Funding profile · Industrial biotechnology

C16 Biosciences

Three Form D offerings since 2018 record $28.9 million of equity sold. The most recent left more than half of a $10.2 million offering unsold, and nothing has been filed since March 2023.

$28.9MEquity sold across three Form D offerings, 2018 to 2023
$5.26MUnsold on the 2023 offering at filing, never amended
$4.5MGates Foundation grant plus Elemental Excelerator, announced Jan 2024
95Investor slots counted across the three filings

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

Rounds at a glance

When Round Amount Investors Source
Aug to Nov 2018 Post Y Combinator seed, options to acquire $3,965,000 sold of $4,000,000 33 investors; Y Combinator named later by the company Form D
Feb to Mar 2020 Series A, equity $19,999,994 sold of $19,999,994 45 investors. Led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures with Waldencast and Future Tech Labs; Y Combinator, DCVC, Sound Ventures, AME Cloud Ventures and Liquid 2 Ventures following Form D and release
Jul 2020 DOE Agile BioFoundry directed funding Paid to the laboratories, not the company Pacific Northwest and Sandia National Laboratories Public record
Feb 2023 onward Equity offering $4,984,415 sold of $10,244,013 17 investors, unnamed Form D
Oct 2023 Elemental Excelerator Cohort 12 $1,000,000 equity Elemental Excelerator Company release
Jan 2024 Grant, paid over three years $3,500,000 Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Company release
Mar 2026 Startup World Cup agriculture and food regional Advances to a final with a $1,000,000 prize Pegasus Tech Ventures Independent

What the filings show

C16 Biosciences, Inc. · Form D · filed Mar 22, 2023

First sale
Feb 21, 2023
Offered
$10,244,013 equity
Sold
$4,984,415 · $5,259,598 remaining
Investors
17 · average about $293,201
Exemption
Rule 506(b)
Related persons
Shara Ticku (executive officer, director, promoter); Harold McNamara (director); Peter Turner (director, Boston)
Filing
SEC EDGAR, CIK 0001757728

C16 Biosciences, Inc. · Form D · filed Mar 3, 2020, amended Mar 11, 2020

First sale
Feb 14, 2020
Offered
$19,999,994 equity
Sold
$19,999,994 · nothing remaining
Investors
45 · average about $444,444
Exemption
Rule 506(b)
Related persons
Shara Ticku (executive officer, director, promoter); Harold McNamara (director, promoter); Peter Turner (director); David Heller (promoter)
Filing
SEC EDGAR, CIK 0001757728

C16 Biosciences, Inc. · Form D · filed Nov 21, 2018

First sale
Aug 16, 2018
Offered
$4,000,000, options to acquire
Sold
$3,965,000 · $35,000 remaining
Investors
33 · average about $120,152
Exemption
Rule 506(b)
Related persons
Shara Ticku; David Heller; Harold McNamara; Andrew Shumaker, with the note that he resigned as a director effective Nov 20, 2018
Filing
SEC EDGAR, CIK 0001757728, issuer address Somerville, MA

Reading the filings

  1. The first round was notes, not stock.The 2018 notice reports options to acquire rather than equity: $3,965,000 from 33 investors, about $120,152 each, first sale August 16, 2018. Ticku later described raising $4 million in two weeks after Y Combinator. The filing is consistent with that.
  2. The Series A was sized to the dollar and sold out.Offered and sold both read $19,999,994, six dollars under $20 million, across 45 investors at about $444,444 each. The company announced the round on March 2, 2020; the notice reached EDGAR on March 3 and was amended on March 11.
  3. The 2023 offering did not close.$10,244,013 offered, $4,984,415 sold at filing, 17 investors at about $293,201 each, leaving $5,259,598 on the table. No amendment was filed, and no new Form D has appeared under the company CIK in the three and a half years since. That is the longest gap in the company history.
  4. The board narrowed as the company grew.In 2018 four people are listed as directors or promoters, including Andrew Shumaker with a note that he resigned the day before filing. By 2020 David Heller appears as promoter only and Peter Turner joins as a director. By 2023 Heller is absent from the filing entirely, though he remains co-founder and chief operating officer on the company site and pitched the company at a 2026 competition.
  5. The totals do not agree.Form D equity sold comes to $28,949,409. The 2020 release put total funding at $24 million, and a live venture profile on Unreasonable Group still carried that figure on September 22, 2026, alongside press items from July 2026. A January 2024 trade report put the total at $34 million. Form D equity plus the $3.5 million grant reaches $32.4 million, or $33.4 million if the Elemental investment sits outside the 2023 offering.
  6. Non-dilutive money is a small share, and no federal grant is on record.The $3.5 million Gates grant is about 11 percent of equity raised. There is no NIH or NSF award under the company name. The 2020 Department of Energy selection sends money to Pacific Northwest and Sandia National Laboratories, up to $500,000 over two years or $2,000,000 over three, with a cost share from the awardee, so it is laboratory access rather than cash into the company.

Commercial signals

Signal Detail Source type
Regulatory Beauty and personal care ingredients need no premarket clearance. No completed FDA GRAS notice for the food ingredient has been announced. Not found
Customers Tower 28, NIOD from the Estée Lauder Companies, KraveBeauty, iota, Pangaia and Haeckels. One report counted six brand launches in 2025. Independent
Scale 50,000 liter fermentation since 2022; hundreds of tonnes a year claimed for the New York facility. Company-stated
Margin Gross margin positive in beauty and personal care, approaching cost-competitive, per a venture network profile. Company-stated
Food Cocoa butter equivalent launched July 2026, with multinational manufacturers described as using it in product development. Company-stated
Competition Clean Food Group, NoPalm Ingredients, Xylome, Genomatica, Planet A Foods, Celleste Bio and Savor. Independent

What to watch

  • A new Form D. None has been filed since March 22, 2023.
  • An amendment to the 2023 offering, which would show whether the remaining $5,259,598 was ever sold.
  • A GRAS notice, which is the gate on the food business.
  • Named food customers and any disclosed volume or revenue.
  • The Startup World Cup final in San Francisco and its $1 million prize.

The C16 Biosciences story on Healthcare DiscoveryHealthcare Discovery

Related companies

  • Modern Fertility: Shared investor: First Round. A finger prick hormone panel sold to women who were not trying to conceive
  • NimbleRx: Shared investor: First Round. Nimble began as a licensed dispensing pharmacy with its own stores, shut them in early 2019, and rebuilt itself as the software layer sold to the independent pharmacies
  • Rebellyous Foods: Shared investor: Liquid 2. A Seattle company that builds the machines that make plant-based chicken, and sells the chicken mostly into school cafeterias
  • Lygos: Shared investor: First Round. A Berkeley Lab spinout that taught yeast to make malonic acid without cyanide, then became a specialty chemicals supplier whose polymers end up in shampoo, diapers and

Sources

  1. Public recordForm D, C16 Biosciences, Inc., CIK 0001757728SEC · Nov 21, 2018
  2. Public recordForm D and Form D/A, C16 Biosciences, Inc.SEC · Mar 3 and Mar 11, 2020
  3. Public recordForm D, C16 Biosciences, Inc.SEC · Mar 22, 2023
  4. Public recordDOE selects new biomanufacturing projectsUS Department of Energy · Jul 10, 2020
  5. IndependentC16 Biosciences earns Gates Foundation grant for palm oil alternativeGreen Queen · Jan 25, 2024
  6. IndependentC16 Biosciences wins 2026 Startup World Cup regionalUniversity of Illinois Research Park · Mar 18, 2026
  7. CompanyC16 Biosciences raises $20 million Series AC16 Biosciences · Mar 2, 2020
  8. CompanyC16 ramps up in food fueled by fresh fundingBusiness Wire · Jan 23, 2024
  9. CompanyPalmless launches first food ingredientBusiness Wire · Jul 30, 2026
  10. PartnerC16 Biosciences venture profileUnreasonable Group · Accessed Sep 22, 2026

Compiled from SEC, DOE 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 C16 Biosciences. This page is not an offer to sell or a recommendation to buy any security.