About Orna
Orna is a Healthcare company based in Cambridge (United States) founded in 2020 by Alexander Wesselhoeft, and was acquired by Lilly in February 2026. Technologies for producing circular RNA therapeutics are developed. Orna has raised $201 million across 2 funding rounds from investors including Lilly, Novartis and Merck. The company has 113 employees. Orna has completed 1 acquisition, including ReNAgade. Its chief executive, as recorded, is Tom Barnes. Orna offers products and services including oRNA, panCAR, and LNP Delivery. Its focus areas include Life Sciences, Genomics, Enabling Technologies and Technology Platforms. Its legal entity is ORNA THERAPEUTICS, INC. Its competitors include Dicerna Pharmaceuticals, Envisagenics and Arcturus Therapeutics; 3 of its 3 listed competitors have raised funding.
Company details
Orna was founded in 2020 in Cambridge, United States, within the biotechnology sector focused on RNA therapeutics. Purification methods, IRES technology for protein expression, and lipid nanoparticle formulations are developed by the company. RNA viruses and enzymes are utilized to enable production, delivery, and gene expression in the human body. Therapeutics targeting cancer, autoimmune diseases, regenerative medicine, and genetic disorders are being advanced.
- Headquarters Cambridge, United States
- Employees 113
- Founders Alexander Wesselhoeft
- Stage Acquired
- SectorsHealthcare
- Website category Health · Biotechnology and Pharmaceuticals
- Email••••••••
- Website ornatx.com
- Social LinkedIn X
- Acquired by Lilly (Feb 2026)
- Legal Name Orna Therapeutics, Inc.
Products & Services of Orna
Orna offers a comprehensive portfolio of products and services, including oRNA, panCAR, and LNP Delivery.
Engineered circular RNA for enhanced protein expression in disease treatment.
In vivo system for cancer cell therapy without preconditioning.
Lipid nanoparticles for targeted RNA delivery beyond the liver.
Funding Insights of Orna
Orna has successfully raised a total of $201M across 2 strategic funding rounds. The most recent funding activity was a Series B round of $121 million completed in August 2022. This substantial capital infusion reflects strong investor confidence in the company's business model, growth potential, and market opportunities. The funding enables strategic expansion, product development, market penetration, and operational scaling to drive long-term value creation and competitive advantage.
- Total Funding $201M
- Total Rounds 2
- Last Round Series B — $121M
- First Round $80M
(Feb 2021)
- Investors Count 10
All 2 funding rounds of Orna with amounts and investors; the two latest post-money valuations are shown, the rest are part of the premium plan.
| Date | Amount | Transaction Name | Valuation | Lead Investors | Investors |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 2022 | $121M | Series B | – | Merck | |
| Feb 2021 | $80M | Series A | – | MPM Capital, Taiho Ventures |
11 investors in total: 11 institutional.
Investors in Orna
Orna has secured backing from 11 investors, including institutional and venture fund investors. Prominent investors backing the company include Lilly, Novartis and Merck.
| Investor | Description | Founded Year | Domain | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| bioimpactcapital.com | ||||
Taiho Ventures is focused on investing in global biotech ventures. | 2016 | taihoventures.com | Menlo Park, United States | |
| f2-ventures.com | ||||
| astellasventure.com | ||||
Alternative investment firm | pag.com | |||
Invests in biotech firms developing life-saving drugs and technologies. | mpmcapital.com | |||
Merck is engaged in science and technology solutions globally. | 1668 | merckgroup.com | Darmstadt, Germany | |
Manufacturer of drugs for oncology, HIV/AIDS, cardiovascular disease, rheumatoid arthritis, and hepatitis | 1887 | bms.com | New York, United States | |
Cancer immunotherapy products are developed using genetic engineering. | 2009 | kitepharma.com | Los Angeles, United States | |
R&D focused on manufacturing of drugs for multiple therapeutic areas | 1996 | novartis.com | Basel, Switzerland |
Investor details for Orna
The complete investor list, round-by-round participation and investor portfolios require an active premium plan.
- Complete investor list
- Round participation
- Investor portfolios
- Co-investor network
Verified entity values are shown only after access is granted.
People of Orna
31 people are tracked at Orna (20 in leadership, 5 in board & advisors, 6 in team); the tracked headcount is 113.
| Name | Role | Group |
|---|---|---|
Alexander Wesselhoeft | Co-Founder | Leadership |
Tom Barnes | CEO | Leadership |
William Shen | Chief Business Officer | Leadership |
Ciaran Lawlor | Chief Strategy Officer / COO | Leadership |
Thomas M. Barnes | CEO | Leadership |
Liz Molano | Head Of People And Culture | Leadership |
Michael Dube | Head of Facilities & Operations | Leadership |
Darren Tong | Head of Information Technology | Leadership |
Bridget Doron | Associate Director, Facilities | Leadership |
Annie Weiss | Associate Director, Compensation, Benefits, And HR Operations | Leadership |
Harshal Zope | Head Of Process Development And Manufacturing Science And Technology | Leadership |
Yolanda Wan | Head Of Clinical Operations | Leadership |
Irving Allen | Head Of Information Technology | Leadership |
Siva Sakhamuri | Chief Technology Officer | Leadership |
Lulu Wang | Head of Intellectual Property | Leadership |
James Phelan | Senior Scientist, Nucleic Acid Process Sciences- Head Of Plasmid Production | Leadership |
Hope D'Oyley-Gay | Chief Legal Officer And Corporate Secretary | Leadership |
Vladimir Presnyak | Vp, Computational Sciences | Leadership |
Frank Neumann | Chief Medical Officer | Leadership |
Michael Schwartz | Head Of Quality Assurance | Leadership |
11 more people are available in the full profile.
Complete people profiles for Orna
Full employee and board profiles, team structure, tenure and professional contact details require an active premium plan.
- Full employee list
- Team structure
- Board tenure
- Professional contacts
Verified entity values are shown only after access is granted.
Investments & Acquisitions by Orna
Orna has strategically engaged in corporate development activities, having acquired 1 company. Notable acquisitions include ReNAgade.
| Company Name | Description | Domain | Location | Founded | Acquired | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
RNA-based medicines are developed for treating multiple diseases. | renagadetx.com | Cambridge, United States | 2021 | May 2024 | •••• |
Complete acquisition details for Orna
Acquired stakes, deal sources and the complete acquisition history require an active premium plan.
- Acquired stakes
- Deal sources
- Complete history
- Exports
Verified entity values are shown only after access is granted.
Competitors of Orna
Orna has 3 listed competitors in our database, 3 of them funded. They include Dicerna Pharmaceuticals, Envisagenics and Arcturus Therapeutics.
| Company Name | Domain | Founded | HQ Location | Total funding | Employees | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| dicerna.com | 2007 | Lexington, United States | $106.45M | 337 | Drugs are developed using RNA interference technology platform. | |
| envisagenics.com | 2014 | Long Island, United States | $46.78M | RNA splicing therapeutics are discovered and developed through AI-driven biotechnology. | ||
| arcturusrx.com | 2013 | San Diego, United States | $1.3M | 337 | RNAi technologies are developed for treating rare orphan diseases. |
Detailed competitors of Orna
The full competitor set, operating metrics and side-by-side benchmarks require an active premium plan.
- Full competitor set
- Operating metrics
- Benchmarks
- Competitive positioning
Verified entity values are shown only after access is granted.
Web traffic of Orna
The website of Orna (ornatx.com) receives about 4.4K visits a month and ranks #3,250,511 among all websites worldwide, #4,267 in Biotechnology and Pharmaceuticals.
- Monthly visits4.4K
▼ 18.6% vs previous month
- Unique visitors2.5K
per month
- Global rank#3,250,511
among all websites
- Category rank#4,267
Health · Biotechnology and Pharmaceuticals
- Bounce rate38%
- Pages per visit2.2
- Average visit29 sec
- DevicesDesktop 47% · Mobile 53%
Websites whose visitors overlap most with Orna. Affinity shows how closely the audiences match.
| Website | Domain | Audience affinity | Monthly visits | Global rank | Profile |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| cuebiopharma.com | 100% | 4.9K | #7,063,180 | View details | |
| sherlock.bio | 100% | 2.8K | #4,929,420 | View details | |
| dynotx.com | 97% | 14.4K | #2,089,404 | View details | |
| bioagilytix.com | 96% | 41.6K | #919,146 | View details | |
| lyndra.com | 95% | #9,629,878 | View details | ||
| •••••••••• | ••••••.com | ••% | •.•M | #••••• | – |
| •••••••••• | ••••••.com | ••% | •.•M | #••••• | – |
| •••••••••• | ••••••.com | ••% | •.•M | #••••• | – |
All 18 similar websites and full traffic analytics for Orna
The complete similar-websites list, audience overlap and engagement analytics require an active premium plan.
- 18 similar websites
- Audience overlap
- Engagement analytics
- Traffic by brand
Verified entity values are shown only after access is granted.
Top companies in Genomics & Gene Therapy Platforms
3 companies that operate in the same segment as Orna (Genomics & Gene Therapy Platforms) in United States, ranked by their profile score on The Company Check.
| Company | Description | Founded | Location | Total funding | Revenue | Employees |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
mRNA-based therapeutics for diseases including cancer and infections are developed. | 2010 | Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States | USD 2.78 B | USD 1.94 B | 5,800 | |
Digital sequencing technology for cancer detection is developed. | 2012 | Redwood City, California, United States | USD 557.5 M | USD 982.02 M | 4,867 | |
Circulating tumor DNA is screened for early cancer detection. | 2016 | Menlo Park, California, United States | USD 2 B | USD 147.17 M | 1,141 |
Unlock complete access to The Company Check
Get unrestricted viewing across everything we track — from companies and brands to investors, funding rounds, acquisitions, financials, and more.
- Unlimited viewing on all profiles Companies, investors, financials, funding, acquisitions & directors
- Full access to every database India & global coverage, advanced filters and rich profile details
- Always-on access from your team account Single premium plan for everything you see on the portal
Related news about Orna
Complete news archive for Orna
Full article history, source details, and older brand coverage require an active premium plan.
- Full article archive
- Source and publication date
- Older coverage
- Brand-specific news history
Verified entity values are shown only after access is granted.
Frequently Asked Questions about Orna
Orna was founded in 2020 and raised its 1st funding round 1 year after it was founded.
Orna is headquartered in Cambridge, United States. It is registered at Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States.
Tom Barnes is the CEO of Orna, as recorded in our data.
Orna is a funded company, having raised a total of $201M across 2 funding rounds to date. The company's 1st funding round was a Series A of $80M, raised on Feb 2021.
Orna has 113 employees.
Orna was founded in 2020 in Cambridge, United States, within the biotechnology sector focused on RNA therapeutics. Purification methods, IRES technology for protein expression, and lipid nanoparticle formulations are developed by the company. RNA viruses and enzymes are utilized to enable production, delivery, and gene expression in the human body. Therapeutics targeting cancer, autoimmune diseases, regenerative medicine, and genetic disorders are being advanced.
Orna's top competitors include Arcturus Therapeutics, Dicerna Pharmaceuticals and Envisagenics.
Orna offers oRNA, panCAR, and LNP Delivery.
Orna has made 1 acquisition, including ReNAgade.
Orna has 11 investors. Key investors include Lilly, Novartis, Merck, Kite Pharma, and Bristol-Myers Squibb.
Orna operates through Orna Therapeutics, Inc..
Yes. Orna was acquired by Lilly in February 2026.