Captain T Cell Secures EUR 20 Million to Advance Next-Generation TCR-T Cell Therapies for Solid Tumors

SCHOENEFELD/BERLIN, Germany – November 17, 2025–  Captain T Cell, a biotechnology company focused on developing next-generation TCR-T cell therapies for solid tumors, today announced the successful closure of an equity financing round, securing a total budget of EUR 20 million when combined with existing grants.

The substantial funding is dedicated to developing novel solid tumor treatments and will accelerate the company’s lead autologous program, CTC127, toward Phase I clinical read-outs. It will also advance its first-in-class allogeneic program, which aims to create “off-the-shelf” solid tumor treatments, toward clinical trial readiness.

The financing round was led by Springboard Health Angels and Pluton Asset Holding AG, with participation from new investors Sintra Limited and Technologiegründerfonds Sachsen. Existing investors, including i&i Biotech Fund I SCSp, HIL-INVENT, and Brandenburg Kapital, also participated.

Lead Program CTC127 Enters Phase I Trial (TOMATA)

The secured funds will enable the launch of the company’s first-in-human Phase I clinical trial, named TOMATA (“Toolbox-modified MAGE-A4-TCR-T cell therapy for HLA-A1”).

• Target: The trial will enroll patients with multiple advanced MAGE-A4-positive solid tumor indications, including lung, bladder, gastroesophageal, ovarian, and head and neck cancers—areas with a high unmet medical need.

• Platform: CTC127 leverages the company’s proprietary “engineering toolbox,” which functionally “armors” T cells to enhance their anti-tumor activity, persistence, and resilience within the challenging solid tumor microenvironment.

• Execution: The TOMATA trial will be led by Principal Investigator Prof. Antonia Busse, Charité – Universitaetsmedizin Berlin, and will include eight other leading cancer centers across Germany.

“Despite a challenging fundraising environment, we have gained broad investor support, which underscores the strong competitive profile of Captain T Cell’s best- and first-in-class next-generation T cell therapy platform,” said Dr. Felix Lorenz, CEO of Captain T Cell. “We are optimistic that our best-in-class toolbox technologies will be clinically validated in the upcoming trial and subsequently expanded into off-the-shelf approaches.”

Advancing Off-the-Shelf Allogeneic Platform

In parallel with the autologous trial, Captain T Cell is accelerating its allogeneic TCR-T cell platform. The company has already demonstrated complete solid tumor responses in vivo using this platform and is now moving it toward clinical trial readiness. Furthermore, the company plans to extend its proprietary engineering toolbox for use in in vivo T cell therapy applications.

Dr. Theis Terwey, representing lead investor Pluton Asset Holding AG, noted the target validation: “MAGE-A4 is a de-risked and commercially validated target. The available preclinical data convincingly demonstrate that Captain T Cell’s toolbox-enhanced approach is conceptually superior to on-market cell therapies against solid tumors, providing strong evidence that the Company can deliver competitive efficacy in large solid tumor indications.”