What You Should Know
- The News: Cellares has raised $257M in Series D financing, bringing its total capital to $612 million. The round was co-led by BlackRock and Eclipse.
- The Tech: Cellares is building the world’s first IDMO (Integrated Development and Manufacturing Organization). Its Cell Shuttle™ and Cell Q™ platforms fully automate the manufacturing and quality control of cell therapies, replacing “artisanal” manual processes.
- The Scale: The company claims its automated “Smart Factories” can deliver 10x higher throughput and lower per-patient costs compared to traditional CDMOs. Commercial-scale manufacturing is slated to begin in 2027.
Why BlackRock and Bristol Myers Squibb Are Betting Robots Can Fix the Cell Therapy Bottleneck
Cellare, the first Integrated Development and Manufacturing Organization (IDMO) announced a massive $257M Series D financing co-led by investment BlackRock and Eclipse, the round brings Cellares’ total funding to over $612M. The capital will fuel the construction of automated “Smart Factories” in the U.S., Europe, and Japan, aiming to turn cell therapy from a boutique craft into a global industry.
“The barrier to curing more patients is no longer scientific – it is industrial,” said Fabian Gerlinghaus, CEO of Cellares.
The Rise of the IDMO
Cellares is pioneering a new category: the IDMO (Integrated Development and Manufacturing Organization). Unlike traditional Contract Development and Manufacturing Organizations (CDMOs) that rely on cleanrooms filled with human operators, Cellares relies on robotics.
The company’s model is built on two proprietary platforms:
- Cell Shuttle™: An end-to-end, closed-system factory-in-a-box that automates the entire production line.
- Cell Q™: An automated platform for in-process and release testing, solving the quality control bottleneck.
The efficiency gains are staggering. Cellares claims these systems provide 10-fold higher throughput and significantly lower costs. To match the output of one Cellares facility, a conventional CDMO would need to build 10 facilities and hire thousands of employees. Cellares needs only hundreds.
Recent Traction/Milestones
The “high-tech backbone” Cellares is building has already attracted heavyweights. The company previously entered a $380M agreement with Bristol Myers Squibb, reserving capacity for commercial-scale CAR-T manufacturing.
Furthermore, the Cell Shuttle has received the FDA’s Advanced Manufacturing Technology (AMT) designation. This is a critical regulatory fast-track that allows for expedited review of drugs manufactured on the platform—a major incentive for biotech partners to switch from manual to automated processes.
The Roadmap to 2027
With this fresh capital, Cellares is moving from development to deployment. The company expects to support clinical manufacturing by the first half of 2026, with full commercial-scale manufacturing coming online in 2027.
