Cell Therapy Fundings (2025 YTD): Key Deals and Trends

Cell therapy continues to be one of the most dynamic segments of biotech and pharma financing in 2025. From oncology to neurology, regenerative medicine, and even reproductive health, investors are backing a broad range of cell-based approaches.

This roundup covers financings announced between January and August 2025 where cell therapy was explicitly mentioned in the funding title or description. We emphasize this scope because many companies in the space may not highlight cell therapy in their announcements, meaning other relevant deals may exist outside this list. What follows is not an exhaustive industry dataset, but rather a snapshot of the deals BiopharmIQ tracked that clearly put cell therapy at the center of their funding story.

This review complements our broader market coverage, including the H1 2025 Bio/Pharma Funding Trends report and the July 2025 update, while providing a closer lens on cell therapy investment activity.

💡 Explore BiopharmIQ's Funding Dataset

Early-Stage Fundings 8 Events; $149.7M

Early-stage financings (angel, pre-seed, seed, and Series A) have remained strong in 2025, with both niche applications and ambitious platform plays drawing capital (Fig 1).

In Asia, HemaCell (China) raised ~$2.8 million in Series A funding for platelet-based therapies, while Optieum Biotechnologies (Japan) secured nearly $9 million in Series A to develop a CAR-T candidate for glioblastoma. These examples highlight how Asia is increasingly a driver of early-stage oncology and hematology innovation.

Europe has also been active at the seed level. ONGeno (Poland) raised $3.6 million to advance its multiple sclerosis stem cell therapy trial, while StemSight (Finland) secured $2.4 million to progress its limbal stem cell therapy for LSCD, a rare ocular disorder. These deals show how European investors are supporting specialized cell therapy approaches in both neurology and regenerative medicine.

In the U.S., larger Series A rounds reflect confidence in platform technologies. Inceptor Bio (North Carolina) raised $21 million to expand its pipeline, Garuda Therapeutics (Massachusetts) closed a $50 million Series A-1 for its off-the-shelf stem cell therapies, and Somite AI (Massachusetts) raised $47 million to scale its AI-driven foundation model for cell therapy development. Together, they show how U.S. venture capital continues to favor scale-up opportunities with broad applicability.

Fig 1. Cell Therapy–Related Fundings by Stage (% of total events).

Late-Stage Scaling

7 Events; $428M

Later-stage financings (Series B–F, debt financing, and large venture rounds) have fueled the clinical progress of more advanced companies.

The largest deal so far in 2025 came from Wugen (Missouri, USA), which raised $115 million in August to advance its off-the-shelf CAR-T therapies. This financing underscores the strong investor belief in allogeneic platforms as a way to overcome the logistical hurdles of autologous CAR-T.

Neurona Therapeutics (California, USA) followed with $102 million in April to support its Phase 3 trial of NRTX-1001 for epilepsy and expand regenerative programs. Umoja Biopharma (Washington, USA) secured $100 million in an oversubscribed Series C for its in vivo CAR-T pipeline, while A2 Biotherapeutics (California, USA) closed an $80 million Series C for precision therapies using its Tmod™ platform.

As the 5th spot in the biggest cell therapy fundings, Inovacell (Japan) raised $52 million (Series D) to advance its ICEF15 clinical trial, marking one of the largest later-stage financings in Asia this year.

Outside oncology, Gameto (New York, USA) raised $44 million in Series C funding for stem cell–based reproductive care, while TreeFrog Therapeutics (France) secured $34 million in debt financing from the European Investment Bank to progress its Parkinson’s program into the clinic.

These deals illustrate how late-stage capital is powering pivotal clinical trials across diverse indications, from oncology to neurology and reproductive health.

Grants

Non-dilutive funding continues to play a critical role in cell therapy development, particularly for early-stage and manufacturing-focused companies.

In the U.S., Luminary Therapeutics received $5.8 million from ARPA-H for solid tumor CAR-T development. The Maryland Stem Cell Research Commission supported Seraxis ($918K) and SereNeuro Therapeutics (undisclosed amount) with grants for manufacturing and commercialization. March Biosciences (Texas) and Hemogenyx Pharmaceuticals (New York) both benefited from G-Rex® manufacturing grants, with Hemogenyx also raising $333K in public equity to support its AML program.

Globally, Allogenica (France) secured $2.7 million to advance universal CAR-T industrialization, AvenCell (USA/Japan collaboration) received a $40 million AMED grant, Azure Cell Therapies (Switzerland) was awarded $187K for Parkinson’s work, and MiNK Therapeutics (USA) received a prestigious NIAID grant for allo-iNKT therapy.

Technology Trends

Several themes emerge from 2025’s funding activity:

• Allogeneic & Off-the-Shelf Cell Therapies – Companies like Wugen, Garuda, AvenCell, and Allogenica are pursuing universal, scalable products.

• In Vivo CAR-T – Umoja is leading this paradigm shift, moving engineering inside the body.

• NK Cell Platforms – MiNK and NK CellTech are advancing NK-based therapies, expanding the immune cell toolkit.

• AI in Cell Therapy – Somite AI stands out as a pioneer, applying AI foundation models to accelerate cell therapy discovery.

• Manufacturing Innovation – From Sartorius partnerships to G-Rex® grants, multiple financings emphasized cost-effective, scalable production solutions.
  

The mix of these technologies demonstrates how the field is balancing refinement of existing CAR-T platforms with bold new approaches.

Therapeutic Areas

Oncology still dominates cell therapy funding, particularly CAR-T and NK-based programs (Wugen, Umoja, A2 Bio, Optieum, Inceptor, AvenCell). These range from glioblastoma programs in Japan to large-scale in vivo CAR-T pipelines in the U.S.

Neurology has also emerged as a vibrant area, with Neurona advancing epilepsy therapies, TreeFrog and Azure targeting Parkinson’s, and ONGeno developing treatments for multiple sclerosis.

Regenerative medicine and specialized applications are increasingly visible. StemSight is addressing ocular disorders, HemaCell is developing platelet-based therapies, and Gameto is applying stem cell science to reproductive health.

This diversity underscores that cell therapy is steadily moving beyond oncology into a broader range of therapeutic areas.

Geographic Distribution

The United States continues to dominate by deal size, hosting four of the top five financings (Wugen, Neurona, Umoja, A2 Bio). The U.S. also accounts for a large number of grants, reflecting both its venture ecosystem and government funding support (Fig 2).

💡 Explore The FREE List of 165+ US-based CAR T Companies

Europe has seen activities across the early and late stages. France’s TreeFrog and Allogenica, Poland’s ONGeno, Finland’s StemSight, and Switzerland’s Azure represent a balanced mix of clinical and preclinical projects.

Asia's funding activity seems significant. China contributed with HemaCell and NK CellTech, Japan with Optieum and Inovacell, and India with Immuneel. Notably, Japan’s AvenCell secured a major $40M AMED grant, signaling strong government support for domestic cell therapy development.

The result is a globalized funding environment where different regions contribute complementary strengths: U.S. in scale, Europe in diversity, and Asia in emerging innovation.

Fig 2. U.S. Cell Therapy–Related Funding Events by State.

Private vs. Public Dynamics

Private companies dominate the cell therapy funding landscape, securing the largest financings and powering late-stage clinical trials (Fig 3). Wugen, Neurona, Umoja, A2 Biotherapeutics, and Gameto are all private, with investors continuing to funnel capital into their pipelines.

Public companies like Briacell Therapeutics and Hemogenyx Pharmaceuticals remain active, but their financing activity has been smaller in scale, focusing on Public equity raises and targeted grants. This suggests that growth-stage capital for cell therapy is largely flowing through private markets, while public players leverage smaller raises to sustain their pipelines.

Fig 3. Cell Therapy–Related Funding Events by Company Type (% of total events).

Conclusion

From seed-stage innovation in Poland and Finland to $100M+ mega-rounds in the U.S. and Japan, 2025 has proven to be a globally diverse year for cell therapy financings. The top deals have been concentrated in oncology, but significant progress is also visible in neurology, regenerative medicine, and reproductive health.

While this roundup is limited to announcements that explicitly mentioned “cell therapy,” the deals captured here demonstrate the breadth of capital flowing into the field. With late-stage companies pushing toward pivotal trials and early-stage startups broadening the therapeutic and technological base, cell therapy’s trajectory in 2025 is one of both consolidation and expansion. 📊 Access the funding dataset

To receive the Excel file containing the 2025 (YTD) cell therapy funding entries tracked by BiopharmIQ, please contact marketing@biopharmiq.com.

Article History:

8/29/25 MD & RF

Not legal, investing, or tax advice.