Funding profile · mRNA and cell therapy

Kernal Biologics

Three Form D notices across ten years, about $35.5 million of disclosed equity, and a federal award of up to $48 million that is now larger than everything the company has raised privately. No filing since February 2022.

$48.0MCeiling of the ARPA-H EMBODY award, Oct 2025, shared with three sub-awardees
$35.5MDisclosed venture equity: $10.5M seed plus $25M Series A, company-reported
$20.1MSold of $25.5M offered in the latest Form D, filed Feb 25, 2022
$0.85MTotal sold under the 2016 and 2018 Form D offerings combined

Data as of September 22, 2026. Company-reported figures are labeled.

Rounds at a glance

When Round Amount Investors Source
Aug 2016 Debt and securities to be acquired on exercise $350,000 sold of $350,000 2 investors Form D
Aug 2018 Offering of other securities, type described in the filing $500,000 sold of $1,000,000 1 investor Form D
2020 Y Combinator, Summer 2020 Not disclosed Y Combinator YC data
Closed early 2021 Seed $10.5M Led by Hummingbird Ventures Company release
Feb 2022 to Jul 2022 Series A $25M announced; $20,081,970 sold of $25,471,668 offered at filing 53 investors; led by Hummingbird Ventures, with Amgen Ventures, HBM Genomics and Civilization Ventures Form D and release
Oct 7, 2025 ARPA-H EMBODY award, non-dilutive Up to $48,000,000 ARPA-H, with Stanford Medicine, Dana-Farber and the Jackson Laboratory as sub-awardees Public record

What the filings show

Kernal Biologics, Inc. · Form D · filed Feb 25, 2022

First sale
Feb 10, 2022
Offered
$25,471,668 equity
Sold
$20,081,970 · $5,389,698 remaining
Investors
53 · average about $378,905
Exemption
Rule 506(b)
Related persons
Yusuf Erkul (executive officer, director); Burak Yilmaz (executive officer, director)
Issuer
Delaware corporation, Cambridge MA, industry listed as Biotechnology
Filing
SEC EDGAR, CIK 0001684728

Kernal Biologics, Inc. · Form D · filed Aug 15, 2018

First sale
Aug 2, 2018
Offered
$1,000,000, securities described in the filing as other
Sold
$500,000 · $500,000 remaining
Investors
1
Exemption
Rule 506(b)
Related persons
Yusuf Erkul (executive officer, director); Oguzhan Yilmaz (director); Burak Yilmaz (executive officer)
Filing
SEC EDGAR, CIK 0001684728

Kernal Biologics, Inc. · Form D · filed Sep 15, 2016

First sale
Aug 24, 2016
Offered
$350,000, debt plus securities to be acquired on exercise
Sold
$350,000 · nothing remaining
Investors
2 · average $175,000
Exemption
Rule 506(b)
Related persons
Catherine Moroski (executive officer, director); Yusuf Erkul (executive officer, director); Oguzhan Yilmas (director, spelled as filed)
Filing
SEC EDGAR, CIK 0001684728, year of incorporation 2016

Reading the filings

  1. The filing landed four and a half months before the press release.First sale was February 10, 2022; the Form D was filed February 25. The announcement of “the completion of a $25 million Series A financing” came July 7, 2022. Anyone watching EDGAR knew the round was open and roughly sized before the news cycle did.
  2. The round was not full when it was filed.$20,081,970 of a $25,471,668 offering had been sold, leaving $5,389,698. The July release called the round complete at $25 million, and no amended Form D records the last $5.4 million. The 53 investors average about $378,905 each, against four named institutions plus “other VCs, family offices and high net worth individuals.”
  3. The $10.5 million seed has no Form D.The company said a $10.5 million seed led by Hummingbird Ventures closed in early 2021. Nothing was filed under its CIK between August 2018 and February 2022. Issuers raising under Section 4(a)(2) file no Form D, so the gap is not evidence the round did not happen; it does mean EDGAR understates this company by about a third of its equity.
  4. The board on paper is two people.The 2022 filing lists only the two co-founders as executive officers and directors. Firat Ileri of Hummingbird joined the board with the financing, per the July release, months after the filing was signed, and no amendment records him. Catherine Moroski, an officer and director in 2016, and Oguzhan Yilmaz, a director in 2016 and 2018, are both gone by 2022.
  5. Federal money now exceeds private money.Up to $48,000,000 from ARPA-H against roughly $35.5 million of disclosed equity. Two qualifiers: it is a ceiling, not a payment, and it covers Kernal plus Stanford Medicine, Dana-Farber and the Jackson Laboratory. Kernal has not disclosed its share. Its BIO 2026 listing puts it this way: “In addition to $30M in VC funding, we’ve recently secured $48M in non-dilutive funding.”
  6. Four and a half years without a filing.February 2022 is the most recent Form D. A company of about 20 people with a preclinical lead and a 2022 Series A would ordinarily be raising again. Either it is running on the Series A and the ARPA-H award, or it has raised outside Regulation D.

Commercial signals

Signal Detail Source type
Products None marketed. No FDA 510(k) or PMA record, which is expected for a drug developer. Public record
Clinical No trial registered on ClinicalTrials.gov for Kernal Biologics, KR-402 or KR-335 as of Sep 22, 2026. No IND filing announced. Not found
Stage Lead product KR-402, development phase given as Pre-Clinical in the company’s own BIO 2026 listing, next catalyst update expected December 2026. Company-stated
Facilities Relocated to Lilly Gateway Labs in the Lilly Seaport Innovation Center, Boston, Oct 3, 2025. Previously Cambridge, including LabCentral bench space from two Amgen Golden Tickets. Company-stated
Partnerships NVIDIA Inception member since Aug 2025. ARPA-H sub-awardees Stanford Medicine, Dana-Farber and the Jackson Laboratory. Public record
Revenue Since 2021 the company has said it licenses non-oncology uses of its technology. No partner named, no amount disclosed. Company-stated

What to watch

  • A new Form D. One is due within 15 days of the first sale of any Regulation D round.
  • An amended Form D for the 2022 offering, settling whether the last $5,389,698 was sold.
  • Disclosure of Kernal’s own share of the ARPA-H ceiling, and of milestones actually paid.
  • The December 2026 catalyst the company has told the BIO convention listing to expect.
  • An IND filing, the first in ten years of operation and the event most likely to price a Series B.

The Kernal Biologics story on Healthcare DiscoveryHealthcare Discovery

Related companies

  • Sensible Biotechnologies: Shared investor: Civilization Ventures. A platform that grows therapeutic mRNA inside engineered cells instead of making it in a tube
  • Catena Biosciences: Shared investor: Civilization Ventures. A UC Berkeley spinout that uses an engineered tyrosinase to weld two proteins together through their native amino acids, now aimed at antibody drug conjugates carrying
  • Anima: Shared investor: Hummingbird Ventures. A care enablement platform built by a doctor who quit medicine to fix how UK general practice handles patient requests
  • adyn: Shared investor: Civilization Ventures. A $369 at-home kit that reads DNA from saliva and six hormones from a finger prick, then puts the result in front of a clinician who helps pick a birth control method

Sources

  1. Public recordForm D, Kernal Biologics, Inc., CIK 0001684728SEC · Feb 25, 2022
  2. Public recordForm D, Kernal Biologics, Inc.SEC · Aug 15, 2018
  3. Public recordForm D, Kernal Biologics, Inc.SEC · Sep 15, 2016
  4. Public recordEMBODY program pageARPA-H
  5. IndependentUS government earmarks up to $48M for development of Kernal’s mRNA CAR-TFierce Biotech · Oct 7, 2025
  6. CompanyKernal Biologics announces $25M Series A financingPR Newswire · Jul 7, 2022
  7. CompanyKernal Biologics enters development phase, with the $10.5 million seed round figureGlobeNewswire · Jul 22, 2021
  8. CompanyKernal Bio awarded up to $48 million from ARPA-HBusiness Wire, via BioSpace · Oct 7, 2025
  9. CompanyKernal Bio joins Lilly Gateway LabsBusiness Wire · Oct 3, 2025
  10. CompanyKernal Bio company presentation listing, funding and stageBIO International Convention 2026 · Jun 24, 2026

Compiled from SEC, ARPA-H and other public records and published reports as of September 22, 2026. Form D notices report offerings under Regulation D; amounts reflect the filing date and may not capture later sales. Healthcare Venture Capital Fund holds no position in Kernal Biologics. This page is not an offer to sell or a recommendation to buy any security.