T-Therapeutics raises $133M Series B for TCR bispecifics
Johnson & Johnson Innovation and Eli Lilly joined Sanofi Ventures on the T-Therapeutics register while both of its TCR bispecific programs are still preclinical.
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Founded 2022 · Cambridge, United Kingdom
T-Therapeutics, a Cambridge, UK biotech developing TCR bispecific therapies, has raised an oversubscribed $133 million Series B co-led by Advent Life Sciences and British Business Bank to take its two lead programs into the clinic.
Both of those programs are still preclinical, so this is a large check written before any patient has received either program’s drug. And yet the round was oversubscribed, and four of its six new investors are taking board seats.
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Advent and British Business Bank co-lead, seven backers return
T-Therapeutics announced the $133 million round on 5 November 2026. At the xe.com mid-market rate for 5 November (0.89008 euro per dollar), the round comes to about €118.4 million.
Advent Life Sciences and British Business Bank co-led, both investing in the company for the first time. Johnson & Johnson Innovation (JJDC), Samsara BioCapital, M Ventures and Eli Lilly and Company joined as new investors. Existing shareholders Sofinnova Partners, F-Prime, Digitalis Ventures, Cambridge Innovation Capital, Sanofi Ventures, Tencent and BGF came back in. Representatives of Advent, British Business Bank, JJDC and Samsara BioCapital join the board as non-executive directors.
The company says the money will take both lead programs into the clinic and through to clinical proof-of-concept, and move further discovery programs toward candidate selection. “This financing is a key step in our transition to a clinical-stage company,” CEO Theodora Harold said in the release. T-Therapeutics also appointed Dr. Kirsty Crame as Chief Development Officer. She was previously CMO at Curatis AG, and before that worked at Medigene AG and Gadeta BV.
OpTiMus goes after targets inside the cell
T-Therapeutics builds its drugs on a proprietary platform called OpTiMus, which supplies fully human T cell receptors against intracellular targets the company describes as previously undruggable. Those receptors are the targeting half of TCR-CD3 bispecifics, the format both lead programs use.
The oncology program is aimed at solid tumors. pharmaphorum identifies it as TTX-008, preclinical in several cancers. The autoimmune program, TTX-018 per pharmaphorum and still in discovery, aims to selectively deplete the pathogenic cells that drive chronic tissue inflammation. Neither has clinical data yet.
The good news is that the round is larger than the last one. The Series B follows what pharmaphorum describes as a $91 million extended first round a year earlier, the Series A extension we covered in November 2025.
Sizing T cell engagers depends on who is counting
Roots Analysis puts the T cell engager market at $8.6 billion in 2026, growing to $62.5 billion by 2040, a 15.2 percent CAGR (Roots Analysis T cell engagers market page, undated). Towards Healthcare Research & Consulting sizes bispecific T cell engagers at $8.94 billion in 2025, reaching $49.73 billion by 2035, an 18.72 percent CAGR (page last updated 16 July 2026). The two sources use different base years and scopes, so neither confirms the other. Both still put annual growth in the mid to high teens, and the Roots Analysis figures imply a market more than seven times larger by 2040.
Dominic Schmidt, General Partner at Advent Life Sciences, named the gap in that growth story: “T cell engagers have delivered clinical success in haematological cancers but have been held back in solid tumours.” Read next to the market figures, his line places TTX-008 in the part of the field that has lagged so far.
The amount also stands out in our own records. At about €118.4 million, this Series B sits about €1.6 million under Nouscom’s €120 million Series D of 19 October 2026, co-led by M Ventures and Revelation Partners for a cancer interception vaccine. It is roughly double AnaCardio’s €62.5 million Series B for heart failure, announced on 30 September 2026.
Drugmakers sign on before the first patient
Johnson & Johnson Innovation and Eli Lilly and Company now join Sanofi Ventures, an existing shareholder, on the register. Drugmaker-linked names are backing a company whose programs have yet to enter a trial, and JJDC also takes a board seat.
M Ventures shows a second pattern. It co-led Nouscom’s round on 19 October and joined this one 17 days later, backing two European companies working on cancer in under three weeks. M Ventures is worth tracking as more rounds of this size land.
Imagine if TTX-018 reaches clinical proof-of-concept alongside TTX-008. One receptor platform would then have produced patient data in solid tumors and in autoimmune disease, two fields with little else in common. That outcome is a long way off, and it is exactly what this syndicate has paid to find out.
Cambridge’s next test happens in the clinic
The next dates are the first trial starts for TTX-008 and TTX-018, then the proof-of-concept data the company says this round is sized to reach. Will the autoimmune program, which starts further back, keep pace with the oncology one? We’ll log T-Therapeutics’ next round in our European fundraising data. Let’s see both drugs reach patients!
