Jun 13, 2022

Tessa Therapeutics, a Singapore-based cell therapy business that conducts cancer research, has secured $126 million in a series of funding rounds. Polaris Partners, a healthcare investment business, led the fundraising round. Existing investors such as Singapore’s state-owned investors Temasek, EDBI, Heliconia Capital, and Heritas Capital also participated in the round. Amy Schulman and Darren Carroll, managing partners at Polaris Partners, have joined Tessa’s board of directors in conjunction with the funding. The money will go toward the company’s continuing clinical trials for its treatment approaches. Tessa’s newly qualified commercial CGMP plant in Singapore will produce the clinical trial supplies. Tessa Therapeutics was founded in 2011 with the goal of developing next-generation cancer medicines for haematological malignancies and solid tumours. Temasek led an $80 million fundraising round in 2017, with participation from EDBI, Karst Peak Capital, Heliconia, and Heritas, among others.