# Portal Biotechnologies

> Portal Biotechnologies is a Watertown, Massachusetts cell-engineering platform company building tools that push complex cargo - mRNA, siRNA, CRISPR complexes, proteins - into living cells by squeezing them through microscopic holes in a silicon surface, rather than relying on viruses or chemistry. Founded in 2023 by Armon Sharei, the MIT-trained scientist behind SQZ Biotechnologies, Portal sells hardware and consumables to drug discovery and cell therapy labs instead of developing its own drugs. Its instruments are used across more than 100 customer sites, including many of the world's largest pharmaceutical companies, and the company has raised seed and follow-on funding plus a DARPA contract for portable, point-of-care cell manufacturing.

- **Founded:** 2023
- **Headquarters:** Watertown, Massachusetts, United States
- **Founders:** Armon Sharei (Founder & CEO)
- **Team size:** ~70 employees
- **Products:** Gateway, Galaxy / Galaxy-i, Millibooster, Cell Squeeze technology, Beta / partner program
- **Notable:** Founded and launched Portal Biotechnologies in December 2023, Grew to more than 100 customer sites, including 7 of the top 10 pharma companies, Signed 50+ biopharma and academic partners, many before completing its seed round

## Products & services

- **Gateway** — Portal's core mechanical delivery platform - instruments and silicon consumables that push cargo into cells as they transit microscopic holes in a specially designed surface.
- **Galaxy / Galaxy-i** — Higher-throughput members of Portal's delivery product line for multiplexed, parallelized cargo delivery across many cell types.
- **Millibooster** — A companion product in Portal's delivery suite supporting scaled and enhanced cargo delivery workflows.
- **Cell Squeeze technology** — Portal's foundational squeeze-based delivery approach, applied to workflows such as cytosolic antigen delivery and CD8 T cell activation.
- **Beta / partner program** — Early-access program giving biopharma, academic and government labs hands-on use of Portal's platform for RNA, protein, and CRISPR RNP delivery.

## Achievements

- Founded and launched Portal Biotechnologies in December 2023
- Grew to more than 100 customer sites, including 7 of the top 10 pharma companies
- Signed 50+ biopharma and academic partners, many before completing its seed round
- Closed an oversubscribed $7M seed round led by IA Ventures (Dec 2024)
- Won a ~$8M DARPA contract for a portable red blood cell engineering device
- Raised follow-on capital (reported ~$9M led by NFX) to scale commercial adoption

## Latest updates

- **2023-12** — Portal Biotechnologies emerges from stealth, launching its next-generation mechanical cell-delivery platform.
- **2024-03** — Raises $5M pre-seed round led by Pear VC.
- **2024-12** — Closes oversubscribed $7M seed round led by IA Ventures with 50+ partners adopting the platform.
- **2025-01** — Reports platform adoption across 100+ customer sites and a DARPA contract for portable cell engineering.

## Links

- Website: https://portal.bio
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/portal-bio
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/portal_biotech

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/portal
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-07-03