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Stock-Based Compensation
6 Months Ended
Jun. 30, 2026
Share-Based Payment Arrangement [Abstract]  
Stock-Based Compensation

11. STOCK-BASED COMPENSATION

2024 Equity Incentive Plan

The Company’s 2024 Equity Incentive Plan, as amended (the “2024 Plan”), provided for the Company to sell or issue common stock or restricted common stock, and other awards as determined by the Board could be granted to employees, non-employees and directors of the Company. As of the effective date of the 2026 Equity Incentive Plan (the “2026 Plan”), and as of June 30, 2026, there were no shares remaining available for future issuance under the 2024 Plan. Any options or other awards outstanding under the 2024 Plan remain outstanding and effective. The remaining shares reserved for issuance under the 2024 Plan ceased to be available for issuance at the time that the 2026 Plan became effective.

Subsequent to the effectiveness of the 2026 Plan, the shares of common stock underlying any awards under the 2024 Plan that are forfeited, canceled, reacquired by the Company prior to vesting, satisfied without the issuance of stock or otherwise terminated (other than by exercise) and shares withheld upon exercise of an option or settlement of an award to cover the exercise price or tax withholding will be added to the shares of common stock available for issuance under the 2026 Plan.

 

2026 Equity Incentive Plans

In January 2026, the Board and the Company's stockholders adopted and approved the 2026 Plan, which became effective on the date that the registration statement on Form S-1 for the Company's IPO was declared effective by the SEC. The 2026 Plan initially reserved 6,020,000 shares of common stock for future issuances and is subject to automatic increases in the number of shares of common stock reserved for future issuances in accordance with the evergreen provisions in the 2026 Plan. The shares reserved for future issuance under the 2024 Plan ceased to be available for issuance at the time the 2026 Plan became effective. Any shares underlying outstanding stock awards granted under the 2024 Plan that subsequently expire or are repurchased, forfeited, cancelled, or withheld will return to the 2026 Plan and be reserved and available for issuance. On the effective date of the Company's registration statement, as previously disclosed, the Company granted 2,477,978 fully vested equity awards under the 2026 Plan to an executive officer and a director pursuant to provisions designed to maintain their aggregate ownership at 12.5%, and recognized $32.2 million of non-cash stock-based compensation expense related to these awards. These ownership maintenance provisions expired upon effectiveness of the registration statement, and no additional awards will be granted pursuant to them. In addition, the Company's IPO triggered the accelerated vesting of 687,816 equity awards held by an executive officer and a director that were originally granted under the 2024 Plan, resulting in the recognition of $2.1 million of non-cash stock-based compensation expense.

In April 2026, the Board and the Company's stockholders adopted and approved the 2026 Employee Stock Purchase Plan (the "2026 ESPP"), which became effective the date that the registration statement on Form S-1 for the Company's IPO was declared effective by the SEC. The 2026 ESPP initially reserved 510,000 shares of common stock for future issuance and is subject to automatic increases in the number of shares of common stock reserved for future issuances in accordance with the evergreen provisions in the 2026 ESPP. As of June 30, 2026, the Company has issued no shares under the 2026 ESPP.

The vesting periods for stock options issued under the plans generally vest over four years with a one-year cliff and equal monthly installments thereafter and may be subject to accelerated vesting. Performance-based options vest in three annual installments that are contingent upon the achievement of the Company’s annual goals.

Stock Option Activity

The following is a summary of the Company’s stock option award activity under the 2024 Plan and 2026 Plan during the six months ended June 30, 2026:

 

 

 

Number
of Stock
Options

 

 

Weighted-
Average
Exercise
Price

 

 

Weighted-
Average
Remaining
Contractual
Term (in years)

 

 

Aggregate
Intrinsic
Value
(in thousands)

 

Outstanding at December 31, 2025

 

 

8,569,619

 

 

$

4.60

 

 

 

8.67

 

 

$

28,669

 

Granted

 

 

4,211,692

 

 

 

16.05

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Exercised

 

 

(216,075

)

 

 

3.74

 

 

 

 

 

 

1,421

 

Forfeited

 

 

(331,437

)

 

 

5.10

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Expired

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Outstanding at June 30, 2026

 

 

12,233,799

 

 

$

8.55

 

 

 

8.60

 

 

$

161,146

 

Vested and expected to vest at June 30, 2026

 

 

12,233,799

 

 

$

8.55

 

 

 

8.60

 

 

$

161,146

 

Exercisable at June 30, 2026

 

 

8,576,419

 

 

$

8.44

 

 

 

8.47

 

 

$

113,853

 

The table above excludes 152,514 of the 228,770 performance-based options which have an exercise price of $7.39 per share, that were approved to be issued by the Company’s Board of Directors in December 2024, but have not yet been deemed granted from an accounting perspective as of June 30, 2026. During the six months ended June 30, 2026, 76,256 of these performance-based options were determined to be granted from an accounting perspective and the company recorded stock compensation expense of $0.6 million.

The Company utilized the Black-Scholes option-pricing model for estimating the fair value of the stock options issued under the plans on each grant date. The following table presents the ranges of assumptions used by the Company in the Black-Scholes option-pricing model during the six months ended June 30, 2026 and 2025:

 

 

June 30,

 

2026

 

2025

Expected term (in years)

5.00 - 6.11 years

 

5.19 - 6.08 years

Risk-free interest rate

3.59% - 4.08%

 

3.93% - 4.39%

Volatility

90.36% - 94.23%

 

89.40% - 91.63%

Dividend yield

0.00%

 

0.00%

The weighted-average grant date fair value of options granted during the six months ended June 30, 2026 and 2025 was $11.88 and $5.66 per share, respectively. The aggregate intrinsic value is calculated as the difference between the exercise price and the fair value of the Company’s common stock as of each period end or exercise date.

As of June 30, 2026, there was $24.6 million in unrecognized stock-based compensation expense associated with issued and outstanding service-based stock options, which is expected to be recognized over a weighted-average period of 2.6 years.

2024 Plan Restricted Stock Awards

The Company has granted restricted stock awards to certain members of the Company’s Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer. Of the total 1,990,001 restricted stock awards granted: (i) 796,000 have service-based vesting in equal monthly installments over a three-year period, of which 50% of the unvested amount was subject to accelerated vesting upon the close of the Series B Financing and 50% of any unvested amounts is subject to future acceleration upon the close of an initial public offering; and (ii) 1,194,001 have performance based vesting which vested in full upon the close of the Series B Financing. The company completed its IPO in May 2026, upon which all unvested restricted stock awards vested in full.

The following is a summary of the Company’s restricted stock award activity during the six months ended June 30, 2026:

 

 

 

Number
of Units

 

 

Weighted-
Average
Fair Value

 

Unvested at December 31, 2025

 

 

154,778

 

 

$

3.05

 

Vested

 

 

(154,778

)

 

 

3.05

 

Unvested at June 30, 2026

 

 

 

 

$

 

 

No restricted stock awards were granted during the six months ended June 30, 2026 and 2025. The total fair value of the restricted stock awards that vested during the six months ended June 30, 2026 and 2025 was $0.5 million and $0.1 million, respectively. The total stock-based compensation associated with the restricted stock awards was $0.1 million and $0.5 million during the three and six months ended June 30, 2026, respectively, and $0.1 million and $0.1 million during the three and six months ended June 30, 2025, respectively. As of June 30, 2026, there was no unrecognized stock-based compensation expense associated with issued and outstanding restricted stock awards.

Stock-Based Compensation Expense

The following table represents stock-based compensation expense recorded in the Company’s condensed consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive loss (in thousands):

 

 

Three Months Ended June 30,

 

 

Six Months Ended June 30,

 

 

2026

 

 

2025

 

 

2026

 

 

2025

 

Research and development

$

898

 

 

$

589

 

 

$

1,789

 

 

$

1,086

 

General and administrative

 

35,965

 

 

 

1,167

 

 

 

37,643

 

 

 

2,289

 

Stock-based compensation expense

$

36,863

 

 

$

1,756

 

 

$

39,432

 

 

$

3,375