As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on August 13, 2026

Registration No. 333-   

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM S-8

REGISTRATION STATEMENT

UNDER

THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933

FATE THERAPEUTICS, INC.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

FATE THERAPEUTICS, INC. THIRD AMENDED AND RESTATED 2022 STOCK OPTION AND INCENTIVE PLAN

(Full title of the plan)

Bahram Valamehr, Ph.D., MBA

President and Chief Executive Officer

Fate Therapeutics, Inc.

12278 Scripps Summit Drive

San Diego, CA 92131

(Name and address of agent for service)

(858) 875-1800

(Telephone number, including area code, of agent for service)

Copies to:

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. ☐

EXPLANATORY NOTE

On March 31, 2026, the Board of Directors of Fate Therapeutics, Inc. (the “Company”) adopted, subject to approval by stockholders, the Fate Therapeutics, Inc. Third Amended and Restated 2022 Stock Option and Incentive Plan (the “A&R 2022 Plan”), which the stockholders of the Company approved at the Company’s 2026 Annual Meeting of Stockholders held on June 12, 2026. The A&R 2022 Plan increased the number of shares of common stock, par value $0.001 per share, of the Company (“Common Stock”), authorized for issuance thereunder by 7,000,000 shares to a new total of 31,500,000 shares of Common Stock. The A&R 2022 Plan will otherwise continue in effect through its current term (June 2032), unless terminated earlier by the Company’s Board of Directors.

The Company is filing this registration statement on Form S-8 (this “Registration Statement”) solely for the purpose of registering the 7,000,000 additional shares of Common Stock authorized for issuance under the A&R 2022 Plan. Pursuant to Rule 416(a) under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), this Registration Statement also includes an indeterminate number of additional shares of Common Stock that may become issuable under the A&R 2022 Plan by reason of anti-dilution and other adjustments.

REGISTRATION OF ADDITIONAL SHARES PURSUANT TO GENERAL INSTRUCTION E

Pursuant to General Instruction E of Form S-8, the Company is filing this Registration Statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “Commission”) to register an additional 7,000,000 shares of its Common Stock under the A&R 2022 Plan. Such additional shares are of the same class as other securities for which a registration statement relating to the A&R 2022 Plan has previously been filed and is effective. Pursuant to General Instruction E of Form S-8 regarding Registration of Additional Securities, the contents of the Company’s Registration Statement on Form S-8 (File No. 333-265502), filed with the Commission on June 9, 2022, the Company’s Registration Statement on Form S-8 (File No. 333-280097), filed with the Commission on June 10, 2024, and the Company’s Registration Statement on Form S-8 (File No. 333-287765), filed with the Commission on June 4, 2025, are hereby incorporated by reference.

PART II

INFORMATION REQUIRED IN THE REGISTRATION STATEMENT

Item 8. Exhibits.

SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, 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 the City of San Diego, State of California, on this 13th day of August, 2026.

POWER OF ATTORNEY AND SIGNATURES

KNOW ALL BY THESE PRESENTS, that each person whose signature appears below hereby severally constitutes and appoints each of Bahram Valamehr, Ph.D., MBA, Kamal Adawi, M.S., MBA, and Cindy R. Tahl, and each of them singly, as such person’s true and lawful attorneys-in-fact and agents, with full power of substitution and resubstitution, for such person and in such person’s name, place and stead, in any and all capacities, to sign any or all amendments (including, without limitation, post-effective amendments) to this registration statement (or any registration statement for the same offering that is to be effective upon filing pursuant to Rule 462(b) under the Securities Act of 1933), and to file the same, with all exhibits thereto, and all documents in connection therewith, with the Securities and Exchange Commission, granting unto each said attorney-in-fact and agent full power and authority to do and perform each and every act and thing requisite and necessary to be done in and about the premises, as fully to all intents and purposes as such person might or could do in person, hereby ratifying and confirming all that any said attorney-in-fact and agent, or any substitute or substitutes of any of them, may lawfully do or cause to be done by virtue hereof.

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, this registration statement has been signed by the following persons in the capacities and on the dates indicated.

Exhibit 5.1

		Goodwin Procter LLP 525 Market Street Floor 32 San Francisco, CA 94105   goodwinlaw.com +1 415 733 6000

August 13, 2026

Fate Therapeutics, Inc.

12278 Scripps Summit Drive

San Diego, CA 92131

We have acted as your counsel in connection with your filing of a Registration Statement on Form S-8 (the “Registration Statement”) pursuant to the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), on or about the date hereof relating to an aggregate of 7,000,000 shares (the “Shares”) of Common Stock, par value $0.001 per share (“Common Stock”), of Fate Therapeutics, Inc., a Delaware corporation (the “Company”), that may be issued pursuant to the Company’s Third Amended and Restated 2022 Stock Option and Incentive Plan (the “Plan”).

We have reviewed such documents and made such examination of law as we have deemed appropriate to give the opinion set forth below. We have relied, without independent verification, on certificates of public officials and, as to matters of fact material to the opinion set forth below, on certificates of officers of the Company.

For purposes of the opinion set forth below, we have assumed that, at the time Shares are issued, the total number of then unissued Shares, when added to the number of shares of Common Stock issued, subscribed for, or otherwise committed to be issued, does not exceed the number of shares of Common Stock authorized by the Company’s certificate of incorporation.

The opinion set forth below is limited to the Delaware General Corporation Law.

Based on the foregoing, we are of the opinion that the Shares have been duly authorized and, when delivered against payment therefor in accordance with the terms of the Plan, will be validly issued, fully paid and nonassessable.

This opinion letter and the opinion it contains shall be interpreted in accordance with the Core Opinion Principles as published in 74 Business Lawyer 815 (Summer 2019).

Fate Therapeutics, Inc.

August 13, 2026

Page 2

We hereby consent to the inclusion of this opinion as Exhibit 5.1 to the Registration Statement. In giving our consent, we do not admit that we are in the category of persons whose consent is required under Section 7 of the Securities Act or the rules and regulations thereunder.

Exhibit 23.1

Consent of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

We consent to the incorporation by reference in the Registration Statement (Form S-8) pertaining to the Fate Therapeutics, Inc. Third Amended and Restated 2022 Stock Option and Incentive Plan of our report dated February 26, 2026, with respect to the consolidated financial statements of Fate Therapeutics, Inc. included in its Annual Report (Form 10-K) for the year ended December 31, 2025, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

San Diego, California

August 13, 2026