Cell BioEngines Raises $2M from SOSV and New York Ventures

On July 20, 2024, Cell BioEngines, Inc., a biotechnology company based in New York, USA, announced the acquisition of $1.75 million in additional funding from SOSV and the Partnership Fund. This funding was provided through the new therapeutics seed track, designed for startup companies in the therapeutics field. Additionally, Cell BioEngines secured $0.25 million from Empire State Development’s NY Ventures, the venture capital arm of the state, under the Pre-Seed and Seed Matching Fund Program.

Dr. Ajay Vishwakarma, Founder and CEO of Cell BioEngines, highlighted the significance of these investments, stating, “This reflects strong growth and investor confidence in our innovative approach to advancing cell therapies, particularly timely as we expand within New York State.”

Dr. Vishwakarma shared that the newly acquired funds would support their inaugural multicenter clinical trial. This trial is specifically aimed at patients with hematological cancers who are unable to find a suitable donor for HLA-haploidentical blood stem cell transplants. He emphasized that their product, CBE-101, offers a novel solution by utilizing expanded cord blood-derived hematopoietic cell therapy. This aligns with the company’s vision of providing 'off-the-shelf' cell-based therapies to patients in need.

Cell BioEngines, Inc. was established in December 2022 and is a clinical-stage biotechnology company. The company focuses on developing allogeneic, 'off-the-shelf' stem cell-derived therapies, positioning these therapies as 'drugs' for treating various human diseases. Utilizing their proprietary platform technology, the company produces clinical grade cells at scale from universal 'non-gene-modified' donor blood stem cells obtained from umbilical cords.