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- Capstan Therapeutics
Capstan Therapeutics Acquisition, Valuation, Funding & Investors
Capstan Therapeutics was acquired by AbbVie for $2.1B in June 2025.
Cumulative funding Capstan Therapeutics raised
$340M
across 3 funding rounds
Key investors in Capstan Therapeutics
RA Capital Management
OrbiMed
Novartis Venture Fund
Vida Ventures
Alexandria Venture Investments
Polaris Partners
Pfizer Venture Investments
Leaps by Bayer
About Capstan Therapeutics
Capstan Therapeutics is a Philadelphia-headquartered biotech firm advancing in vivo gene-editing therapies via its CellSeeker targeted lipid nanoparticle platform. The technology reprograms immune cells like CAR-T directly in the body using antibody-conjugated LNPs, with lead candidate CPTX2309 in Phase 1 for autoimmune diseases.
Founded
2021
HQ
Website
Status
Acquired
Customer focus
B2B
Revenue model
Product sales
Valuation
$310M (Sep 2022)
Capstan Therapeutics Acquisition
Capstan Therapeutics was acquired by AbbVie for $2.1B on 30 June 2025.
Before the acquisition Capstan Therapeutics had raised $340M across 3 funding rounds.
AbbVie completed its $2.1 billion acquisition of Capstan Therapeutics in August 2025, a clinical-stage biotechnology company founded as a Penn spinout. The deal adds Capstan's lead asset CPTX2309, a targeted lipid nanoparticle (tLNP) anti-CD19 CAR-T cell therapy in Phase I development for B cell-mediated autoimmune diseases, along with Capstan's proprietary tLNP platform technology designed to deliver mRNA payloads capable of engineering specific cell types in vivo. Unlike conventional ex vivo CAR-T therapies that require extracting and reengineering a patient's cells in a laboratory, CPTX2309 reprograms CD8+ T cells directly in the body, eliminating complex manufacturing requirements, the need for lymphodepleting chemotherapy preconditioning, and enabling off-the-shelf scalability. The acquisition strengthens AbbVie's immunology pipeline and represents the company's expansion into in vivo cell therapy, a frontier treatment modality with potential to treat a wide range of autoimmune diseases. Prior to AbbVie's acquisition, Capstan had raised $340 million from prominent investors including Pfizer, Bayer, Eli Lilly, Bristol Myers Squibb, Novartis, and Johnson & Johnson across multiple funding rounds. The deal was announced in June 2025 and completed in August 2025, following AbbVie's broader 2025 dealmaking momentum that included collaborations with Gubra, Xilio, Simcere, and Neomorph to diversify its therapeutic portfolio.
| Acquirer | Date | Type | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 Jun 2025 | Strategic M&A | $2.1B |
Capstan Therapeutics Valuation
Capstan Therapeutics is currently valued at $310M, based on its Series A in September 2022.
The $102M round was led by Pfizer Venture Investments, with participation from Vida Ventures, Novartis Venture Fund, Alexandria Venture Investments, Polaris Partners, Eli Lilly & Company Foundation and 4 other investors.
Capstan Therapeutics valuation by funding round
| Date | Stage | Valuation |
|---|---|---|
| Sep 2022 | Series A | $310M |
Capstan Therapeutics Funding History
Capstan Therapeutics has raised a total of $340M across 3 funding rounds.
Capstan Therapeutics' first fundraising round was a $63M seed round in November 2021. The most recent completed round was a $175M Series B in March 2024.
Capstan Therapeutics funding rounds
| Date | Stage | Investors | Raised | Valuation | Deal Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 2024 | Series B | RA Capital Management (lead) | $175M | - | Capstan Therapeutics, a San Diego-based biotechnology company founded by pioneering cell therapy and messenger RNA researchers, secured $175 million in an oversubscribed Series B financing round closed on March 20, 2024. The company develops in vivo CAR-T cell therapies using targeted lipid nanoparticle technology to deliver mRNA instructions that reprogram cells inside the patient's body, eliminating the need for ex vivo cell engineering in laboratories. The lead candidate CPTX2309 is designed to treat autoimmune disorders by instructing killer T cells to recognize and eliminate B cells causing disease. The Series B round was led by RA Capital Management with participation from new investors Forbion, Johnson & Johnson Innovation (JJDC), Mubadala Capital, Perceptive Advisors, and Sofinnova Investments. Existing investors Alexandria Venture Investments, Bristol Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly and Company, Leaps by Bayer, Novartis Venture Fund, OrbiMed, Pfizer Ventures, Polaris Partners, and Vida Ventures also participated. The $175 million Series B proceeds would advance CPTX2309 toward early clinical proof-of-concept studies and support pipeline development. As a clinical-stage biotechnology company, Capstan had not publicly disclosed revenue, ARR, or EBITDA metrics as of the March 2024 funding round. The company had raised $340 million in total venture capital since its 2021 founding by the time of this Series B close. |
| Sep 2022 | Series A | Pfizer Venture Investments (lead); Vida Ventures; Novartis Venture Fund; Alexandria Venture Investments; Polaris Partners; Eli Lilly & Company Foundation; Leaps by Bayer; Bristol-Myers Squibb; RA Capital Management; OrbiMed | $102M | $310M | Capstan Therapeutics is a biotechnology company developing precision in vivo cell engineering therapies, focusing on cell type-specific engineering for oncology, autoimmune diseases, blood disorders, and fibrosis. The company's foundational technology builds on research from mRNA and cell therapy scientists at the University of Pennsylvania. On September 14, 2022, Capstan announced a $102 million Series A financing led by Pfizer Ventures, joined by Leaps by Bayer, Eli Lilly and Company, Bristol Myers Squibb, Polaris Partners, Alexandria Venture Investments, and existing investors. This followed a $63 million seed round in November 2021 led by Novartis Venture Fund and OrbiMed, with RA Capital and Vida Ventures. Combined, the seed and Series A totaled $165 million from leading biopharma companies and life sciences investors. The Series A round had a post-money valuation of $309.58 million, with a price per share of $3.37. Capstan's lead program at the time was advancing toward clinical promise in in vivo CAR-T therapies. Subsequently, Capstan raised a $175 million Series B on March 20, 2024, from many of the same investors plus others like Forbion, Johnson & Johnson Innovation, Mubadala Capital, Perceptive Advisors, and Sofinnova Ventures, achieving a post-money valuation of $525.33 million at $3.37 per share. The company was later acquired on June 30, 2025. |
| Nov 2021 | Seed | Novartis Venture Fund (lead); OrbiMed (lead); Vida Ventures; RA Capital Management | $63M | - | Capstan Therapeutics is a biotechnology company focused on developing precision in vivo cell engineering therapies across oncology, autoimmune disease, blood disorders, and fibrosis. The company combines mRNA technology with cell therapy approaches to engineer patients' endogenous cells directly, aiming to create safer, first-in-class medicines. Capstan was founded by pioneers in CAR-T immunotherapy, nucleic acid drug delivery, and regenerative medicine, including academic researchers from the University of Pennsylvania, and operates bicoastal facilities in San Diego and Philadelphia. In November 2021, Capstan closed its Series Seed financing of $63 million led by Novartis Venture Fund and OrbiMed, with participation from RA Capital and Vida Ventures at a post-money valuation of $105 million. The company subsequently raised a $102 million Series A in September 2022 at a $309.58 million post-money valuation, followed by a $175 million Series B in March 2024 at a $525.33 million post-money valuation, demonstrating strong investor confidence from leading biopharmaceutical companies and life sciences investors. In June 2025, AbbVie announced its acquisition of Capstan for up to $2.1 billion in cash, reflecting the significant value creation and promise of the company's precision cell engineering platform. |
Who has invested in Capstan Therapeutics?
10 investors have backed Capstan Therapeutics across its funding rounds, including RA Capital Management, OrbiMed, Novartis Venture Fund, Vida Ventures, Alexandria Venture Investments and Polaris Partners.
Lead investors include RA Capital Management, Pfizer Venture Investments, Novartis Venture Fund and OrbiMed.
Capstan Therapeutics Investors
| Investor | HQ | Rounds | Role | First check |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | Lead | Nov 2021 | ||
| 2 | Participant | Nov 2021 | ||
| 2 | Lead | Nov 2021 | ||
| 2 | Lead | Nov 2021 | ||
| 1 | Lead | Sep 2022 | ||
| 1 | Participant | Sep 2022 | ||
| 1 | Participant | Sep 2022 | ||
| 1 | Participant | Sep 2022 | ||
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Benchmark 350K+ Funding Rounds and Disclosed VC Valuation Multiples
Sign up to see data on 350K+ funding rounds and disclosed revenue and EBITDA valuation multiples, from seed, through growth stage, to pre-IPO.
Start Free TrialCapstan Therapeutics Competitors
Capstan Therapeutics competitors include listed companies like Generate Biomedicines, Biohaven and Duality Biotherapeutics, and private ones like Sinovac Life Sciences, Immunai and Medable.
| Company | HQ | Status | Revenue | EBITDA | Valuation | Revenue Multiple |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Publicly listed | $32M | ($222M) | $2.2B | 59.4x | ||
| Private | - | - | $3.3B | - | ||
| Private | - | - | $1B | - | ||
| Private | - | - | $2.1B | - | ||
| Publicly listed | - | ($727M) | $2.1B | 36.8x | ||
| Publicly listed | $276M | ($400M) | $2.1B | 8.3x |
Capstan Therapeutics Public Comps
Capstan Therapeutics is no longer listed, but its public comps include Biohaven, Duality Biotherapeutics, GemPharmatech, Zenas BioPharma, Oxford Nanopore Technologies, Bausch Health, SK Bioscience, Nuvation Bio, Kodiak Sciences and Caplin Point Laboratories.
| Last FY | EV/Revenue | EV/EBITDA | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | EBITDA | Last FY | LTM | 2027E | Last FY | LTM | 2027E | |
| - | ($727M) | - | 36.8x | (2.9x) | (4.4x) | |||
| $276M | ($400M) | 6.2x | 8.3x | (4.3x) | (15.3x) | |||
| $118M | $37M | 16.8x | 14.7x | 53.8x | 42.5x | |||
| $10M | ($383M) | 174.1x | 169.5x | (4.6x) | (5.1x) | |||
| $301M | ($133M) | 6.4x | 5.7x | (14.5x) | (26.0x) | |||
| $10B | $3.1B | 2.2x | 2.1x | 7.2x | 5.7x | |||
| $474M | ($815K) | 4.3x | 4.2x | (2516.1x) | (47.7x) | |||
| $63M | ($211M) | 27.4x | 10.9x | (8.2x) | (11.3x) | |||
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Common questions about Capstan Therapeutics
| When was Capstan Therapeutics founded? | Capstan Therapeutics was founded in 2021. |
| Where is Capstan Therapeutics headquartered? | Capstan Therapeutics is headquartered in San Diego, CA, United States. |
| Is Capstan Therapeutics publicly listed? | No, Capstan Therapeutics was acquired by AbbVie in June 2025. |
| Who acquired Capstan Therapeutics? | Capstan Therapeutics was acquired by AbbVie in June 2025. |
| How much was Capstan Therapeutics acquired for? | Capstan Therapeutics was acquired for $2.1B in June 2025. |
| What is Capstan Therapeutics' valuation? | Capstan Therapeutics was last valued at $310M in its Series A in September 2022. |
| How much funding has Capstan Therapeutics raised? | Capstan Therapeutics has raised $340M across 3 funding rounds. |
| What was Capstan Therapeutics' last funding round? | Capstan Therapeutics' last funding round was a $175M Series B in March 2024, led by RA Capital Management. |
| Who are Capstan Therapeutics' investors? | Capstan Therapeutics' investors include RA Capital Management, Vida Ventures, Novartis Venture Fund, OrbiMed, Pfizer Venture Investments, Alexandria Venture Investments, Polaris Partners, Eli Lilly & Company Foundation, Leaps by Bayer and Bristol-Myers Squibb. |
| Which companies are comparable to Capstan Therapeutics? | Companies comparable to Capstan Therapeutics include Generate Biomedicines, Sinovac Life Sciences, Immunai, Medable, Biohaven and Duality Biotherapeutics. |
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