Product Owner

Cellares hits $600m investment milestone to scale automated smart factories. The latest round of series-D funding secured over $250 million for the construction of several sites. Earlier this week, integrated development and manufacturing organization (IDMO) Cellares announced the closing of its latest Series-D funding round, co-led by BlackRock and Eclipse. The Series D raised US$257 million and added more global investors, totaling $612 million in capital. The funding will support the construction of automated "smart factories" in South San Francisco, California; Bridgewater, New Jersey; Leiden, Netherlands; and Kashiwa City, Japan. The company says these factories will allow for fully automated, unrestricted manufacturing of cell therapies. "South San Francisco is where we invent and develop our technologies and conduct clinical-scale manufacturing," commented CEO and co-founder of Cellares Fabian Gerlinghaus to BioProcess Insider. "Bridgewater, New Jersey, is our first commercial-scale US facility, already built and operational. Leiden [will] serve Europe and support our Bristol Myers Squibb partnership, and Kashiwa City addresses Asia-Pacific demand." He added, "Each location satisfies regional regulatory requirements and keeps manufacturing close to patients." According to the company's website, its Cell Shuttle and Cell-Q platforms allow closed-system, end-to-end automated production of cellular therapies. In April 2024, Cellares announced a $380 million contract with Bristol Myers Squibb to use its technology to manufacture chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapies. The partnership hopes to address persistent problems in scaling cell therapies. "Technology transfer is where global manufacturing typically breaks," explained Gerlinghaus. "Because Cell Shuttles execute identical, software-controlled automation across our network of IDMO smart factories, a process qualified in South San Francisco runs the same in New Jersey, Leiden, or Japan." Several new investors contributed to Cellares in its latest series-D funding, with hopes to support clinical manufacturing in the first half of 2026 and launch commercial manufacturing in 2027. "The $257 million Series D, co-led by BlackRock and Eclipse with participation from T. Rowe Price, Baillie Gifford, Duquesne Family Office, Intuitive Ventures, EDBI, and Gates Frontier, provides the capital to scale the industrial backbone needed to deliver cell therapies globally," added Gerlinghaus. "This financing puts Cellares on a clear, disciplined path toward becoming a public company in Q4 of 2027." Cellares's operational factories in San Francisco and Bridgewater are cGMP compliant and can produce over 41,000 patient doses per year, but the company hopes to increase this. "The entire industry produced just over 10,000 patient doses last year across approved therapies. Each of our smart factories can produce up to 75,000 patient doses annually, depending on process duration," elaborated Gerlinghaus. "We offer the lowest cost of manufacturing in the industry, which gives pharma companies room to negotiate pricing with insurers." Millie Hoe is a life sciences reporter for BioProcess Insider and BioXconomy, covering biomanufacturing, modalities and partnering and investment. She has a strong scientific background in biomedical sciences and healthcare, recently completing her Masters of Science (MSc) earlier this year. Join our 70,000+ readers. And yes, it's completely free.

Inside the race to build data centers. AI may be booming. But it's sprawling data centers, filled to the brim with powerful chips, that are actually training and running top AI models like Gemini, ChatGPT and Claude. These mega-scale data center projects - which underpin the AI boom and, by extension, the U.S. race against China - are changing landscapes, straining energy grids, and reshaping the economy. In a recent feature, my colleague Sharon Goldman flew out to Arizona to Hassayampa Ranch, a 2,000-acre site 50 miles west of Phoenix. There, developer Anita Verma-Lallian is trying to bring to life a $51 million deal to build a massive data center, one backed by (among others) VC and Trump mega-donor Chamath Palihapitiya. The goal? Bring in a hyperscaler like Google, Microsoft or OpenAI. "We have probably six to eight large hyperscalers that are interested in looking at it," Verma-Lallian told Goldman. As Sharon writes, these data centers aren't just about technology, or economics - they're also about politics, zoning rules and the environment: In an era when AI infrastructure investment accounts for a growing share of U.S. economic growth, both Republicans and Democrats are vying to prove they can get projects built quickly - a priority that aligns with those of deep-pocketed tech and infrastructure investors who have grown and consolidated their political influence as demand for computing power has surged. For example, Palihapitiya's All-In podcast cohost, venture capitalist David Sacks, is now Trump's "AI and crypto czar," helping steer federal strategy on AI competitiveness and infrastructure. In 2025, AI data centers emerged as a political flash point, fueling heated debates and grassroots campaigns over power, water, land, and jobs. Critics, many from the left but also including populist Republicans such as Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, warn they are driving up electricity costs and straining scarce water supplies. Meanwhile supporters (again, from both sides of the aisle) argue they can deliver economic growth and long-sought tax revenue to struggling communities. Tensions are coming to the fore, as Big Tech, Silicon Valley money, politics, and local communities collide. Read the whole story here. Allie Garfinkle X: @agarfinks Email: [email protected] Submit a deal for the Term Sheet newsletter here. Venture capital. - Cellares, a South San Francisco-based developer of cell therapy manufacturing technology, raised $257 million in Series D funding from BlackRock, T. Rowe Price, Baillie Gifford, Gates Frontier, and others. - Rogo, a New York City-based AI platform designed for finance, raised $75 million in Series C funding. Sequoia Capital led the round. - Factify, a Pittsburgh, Pa. and Tel Aviv, Israel-based developer of an intelligent document format designed to replace PDFs, raised $73 million in seed funding. Valley Capital Partners led the round. - Gyde, an Austin, Texas-based AI-powered insurance brokerage, raised $60 million in funding. Lightspeed led the round and was joined by Optum Ventures, Crystal Venture Partners, Virtue, MVP Ventures, and others. - Zocks, a San Francisco-based developer of an AI platform designed for financial advisors, raised $45 million in Series B funding. Lightspeed Venture Partners and QED Investors led the round and were joined by Illuminate Financial and existing investors. - Outtake, a New York City-based agentic AI platform designed for identifying digital threats and responding to them, raised $40 million in Series B funding. ICONIQ led the round and was joined by CRV, S32, and others. - Phia, a New York City-based platform designed to be an AI-shopping assistant, raised $35 million in Series A funding. Notable Capital led the round and was joined by Khosla Ventures and existing investor Kleiner Perkins. - Adaptive6, a New York City and Tel Aviv, Israel-based cloud cost governance platform, raised $28 million in Series A funding. U.S. Venture Partners led the round and was joined by New Era Capital Partners, Forgepoint Capital, Pitango VC, and Vertex Ventures. - Slice Global Equity, a New York City-based AI-powered equity compliance and management platform, raised $25 million in Series A funding. Insight Partners led the round and was joined by Fenwick and Cooley and existing investors. - XFuel, a Dublin, Ireland-based low-carbon drop-in fuel technology company, raised $20 million in Series A funding from Audacy, Future Planet Capital, Light Ray Ventures, and others. - Concourse, a New York City-based agentic AI platform designed for financial analysis, raised $12 million in Series A funding. Standard Capital led the round and was joined by Andreessen Horowitz, CRV, Y Combinator, angel investors. - Datatruck, a Lombard, Ill.-based AI-powered operating system designed for long-haul trucking carriers, raised $12 million in Series A funding. Avenue Growth Partners led the round and was joined by existing investors. - Sentra.app, a San Francisco-based enterprise general intelligence platform, raised $5 million in seed funding. a16z speedrun and Together Fund led the round and were joined by Parable, Precursor Ventures, and others. - Carbonaide, a Joensuu, Finland-based green concrete company, raised €3.7 million ($4.4 million) in funding. Vantaan Energia, Redstone, and Ihantola Invest led the round. - Emobi, a San Francisco-based EV charging network, raised $3.4 million in seed funding. Florida Funders led the round and was joined by existing investors Aves Ventures, Collaborative Fund, Gaingels, Gener8tor, and others. Private equity. - Premier Radiology, a portfolio company of Grovecourt Capital Partners, acquired National Radiology Solutions, a Winter Garden, Fla.-based radiology company. Financial terms were not disclosed. - Residence, a portfolio company of Gemspring Capital, acquired OK COOL, a London, U.K.-based creative agency. Financial terms were not disclosed. - Rover, backed by Blackstone, acquired Meowtel, a Dover, Del.-based cat sitting marketplace. Financial terms were not disclosed. Exits. - CVC agreed to acquire Equine Network, an Albuquerque, N.M.-based equestrian sports league, from Growth Catalyst Partners. Financial terms were not disclosed. - Executive Equity Partners acquired Notonthehighstreet, a London, U.K.-based online gift retailer, from Great Hill Equity Partners and Burda Principal Investments. Ipos. - Eikon Therapeutics, a Millbrae, Calif.-based drug discovery company, plans to raise up to $316.8 million in an offering of 17.6 million shares priced between $16 and $18 on the Nasdaq. Lux, Foresite Capital, The Column Group, Innovation Endeavors, Mahler International, and Catalyst4 back the company. Funds + funds of funds. - Basis Set Ventures, a San Francisco-based venture capital firm, raised $250 million for its fourth fund focused on AI-native companies.

With Cellares preparing to begin commercial-stage production in 2027, the California-based cell therapy contract manufacturer has taken a major step toward that goal,