares has raised a $257 million Series D financing, bringing its total funding to $612 million. The latest comes as the cell therapy manufacturing company accelerates plans to industrialize production through large-scale automation.

Investment funds managed by BlackRock and Eclipse co-led the round. New investors include T. Rowe Price Investment Management, Baillie Gifford, Duquesne Family Office, Intuitive Ventures, EDBI and Gates Frontier. Existing backers DC Global Ventures, DFJ Growth and Willett Advisors also participated.

The company is headquartered in South San Francisco and operates a commercial-scale Smart Factory in Bridgewater. Cellares positions itself as the first Integrated Development and Manufacturing Organization (IDMO). It aims to replace manual, labor-intensive cell therapy production with fully automated, GMP-compliant systems.

Its Cell Shuttle platform enables closed-system, end-to-end manufacturing. Meanwhile, its Cell Q automates in-process and release testing – delivering roughly 10-fold higher throughput and lower per-patient costs compared with traditional CDMOs.

“Cellares is building the high-tech, industrial backbone required for cell therapy to scale globally,” said Andrew Farris, managing director at BlackRock. He cited validated automation, regulatory recognition and growing commercial demand as positioning the company as “a category-defining platform” in a market projected to reach tens of billions of dollars annually.

The new capital will fund the global rollout of automated Smart Factories in South San Francisco; Bridgewater; Leiden, the Netherlands; and Kashiwa City, Japan. Cellares expects to support clinical manufacturing in the first half of 2026, with commercial-scale manufacturing beginning in 2027.

Breaking barriers

“For decades, cell therapy manufacturing has been constrained by artisanal, manual processes,” said 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’ momentum builds on a string of major announcements in 2026. Milestones include:

• The expansion of its global Smart Factory network into Europe
• U.S. Food & Drug Administration clearance of an IND amendment for Cabaletta Bio using the platform
• A partnership with City of Hope to automate solid tumor CAR-T manufacturing
• Autolus Therapeutics’ evaluation of automated production for AUCATZYL (obe-cel)

“The barrier to curing more patients is no longer scientific — it is industrial,” said co-founder and CEO Fabian Gerlinghaus.

The company previously secured a $380 million global manufacturing agreement with Bristol Myers Squibb and counts Kite (Gilead), City of Hope and Cabaletta Bio among its customers.

Notably, Cellares was the first company to receive the FDA’s Advanced Manufacturing Technology designation for cell therapy manufacturing.

“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,” said Gerlinghaus. “This financing puts Cellares on a clear, disciplined path toward becoming a public company.”