Funding profile · Cell therapy
Guardian Bio
A pre-seed cell therapy company that raised a Y Combinator investment and a handful of grants, sought a $3 million seed round for two years, never closed it, and entered hibernation in November 2024. No SEC Form D has been found under the company’s name.
Data as of September 25, 2026. Company-reported figures are labeled.
Rounds at a glance
| When | Round | Amount | Investors | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 2022 | Y Combinator investment, Summer 2022 batch | $500,000 | Y Combinator | Founder account |
| 2022 | LabCentral Ignite Golden Ticket award | $15,000 cash, plus one year of free lab space | LabCentral, sponsors named by the founders as BMS, Pfizer and Mission BioCapital | Independent |
| 2023 to 2024 | Seed round, sought | $3.0M target; not disclosed as closed at any amount | Not named; company said it spoke with more than 300 investors | Company-stated |
| 2023 | Massachusetts Life Sciences Center MassNextGen grant | $100,000 | Massachusetts Life Sciences Center | Company-stated |
| Nov 2024 | Final round attempt, group investor call | Not disclosed | Unnamed group of venture funds convened by the founders | Founder account |
What the filings show
No Form D has been found for Guardian Bio. A search of SEC EDGAR by company name turns up only an unrelated entity, Guardian Biomedical Corp., based in Tampa, Florida, which has no connection to this company. Guardian Bio’s own account of its finances, the LabCentral awards, and its BIO International Convention listing are the only sources this profile could confirm for its capital picture.
Reading the record
- No Form D means no Regulation D offering was filed, not that no money moved.Companies that raise through a SAFE below certain thresholds, or through Section 4(a)(2), can raise capital without triggering a Form D. Guardian Bio’s $500,000 Y Combinator SAFE and its small grants would not necessarily produce a filing on their own.
- The $3 million seed was a target the company never reached.Guardian Bio’s own 2024 BIO International Convention listing said it was “seeking” $3 million, language that describes a fundraising goal, not a closing. The founders’ own 2025 account confirms the round never closed and that a lack of capital forced the company to stop operating in November 2024.
- A funding aggregator describes the round differently.A separate funding aggregator page states Guardian Bio “announced a $3 million seed round in 2023,” which does not match either the company’s own contemporaneous fundraising listing or its founders’ later account that the round was never closed. Treat aggregator figures for this company with caution.
- Most of the non-dilutive money was small and program-based.A $15,000 LabCentral Ignite Golden Ticket cash award plus a year of free lab space, and a $100,000 Massachusetts Life Sciences Center MassNextGen grant, are the only non-dilutive awards found for this profile, both well short of the money needed to run a pivotal animal study or reach an IND filing.
- The company’s own retrospective is the primary source for what happened after 2022.Independent press coverage of Guardian Bio’s financing history is thin. Most of what is known about its fundraising, its near-miss in mid-2023, and its final investor call in November 2024 comes from a first-person account the founders published themselves in 2025, not from third-party financial reporting.
Commercial signals
| Signal | Detail | Source type |
|---|---|---|
| Regulatory | No FDA record found for Guardian Bio. A pre-IND package was reportedly drafted but, per the founders, never filed. | Not found |
| Clinical | No registered trial. Clinical trials had been planned for late 2024 or early 2025 but did not begin. | Not found |
| Academic partnership | A sponsored research agreement with The Jackson Laboratory, tied to academic co-founder Karolina Palucka, funded early experiments, per the founders. | Company-stated |
| Accelerator validation | Y Combinator Summer 2022 and Creative Destruction Lab Advanced Therapies, graduated spring 2023. | Independent |
| Operating status | Founders describe the company as in hibernation since November 2024, with no new capital and no runway remaining. | Founder account |
What to watch
- Whether a Form D or any other SEC filing ever appears for Guardian Bio.
- Whether an amended or updated funding total surfaces that reconciles the $3 million target with what was actually raised.
- Whether the company resumes operations, is sold, or is formally dissolved.
- Whether the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center or LabCentral publish figures that independently confirm the founders’ reported grant amounts.
The Guardian Bio story on Healthcare DiscoveryHealthcare Discovery
Related companies
Sources
- Public recordSEC EDGAR company search, “guardian bio”
- IndependentLife on the Biotech Boats When the Tide Goes Out
- IndependentIgnite, 2023 Impact Report
- IndependentLabCentral Ignite Launches Third Annual Golden Ticket Contest
- IndependentGuardian Bio company page
- CompanyGuardian Bio session listing
- IndependentGuardian Bio company profile
- IndependentGuardian Bio: Funding, Team & Investors
- CompanyGuardian Bio company listing and launch post
Compiled from SEC and other public records and published reports as of September 25, 2026. Form D notices report offerings under Regulation D; amounts reflect the filing date. Healthcare Venture Capital Fund holds no position in Guardian Bio. This page is not an offer to sell or a recommendation to buy any security.