All Access

Biotech Deals

Biotech Deals Alert

Alert

ImmuneBridge, a cell therapy screening and manufacturing biotech, raised $7.7 million in a second seed round, CEO Nina Horowitz tells Axios Pro exclusively.

What's next: The startup plans to begin fundraising a $30 million Series A later this year.

Follow the money: NFX led and was joined by One Way Ventures, M Ventures, Insight Partners, LongGame Ventures, T.Rx Capital, Healthspan Capital and Sand Hill Angels.

The round follows a $12.3 million seed round raised in 2022.

Horowitz says ImmuneBridge is describing Monday's seed as a "second" round, rather than an extension, because a new lead investor backed the company at a new pre-money valuation.

ImmuneBridge currently has about a year of runway.

How it works: ImmuneBridge has built a platform to develop allogeneic cell therapies, integrating machine learning-enabled donor screening with large-scale immune cell production.

Clients include academic research institutions and biotech companies, Horowitz says.

In-house, ImmuneBridge is developing a natural killer cell therapy — a form of immunotherapy using specialized white blood cells — for solid cancer tumors.

What's next: The new financing will help ImmuneBridge reach Big Pharma clients and generate animal data validating the efficacy of its in-house cells early this year.

Human trials are expected to begin in 2028.

What they're saying: "We are using the platform to prove that you can make any cell type better than the way it's been done," says Horowitz, who joined ImmuneBridge as head of research before being promoted to chief scientific officer and now CEO.

"Every emerging field matures by strengthening its foundation," says Robert Langer, executive chairman of T.Rx Capital, which launched in September with a $77 million health and biotech fund.

 "In cell therapy, that foundation is manufacturing, and ImmuneBridge brings a compelling approach to overcoming long-standing bottlenecks."

Friction point: While cell therapies are highly promising and clinically validated in some areas, the modality is complex, expensive and still proving itself, particularly for solid tumor treatment.

Cell therapies are also facing competition from other modalities, including in-vivo and antibody-drug conjugates.

The bottom line: "It's a really exciting time," Horowitz says. "My goal is to have 10 therapies in the clinic in the next 10 years."

Exclusive: Cell therapy biotech ImmuneBridge raises $7.7M

The team aims to scale its manufacturing process.

Illustration of a price tag on a DNA strand.

ImmuneBridge, a cell therapy screening and manufacturing biotech, raised $7.7 million in a second seed round, CEO Nina Horowitz tells Axios Pro exclusively.What&#x27;s next: The startup plans to begin fundraising a $30 million Series A later this year.

topics

politics-policy

epstein-files

donald-trump

2026-midterm-elections

immigration

behind-the-curtain

race-and-equity

technology

privacy-tech-regulation

automation-and-ai

tiktok-news

big-tech

social-media

cybersecurity

economy

social-security

inflation

tariffs

federal-reserve

jobs

transportation

business

stock-market-news

retail-news

crypto

media

elon-musk

dealmaking

health

rfk-jr

drug-prices

axios-explains-abortion

public-health

world

israel

axios-explains-ukraine

iran

russia

china

energy-climate

nuclear-energy

climate-energy-policy

climate-change

extreme-weather

alternative-energy

electric-vehicles

science

emerging-tech

biomedicine

newsletters

charlotte

boulder

detroit

kansas-city

columbus

austin

dallas

atlanta

washington-dc

nw-arkansas

chicago

indianapolis

nashville

richmond

colorado-springs

houston

san-francisco

seattle

boston

des-moines

salt-lake-city

philadelphia

denver

phoenix

new-orleans

miami

twin-cities

raleigh

san-antonio

portland

san-diego

tampa-bay

cleveland

huntsville

pittsburgh

axios-local

axios-pro

axios-live

the-axios-show

Exclusive: Cell therapy biotech ImmuneBridge raises $7.7M

What to read next