Xcell Biosciences is an instrumentation company focused on cell and gene therapy applications based in San Francisco. Its core products include the AVATAR incubator system for research and the AVATAR Foundry, a cGMP cell therapy manufacturing platform that aims to metabolically reprogram therapeutic cells to improve potency and persistence in the tumor microenvironment. The company also offers commercial instruments and AI-driven software to help researchers discover insights into immune and tumor biology and translate those insights at patient scale. Xcellbio has expanded its collaboration with Labcorp, which increased a strategic investment in the company, joined the beta program for the AVATAR Foundry, and was granted an observer seat on Xcellbio’s board; financial details were not disclosed. Labcorp’s preclinical oncology site in Ann Arbor, Michigan, will serve as a beta site for the AVATAR Foundry, and the partners will jointly present results at the upcoming AACR annual meeting. Xcellbio positions its AVATAR platforms for small-scale research and process development as well as scale-up manufacturing, with particular emphasis on improving cell therapy performance against solid tumors. Xcellbio builds commercial instruments and AI-driven software to enhance the performance and safety of cell- and gene-based therapies. Its products include the AVATAR and AVATAR AI systems, which have been deployed in more than 130 research and industry labs and featured in leading peer-reviewed journals. The company is advancing a new cell manufacturing platform, the KALI Cell Foundry, designed to improve potency, persistence, and reduce cell exhaustion through proprietary technologies and machine learning. A portion of the recent financing will be used to further advance production of the KALI Cell Foundry. Xcellbio positions its platforms to enable translation of research insights to patient-scale manufacturing. The company is based in San Francisco. Xcell Biosciences develops the Avatar™ system, an advanced primary cell culturing platform that enables propagation and enhanced gene editing in hard‑to‑transfect primary cell types. The Avatar platform is used for translational research, clinical diagnostics development, and cell therapy applications, and offers control of key physiological microenvironment conditions. Xcell says the technology improves transfection and gene‑editing efficiencies and enables propagation of difficult samples such as tumor biopsies and other primary tissues. The company announced a $12 million Series A private equity financing and will use the funds to launch its commercial platform worldwide. Planned uses include expanding its U.S. sales force and increasing worldwide commercial reach to clinical research customers in oncology, stem cell biology, immunology, cell therapy development, and regenerative medicine. Saeid Akhtari of HBM Genomics will join Xcell’s board as part of the financing.

Total raised

$40M

Funding rounds

3

Latest round

Series B

Latest activity

Jan 2022