California Institute for Regenerative Medicine

What California Institute for Regenerative Medicine does

The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) is a California state government agency established by voter-approved Proposition 71 in 2004 and reauthorized under Proposition 14 in 2020, tasked with accelerating stem cell and gene therapies for patients with unmet medical needs. The agency distributes $8.5 billion in cumulative voter-approved bond funding through a portfolio of non-dilutive grant programs that span the full therapy development pipeline — Discovery, Preclinical, Clinical, Education, and Infrastructure — and operates a network of nine Alpha Clinics that have hosted more than 250 clinical trials. CIRM does not sell a commercial product; its core "products" are its grant programs, the Alpha Clinics Network, the new Community Care Centers of Excellence (targeting underserved California regions), and the $100 million RAPID program for rare-disease platform gene therapies.

The agency serves three primary constituencies: California-based academic research institutions (notably the six UC campuses that nominate ICOC board members), clinical-stage biotechnology companies developing cell and gene therapies (e.g., Scribe Therapeutics, Siren Biotechnology, AcuraStem, Immusoft, Kenai Therapeutics, Aspen Neuroscience), and patients with diseases addressable by regenerative medicine. Pricing is irrelevant in the conventional sense — CIRM provides non-dilutive grants at no cost to recipients. The business model is funded entirely by California voter-approved state bonds, with a record $662 million FY2026-27 annual budget. In March 2026, CIRM achieved its first FDA-approved therapy (KRESLADI for severe LAD-I), validating its translational approach after 21 years of operation, and follow-on industry investment in CIRM-funded research has reached $24+ billion as of June 2023.

Name

California Institute for Regenerative Medicine

Legal name

California Institute for Regenerative Medicine

Website

https://cirm.ca.gov

Company type

Private

Founded year

2004

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

CIRM is a California state agency that distributes voter-approved bond funding ($8.5B cumulative, $662M FY2026-27 budget) as non-dilutive grants to California universities, biotech companies, and nonprofits developing stem cell and gene therapies, operating a nine-site Alpha Clinics Network that has hosted 250+ clinical trials.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Government Research Grants

NAICS

Scientific Research and Development Services (5417)

SIC

Services-Commercial Physical & Biological Research (8731)

akta.pro primary industry

Academic Medical Centers (AMCs) & Teaching Hospitals (HLAFAAAA)

akta.pro secondary industry

Public Research Universities with Academic Medical Centers (AMCs) (EDAHAAAC)

Keywords

• Regenerative medicine funding
• Stem cell research grants
• Gene therapy funding
• Clinical trial grants
• Biomedical research grants

Headquarters

HQ city

San Francisco

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Others, Personnel, Operations

Revenue model

1. State Bond Funding: CIRM is funded through voter-approved state bonds (Proposition 71 in 2004 and Proposition 14 in 2020) providing $8.5 billion total to accelerate stem cell and gene therapies. The agency distributes this funding through competitive grants to researchers, companies, and institutions across California.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels12 records

Core offering

CIRM is a California state agency that provides non-dilutive grant funding across the full stem cell and gene therapy development pipeline (Discovery, Preclinical, Clinical, Education, Infrastructure). It also operates the Alpha Clinics Network of nine regenerative medicine clinical trial sites and the Community Care Centers of Excellence that expand patient access to cell and gene therapies in underserved California regions.

Product overview

The California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM) is a state agency that accelerates stem cell and gene therapies through grant funding programs. Rather than selling a commercial product, CIRM operates a portfolio of funding programs (Discovery, Preclinical, Clinical, Education, Infrastructure) that support the full spectrum of therapy development from early research through clinical trials. Key offerings include the Alpha Clinics Network for clinical trial hosting, Community Care Centers of Excellence for underserved populations, and the RAPID program for rare disease platform therapies. The agency also provides online portals for grant management and maintains a $662 million annual research budget as of fiscal year 2026-27.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• CIRM Stem Cell and Gene Therapy Funding Programs State agency funding program providing non-dilutive grants across the therapy development pipeline for stem cell and gene therapy research in California — from early discovery research through preclinical development, clinical trials, education, and infrastructure projects.
• Alpha Clinics Network Network of nine medical facilities with staff experienced in conducting cutting-edge regenerative medicine clinical trials, hosting trials for CIRM-funded research and other cell and gene therapy research across California.
• Community Care Centers of Excellence Initiative bringing cell and gene therapies to underserved California communities (including Los Angeles, Inland Empire, Desert Region, and Central Valley) to expand access to treatments for Parkinson's, cancer, sickle cell, and autoimmune diseases.
• RAPID Program $100 million initiative to accelerate platform-based gene therapies for rare diseases, moving away from single-therapy development models toward scalable approaches that can address multiple diseases, with two proposal tracks over two years for projects with FDA pre-IND feedback and emerging platforms still optimizing candidates.
• CIRM Grants Management System Online portal (grants.cirm.ca.gov) for managing and tracking CIRM-funded grants and awards across various research programs and stages, providing the application intake and grant lifecycle administration platform.
• CIRM Hub Portal Online portal (cirmhub.cirm.ca.gov) providing access to CIRM resources, funding opportunities, and grant management tools for researchers and applicants.

Quantifiable outcome

• First CIRM-funded therapy (KRESLADI) received FDA approval in March 2026 for severe LAD-I
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers16 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• Trammel Crow Co.minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerThe Lundquist Institute (a CIRM-funded institution) partnered with Trammell Crow Co. to develop a 15-acre biotech park to support companies graduating from its BioLabs incubator. This partnership aims to advance long-term plans for biomedical innovation infrastructure in West Carson, California.
• Roche/GenentechcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLineage Cell Therapeutics has a worldwide collaboration with Roche/Genentech for the RG6501 (OpRegen) cell therapy program. Collaboration revenue from Roche/Genentech following achievement of the first milestone under the worldwide agreement contributed to Lineage's Q4 2025 revenues.
• William Demant InvestminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerLineage Cell Therapeutics entered a collaboration with William Demant Invest for the ReSonance hearing loss program.
• UC System (UCLA, UC Davis, UC Irvine, UC San Diego, UC San Francisco, UC Berkeley)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCIRM works extensively with University of California campuses, which serve as primary research partners. UC chancellors at San Francisco, Davis, Los Angeles, San Diego, Irvine, and Riverside can each appoint board members to CIRM's governing board. Key collaborations include UCLA's Donald Kohn leading LAD-I gene therapy research and UC Irvine's Leslie Thompson leading Huntington's disease stem cell trials.

Scale indicators10 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• NYSTEM (New York State Stem Cell Science): New York's state-funded stem cell research program; operates the same structural model as CIRM — issuing state-funded grants to in-state institutions to advance regenerative medicine — making it the closest functional analog.
• Maryland Stem Cell Research Fund (TEDCO): Maryland's state-administered stem cell research grant program within TEDCO; directly comparable in mission, structure, and target researchers, with smaller scale than CIRM.

Broad incumbents

• National Institutes of Health (NIH): The federal government's primary biomedical research funder; serves a similar role to CIRM (grants to academic and translational researchers) but at much larger scale and broader scope, including regenerative medicine and gene therapy funding.
• BARDA (Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority): A federal agency within HHS that funds advanced development of medical countermeasures; structurally similar to CIRM in providing non-dilutive translational funding, though focused on biodefense and public health emergencies rather than regenerative medicine.
• Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI): A large private biomedical research organization funding investigator-initiated science; comparable to CIRM in scale and the role of enabling high-risk biomedical research, though HHMI operates through investigator appointments rather than competitive grants.
• Wellcome Trust: A large global foundation funding biomedical and health research; comparable to CIRM in scale and its role in enabling high-quality, translationally oriented research, with a broader geographic mission and a long, diverse investment track record.

Regional players

• California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences (QB3): A UC-system research and commercialization entity that supports life-science startups; overlaps with CIRM in the California biotech ecosystem and academic translation mission but does not directly fund research.
• Massachusetts Life Sciences Center: A Massachusetts state quasi-public agency investing in life-sciences research, workforce, and infrastructure; mirrors CIRM's state-agency role in catalyzing regional biotech activity but covers a broader life-sciences mandate.
• Texas Medical Center: A large clinical-research hub in Texas hosting advanced clinical-trial infrastructure, including cell and gene therapy work; complements CIRM's Alpha Clinics Network model and represents a competing regional clinical-translation ecosystem.

Others

• CIRM-Alpha Clinic at UCLA (UCLA Broad Stem Cell Research Center): One of nine CIRM-funded Alpha Clinics and a key delivery partner — not a peer in the funding sense, but the primary academic institution executing CIRM-funded clinical trials; included as an ecosystem participant.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/cirmnews
• YouTubeyoutube.com/@CIRMTV/featured
• Facebookfacebook.com/CaliforniaInstituteForRegenerativeMedicine
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/california-institute-for-regenerative-medicine
• Instagraminstagram.com/cirmnews

Compliance3 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles9 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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

M&A

Investments113 records

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

Frequently asked questions about California Institute for Regenerative Medicine