Funding profile · Bioprocess tools

Culture Biosciences

Over $100 million raised by 2021, one Form D on file for any of it, and a December 2025 Series C closed with no amount disclosed. Filings and announcements do not line up.

$21.6MOffered and sold in the only Form D, first sale Feb 18, 2020
$80.0MSeries B announced Oct 2021, with no Form D filed for it
$4.68MRaised by an E14 SPV from 8 investors, Sep 2021
$0Federal award dollars found in NSF and NIH records

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

Rounds at a glance

When Round Amount Investors Source
2018 Y Combinator, Winter batch Not disclosed Y Combinator YC listing
Feb 2019 Seed $5.5M Led by Section 32, with Refactor Capital and Verily. TechCrunch also named BoxGroup, Third Kind and Data Collective as company investors. Independent
Mar 2020 Series A $15M announced; $21,600,711 sold per Form D Led by Cultivian Sandbox; The Production Board, Verily, Section 32, Y Combinator, E14 Fund Form D differs
Sep to Oct 2021 E14 SPV Culture Biosciences B LLC $4,680,085 8 investors; E14 SPV GP, LLC, with Habib Haddad and Calvin Chin as officers Form D
Oct 2021 Series B $80M Led by Northpond Ventures; Synthesis Capital; Cultivian Sandbox, The Production Board, Craft Ventures, E14 Fund, Box Group, Verily, Section 32 Independent
Dec 2025 Series C Not disclosed Existing investors only: Northpond Ventures, Synthesis Capital, S32, Cultivian Sandbox Company release
2016 to 2026 Federal grants $0 found No NSF or NIH awards under the company name Not found

What the filings show

Culture Biosciences Inc. · Form D · filed Mar 4, 2020

First sale
Feb 18, 2020
Offered
$21,600,711 equity
Sold
$21,600,711 · $0 remaining
Investors
38 · average about $568,000
Exemption
Rule 506(b)
Related persons
William Graham Patrick (CEO); Matthew Adams Ball (CTO). No director listed.
Former name
Culture Robotics, Inc.
Filing
SEC EDGAR, CIK 0001804593

E14 SPV Culture Biosciences B LLC · Form D · filed Oct 5, 2021

First sale
Sep 20, 2021
Type
Pooled investment fund, formed 2021
Sold
$4,680,085 of $4,680,085
Investors
8 · average about $585,000
Exemptions
Rule 506(b); Investment Company Act 3(c)(1)
Related persons
E14 SPV GP, LLC; Habib Haddad; Calvin Chin, all of Wellesley, MA
Filing
SEC EDGAR, CIK 0001883670

Reading the filings

  1. The Series A was larger than the press release said.MedCity News reported a $15 million Series A on March 4, 2020. The Form D filed that same day reports $21,600,711 offered and $21,600,711 sold, nothing remaining. C&EN later put the figure at $21 million from the same investor group. The $6,600,711 gap is the size of a converted note stack or an earlier tranche folded in, and the filing does not say which.
  2. Thirty-eight investors at roughly half a million each.$21,600,711 across 38 investors averages about $568,000: a lead, several existing funds and a tail of angels, not a clean two-fund round.
  3. The $80 million Series B produced no Form D.A full EDGAR search on CIK 0001804593 returns exactly one filing, the March 2020 notice. Nothing was filed for the 2021 Series B or the 2025 Series C. Issuers relying on Section 4(a)(2) file nothing, so silence is not proof no money moved. It does mean the only investor count and dollar figure the public can verify are five years old.
  4. The SPV closed before the announcement.E14 SPV Culture Biosciences B LLC recorded its first sale on September 20, 2021, and the Series B was announced on October 14, 2021. The vehicle was full 24 days before the press release. E14 Fund was already on the cap table from the Series A, and the letter B in the vehicle name implies an earlier A vehicle with no filing of its own.
  5. The board is visible only through press releases.The Form D names two executive officers and no directors. From announcements: Andrew Lee of Northpond joined October 2021; Beth Thompson-Webb July 2023; in April 2026 Mike Stapleton replaced her and co-founder Will Patrick left the board. That release dates the Series C to the fall, while the close was announced in mid December 2025.
  6. The Series C reads as an inside round.The December 2025 release names Northpond Ventures, Synthesis Capital, S32 and Cultivian Sandbox, all existing holders, and gives no amount, no lead, no valuation and no new investor. Rounds priced by the people already in them are sized to a plan, not a market.

Commercial signals

Signal Detail Source type
Distribution Cytiva, a Danaher company, named exclusive global distributor of Stratyx 250 and its consumables, Aug 6, 2025. No unit or revenue figures from either side. Partner-stated
Hardware Stratyx 250 launched Apr 1, 2025. As of Aug 2026 it supports 250 mL units only; 5 L support is planned and undated. The 250 L reactors the 2021 Series B was raised to build never launched. Differs from plan
Service volume Over 22,000 bioreactor runs for more than 100 customers, per the Nexxys page. More than 70 client companies as of Mar 2023. Company-stated
Customers Reported by journalists: Geltor, Modern Meadow, Pivot Bio, Zymergen, Clara Foods, C16 Biosciences. Named by the company: MilliporeSigma, Nektar, Joyn Bio, Sestina Bio, FUJIFILM Biosciences, Virica Biotech. Mixed
Partnerships Google Cloud (Sep 2024), Ginkgo Technology Network (Feb 2024), Xcell Biosciences AVATAR Foundry (Dec 2025). Company-stated
Headcount 40 employees on the Y Combinator company listing. YC listing
Regulatory and clinical No FDA records, no registered trials, no NIH or NSF awards, no PubMed results. Expected for a tools vendor. Not found

What to watch

  • A Form D for the Series C. None has appeared in the nine months since the close.
  • Any disclosed Series C amount, lead or valuation.
  • Stratyx placements through Cytiva, the number that would show the hardware shift working.
  • A new outside director or investor, which would signal an outside-priced next round.
  • Whether the Nexxys service lab keeps running alongside the hardware business.

The Culture Biosciences story on Healthcare DiscoveryHealthcare Discovery

Related companies

  • 64x Bio: Shared investor: Boxgroup. A Harvard spinout that engineers the cells which manufacture viral vectors, rather than the therapies those vectors carry
  • Enzyme: Shared investor: Data Collective. Cloud quality management software built so small life science companies could survive an FDA inspection without hiring a consulting firm
  • Able Health: Shared investor: Refactor. A Y Combinator company that turned Medicare’s quality reporting rules into software for medical groups
  • Parallel Bio: Shared investor: Refactor. Miniature human lymph nodes, grown from donated tissue and run side by side across hundreds of donors, used to test drugs and vaccines before anyone takes them

Sources

  1. Public recordForm D, Culture Biosciences Inc., CIK 0001804593SEC · Mar 4, 2020
  2. Public recordForm D, E14 SPV Culture Biosciences B LLC, CIK 0001883670SEC · Oct 5, 2021
  3. Public recordEDGAR company filing index, Culture Biosciences Inc., form type DSEC · retrieved Sep 22, 2026
  4. IndependentCulture Biosciences raises $15M in Series A funding roundMedCity News · Mar 4, 2020
  5. IndependentC&EN’s 2020 10 Start-Ups to WatchChemical & Engineering News · Nov 2020
  6. IndependentCulture Biosciences raises $80 millionChemical & Engineering News · Oct 23, 2021
  7. IndependentTwo former members of Google’s skunkworks division have launched a biomanufacturing companyTechCrunch · Feb 12, 2019
  8. IndependentCytiva expands collaboration with Culture BiosciencesGEN · Aug 6, 2025
  9. CompanyCulture Biosciences announces close of Series C roundBioSpace, GlobeNewswire · Dec 16, 2025
  10. CompanyCulture Biosciences announces strategic addition to its board of directorsBioSpace, GlobeNewswire · Apr 14, 2026
  11. CompanyNexxys and Stratyx product pages, culturebiosciences.comAccessed Sep 22, 2026

Compiled from SEC records and published reports as of September 22, 2026. Form D notices report offerings under Regulation D; amounts reflect the filing date, and issuers relying on Section 4(a)(2) file no Form D at all. Healthcare Venture Capital Fund holds no position in Culture Biosciences. This page is not an offer to sell or a recommendation to buy any security.