What They Build
NKure develops allogeneic, off-the-shelf natural killer cell therapies for blood cancers and solid tumors, using licensed CAR engineering and scalable manufacturing approaches.
Why They Matter
India has one commercial CAR-T entry point, but allogeneic NK cells could change the manufacturing and access equation. NKure matters because it is working on a cell therapy layer with different cost and logistics assumptions from autologous CAR-T. The challenge is building clinical evidence for a less-proven cell type.
Founders
Mahendra Rao, Lalit Pai, Renjitha Gopurappilly
Recent Milestones
- Founded in 2022 by Mahendra Rao, Lalit Pai, and Renjitha Gopurappilly
- Incubated at C-CAMP in Bengaluru
- Allogeneic CAR license for NK cell therapy in India secured
- Pre-Series A closed in April 2023, led by Endiya Partners with Kotak Investment Advisors and Featherlite participation
- DBT BIRAC and Startup India Seed Fund grants received through C-CAMP
- Laboratory-scale NK cell platform validation completed
- IND preparation and clinical trial planning underway across late-stage leukemias and solid tumors