Returning investor Leaps by Bayer was among the participants in the cell-based immunotherapy developer’s series C round having previously led a $250m round in 2019.

US-based immuno-oncology therapy developer Century Therapeutics completed a $160m series C round on Wednesday that included Leaps by Bayer, the corporate venturing arm of pharmaceutical and chemical group Bayer.

Life sciences and healthcare investment firm Casdin Capital led the round, which included financial services and investment group Fidelity Management and Research and sovereign wealth fund Qatar Investment Authority.

Venture capital firm Versant Ventures, Avidity Partners, Federated Hermes’ Kaufmann Funds, Logos Capital and Marshall Wace also participated, as did Octagon Capital, OrbiMed and RA Capital Management.

Incubated by Versant Ventures in 2018, Century is working on drugs using induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) technology, which is derived from adult human cells, to develop haematologic and solid tumour cancer treatments.

Lalo Flores, Century’s CEO, said: “With this new investor partnership, we are well-positioned to capitalise on the tremendous potential of our integrated iPSC, cell engineering and manufacturing capabilities to develop safer, more effective and more affordable next-generation allogeneic cancer therapies.”

The company has added Eli Casdin, founder and chief investment officer of Casdin Capital, to its board of directors in conjunction with the deal.

Century emerged from stealth in mid-2019 with a $250m round led by Leaps by Bayer and backed by Versant Ventures and Fujifilm Cellular Dynamics, a biotechnology subsidiary of optics and medical engineering conglomerate Fujifilm.

Edison Fu

Edison Fu is head of Asia development at Global Corporate Venturing.