Stemcentrx

South San Francisco, CA Biotech Acquired

StemCentrx is a biotechnology company focused on identifying and targeting cancer stem cells to develop novel therapies for solid tumors. Its lead program was rovalpituzumab tesirine (Rova-T), an antibody-drug conjugate targeting DLL3, developed for small cell lung cancer (SCLC) and other DLL3-expressing tumors. Founded in 2008 by Brian Slingerland and Scott J. Dylla, the company was acquired by AbbVie in May 2016 in a deal valued at approximately $5.8 billion upfront plus up to $4 billion in contingent milestone payments.

Acquired

Stemcentrx has been acquired

Acquired by AbbVie June 1, 2016 ~$5.8B upfront (up to ~$10.2B with milestones)

This company is no longer available on our private secondary market.

Overview

Company data and valuation marks are estimates and may be incomplete, stale, erroneous, or revised.

Founded

2008

Total Funding

$517M

4 rounds

Latest Valuation

$5B

August 2015

Funding

Total raised $517M across 4 rounds

Funding data and valuation marks are estimates and may be incomplete, stale, erroneous, or revised.

Last updated 06-25-2026

Latest Round

Type

Series G

Date

August 2015

Amount

$250M

Valuation

$5B

Lead Investors

Fidelity InvestmentsSequoia Capital
DateRoundAmount RaisedValuationLead Investors
August 2015 Series G $250M $5B Fidelity Investments, Sequoia Capital
May 2014 Series F (or later) $200M Sequoia Capital
2012 Series D $42M $0.3B Founders Fund

Funding by Round

Funding data and valuation marks are estimates and may be incomplete, stale, erroneous, or revised.

Valuation Trajectory

Valuation indexed to 1.0× at the selected entry round. Valuation marks are estimates and may contain errors. Hover each dot to compare.

If you invested at:
1x 2x 5x 10x 20x 2012 2013 2014 2015 Stemcentrx

Entry · Series D

$0.3B

Jan 2012

Stemcentrx today

$5B

Aug 2015 · latest mark

Stemcentrx multiple

16.7x

valuation uplift since first round

Y-axis is logarithmic. Hollow dots = estimated valuations. Does not represent realized investor returns.

Leadership

  • Brian Slingerland

    Co-Founder & CEO

  • Scott J. Dylla

    Co-Founder & Chief Scientific Officer

Competitors

Competitor list is illustrative and may be incomplete, stale, or erroneous.

  • Seagen

    Oncology biotech focused on antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs); pioneer of ADC therapies, acquired by Pfizer in 2023.

  • ImmunoGen

    Developer of antibody-drug conjugates for cancer treatment; acquired by AbbVie in 2024.

  • OncoMed Pharmaceuticals

    Biotech developing therapeutics targeting cancer stem cells and tumor-initiating cells; acquired by Mereo BioPharma in 2019.

  • Verastem Oncology

    Oncology company originally founded around cancer stem cell biology, now developing FAK and PI3K inhibitors.

Access live market data

Sign Up

Data collected with AI, which can make mistakes. Please double-check this information.