Biotech startup Immuneel Therapeutics announced a ₹100 Cr Series B fundraise from Singularity AMC, Rainmatter by Zerodha, along with participation from existing backers including founder Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Eight Roads Ventures, F-Prime Capital, and a host of undisclosed HNIs.
The Bengaluru-based company plans to deploy the freshly raised funds towards scaling Immuneel’s GMP manufacturing capacity, advancing its next-gen deep tech cell and gene therapy pipeline and pushing geographical footprint across Asia Pacific and Middle East.
Founded in 2018 by Mazumdar-Shaw, Kush M Parmar and Siddhartha Mukherjee, Immuneel Therapeutics offers cell and gene therapies such as chimeric antigen receptor T (CAR-T) cell therapy in India to fight cancer. The company claims to provide affordable cancer therapy and works to offer advanced options for care, improve access and drive better patient outcomes.
“We are scaling up our manufacturing capacity, so we are putting capital into that. Additionally, investment is going into localisation and manufacturing know-how that’s going to leverage Immuneel’s base for our current as well as our future programs,” CEO Amit Mookim told Inc42.
A significant part of funds will go towards supporting the commercialisation of Qartemi, an approved CAR-T therapy for Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma.
For context, the mentioned disease is a type of blood cancer affecting the lymphatic system and Qartemi is a CAR-T (Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-cell) therapy, in which a patient’s own immune cells are modified to identify and attack cancer cells.
Currently, available CAR-T technology is for blood cancers—specifically leukemia, lymphoma, and multiple myeloma.
“We are treating patients in India with lymphoma right now, and we’ll soon start treating patients with leukemia. We have other programs going on as we speak; there’s a lot of work happening in solid tumors as well, though none of those have moved to the clinic commercially yet,” Mookim added.
Following the commercial launch of Qartemi, Immuneel is now focused on expanding its presence in high-growth emerging markets and advancing clinical co-development partnerships across Australia and Southeast Asia.
Immuneel’s Gene Therapy Edge
Immuneel began taking in patients for its commercialised gene therapy solutions in late 2024. And thus far more than 100 patients have come through the therapy according to the CEO, who added that the next goal is to take this global and compete with more expensive solutions in regions like North America and Europe.
Mookim told us that the first CAR-T was infused about 13 or 14 years ago in the US, and it was given to a nine-year-old girl who is still cancer-free today. “It’s a groundbreaking therapy. But the West has never thought of solving the cost and scale equation. Part of it is the value chain and supply chain, part of it is the manufacturing technology, and part of it is just thinking of it in terms of innovation at scale. Which is what we are trying to do.”
The CEO added that while such treatments typically cost $400,000 to $500,000 for a patient in the West, Immuneel is looking to offer it at less than 10% of that cost. “We believe that we can actually solve this problem not only for India but for the rest of the world, starting with the Middle East, Africa, and Southeast Asia, where cancer patients don’t have access to these treatments,”
Prior to this, the company raised INR 100 Cr as a part of its extended Series A funding round from Taiba Middle East FZ LLC in 2024. In April 2022, the Bengaluru-based startup raised close to $15 Mn in a Series A funding. With the fresh round, the company has raised to a close of $38 Mn in funding till date.
“This fundraise strengthens our ability to build a globally competitive CAR-T platform from India combining deep science, scalable manufacturing and significantly improved affordability. We believe India can play a meaningful role in shaping the future of cell and gene therapy for the world,” said Mazumdar-Shaw.
India’s Biotech Moment
In fact, gene therapy is having a major moment in India with a number of new startups emerging to compete against those in the West who have not yet managed to crack the affordability barrier.
Immuneel’s pitch is similar to Natco Pharma-backed Cellogenwhich also develops more affordable therapies utilising CAR-T cells to treat cancers and blood disorders.
The startup recently raised ₹20 Cr from Kotak Alts to continue its research-led platform. Similarly, oncology startup Oncare has raised ₹27 Cr in a Series A funding round.
Mookim noted that while China already boasts hundreds of gene therapy companies, India’s biotech sector is just now experiencing a boom. “India’s moment in biotech has arrived, much like the tech and fintech boom a decade ago. ”
This momentum is being driven by new government funding and developing investor and regulatory ecosystems. However, he cautioned that long-term success in the space requires more than just strong science and that manufacturing, supply chains and GTM strategies will all come into play eventually as biotech startups scale up.
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