T-Therapeutics raises £100m led by Advent Life Sciences and British Business Bank
This article covers T-Therapeutics, a Cambridge biotech startup, raising £100m in a series B funding round co-led by Advent Life Sciences and the British Business Bank to finance the move of two lead programmes into clinical trials. The funding will support clinical proof-of-concept work for its oncology and immunology T cell receptor programmes and advances UK biotech efforts to move platform technologies into first-in-human studies.
T-Therapeutics, a Cambridge biotech startup, has raised £100 million in a series B funding round co‑led by Advent Life Sciences and the British Business Bank to finance the move of two lead programmes into clinical trials. The financing brings a mix of venture and strategic healthcare backers onto the cap table and funds the company’s efforts to generate clinical proof-of-concept data for both oncology and immunology candidates that use T cell receptor biology.
Why it matters
T-Therapeutics’ raise is a substantive vote of confidence in T cell receptor-based medicines, a modality that aims to direct a patient’s own T cells to targets inside cells that conventional approaches struggle to reach. The size of the round and the involvement of corporate investors such as Johnson & Johnson Innovation - JJDC and Eli Lilly signal growing industry interest in expanding T cell engager approaches from blood cancers into solid tumours and inflammatory diseases.
The funding should allow T-Therapeutics to complete the preclinical work and start first-in-human studies, a key de-risking step for any therapeutic biotech. It also highlights continued capital availability for UK biotech companies progressing from discovery platforms toward clinical validation.
Inside the product
T-Therapeutics develops T cell engagers using its OpTiMus platform, which supplies fully human T cell receptors intended to recognise intracellular targets presented on the cell surface. The company’s two lead programmes follow different clinical aims:
- Oncology programme: designed to target solid tumours, a space where T cell engagers have been more challenging to deploy than in haematological cancers.
- Immunology programme: intended to reset the immune system by selectively removing pathogenic cells that drive chronic tissue inflammation.
Both programmes are described as pan-indication candidates, meaning the same therapeutic approach could be applied across several disease settings if clinical data support that strategy.
Who are the investors?
The series B was co-led by Advent Life Sciences and the British Business Bank. New investors include Johnson & Johnson Innovation - JJDC, Samsara BioCapital, M‑Ventures and Eli Lilly. Existing shareholders that participated were Sofinnova Partners, F‑Prime, Digitalis Ventures, Cambridge Innovation Capital, Sanofi Ventures, Tencent and BGF.
Representatives from Advent Life Sciences, the British Business Bank, JJDC and Samsara BioCapital are set to join the board as non-executive directors, giving the new investors direct oversight as the company enters clinical development.
A brief note on some participants: Advent Life Sciences is a life sciences venture firm active in European drug discovery; the British Business Bank is the UK government-backed finance institution that supports earlier-stage firms through various programmes; JJDC and Eli Lilly are strategic corporate investors that commonly back platform technologies aligned with their pipelines. The mix of specialist life sciences VCs, corporate venturers and public-backed capital reflects both scientific and strategic interest in the platform.
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Founder perspective
In the announcement, Theodora Harold, Chief Executive Officer at T-Therapeutics, said:
This financing is a key step in our transition to a clinical-stage company, enabling us to accelerate the development of two oncology and immunology programmes with pan-indication, blockbuster potential, underpinned by a platform that reaches targets long considered undruggable. The further strengthening of our team with the appointment of Dr. Kirsty Crame, and the proceeds from this raise, position us well for rapid execution of those programmes and the delivery of important clinical proof-of-concept data. My thanks to our new and longstanding investors, whose confidence in our science enables a next generation of T cell engager therapeutics.
In the announcement, Dominic Schmidt, General Partner at Advent Life Sciences, said:
This investment aligns with our strategy of supporting the growth of British life sciences companies delivering innovative medical products to the patients who need them. T cell engagers have delivered clinical success in haematological cancers, and T-Therapeutics' platform is designed to apply this modality to solid tumours, where the great majority of cancers arise. The new funding will finance the company's two lead programmes as they enter the clinical trials phase. T-Therapeutics is exceptionally well placed to lead the way in this field, and we look forward to contributing to its success.
In the announcement, Kirsty Crame, Chief Development Officer at T-Therapeutics, said:
I am delighted to join T-Therapeutics at this pivotal moment for the Company. I look forward to advancing our clinical strategy and first-in-class programmes, and to realising the potential of our platform technologies to address major therapy areas with significant unmet patient need.
The company has also appointed Kirsty Crame as Chief Development Officer; she joins from Curatis AG where she served as Chief Medical Officer and brings more than 15 years of experience in early and late-stage biopharmaceutical development, including programmes at Medigene AG and Gadeta BV.
The bigger picture
This financing exemplifies a broader trend in UK and European biotech where larger series B rounds, often led by specialist life sciences investors and joined by strategic corporates, are being used to push platform technologies into the clinic. For T-Therapeutics, the combination of a human T cell receptor platform and a sizeable war chest positions it to generate the clinical data that will determine whether its approach can be extended beyond haematological cancers into solid tumours and inflammatory diseases.
The round also underscores Cambridge’s continuing role as a hub for therapeutics research and the mix of public, corporate and VC capital now available to UK biotech companies seeking to reach clinical proof-of-concept.
They've invested in T-Therapeutics
Get to know these biotech investors
| Investors | Investment Focus | Startup Investments | Round Size | Connect |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Advent Life Sciences( ) Advent Life Sciences is a leading trans-Atlantic venture capital firm focused on... London  | ||||
 British Business Bank( ) The British Business Bank focuses on enhancing finance accessibility for smaller... Sheffield | ||||
 Samsara BioCapital( ) Palo Alto, US  | Series BGrowth | |||
 M-Ventures( ) | Series BGrowth | |||
 Sofinnova Partners( ) Sofinnova Partners, established in 1972, manages over €4 billion and has backed ... Paris, France  | ||||
 F-Prime( ) , US | Series BGrowth | |||
 Digitalis Ventures( ) NYC, US | ||||
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 Sanofi Ventures( ) Sanofi is a multinational healthcare company specialising in pharmaceuticals, va... Paris, France | Series BGrowth | |||
 Tencent( ) Shenzhen, China | Series BGrowth | |||
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