From cell therapy to combat rifles: Genenta bets its future on becoming Italy’s national-security dealmaker

Under a planned name change to Saentra Forge, Genenta is recasting itself as a strategic industrial consolidator focused on acquiring profitable, privately held Italian companies operating under the country’s strict Golden Power regulations. Its first transaction, already cleared by regulators, is a staged investment in ATC, a niche weapons manufacturer supplying special forces and competitive shooting markets.

A defense-first strategy, dressed in biotech clothes

According to the company, Saentra Forge will target businesses generating up to €5 million in EBITDA and acquire them at private-market valuations, an implicit critique of public biotech’s capital inefficiency. The idea is to roll up regulated industrial assets, professionalize governance, and provide public-market visibility.

ATC fits that template neatly. The company reportedly expects revenues to grow from about €4 million in 2026 to €9 million in 2027, with EBITDA exceeding €2 million next year and doubling thereafter. Genenta plans to invest up to €5.1 million through performance-linked capital increases, with the goal of eventually taking control.

What stands out is not just the target, but the framing. ATC is presented less as a weapons maker than as a national-security asset: export licenses, NATO qualifications, Italian Ministry of Defense authorizations, and “combat-proven systems” are emphasized repeatedly. This is clearly a strategy built to align with regulators as much as investors.

That alignment is further reinforced by the arrival of the Praexidia Foundation as a long-term shareholder. The foundation brings together senior figures from Italian government institutions, the defense sector, and the armed forces, and has secured consultation rights and a five-year lock-up through a shareholders’ agreement.

In plain terms, Saentra Forge is positioning itself as a politically credible platform to consolidate sensitive assets in sectors where foreign ownership and private equity face increasing scrutiny.

What’s left of the biotech?

Biotech is not disappearing entirely, but it is being pushed firmly into a partnering box.

Genenta says it has reached “key clinical milestones” and now intends to monetize its cell therapy platform through partnerships rather than internal expansion. Its lead asset, Temferon, will continue in glioblastoma multiforme, but additional trials – including a genitourinary cancer study – are effectively on ice. DC Advisory has been hired to shop the platform to pharma and biotech partners.

This is a notable shift in tone. Where Genenta once pitched itself as a clinical-stage innovator, it now talks about capital efficiency, leverage, and optionality.

The underlying message is hard to miss: public markets have not rewarded Genenta’s biotech story, but they might reward a profitable, defense-aligned roll-up backed by €33 million in cash.

A bold reinvention – or a risky identity crisis?

Saentra Forge’s strategy is intellectually coherent, especially in a European context where defense spending, sovereignty, and industrial resilience are once again political priorities. Few public vehicles exist to consolidate subscale, regulated Italian assets without triggering foreign-ownership concerns.

Still, the risks are substantial. Investors who bought into a Nasdaq-listed cell therapy company are now being asked to underwrite firearms manufacturing and national-security consolidation. Execution risk is high, governance will be closely scrutinized, and the valuation logic of blending biotech optionality with defense EBITDA remains untested.

What Genenta is attempting has never been seen before. Whether the market embraces Saentra Forge as a clever response to biotech’s funding drought or penalizes it for abandoning focus will become clear soon enough.

One thing is certain: this is no longer a typical biotech story.