Which startups have raised the most funding in the cell therapy market?

Last updated: 7 September 2026

Download our beautiful pitch about the cell therapy market

market research pitch 2026 statistics cell therapy market

In our cell therapy market deck, you will find everything you need to understand the market

The cell therapy market has attracted more than $36 billion in cumulative funding across the startups in our database, with the largest companies raising well above $1 billion each.

This ranking tracks 97 cell therapy startups and compares their cumulative funding, financing history, investors, latest rounds, and current company status.

We update this list every month so the ranking reflects new funding rounds, public offerings, acquisitions, shutdowns, and other important changes across the cell therapy market.

And if you want to better understand this new industry, you can download our pitch covering the cell therapy market.

A quick summary table

Metric Value
Most funded cell therapy startup Iovance Biotherapeutics, $2.5B
Second most funded cell therapy startup Sana Biotechnology, $1.8B
Largest cell therapy funding round Fate Therapeutics, $460M
Median cell therapy startup funding Approximately $188M
Share of cell therapy funding captured by the top 10 Approximately 39.6%
Median time since last cell therapy funding round Approximately 30 months
Cell therapy startups that raised funding in the last 12 months 26
Total cumulative cell therapy funding tracked Approximately $36.2B
Cell therapy startups with at least $500M raised 25
Cell therapy startups with at least $1B raised 10
Chart showing annual VC investment in cell therapy startups

This chart, featured in our cell therapy market deck, shows annual VC investment in cell therapy startups

Top startups in the cell therapy market ranked by total funding raised

Here is an updated table that ranks the top startups in the cell therapy market based on the total amount of funding they have raised to date.

The table also includes the total number of funding rounds, the date and size of the latest round, the financing type (e.g. Series A, equity financing), key investors, the startup’s current status (active, IPO, acquired, or shut down), and a confidence score based on the data collected (we excluded startups with very low data confidence, to make sure everything is reliable).

If you're interested in knowing how much these startups are worth, you can check our list of the top startups in the cell therapy market ranked by valuation.

# Startup What They Do Total Raised ($) Total Rounds Last Round Date Last Round Amount ($) Last Round Type Key Investors Current Stage Confidence
1 Iovance Biotherapeutics Autologous TIL cancer therapies $2.5B 14 March 2026 $98M ATM Equity Public-market investors IPO Strong
2 Sana Biotechnology Engineered cells and gene therapies $1.8B 7 May 2026 $69M ATM Equity Public-market investors, TD Securities IPO Strong
3 Lyell Immunopharma Next-generation CAR-T cancer therapies $1.6B 7 March 2026 $50M Private Placement Institutional accredited investors IPO Strong
4 Allogene Therapeutics Allogeneic CAR-T cell therapies $1.4B 5 April 2026 $200M Public Offering Goldman Sachs, Jefferies, TD Cowen IPO Strong
5 Autolus Therapeutics Programmed T-cell cancer therapies $1.4B 10 February 2024 $200M Private Placement BioNTech IPO Partial
6 Legend Biotech CAR-T cancer therapies $1.2B 4 July 2022 $350M Follow-on Equity Hillhouse Capital, Public investors IPO Strong
7 Immatics TCR-based cancer immunotherapies $1.2B 11 August 2026 $172M Follow-on Public Offering Public-market investors IPO Strong
8 Fate Therapeutics Programmed cellular immunotherapies $1.1B 8 January 2021 $460M Public Offering Institutional investors IPO Partial
9 Kite Pharma CAR-T therapies for blood cancers $1.1B 5 March 2017 $410M Follow-on Public Offering Jefferies, Cowen, RBC Capital Markets Acquired Full
10 Atara Biotherapeutics T-cell therapies for cancer $1.0B 10 December 2021 $150M Follow-on Equity Institutional investors Active Strong
11 Mesoblast Allogeneic mesenchymal cell medicines $914M 13 January 2025 $160M Private Placement Existing institutional shareholders IPO Partial
12 Nkarta Engineered off-the-shelf NK cell therapies $885M 5 March 2024 $240M Public Offering Leerink Partners, TD Cowen, Stifel IPO Full
13 Adaptimmune Engineered T-cell cancer therapies $882M 11 December 2024 $29M ATM Equity Public-market investors Active Partial
14 Century Therapeutics iPSC-derived allogeneic cell therapies $866M 5 January 2026 $135M Private Placement TCGX, RA Capital, Commodore Capital IPO Strong
15 Arcellx CAR-T therapies using D-Domains $801M 7 December 2023 $200M Strategic Equity Gilead, Kite Pharma Acquired Strong
16 Instil Bio TIL-based cancer therapeutics $749M 4 March 2021 $368M IPO Public-market investors IPO Partial
17 CARsgen Therapeutics CAR-T cancer treatments $686M 5 June 2021 $400M IPO Public investors IPO Partial
18 Cellectis Gene-edited allogeneic cell therapies $683M 6 May 2024 $140M Strategic Equity AstraZeneca IPO Partial
19 Obsidian Therapeutics Engineered TIL therapies for solid tumors $675M 4 August 2026 $350M PIPE / Private Placement Balyasny, Redmile, Eventide IPO Full
20 Poseida Therapeutics Allogeneic CAR-T genetic medicines $621M 7 August 2022 $80M Public Offering Institutional investors Acquired Strong
21 TScan Therapeutics TCR-engineered T-cell cancer therapies $598M 7 December 2024 $30M Registered Direct Lynx1 Capital Management IPO Full
22 Precision BioSciences ARCUS gene-editing cell therapies $557M 13 March 2026 $2M Strategic Equity TG Therapeutics IPO Strong
23 Gracell Biotechnologies Next-generation CAR-T cell therapies $540M 5 August 2023 $100M PIPE / Private Placement Vivo Capital, OrbiMed, RA Capital Acquired Strong
24 Capricor Therapeutics Cardiac cells and exosome therapeutics $531M 13 December 2025 $172M Follow-on Public Offering Public-market investors, Piper Sandler, Oppenheimer IPO Partial
25 JW Therapeutics CAR-T therapies for Chinese patients $513M 3 November 2020 $323M IPO Public-market investors IPO Strong
26 Gamida Cell Stem-cell and NK-cell therapies $475M 16 May 2024 $30M Restructuring Equity Highbridge Capital Management Acquired Partial
27 Cabaletta Bio CAR-T therapies for autoimmune disease $453M 6 May 2026 $150M Public Offering Bain Capital Life Sciences, Adage, Cormorant IPO Strong
28 Celularity Placental-derived allogeneic cell therapies $427M 5 July 2023 $3M Registered Direct Healthcare-focused institutional investor IPO Strong
29 CARGO Therapeutics Next-generation CAR-T therapies $396M 3 May 2024 $110M Post-IPO Equity Wellington Management, RTW Investments, Novo Holdings Acquired Full
30 Achilles Therapeutics Personalized neoantigen T-cell therapies $383M 4 March 2021 $176M IPO Public-market investors Shutdown Full
31 Artiva Biotherapeutics Allogeneic NK-cell therapies $377M 3 July 2024 $179M IPO Public-market investors IPO Full
32 Umoja Biopharma In-vivo CAR-T cell therapies $371M 4 January 2025 $100M Series C Double Point Ventures, DCVC Bio, ARK Invest Active Partial
33 Sonoma Biotherapeutics Regulatory T-cell autoimmune therapies $365M 3 March 2023 $30M Strategic Equity Regeneron Active Full
34 AvenCell Therapeutics Switchable universal CAR-T therapies $362M 2 October 2024 $112M Series B Novo Holdings, F-Prime Capital, Eight Roads Ventures Japan Active Strong
35 Senti Biosciences Gene-circuit engineered cell therapies $356M 6 December 2025 $12M ATM Equity Sales Leerink Partners IPO Strong
36 Adicet Bio Gamma delta T therapies $355M 5 January 2024 $98M Public Equity Public investors Active Strong
37 Capstan Therapeutics In-vivo RNA cell engineering $340M 3 March 2024 $175M Series B RA Capital, Forbion, JJDC Acquired Full
38 Aspen Neuroscience Autologous neuron replacement therapies $339M 4 November 2025 $115M Series C OrbiMed, ARCH Venture Partners, Frazier Life Sciences Active Full
39 OriCell Therapeutics CAR-T cancer immunotherapies $325M 5 April 2026 $110M Series C / Pre-IPO Vivo Capital, Qiming Venture Partners, Beijing Medical Health Fund Active Full
40 Wugen / Allotera Therapeutics Allogeneic off-the-shelf cell therapies $323M 3 August 2025 $115M Series C Fidelity, RiverVest Venture Partners, Lightchain Capital Active Strong
41 Arsenal Biosciences Programmable CAR-T cell therapies $305M 2 September 2022 $220M Series B SoftBank Vision Fund 2, Bristol Myers Squibb, Byers Capital Active Full
42 A2 Biotherapeutics Logic-gated precision CAR-T therapies $270M 5 January 2025 $80M Series C The Column Group, Samsara BioCapital Active Partial
43 Acepodia Antibody-conjugated allogeneic cell therapies $266M 4 June 2023 $100M Series D Digital Mobile Venture Active Strong
44 Kyverna Therapeutics Autoimmune CAR-T therapies $255M 3 August 2023 $145M Series B Extension Bain Capital, GordonMD, Gilead IPO Full
45 Celyad Oncology CAR-T immunotherapies $250M 7 August 2023 $11M Private Placement Fortress Investment Group, Tolefi Active Partial
46 BlueRock Therapeutics iPSC regenerative cell therapies $225M 1 December 2016 $225M Series A Bayer, Versant Ventures Acquired Full
47 Quell Therapeutics Engineered regulatory T-cell therapies $201M 2 November 2021 $156M Series B Jeito Capital, Ridgeback Capital, SV Health Investors Active Full
48 Affini-T Therapeutics TCR therapies targeting oncogenic mutations $193M 2 October 2024 $18M Series B Extension Vida Ventures, Leaps by Bayer Shutdown Strong
49 T-knife Therapeutics TCR-T therapies for solid tumors $188M 2 August 2021 $110M Series B Fidelity, EQT Life Sciences, Qatar Investment Authority Active Full
50 Shoreline Biosciences iPSC-derived NK and macrophage therapies $186M 3 November 2021 $140M Series B Ally Bridge Group, BeiGene, Boxer Capital Active Full
51 Caribou Biosciences CRISPR cell therapies $178M 5 March 2021 $115M Series C Farallon Capital, PFM, Ridgeback IPO Strong
52 GentiBio Engineered regulatory T-cell therapies $177M 3 August 2022 Undisclosed Strategic Equity Bristol Myers Squibb Active Strong
53 Juventas Cell Therapy CAR-T and immune cell therapies $166M 4 October 2021 $63M Series C CICC Capital, Oceanpine Capital, Delian Capital Active Partial
54 ImmPACT Bio Engineered cancer cell therapies $162M 3 January 2022 $140M Series B venBio, Foresite, Decheng Acquired Strong
55 Vor Biopharma Engineered hematopoietic cell therapies $152M 8 March 2026 $75M PIPE TCG Crossover Active Strong
56 Indapta Therapeutics Potent allogeneic G-NK cell therapies $133M 3 October 2025 $51M Series C Vertex Ventures HC, Leaps by Bayer Active Strong
57 Interius BioTherapeutics In-vivo CAR-T gene delivery $133M 3 June 2024 $51M Series B RA Capital, Fairmount Funds, Cormorant Acquired Strong
58 AbelZeta Pharma CAR-T and TIL immunotherapies $120M 1 September 2021 $120M Series A AstraZeneca-CICC Fund, HSG/Sequoia China, Yunfeng Capital Active Strong
59 Lineage Cell Therapeutics Allogeneic regenerative cell therapies $118M 7 November 2025 $21M ATM / Block Equity Janus Henderson Investors IPO Low
60 Curocell Next-generation CAR-T cancer therapies $112M 6 April 2026 $3M PIPE BNH Investment IPO Strong
61 Coeptis Therapeutics Programmable CAR-T and NK therapies $108M 8 February 2025 $6M Series A Preferred Final Close CJC Investment Trust IPO Partial
62 EXUMA Biotech CAR cell therapies for cancers $107M 4 December 2021 $41M Series B2 Americo Life, existing investors Active Partial
63 Chimeric Therapeutics CAR-T cancer therapies $100M 5 December 2024 $20M Placement Institutional investors Active Strong
64 Triumvira Immunologics TAC-engineered T-cell cancer therapies $100M 2 March 2022 $45M Series A Extension B Capital, Leaps by Bayer, Northpond Ventures Active Strong
65 IASO Biotherapeutics CAR-T cancer therapies $100M 2 December 2022 $50M Series C Undisclosed investors Active Partial
66 Bioheng Therapeutics / Imviva Allogeneic CAR-T therapies $100M 3 March 2021 $80M Series B GL Ventures, Decheng Capital, Octagon Capital Active Strong
67 Abata Therapeutics Treg therapies for autoimmune disease $95M 2 August 2024 Undisclosed Strategic Equity Bristol Myers Squibb Active Partial
68 Clade Therapeutics Cloaked iPSC-derived cell therapies $87M 1 November 2021 $87M Series A Syncona, LifeSci Venture Partners, Bristol Myers Squibb Acquired Full
69 Inceptor Bio CAR-T therapies for solid tumors $84M 3 January 2025 $21M Series A2 Kineticos Life Sciences Active Full
70 Verismo Therapeutics KIR-CAR cancer therapies $84M 3 May 2026 $28M Strategic Equity HLB Innovation Active Partial
71 Tr1X Allogeneic Treg and CAR-Treg therapies $75M 1 January 2024 $75M Series A The Column Group, NEVA SGR, Alexandria Ventures Active Full
72 Invectys HLA-G CAR-T cancer immunotherapies $68M 7 January 2023 Undisclosed Private Equity McNair Interests, private family offices Active Low
73 MiNK Therapeutics Allogeneic invariant NKT cell therapies $60M 3 December 2025 $14M ATM / Public Equity Sales B. Riley Securities IPO Strong
74 Noile-Immune Biotech PRIME CAR-T solid-tumor therapies $59M 9 June 2023 $18M IPO Public Investors IPO Partial
75 Sernova Cell Pouch diabetes replacement therapy $56M 9 April 2026 $3M Private Placement Insider/director IPO Partial
76 PeproMene Bio BAFF-R CAR-T cancer therapies $56M 4 June 2018 $40M Series B KB Investment, private investors Active Partial
77 Appia Bio Stem-cell-derived CAR-iNKT cancer therapies $52M 3 May 2025 Undisclosed Extension Undisclosed Shutdown Partial
78 Kelonia Therapeutics In-vivo gene delivery and CAR-T $50M 1 April 2022 $50M Series A Alta Partners, Horizons Ventures, Venrock Acquired Full
79 BrainStorm Cell Therapeutics Stem-cell neurodegenerative disease therapies $46M 9 May 2026 $0M Private Placement Accredited investors IPO Low
80 Catamaran Bio Allogeneic CAR-NK solid-tumor therapies $42M 2 November 2020 $42M Series A Sofinnova Partners, Lightstone Ventures, SV Health Investors Shutdown Partial
81 Prescient Therapeutics OmniCAR and oncology therapies $40M 8 July 2025 $6M SPP + Placement Professional investors, existing shareholders IPO Partial
82 TC BioPharm Gamma delta T-cell therapies $40M 7 March 2023 $6M Public Offering Institutional investors Shutdown Strong
83 Immuneel Therapeutics Affordable CAR-T cancer therapies $38M 4 June 2026 $10M Series B Singularity AMC, Rainmatter, F-Prime Capital Active Strong
84 ONK Therapeutics Engineered off-the-shelf NK therapies $36M 3 January 2022 $22M Series A Acorn Bioventures, ALSHC, Cormorant Asset Management Active Strong
85 Unicar Therapy Next-generation CAR-T cancer therapies $31M 5 September 2025 Undisclosed Strategic Equity Hainan Haiyao, Kinetic Medical, Minsheng Securities Active Low
86 AffyImmune Therapeutics CAR-T immunotherapies $30M 2 December 2022 $30M Series A Healthcare investors Active Partial
87 Cartherics Off-the-shelf CAR-NK cell therapies $30M 4 October 2024 $10M Private Financing Existing investors, new private investors Active Partial
88 Simnova Biotherapeutics Off-the-shelf cancer cell therapies $28M 2 March 2024 $28M Series A+ Youshan Capital, Oriza Equity, PagodaTree Partners Active Strong
89 Leucid Bio CAR-T therapies for solid tumors $25M 3 February 2025 $9M Series A1 Epidarex Capital, 2Invest Active Strong
90 Glycostem Therapeutics Stem-cell-derived natural killer therapies $19M 3 September 2019 $15M Venture Equity E&F Healthcare, LUPUS Ventures, inno.N Active Partial
91 CytoMed Therapeutics Donor-derived allogeneic cancer cell therapies $15M 6 January 2026 $0M ATM Offering Public investors, R.F. Lafferty IPO Strong
92 Elicera Therapeutics CAR-T and oncolytic cancer therapies $15M 3 June 2026 $6M Rights Issue Existing shareholders, DNB Bank guarantors IPO Partial
93 Luminary Therapeutics Allogeneic CAR-T cell therapies $14M 6 November 2025 $1M Series A-II Undisclosed investors Active Strong
94 Xyphos Biosciences Engineered immune cell platforms $10M 1 December 2019 $10M Venture Financing Undisclosed Acquired Low
95 Gadeta Gamma-delta TCR cancer immunotherapies $8M 2 March 2016 $8M Series A Baxalta Ventures, Medicxi Ventures, Utrecht Holdings Acquired Partial
96 EsoBiotec In-vivo engineered immune-cell therapies $6M 3 December 2023 $2M Series A Invivo Partners, Thuja Capital, UCB Ventures Acquired Partial
97 Shenzhen Geno-Immune Medical Institute CAR-T and gene-therapy research $0M 0 Undisclosed Active Full
Market map chart showing top companies and startups in the cell therapy market

This market map, featured in our cell therapy market deck, highlights top companies and startups in the cell therapy market

Key funding trends in the cell therapy market

Insights

  • The top 10 cell therapy companies have raised about $14.3B, close to 40% of all funding tracked in the database, showing how strongly capital is concentrated around a relatively small group of mature platforms.
  • Twenty-five cell therapy startups have raised at least $500M each. This shows that clinical development, manufacturing, regulatory work, and commercialization can require unusually large amounts of capital before a platform reaches meaningful scale.
  • Public-market access plays a major role in cell therapy financing. Iovance, Sana, Lyell, Allogene, Immatics and several other heavily funded companies continued raising equity after becoming publicly traded.
  • CAR-T remains the most visible capital-intensive segment of the cell therapy market, with billion-dollar companies such as Lyell, Allogene, Legend Biotech and Kite sitting near the top of the ranking.
  • Large recent rounds show that investors are still willing to make concentrated cell therapy bets. Obsidian raised $350M in August 2026, Allogene raised $200M in April 2026, and Cabaletta Bio raised $150M in May 2026.
  • Cell therapy financing is not limited to oncology anymore. Cabaletta Bio, Kyverna Therapeutics, Sonoma Biotherapeutics, Quell Therapeutics, Abata Therapeutics and Tr1X illustrate growing investor interest in autoimmune cell therapies and regulatory T-cell platforms.
  • Some cell therapy companies reached significant scale with very few financings. BlueRock raised $225M in a single round, Arsenal Biosciences reached $305M in two rounds, and Capstan Therapeutics accumulated $340M across three rounds.
  • Substantial fundraising does not remove development risk. Achilles Therapeutics raised about $383M before shutting down, while Affini-T Therapeutics raised approximately $193M, showing how clinical and strategic setbacks can affect even well-capitalized platforms.
Google Trends chart showing rising interest in stem cell therapy

As this chart shows, and as featured in our cell therapy market deck, search interest in stem cell therapy has been rising steadily

A few word about our methodology

As you can see, we built a database that ranks startups in the cell therapy market based on their total cumulative fundraising. To create this ranking, we reviewed many sources and cross-checked information across multiple places.

Whenever possible, we prioritized official company communications, since they are the most reliable source for funding amounts. When those were not available, we relied on reputable industry sources such as TechCrunch, Crunchbase, Financial Times or Forbes (to name a few).

We excluded random blogs, unverified websites, and any sources that could not be validated.

When cell therapy funding rounds were announced in other currencies such as euros, Swiss francs, Singapore dollars, Australian dollars, or rupees, we converted them into approximate USD equivalents for consistency.

Sometimes different sources report slightly different numbers, or the exact round size is not fully disclosed. In those cases, we flag the uncertainty and assign a confidence label to each cell therapy startup, visible in the last column.

Here is what they mean.

Full confidence: The company’s equity fundraising history can be reconstructed completely from public sources. The rounds, dates, amounts, and key investors are clearly identified, with no meaningful gaps.

Strong confidence: The fundraising history is largely complete and reliable. There may be a small missing detail, such as incomplete investor information or a minor round with limited data, but the overall record is clear.

Partial confidence: The main fundraising rounds can be identified, but the record is incomplete or somewhat mixed. Some rounds may be missing or certain funding events may be difficult to separate clearly.

Low confidence: Public information is too limited, inconsistent, or ambiguous to reliably reconstruct the company’s equity fundraising history.

When the confidence level is too low, we take a conservative approach and exclude the company from the ranking. We don’t want to include data that cannot be reliably verified.

This reflects how we conduct all our research, including the work behind our report covering the cell therapy market.

In a world where LLMs hallucinate and unreliable information is everywhere, our goal is simple: provide data you can trust.

If you want the full detail on a specific calculation, feel free to contact us and we will gladly explain.

Finally, know that we update the dataset once per month, so come back here if you need fresh information.

Chart showing how Legend Biotech is winning in the cell therapy market

This chart, featured in our cell therapy market deck, shows how Legend Biotech is winning in cell therapy

Who is the author of this content?

NEW MARKET PITCH TEAM

We track new markets so founders and investors can move faster

We build living “market pitch” documents for emerging markets: from AI to synthetic biology and new proteins. Instead of digging through outdated PDFs, random blog posts, and hallucinated LLM answers, our clients get a clean, visual, always-updated view of what’s really happening. We map the key players, deals, regulations, metrics and signals that matter so you can decide faster whether a market is worth your time. Want to know more? Check out our about page. You can also follow us on Instagram or on Facebook.

How we created this content 🔎📝

At New Market Pitch, we kept seeing the same problem: when you look at a new market, the data is either missing, paywalled, or buried in 300-page reports that feel like they were written in the 80s. On the other side, LLMs and random blog posts give you confident answers with no sources, and sometimes they just make things up. That’s not good enough when you’re about to invest real money or launch a company.

So we decided to fix the experience. For each market we cover, we build a structured database and update it on a regular basis. We track funding rounds, fund memos, M&A moves, partnerships, new products, policy changes, and the real activity of startups and incumbents. Then we turn all of that into a clear “market pitch” that shows where the opportunities are and how people actually win in that space.

Every key data point is checked, sourced, and put back into context by our team. That’s how we can give you both speed and reliability: fast coverage of new markets, without the usual guesswork.

Back to blog