UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

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FORM S-8

REGISTRATION STATEMENT

Under

The Securities Act of 1933

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KINNATE BIOPHARMA INC.

(Exact name of Registrant as specified in its charter)

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103 Montgomery Street, Suite 150

The Presidio of San Francisco

San Francisco, CA 94129

(Address, including zip code, of Registrant’s principal executive offices)

2020 Equity Incentive Plan

2020 Employee Stock Purchase Plan

(Full title of the plan)

Nima Farzan

President and Chief Executive Officer

Kinnate Biopharma Inc.

103 Montgomery Street, Suite 150

The Presidio of San Francisco

San Francisco, CA 94129

(858) 299-4699

(Name, address and telephone number, including area code, of agent for service)

Copies to:

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Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act. ☐

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PART I

EXPLANATORY NOTE

This Registration Statement on Form S-8 (this “Registration Statement”) is filed by Kinnate Biopharma Inc. (the “Registrant”) for the purpose of registering 2,217,114 shares of common stock of the Registrant reserved for issuance under the 2020 Equity Incentive Plan and 443,422 shares of common stock of the Registrant reserved for issuance under the 2020 Employee Stock Purchase Plan.

INFORMATION REQUIRED IN THE PROSPECTUS

The information specified in Item 1 and Item 2 of Part I of Form S-8 is omitted from this Registration Statement in accordance with the provisions of Rule 428 under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”) and the introductory note to Part I of Form S-8. The documents containing the information specified in Part I of Form S-8 will be delivered to the participants in the equity benefit plans covered by this Registration Statement as specified by Rule 428(b)(1) under the Securities Act.

PART II

INFORMATION REQUIRED IN REGISTRATION STATEMENT

The Registrant hereby incorporates by reference into this Registration Statement the following documents previously filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “Commission”):

(1) The Registrant’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022, filed with the Commission on March 15, 2023 (the “Annual Report”);

(2) All other reports filed pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”) since the end of the fiscal year covered by the Annual Report (other than the portions of these documents not deemed to be filed); and

(3) The description of the Registrant’s common stock contained in the Company’s Registration Statement on Form 8-A (File No. 001-39743) filed with the Commission on November 30, 2020, pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Exchange Act, including any amendment or report filed for the purpose of updating such description.

All documents filed by the Registrant pursuant to Sections 13(a), 13(c), 14 and 15(d) of the Exchange Act on or after the date of this Registration Statement and prior to the filing of a post-effective amendment to this Registration Statement that indicates that all securities offered have been sold or that deregisters all securities then remaining unsold shall be deemed to be incorporated by reference in this Registration Statement and to be part hereof from the date of filing of such documents; provided, however, that documents or information deemed to have been furnished and not filed in accordance with the rules of the Commission shall not be deemed incorporated by reference into this Registration Statement.

Any statement contained in a document incorporated or deemed to be incorporated by reference herein shall be deemed to be modified or superseded for purposes of this Registration Statement to the extent that a statement contained herein or in any subsequently filed document which also is deemed to be incorporated by reference herein modifies or supersedes such statement. Any such statement so modified or superseded shall not be deemed, except as so modified or superseded, to constitute a part of this Registration Statement.

Not applicable.

The validity of the issuance of the shares of the Registrant’s common stock has been passed upon by Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, Professional Corporation (“WSGR”). Certain members of, and persons associated with, WSGR own less than one percent of the Registrant’s common stock.

Section 145 of the General Corporation Law of the State of Delaware (“DGCL”) generally empowers a corporation to indemnify its directors and officers, provided that the person acted in good faith and in a manner the person reasonably believed to be in or not opposed to the corporation’s best interests, and, with respect to any criminal action, had no reasonable cause to believe the person’s actions were unlawful, and to purchase insurance with respect to liability arising out of their capacity or status as directors and officers. The DGCL further provides that the indemnification permitted thereunder shall not be deemed exclusive of any other rights to which the directors and officers may be entitled under the corporation’s bylaws, any agreement, a vote of stockholders or disinterested shareholders or otherwise.

The amended and restated certificate of incorporation of the Registrant generally provides for the indemnification of the Registrant’s directors to the fullest extent permitted under the DGCL. In addition, the amended and restated bylaws of the Registrant require, subject to certain limitations, the Registrant to fully indemnify any person who was or is a party or is threatened to be made a party to any threatened, pending or completed action, suit or proceeding (whether civil, criminal, administrative or investigative) by reason of the fact that such person is or was a director or officer of the Registrant, or is or was a director or officer of the Registrant serving at the Registrant’s request as a director, officer, employee or agent of another corporation, partnership, joint venture, trust or other enterprise, against expenses (including attorney’s fees), judgments, fines and amounts paid in settlement actually and reasonably incurred by such person in connection with such action, suit or proceeding, to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law.

Section 102(b)(7) of the DGCL permits a corporation to provide in its certificate of incorporation that a director or officer of the corporation shall not be personally liable to the corporation or its stockholders for monetary damages for breach of fiduciary duty as a director or officer, except (i) with respect to a director or officer, for any breach of the director’s or officer’s duty of loyalty to the corporation or its stockholders, (ii) with respect to a director or officer, for acts or omissions not in good faith or which involve intentional misconduct or a knowing violation of law, (iii) with respect to a director, for payments of unlawful dividends or unlawful stock repurchases or redemptions, (iv) with respect to a director or officer, for any transaction from which the director or officer derived an improper personal benefit or (v) with respect to an officer, in any action by or in the right of the corporation. The Registrant’s amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that the Registrant’s directors shall not be personally liable to it or its stockholders for monetary damages for breach of fiduciary duty as a director and that if the DGCL is amended to authorize corporate action further eliminating or limiting the personal liability of directors, then the liability of the Registrant’s directors shall be eliminated or limited to the fullest extent permitted by the DGCL, as so amended.

Section 174 of the DGCL provides, among other things, that a director who willfully or negligently approves an unlawful payment of dividends or an unlawful stock repurchase or redemption may be held liable, at any time within 6 years after paying the unlawful dividend or after the unlawful stock repurchase or redemption, to the full amount of the dividend unlawfully paid, or to the full amount unlawfully paid for the repurchase or redemption of the corporation’s stock, with interest from the time such liability accrued. A director who was either absent when the unlawful actions were approved, or dissented at the time, may avoid liability by causing his or her dissent to such actions to be entered in the books containing minutes of the proceedings of the board of directors at the time such action occurred or immediately after such absent director receives notice of the unlawful acts.

As permitted by the DGCL, the Registrant has entered, and intends to continue to enter, into separate indemnification agreements with each of the Registrant’s directors and executive officers that require the Registrant, among other things, to indemnify them against certain liabilities that may arise by reason of their status as directors or executive officers.

The Registrant expects to obtain and maintain insurance policies under which its directors and officers are insured, within the limits and subject to the limitations of those policies, against certain expenses in connection with the defense of, and certain liabilities that might be imposed as a result of, actions, suits or proceedings to which they are parties by reason of being or having been directors or officers. The coverage provided by these policies may apply whether or not the Registrant would have the power to indemnify such person against such liability under the provisions of the DGCL.

These indemnification provisions and the indemnification agreements entered into between the Registrant and the Registrant’s executive officers and directors may be sufficiently broad to permit indemnification of the Registrant’s executive officers and directors for liabilities (including reimbursement of expenses incurred) arising under the Securities Act.

Not applicable.

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(1)	Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 4.2 filed with the Registrant’s Registration Statement on Form S-1/A (Registration No. 333-250086), filed with the Commission on November 30, 2020.

(2)	Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.3 filed with the Registrant’s Registration Statement on Form S-1/A (Registration No. 333-250086), filed with the Commission on November 30, 2020.

(3)	Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.4 filed with the Registrant’s Registration Statement on Form S-1/A (Registration No. 333-250086), filed with the Commission on November 30, 2020.

SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, the registrant certifies that it has reasonable grounds to believe that it meets all of the requirements for filing on Form S-8 and has duly caused this Registration Statement to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized, in San Francisco, California, on the 17^th day of March 2023.

POWER OF ATTORNEY

KNOW ALL PERSONS BY THESE PRESENTS, that each person whose signature appears below constitutes and appoints Nima Farzan and Neha Krishnamohan, and each of them, as such individual’s true and lawful attorney in fact and agent with full power of substitution, for such individual in any and all capacities, to sign any and all amendments to this Registration Statement on Form S-8 (including post-effective amendments), and to file the same, with all exhibits thereto and other documents in connection therewith, with the Securities and Exchange Commission, granting unto said attorney in fact, proxy and agent full power and authority to do and perform each and every act and thing requisite and necessary to be done in connection therewith, as fully for all intents and purposes as he or she might or could do in person, hereby ratifying and confirming all that said attorney in fact, proxy and agent, or the individual’s substitute, may lawfully do or cause to be done by virtue hereof.

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, this Registration Statement on Form S-8 has been signed by the following persons in the capacities and on the dates indicated: