What Outpace Bio does

Outpace Bio is a Seattle-based clinical-stage biotechnology company founded in 2021 as a spin-out from Lyell Immunopharma. The company develops AI-powered engineered T cell therapies intended to overcome barriers to curing solid tumors, which account for more than 90% of cancer cases but have seen limited cell therapy efficacy to date. Its technology platform is built around de novo protein design, combining proprietary machine learning algorithms with biological knowledge to generate novel proteins that program immune cell function inside patients. The platform comprises five modular technology stacks: OUTSPACER (optimized CAR libraries), OUTSMART (designed cytokines for tumor-localized immune activation), OUTLAST (T cell persistence regulation), OUTSAFE/EGFRopt (cetuximab-responsive safety switches), and CoLOCKR logic-gated targeting (Boolean antigen recognition). These modules can be combined into single cell therapy products, as demonstrated by lead program OPB-101, an autologous mesothelin CAR-T for ovarian cancer and other solid tumors currently in early clinical stage, and pipeline programs OPB-201 (PRAME TCR-T for endometrial cancer, IND-enabling) and OPB-301 (undisclosed).

The company generates no commercial revenue and distributes investigational therapies exclusively through clinical trial participation. Future revenue is expected from commercialization of approved cell therapy products and potentially from platform licensing, though pricing has not been disclosed. Outpace has raised approximately $199 million across three venture rounds (Series A 2021, Series A extension 2023, Series B 2024), led by RA Capital, ARTIS Ventures, and Lyell Immunopharma with participation from Bristol-Myers Squibb, Mubadala, and Qatar Investment Authority. Strategic partnerships with Lyell Immunopharma (IL-12 co-development), UW Institute for Protein Design (David Baker lab), Fred Hutch Cancer Center (Stan Riddell), Memorial Sloan Kettering, and the University of North Carolina anchor the company's research and translation capabilities, alongside its founding membership in the OpenFold AI Research Consortium.

Name

Outpace Bio

Legal name

Outpace Bio, Inc.

Website

https://outpacebio.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2021

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Outpace Bio is a Seattle-based clinical-stage biotechnology company that uses AI-powered protein design to develop engineered T cell therapies for solid tumors, with lead program OPB-101 in early clinical development for ovarian cancer.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Seattle

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Cell Therapy Product Development: Pre-revenue biotech company developing engineered T cell therapies for solid tumors. Revenue will be generated through commercialized cell therapy products following regulatory approval

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Outpace Bio is a clinical-stage biotechnology company that uses AI-powered protein design to create engineered T cell therapies for solid tumors. The company combines five modular platform technologies (OUTSPACER, OUTSMART, OUTLAST, OUTSAFE/EGFRopt, and Logic Gated Targeting/CoLOCKR) into single cell therapy products, with lead program OPB-101 (mesothelin CAR-T) advancing through early clinical development for ovarian cancer.

Product overview

Outpace Bio is a biotechnology company that has developed an AI-powered protein design platform for cell therapy. The platform consists of five core technology modules—OUTSPACER™ (optimized CAR library), OUTSMART™ (designed cytokines), OUTLAST™ (T cell persistence), OUTSAFE™/EGFRopt™ (safety switches), and Logic Gated Targeting—these can be combined into single cell therapy products with curative potential. The company is applying these technologies to build a pipeline of engineered T cell therapies, with lead program OPB-101 (mesothelin CAR-T) in early clinical stage for ovarian cancer and solid tumors. Outpace Bio operates as a spinout from Lyell Immunopharma, co-founded in 2021, and is headquartered in Seattle, Washington.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• OPB-101 Autologous mesothelin (MSLN)-specific CAR-T therapy in development for ovarian cancer and other solid tumors; combines Outpace's OUTSPACER, OUTSMART, OUTLAST, and OUTSAFE technologies to address tumor immune suppression, persistence, potency, safety, and specificity challenges.
• OPB-201 TCR-T cell therapy targeting PRAME for endometrial cancer and other solid tumors, currently in IND-enabling stage.
• OPB-301 Undisclosed cell therapy program in Outpace's pipeline; stage not publicly disclosed.

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 50,000 novel proteins can be generated in under three days
• +1 more outcomes

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability2 records

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• OpenFold ConsortiumcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerOutpace Bio is a founding member of OpenFold, the leading consortium for AI-powered protein research. The consortium supports open-access development of protein folding and design software for use by a wide community of researchers to discover new medicines.
• Lyell ImmunopharmacoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerOutpace and Lyell are collaborating to unlock the biology of IL-12, a cytokine that has potential to dramatically improve efficacy in treating patients with cancer but requires careful control to avoid systemic toxicity. Lyell was also an original investor in Outpace Bio.
• Institute for Protein Design (UW)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerOutpace collaborates with David Baker at the University of Washington Institute for Protein Design to access new machine learning algorithms for protein design capabilities. Baker's lab pioneered the ability to create new biological functions with de novo protein design.
• Fred Hutch Cancer CentercoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerOutpace collaborates with Stanley Riddell at Fred Hutch Cancer Center, a leading expert in adoptive T cell therapy. Riddell co-designed the CD19-specific CAR used in trials that led to FDA-approved Breyanzi.
• Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer CenterminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration with Prasad Adusumilli at MSKCC focused on solid tumor immunology and T-cell mediated immunotherapy development, particularly for thoracic malignancies and mesothelioma.
• University of North CarolinaminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCollaboration with Gianpietro Dotti at UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center Immunotherapy Program, focusing on developing CAR-T cells for solid tumor treatment.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves9 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Lyell Immunopharma: Lyell is Outpace's former parent company and current co-development partner on IL-12 cytokines. Both are clinical-stage cell therapy companies focused on solid tumors, sharing founding-team lineage and overlapping technology approaches to T cell persistence and exhaustion.
• Iovance Biotherapeutics: Iovance is the leading commercial-stage tumor-infiltrating lymphocyte (TIL) therapy company for solid tumors, with FDA-approved Amtagvi for melanoma. It is the most relevant commercial benchmark for Outpace's solid tumor cell therapy ambitions and shares the autologous cell therapy manufacturing model.
• Adaptimmune Therapeutics: Adaptimmune develops engineered TCR-T cell therapies for solid tumors, with approved Tecelra for synovial sarcoma. Its SPEAR T-cell platform directly competes with Outpace's TCR-T program OPB-201 and shares the same solid tumor cell therapy development pathway.
• Allogene Therapeutics: Allogene is a clinical-stage allogeneic CAR-T developer pursuing both hematologic and solid tumor indications. It is a comparable cell therapy developer with similar funding profile, clinical-stage pipeline, and focus on engineering T cells for cancer.
• Caribou Biosciences: Caribou develops allogeneic CAR-T cell therapies using CRISPR gene editing for hematologic malignancies and solid tumors. As a clinical-stage engineered cell therapy company with similar funding trajectory, it is a directly comparable peer in modality and stage.
• Fate Therapeutics: Fate Therapeutics develops off-the-shelf iPSC-derived NK and T cell therapies for cancer. Its engineered cell therapy pipeline and use of novel protein engineering approaches (chimeric antigen receptors, antigen receptors) make it a directly comparable peer in modality and platform strategy.
• Sana Biotechnology: Sana Biotechnology is a clinical-stage cell therapy company developing both allogeneic CAR-T and in vivo gene editing approaches. Outpace's CSO Aaron Foster joined from Sana, and both companies share the engineering-driven approach to next-generation cell therapies.
• Bellicum Pharmaceuticals: Bellicum developed GoCAR-T cell therapies for solid tumors with proprietary safety switches, sharing Outpace's emphasis on engineered safety controls and solid tumor focus. Several Outpace executives came from Bellicum, and the platforms address overlapping challenges.

Broad incumbents

• CRISPR Therapeutics: CRISPR Therapeutics is a clinical-stage gene editing company with the first FDA-approved CRISPR-based therapy (Casgevy) and a deep cell therapy pipeline. It is a broader, more advanced incumbent in the engineered cell therapy space with overlapping platform technologies.

Emerging players

• Arsenal Biosciences: Arsenal Bio is a privately-held cell therapy company developing engineered T cell therapies for solid tumors using synthetic biology and machine learning. It is an emerging peer with overlapping platform ambitions in programmable cell therapy for cancer.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/outpace-bio
• Instagraminstagram.com/outpacebio/?hl=en
• Xx.com/OutpaceBio

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds3 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 Outpace Bio