BrainChild Bio, a clinical-stage biotech company developing CAR T cell therapies for tumours of the central nervous system, announced on 8 September 2026 that it had closed a $116m Series A financing.
An undisclosed private family fund and foundation led the round. Seattle Children's, the hospital the company spun out of and its first investor, took part, as did new investor WRF Capital, the investment arm of the Washington Research Foundation.
The company, which lists Seattle and Cambridge, Massachusetts, on its announcement, did not disclose a valuation.
“Our path to building BrainChild Bio has led us to secure the support of a unique and committed syndicate of investors who share our mission to prioritize therapeutic innovation for children with cancer, while also rapidly advancing new science that can change the course of brain cancers for a wider population.”Steven Brugger, Chief Executive Officer, BrainChild Bio
What BrainChild Bio does
BrainChild Bio's lead candidate, BCB-276, is an autologous CAR T cell therapy that targets B7-H3, a protein found on tumour cells. It is being developed for diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG), an aggressive brainstem tumour in children. The company said DIPG affects about 300 children a year in the US and that standard treatment, palliative radiation, gives a median overall survival of about 11 months.
The company's therapies are delivered directly into the cerebrospinal fluid through an implanted reservoir-catheter, which allows repeated doses. Its pipeline is based on an exclusive licence to technology developed at Seattle Children's, announced in December 2023, when the company launched, according to GEN.
Founder and chief scientific officer Michael Jensen was recruited by Seattle Children's in 2010, GEN reported. His lab designed the CD19 CAR T candidate that was later approved as Breyanzi, and he was a co-founder of Juno Therapeutics. Steven Brugger, previously chief executive of the vaccine developer Affinivax, leads the company.
What the money is for
Most of the money will support ILLUMINATE, a pivotal Phase 2 trial of BCB-276 in DIPG designed to back a future Biologics License Application with the US Food and Drug Administration. GEN reported that the first patient has been dosed in the open-label, single-arm study, which will run at six pediatric neuro-oncology centres in the US, and that BCB-276 has FDA Fast Track designation.
The funds will also pay for continued work on BCB-214, a CAR T therapy that targets three antigens and is being prepared for its first clinical testing in glioblastoma, an adult brain cancer. GEN reported that it is expected to enter the clinic next year. Some money will go to early pipeline programmes for other pediatric and adult brain tumours.
Michael Jensen said the financing would let the company chart its path to serving children and families affected by brain tumours.
An unusual investor group
Brugger told GEN that institutional investors were impressed by the company's Phase 1 data in DIPG, but that the disease's small patient population did not fit their investment models. That is why the round drew non-traditional investors instead of a typical venture syndicate, GEN reported.
In the Phase 1 BrainChild-03 trial, Brugger told GEN, three of a subset of nine patients who started treatment soon after radiation became long-term survivors, which led the company to approach the FDA about a single pivotal trial. The company describes its approach as kids-first, with plans to expand into adult tumours.
Company website: brainchildbio.com