BGF has joined the oversubscribed $40 million Series A funding round for Cambridgeshire-based Cellular Origins, a life sciences business at the forefront of scalable cell therapy manufacturing.
BGF joins a syndicate of investors with deep expertise in life sciences, manufacturing automation and global business scaling, including JJDC (part of Johnson & Johnson Innovation), Highland Europe, New York Blood Center Ventures and TTP Group.
Edwin Stone, CEO of Cellular Origins, said: “This fundraise is a pivotal milestone in our mission to industrialise cell therapy manufacturing. The support from our investors is a strong endorsement of both our technology and the urgent need for scalable, automated solutions in this space. It recognises the progress that Cellular Origins, its partners and customers have collectively made towards enabling access to cell therapies at scale. This investment gives us access to the capital and networks to drive our next phase of growth. Through this fundraise we will accelerate the development and deployment of our robotic platform to help make life-saving cell therapies more accessible, reliable and affordable.”
Spun out of Cambridge-based technology incubator TTP Group, Cellular Origins is best known for its Constellation® mobile robotic ecosystem – a breakthrough platform, enabling the scalable manufacture of cell therapies. Its technology is trusted by leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, including Johnson & Johnson, Cytiva, Fresenius Kabi, Thermo Fisher Scientific and Wilson Wolf.
Luke Rajah, Partner at BGF, commented: “Cellular Origins is tackling one of the most pressing challenges in advanced therapeutics – the ability to manufacture cell and gene therapies cost effectively at scale. The company’s robotic automation platform integrates existing best-in-class manufacturing equipment from a range of top tier partners, and has the potential to transform access to life-changing treatments, globally. We’re excited to be part of the syndicate of strategic and specialist investors backing Edwin and the team, to accelerate the rollout of Cellular Origins’ platform.”
The new funding will support Cellular Origins in expanding its commercial team, to meet increasing demand from pharmaceutical companies developing commercial and late-stage therapies. It will also accelerate the development of automation infrastructure, capable of scaling the production of hundreds of thousands of doses of transformative therapies reliably and efficiently, without compromising biological performance.
Looking ahead, the financing will enable Cellular Origins to extend its capabilities beyond cell therapies into the wider Advanced Therapies Medicinal Products (ATMP) sector, where the challenges of scalable manufacturing closely mirror those in cell therapy.
