Cellares

Name

Cellares

Legal name

Cellares Corporation

Website

https://cellares.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2017

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Cell Therapy Contract Manufacturing

NAICS

Industrial and Commercial Fan and Blower and Air Purification Equipment Manufacturing (333413), Ventilation, Heating, Air-Conditioning, and Commercial Refrigeration Equipment Manufacturing (3334), Food Product Machinery Manufacturing (333241)

SIC

Laboratory Apparatus & Furniture (3821), General Industrial Machinery & Equipment (3560), Industrial Process Furnaces & Ovens (3567)

akta.pro primary industry

Cell Therapy CDMO (HLAGABAD)

akta.pro secondary industries

Drug Substance–Drug Product Integrated CDMO (HLAGABAG), Sample Logistics, Biorepository & IVD Kit Management (Trial Support) (HLAGAEAI)

Keywords

• Cell therapy manufacturing
• Automated bioprocessing platforms
• CDMO services
• GMP cell therapy production
• Cell therapy automation

Headquarters

HQ city

South San Francisco

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices4 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Infrastructure, Technology or R&D, Operations, Supply Chain, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Manufacturing Capacity Reservation & Supply Agreements: Long-term, multi-year, multi-hundred-million-dollar capacity reservation and supply agreements with biopharma partners (e.g., $380M global agreement with Bristol Myers Squibb reserving commercial-scale capacity in the US, Europe, and Japan; 10-year commercial supply agreement with Cabaletta Bio for rese-cel). Functions as a forward-purchased manufacturing services commitment, anchoring capacity utilization across Smart Factories.
2. CDMO / IDMO Manufacturing Services: Fee-for-service clinical and commercial cGMP manufacturing, process development, analytical development, QA/QC, and regulatory support delivered via the IDMO model. Predictable per-batch pricing (transparent, no hidden fees) for partners across preclinical through commercial stages. Currently active in autologous CAR-T, TCR-T, progenitor T-cell, HSC, and gene-edited programs.
3. Technology Adoption / Feasibility Evaluation Programs: Paid technology adoption and feasibility evaluation engagements with biotech and pharma partners (e.g., TScan for TSC-101, Autolus for AUCATZYL/obe-cel, Kite, Lyell, Poseida). These programs assess automated process translation on Cell Shuttle as a step toward commercial supply agreements and generate near-term service revenue plus option value on long-term contracts.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

Cellares is the first Integrated Development and Manufacturing Organization (IDMO) providing automated, large-scale cGMP manufacturing of cell therapies. The company operates its proprietary Cell Shuttle® manufacturing platform and Cell Q™ automated quality control workcell inside a global network of IDMO Smart Factories, delivering clinical and commercial manufacturing services, process development, analytical development, QA/QC, and regulatory support to biopharma partners.

Product overview

Cellares offers a platform-plus-modules architecture unified under the world's first Integrated Development and Manufacturing Organization (IDMO) model. The core manufacturing platform is the Cell Shuttle®, a high-throughput, end-to-end, cGMP, closed-system automated cell therapy manufacturing platform and the first recipient of the FDA's Advanced Manufacturing Technology (AMT) designation. Complementing it is Cell Q™, the world's first automated cGMP QC workcell that automates in-process and release quality control testing. Both are deployed across Cellares' global network of IDMO Smart Factories, and together with Process Translation & Automation, Analytical Bridging & Automation, and Global Quality & Regulatory Consultation services, they constitute the company's IDMO offering for cell therapy developers — spanning preclinical development through commercial-scale manufacturing.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Cell Shuttle: The company's flagship automated, end-to-end, cGMP cell therapy manufacturing platform; first cell therapy manufacturing platform to receive the FDA's Advanced Manufacturing Technology (AMT) designation.
• Cell Q
• IDMO Smart Factories

Products and services

• Cell Shuttle®
• Cell Q™
• IDMO Services
• IDMO Smart Factory Network

Named customers14 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration6 records

Feature6 records

Partnerships

19 partnerships are on record, tiered policy / industry coalition member, core commercial partner, core development partner, flagship commercial partner and clinical validator, core academic partner, european real estate partner, flagship asia pacific partner, core technology partner, core technology partners (cell q ecosystem), flagship technology partner, flagship / anchor commercial partner, development partner and academic partner.

• New American Industrial Alliance (NAIA)policy / industry coalition memberStrategic or Co-development Partner · 10 June 2026Cellares joined NAIA, a multi-sector trade association with 1,000+ decision-makers representing $1T+ in investable capital, dedicated to rebuilding America's strategic industrial base and domestic manufacturing leadership.
• TScan Therapeuticscore commercial partnerStrategic or Co-development Partner · 3 June 2026Agreement to evaluate automated clinical manufacturing of lead TCR-T candidate TSC-101 for AML/MDS using Cell Shuttle and Cell Q. TScan advances TSC-101 toward a pivotal trial expected to begin Q2 2026, with Cellares as a candidate commercial manufacturing partner.
• ProTgencore development partnerStrategic or Co-development Partner · 13 May 2026Partnership to automate manufacturing and quality control of ProT-096, ProTgen's personalized progenitor T-cell therapy for refractory leukemia and hematologic malignancies, including regulatory expertise toward IND submission.
• Cabaletta Bioflagship commercial partner and clinical validatorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 28 April 2026Original technology adoption partnership began November 2023; expanded through 2024–2026 with successful completion of the Manufacturing Technology Adoption Program (March 2025), FDA IND Amendment clearance (January 2026), first two GMP patient doses (April 14, 2026), and a 10-year commercial supply agreement (April 28, 2026) to scale rese-cel for autoimmune diseases.
• University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Healthcore academic partnerStrategic or Co-development Partner · 18 February 2026Expanded partnership to support clinical manufacturing and regulatory process for CRISPR-edited GD2 CAR-T therapy for solid tumors; Cellares provides Cell Shuttle and Cell Q platforms plus regulatory expertise for IND application with the FDA. UW retains full ownership and leadership of the IND filing.
• Stanford Medicine (Stanford Center for Definitive and Curative Medicine; Stanford Innovative Medicines Accelerator)core academic partnerStrategic or Co-development Partner · 3 February 2026Collaboration to automate manufacturing and release testing for gene-edited hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) therapies targeting HIV and inherited diseases.
• Dura Vermeer Commercieel Vastgoedeuropean real estate partnerOthers · 12 January 2026Real estate developer partner for Cellares' European Smart Factory at Leiden Bio Science Park in the Netherlands (~9,741 m² facility in the Nexus building).
• City of Hopecore academic partnerStrategic or Co-development Partner · 9 January 2026Collaboration to evaluate automated manufacturing of a CAR T-cell therapy targeting glioblastoma using Cellares' automation platforms.
• Autolus Therapeuticscore commercial partnerStrategic or Co-development Partner · 6 January 2026Autolus to evaluate Cell Shuttle for commercial manufacturing of AUCATZYL (obe-cel) for relapsed/refractory B-ALL and potential expansion into pediatric B-ALL, lupus, and multiple sclerosis.
• Mitsui Fudosanflagship asia pacific partnerStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 November 2025Partnership for first IDMO Smart Factory in Japan at Kashiwanoha Smart City, Chiba (groundbreaking November 2025); four-storey facility targeting up to 75,000 patients/year with 30+ Cell Shuttle units, operations scheduled to begin 2027.
• Slingshot Biosciencescore technology partnerTechnology or Integration · 29 October 2025Strategic collaboration to integrate Slingshot's TruCytes biomarker controls into Cellares' Cell Q automated quality control platform, improving data integrity, reducing failure rates, and enabling faster production scaling.
• Tecan, Advanced Instruments, Cytek Biosciences, AltemisLabcore technology partners (cell q ecosystem)Technology or Integration · 17 September 2025Cellares selected five best-in-class technology providers — Tecan, Advanced Instruments, Cytek Biosciences, Slingshot Biosciences, and AltemisLab — to expand Cell Q's capabilities in meeting demands for commercial-scale cell therapy quality control.
• Sonyflagship technology partnerTechnology or Integration · 12 September 2024Joint development collaboration to integrate Sony's flow cytometry-based sorting and online analysis into Cellares' automated, high-throughput cell therapy manufacturing platform.
• Kite (Gilead)core commercial partnerStrategic or Co-development Partner · 27 June 2024Agreement for Kite to evaluate Cellares' Cell Shuttle automated manufacturing platform as a potential complement to Kite's commercial operations.
• Bristol Myers Squibbflagship / anchor commercial partnerStrategic or Co-development Partner · 22 April 2024$380M worldwide capacity reservation and supply agreement signed April 2024 reserving commercial-scale capacity in the US, Europe, and Japan for CAR-T programs including Breyanzi and Abecma. Partnership expanded October 2023 to include a second CAR-T program in Cellares' Technology Adoption Partnership Program. BMS participated in Cellares' Series D financing.
• Lyell Immunopharmadevelopment partnerStrategic or Co-development Partner · 11 September 2023Partnership to evaluate automated manufacturing of Lyell's CAR T-cell therapy on the Cell Shuttle platform.
• Poseida Therapeuticsdevelopment partnerStrategic or Co-development Partner · 14 July 2021Early Access Partnership Program engagement to accelerate cell therapy manufacturing on the Cell Shuttle.
• PACT Pharmadevelopment partnerStrategic or Co-development Partner · 8 January 2021Joined Cellares' Early Access Partnership Program (January 2021) to evaluate Cell Shuttle for cell therapy manufacturing.
• Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Centeracademic partnerStrategic or Co-development Partner · 29 October 2020Joined Cellares' Early Access Partnership Program in October 2020.

Scale indicators13 records

Recent moves16 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Ori Biotech: Closest direct peer in automated cell therapy manufacturing. Ori Biotech's IRO platform is the only other cell therapy manufacturing platform with an FDA Advanced Manufacturing Technology designation (September 2025), targeting similar autologous CAR-T and gene-edited programs and competing for the same IDMO/capacity-reservation contracts.

Broad incumbents

• Lonza Group: Global CDMO incumbent with a large cell and gene therapy services franchise across autologous and allogeneic modalities. Comparable as a multi-modality manufacturing services competitor, though Lonza operates at much broader scale and lacks a single end-to-end automated cell-therapy-only platform like Cellares' IDMO.
• Thermo Fisher Scientific (Patheon / Brammer Bio): Diversified life-sciences tools and CDMO player with cell therapy services through Patheon and Brammer Bio. Competes for clinical and commercial cell therapy manufacturing engagements and brings vertically integrated bioprocessing tools and analytical instruments.
• Catalent: Major global CDMO offering cell therapy manufacturing services including viral vector and cell therapy capacity. A relevant comparator for commercial-scale cell therapy CDMO engagements, though Catalent's portfolio spans many therapeutic modalities beyond cell therapy.
• Cytiva (Danaher): Bioprocessing equipment and consumables supplier whose cell therapy workflow tools (Xuri, Sepax) compete in adjacent automation slots. Comparable as a supplier of automation that CDMOs use, and an indirect competitor to Cellares' vertically integrated IDMO model.
• AGC Biologics: Global CDMO with cell and gene therapy services (including the former Novartis Stein facility and a gene therapy center of excellence). Competes for clinical and commercial cell therapy manufacturing contracts at comparable scale to Lonza and Catalent.
• WuXi Advanced Therapies (WuXi AppTec): Large Asia- and US-based CDMO with cell and gene therapy manufacturing services. Relevant comparator for global multi-region cell therapy manufacturing capacity, particularly given Cellares' Asia expansion into Kashiwa, Japan.
• Charles River Laboratories: Contract development and manufacturing organization with cell therapy services (via its HemaCare and CDMO businesses). Competes for early- and clinical-stage cell therapy manufacturing engagements and provides related discovery and safety assessment services.

Emerging players

• MaxCyte: Cell engineering technology provider whose electroporation platform underpins many clinical-stage cell therapy programs. Comparable as a cell therapy manufacturing technology enabler; Cellares' new CCO previously led commercial efforts at MaxCyte, illustrating personnel overlap and ecosystem ties.
• National Resilience: Technology-focused biomanufacturing company building automated, distributed manufacturing capacity for advanced therapies including cell and gene therapies. Shares Cellares' thesis of replacing manual CDMO operations with automated, networked manufacturing.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat7 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/cellares-corporation

Compliance4 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds4 records

Investors19 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Cellares