As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on January 10, 2023
Registration No. 333-
UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
FORM
REGISTRATION STATEMENT UNDER
THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)
Nevada | 7819 | 87-0645394 | ||
(State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization) | (Primary Standard Industrial Classification Code Number) | (I.R.S. Employer Identification Number) |
419 Lafayette Street
6th Floor
New York, NY 10003
(201) 258-3770
(Address, including zip code and telephone number, including area code, of registrant’s principal executive offices)
Jeremy Frommer
Chief Executive Officer
419 Lafayette Street, 6th Floor
New York, NY 10003
Telephone: (201) 258-3770
(Name, address, including zip code and telephone number, including area code, of agent for service)
Copies of all communications, including communications sent to agent for service, should be sent to:
Joseph M. Lucosky, Esq.
Scott E. Linsky, Esq.
Lucosky Brookman LLP
101 Wood Avenue South, 5th Floor
Iselin, NJ 08830
(732) 395-4400
Approximate date of commencement of proposed sale to the public:
As soon as practicable after the effective date of this registration statement.
If any of the securities being registered on this Form are to be offered on a delayed or continuous basis pursuant to Rule 415 under the Securities Act of 1933 check the following box. ☒
If this Form is filed to register additional securities for an offering pursuant to Rule 462(b) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering. ☐
If this Form is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to Rule 462(c) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering. ☐
If this Form is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to Rule 462(d) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering. ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, 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.
Large accelerated filer ☐ | Accelerated filer ☐ |
Non-accelerated filer ☒ | Smaller reporting company ☒ |
Emerging growth company ☐ |
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. ☐
The registrant hereby amends this registration statement on such date or dates as may be necessary to delay its effective date until the registrant shall file a further amendment which specifically states that this registration statement shall thereafter become effective in accordance with Section 8(a) of the Securities Act of 1933 or until this registration statement shall become effective on such date as the Securities and Exchange Commission, acting pursuant to said Section 8(a), may determine.
The information in this preliminary prospectus is not complete and may be changed. These securities may not be sold until the registration statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission is effective. This preliminary prospectus is not an offer to sell these securities and we are not soliciting an offer to buy these securities in any jurisdiction where the offer or sale is not permitted.
SUBJECT TO COMPLETION, DATED JANUARY 10, 2023
PRELIMINARY PROSPECTUS
11,056,636 Shares of Common Stock
This prospectus relates to the resale, from time to time, of up to 11,056,636 shares (the “Shares”) of our common stock, par value $0.001 per share (“Common Stock”), by the selling stockholders identified in this prospectus under “Selling Stockholders” (the “Offering”), comprised of:
(i) | up to 2,406,367 Shares, pursuant to securities purchase agreements the Company entered into and closed on with six (6) Selling Stockholders on July 25, 2022 (as amended, collectively, the “July Purchase Agreements”), which includes (a) up to 1,720,000 shares of Common Stock issuable upon conversion of debentures in the principal amount of $2,150,000 (the “Debentures”), (b) 1,075,000 shares of Common Stock issuable upon exercise of Series E Common Stock Purchase Warrants (the “Series E Warrants”), and (c) 1,075,000 Series F Common Stock Purchase Warrants (the “Series F Warrants,” and together with the Series E Warrants, the “July Warrants”), |
(ii) | up to 1,817,019 Shares, which underly warrants, issued pursuant to that certain letter agreement dated November 18, 2022 (the “Letter Agreement”), between the Company and the respective holders of an aggregate of 471,953 warrants described in the Prospectus (the “November Warrants”), exercisable immediately, for a term of 60 months, at a price of $0.77, subject to customary adjustment provisions; and |
(iii) | up to 4,333,250 Shares, pursuant to the securities purchase agreement the Company entered into and closed on October 24, 2022 with one accredited investor (the “October Investor”), whereby the October Investor purchased from the Company for an aggregate of $1,500,000 in subscription amount, an unsecured debenture in the principal amount of $1,666,650 (the “October Debenture”); | |
(iii) | up to 2,500,000 Shares, pursuant to the securities purchase agreement the Company entered into and closed on December 12, 2022 with the October Investor, whereby the October Investor purchased from the Company for an aggregate of $750,000 in subscription amount, an unsecured debenture in the principal amount of $750,000 (the “December Debenture”); |
We are not selling any shares of our Common Stock under this prospectus and will not receive any proceeds from the sale of the Shares. We will, however, receive proceeds from any warrants that are exercised through the payment of the exercise price in cash. The Selling Stockholders will bear all commissions and discounts, if any, attributable to the sale of the Shares. We will bear all costs, expenses and fees in connection with the registration of the Shares.
Our common stock is quoted on the OTCQB Marketplace operated by OTC Markets Group Inc. (“OTCQB”) under the symbol “CRTD.” On January 9, 2023, the last reported sale price of our common stock on OTCQB was $0.80 per share.
Investing in our securities involves risks. See “Risk Factors” beginning on page 12 of this prospectus. We and our board of directors are not making any recommendation regarding the exercise of your rights.
No securities may be sold without delivery of this prospectus and the applicable prospectus supplement describing the method and terms of the offering of such securities.
Neither the Securities and Exchange Commission nor any state securities commission has approved or disapproved of these securities or passed upon the accuracy or adequacy of this prospectus. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.
The date of this prospectus is January 10, 2023.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
i
Unless the context requires otherwise, references in this prospectus to “Creatd,” “our company,” “we,” “our” “us” and similar terms refer to Creatd, Inc., a Nevada corporation, and its subsidiaries, unless the context otherwise requires.
ii
PROSPECTUS SUMMARY
The following summary highlights selected information contained in this prospectus. Because the following is only a summary, it does not contain all of the information you should consider before investing in our securities. Before making an investment decision, you should carefully read all of the information contained in this prospectus, including the risks described under “Risk Factors” and our consolidated financial statements and the related notes from our 2021 Annual Report and most recent Form 10-Q, before making an investment decision.
Overview
Creatd, Inc. provides economic opportunities to creators and brands by multiplying the impact of platforms, technology, and people.
The Company has four main revenue lines, all directly related to its flagship technology platform, Vocal. The business lines complement one another, creating a flywheel effect. Working together, they provide shared data and resources to holistically leverage and organically grow the Company. Revenues are generated from creator subscriptions, consumer product sales, branded content, and IP development.
Creator-Centric Strategy
Creatd’s north star metric is to empower creators by providing best-in-class tools, supportive communities, and opportunities for monetization and audience expansion. This creator-first approach is the foundation of our culture and mission.
Creator Subscriptions
Creatd’s most scalable stream of revenues are derived from its flagship technology platform, Vocal.
Vocal was built to serve as a home base for creators. This robust, proprietary technology platform provides digital tools and resources, safe and curated communities, and monetization opportunities that enable creators to find a receptive audience and be rewarded for their content. Creators of all types call Vocal their home, from bloggers to social media influencers, to podcasters, founders, musicians, photographers, and more.
Since its initial launch in 2016, Vocal has grown to over 1.5 million registered creators and is one of the premier technology platforms for content creators of all shapes and sizes. Creators can opt to use Vocal for free, or upgrade to the premium membership tier, Vocal+. Upon joining Vocal, either as a freemium or premium member, creators can immediately begin to utilize Vocal’s storytelling tools to create and publish their stories, as well as benefit from Vocal’s monetization features. Creatd facilitates creators’ monetization on Vocal in many ways, including i) rewarding creators for each ‘read’ their story receives; ii) via Vocal Challenges, or writing contests through which creators can win cash and other rewards; iii) by awarding Bonuses; iv) by connecting creators with brands for opportunities to collaborate on Vocal for Brands branded content campaigns; v) through ‘Subscribe,’ which enables creators to receive payment directly from their audience via monthly subscriptions and one-off microtransactions; vi) via Vocal’s Ambassador Program, which enables creators to receive additional rewards whenever they refer a new Vocal+ member. The Vocal app is available for both iOS and Android on the Apple App store and the Google Play store.
Vocal’s proprietary technology is built on Keystone, the same underlying open-source framework used by industry leaders in the software as a service (SaaS) space. Some of the differentiating elements of Vocal’s technology are speed, sustainability, and scalability. The Company continues to invest heavily in research and development to continuously improve and innovate its platform, with the goal of optimizing the user experience for creators, brands and their audiences. Additionally, the Vocal platform and its underlying technology maintain an advantageous capital-light infrastructure. By using cloud service providers and data segment specialists, we are able to focus on building the platform, community, and revenue rather than building and maintaining the costly internal infrastructures that have materially affected so many legacy media platforms.
Vocal’s technology has been specifically designed to significantly scale without a material corresponding increase in operational costs. While our users can embed rich media, such as video, audio, and product links, into their Vocal stories, the rich media content is hosted elsewhere (such as YouTube, Instagram, Vimeo, Shopify, and Spotify). The Vocal platform can accommodate content of all kinds without bearing the financial or operational costs associated with hosting the media itself. Creatd maintains a number of partnerships and initiatives with the primary content distribution and hosting platforms. In addition to the benefits this framework affords to the Company, it provides the additional benefit to our content creators, in that a creator can increase their monetization; for example, a creator can embed their YouTube video into a Vocal story and thus derive earnings from both platforms when their video is viewed.
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Consumer Products Group
Creatd’s portfolio of internally owned and operated e-commerce businesses and associated technology and infrastructure make up the majority of the company’s second most scalable revenue line. The Company supports founders by providing a host of services including design and development, marketing and distribution, and go-to-market strategies. The Company expects to broaden its portfolio through the acquisition of up and coming brands that are aligned and easily consolidated into its shared supply chain, resources, and infrastructure.
This portfolio includes:
● | Camp, a direct-to-consumer (DTC) food brand which creates healthy upgrades to classic comfort food favorites. Each of Camp’s products are created with servings of vegetables and contain Vitamins A, C, D, E, B1 + B6. Since its launch in 2020, Camp continues to add new products to its line of healthy, veggie-based, family-friendly foods, with flavors including Classic Cheddar Mac ‘N’ Cheese, White Cheddar Mac ‘N’ Cheese, Vegan Cheezy Mac, and Twist Veggie Pasta. |
● | Dune Glow Remedy (“Dune”), which the Company purchased and brought to market in 2021, is a beverage brand focused on promoting wellness and beauty from within. Each beverage in Dune’s product line is meticulously crafted with functional ingredients that nourish skin from the inside out and enhance one’s natural glow. During 2022, Dune has continued to advance its retail and wholesale distribution strategy, securing numerous partnerships including with lifestyle retailer Urban Outfitters, Equinox, and the Los Angeles-based Erewhon Market. |
● | Basis, a hydrating electrolyte drink mix formulated using rehydration therapies developed by the World Health Organization. Acquired by the Company in first quarter 2022, Basis has a history of strong sales volume both on the brand’s website as well as through third-party distribution channels such as Amazon. |
● | Brave, a plant-based food company that provides convenient and healthy breakfast food products. On September 13, 2022, the Company acquired 100% of the membership interests of Brave Foods, LLC, a Maine limited liability company (“Brave”). What started as a search for a better morning routine evolved into a business serving thousands of go-getters of every type. |
Branded Content
The branded content revenue line is driven primarily by its Vocal for Brands offering, the Company’s internal content studio. The business line works with premier brands developing best-in-class organic marketing campaigns. In addition to content creation, the Company generates revenues from its influencer and performance marketing agency opportunities.
Brands have a story to tell. They leverage Vocal’s creator communities to help them tell it. Vocal for Brands’ content marketing studio specializes in pairing leading brands with Vocal creators, as well as discovering new talent and introducing them to the Vocal platform. The branded content business produces marketing campaigns on the platform that are non-interruptive, engaging, and direct-response driven. Additionally, brands can opt to collaborate with Vocal on sponsored Challenges, prompting the creation of thousands of high-quality stories that are centered around the brand’s mission and further disseminated through creators’ respective social channels and promotional outlets. Vocal for Brands campaigns leverage Vocal’s first-party audience insights, which enables the creation of highly targeted, segmented audiences and optimized campaign results.
IP Development and Production
Creatd’s fourth revenue stream is driven by partnering with its top creators to produce stories for TV, film, podcasts, and print. The Vocal platform is perpetually generating intellectual property sourced and curated by a combination of human let moderation and machine learning models. With millions of compelling stories in its midst, Creatd’s Vocal technology surfaces the best candidates for transmedia adaptations, through a deep analysis of community, creator, and audience insights.
In 2022, Creatd announced a series of newly released and upcoming production projects, including:
● | “Write Here, Write Now,” the Company’s first-ever podcast showcasing select Vocal creators and stories; a partnership with UK-based publisher, Unbound, for the publication of books featuring stories sourced from Vocal; the formation of a new graphic novel development arm which in Fall 2022 will release its first title, Steam Wars, created by artist and independent filmmaker Larry Blamire. |
● | OG Gallery: The OG Collection is an extensive library of original artwork and imagery from the archives of some of the most iconic magazines of the 20th century. OG Gallery is an exploratory initiative aimed at identifying opportunities to propel the OG Collection into a new technological sphere: the NFT marketplace. |
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Application of First-Party Data
Creatd’s shared business intelligence and marketing teams identify and target individual creators, communities, and brands, utilizing empirical data harnessed from the Vocal technology platform. The team’s ability to apply its proprietary first-party data works to reduce acquisition costs for new creators and to help provide brands with conversions and an ideal targeted audience. In this way, our ability to apply first-party data is one of the value-drivers for the Company across its four business pillars. The internal teams work across the Company’s portfolio of technology product and service revenue lines.
Creatd uses its first party data to improve the Vocal platform. Specifically, data helps understand the behaviors and attributes that are common among the creators, brands, and audiences within the platform’s ecosystem. Pairing first-party Vocal data with third-party data from distribution platforms such as Instagram, Tiktok, Twitter, and Snapchat provide a more granular profile of creators, brands, and audiences. It is through generating this valuable first-party data that the Company can continually enrich and refine its targeting capabilities for branded content marketing and creator acquisition, and specifically, to reduce creator acquisition costs (CAC) and subscriber acquisition costs (SAC).
Competitive Advantage
The idea for Vocal came as a response to what Creatd’s founders recognized as systemic flaws inherent to the digital media industry and its operational infrastructures. The depreciating value of digital media business models built on legacy technology platforms that did not efficiently access and apply data, created a unique opportunity for the development of a new type of creator-centric platform. Key to building a platform that could appeal to a global community was utilizing that data to create a win-win proposition for all constituents including creators, audiences and the brands that want to access them. The proprietary nature of Creatd’s technology and its process give the company a competitive advantage in acquiring undervalued technology assets that can be rapidly assimilated into the greater collective, thus exponentially driving future EBITDA.
Creatd’s founders built the Vocal platform upon the general thesis that a closed and safe ecosystem utilizing first-party data to increase efficiencies could create a sustainable and defensible business model. Vocal was strategically developed to provide value for content creators, readers, and brands, and to serve as a home for the ever-increasing amount of digital content being produced and the libraries of digital assets lying dormant.
Acquisition Strategy
Creatd’s hybrid finance and design culture is key to its acquisition strategy. Acquisition targets are companies that meet a set of opportunistic or financial standards or that are part of specific digital environments. Transactions are mainly accretive and targets can seamlessly integrate into Creatd’s existing revenue lines. Creatd will continue to make strategic acquisitions when presented with opportunities that are in the interest of long term shareholder value.
Recent Developments
December 2022 Securities Purchase Agreement
On December 12, 2022, the Company entered into and closed a securities purchase agreement (the “Purchase Agreement”) with one accredited investor (the “Investor”), whereby the Investor purchased from the Company for an aggregate of $750,000 in subscription amount, an unsecured debenture in the principal amount of $750,000 (the “Debenture”). The Company and the Investor also entered into a registration rights agreement pursuant to the Purchase Agreement.
The Debenture has a term of six months with a maturity date of June 12, 2023, which may be extended by six months at the Company’s option subject to certain conditions and monthly redemption options at the election of the holder and are convertible into shares of Common Stock at a conversion price of $0.20 per share, subject to adjustment upon certain events.
November 2022 Warrant Amendment and Issuance
On November 18, 2022, the Company entered into that certain letter agreement dated November 18, 2022 (the “Letter Agreement”) with the respective holders of an aggregate of 471,953 warrants issued as placement agent fees in connection with the Company’s entry into securities purchase agreements with 33 accredited investors, whereby, at the closing, the Investors agreed to purchase from the Company an aggregate of (i) 7,778 shares of the Company’s Series E Convertible Preferred Stock, par value $0.001 per share (the “Series E Preferred Stock”); and (ii) 2,831,721 warrants to purchase shares of the Company’s common stock, pursuant to which the exercise price of such warrants was amended and such warrants were immediately exercised. Additionally, pursuant to the Letter Agreement, the Company issued to such warrant holders 471,953 new warrants, exercisable immediately, for a term of 60 months, at a price of $0.77 per share, subject to customary adjustment provisions. As a result of the triggering of such adjustment provisions, the number of warrants increased to 1,817,019 and the exercise price decreased to $0.20.
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Appointment of Erica Wagner to Board; Resignation of Joanna Bloor
On November 16, 2022, Erica Wagner was appointed to the Company’s Board of Directors. Ms. Wagner, age 55, joins the Board with over 25 years of experience as a journalist, broadcaster, editor and author. From 2016 through 2021, Ms. Wagner was a Lecturer, and later Senior Lecturer, at Goldsmith’s College, University of London, where she taught creative writing. Ms. Wagner was previously Lead Editorial Innovator for Creatd, Inc., has previously and currently held roles as a freelance editor, journalist, and contributing writer for numerous outlets both in the U.K. and the U.S., including The New Statesman, Harper’s Bazaar, the Economist, the Observer, the New York Times. Ms. Wagner is also a freelance literary and creative consultant for Chanel, as well as the host of their branded podcast. She has twice been a judge of the Booker Prize and has been judge and Chair of the Goldsmiths Prize. In 2015, Ms. Wagner was awarded an Honorary PhD by the University of East Anglia, and currently Goldsmith’s College Distinguished Writers’ Centre Fellow. She has an undergraduate degree from University of Cambridge, a Master’s degree from University of East Anglia, and an Honorary PhD from the University of East Anglia. As a member of Creatd’s board of directors, Ms. Wagner will add significant expertise with respect to informing the Company’s literary and creative direction, having worked closely with news organizations, commercial companies and publishers, to advise their creative direction and its application towards commercial success.
On November 17, 2022, the Board received notice from Joanna Bloor of her resignation as a director and from all committees of the Board on which she served, effective as of such date. Such resignation is not the result of any disagreement with the Company on any matter relating to the Company’s operations, policies or practices.
Appointment of Peter Majar to the Board; Resignation of Lorraine Hendrickson
On November 2, 2022, the Board appointed Peter Majar to the Board. Mr. Majar, age 55, Founder and Managing Member of Majar Advisors, combines over 25 years of experience in investment banking, financial services and technology, and management consulting, having held numerous senior management and executive positions including Chief Financial Officer, Head of Financial Technology, Head of Strategy, as well as several Managing Director positions. From 2015 to 2017, Mr. Majar served as Managing Director in Investment Banking and co-Head of Diversified Financial Services at Piper Jaffray & Co. (now Piper Sandler Companies). From 2017 to 2018, Mr. Majar provided management consulting services through his self-established firm, Majar Advisors LLC, which remains in operation through the present. From 2018 to 2021, Mr. Majar served as Managing Director, Head of Financial Technology at New York-based investment banking and financial advisory firm, TAP Advisors, LLC. Between 2021 and 2022, Mr. Majar served as Chief Financial Officer at information technology company Hoyos Integrity Corp., having previously served as a longtime advisor to the firm. Mr. Majar holds an undergraduate degree from University of Washington and an MBA from Columbia University. As a board director, Mr. Majar will add considerable value, including through his comprehensive and diverse investment management experience, deep knowledge of financial technology services and transactions, and broad experience with corporate development, strategy consulting, and executive leadership.
On November 1, 2022, the Board received notice from Lorraine Hendrickson of her resignation as a director and from all committees of the Board on which she served, effective as of such date. Ms. Hendrickson’s resignation as a member of the Board is not the result of any disagreement with the Company on any matter relating to the Company’s operations, policies or practices.
Nasdaq Delisting
On September 2, 2022, the Company received a letter from the staff of The Nasdaq Capital Market notifying the Company that the Nasdaq Hearings Panel has determined to delist the Company’s common stock from the Exchange, based on the Company’s failure to comply with the listing requirements of Nasdaq Rule 5550(b)(1) as a result of the Company’s shareholder equity deficit for the period ended June 30, 2022, as demonstrated in Company’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed on August 15, 2022, following the Company having not complied with the market value of listed securities requirement in Nasdaq Rule 5550(b)(2) on March 1, 2022, while the Company was under a Panel Monitor, as had been previously disclosed. Suspension of trading in the Company’s shares on the Exchange became effective at the opening of business on September 7, 2022, at which time the Company’s common stock, under the symbol “CRTD,” and publicly-traded warrants, under the symbol “CRTDW,” was quoted on the OTCPink marketplace operated by OTC Markets Group Inc.
Following passage of the proscribed 15-day time period for appeal as stated in the Letter, on October 26, 2022, Nasdaq completed the delisting by filing a Form 25 Notification of Delisting with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The Company’s common stock, under the symbol “CRTD,” is quoted on the OTCQB marketplace operated by OTC Markets Group Inc. effective as of September 26, 2022. The Company’s publicly-traded warrants, under the symbol “CRTDW,” are quoted on the OTCPink marketplace operated by OTC Markets Group Inc.
Securities Purchase Agreement; Side Letter
On October 24, 2022, the Company entered into and closed a securities purchase agreement (the “Purchase Agreement”) with one accredited investor (the “Investor”), whereby the Investor purchased from the Company for an aggregate of $1,500,000 in subscription amount, an unsecured debenture in the principal amount of $1,666,650 (the “Debenture”). The Company and the Investor also entered into a registration rights agreement (each, a “Registration Rights Agreement”) pursuant to the Purchase Agreement.
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The Debenture has an original issue discount of 10%, has a term of six months with a maturity date of April 24, 2023, may be extended by six months at the Company’s option subject to certain conditions, and are convertible into shares of Common Stock at a conversion price of $0.20 per share, subject to adjustment upon certain events.
In connection with its entry into the Purchase Agreement and issuance of the Debenture, the Company also entered into a side letter agreement (the “Letter Agreement”) with the holders of debentures of the Company, the Series C Warrants and Series D Warrants issued as of May 31, 2022 (the “May Investors”) and the holders of debentures of the Company, the Series E Warrants and Series F Warrants issued as of July 25, 2022 (the “July Investors”). Pursuant to the Letter Agreement each of the May Investors and the July Investors have entered into a lock-up agreement whereby they may not sell any such debentures, warrants, the shares into which such debentures may be converted, or certain shares underlying such warrants until the date that is 30 days after the date on which the registration statement registering for resale the shares of the Company’s common stock underlying the Debenture is declared effective by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Additionally, the Letter Agreement, provides that the May Investors and July Investors have agreed to a further lock up of such shares for a further 30 days upon the receipt of a certain amount of the proceeds from future potential issuances of debentures, common stock or similar securities by the Company. Further additionally, pursuant to the Letter Agreement, the May Investors and the July Investors have agreed to exchange and return for cancellation the Series C Warrants, Series D Warrants, Series E Warrants and Series F Warrants, receiving replacement warrants from the Company (the “Replacement Warrants”), in consideration for (i) the Company’s payment of $750,000 of the proceeds from the sale of the Debenture to the May Investors and July Investors on a pro rata basis and (ii) the Company’s agreement to pay, on a pro rata basis to the May Investors and July Investors, the greater of (x) $750,000 and (y) 50% of the gross proceeds raised in a subsequent financing. The Replacement Warrants reflect a reduction in the number of Series C and Series D Warrants from 1,550,000 in each class to 1,536,607 in each class and a reduction in the number of Series E and Series F Warrants from 1,075,000 in each class to 807,143 in each class, and the initial exercise date for the Replacement Warrants are unchanged from the date as set forth in the respective exchanged Series C, Series D, Series E or Series F Warrant.
Common Stock Purchase Agreement, Securities Purchase Agreement and Promissory Note
On October 20, 2022, the Company entered into a Common Stock Purchase Agreement (the “Investment Agreement”) with an otherwise unaffiliated third party (the “Investor”). Pursuant to the terms of the Investment Agreement, for a period of thirty-six (36) months commencing on the trading day immediately following date of effectiveness of the Registration Statement (as defined below), the Investor purchase up to $15,000,000 of the Company’s common stock, par value $0.001 per share (the “Shares”), pursuant to Drawdown Notices (as defined below), covering the Registrable Securities (as defined below). The purchase price of the Shares under the Investment Agreement is equal to 82% of the lowest volume weighted average price (VWAP) during the last ten trading days after the Company delivers to the Investor a Put notice (a “Drawdown Notice”) in writing requiring Investor to purchase shares of the Company, subject to the terms of the Investment Agreement.
On October 20, 2022, the Company also entered into a Securities Purchase Agreement (the “Purchase Agreement”) with the Investor, pursuant to which the Company issued to the Investor on that date a Promissory Note (the “Note”) in the principal amount of $300,000 in exchange for a purchase price of $255,000, which the Investor funded on October 20,2022. The proceeds of the Note will be used by the Company for general working capital purposes.
The Note bears interest at the rate of 10% per annum. Starting on the fifth month anniversary of the funding of the Note, and for the next six months thereafter, the Company will make seven equal monthly payments of $47,142.85 to the Investor.
On October 20, 2022, in connection with the entry by the Company and the Investor into the economic agreements, (i.e., the Investment Agreement, the Purchase Agreement, and the Note and the funding thereof), the Company issued 800,000 shares of its common stock to the Investor.
Securities Purchase Agreement
On September 15, 2022, Creatd, Inc., entered into a securities purchase agreement (the “Purchase Agreement”) with five accredited investors resulting in the raise of $800,000 in gross proceeds to the Company. Pursuant to the terms of the Purchase Agreement, the Company agreed to sell in a registered direct offering (the “Offering”) an aggregate of 4,000,000 shares of the Company’s common stock, par value $0.001 per share (the “Common Stock”). In a concurrent private placement, the Company issued to such investors warrants to purchase up to 4,000,000 shares of Common Stock, representing 100% of the shares of common stock purchased in the Offering (the “Warrants”). The Warrants and the shares of common stock issuable upon the exercise of the Warrants (the “Warrant Shares”) are not being registered under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended.
The Offering is expected to close on or about September 19, 2022, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions as set forth in the Purchase Agreement. The Company expects the gross proceeds from the Offering to be $800,000, before deducting Offering expenses, which will be used for general corporate purposes, including working capital.
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The shares of Common Stock were offered and sold by the Company pursuant to a prospectus supplement, which will be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission in connection with a takedown from the Company’s effective shelf registration statement on Form S-3, which was filed with the Commission on November 25, 2020 and subsequently declared effective on April 23, 2021 (File No. 333-250982) (the “Shelf Registration Statement”).
The Warrants are immediately exercisable for a term of five years until September 15, 2027. The Warrants are exercisable at an exercise price of $0.20, subject to adjustment upon certain events. The Warrants provide for cashless exercise to the extent that there is no registration statement available for the underlying shares of Common Stock. The shares underlying the Warrants are to be registered within 10 trading days of the date of the Purchase Agreement.
The representations and warranties contained in the Purchase Agreement were made by the parties to, and solely for the benefit of, the other in the context of all of the terms and conditions of the Purchase Agreement and in the context of the specific relationship between the parties. The provisions of the Purchase Agreement, including the representations and warranties contained therein, are not for the benefit of any party other than the parties to the Purchase Agreement. The Purchase Agreement is not intended for investors and the public to obtain factual information about the current state of affairs of the parties.
Restructuring Agreement
On September 15, 2022, in connection with the Offering, the Company entered into an agreement with the holders of certain of the Company’s previously issued securities (the “Restructuring Agreement”).
The Restructuring Agreement, among other things, modified certain provisions of the following securities of the Company:
(i) | Original Issue Discount Senior Convertible Debentures issued on May 31, 2022 (the “May 2022 Debentures”); |
(ii) | Original Issue Discount Senior Convertible Debentures issued on July 25, 2022 (the “July 2022 Debentures” and, together with the May 2022 Debentures, the “Debentures”); |
(iii) | Common Stock Purchase Warrants issued on February 28, 2022 (the “February 2022 Warrants”); |
(iv) | Common Stock Purchase Warrants issued on March 9, 2022 (the “March 2022 Warrants”); |
(v) | Series C Common Stock Purchase Warrants issued on May 31, 2022 (the “Series C Warrants”); |
(vi) | Series D Common Stock Purchase Warrants issued on May 31, 2022 (the “Series D Warrants”); |
(vii) | Series E Common Stock Purchase Warrants issued on July 25, 2022 (the “Series E Warrants”); |
(viii) | Series F Common Stock Purchase Warrants issued on July 25, 2022 (the “Series F Warrants” and, together with the February 2022 Warrants, the March 2022 Warrants, Series C Warrants, Series D Warrants and Series E Warrants, the “Restructured Warrants”); |
Pursuant to the Restructuring Agreement, the Company and the Holders agreed to, among other things, to (i) reduce the conversion price of the Debentures down to $0.20, subject to adjustment for reverse and forward stock splits, stock dividends, stock combinations and other similar transactions of the Common Stock; (ii) reduce the exercise price of the Restructured Warrants down to $0.20, subject to adjustment for subject to adjustment for reverse and forward stock splits, stock dividends, stock combinations and other similar transactions of the Common Stock; (iii) extend the maturity dates for the Debentures to March 31, 2023; (iv) permit the Company’s contemplated rights offering to proceed, provided that the per share offering price in the rights offering is not less than $0.20; and (v) require that the Company’s cash burn rate not exceed $600,000 per month; provided, however, that with the prior written consent of a majority in interest of the Holders, such permitted monthly burn rate can be increased by $150,000, provided such additional amount is used for marketing purposes.
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Additionally, in connection with the Restructuring Agreement, (i) the Company entered into a Registration Rights Agreement (“Registration Rights Agreement”), providing for the filing of a registration statement covering the Restructured Warrants and shares underlying the Warrants by not later than 10 trading days after the date of the Registration Rights Agreement or the earliest practical date on which the Company is permitted by Commission guidance to file such registration statement; (ii) the Company and its subsidiaries entered into a Security Agreement (the “Security Agreement”), whereby the Company granted a first priority security interest in all of their respective assets to the Holders and (iii) the subsidiaries of the Company delivered a guarantee (the “Guarantee”) in favor of the Holders whereby each such subsidiary guaranteed the full payment and performance of all obligations of the Company pursuant to the Debentures.
Each of our directors and officers have entered into lock-up agreements (the “Lock-up Agreements”) in favor of the Holders, whereby they have agreed not to offer, sell, agree to sell, directly or indirectly, or otherwise dispose of any shares of Common Stock or any securities convertible into or exchangeable for shares of Common Stock without the prior written consent of the Holders for a period of 180 days after the date of the Restructuring Agreement. The Lock-up Agreements provide limited exceptions and their restrictions may be waived at any time by the Holders.
Resignation of Brad Justus
On September 21, 2022, the Board of Directors of Creatd, Inc. received notice from Brad Justus of his resignation as a member of the Board, chair of the Nominating & Corporate Governance Committee, a member of the Audit Committee and a member of the Compensation Committee, with such resignation to become effective on September 30, 2022. Such resignation is not the result of any disagreement with the Company on any matter relating to the Company’s operations, policies or practices.
Resignation of Chief Executive Officer and Director
On August 9, 2022, Laurie Weisberg, the Company’s Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board, notified the Company of her intention to resign from the positions of Chief Executive Officer, director, and any other positions held with the Company or any of its subsidiaries, regardless of whether Ms. Weisberg had been appointed. Such resignations are to become effective on a date to be determined following further discussion with the Board, but in no event later than August 31, 2022. On September 2, 2022, the Company entered into an Executive Separation Agreement with Laurie Weisberg the Company’s Chief Executive Officer and member of the Board of Directors setting forth the terms and conditions related to the Executive’s resignation for good reason as Chief Executive Officer, Director and any other positions held with the Company or any subsidiary.
Appointment of Director
Effective upon Ms. Weisberg’s resignation as a director, Justin Maury, currently the Company’s President and Chief Operating Officer, will be appointed to the Board, pursuant to the Board’s approval.
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Justin Maury
Mr. Maury has served as our President since January 2019 and was appointed Chief Operating Officer in August 2021. A full-stack designer and product developer by training, Mr. Maury partnered with Jeremy Frommer and founded the Company in 2013, having brought with him 10 years of experience in the creative industry. Since joining Creatd in 2013, Mr. Maury has been an instrumental force in the Company’s business and revenue expansion, and has overseen the Company’s product development since inception, including overseeing the design, development, launch, and ongoing growth of the Company’s flagship product, Vocal, the innovative creator that, under Mr. Maury’s leadership, has grown to a community of over 1.5 million users with a total audience reach of over 175 million.
As a director, we believe Mr. Maury will add considerable value, including through by providing a unique perspective into Creatd’s product performance and evolution and by providing invaluable direct input to help guide the Company’s ongoing refinement of its technology roadmap and maturation of its business model.
Trigger of Price Reset
On July 29, 2022, the Company announced that it was not moving forward with its previously announced Rights Offering. In doing so, it triggered a price reset in the July 2022 Financing and the May 2022 Securities Purchase Agreement. As a result of this price reset, the May 2022 Securities Purchase Agreement debentures now have a conversion price of $1.00, and both the Series C and Series D warrants have exercise prices of $0.96. As a result of the price reset, the July 2022 Financing debentures now have a conversion price of $1.25, and both the Series E and Series F warrants have exercise prices of $1.01.
July 2022 Financing
On July 25, 2022 (the “Effective Date”), the Company entered into and closed securities purchase agreements (each, a “Purchase Agreement”) with five accredited investors (the “Investors”), whereby the Investors purchased from the Company for an aggregate of $1,935,019 in subscription amount (i) debentures in the principal amount of $2,150,000 (the “Debentures”); (ii) 1,075,000 Series E Common Stock Purchase Warrants to purchase shares of the Common Stock (the “Series E Warrants”); and (iii) 1,075,000 Series F Common Stock Purchase Warrants to purchase shares of Common Stock (the “Series F Warrants”, and collectively with the Series E Warrants, the “Warrants”). The Company and the Investors also entered into registration rights agreements (each, a “Registration Rights Agreement”) pursuant to the Purchase Agreement.
The Debentures have an original issue discount of 10%, have a maturity date of November 30, 2022, may be extended by six months at the Company’s option subject to certain conditions, and are convertible into shares of Common Stock at a conversion price of $2.00 per share, subject to adjustment upon certain events including a one-time adjustment to the price of the Common Stock offered in the Rights Offering (as defined therein), with such adjusted conversion price not to be lower than $1.25.
The Warrants are immediately exercisable for a term of five years until July 25, 2027. The Series E Warrants are exercisable at an exercise price of $3.00, subject to adjustment upon certain events including a one-time adjustment to the price of the Common Stock offered in the Rights Offering, with such adjusted exercise price not to be lower than $1.01. The Series F Warrants are exercisable at an exercise price of $6.00 subject to adjustment upon certain events including a one-time adjustment to the price of the Common Stock offered in the Rights Offering, with such adjusted exercise price not to be lower than $1.01. The Warrants provide for cashless exercise to the extent that there is no registration statement available for the underlying shares of Common Stock. The shares underlying the Debentures, the Series E Warrants and the Series F Warrants are to be registered within 90 days of the Effective Date.
The representations and warranties contained in the Purchase Agreement were made by the parties to, and solely for the benefit of, the other in the context of all of the terms and conditions of the Purchase Agreement and in the context of the specific relationship between the parties. The provisions of the Purchase Agreement, including the representations and warranties contained therein, are not for the benefit of any party other than the parties to the Purchase Agreement. The Purchase Agreement is not intended for investors and the public to obtain factual information about the current state of affairs of the parties.
Additionally, in connection with the Purchase Agreements, the subsidiaries of the Company delivered a guarantee (the “Guarantee”) in favor of the Investors whereby each such subsidiary guaranteed the full payment and performance of all obligations of the Company pursuant to the Purchase Agreement.
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May 2022 Securities Purchase Agreement
On May 31, 2022, the Company entered into and closed securities purchase agreements (each, a “Purchase Agreement”) with eight accredited investors (the “Investors”), whereby the Investors purchased from the Company for an aggregate of $3,600,036 in subscription amount (i) debentures in the principal amount of $4,000,000 (the “Debentures”); (ii) 2,000,000 Series C Common Stock Purchase Warrants to purchase shares of the Company’s common stock, par value $0.001 per share (the “Common Stock”) (the “Series C Warrants”); and (iii) 2,000,000 Series D Common Stock Purchase Warrants to purchase shares of Common Stock (the “Series D Warrants”, and collectively with the Series C Warrants, the “Warrants”). The Company and the Investors also entered into registration rights agreements (each, a “Registration Rights Agreement”) pursuant to the Purchase Agreement.
The Debentures have an original issue discount of 10%, have a term of six months with a maturity date of November 30, 2022, may be extended by six months at the Company’s option subject to certain conditions, and are convertible into shares of Common Stock at a conversion price of $2.00 per share, subject to adjustment upon certain events including a one-time adjustment to the price of the Common Stock offered in the Rights Offering (as defined therein), with such adjusted conversion price not to be lower than $1.00.
The Warrants are exercisable for a term of five years from the initial exercise date of November 30, 2022, until November 30, 2027. The Series C Warrants are exercisable at an exercise price of $3.00, subject to adjustment upon certain events including a one-time adjustment to the price of the Common Stock offered in the Rights Offering, with such adjusted exercise price not to be lower than $0.96. The Series D Warrants are exercisable at an exercise price of $6.00 subject to adjustment upon certain events including a one-time adjustment to the price of the Common Stock offered in the Rights Offering, with such adjusted exercise price not to be lower than $0.96. The Warrants provide for cashless exercise to the extent that there is no registration statement available for the underlying shares of Common Stock. The shares underlying the Debentures, the Series C Warrants and the Series D Warrants are to be registered within 90 days of the Effective Date.
Additionally, in connection with the Purchase Agreements, the subsidiaries of the Company delivered a guarantee (the “Guarantee”) in favor of the Investors whereby each such subsidiary guaranteed the full payment and performance of all obligations of the Company pursuant to the Purchase Agreement.
The Debentures, Warrants, Common Stock underlying the Debentures and the Common Stock underlying the Warrants were not registered under the Securities Act, but qualified for exemption under Section 4(a)(2) and Rule 506 promulgated thereunder. The Company is relying on this exemption from registration for private placements based in part on the representations made by Investors, including representations with respect to each Investor’s status as an accredited investor, as such term is defined in Rule 501(a) of the Securities Act, and each Investor’s investment intent.
Our Corporate History
Creatd, Inc., formerly Jerrick Media Holdings, Inc. (“we,” “us,” the “Company,” or “Creatd”), is a technology company focused on the development of digital communities, marketing branded digital content, and e-commerce opportunities. Creatd’s content distribution platform, Vocal, delivers a robust long-form, digital publishing platform organized into highly engaged niche-communities capable of hosting all forms of rich media content. Through Creatd’s proprietary algorithm dynamics, Vocal enhances the visibility of content and maximizes viewership, providing advertisers access to target markets that most closely match their interests.
The Company was originally incorporated under the laws of the State of Nevada on December 30, 1999 under the name LILM, Inc. The Company changed its name on December 3, 2013 to Great Plains Holdings, Inc. (“GTPH”) as part of its plan to diversify its business.
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On February 5, 2016 (the “Closing Date”), GTPH, GPH Merger Sub, Inc., a Nevada corporation and wholly-owned subsidiary of GTPH (“Merger Sub”), and Jerrick Ventures, Inc., a privately-held Nevada corporation headquartered in New Jersey (“Jerrick”), entered into an Agreement and Plan of Merger (the “Merger”) pursuant to which the Merger Sub was merged with and into Jerrick, with Jerrick surviving as a wholly-owned subsidiary of GTPH (the “Merger”). GTPH acquired, pursuant to the Merger, all of the outstanding capital stock of Jerrick in exchange for issuing Jerrick’s shareholders (the “Jerrick Shareholders”), pro-rata, a total of 475,000 shares of GTPH’s common stock. In connection therewith, GTPH acquired 33,415 shares of Jerrick’s Series A Convertible Preferred Stock (the “Jerrick Series A Preferred”) and 8,064 shares of Series B Convertible Preferred Stock (the “Jerrick Series B Preferred”).
In connection with the Merger, on the Closing Date, GTPH and Kent Campbell entered into a Spin-Off Agreement (the “Spin-Off Agreement”), pursuant to which Mr. Campbell purchased from GTPH (i) all of GTPH’s interest in Ashland Holdings, LLC, a Florida limited liability company, and (ii) all of GTPH’s interest in Lil Marc, Inc., a Utah corporation, in exchange for the cancellation of 13,030 shares of GTPH’s Common Stock held by Mr. Campbell. In addition, Mr. Campbell assumed all debts, obligations and liabilities of GTPH, including any existing prior to the Merger, pursuant to the terms and conditions of the Spin-Off Agreement.
Upon closing of the Merger on February 5, 2016, the Company changed its business plan to that of Jerrick.
Effective February 28, 2016, GTPH entered into an Agreement and Plan of Merger (the “Statutory Merger Agreement”) with Jerrick, pursuant to which GTPH became the parent company of Jerrick Ventures, LLC, a wholly-owned operating subsidiary of Jerrick (the “Statutory Merger”) and GTPH changed its name to Jerrick Media Holdings, Inc. to better reflect its new business strategy.
On September 11, 2019, the Company acquired 100% of the membership interests of Seller’s Choice, LLC, a New Jersey limited liability company (“Seller’s Choice”), a digital e-commerce agency.
On September 9, 2020, the Company filed a certificate of amendment with the Secretary of State of the State of Nevada to change our name to “Creatd, Inc.”, which became effective on September 10, 2020.
On June 4, 2021, the Company acquired 89% of the membership interests of Plant Camp, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company (“Plant Camp”), which the Company subsequently rebranded as Camp. Plant Camp is a direct-to-consumer (DTC) food brand which creates healthy upgrades to classic comfort food favorites. The results of Plant Camp’s operations have bene included since the date of acquisition in the Statements of Operations.
On July 20, 2021, the Company acquired 44% of the membership interests of WHE Agency, Inc. WHE Agency, Inc, is a talent management and public relations agency based in New York. WHE Agency, Inc, has been consolidated due to the Company’s ownership of 55% voting control, and the results of operations have been included since the date of acquisition in the Statements of Operations.
Between October 21, 2020, and August 16, 2021, the Company acquired 21% of the membership interests of Dune, Inc. Dune, Inc. is a direct-to-consumer brand focused on promoting wellness through its range of health-oriented beverages.
On October 3, 2021, the Company acquired 29% of the membership interests of Dune, Inc. bring our total membership interests to 50%. Dune, Inc. is a direct-to-consumer brand focused on promoting wellness through its range of health-oriented beverages. Dune, Inc, has been consolidated due to the Company’s ownership of 50% voting control, and the results of operations have been included since the date of acquisition in the Statements of Operations.
On March 7, 2022, the Company acquired 100% of the membership interests of Denver Bodega, LLC, d/b/a Basis, a Colorado limited liability company (“Basis”). Basis is a direct-to-consumer functional beverage brand that makes high-electrolyte mixes meant to aid hydration. Denver Bodega, LLC has been consolidated due to the Company’s ownership of 100% voting control, and the results of operations have been included since the date of acquisition in the Statement of Operations.
On August 1, 2022 the Company entered into a Membership Interest Purchase (the “Agreement”) with Zachary Shenkman, Wuseok Jung, Wesley Petry, Nicholas Scibilia, Gary Rettig, Brandon Fallin (collectively the “Sellers”), whereby the Company purchased a majority stake in Orbit Media LLC, a New York limited liability company whose product is an app-based stock trading platform designed to empower a new generation of investors, providing users with a like-minded community as well as access to tools, content, and other resources to learn, train, and excel in the financial markets. Pursuant to the Agreement, Creatd acquired fifty one percent (51%) of the issued and outstanding membership interests of Orbit Media LLC for consideration of forty-four thousand dollars ($44,000) in cash and 57,576 shares of the Company’s Common Stock.
On September 13, 2022, the Company acquired 100% of the membership interests of Brave Foods, LLC, a Maine limited liability company. Brave is a plant-based food company that provides convenient and healthy breakfast food products. Brave Foods, LLC has been consolidated due to the Company’s ownership of 100% voting control, and the results of operations have been included since the date of acquisition in the Statement of Operations.
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SUMMARY OF THE OFFERING
This prospectus relates to the resale, from time to time, of up to 11,056,636 shares (the “Shares”) of our common stock, par value $0.001 per share (“Common Stock”), by the selling stockholders identified in this prospectus under “Selling Stockholders” (the “Offering”), comprised of (i) up to 2,406,267 Shares, pursuant to securities purchase agreements the Company entered into and closed on with six (6) Selling Stockholders on July 25, 2022 (as amended, collectively, the “July Purchase Agreements”), comprised of (a) up to 1,327,795 Shares issuable upon conversion of debentures in the aggregate principal amount of $2,150,000 (the “Debentures”), (b) 539,286 Shares underlying Series E Common Stock Purchase Warrants (the “Series E Warrants”), and (c) 539,286 Shares underlying Series F Common Stock Purchase Warrants (the “Series F Warrants,” and together with the Series E Warrants, the “July Warrants”), (ii) up to 1,817,019 Shares, which underly warrants, issued pursuant to that certain letter agreement dated November 18, 2022 (the “Letter Agreement”), between the Company and the respective holders of an aggregate of 471,953 warrants described in the Prospectus (the “November Warrants”), exercisable immediately, for a term of 60 months, at a price of $0.77, subject to customary adjustment provisions the effect of which has increased the number of warrants to 1,817,019 and reduced the exercise price to $0.20;; (iii) up to 4,333,250 Shares, pursuant to the securities purchase agreement the Company entered into and closed on October 24, 2022 with one accredited investor (the “October Investor”), whereby the October Investor purchased from the Company for an aggregate of $1,500,000 in subscription amount, an unsecured debenture in the principal amount of $1,666,650 (the “October Debenture”); and (iv) up to 2,500,000 Shares, pursuant to the securities purchase agreement the Company entered into and closed on December 12, 2022 with the October Investor, whereby the October Investor purchased from the Company for an aggregate of $750,000 in subscription amount, an unsecured debenture in the principal amount of $750,000 (the “December Debenture”).
We are not selling any shares of our Common Stock under this prospectus and will not receive any proceeds from the sale of the Shares. We will, however, receive proceeds from any warrants that are exercised through the payment of the exercise price in cash. The Selling Stockholders will bear all commissions and discounts, if any, attributable to the sale of the Shares. We will bear all costs, expenses and fees in connection with the registration of the Shares.
Issuer | Creatd, Inc. | |
Shares of Common Stock offered by us | None | |
Shares of Common Stock offered by the Selling Stockholders | 11,056,636 shares (1) | |
Shares of Common Stock outstanding before the Offering | 39,024,070 shares (2) | |
Shares of Common Stock outstanding after completion of this offering, assuming the sale of all shares offered hereby | 50,080,706 shares (2) | |
Use of proceeds | We will not receive any proceeds from the resale of the common stock by the Selling Stockholders. | |
Market for Common Stock | Our common stock is quoted on OTCQB under the symbol “CRTD.” | |
Risk Factors | Investing in our securities involves a high degree of risk. See the “Risk Factors” section of this prospectus on page 12 and in the documents we incorporate by reference in this prospectus for a discussion of factors you should consider carefully before deciding to invest in our securities. |
(1) | This amount consists of (i) up to 1,327,795 shares of Common Stock issuable upon conversion of the July Debentures, (ii) up to 539,286 shares of Common Stock issuable upon exercise of the Series E Warrants; (iii) up to 539,286 shares of Common Stock issuable upon exercise of the Series F Warrants; (iv) up to 1,817,019 shares of Common Stock issuable upon exercise of the November Warrants, (v) up to 4,333,250 shares of Common Stock issuable upon conversion of the October Debenture; and (vi) up to 2,500,000 shares of Common Stock issuable upon conversion of the December Debenture. |
(2) | The number of shares of Common Stock outstanding before and after the Offering is based on 39,024,070 shares outstanding as of January 5, 2023 and excludes the following: |
● | 4,408,267 shares of Common Stock issuable upon the exercise of outstanding stock options having a weighted average exercise price of $3.93 per share; |
● | 17,300,983 shares of common stock issuable upon the exercise of outstanding warrants having a weighted average exercise price of $2.06 per share; |
● | 30,833,250 shares of common stock issuable upon the conversion of convertible promissory notes having a conversion price of $0.20 per share. |
● | 990,000 shares of common stock issuable upon the conversion of convertible promissory notes having a conversion price of $1.00 per share. |
● | 274,342 shares of common stock issuable upon the conversion of convertible promissory notes having a conversion price of $0.38 per share. |
● | 159,788 shares of common stock issuable upon the conversion of convertible promissory notes having a conversion price of $0.32 per share. |
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RISK FACTORS
Investing in our securities involves a high degree of risk. You should consider and read carefully all of the risks and uncertainties described below, as well as other information contained in this prospectus, before making an investment decision with respect to our securities. The occurrence of any of the following risks or those incorporated by reference, or additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or that we currently believe to be immaterial could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows. In any such case, the trading price of common stock and the trading price of Series A warrants, if any, could decline, and you may lose all or part of your investment. This prospectus also contains forward-looking statements and estimates that involve risks and uncertainties. Our actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements as a result of specific factors, including the risks and uncertainties described below and those incorporated by reference.
Risks Related to our Business
The Company is a development stage business and subject to the many risks associated with new businesses.
Our current line of business has a limited operating history and our business is subject to all of the risks inherent in the establishment of a new business enterprise. Our likelihood of success must be considered in light of the problems, expenses, difficulties, complications and delays frequently encountered in connection with development and expansion of a new business enterprise. We have incurred losses and may continue to operate at a net loss for at least the next several years as we execute our business plan. We had a net loss of approximately $37.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2021, and a working capital deficit and accumulated deficit of approximately $0.9 million and approximately $109.6 million, respectively.
Our financial situation creates doubt whether we will continue as a going concern.
There can be no assurances that we will be able to achieve a level of revenues adequate to generate sufficient cash flow from operations or obtain funding or additional financing through private placements, public offerings and/or bank financing necessary to support our working capital requirements. To the extent that funds generated from any private placements, public offerings and/or bank financing are insufficient, we will have to raise additional working capital and no assurance can be given that additional financing will be available, or if available, will be on acceptable terms. These conditions raise substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern. If adequate working capital is not available, we may be forced to discontinue operations, which would cause investors to lose their entire investment.
Based on the report from our independent auditors dated April 6, 2022, management stated that our financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2021, were prepared assuming substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern for a period of one year from the issuance of these financial statements. The Company’s consolidated financial statements have been prepared assuming that it will continue as a going concern, which contemplates continuity of operations, realization of assets, and liquidation of liabilities in the normal course of business.
We are not profitable and may never be profitable.
Since inception through the present, we have been dependent on raising capital to support our working capital needs. During this same period, we have recorded net accumulated losses and are yet to achieve profitability. Our ability to achieve profitability depends upon many factors, including our ability to develop and commercialize our websites. There can be no assurance that we will ever achieve any significant revenues or profitable operations.
Our operating expenses exceed our revenues and will likely continue to do so for the foreseeable future.
We are in an early stage of our development and we have not generated sufficient revenues to offset our operating expenses. Our operating expenses will likely continue to exceed our operating income for the foreseeable future, until such time as we are able to monetize our brands and generate substantial revenues, particularly as we undertake payment of the increased costs of operating as a public company.
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We have assumed a significant amount of debt and our operations may not be able to generate sufficient cash flows to meet our debt obligations, which could reduce our financial flexibility and adversely impact our operations.
Currently the Company has considerable obligations under notes, related party notes and lines of credit outstanding with various lenders. Our ability to make payments on such indebtedness will depend on our ability to generate cash flow. The Company may not generate sufficient cash flow from operations to enable us to repay this indebtedness and to fund other liquidity needs, including capital expenditure requirements. Such indebtedness could affect our operations in several ways, including the following:
● | a significant portion of our cash flows could be required to be used to service such indebtedness; | |
● | a high level of debt could increase our vulnerability to general adverse economic and industry conditions; | |
● | any covenants contained in the agreements governing such outstanding indebtedness could limit our ability to borrow additional funds, dispose of assets, pay dividends and make certain investments; | |
● | a high level of debt may place us at a competitive disadvantage compared to our competitors that are less leveraged and, therefore, our competitors may be able to take advantage of opportunities that our indebtedness may prevent us from pursuing; and | |
● | debt covenants to which we may agree may affect our flexibility in planning for, and reacting to, changes in the economy and in our industry. |
A high level of indebtedness increases the risk that we may default on our debt obligations. We may not be able to generate sufficient cash flows to pay the principal or interest on our debt. If we cannot service or refinance our indebtedness, we may have to take actions such as selling significant assets, seeking additional equity financing (which will result in additional dilution to stockholders) or reducing or delaying capital expenditures, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our operations and financial condition. If we do not have sufficient funds and are otherwise unable to arrange financing, our assets may be foreclosed upon which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We will need additional capital, which may be difficult to raise as a result of our limited operating history or any number of other reasons.
We expect that we will need to raise additional capital within the next 12 months. However, in the event that we exceed our expected growth, we would need to raise additional capital. There is no assurance that additional equity or debt financing will be available to us when needed, on acceptable terms, or even at all. Our limited operating history makes investor evaluation and an estimation of our future performance substantially more difficult. As a result, investors may be unwilling to invest in us or such investment may be offered on terms or conditions that are not acceptable. In the event that we are not able to secure financing, we may have to scale back our growth plans or cease operations.
We face intense competition. If we do not provide digital content that is useful to users, we may not remain competitive, and our potential revenues and operating results could be adversely affected.
Our business is rapidly evolving and intensely competitive, and is subject to changing technologies, shifting user needs, and frequent introductions of new products and services. Our ability to compete successfully depends heavily on providing digital content that is useful and enjoyable for our users and delivering our content through innovative technologies in the marketplace.
We face competition from others in the digital content creation industry and media companies. Our current and potential competitors range from large and established companies to emerging start-ups. Established companies have longer operating histories and more established relationships with customers and users, and they can use their experience and resources in ways that could affect our competitive position, including by making acquisitions, investing aggressively in research and development, aggressively initiating intellectual property claims (whether or not meritorious) and competing aggressively for advertisers and websites. Emerging start-ups may be able to innovate and provide products and services faster than we can.
Additionally, our operating results would suffer if our digital content is not appropriately timed with market opportunities, or if our digital content is not effectively brought to market. As technology continues to develop, our competitors may be able to offer user experiences that are, or that are seen to be, substantially similar to or better than, ours. This may force us to compete in different ways and expend significant resources in order to remain competitive. If our competitors are more successful than we are in developing compelling content or in attracting and retaining users and advertisers, our revenues and operating results could be adversely affected.
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If we fail to retain existing users or add new users, or if our users decrease their level of engagement with our products, our revenue, financial results, and business may be significantly harmed.
The size of our user base and our user’s level of engagement are critical to our success. Our financial performance will be significantly determined by our success in adding, retaining, and engaging active users of our products, particularly Vocal. We anticipate that our active user growth rate will generally decline over time as the size of our active user base increases, and it is possible that the size of our active user base may fluctuate or decline in one or more markets, particularly in markets where we have achieved higher penetration rates. If people do not perceive Vocal to be useful, reliable, and trustworthy, we may not be able to attract or retain users or otherwise maintain or increase the frequency and duration of their engagement. A number of other content management systems and publishing platforms that achieved early popularity have since seen their active user bases or levels of engagement decline, in some cases precipitously. There is no guarantee that we will not experience a similar erosion of our active user base or engagement levels. Our user engagement patterns have changed over time, and user engagement can be difficult to measure, particularly as we introduce new and different products and services. Any number of factors could potentially negatively affect user retention, growth, and engagement, including if:
● | Users increasingly engage with other competitive products or services; |
● | We fail to introduce new features, products or services that users find engaging or if we introduce new products or services, or make changes to existing products and services, that are not favorably received; |
● | User behavior on any of our products changes, including decreases in the quality and frequency of content shared on our products and services; |
● | There are decreases in user sentiment due to questions about the quality or usefulness of our products or our user data practices, or concerns related to privacy and sharing, safety, security, well-being, or other factors; |
● | We are unable to manage and prioritize information to ensure users are presented with content that is appropriate, interesting, useful, and relevant to them; |
● | We are unable to obtain or attract engaging third-party content; |
● | Users adopt new technologies where our products may be displaced in favor of other products or services, or may not be featured or otherwise available; |
● | There are changes mandated by legislation, regulatory authorities, or litigation that adversely affect our products or users; |
● | Technical or other problems prevent us from delivering our products in a rapid and reliable manner or otherwise affect the user experience, such as security breaches or failure to prevent or limit spam or similar content; |
● | We adopt terms, policies, or procedures related to areas such as sharing, content, user data, or advertising that are perceived negatively by our users or the general public; |
● | We elect to focus our product decisions on longer-term initiatives that do not prioritize near-term user growth and engagement; |
● | We make changes in how we promote different products and services across our family of apps; |
● | Initiatives designed to attract and retain users and engagement are unsuccessful or discontinued, whether as a result of actions by us, third parties, or otherwise; |
● | We fail to provide adequate customer service to users, marketers, developers, or other partners; |
● | We, developers whose products are integrated with our products, or other partners and companies in our industry are the subject of adverse media reports or other negative publicity, including as a result of our or their user data practices; or |
● | Our current or future products, such as our development tools and application programming interfaces that enable developers to build, grow, and monetize mobile and web applications, reduce user activity on our products by making it easier for our users to interact and share on third-party mobile and web applications. |
If we are unable to maintain or increase our user base and user engagement, our revenue and financial results may be adversely affected. Any decrease in user retention, growth, or engagement could render our products less attractive to users, marketers, and developers, which is likely to have a material and adverse impact on our revenue, business, financial condition, and results of operations. If our active user growth rate continues to slow, we will become increasingly dependent on our ability to maintain or increase levels of user engagement and monetization in order to drive revenue growth.
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We face competition from traditional media companies, and we may not be included in the advertising budgets of large advertisers, which could harm our operating results.
In addition to internet companies, we face competition from companies that offer traditional media advertising opportunities. Most large advertisers have set advertising budgets, a very small portion of which is allocated to Internet advertising. We expect that large advertisers will continue to focus most of their advertising efforts on traditional media. If we fail to convince these companies to spend a portion of their advertising budgets with us, or if our existing advertisers reduce the amount they spend on our programs, our operating results would be harmed.
Acquisitions may disrupt growth.
We may pursue strategic acquisitions in the future. Risks in acquisition transactions include difficulties in the integration of acquired businesses into our operations and control environment, difficulties in assimilating and retaining employees and intermediaries, difficulties in retaining the existing clients of the acquired entities, assumed or unforeseen liabilities that arise in connection with the acquired businesses, the failure of counterparties to satisfy any obligations to indemnify us against liabilities arising from the acquired businesses, and unfavorable market conditions that could negatively impact our growth expectations for the acquired businesses. Fully integrating an acquired company or business into our operations may take a significant amount of time. We cannot assure you that we will be successful in overcoming these risks or any other problems encountered with acquisitions and other strategic transactions. These risks may prevent us from realizing the expected benefits from acquisitions and could result in the failure to realize the full economic value of a strategic transaction or the impairment of goodwill and/or intangible assets recognized at the time of an acquisition. These risks could be heightened if we complete a large acquisition or multiple acquisitions within a short period of time.
Our business depends on strong brands and relationships, and if we are not able to maintain our relationships and enhance our brands, our ability to expand our base of users, advertisers and affiliates will be impaired and our business and operating results could be harmed.
Maintaining and enhancing our brands’ profiles may require us to make substantial investments and these investments may not be successful. If we fail to promote and maintain the brands’ profiles, or if we incur excessive expenses in this effort, our business and operating results could be harmed. We anticipate that, as our market becomes increasingly competitive, maintaining and enhancing our brands’ profiles may become increasingly difficult and expensive. Maintaining and enhancing our brands will depend largely on our ability to be a technology leader and to continue to provide attractive products and services, which we may not do successfully.
We depend on our key management personnel and the loss of their services could adversely affect our business.
We place substantial reliance upon the efforts and abilities of Jeremy Frommer, our Chairman of the Board of Directors, and our other executive officers and directors. Though no individual is indispensable, the loss of the services of these executive officers could have a material adverse effect on our business, operations, revenues or prospects. We do not currently maintain key man life insurance on the lives of these individuals.
If we are unable to protect our intellectual property, the value of our brands and other intangible assets may be diminished, and our business may be adversely affected.
We rely and expect to continue to rely on a combination of confidentiality, assignment, and license agreements with our employees, consultants, and third parties with whom we have relationships, as well as trademark, copyright, patent, trade secret, and domain name protection laws, to protect our proprietary rights. In the United States and internationally, we have filed various applications for protection of certain aspects of our intellectual property, and we currently hold a number of registered trademarks and issued patents in multiple jurisdictions and have acquired patents and patent applications from third parties. Third parties may knowingly or unknowingly infringe our proprietary rights, third parties may challenge proprietary rights held by us, and pending and future trademark and patent applications may not be approved. In addition, effective intellectual property protection may not be available in every country in which we operate or intend to operate our business. In any or all of these cases, we may be required to expend significant time and expense in order to prevent infringement or to enforce our rights. Although we have generally taken measures to protect our proprietary rights, there can be no assurance that others will not offer products or concepts that are substantially similar to ours and compete with our business. In addition, we regularly contribute software source code under open source licenses and have made other technology we developed available under other open licenses, and we include open source software in our products. If the protection of our proprietary rights is inadequate to prevent unauthorized use or appropriation by third parties, the value of our brands and other intangible assets may be diminished and competitors may be able to more effectively mimic our products, services, and methods of operations. Any of these events could have an adverse effect on our business and financial results
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We are subject to payment processing risk.
We accept payments using a variety of different payment methods, including credit and debit cards and direct debit. We rely on third parties to process payments. Acceptance and processing of these payment methods are subject to certain certifications, rules and regulations. To the extent there are disruptions in our or third-party payment processing systems, material changes in the payment ecosystem, failure to recertify and/or changes to rules or regulations concerning payment processing, we could be subject to fines and/or civil liability, or lose our ability to accept credit and debit card payments, which would harm our reputation and adversely impact our results of operations.
We are subject to risk as it relates to software that we license from third parties.
We license software from third parties, much of which is integral to our systems and our business. The licenses are generally terminable if we breach our obligations under the license agreements. If any of these relationships were terminated or if any of these parties were to cease doing business or cease to support the applications we currently utilize, we may be forced to spend significant time and money to replace the licensed software.
Failures or reduced accessibility of third-party software on which we rely could impair the availability of our platform and applications and adversely affect our business.
We license software from third parties for integration into our Vocal platform, including open source software. These licenses might not continue to be available to us on acceptable terms, or at all. While we are not substantially dependent upon any third-party software, the loss of the right to use all or a significant portion of our third-party software required for the development, maintenance and delivery of our applications could result in delays in the provision of our applications until we develop or identify, obtain and integrate equivalent technology, which could harm our business.
Any errors or defects in the hardware or software we use could result in errors, interruptions, cyber incidents or a failure of our applications. Any significant interruption in the availability of all or a significant portion of such software could have an adverse impact on our business unless and until we can replace the functionality provided by these applications at a similar cost. Furthermore, this software may not be available on commercially reasonable terms, or at all. The loss of the right to use all or a significant portion of this software could limit access to our platform and applications. Additionally, we rely upon third parties’ abilities to enhance their current applications, develop new applications on a timely and cost-effective basis and respond to emerging industry standards and other technological changes. We may be unable to effect changes to such third-party technologies, which may prevent us from rapidly responding to evolving customer requirements. We also may be unable to replace the functionality provided by the third-party software currently offered in conjunction with our applications in the event that such software becomes obsolete or incompatible with future versions of our platform and applications or is otherwise not adequately maintained or updated.
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We need to manage growth in operations to maximize our potential growth and achieve our expected revenues and our failure to manage growth will cause a disruption of our operations, resulting in the failure to generate revenue.
In order to maximize potential growth in our current and potential markets, we believe that we must expand our marketing operations. This expansion will place a significant strain on our management and our operational, accounting, and information systems. We expect that we will need to continue to improve our financial controls, operating procedures, and management information systems. We will also need to effectively train, motivate, and manage our employees. Our failure to manage our growth could disrupt our operations and ultimately prevent us from generating the revenues we expect.
In order to achieve the general strategies of our company we need to maintain and search for hard-working employees who have innovative initiatives, while at the same time, keep a close eye on any and all expanding opportunities in our marketplace.
We plan to generate a significant portion of our revenues from advertising and affiliate sales relationships, and a reduction in spending by or loss of advertisers and general decrease in online spending could adversely harm our business.
We plan to generate a substantial portion of our revenues from advertisers. Our advertisers may be able to terminate prospective contracts with us at any time. Advertisers will not continue to do business with us if their investment in advertising with us does not generate sales leads, and ultimately customers, or if we do not deliver their advertisements in an appropriate and effective manner. If we are unable to remain competitive and provide value to our advertisers, they may stop placing ads with us, which would adversely affect our revenues and business. In addition, expenditures by advertisers tend to be cyclical, reflecting overall economic conditions and budgeting and buying patterns. Adverse macroeconomic conditions can also have a material negative impact on the demand for advertising and cause our advertisers to reduce the amounts they spend on advertising, which could adversely affect our revenues and business.
Security breaches could harm our business.
Security breaches have become more prevalent in the technology industry. We believe that we take reasonable steps to protect the security, integrity and confidentiality of the information we collect, use, store and disclose, but there is no guarantee that inadvertent (e.g., software bugs or other technical malfunctions, employee error or malfeasance, or other factors) or unauthorized data access or use will not occur despite our efforts. Although we have not experienced any material security breaches to date, we may in the future experience attempts to disable our systems or to breach the security of our systems. Techniques used to obtain unauthorized access to personal information, confidential information and/or the systems on which such information are stored and/or to sabotage systems change frequently and generally are not recognized until launched against a target. As a result, we may be unable to anticipate these techniques or to implement adequate preventative measures.
If an actual or perceived security breach occurs, the market perception of our security measures could be harmed, and we could lose sales and customers and/or suffer other negative consequences to our business. A security breach could adversely affect the digital content experience and cause the loss or corruption of data, which could harm our business, financial condition and operating results. Any failure to maintain the security of our infrastructure could result in loss of personal information and/or other confidential information, damage to our reputation and customer relationships, early termination of our contracts and other business losses, indemnification of our customers, financial penalties, litigation, regulatory investigations and other significant liabilities. In the event of a major third-party security incident, we may incur losses in excess of their insurance coverage.
Moreover, if a high-profile security breach occurs with respect to us or another digital entertainment company, our customers and potential customers may lose trust in the security of our business model generally, which could adversely impact our ability to retain existing customers or attract new ones.
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The laws and regulations concerning data privacy and data security are continually evolving; our or our platform providers’ actual or perceived failure to comply with these laws and regulations could harm our business.
Customers view our content online, using third-party platforms and networks and on mobile devices. We collect and store significant amounts of information about our customers—both personally identifying and non-personally identifying information. We are subject to laws from a variety of jurisdictions regarding privacy and the protection of this player information. For example, the European Union (EU) has traditionally taken a broader view than the United States and certain other jurisdictions as to what is considered personal information and has imposed greater obligations under data privacy regulations. The U.S. Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) also regulates the collection, use and disclosure of personal information from children under 13 years of age. While none of our content is directed at children under 13 years of age, if COPPA were to apply to us, failure to comply with COPPA may increase our costs, subject us to expensive and distracting government investigations and could result in substantial fines.
Data privacy protection laws are rapidly changing and likely will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. The U.S. government, including the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Commerce, is continuing to review the need for greater regulation over the collection of personal information and information about consumer behavior on the Internet and on mobile devices and the EU has proposed reforms to its existing data protection legal framework. Various government and consumer agencies worldwide have also called for new regulation and changes in industry practices. In addition, in some cases, we are dependent upon our platform providers to solicit, collect and provide us with information regarding our players that is necessary for compliance with these various types of regulations.
Customer interaction with our content is subject to our privacy policy and terms of service. If we fail to comply with our posted privacy policy or terms of service or if we fail to comply with existing privacy-related or data protection laws and regulations, it could result in proceedings or litigation against us by governmental authorities or others, which could result in fines or judgments against us, damage our reputation, impact our financial condition and harm our business. If regulators, the media or consumers raise any concerns about our privacy and data protection or consumer protection practices, even if unfounded, this could also result in fines or judgments against us, damage our reputation, and negatively impact our financial condition and damage our business.
In the area of information security and data protection, many jurisdictions have passed laws requiring notification when there is a security breach for personal data or requiring the adoption of minimum information security standards that are often vaguely defined and difficult to implement. Our security measures and standards may not be sufficient to protect personal information and we cannot guarantee that our security measures will prevent security breaches. A security breach that compromises personal information could harm our reputation and result in a loss of confidence in our products and ultimately in a loss of customers, which could adversely affect our business and impact our financial condition. This could also subject us to liability under applicable security breach-related laws and regulations and could result in additional compliance costs, costs related to regulatory inquiries and investigations, and an inability to conduct our business.
Changes to federal, state or international laws or regulations applicable to our company could adversely affect our business.
Our business is subject to a variety of federal, state and international laws and regulations, including those with respect privacy, data, and other laws. These laws and regulations, and the interpretation or application of these laws and regulations, could change. In addition, new laws or regulations affecting our business could be enacted. These laws and regulations are frequently costly to comply with and may divert a significant portion of management’s attention. If we fail to comply with these applicable laws or regulations, we could be subject to significant liabilities which could adversely affect our business.
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If any of our relationships with internet search websites terminate, if such websites’ methodologies are modified or if we are outbid by competitors, traffic to our websites could decline.
We depend in part on various internet search websites, such as Google.com, Bing.com, Yahoo.com and other websites to direct a significant amount of traffic to our websites. Search websites typically provide two types of search results, algorithmic and purchased listings. Algorithmic listings generally are determined and displayed as a result of a set of unpublished formulas designed by search engine companies in their discretion. Purchased listings generally are displayed if particular word searches are performed on a search engine. We rely on both algorithmic and purchased search results, as well as advertising on other internet websites, to direct a substantial share of visitors to our websites and to direct traffic to the advertiser customers we serve. If these internet search websites modify or terminate their relationship with us or we are outbid by our competitors for purchased listings, meaning that our competitors pay a higher price to be listed above us in a list of search results, traffic to our websites could decline. Such a decline in traffic could affect our ability to generate advertising revenue and could reduce the desirability of advertising on our websites.
Our business involves risks of liability claims arising from our media content, which could adversely affect our ability to generate revenue and could increase our operating expenses.
As a distributor of media content, we face potential liability for defamation, invasion of privacy, negligence, copyright or trademark infringement, obscenity, violation of rights of publicity and/or obscenity laws and other claims based on the nature and content of the materials distributed. These types of claims have been brought, sometimes successfully, against broadcasters, publishers, online services and other disseminators of media content. Any imposition of liability that is not covered by insurance or is in excess of our insurance coverage could have a material adverse effect on us. In addition, measures to reduce our exposure to liability in connection with content available through our internet websites could require us to take steps that would substantially limit the attractiveness of our internet websites and/or their availability in certain geographic areas, which could adversely affect our ability to generate revenue and could increase our operating expenses.
Intellectual property litigation could expose us to significant costs and liabilities and thus negatively affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We may be subject to claims of infringement of third-party patents and trademarks and other violations of third-party intellectual property rights. Intellectual property disputes are generally time-consuming and expensive to litigate or settle and the outcome of such disputes is uncertain and difficult to predict. The existence of such disputes may require us to set-aside substantial reserves and has the potential to significantly affect our overall financial standing. To the extent that claims against us are successful, they may subject us to substantial liability, and we may have to pay substantial monetary damages, change aspects of our business model, and/or discontinue any of our services or practices that are found to be in violation of another party’s rights. Such outcomes may severely restrict or hinder ongoing business operations and impact the value of our business. Successful claims against us could also result in us having to seek a license to continue our practices. Under such conditions, a license may or may not be offered or otherwise made available to us. If a license is made available to us, the cost of the license may significantly increase our operating burden and expenses, potentially resulting in a negative effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Although we have been and are currently involved in multiple areas of commerce, internet services, and high technology where there is a substantial risk of future patent litigation, we have not obtained insurance for patent infringement losses. If we are unsuccessful at resolving pending and future patent litigation in a reasonable and affordable manner, it could disrupt our business and operations, including by negatively impacting areas of commerce or putting us at a competitive disadvantage.
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If we are unable to obtain or maintain key website addresses, our ability to operate and grow our business may be impaired.
Our website addresses, or domain names, are critical to our business. We currently own more than 415 domain names. However, the regulation of domain names is subject to change, and it may be difficult for us to prevent third parties from acquiring domain names that are similar to ours, that infringe our trademarks or that otherwise decrease the value of our brands. If we are unable to obtain or maintain key domain names for the various areas of our business, our ability to operate and grow our business may be impaired.
We may have difficulty scaling and adapting our existing network infrastructure to accommodate increased traffic and technology advances or changing business requirements, which could cause us to incur significant expenses and lead to the loss of users and advertisers.
To be successful, our network infrastructure has to perform well and be reliable. The greater the user traffic and the greater the complexity of our products and services, the more computer power we will need. We could incur substantial costs if we need to modify our websites or our infrastructure to adapt to technological changes. If we do not maintain our network infrastructure successfully, or if we experience inefficiencies and operational failures, the quality of our products and services and our users’ experience could decline. Maintaining an efficient and technologically advanced network infrastructure is particularly critical to our business because of the pictorial nature of the products and services provided on our websites. A decline in quality could damage our reputation and lead us to lose current and potential users and advertisers. Cost increases, loss of traffic or failure to accommodate new technologies or changing business requirements could harm our operating results and financial condition.
Operating a network open to all internet users may result in legal consequences.
Our Terms and Conditions clearly state that our network and services are only to be used by users who are over 13 years old. Although we will terminate accounts that are known to be held by persons age 13 or younger, it is impractical to independently verify that all activity occurring on our network fits into this description. As such, we run the risk of federal and state law enforcement prosecution.
Unfavorable global economic, business, or political conditions could adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations.
Our results of operations could be adversely affected by general conditions in the global economy and in the global financial markets, including conditions that are outside of our control, including the impact of health and safety concerns, such as those relating to the current COVID-19 coronavirus (“COVID-19”) pandemic.
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The continuing global COVID-19 pandemic has created significant volatility, uncertainty and economic disruption. The extent to which the COVID-19 pandemic continues to impact our business, operations and financial results will depend on numerous evolving factors that we may not be able to accurately predict, including: the duration and scope of the pandemic; governmental, business and individuals’ actions, including vaccination requirements, that have been and continue to be taken in response to the pandemic; the impact of the pandemic on economic activity and actions taken in response; and any future variants that may arise and its effects on the overall response to the pandemic. The COVID-19 coronavirus and actions taken to mitigate it have had and are expected to continue to have an adverse impact on the economies and financial markets of many countries, including the geographical area in which the Company operates.
Our direct-to-consumer brands experienced supply-chain issues as a direct result of the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in delayed growth within these business lines. Additionally, the global financial crisis in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic has caused extreme volatility and disruptions in the capital and credit markets. A severe or prolonged economic downturn could result in a variety of risks to our business, including weakened demand for our Vocal platform and our ability to raise additional capital when needed on acceptable terms, if at all. Any of the foregoing could harm our business and we cannot anticipate all the ways in which the current economic climate and financial market conditions could adversely impact our business.
Risks Related To Our Common Stock
Risks Relating to our Common Stock and the Offering
Future sales or potential sales of our common stock in the public market could cause our share price to decline.
If the existing holders of our common stock, particularly our directors and officers, sell a large number of shares, they could adversely affect the market price for our common stock. Sales of substantial amounts of our common stock in the public market, or the perception that these sales could occur, could cause the market price of our common stock to decline.
Because we will not pay dividends on our common stock in the foreseeable future, stockholders will only benefit from owning common stock if it appreciates.
We have never paid cash dividends on our common stock, and we do not intend to do so in the foreseeable future. We intend to retain any future earnings to finance our growth. Accordingly, any potential investor who anticipates the need for current dividends from his investment should not purchase our common stock.
Our share price has been, and will likely continue to be, volatile, and you may be unable to resell your shares at or above the price at which you acquired them.
The trading price of our common stock has been, and is likely to continue to be, highly volatile and could be subject to wide fluctuations in response to various factors, some of which are beyond our control.
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The market price for our securities may be influenced by many factors that are beyond our control, including, but not limited to:
● | variations in our revenue and operating expenses; |
● | market conditions in our industry and the economy as a whole; |
● | actual or expected changes in our growth rates or our competitors’ growth rates; |
● | developments or disputes concerning patent applications, issued patents or other proprietary rights; |
● | developments in the financial markets and worldwide or regional economies; |
● | variations in our financial results or those of companies that are perceived to be similar to us; |
● | announcements by the government relating to regulations that govern our industry; |
● | sales of our common stock or other securities by us or in the open market; |
● | changes in the market valuations of other comparable companies; |
● | general economic, industry and market conditions; and |
● | the other factors described in this “Risk Factors” section. |
The trading price of our shares might also decline in reaction to events that affect other companies in our industry, even if these events do not directly affect us. Each of these factors, among others, could harm the value of your investment in our securities. In the past, following periods of volatility in the market, securities class-action litigation has often been instituted against companies. Such litigation, if instituted against us, could result in substantial costs and diversion of management’s attention and resources, which could materially and adversely affect our business, operating results and financial condition.
Because our shares of common stock are subject to the penny stock rules, it is more difficult to trade our shares.
The SEC has adopted rules that regulate broker-dealer practices in connection with transactions in penny stocks. Penny stocks are generally equity securities with a price of less than $5.00, other than securities registered on certain national securities exchanges or authorized for quotation on certain automated quotation systems, provided that current price and volume information with respect to transactions in such securities is provided by the exchange or system. The penny stock rules require a broker-dealer, before a transaction in a penny stock not otherwise exempt from those rules, to deliver a standardized risk disclosure document containing specified information. In addition, the penny stock rules require that before effecting any transaction in a penny stock not otherwise exempt from those rules, a broker-dealer must make a special written determination that the penny stock is a suitable investment for the purchaser and receive (i) the purchaser’s written acknowledgment of the receipt of a risk disclosure statement; (ii) a written agreement to transactions involving penny stocks; and (iii) a signed and dated copy of a written suitability statement. These disclosure requirements may have the effect of reducing the trading activity in the secondary market for our common stock, and therefore stockholders may have difficulty selling their shares.
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The price of our common stock may be subject to wide fluctuations.
Even though we have our shares quoted with The OTCQB, the market price of our Common Stock may be highly volatile and subject to wide fluctuations in response to a variety of factors and risks, many of which are beyond our control. In addition to the risks noted elsewhere in this Form 10-K, some of the other factors affecting our stock price may include:
● | Variations in our operating results; |
● | The level and quality of securities analysts’ coverage of our Common Stock; |
● | Announcements by us or our competitors of significant contracts, acquisitions, strategic partnerships, joint ventures or capital commitments; |
● | Announcements by third parties of significant claims or proceedings against us; and |
● | Future sales of our Common Stock. |
For these reasons, comparing our operating results on a period-to-period basis may not be meaningful, and you should not rely on past results as an indication of future performance. In the past, following periods of volatility in the market price of a public company’s securities, securities class action litigation has often been instituted against the public company. Regardless of its outcome, this type of litigation could result in substantial costs to us and a likely diversion of our management’s attention.
You may lose all of your investment.
Investing in our common stock involves a high degree of risk. As an investor, you might never recoup all, or even part of, your investment and you may never realize any return on your investment. You must be prepared to lose all your investment.
We may, in the future, issue additional shares of common stock, which would reduce investors’ percent of ownership and dilute our share value
Our Second Amended and Restated Articles of Incorporation authorize the issuance of 100,000,000 shares of common stock, and 20,000,000 shares of preferred stock. Currently the Company has 450 shares of Preferred Series E stock outstanding. Additionally, as of January 10, 2023 there are outstanding (i) warrants to purchase 17,300,983 shares of our common stock; (ii) options exercisable into 4,408,267 shares of our common stock; (iii) 109,223 shares underlying the conversion of Preferred Series E shares; and (iv) 32,257,380 shares underlying the conversion of convertible notes.
Assuming all of the Company’s currently outstanding warrants and options are exercised and all convertible notes and preferred shares are converted, the Company would have to issue an additional 54,075,853 shares of common stock representing 139% of our current issued and outstanding common stock. The future issuance of this common stock would result in substantial dilution in the percentage of our common stock held by our then existing shareholders. We may value any Common Stock issued in the future on an arbitrary basis. The issuance of common stock for future services or acquisitions or other corporate actions may have the effect of diluting the value of the shares held by our investors and might have an adverse effect on any trading market for our common stock.
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Liability of directors for breach of duty is limited under Nevada law.
Nevada law provides that directors must discharge their duties as a director in good faith and with a view to the interests of the corporation. Under Nevada law, directors owe a fiduciary duty to the corporation, which is generally comprised of the duty of care and duty of loyalty to the corporation. Except under limited circumstances set forth in NRS 78.138(7), or unless our Second Amended and Restated Articles of Incorporation or an amendment thereto provide for greater individual liability (which ours does not provide), a director or officer is not individually liable to the corporation or its stockholders or creditors for any damages as a result of any act or failure to act in his or her capacity as a director or officer unless it is proven that the director’s or officer’s act or failure to act constituted a breach of his or her fiduciary duties as a director or officer, and the breach of those duties involved intentional misconduct, fraud or a knowing violation of law. Our stockholders’ ability to recover damages for fiduciary breaches may be reduced by this statute.
We do not anticipate paying any cash dividends on our common stock in the foreseeable future and, as such, capital appreciation, if any, of our common stock will be your sole source of gain for the foreseeable future.
We do not anticipate paying any cash dividends on our common stock in the foreseeable future. We currently intend to retain all available funds and any future earnings to fund the development and growth of our business. In addition, and any future loan arrangements we enter into may contain, terms prohibiting or limiting the amount of dividends that may be declared or paid on our common stock. As a result, capital appreciation, if any, of our common stock will be your sole source of gain for the foreseeable future.
Sales of a substantial number of shares of our common stock in the public market by certain of our stockholders could cause our stock price to fall.
Sales of a substantial number of shares of our common stock in the public market or the perception that these sales might occur, could depress the market price of our common stock and could impair our ability to raise capital through the sale of additional equity securities. We are unable to predict the effect that sales may have on the prevailing market price of our common stock.
We may issue additional shares of preferred stock in the future that may adversely impact your rights as holders of our common stock.
Pursuant to our Second Amended and Restated Articles of Incorporation, the aggregate number of shares of capital stock which we are authorized to issue is 120,000,000 shares, of which 100,000,000 shares are common stock, and 20,000,000 shares are “blank check” preferred stock with such designations, rights and preferences as may be determined from time to time by our board of directors. Our board of directors is empowered, without stockholder approval, to issue one or more series of preferred stock with dividend, liquidation, conversion, voting or other rights which could dilute the interest of, or impair the voting power of, our common stockholders. As of the date of this filing, we do have 450 shares of Preferred Series E stock outstanding.
The issuance of a series of preferred stock could be used as a method of discouraging, delaying or preventing a change in control. For example, it would be possible for our board of directors to issue preferred stock with voting or other rights or preferences that could impede the success of any attempt to change control of our Company. In addition, advanced notice is required prior to stockholder proposals, which might further delay a change of control. Additionally, our board of directors could authorize the issuance of a series of preferred stock that would grant to holders preferred rights to our assets upon liquidation, the right to receive dividends before dividends are declared to holders of our common stock, and the right to the redemption of such preferred shares, together with a premium, prior to the redemption of the common stock. To the extent that we do issue such additional shares of preferred stock, your rights as holders of common stock could be impaired thereby, including, without limitation, dilution of your ownership interests in us.
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Each of our Second Amended and Restated Articles of Incorporation and our Amended and Restated Bylaws provide that the Eighth Judicial District Court of Clark County, Nevada will be the sole and exclusive forum for certain disputes which could limit stockholders’ ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with the Company or its directors, officers, employees or agents.
Each of our Second Amended and Restated Articles of Incorporation and our Amended and Restated Bylaws provide that unless the Company consents in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the Eighth Judicial District Court of Clark County, Nevada shall be the sole and exclusive forum for state law claims with respect to: (i) any derivative action or proceeding brought in the name or right of the Company or on its behalf, (ii) any action asserting a claim for breach of any fiduciary duty owed by any director, officer, employee or agent of the Company to the Company or the Company’s stockholders, (iii) any action arising or asserting a claim arising pursuant to any provision of Nevada Revised Statutes Chapters 78 or 92A or any provision of the Company’s Second Amended and Restated Articles of Incorporation or Amended and Restated Bylaws or (iv) any action asserting a claim governed by the internal affairs doctrine, including, without limitation, any action to interpret, apply, enforce or determine the validity of the Company’s Second Amended and Restated Articles of Incorporation or Amended and Restated Bylaws. This exclusive forum provision would not apply to suits brought to enforce any liability or duty created by the Securities Act or the Exchange Act or any other claim for which the federal courts have exclusive jurisdiction. To the extent that any such claims may be based upon federal law claims, Section 27 of the Exchange Act creates exclusive federal jurisdiction over all suits brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Exchange Act or the rules and regulations thereunder.
Section 22 of the Securities Act creates concurrent jurisdiction for federal and state courts over all suits brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Securities Act or the rules and regulations thereunder. However, each of our Second Amended Articles of Incorporation and our Amended and Restated Bylaws contain a federal forum provision which provides that unless the Company consents in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the federal district courts of the United States of America will be the exclusive forum for the resolution of any complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act. Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring any interest in shares of capital stock of the Company are deemed to have notice of and consented to this provision. As this provision applies to Securities Act claims, there may be uncertainty whether a court would enforce such a provision.
These choice of forum provisions may limit a stockholder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that it finds favorable for disputes with the Company or its directors, officers or other employees, which may discourage such lawsuits against the Company and its directors, officers and other employees. Alternatively, if a court were to find our choice of forum provisions contained in either our Second Amended and Restated Articles of Incorporation or Amended and Restated Bylaws to be inapplicable or unenforceable in an action, the Company may incur additional costs associated with resolving such action in other jurisdictions, which could harm its business, results of operations, and financial condition.
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CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This prospectus contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 or the Securities Act, Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 or the Exchange Act, and the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are those that reflect our current views with respect to future events and financial performance, and all statements other than statements of historical fact are statements that are, or could be, deemed forward-looking statements. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terms such as “may,” “might,” “will,” “intend,” “should,” “could,” “can,” “would,” “believe,” “expect,” “seek,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “estimate,” “plan,” “target,” “project,” “forecast,” “envision” or the negative of these terms, and other similar phrases. All statements contained in this prospectus and any prospectus supplement regarding future financial position, sales, costs, earnings, losses, cash flows, other measures of results of operations, capital expenditures or debt levels and plans, objectives, outlook, targets, guidance or goals are forward-looking statements.
You should not place undue reliance on our forward-looking statements because they are not guarantees of future performance or expectations, and involve risks and uncertainties. Our forward-looking statements are based on the information currently available to us and speak only as of the date on the cover of this prospectus, the date of any prospectus supplement, or, in the case of forward-looking statements incorporated by reference, the date of the filing that includes the statement. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, these statements relate to future events or our future operational or financial performance, and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. Except as required by applicable law, we assume no obligation, and disclaim any obligation, to update forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, events or otherwise.
The forward-looking statements contained in this prospectus are set forth principally in “Risk Factors” above, and in “Risk Factors,” “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” “Business” and other sections in our 2021 Annual Report and in “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” “Risk Factors” and other sections in our Latest Form 10-Q. In addition, there may be events in the future that we are not able to predict accurately or control which may cause actual results to differ materially from expectations expressed or implied by forward-looking statements. Please consider our forward-looking statements in light of these risks as you read this prospectus.
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USE OF PROCEEDS
All proceeds from the resale of the shares of our Common Stock offered by this prospectus will belong to the Selling Shareholders. We will not receive any proceeds from the resale of the shares of our Common Stock by the Selling Shareholders.
We will receive proceeds from any cash exercise of the Warrants. If all 539,286 of the Series E Warrants, 539,286 of the Series F Warrants, and 1,817,019 of the December Warrants are exercised on a cash basis, the Company would receive gross cash proceeds of $579,118, subject to adjustment upon certain events. We expect to use the proceeds from the exercise of such warrants, if any, for general corporate purposes. General corporate purposes may include providing working capital, funding capital expenditures, or paying for acquisitions. We currently do not have any arrangements or agreements for any acquisitions. We cannot precisely estimate the allocation of the net proceeds from any exercise of the warrants for cash. Accordingly, in the event the Warrants are exercised for cash, our management will have broad discretion in the application of the net proceeds of such exercises. There is no assurance that the Warrants will ever be exercised for cash.
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CAPITALIZATION
The table below sets forth our cash and cash equivalents and capitalization as of September 30, 2022 on an actual basis and on a pro forma basis to reflect our issuance of the shares of our Common Stock offered by this prospectus and our receipt and application of the proceeds in the amount of approximately $579,000 from the exercise of warrants, after deducting our estimated offering expenses. This table should be read in conjunction with “Use of Proceeds” above and our consolidated audited and unaudited financial statements and the notes thereto set forth in this prospectus.
September 30, 2022 | ||||||||||||
Actual | Adjustments | Pro Forma as Adjusted | ||||||||||
Cash | $ | 439,539 | 453,362 | $ | 892,901 | |||||||
Marketable Securities | 96 | - | 96 | |||||||||
Notes Payable | 1,787,099 | - | 1,787,099 | |||||||||
Convertible Notes Payable | 6,062,926 | - | 6,062,926 | |||||||||
Common stock - par value $0.001; 100,000,000 shares authorized; 24,469,675 issued and 24,380,218 outstanding as of September 30, 2022 | 24,470 | 2,896 | 27,366 | |||||||||
Additional paid-in capital | 124,667,772 | 450,466 | 125,118,238 | |||||||||
Accumulated deficit | (133,762,800 | ) | - | (133,762,800 | ) | |||||||
Accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) | (143,991 | ) | - | (143,991 | ) | |||||||
Treasury Stock | (76,106 | ) | - | (76,106 | ) | |||||||
Stockholders’ equity | (8,613,461 | ) | 453,362 | (8,160,099 | ) | |||||||
Total capitalization | (763,436 | ) | 453,362 | (310,074 | ) |
The table above excludes:
● | 4,408,267 shares of Common Stock issuable upon the exercise of outstanding stock options having a weighted average exercise price of $3.93 per share; |
● | 17,300,983 shares of common stock issuable upon the exercise of outstanding warrants having a weighted average exercise price of $2.06 per share; |
● | 30,833,250 shares of common stock issuable upon the conversion of convertible promissory notes having a conversion price of $0.20 per share. |
● | 990,000 shares of common stock issuable upon the conversion of convertible promissory notes having a conversion price of $1.00 per share. |
● | 274,342 shares of common stock issuable upon the conversion of convertible promissory notes having a conversion price of $0.38 per share. |
● | 159,788 shares of common stock issuable upon the conversion of convertible promissory notes having a conversion price of $0.32 per share. |
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MARKET FOR COMMON STOCK AND DIVIDEND POLICY
Our common stock is quoted on the OTCQB under the symbol “CRTD.” As of January 9, 2023, the last reported sale price of the common stock as reported on OTCQB was $0.80 per share. As of January 10, 2023, there were approximately 381 holders of record of common stock. The actual number of shareholders is greater than this number of record holders and includes shareholders who are beneficial owners but whose shares are held in street name by brokers and other nominees (including any mobile investment platform).
To date, we have not paid cash dividends on our common stock and do not plan to pay such dividends in the foreseeable future. Our board of directors will determine our future dividend policy on the basis of many factors, including results of operations, capital requirements, and general business conditions. Dividends, under the Nevada Revised Statutes, may only be paid from our net profits or surplus.
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MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF
FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
The following discussion and analysis should be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and related notes appearing elsewhere in this prospectus. In addition to historical information, this discussion and analysis contains forward-looking statements that involve risks, uncertainties, and assumptions. Our actual results may differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of certain factors, including but not limited to those set forth in “Risk Factors.”
This prospectus and other reports filed by Creatd, Inc. (the “Company”), from time to time with the SEC (collectively, the “Filings”) contain or may contain forward-looking statements and information that are based upon beliefs of, and information currently available to, the Company’s management as well as estimates and assumptions made by Company’s management. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which are only predictions and speak only as of the date hereof. When used in the Filings, the words “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “expect,” “future,” “intend,” “plan,” or the negative of these terms and similar expressions as they relate to the Company or the Company’s management identify forward-looking statements. Such statements reflect the current view of the Company with respect to future events and are subject to risks, uncertainties, assumptions, and other factors, including the risks relating to the Company’s business, industry, and the Company’s operations and results of operations. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should the underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may differ significantly from those anticipated, believed, estimated, expected, intended, or planned.
Although the Company believes that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, the Company cannot guarantee future results, levels of activity, performance, or achievements. Except as required by applicable law, including the securities laws of the United States, the Company does not intend to update any of the forward-looking statements to conform these statements to actual results.
Our financial statements are prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States (“GAAP”). These accounting principles require us to make certain estimates, judgments and assumptions. We believe that the estimates, judgments and assumptions upon which we rely are reasonable based upon information available to us at the time that these estimates, judgments and assumptions are made. These estimates, judgments and assumptions can affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities as of the date of the financial statements as well as the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the periods presented. Our financial statements would be affected to the extent there are material differences between these estimates and actual results. In many cases, the accounting treatment of a particular transaction is specifically dictated by GAAP and does not require management’s judgment in its application. There are also areas in which management’s judgment in selecting any available alternative would not produce a materially different result. The following discussion should be read in conjunction with our financial statements and notes thereto appearing elsewhere in this prospectus.
We intend for this discussion to provide information that will assist in understanding our financial statements, the changes in certain key items in those financial statements, and the primary factors that accounted for those changes, as well as how certain accounting principles affect our financial statements. This discussion should be read in conjunction with our financial statements and accompanying notes for the year ended December 31, 2021, which are included in the Company’s Annual Report on Form 10-K that was filed with the SEC on April 6, 2022 and the Company’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q that was filed with the SEC on November 16, 2022.
Overview
Creatd, Inc. provides economic opportunities to creators and brands by multiplying the impact of platforms, technology, and people.
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The Company has four main revenue lines, all directly related to its flagship technology platform, Vocal. The business lines complement one another, creating a flywheel effect. Working together, they provide shared data and resources to holistically leverage and organically grow the Company. Revenues are generated from creator subscriptions, consumer product sales, branded content, and IP development.
Creator-Centric Strategy
Creatd’s north star metric is to empower creators by providing best-in-class tools, supportive communities, and opportunities for monetization and audience expansion. This creator-first approach is the foundation of our culture and mission.
Creator Subscriptions
Creatd’s most scalable stream of revenues are derived from its flagship technology platform, Vocal.
Vocal was built to serve as a home base for creators. This robust, proprietary technology platform provides digital tools and resources, safe and curated communities, and monetization opportunities that enable creators to find a receptive audience and be rewarded for their content. Creators of all types call Vocal their home, from bloggers to social media influencers, to podcasters, founders, musicians, photographers, and more.
Since its initial launch in 2016, Vocal has grown to over 1.5 million registered creators and is one of the premier technology platforms for content creators of all shapes and sizes. Creators can opt to use Vocal for free, or upgrade to the premium membership tier, Vocal+. Upon joining Vocal, either as a freemium or premium member, creators can immediately begin to utilize Vocal’s storytelling tools to create and publish their stories, as well as benefit from Vocal’s monetization features. Creatd facilitates creators’ monetization on Vocal in many ways, including i) rewarding creators for each ‘read’ their story receives; ii) via Vocal Challenges, or writing contests through which creators can win cash and other rewards; iii) by awarding Bonuses; iv) by connecting creators with brands for opportunities to collaborate on Vocal for Brands branded content campaigns; v) through ‘Subscribe,’ which enables creators to receive payment directly from their audience via monthly subscriptions and one-off microtransactions; vi) via Vocal’s Ambassador Program, which enables creators to receive additional rewards whenever they refer a new Vocal+ member. The Vocal app is available for both iOS and Android on the Apple App store and the Google Play store.
Vocal’s proprietary technology is built on Keystone, the same underlying open-source framework used by industry leaders in the software as a service (SaaS) space. Some of the differentiating elements of Vocal’s technology are speed, sustainability, and scalability. The Company continues to invest heavily in research and development to continuously improve and innovate its platform, with the goal of optimizing the user experience for creators, brands and their audiences. Additionally, the Vocal platform and its underlying technology maintain an advantageous capital-light infrastructure. By using cloud service providers and data segment specialists, we are able to focus on building the platform, community, and revenue rather than building and maintaining the costly internal infrastructures that have materially affected so many legacy media platforms.
Vocal’s technology has been specifically designed to significantly scale without a material corresponding increase in operational costs. While our users can embed rich media, such as video, audio, and product links, into their Vocal stories, the rich media content is hosted elsewhere (such as YouTube, Instagram, Vimeo, Shopify, and Spotify). The Vocal platform can accommodate content of all kinds without bearing the financial or operational costs associated with hosting the media itself. Creatd maintains a number of partnerships and initiatives with the primary content distribution and hosting platforms. In addition to the benefits this framework affords to the Company, it provides the additional benefit to our content creators, in that a creator can increase their monetization; for example, a creator can embed their YouTube video into a Vocal story and thus derive earnings from both platforms when their video is viewed.
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Consumer Products Group
Creatd’s portfolio of internally owned and operated e-commerce businesses and associated technology and infrastructure make up the majority of the company’s second most scalable revenue line. The Company supports founders by providing a host of services including design and development, marketing and distribution, and go-to-market strategies. The Company expects to broaden its portfolio through the acquisition of up and coming brands that are aligned and easily consolidated into its shared supply chain, resources, and infrastructure.
This portfolio includes:
● | Camp, a direct-to-consumer (DTC) food brand which creates healthy upgrades to classic comfort food favorites. Each of Camp’s products are created with servings of vegetables and contain Vitamins A, C, D, E, B1 + B6. Since its launch in 2020, Camp continues to add new products to its line of healthy, veggie-based, family-friendly foods, with flavors including Classic Cheddar Mac ‘N’ Cheese, White Cheddar Mac ‘N’ Cheese, Vegan Cheezy Mac, and Twist Veggie Pasta. |
● | Dune Glow Remedy (“Dune”), which the Company purchased and brought to market in 2021, is a beverage brand focused on promoting wellness and beauty from within. Each beverage in Dune’s product line is meticulously crafted with functional ingredients that nourish skin from the inside out and enhance one’s natural glow. During 2022, Dune has continued to advance its retail and wholesale distribution strategy, securing numerous partnerships including with lifestyle retailer Urban Outfitters, Equinox, and the Los Angeles-based Erewhon Market. |
● | Basis, a hydrating electrolyte drink mix formulated using rehydration therapies developed by the World Health Organization. Acquired by the Company in first quarter 2022, Basis has a history of strong sales volume both on the brand’s website as well as through third-party distribution channels such as Amazon. |
● | Brave, a plant-based food company that provides convenient and healthy breakfast food products. On September 13, 2022, the Company acquired 100% of the membership interests of Brave Foods, LLC, a Maine limited liability company (“Brave”). What started as a search for a better morning routine evolved into a business serving thousands of go-getters of every type. |
Branded Content
The branded content revenue line is driven primarily by its Vocal for Brands offering, the Company’s internal content studio. The business line works with premier brands developing best-in-class organic marketing campaigns. In addition to content creation, the Company generates revenues from its influencer and performance marketing agency opportunities.
Brands have a story to tell. They leverage Vocal’s creator communities to help them tell it. Vocal for Brands’ content marketing studio specializes in pairing leading brands with Vocal creators, as well as discovering new talent and introducing them to the Vocal platform. The branded content business produces marketing campaigns on the platform that are non-interruptive, engaging, and direct-response driven. Additionally, brands can opt to collaborate with Vocal on sponsored Challenges, prompting the creation of thousands of high-quality stories that are centered around the brand’s mission and further disseminated through creators’ respective social channels and promotional outlets. Vocal for Brands campaigns leverage Vocal’s first-party audience insights, which enables the creation of highly targeted, segmented audiences and optimized campaign results.
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IP Development and Production
Creatd’s fourth revenue stream is driven by partnering with its top creators to produce stories for TV, film, podcasts, and print. The Vocal platform is perpetually generating intellectual property sourced and curated by a combination of human let moderation and machine learning models. With millions of compelling stories in its midst, Creatd’s Vocal technology surfaces the best candidates for transmedia adaptations, through a deep analysis of community, creator, and audience insights.
In 2022, Creatd announced a series of newly released and upcoming production projects, including:
● | “Write Here, Write Now,” the Company’s first-ever podcast showcasing select Vocal creators and stories; a partnership with UK-based publisher, Unbound, for the publication of books featuring stories sourced from Vocal; the formation of a new graphic novel development arm which in Fall 2022 will release its first title, Steam Wars, created by artist and independent filmmaker Larry Blamire. |
● | OG Gallery: The OG Collection is an extensive library of original artwork and imagery from the archives of some of the most iconic magazines of the 20th century. OG Gallery is an exploratory initiative aimed at identifying opportunities to propel the OG Collection into a new technological sphere: the NFT marketplace. |
Application of First-Party Data
Creatd’s shared business intelligence and marketing teams identify and target individual creators, communities, and brands, utilizing empirical data harnessed from the Vocal technology platform. The team’s ability to apply its proprietary first-party data works to reduce acquisition costs for new creators and to help provide brands with conversions and an ideal targeted audience. In this way, our ability to apply first-party data is one of the value-drivers for the Company across its four business pillars. The internal teams work across the Company’s portfolio of technology product and service revenue lines.
Creatd uses its first party data to improve the Vocal platform. Specifically, data helps understand the behaviors and attributes that are common among the creators, brands, and audiences within the platform’s ecosystem. Pairing first-party Vocal data with third-party data from distribution platforms such as Instagram, Tiktok, Twitter, and Snapchat provide a more granular profile of creators, brands, and audiences. It is through generating this valuable first-party data that the Company can continually enrich and refine its targeting capabilities for branded content marketing and creator acquisition, and specifically, to reduce creator acquisition costs (CAC) and subscriber acquisition costs (SAC).
Competitive Advantage
The idea for Vocal came as a response to what Creatd’s founders recognized as systemic flaws inherent to the digital media industry and its operational infrastructures. The depreciating value of digital media business models built on legacy technology platforms that did not efficiently access and apply data, created a unique opportunity for the development of a new type of creator-centric platform. Key to building a platform that could appeal to a global community was utilizing that data to create a win-win proposition for all constituents including creators, audiences and the brands that want to access them. The proprietary nature of Creatd’s technology and its process give the company a competitive advantage in acquiring undervalued technology assets that can be rapidly assimilated into the greater collective, thus exponentially driving future EBITDA.
Creatd’s founders built the Vocal platform upon the general thesis that a closed and safe ecosystem utilizing first-party data to increase efficiencies could create a sustainable and defensible business model. Vocal was strategically developed to provide value for content creators, readers, and brands, and to serve as a home for the ever-increasing amount of digital content being produced and the libraries of digital assets lying dormant.
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Acquisition Strategy
Creatd’s hybrid finance and design culture is key to its acquisition strategy. Acquisition targets are companies that meet a set of opportunistic or financial standards or that are part of specific digital environments. Transactions are mainly accretive and targets can seamlessly integrate into Creatd’s existing revenue lines. Creatd will continue to make strategic acquisitions when presented with opportunities that are in the interest of long term shareholder value.
Recent Developments
December 2022 Securities Purchase Agreement
On December 12, 2022, the Company entered into and closed a securities purchase agreement (the “Purchase Agreement”) with one accredited investor (the “Investor”), whereby the Investor purchased from the Company for an aggregate of $750,000 in subscription amount, an unsecured debenture in the principal amount of $750,000 (the “Debenture”). The Company and the Investor also entered into a registration rights agreement pursuant to the Purchase Agreement.
The Debenture has a term of six months with a maturity date of June 12, 2023, which may be extended by six months at the Company’s option subject to certain conditions and monthly redemption options at the election of the holder and are convertible into shares of Common Stock at a conversion price of $0.20 per share, subject to adjustment upon certain events.
November 2022 Warrant Amendment and Issuance
On November 18, 2022, the Company entered into that certain letter agreement dated November 18, 2022 (the “Letter Agreement”) with the respective holders of an aggregate of 471,953 warrants issued as placement agent fees in connection with the Company’s entry into securities purchase agreements with 33 accredited investors, whereby, at the closing, the Investors agreed to purchase from the Company an aggregate of (i) 7,778 shares of the Company’s Series E Convertible Preferred Stock, par value $0.001 per share (the “Series E Preferred Stock”); and (ii) 2,831,721 warrants to purchase shares of the Company’s common stock, pursuant to which the exercise price of such warrants was amended and such warrants were immediately exercised. Additionally, pursuant to the Letter Agreement, the Company issued to such warrant holders 471,953 new warrants, exercisable immediately, for a term of 60 months, at a price of $0.77 per share, subject to customary adjustment provisions. As a result of the triggering of such adjustment provisions, the number of warrants increased to 1,817,019 and the exercise price decreased to $0.20.
Appointment of Erica Wagner to Board; Resignation of Joanna Bloor
On November 16, 2022, Erica Wagner was appointed to the Company’s Board of Directors. Ms. Wagner, age 55, joins the Board with over 25 years of experience as a journalist, broadcaster, editor and author. From 2016 through 2021, Ms. Wagner was a Lecturer, and later Senior Lecturer, at Goldsmith’s College, University of London, where she taught creative writing. Ms. Wagner was previously Lead Editorial Innovator for Creatd, Inc., has previously and currently held roles as a freelance editor, journalist, and contributing writer for numerous outlets both in the U.K. and the U.S., including The New Statesman, Harper’s Bazaar, the Economist, the Observer, the New York Times. Ms. Wagner is also a freelance literary and creative consultant for Chanel, as well as the host of their branded podcast. She has twice been a judge of the Booker Prize and has been judge and Chair of the Goldsmiths Prize. In 2015, Ms. Wagner was awarded an Honorary PhD by the University of East Anglia, and currently Goldsmith’s College Distinguished Writers’ Centre Fellow. She has an undergraduate degree from University of Cambridge, a Master’s degree from University of East Anglia, and an Honorary PhD from the University of East Anglia. As a member of Creatd’s board of directors, Ms. Wagner will add significant expertise with respect to informing the Company’s literary and creative direction, having worked closely with news organizations, commercial companies and publishers, to advise their creative direction and its application towards commercial success.
On November 17, 2022, the Board received notice from Joanna Bloor of her resignation as a director and from all committees of the Board on which she served, effective as of such date. Such resignation is not the result of any disagreement with the Company on any matter relating to the Company’s operations, policies or practices.
Appointment of Peter Majar to the Board; Resignation of Lorraine Hendrickson
On November 2, 2022, the Board appointed Peter Majar to the Board. Mr. Majar, age 55, Founder and Managing Member of Majar Advisors, combines over 25 years of experience in investment banking, financial services and technology, and management consulting, having held numerous senior management and executive positions including Chief Financial Officer, Head of Financial Technology, Head of Strategy, as well as several Managing Director positions. From 2015 to 2017, Mr. Majar served as Managing Director in Investment Banking and co-Head of Diversified Financial Services at Piper Jaffray & Co. (now Piper Sandler Companies). From 2017 to 2018, Mr. Majar provided management consulting services through his self-established firm, Majar Advisors LLC, which remains in operation through the present. From 2018 to 2021, Mr. Majar served as Managing Director, Head of Financial Technology at New York-based investment banking and financial advisory firm, TAP Advisors, LLC. Between 2021 and 2022, Mr. Majar served as Chief Financial Officer at information technology company Hoyos Integrity Corp., having previously served as a longtime advisor to the firm. Mr. Majar holds an undergraduate degree from University of Washington and an MBA from Columbia University. As a board director, Mr. Majar will add considerable value, including through his comprehensive and diverse investment management experience, deep knowledge of financial technology services and transactions, and broad experience with corporate development, strategy consulting, and executive leadership.
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On November 1, 2022, the Board received notice from Lorraine Hendrickson of her resignation as a director and from all committees of the Board on which she served, effective as of such date. Ms. Hendrickson’s resignation as a member of the Board is not the result of any disagreement with the Company on any matter relating to the Company’s operations, policies or practices.
Nasdaq Delisting
On September 2, 2022, the Company received a letter from the staff of The Nasdaq Capital Market notifying the Company that the Nasdaq Hearings Panel has determined to delist the Company’s common stock from the Exchange, based on the Company’s failure to comply with the listing requirements of Nasdaq Rule 5550(b)(1) as a result of the Company’s shareholder equity deficit for the period ended June 30, 2022, as demonstrated in Company’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed on August 15, 2022, following the Company having not complied with the market value of listed securities requirement in Nasdaq Rule 5550(b)(2) on March 1, 2022, while the Company was under a Panel Monitor, as had been previously disclosed. Suspension of trading in the Company’s shares on the Exchange became effective at the opening of business on September 7, 2022, at which time the Company’s common stock, under the symbol “CRTD,” and publicly-traded warrants, under the symbol “CRTDW,” was quoted on the OTCPink marketplace operated by OTC Markets Group Inc.
Following passage of the proscribed 15-day time period for appeal as stated in the Letter, on October 26, 2022, Nasdaq completed the delisting by filing a Form 25 Notification of Delisting with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The Company’s common stock, under the symbol “CRTD,” is quoted on the OTCQB marketplace operated by OTC Markets Group Inc. effective as of September 26, 2022. The Company’s publicly-traded warrants, under the symbol “CRTDW,” are quoted on the OTCPink marketplace operated by OTC Markets Group Inc.
Securities Purchase Agreement; Side Letter
On October 24, 2022, the Company entered into and closed a securities purchase agreement (the “Purchase Agreement”) with one accredited investor (the “Investor”), whereby the Investor purchased from the Company for an aggregate of $1,500,000 in subscription amount, an unsecured debenture in the principal amount of $1,666,650 (the “Debenture”). The Company and the Investor also entered into a registration rights agreement (each, a “Registration Rights Agreement”) pursuant to the Purchase Agreement.
The Debenture has an original issue discount of 10%, has a term of six months with a maturity date of April 24, 2023, may be extended by six months at the Company’s option subject to certain conditions, and are convertible into shares of Common Stock at a conversion price of $0.20 per share, subject to adjustment upon certain events.
In connection with its entry into the Purchase Agreement and issuance of the Debenture, the Company also entered into a side letter agreement (the “Letter Agreement”) with the holders of debentures of the Company, the Series C Warrants and Series D Warrants issued as of May 31, 2022 (the “May Investors”) and the holders of debentures of the Company, the Series E Warrants and Series F Warrants issued as of July 25, 2022 (the “July Investors”). Pursuant to the Letter Agreement each of the May Investors and the July Investors have entered into a lock-up agreement whereby they may not sell any such debentures, warrants, the shares into which such debentures may be converted, or certain shares underlying such warrants until the date that is 30 days after the date on which the registration statement registering for resale the shares of the Company’s common stock underlying the Debenture is declared effective by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Additionally, the Letter Agreement, provides that the May Investors and July Investors have agreed to a further lock up of such shares for a further 30 days upon the receipt of a certain amount of the proceeds from future potential issuances of debentures, common stock or similar securities by the Company. Further additionally, pursuant to the Letter Agreement, the May Investors and the July Investors have agreed to exchange and return for cancellation the Series C Warrants, Series D Warrants, Series E Warrants and Series F Warrants, receiving replacement warrants from the Company (the “Replacement Warrants”), in consideration for (i) the Company’s payment of $750,000 of the proceeds from the sale of the Debenture to the May Investors and July Investors on a pro rata basis and (ii) the Company’s agreement to pay, on a pro rata basis to the May Investors and July Investors, the greater of (x) $750,000 and (y) 50% of the gross proceeds raised in a subsequent financing. The Replacement Warrants reflect a reduction in the number of Series C and Series D Warrants from 1,550,000 in each class to 1,536,607 in each class and a reduction in the number of Series E and Series F Warrants from 1,075,000 in each class to 807,143 in each class, and the initial exercise date for the Replacement Warrants are unchanged from the date as set forth in the respective exchanged Series C, Series D, Series E or Series F Warrant.
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Common Stock Purchase Agreement, Securities Purchase Agreement and Promissory Note
On October 20, 2022, the Company entered into a Common Stock Purchase Agreement (the “Investment Agreement”) with an otherwise unaffiliated third party (the “Investor”). Pursuant to the terms of the Investment Agreement, for a period of thirty-six (36) months commencing on the trading day immediately following date of effectiveness of the Registration Statement (as defined below), the Investor purchase up to $15,000,000 of the Company’s common stock, par value $0.001 per share (the “Shares”), pursuant to Drawdown Notices (as defined below), covering the Registrable Securities (as defined below). The purchase price of the Shares under the Investment Agreement is equal to 82% of the lowest volume weighted average price (VWAP) during the last ten trading days after the Company delivers to the Investor a Put notice (a “Drawdown Notice”) in writing requiring Investor to purchase shares of the Company, subject to the terms of the Investment Agreement.
On October 20, 2022, the Company also entered into a Securities Purchase Agreement (the “Purchase Agreement”) with the Investor, pursuant to which the Company issued to the Investor on that date a Promissory Note (the “Note”) in the principal amount of $300,000 in exchange for a purchase price of $255,000, which the Investor funded on October 20,2022. The proceeds of the Note will be used by the Company for general working capital purposes.
The Note bears interest at the rate of 10% per annum. Starting on the fifth month anniversary of the funding of the Note, and for the next six months thereafter, the Company will make seven equal monthly payments of $47,142.85 to the Investor.
On October 20, 2022, in connection with the entry by the Company and the Investor into the economic agreements, (i.e., the Investment Agreement, the Purchase Agreement, and the Note and the funding thereof), the Company issued 800,000 shares of its common stock to the Investor.
Securities Purchase Agreement
On September 15, 2022, Creatd, Inc., entered into a securities purchase agreement (the “Purchase Agreement”) with five accredited investors resulting in the raise of $800,000 in gross proceeds to the Company. Pursuant to the terms of the Purchase Agreement, the Company agreed to sell in a registered direct offering (the “Offering”) an aggregate of 4,000,000 shares of the Company’s common stock, par value $0.001 per share (the “Common Stock”). In a concurrent private placement, the Company issued to such investors warrants to purchase up to 4,000,000 shares of Common Stock, representing 100% of the shares of common stock purchased in the Offering (the “Warrants”). The Warrants and the shares of common stock issuable upon the exercise of the Warrants (the “Warrant Shares”) are not being registered under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended.
The Offering is expected to close on or about September 19, 2022, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions as set forth in the Purchase Agreement. The Company expects the gross proceeds from the Offering to be $800,000, before deducting Offering expenses, which will be used for general corporate purposes, including working capital.
The shares of Common Stock were offered and sold by the Company pursuant to a prospectus supplement, which will be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission in connection with a takedown from the Company’s effective shelf registration statement on Form S-3, which was filed with the Commission on November 25, 2020 and subsequently declared effective on April 23, 2021 (File No. 333-250982) (the “Shelf Registration Statement”).
The Warrants are immediately exercisable for a term of five years until September 15, 2027. The Warrants are exercisable at an exercise price of $0.20, subject to adjustment upon certain events. The Warrants provide for cashless exercise to the extent that there is no registration statement available for the underlying shares of Common Stock. The shares underlying the Warrants are to be registered within 10 trading days of the date of the Purchase Agreement.
The representations and warranties contained in the Purchase Agreement were made by the parties to, and solely for the benefit of, the other in the context of all of the terms and conditions of the Purchase Agreement and in the context of the specific relationship between the parties. The provisions of the Purchase Agreement, including the representations and warranties contained therein, are not for the benefit of any party other than the parties to the Purchase Agreement. The Purchase Agreement is not intended for investors and the public to obtain factual information about the current state of affairs of the parties.
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Restructuring Agreement
On September 15, 2022, in connection with the Offering, the Company entered into an agreement with the holders of certain of the Company’s previously issued securities (the “Restructuring Agreement”).
The Restructuring Agreement, among other things, modified certain provisions of the following securities of the Company:
(i) | Original Issue Discount Senior Convertible Debentures issued on May 31, 2022 (the “May 2022 Debentures”); |
(ii) | Original Issue Discount Senior Convertible Debentures issued on July 25, 2022 (the “July 2022 Debentures” and, together with the May 2022 Debentures, the “Debentures”); |
(iii) | Common Stock Purchase Warrants issued on February 28, 2022 (the “February 2022 Warrants”); |
(iv) | Common Stock Purchase Warrants issued on March 9, 2022 (the “March 2022 Warrants”); |
(v) | Series C Common Stock Purchase Warrants issued on May 31, 2022 (the “Series C Warrants”); |
(vi) | Series D Common Stock Purchase Warrants issued on May 31, 2022 (the “Series D Warrants”); |
(vii) | Series E Common Stock Purchase Warrants issued on July 25, 2022 (the “Series E Warrants”); |
(viii) | Series F Common Stock Purchase Warrants issued on July 25, 2022 (the “Series F Warrants” and, together with the February 2022 Warrants, the March 2022 Warrants, Series C Warrants, Series D Warrants and Series E Warrants, the “Restructured Warrants”); |
Pursuant to the Restructuring Agreement, the Company and the Holders agreed to, among other things, to (i) reduce the conversion price of the Debentures down to $0.20, subject to adjustment for reverse and forward stock splits, stock dividends, stock combinations and other similar transactions of the Common Stock; (ii) reduce the exercise price of the Restructured Warrants down to $0.20, subject to adjustment for subject to adjustment for reverse and forward stock splits, stock dividends, stock combinations and other similar transactions of the Common Stock; (iii) extend the maturity dates for the Debentures to March 31, 2023; (iv) permit the Company’s contemplated rights offering to proceed, provided that the per share offering price in the rights offering is not less than $0.20; and (v) require that the Company’s cash burn rate not exceed $600,000 per month; provided, however, that with the prior written consent of a majority in interest of the Holders, such permitted monthly burn rate can be increased by $150,000, provided such additional amount is used for marketing purposes.
Additionally, in connection with the Restructuring Agreement, (i) the Company entered into a Registration Rights Agreement (“Registration Rights Agreement”), providing for the filing of a registration statement covering the Restructured Warrants and shares underlying the Warrants by not later than 10 trading days after the date of the Registration Rights Agreement or the earliest practical date on which the Company is permitted by Commission guidance to file such registration statement; (ii) the Company and its subsidiaries entered into a Security Agreement (the “Security Agreement”), whereby the Company granted a first priority security interest in all of their respective assets to the Holders and (iii) the subsidiaries of the Company delivered a guarantee (the “Guarantee”) in favor of the Holders whereby each such subsidiary guaranteed the full payment and performance of all obligations of the Company pursuant to the Debentures.
Each of our directors and officers have entered into lock-up agreements (the “Lock-up Agreements”) in favor of the Holders, whereby they have agreed not to offer, sell, agree to sell, directly or indirectly, or otherwise dispose of any shares of Common Stock or any securities convertible into or exchangeable for shares of Common Stock without the prior written consent of the Holders for a period of 180 days after the date of the Restructuring Agreement. The Lock-up Agreements provide limited exceptions and their restrictions may be waived at any time by the Holders.
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Resignation of Brad Justus
On September 21, 2022, the Board of Directors of Creatd, Inc. received notice from Brad Justus of his resignation as a member of the Board, chair of the Nominating & Corporate Governance Committee, a member of the Audit Committee and a member of the Compensation Committee, with such resignation to become effective on September 30, 2022. Such resignation is not the result of any disagreement with the Company on any matter relating to the Company’s operations, policies or practices.
Resignation of Chief Executive Officer and Director
On August 9, 2022, Laurie Weisberg, the Company’s Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board, notified the Company of her intention to resign from the positions of Chief Executive Officer, director, and any other positions held with the Company or any of its subsidiaries, regardless of whether Ms. Weisberg had been appointed. Such resignations are to become effective on a date to be determined following further discussion with the Board, but in no event later than August 31, 2022. On September 2, 2022, the Company entered into an Executive Separation Agreement with Laurie Weisberg the Company’s Chief Executive Officer and member of the Board of Directors setting forth the terms and conditions related to the Executive’s resignation for good reason as Chief Executive Officer, Director and any other positions held with the Company or any subsidiary.
Appointment of Chief Executive Officer
Effective upon Ms. Weisberg’s resignation as Chief Executive Officer, Jeremy Frommer, currently the Company’s Executive Chairman, will be appointed as Chief Executive Officer, pursuant to the Board’s approval.
Jeremy Frommer
Mr. Frommer was appointed Executive Chairman in February 2022 and has been a member of our board of directors since February 2016. Previously, he served as our Chief Executive Officer from February 2016 to August 2021, and Co-Chief Executive Officer from August 2021 to February 2022. Mr. Frommer has over 20 years of experience in the financial technology industry. Previously, Mr. Frommer held key leadership roles in the investment banking and trading divisions of large financial institutions. From 2009 to 2012, Mr. Frommer was briefly retired until beginning concept formation for Jerrick Ventures which he officially founded in 2013. From 2007 to 2009, Mr. Frommer was Managing Director of Global Prime Services at RBC Capital Markets, the investment banking arm of the Royal Bank of Canada, the largest financial institution in Canada, after the sale of Carlin Financial Group, a professional trading firm. From 2004 to 2007, Mr. Frommer was the Chief Executive Officer of Carlin Financial Group after the sale of NextGen Trading, a software development company focused on building equity trading platforms. From 2002 to 2004, Mr. Frommer was Founder and Chief Executive Officer of NextGen Trading. From 2000 to 2002, he was Managing Director of Merger Arbitrage Trading at Bank of America, a financial services firm. Mr. Frommer was also a director of LionEye Capital, a hedge fund from June 2012 to June 2014. He holds a B.A. from the University of Albany. We believe Mr. Frommer is qualified to serve on our board of directors due to his financial and leadership experience.
Appointment of Director
Effective upon Ms. Weisberg’s resignation as a director, Justin Maury, currently the Company’s President and Chief Operating Officer, will be appointed to the Board, pursuant to the Board’s approval.
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Justin Maury
Mr. Maury has served as our President since January 2019 and was appointed Chief Operating Officer in August 2021. A full-stack designer and product developer by training, Mr. Maury partnered with Jeremy Frommer and founded the Company in 2013, having brought with him 10 years of experience in the creative industry. Since joining Creatd in 2013, Mr. Maury has been an instrumental force in the Company’s business and revenue expansion, and has overseen the Company’s product development since inception, including overseeing the design, development, launch, and ongoing growth of the Company’s flagship product, Vocal, the innovative creator that, under Mr. Maury’s leadership, has grown to a community of over 1.5 million users with a total audience reach of over 175 million.
As a director, we believe Mr. Maury will add considerable value, including through by providing a unique perspective into Creatd’s product performance and evolution and by providing invaluable direct input to help guide the Company’s ongoing refinement of its technology roadmap and maturation of its business model.
Trigger of Price Reset
On July 29, 2022, the Company announced that it was not moving forward with its previously announced Rights Offering. In doing so, it triggered a price reset in the July 2022 Financing and the May 2022 Securities Purchase Agreement. As a result of this price reset, the May 2022 Securities Purchase Agreement debentures now have a conversion price of $1.00, and both the Series C and Series D warrants have exercise prices of $0.96. As a result of the price reset, the July 2022 Financing debentures now have a conversion price of $1.25, and both the Series E and Series F warrants have exercise prices of $1.01.
July 2022 Financing
On July 25, 2022 (the “Effective Date”), the Company entered into and closed securities purchase agreements (each, a “Purchase Agreement”) with five accredited investors (the “Investors”), whereby the Investors purchased from the Company for an aggregate of $1,935,019 in subscription amount (i) debentures in the principal amount of $2,150,000 (the “Debentures”); (ii) 1,075,000 Series E Common Stock Purchase Warrants to purchase shares of the Common Stock (the “Series E Warrants”); and (iii) 1,075,000 Series F Common Stock Purchase Warrants to purchase shares of Common Stock (the “Series F Warrants”, and collectively with the Series E Warrants, the “Warrants”). The Company and the Investors also entered into registration rights agreements (each, a “Registration Rights Agreement”) pursuant to the Purchase Agreement.
The Debentures have an original issue discount of 10%, have a maturity date of November 30, 2022, may be extended by six months at the Company’s option subject to certain conditions, and are convertible into shares of Common Stock at a conversion price of $2.00 per share, subject to adjustment upon certain events including a one-time adjustment to the price of the Common Stock offered in the Rights Offering (as defined therein), with such adjusted conversion price not to be lower than $1.25.
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The Warrants are immediately exercisable for a term of five years until July 25, 2027. The Series E Warrants are exercisable at an exercise price of $3.00, subject to adjustment upon certain events including a one-time adjustment to the price of the Common Stock offered in the Rights Offering, with such adjusted exercise price not to be lower than $1.01. The Series F Warrants are exercisable at an exercise price of $6.00 subject to adjustment upon certain events including a one-time adjustment to the price of the Common Stock offered in the Rights Offering, with such adjusted exercise price not to be lower than $1.01. The Warrants provide for cashless exercise to the extent that there is no registration statement available for the underlying shares of Common Stock. The shares underlying the Debentures, the Series E Warrants and the Series F Warrants are to be registered within 90 days of the Effective Date.
The representations and warranties contained in the Purchase Agreement were made by the parties to, and solely for the benefit of, the other in the context of all of the terms and conditions of the Purchase Agreement and in the context of the specific relationship between the parties. The provisions of the Purchase Agreement, including the representations and warranties contained therein, are not for the benefit of any party other than the parties to the Purchase Agreement. The Purchase Agreement is not intended for investors and the public to obtain factual information about the current state of affairs of the parties.
Additionally, in connection with the Purchase Agreements, the subsidiaries of the Company delivered a guarantee (the “Guarantee”) in favor of the Investors whereby each such subsidiary guaranteed the full payment and performance of all obligations of the Company pursuant to the Purchase Agreement.
Securities Purchase Agreement
On May 31, 2022, the Company entered into and closed securities purchase agreements (each, a “Purchase Agreement”) with eight accredited investors (the “Investors”), whereby the Investors purchased from the Company for an aggregate of $3,600,036 in subscription amount (i) debentures in the principal amount of $4,000,000 (the “Debentures”); (ii) 2,000,000 Series C Common Stock Purchase Warrants to purchase shares of the Company’s common stock, par value $0.001 per share (the “Common Stock”) (the “Series C Warrants”); and (iii) 2,000,000 Series D Common Stock Purchase Warrants to purchase shares of Common Stock (the “Series D Warrants”, and collectively with the Series C Warrants, the “Warrants”). The Company and the Investors also entered into registration rights agreements (each, a “Registration Rights Agreement”) pursuant to the Purchase Agreement.
The Debentures have an original issue discount of 10%, have a term of six months with a maturity date of November 30, 2022, may be extended by six months at the Company’s option subject to certain conditions, and are convertible into shares of Common Stock at a conversion price of $2.00 per share, subject to adjustment upon certain events including a one-time adjustment to the price of the Common Stock offered in the Rights Offering (as defined therein), with such adjusted conversion price not to be lower than $1.00.
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The Warrants are exercisable for a term of five years from the initial exercise date of November 30, 2022, until November 30, 2027. The Series C Warrants are exercisable at an exercise price of $3.00, subject to adjustment upon certain events including a one-time adjustment to the price of the Common Stock offered in the Rights Offering, with such adjusted exercise price not to be lower than $0.96. The Series D Warrants are exercisable at an exercise price of $6.00 subject to adjustment upon certain events including a one-time adjustment to the price of the Common Stock offered in the Rights Offering, with such adjusted exercise price not to be lower than $0.96. The Warrants provide for cashless exercise to the extent that there is no registration statement available for the underlying shares of Common Stock. The shares underlying the Debentures, the Series C Warrants and the Series D Warrants are to be registered within 90 days of the Effective Date.
Additionally, in connection with the Purchase Agreements, the subsidiaries of the Company delivered a guarantee (the “Guarantee”) in favor of the Investors whereby each such subsidiary guaranteed the full payment and performance of all obligations of the Company pursuant to the Purchase Agreement.
The Debentures, Warrants, Common Stock underlying the Debentures and the Common Stock underlying the Warrants were not registered under the Securities Act, but qualified for exemption under Section 4(a)(2) and Rule 506 promulgated thereunder. The Company is relying on this exemption from registration for private placements based in part on the representations made by Investors, including representations with respect to each Investor’s status as an accredited investor, as such term is defined in Rule 501(a) of the Securities Act, and each Investor’s investment intent.
Results of Operations
Liquidity and Capital Resources
The following table summarizes total current assets, liabilities and working capital at September 30, 2022 compared to December 31, 2021:
September 30, 2022 | December 31, 2021 | Increase / (Decrease) | ||||||||||
Current Assets | $ | 1,680,594 | $ | 4,475,242 | $ | (2,794,648 | ) | |||||
Current Liabilities | $ | 15,172,939 | $ | 5,421,015 | $ | 9,751,924 | ||||||
Working Capital (Deficit) | $ | (13,492,345 | ) | $ | (945,773 | ) | $ | (12,546,572 | ) |
At September 30, 2022, the Company had a working capital deficit of $13,492,345 as compared to a working capital deficit of $945,773 at December 31, 2021, an increase in working capital deficit of $12,546,572. The increase is primarily attributable to the decrease in cash, accounts receivable, and prepaids and other current assets, as well as an increase in accounts payable, notes payable and deferred revenue.
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Net Cash
Net cash used in operating activities for the nine months ended September 30, 2022, and 2021, was $13,857,189 and $15,617,065, respectively. The net loss for the nine months ended September 30, 2022, and 2021 was $25,112,331 and $24,942,247, respectively. The decrease in net cash used in operating activities reflects the decrease in net cash used in operating activities reflects a decrease in cash paid for marketing expenditures, research and development, legal fees, and accounting & audit fees. This was offset by an increase in rent and lease expenses and payroll expense.
Net cash used in investing activities for the nine months ended September 30, 2022, and 2021, was $494,192 and $1,325,155, respectively. This is primarily attributable to cash paid for property and equipment along with the cash paid for minority and majority investment in business.
Net cash provided by financing activities for the nine months ended September 30, 2022, and 2021 was $11,061,905 and $10,560,265, respectively. During the nine months ended September 30, 2022, the Company’s operations were predominantly financed by net proceeds from the issuance of common stock with warrants and from the issuance of notes. Similarly, the Company’s financing activity for the nine months ended September 30, 2021, generated $5,472,068 from the exercise of warrants, the proceeds from loans and notes of $3,931,720, and proceeds from the issuance of stock and warrants, which were partially offset by the repayment of notes and loans of $1,345,723.
Summary of Statements of Operations for the Three Months Ended September 30, 2022, and 2021:
Three Months Ended September 30, | ||||||||
2022 | 2021 | |||||||
Revenue | $ | 1,022,851 | $ | 1,179,620 | ||||
Cost of revenue | $ | 1,404,562 | $ | 1,418,213 | ||||
Operating expenses | $ | (5,595,108 | ) | $ | (6,672,381 | ) | ||
Loss from operations | $ | (5,976,819 | ) | $ | (6,910,974 | ) | ||
Other expenses | $ | (3,549,526 | ) | $ | (2,809,147 | ) | ||
Net loss | $ | (9,526,345 | ) | $ | (9,736,534 | ) | ||
Loss per common share - basic and diluted | $ | (0.45 | ) | $ | (0.71 | ) |
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Revenue
Revenue totaled $1,022,851 for the three months ended September 30, 2022, a decrease of $156,769 as compared to $1,179,620 for the comparable three months ended September 30, 2021. Management attributes this decrease to the significant headwinds that have interrupted year-over-year growth due to supply-line disruptions and an overall decline in consumer spending.
Cost of Revenue
Cost of revenue for the three months ended September 30, 2022, were $1,404,562, relatively flat as compared to $1,418,213 for the three months ended September 30, 2021. Going forward, the Company expects the gross margin to continue to improve over time as it continues to consolidate operations across its portfolio of e-commerce brands.
Operating Expenses
Operating expenses for the three months ended September 30, 2022, were $5,595,108 as compared to $6,672,381 for the three months ended September 30, 2021. The 16% decrease of $1,077,273 in operating expenses is primarily attributable to a cost cutting program implemented by the Company to dramatically reduce expenses, including significant decreases to marketing and research and development expenditures. This program began in September of 2022, and its primary impact will be recognized in Q4 of 2022, including the impact of a significant reduction in headcount. Additionally, the company’s non-cash charges totaled $626,568, a $1,135,880 decrease from third quarter 2021. This decrease primarily represents stock-based compensation to employees and consultants during the quarter.
These decreases were offset by an increase in general and administrative expenses, as well as approximately $257,117 in one-time non-cash expenses related to the impairment of intangible assets and goodwill, as well as a one-time cash expense of $475,000 expense related to a member of management’s severance package.
Loss from Operations
Loss from operations for the three months ended September 30, 2022, was $5,976,819 as compared to $6,910,974 for the three months ended September 30, 2021. The $934,155 decrease in the loss from operations this quarter primarily reflects the Company’s decreased operating expenses, offset by the decrease in revenues.
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Other Expenses
Other expenses for the three months ended September 30, 2022, were $3,549,526 as compared to $2,809,147 for the three months ended September 30, 2021. The decrease in third quarter 2022 other income was predominantly due to the increase from loss on extinguishment of debt and interest expense. This was offset by a decrease in change in derivative liability and accretion of debt discount and issuance cost.
Net Loss
Net loss for the three months ended September 30, 2022, was $9,526,345, as compared to a net loss of $9,797,011 for the three months ended September 30, 2021.
Net loss attributable to common shareholders for the three months ended September 30, 2022, was $9,448,271, or loss per share of $0.45, as compared to a net loss attributable to common shareholders of $9,797,011, or loss per share of $0.71, for the three months ended September 30, 2021.
Summary of Statements of Operations for the Nine Months Ended September 30, 2022, and 2021:
Nine Months Ended September 30, | ||||||||
2022 | 2021 | |||||||
Revenue | $ | 3,997,490 | $ | 2,894,390 | ||||
Cost of revenue | $ | 4,771,151 | $ | 4,160,743 | ||||
Operating expenses | $ | (20,205,866 | ) | $ | (19,971,413 | ) | ||
Loss from operations | $ | (20,979,527 | ) | $ | (21,237,766 | ) | ||
Other expenses | $ | (4,132,804 | ) | $ | (3,688,068 | ) | ||
Net loss | $ | (25,112,331 | ) | $ | (24,942,247 | ) | ||
Loss per common share - basic and diluted | $ | (1.23 | ) | $ | (2.20 | ) |
Revenue
Revenue totaled $3,997,490 for the nine months ended September 30, 2022, as compared to $2,894,390 for the comparable nine months ended September 30, 2021, an increase of $1,103,100. The 38% year-over-year increase in revenue is primarily attributable to growth within the Company’s consumer product portfolio.
Cost of Revenue
Cost of revenue for the nine months ended September 30, 2022, were $4,771,151 as compared to $4,160,743 for the nine months ended September 30, 2021. The increase of $610,408 in cost of revenue is primarily related to an increase in product-related cost of goods sold as the consumer products group expanded its operations. The Company expects the gross margin to continue to improve over time as it continues to grow a self-sustaining, organically driven revenue model across its business segments.
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Operating Expenses
Operating expenses for the nine months ended September 30, 2022, were $20,205,866 as compared to $19,971,413 for the nine months ended September 30, 2021. The decrease of $234,453 in operating expenses is mainly related to a 50% decrease in marketing spend and a 32% decrease in stock-based compensation. This increase was partially offset by an increase in general and administrative expenses. The Company expects expenditures to decrease further due to the austerity measures put into place in late Q3 2022.
Loss from Operations
Loss from operations for the nine months ended September 30, 2022, was $20,979,527 as compared to $21,237,766 for the nine months ended September 30, 2021. The $ 258,239 increase in the loss from operations primarily reflects the Company’s increased revenues within its consumer products group coupled with lowered operating expenses.
Other Expenses
Other expenses for the nine months ended September 30, 2022, were $4,132,804 as compared to $3,688,068 for the nine months ended September 30, 2021. The increase in other income was predominantly due to the increase from loss on extinguishment of debt and interest expense. This was offset by a decrease in change in derivative liability and accretion of debt discount and issuance cost.
Net Loss
Net loss for the nine months ended September 30, 2022, was $25,112,331, as compared to a net loss of $24,942,247 for the nine months ended September 30, 2021.
Net loss attributable to common shareholders for the nine months ended September 30, 2022, was $24,130,227, or loss per share of $1.23, as compared to a net loss attributable to common shareholders of $25,413,042, or loss per share of $2.20, for the nine months ended September 30, 2021.
Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements
As of September 30, 2022, we had no off-balance sheet arrangements.
Significant Accounting Policies
Our significant accounting policies are described in Note 2 of the Financial Statements. If we complete an acquisition, we will be required to make estimates and assumptions typical of other companies. For example, we will be required to make critical accounting estimates related to valuation and accounting for business combinations. The estimates will require us to rely upon assumptions that were highly uncertain at the time the accounting estimates are made, and changes in them are reasonably likely to occur from period to period. Changes in estimates used in these and other items could have a material impact on our financial statements in the future. Our estimates will be based on our experience and our interpretation of economic, political, regulatory, and other factors that affect our business prospects. Actual results may differ significantly from our estimates. For detailed information regarding our critical accounting policies and estimates, see our financial statements and notes thereto included in this Report and in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021. There have been no material changes to our critical accounting policies and estimates from those disclosed in our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K.
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BUSINESS
Overview
Creatd, Inc. provides economic opportunities to creators and brands by multiplying the impact of platforms, technology, and people.
The Company has four main revenue lines, all directly related to its flagship technology platform, Vocal. The business lines complement one another, creating a flywheel effect. Working together, they provide shared data and resources to holistically leverage and organically grow the Company. Revenues are generated from creator subscriptions, consumer product sales, branded content, and IP development.
Creator-Centric Strategy
Creatd’s north star metric is to empower creators by providing best-in-class tools, supportive communities, and opportunities for monetization and audience expansion. This creator-first approach is the foundation of our culture and mission.
Creator Subscriptions
Creatd’s most scalable stream of revenues are derived from its flagship technology platform, Vocal.
Vocal was built to serve as a home base for creators. This robust, proprietary technology platform provides digital tools and resources, safe and curated communities, and monetization opportunities that enable creators to find a receptive audience and be rewarded for their content. Creators of all types call Vocal their home, from bloggers to social media influencers, to podcasters, founders, musicians, photographers, and more.
Since its initial launch in 2016, Vocal has grown to over 1.5 million registered creators and is one of the premier technology platforms for content creators of all shapes and sizes. Creators can opt to use Vocal for free, or upgrade to the premium membership tier, Vocal+. Upon joining Vocal, either as a freemium or premium member, creators can immediately begin to utilize Vocal’s storytelling tools to create and publish their stories, as well as benefit from Vocal’s monetization features. Creatd facilitates creators’ monetization on Vocal in many ways, including i) rewarding creators for each ‘read’ their story receives; ii) via Vocal Challenges, or writing contests through which creators can win cash and other rewards; iii) by awarding Bonuses; iv) by connecting creators with brands for opportunities to collaborate on Vocal for Brands branded content campaigns; v) through ’Subscribe,’ which enables creators to receive payment directly from their audience via monthly subscriptions and one-off microtransactions; vi) via Vocal’s Ambassador Program, which enables creators to receive additional rewards whenever they refer a new Vocal+ member. The Vocal app is available for both iOS and Android on the Apple App store and the Google Play store.
Vocal’s proprietary technology is built on Keystone, the same underlying open-source framework used by industry leaders in the software as a service (SaaS) space. Some of the differentiating elements of Vocal’s technology are speed, sustainability, and scalability. The Company continues to invest heavily in research and development to continuously improve and innovate its platform, with the goal of optimizing the user experience for creators, brands and their audiences. Additionally, the Vocal platform and its underlying technology maintain an advantageous capital-light infrastructure. By using cloud service providers and data segment specialists, we are able to focus on building the platform, community, and revenue rather than building and maintaining the costly internal infrastructures that have materially affected so many legacy media platforms.
Vocal’s technology has been specifically designed to significantly scale without a material corresponding increase in operational costs. While our users can embed rich media, such as video, audio, and product links, into their Vocal stories, the rich media content is hosted elsewhere (such as YouTube, Instagram, Vimeo, Shopify, and Spotify). The Vocal platform can accommodate content of all kinds without bearing the financial or operational costs associated with hosting the media itself. Creatd maintains a number of partnerships and initiatives with the primary content distribution and hosting platforms. In addition to the benefits this framework affords to the Company, it provides the additional benefit to our content creators, in that a creator can increase their monetization; for example, a creator can embed their YouTube video into a Vocal story and thus derive earnings from both platforms when their video is viewed.
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Consumer Products Group
Creatd’s portfolio of internally owned and operated e-commerce businesses and associated technology and infrastructure make up the majority of the company’s second most scalable revenue line. The Company supports founders by providing a host of services including design and development, marketing and distribution, and go-to-market strategies. The Company expects to broaden its portfolio through the acquisition of up and coming brands that are aligned and easily consolidated into its shared supply chain, resources, and infrastructure.
This portfolio includes:
● | Camp, a direct-to-consumer (DTC) food brand which creates healthy upgrades to classic comfort food favorites. Each of Camp’s products are created with servings of vegetables and contain Vitamins A, C, D, E, B1 + B6. Since its launch in 2020, Camp continues to add new products to its line of healthy, veggie-based, family-friendly foods, with flavors including Classic Cheddar Mac ‘N’ Cheese, White Cheddar Mac ‘N’ Cheese, Vegan Cheezy Mac, and Twist Veggie Pasta. |
● | Dune Glow Remedy (“Dune”), which the Company purchased and brought to market in 2021, is a beverage brand focused on promoting wellness and beauty from within. Each beverage in Dune’s product line is meticulously crafted with functional ingredients that nourish skin from the inside out and enhance one’s natural glow. During 2022, Dune has continued to advance its retail and wholesale distribution strategy, securing numerous partnerships including with lifestyle retailer Urban Outfitters, Equinox, and the Los Angeles-based Erewhon Market. |
● | Basis, a hydrating electrolyte drink mix formulated using rehydration therapies developed by the World Health Organization. Acquired by the Company in first quarter 2022, Basis has a history of strong sales volume both on the brand’s website as well as through third-party distribution channels such as Amazon. |
● | Brave, a plant-based food company that provides convenient and healthy breakfast food products. On September 13, 2022, the Company acquired 100% of the membership interests of Brave Foods, LLC, a Maine limited liability company (“Brave”). What started as a search for a better morning routine evolved into a business serving thousands of go-getters of every type. |
Branded Content
The branded content revenue line is driven primarily by its Vocal for Brands offering, the Company’s internal content studio. The business line works with premier brands developing best-in-class organic marketing campaigns. In addition to content creation, the Company generates revenues from its influencer and performance marketing agency opportunities.
Brands have a story to tell. They leverage Vocal’s creator communities to help them tell it. Vocal for Brands’ content marketing studio specializes in pairing leading brands with Vocal creators, as well as discovering new talent and introducing them to the Vocal platform. The branded content business produces marketing campaigns on the platform that are non-interruptive, engaging, and direct-response driven. Additionally, brands can opt to collaborate with Vocal on sponsored Challenges, prompting the creation of thousands of high-quality stories that are centered around the brand’s mission and further disseminated through creators’ respective social channels and promotional outlets. Vocal for Brands campaigns leverage Vocal’s first-party audience insights, which enables the creation of highly targeted, segmented audiences and optimized campaign results.
IP Development and Production
Creatd’s fourth revenue stream is driven by partnering with its top creators to produce stories for TV, film, podcasts, and print. The Vocal platform is perpetually generating intellectual property sourced and curated by a combination of human let moderation and machine learning models. With millions of compelling stories in its midst, Creatd’s Vocal technology surfaces the best candidates for transmedia adaptations, through a deep analysis of community, creator, and audience insights.
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In 2022, Creatd announced a series of newly released and upcoming production projects, including:
● | “Write Here, Write Now,” the Company’s first-ever podcast showcasing select Vocal creators and stories; a partnership with UK-based publisher, Unbound, for the publication of books featuring stories sourced from Vocal; the formation of a new graphic novel development arm which in Fall 2022 will release its first title, Steam Wars, created by artist and independent filmmaker Larry Blamire. |
● | OG Gallery: The OG Collection is an extensive library of original artwork and imagery from the archives of some of the most iconic magazines of the 20th century. OG Gallery is an exploratory initiative aimed at identifying opportunities to propel the OG Collection into a new technological sphere: the NFT marketplace. |
Application of First-Party Data
Creatd’s shared business intelligence and marketing teams identify and target individual creators, communities, and brands, utilizing empirical data harnessed from the Vocal technology platform. The team’s ability to apply its proprietary first-party data works to reduce acquisition costs for new creators and to help provide brands with conversions and an ideal targeted audience. In this way, our ability to apply first-party data is one of the value-drivers for the Company across its four business pillars. The internal teams work across the Company’s portfolio of technology product and service revenue lines.
Creatd uses its first party data to improve the Vocal platform. Specifically, data helps understand the behaviors and attributes that are common among the creators, brands, and audiences within the platform’s ecosystem. Pairing first-party Vocal data with third-party data from distribution platforms such as Instagram, Tiktok, Twitter, and Snapchat provide a more granular profile of creators, brands, and audiences. It is through generating this valuable first-party data that the Company can continually enrich and refine its targeting capabilities for branded content marketing and creator acquisition, and specifically, to reduce creator acquisition costs (CAC) and subscriber acquisition costs (SAC).
Competitive Advantage
The idea for Vocal came as a response to what Creatd’s founders recognized as systemic flaws inherent to the digital media industry and its operational infrastructures. The depreciating value of digital media business models built on legacy technology platforms that did not efficiently access and apply data, created a unique opportunity for the development of a new type of creator-centric platform. Key to building a platform that could appeal to a global community was utilizing that data to create a win-win proposition for all constituents including creators, audiences and the brands that want to access them. The proprietary nature of Creatd’s technology and its process give the company a competitive advantage in acquiring undervalued technology assets that can be rapidly assimilated into the greater collective, thus exponentially driving future EBITDA.
Creatd’s founders built the Vocal platform upon the general thesis that a closed and safe ecosystem utilizing first-party data to increase efficiencies could create a sustainable and defensible business model. Vocal was strategically developed to provide value for content creators, readers, and brands, and to serve as a home for the ever-increasing amount of digital content being produced and the libraries of digital assets lying dormant.
Acquisition Strategy
Creatd’s hybrid finance and design culture is key to its acquisition strategy. Acquisition targets are companies that meet a set of opportunistic or financial standards or that are part of specific digital environments. Transactions are mainly accretive and targets can seamlessly integrate into Creatd’s existing revenue lines. Creatd will continue to make strategic acquisitions when presented with opportunities that are in the interest of long term shareholder value.
Corporate History and Information
We were originally incorporated under the laws of the State of Nevada on December 30, 1999 under the name LILM, Inc. The Company changed its name on December 3, 2013 to Great Plains Holdings, Inc.
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On February 5, 2016 (the “Merger Closing Date”), we entered into an Agreement and Plan of Merger (the “Merger Agreement”) with GPH Merger Sub, Inc., a Nevada corporation and our wholly-owned subsidiary (“Merger Sub”), and Jerrick Ventures, Inc., a privately-held Nevada corporation headquartered in New Jersey (“Jerrick”), pursuant to which the Merger Sub was merged with and into Jerrick, with Jerrick surviving as our wholly-owned subsidiary (the “Merger”). Pursuant to the terms of the Merger Agreement, we acquired, through a reverse triangular merger, all of the outstanding capital stock of Jerrick in exchange for issuing Jerrick’s shareholders (the “Jerrick Shareholders”), pro-rata, a total of 475,000 shares of our common stock, par value $0.001 per share (“Common Stock”). Additionally, we assumed 33,415 shares of Jerrick’s Series A Convertible Preferred Stock (the “Jerrick Series A Preferred”) and 8,064 shares of Series B Convertible Preferred Stock (the “Jerrick Series B Preferred”).
Upon closing of the Merger on February 5, 2016, the Company changed its business plan to our current plan.
In connection with the Merger, on the Merger Closing Date, we entered into a Spin-Off Agreement with Kent Campbell (the “Spin-Off Agreement”), pursuant to which Mr. Campbell purchased (i) all of our interest in Ashland Holdings, LLC, a Florida limited liability company, and (ii) all of our interest in Lil Marc, Inc., a Utah corporation, in exchange for the cancellation of 13,030 shares of our common stock held by Mr. Campbell. In addition, Mr. Campbell assumed all of our debts, obligations and liabilities, including any existing prior to the Merger, pursuant to the terms and conditions of the Spin-Off Agreement.
Effective February 28, 2016, we entered into an Agreement and Plan of Merger (the “Statutory Merger Agreement”), pursuant to which we became the parent company of Jerrick Ventures, LLC, our wholly-owned operating subsidiary (the “Statutory Merger”).
On February 28, 2016, we changed our name to Jerrick Media Holdings, Inc. to better reflect our new business strategy.
On July 25, 2019, we filed a certificate of amendment to our articles of incorporation, as amended (the “Amendment”), with the Secretary of State of the State of Nevada to effectuate a one-for-twenty (1:20) reverse stock split (the “Reverse Stock Split”) of our common stock without any change to its par value. The Amendment became effective on July 30, 2019. The number of shares of authorized common stock was proportionately reduced as a result of the Reverse Stock Split. The number of shares of authorized preferred stock was not affected by the Reverse Stock Split. No fractional shares were issued in connection with the Reverse Stock Split as all fractional shares were “rounded up” to the next whole share.
All share and per share amounts for the common stock indicated in this prospectus have been retroactively restated to give effect to the Reverse Stock Split.
On September 11, 2019, the Company acquired 100% of the membership interests of Seller’s Choice, LLC, a New Jersey limited liability company (“Seller’s Choice”), a digital e-commerce agency.
On July 13, 2020, upon approval from our board of directors and stockholders, we filed Second Amended and Restated Articles of Incorporation with the Secretary of State of the State of Nevada for the purpose of increasing our authorized shares of Common Stock to 100,000,000.
On August 13, 2020, we filed a certificate of amendment to our second amended and restated articles of incorporation (the “Amendment”), with the Secretary of State of the State of Nevada to effectuate a one-for-three (1:3) reverse stock split (the “August 2020 Reverse Stock Split”) of our common stock without any change to its par value. The Amendment became effective on August 17, 2020. No fractional shares were issued in connection with the August 2020 Reverse Stock Split as all fractional shares were rounded down to the next whole share. All share and per share amounts of our common stock listed in this prospectus have been adjusted to give effect to the August 2020 Reverse Stock Split.
On September 9, 2020, the Company filed a certificate of amendment with the Secretary of State of the State of Nevada to change our name to “Creatd, Inc.”, which became effective on September 10, 2020.
On June 4, 2021, the Company acquired 89% of the membership interests of Plant Camp, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company (“Plant Camp”), which the Company subsequently rebranded as Camp. Camp is a direct-to-consumer (DTC) food brand which creates healthy upgrades to classic comfort food favorites. The results of Plant Camp’s operations have been included since the date of acquisition in the Statements of Operations.
On July 20, 2021, the Company acquired 44% of the membership interests of WHE Agency, Inc. WHE Agency, Inc, is a talent management and public relations agency based in New York (“WHE”). WHE has been consolidated due to the Company’s ownership of 55% voting control, and the results of operations have been included since the date of acquisition in the Statements of Operations.
Between October 21, 2020, and August 16, 2021, the Company acquired 21% of the membership interests of Dune, Inc. Dune, Inc. is a direct-to-consumer brand focused on promoting wellness through its range of health-oriented beverages.
On October 3, 2021, the Company acquired an additional 29% of the membership interests of Dune, Inc., bringing our total membership interests to 50%. Dune, Inc., has been consolidated due to the Company’s ownership of 50% voting control, and the results of operations have been included since the date of acquisition in the Statements of Operations.
On March 7, 2022, the Company acquired 100% of the membership interests of Denver Bodega, LLC, d/b/a Basis, a Colorado limited liability company (“Basis”). Basis is a direct-to-consumer functional beverage brand that makes high-electrolyte mixes meant to aid hydration. Denver Bodega, LLC has been consolidated due to the Company’s ownership of 100% voting control, and the results of operations have been included since the date of acquisition in the Statement of Operations.
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On August 1, 2022, the Company acquired 51% of the membership interests of Orbit Media LLC, a New York limited liability company. Orbit is a app-based stock trading platform designed to empower a new generation of investors. Orbit has been consolidated due to the Company’s ownership of 51% voting control, and the results of operations have been included since the date of acquisition in the Statement of Operations.
On September 13, 2022, the Company acquired 100% of the membership interests of Brave Foods, LLC, a Maine limited liability company. Brave is a plant-based food company that provides convenient and healthy breakfast food products. Brave Foods, LLC has been consolidated due to the Company’s ownership of 100% voting control, and the results of operations have been included since the date of acquisition in the Statement of Operations.
Recent Developments
December 2022 Securities Purchase Agreement
On December 12, 2022, the Company entered into and closed a securities purchase agreement (the “Purchase Agreement”) with one accredited investor (the “Investor”), whereby the Investor purchased from the Company for an aggregate of $750,000 in subscription amount, an unsecured debenture in the principal amount of $750,000 (the “Debenture”). The Company and the Investor also entered into a registration rights agreement pursuant to the Purchase Agreement.
The Debenture has a term of six months with a maturity date of June 12, 2023, which may be extended by six months at the Company’s option subject to certain conditions and monthly redemption options at the election of the holder and are convertible into shares of Common Stock at a conversion price of $0.20 per share, subject to adjustment upon certain events.
November 2022 Warrant Amendment and Issuance
On November 18, 2022, the Company entered into that certain letter agreement dated November 18, 2022 (the “Letter Agreement”) with the respective holders of an aggregate of 471,953 warrants issued as placement agent fees in connection with the Company’s entry into securities purchase agreements with 33 accredited investors, whereby, at the closing, the Investors agreed to purchase from the Company an aggregate of (i) 7,778 shares of the Company’s Series E Convertible Preferred Stock, par value $0.001 per share (the “Series E Preferred Stock”); and (ii) 2,831,721 warrants to purchase shares of the Company’s common stock, pursuant to which the exercise price of such warrants was amended and such warrants were immediately exercised. Additionally, pursuant to the Letter Agreement, the Company issued to such warrant holders 471,953 new warrants, exercisable immediately, for a term of 60 months, at a price of $0.77 per share, subject to customary adjustment provisions. As a result of the triggering of such adjustment provisions, the number of warrants increased to 1,817,019 and the exercise price decreased to $0.20.
Appointment of Erica Wagner to Board; Resignation of Joanna Bloor
On November 16, 2022, Erica Wagner was appointed to the Company’s Board of Directors. Ms. Wagner, age 55, joins the Board with over 25 years of experience as a journalist, broadcaster, editor and author. From 2016 through 2021, Ms. Wagner was a Lecturer, and later Senior Lecturer, at Goldsmith’s College, University of London, where she taught creative writing. Ms. Wagner was previously Lead Editorial Innovator for Creatd, Inc., has previously and currently held roles as a freelance editor, journalist, and contributing writer for numerous outlets both in the U.K. and the U.S., including The New Statesman, Harper’s Bazaar, the Economist, the Observer, the New York Times. Ms. Wagner is also a freelance literary and creative consultant for Chanel, as well as the host of their branded podcast. She has twice been a judge of the Booker Prize and has been judge and Chair of the Goldsmiths Prize. In 2015, Ms. Wagner was awarded an Honorary PhD by the University of East Anglia, and currently Goldsmith’s College Distinguished Writers’ Centre Fellow. She has an undergraduate degree from University of Cambridge, a Master’s degree from University of East Anglia, and an Honorary PhD from the University of East Anglia. As a member of Creatd’s board of directors, Ms. Wagner will add significant expertise with respect to informing the Company’s literary and creative direction, having worked closely with news organizations, commercial companies and publishers, to advise their creative direction and its application towards commercial success.
On November 17, 2022, the Board received notice from Joanna Bloor of her resignation as a director and from all committees of the Board on which she served, effective as of such date. Such resignation is not the result of any disagreement with the Company on any matter relating to the Company’s operations, policies or practices.
Appointment of Peter Majar to the Board; Resignation of Lorraine Hendrickson
On November 2, 2022, the Board appointed Peter Majar to the Board. Mr. Majar, age 55, Founder and Managing Member of Majar Advisors, combines over 25 years of experience in investment banking, financial services and technology, and management consulting, having held numerous senior management and executive positions including Chief Financial Officer, Head of Financial Technology, Head of Strategy, as well as several Managing Director positions. From 2015 to 2017, Mr. Majar served as Managing Director in Investment Banking and co-Head of Diversified Financial Services at Piper Jaffray & Co. (now Piper Sandler Companies). From 2017 to 2018, Mr. Majar provided management consulting services through his self-established firm, Majar Advisors LLC, which remains in operation through the present. From 2018 to 2021, Mr. Majar served as Managing Director, Head of Financial Technology at New York-based investment banking and financial advisory firm, TAP Advisors, LLC. Between 2021 and 2022, Mr. Majar served as Chief Financial Officer at information technology company Hoyos Integrity Corp., having previously served as a longtime advisor to the firm. Mr. Majar holds an undergraduate degree from University of Washington and an MBA from Columbia University. As a board director, Mr. Majar will add considerable value, including through his comprehensive and diverse investment management experience, deep knowledge of financial technology services and transactions, and broad experience with corporate development, strategy consulting, and executive leadership.
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On November 1, 2022, the Board received notice from Lorraine Hendrickson of her resignation as a director and from all committees of the Board on which she served, effective as of such date. Ms. Hendrickson’s resignation as a member of the Board is not the result of any disagreement with the Company on any matter relating to the Company’s operations, policies or practices.
Nasdaq Delisting
On September 2, 2022, the Company received a letter from the staff of The Nasdaq Capital Market notifying the Company that the Nasdaq Hearings Panel has determined to delist the Company’s common stock from the Exchange, based on the Company’s failure to comply with the listing requirements of Nasdaq Rule 5550(b)(1) as a result of the Company’s shareholder equity deficit for the period ended June 30, 2022, as demonstrated in Company’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed on August 15, 2022, following the Company having not complied with the market value of listed securities requirement in Nasdaq Rule 5550(b)(2) on March 1, 2022, while the Company was under a Panel Monitor, as had been previously disclosed. Suspension of trading in the Company’s shares on the Exchange became effective at the opening of business on September 7, 2022, at which time the Company’s common stock, under the symbol “CRTD,” and publicly-traded warrants, under the symbol “CRTDW,” was quoted on the OTCPink marketplace operated by OTC Markets Group Inc.
Following passage of the proscribed 15-day time period for appeal as stated in the Letter, on October 26, 2022, Nasdaq completed the delisting by filing a Form 25 Notification of Delisting with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The Company’s common stock, under the symbol “CRTD,” is quoted on the OTCQB marketplace operated by OTC Markets Group Inc. effective as of September 26, 2022. The Company’s publicly-traded warrants, under the symbol “CRTDW,” are quoted on the OTCPink marketplace operated by OTC Markets Group Inc.
Securities Purchase Agreement; Side Letter
On October 24, 2022, the Company entered into and closed a securities purchase agreement (the “Purchase Agreement”) with one accredited investor (the “Investor”), whereby the Investor purchased from the Company for an aggregate of $1,500,000 in subscription amount, an unsecured debenture in the principal amount of $1,666,650 (the “Debenture”). The Company and the Investor also entered into a registration rights agreement (each, a “Registration Rights Agreement”) pursuant to the Purchase Agreement.
The Debenture has an original issue discount of 10%, has a term of six months with a maturity date of April 24, 2023, may be extended by six months at the Company’s option subject to certain conditions, and are convertible into shares of Common Stock at a conversion price of $0.20 per share, subject to adjustment upon certain events.
In connection with its entry into the Purchase Agreement and issuance of the Debenture, the Company also entered into a side letter agreement (the “Letter Agreement”) with the holders of debentures of the Company, the Series C Warrants and Series D Warrants issued as of May 31, 2022 (the “May Investors”) and the holders of debentures of the Company, the Series E Warrants and Series F Warrants issued as of July 25, 2022 (the “July Investors”). Pursuant to the Letter Agreement each of the May Investors and the July Investors have entered into a lock-up agreement whereby they may not sell any such debentures, warrants, the shares into which such debentures may be converted, or certain shares underlying such warrants until the date that is 30 days after the date on which the registration statement registering for resale the shares of the Company’s common stock underlying the Debenture is declared effective by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Additionally, the Letter Agreement, provides that the May Investors and July Investors have agreed to a further lock up of such shares for a further 30 days upon the receipt of a certain amount of the proceeds from future potential issuances of debentures, common stock or similar securities by the Company. Further additionally, pursuant to the Letter Agreement, the May Investors and the July Investors have agreed to exchange and return for cancellation the Series C Warrants, Series D Warrants, Series E Warrants and Series F Warrants, receiving replacement warrants from the Company (the “Replacement Warrants”), in consideration for (i) the Company’s payment of $750,000 of the proceeds from the sale of the Debenture to the May Investors and July Investors on a pro rata basis and (ii) the Company’s agreement to pay, on a pro rata basis to the May Investors and July Investors, the greater of (x) $750,000 and (y) 50% of the gross proceeds raised in a subsequent financing. The Replacement Warrants reflect a reduction in the number of Series C and Series D Warrants from 1,550,000 in each class to 1,536,607 in each class and a reduction in the number of Series E and Series F Warrants from 1,075,000 in each class to 807,143 in each class, and the initial exercise date for the Replacement Warrants are unchanged from the date as set forth in the respective exchanged Series C, Series D, Series E or Series F Warrant.
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Common Stock Purchase Agreement, Securities Purchase Agreement and Promissory Note
On October 20, 2022, the Company entered into a Common Stock Purchase Agreement (the “Investment Agreement”) with an otherwise unaffiliated third party (the “Investor”). Pursuant to the terms of the Investment Agreement, for a period of thirty-six (36) months commencing on the trading day immediately following date of effectiveness of the Registration Statement (as defined below), the Investor purchase up to $15,000,000 of the Company’s common stock, par value $0.001 per share (the “Shares”), pursuant to Drawdown Notices (as defined below), covering the Registrable Securities (as defined below). The purchase price of the Shares under the Investment Agreement is equal to 82% of the lowest volume weighted average price (VWAP) during the last ten trading days after the Company delivers to the Investor a Put notice (a “Drawdown Notice”) in writing requiring Investor to purchase shares of the Company, subject to the terms of the Investment Agreement.
On October 20, 2022, the Company also entered into a Securities Purchase Agreement (the “Purchase Agreement”) with the Investor, pursuant to which the Company issued to the Investor on that date a Promissory Note (the “Note”) in the principal amount of $300,000 in exchange for a purchase price of $255,000, which the Investor funded on October 20,2022. The proceeds of the Note will be used by the Company for general working capital purposes.
The Note bears interest at the rate of 10% per annum. Starting on the fifth month anniversary of the funding of the Note, and for the next six months thereafter, the Company will make seven equal monthly payments of $47,142.85 to the Investor.
On October 20, 2022, in connection with the entry by the Company and the Investor into the economic agreements, (i.e., the Investment Agreement, the Purchase Agreement, and the Note and the funding thereof), the Company issued 800,000 shares of its common stock to the Investor.
Securities Purchase Agreement
On September 15, 2022, Creatd, Inc., entered into a securities purchase agreement (the “Purchase Agreement”) with five accredited investors resulting in the raise of $800,000 in gross proceeds to the Company. Pursuant to the terms of the Purchase Agreement, the Company agreed to sell in a registered direct offering (the “Offering”) an aggregate of 4,000,000 shares of the Company’s common stock, par value $0.001 per share (the “Common Stock”). In a concurrent private placement, the Company issued to such investors warrants to purchase up to 4,000,000 shares of Common Stock, representing 100% of the shares of common stock purchased in the Offering (the “Warrants”). The Warrants and the shares of common stock issuable upon the exercise of the Warrants (the “Warrant Shares”) are not being registered under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended.
The Offering is expected to close on or about September 19, 2022, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions as set forth in the Purchase Agreement. The Company expects the gross proceeds from the Offering to be $800,000, before deducting Offering expenses, which will be used for general corporate purposes, including working capital.
The shares of Common Stock were offered and sold by the Company pursuant to a prospectus supplement, which will be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission in connection with a takedown from the Company’s effective shelf registration statement on Form S-3, which was filed with the Commission on November 25, 2020 and subsequently declared effective on April 23, 2021 (File No. 333-250982) (the “Shelf Registration Statement”).
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The Warrants are immediately exercisable for a term of five years until September 15, 2027. The Warrants are exercisable at an exercise price of $0.20, subject to adjustment upon certain events. The Warrants provide for cashless exercise to the extent that there is no registration statement available for the underlying shares of Common Stock. The shares underlying the Warrants are to be registered within 10 trading days of the date of the Purchase Agreement.
The representations and warranties contained in the Purchase Agreement were made by the parties to, and solely for the benefit of, the other in the context of all of the terms and conditions of the Purchase Agreement and in the context of the specific relationship between the parties. The provisions of the Purchase Agreement, including the representations and warranties contained therein, are not for the benefit of any party other than the parties to the Purchase Agreement. The Purchase Agreement is not intended for investors and the public to obtain factual information about the current state of affairs of the parties.
Restructuring Agreement
On September 15, 2022, in connection with the Offering, the Company entered into an agreement with the holders of certain of the Company’s previously issued securities (the “Restructuring Agreement”).
The Restructuring Agreement, among other things, modified certain provisions of the following securities of the Company:
(i) | Original Issue Discount Senior Convertible Debentures issued on May 31, 2022 (the “May 2022 Debentures”); | |
(ii) | Original Issue Discount Senior Convertible Debentures issued on July 25, 2022 (the “July 2022 Debentures” and, together with the May 2022 Debentures, the “Debentures”); | |
(iii) | Common Stock Purchase Warrants issued on February 28, 2022 (the “February 2022 Warrants”); | |
(iv) | Common Stock Purchase Warrants issued on March 9, 2022 (the “March 2022 Warrants”); | |
(v) | Series C Common Stock Purchase Warrants issued on May 31, 2022 (the “Series C Warrants”); | |
(vi) | Series D Common Stock Purchase Warrants issued on May 31, 2022 (the “Series D Warrants”); | |
(vii) | Series E Common Stock Purchase Warrants issued on July 25, 2022 (the “Series E Warrants”); | |
(viii) | Series F Common Stock Purchase Warrants issued on July 25, 2022 (the “Series F Warrants” and, together with the February 2022 Warrants, the March 2022 Warrants, Series C Warrants, Series D Warrants and Series E Warrants, the “Restructured Warrants”); |
Pursuant to the Restructuring Agreement, the Company and the Holders agreed to, among other things, to (i) reduce the conversion price of the Debentures down to $0.20, subject to adjustment for reverse and forward stock splits, stock dividends, stock combinations and other similar transactions of the Common Stock; (ii) reduce the exercise price of the Restructured Warrants down to $0.20, subject to adjustment for subject to adjustment for reverse and forward stock splits, stock dividends, stock combinations and other similar transactions of the Common Stock; (iii) extend the maturity dates for the Debentures to March 31, 2023; (iv) permit the Company’s contemplated rights offering to proceed, provided that the per share offering price in the rights offering is not less than $0.20; and (v) require that the Company’s cash burn rate not exceed $600,000 per month; provided, however, that with the prior written consent of a majority in interest of the Holders, such permitted monthly burn rate can be increased by $150,000, provided such additional amount is used for marketing purposes.
Additionally, in connection with the Restructuring Agreement, (i) the Company entered into a Registration Rights Agreement (“Registration Rights Agreement”), providing for the filing of a registration statement covering the Restructured Warrants and shares underlying the Warrants by not later than 10 trading days after the date of the Registration Rights Agreement or the earliest practical date on which the Company is permitted by Commission guidance to file such registration statement; (ii) the Company and its subsidiaries entered into a Security Agreement (the “Security Agreement”), whereby the Company granted a first priority security interest in all of their respective assets to the Holders and (iii) the subsidiaries of the Company delivered a guarantee (the “Guarantee”) in favor of the Holders whereby each such subsidiary guaranteed the full payment and performance of all obligations of the Company pursuant to the Debentures.
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Each of our directors and officers have entered into lock-up agreements (the “Lock-up Agreements”) in favor of the Holders, whereby they have agreed not to offer, sell, agree to sell, directly or indirectly, or otherwise dispose of any shares of Common Stock or any securities convertible into or exchangeable for shares of Common Stock without the prior written consent of the Holders for a period of 180 days after the date of the Restructuring Agreement. The Lock-up Agreements provide limited exceptions and their restrictions may be waived at any time by the Holders.
Resignation of Brad Justus
On September 21, 2022, the Board of Directors of Creatd, Inc. received notice from Brad Justus of his resignation as a member of the Board, chair of the Nominating & Corporate Governance Committee, a member of the Audit Committee and a member of the Compensation Committee, with such resignation to become effective on September 30, 2022. Such resignation is not the result of any disagreement with the Company on any matter relating to the Company’s operations, policies or practices.
Resignation of Chief Executive Officer and Director
On August 9, 2022, Laurie Weisberg, the Company’s Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board, notified the Company of her intention to resign from the positions of Chief Executive Officer, director, and any other positions held with the Company or any of its subsidiaries, regardless of whether Ms. Weisberg had been appointed. Such resignations are to become effective on a date to be determined following further discussion with the Board, but in no event later than August 31, 2022. On September 2, 2022, the Company entered into an Executive Separation Agreement with Laurie Weisberg the Company’s Chief Executive Officer and member of the Board of Directors setting forth the terms and conditions related to the Executive’s resignation for good reason as Chief Executive Officer, Director and any other positions held with the Company or any subsidiary.
Appointment of Chief Executive Officer
Effective upon Ms. Weisberg’s resignation as Chief Executive Officer, Jeremy Frommer, currently the Company’s Executive Chairman, will be appointed as Chief Executive Officer, pursuant to the Board’s approval.
Jeremy Frommer
Mr. Frommer was appointed Executive Chairman in February 2022 and has been a member of our board of directors since February 2016. Previously, he served as our Chief Executive Officer from February 2016 to August 2021, and Co-Chief Executive Officer from August 2021 to February 2022. Mr. Frommer has over 20 years of experience in the financial technology industry. Previously, Mr. Frommer held key leadership roles in the investment banking and trading divisions of large financial institutions. From 2009 to 2012, Mr. Frommer was briefly retired until beginning concept formation for Jerrick Ventures which he officially founded in 2013. From 2007 to 2009, Mr. Frommer was Managing Director of Global Prime Services at RBC Capital Markets, the investment banking arm of the Royal Bank of Canada, the largest financial institution in Canada, after the sale of Carlin Financial Group, a professional trading firm. From 2004 to 2007, Mr. Frommer was the Chief Executive Officer of Carlin Financial Group after the sale of NextGen Trading, a software development company focused on building equity trading platforms. From 2002 to 2004, Mr. Frommer was Founder and Chief Executive Officer of NextGen Trading. From 2000 to 2002, he was Managing Director of Merger Arbitrage Trading at Bank of America, a financial services firm. Mr. Frommer was also a director of LionEye Capital, a hedge fund from June 2012 to June 2014. He holds a B.A. from the University of Albany. We believe Mr. Frommer is qualified to serve on our board of directors due to his financial and leadership experience.
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Appointment of Director
Effective upon Ms. Weisberg’s resignation as a director, Justin Maury, currently the Company’s President and Chief Operating Officer, will be appointed to the Board, pursuant to the Board’s approval.
Justin Maury
Mr. Maury has served as our President since January 2019 and was appointed Chief Operating Officer in August 2021. A full-stack designer and product developer by training, Mr. Maury partnered with Jeremy Frommer and founded the Company in 2013, having brought with him 10 years of experience in the creative industry. Since joining Creatd in 2013, Mr. Maury has been an instrumental force in the Company’s business and revenue expansion, and has overseen the Company’s product development since inception, including overseeing the design, development, launch, and ongoing growth of the Company’s flagship product, Vocal, the innovative creator that, under Mr. Maury’s leadership, has grown to a community of over 1.5 million users with a total audience reach of over 175 million.
As a director, we believe Mr. Maury will add considerable value, including through by providing a unique perspective into Creatd’s product performance and evolution and by providing invaluable direct input to help guide the Company’s ongoing refinement of its technology roadmap and maturation of its business model.
Trigger of Price Reset
On July 29, 2022, the Company announced that it was not moving forward with its previously announced Rights Offering. In doing so, it triggered a price reset in the July 2022 Financing and the May 2022 Securities Purchase Agreement. As a result of this price reset, the May 2022 Securities Purchase Agreement debentures now have a conversion price of $1.00, and both the Series C and Series D warrants have exercise prices of $0.96. As a result of the price reset, the July 2022 Financing debentures now have a conversion price of $1.25, and both the Series E and Series F warrants have exercise prices of $1.01.
July 2022 Financing
On July 25, 2022 (the “Effective Date”), the Company entered into and closed securities purchase agreements (each, a “Purchase Agreement”) with five accredited investors (the “Investors”), whereby the Investors purchased from the Company for an aggregate of $1,935,019 in subscription amount (i) debentures in the principal amount of $2,150,000 (the “Debentures”); (ii) 1,075,000 Series E Common Stock Purchase Warrants to purchase shares of the Common Stock (the “Series E Warrants”); and (iii) 1,075,000 Series F Common Stock Purchase Warrants to purchase shares of Common Stock (the “Series F Warrants”, and collectively with the Series E Warrants, the “Warrants”). The Company and the Investors also entered into registration rights agreements (each, a “Registration Rights Agreement”) pursuant to the Purchase Agreement.
The Debentures have an original issue discount of 10%, have a maturity date of November 30, 2022, may be extended by six months at the Company’s option subject to certain conditions, and are convertible into shares of Common Stock at a conversion price of $2.00 per share, subject to adjustment upon certain events including a one-time adjustment to the price of the Common Stock offered in the Rights Offering (as defined therein), with such adjusted conversion price not to be lower than $1.25.
The Warrants are immediately exercisable for a term of five years until July 25, 2027. The Series E Warrants are exercisable at an exercise price of $3.00, subject to adjustment upon certain events including a one-time adjustment to the price of the Common Stock offered in the Rights Offering, with such adjusted exercise price not to be lower than $1.01. The Series F Warrants are exercisable at an exercise price of $6.00 subject to adjustment upon certain events including a one-time adjustment to the price of the Common Stock offered in the Rights Offering, with such adjusted exercise price not to be lower than $1.01. The Warrants provide for cashless exercise to the extent that there is no registration statement available for the underlying shares of Common Stock. The shares underlying the Debentures, the Series E Warrants and the Series F Warrants are to be registered within 90 days of the Effective Date.
The representations and warranties contained in the Purchase Agreement were made by the parties to, and solely for the benefit of, the other in the context of all of the terms and conditions of the Purchase Agreement and in the context of the specific relationship between the parties. The provisions of the Purchase Agreement, including the representations and warranties contained therein, are not for the benefit of any party other than the parties to the Purchase Agreement. The Purchase Agreement is not intended for investors and the public to obtain factual information about the current state of affairs of the parties.
Additionally, in connection with the Purchase Agreements, the subsidiaries of the Company delivered a guarantee (the “Guarantee”) in favor of the Investors whereby each such subsidiary guaranteed the full payment and performance of all obligations of the Company pursuant to the Purchase Agreement.
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Securities Purchase Agreement
On May 31, 2022, the Company entered into and closed securities purchase agreements (each, a “Purchase Agreement”) with eight accredited investors (the “Investors”), whereby the Investors purchased from the Company for an aggregate of $3,600,036 in subscription amount (i) debentures in the principal amount of $4,000,000 (the “Debentures”); (ii) 2,000,000 Series C Common Stock Purchase Warrants to purchase shares of the Company’s common stock, par value $0.001 per share (the “Common Stock”) (the “Series C Warrants”); and (iii) 2,000,000 Series D Common Stock Purchase Warrants to purchase shares of Common Stock (the “Series D Warrants”, and collectively with the Series C Warrants, the “Warrants”). The Company and the Investors also entered into registration rights agreements (each, a “Registration Rights Agreement”) pursuant to the Purchase Agreement.
The Debentures have an original issue discount of 10%, have a term of six months with a maturity date of November 30, 2022, may be extended by six months at the Company’s option subject to certain conditions, and are convertible into shares of Common Stock at a conversion price of $2.00 per share, subject to adjustment upon certain events including a one-time adjustment to the price of the Common Stock offered in the Rights Offering (as defined therein), with such adjusted conversion price not to be lower than $1.00.
The Warrants are exercisable for a term of five years from the initial exercise date of November 30, 2022, until November 30, 2027. The Series C Warrants are exercisable at an exercise price of $3.00, subject to adjustment upon certain events including a one-time adjustment to the price of the Common Stock offered in the Rights Offering, with such adjusted exercise price not to be lower than $0.96. The Series D Warrants are exercisable at an exercise price of $6.00 subject to adjustment upon certain events including a one-time adjustment to the price of the Common Stock offered in the Rights Offering, with such adjusted exercise price not to be lower than $0.96. The Warrants provide for cashless exercise to the extent that there is no registration statement available for the underlying shares of Common Stock. The shares underlying the Debentures, the Series C Warrants and the Series D Warrants are to be registered within 90 days of the Effective Date.
Additionally, in connection with the Purchase Agreements, the subsidiaries of the Company delivered a guarantee (the “Guarantee”) in favor of the Investors whereby each such subsidiary guaranteed the full payment and performance of all obligations of the Company pursuant to the Purchase Agreement.
The Debentures, Warrants, Common Stock underlying the Debentures and the Common Stock underlying the Warrants were not registered under the Securities Act, but qualified for exemption under Section 4(a)(2) and Rule 506 promulgated thereunder. The Company is relying on this exemption from registration for private placements based in part on the representations made by Investors, including representations with respect to each Investor’s status as an accredited investor, as such term is defined in Rule 501(a) of the Securities Act, and each Investor’s investment intent.
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Employees
As of September 30, 2022, we had 24 full-time employees and 12 part-time employees. None of our employees are subject to a collective bargaining agreement, and we believe our relationship with our employees to be good.
We believe that our future success will depend in part on our continued ability to attract, hire and retain qualified personnel. Our human capital resources objectives include identifying, recruiting, retaining, incentivizing and integrating our existing and new employees, advisors and consultants. The principal purposes of our equity and cash incentive plans are to attract, retain and reward personnel through the granting of stock-based and cash-based compensation awards, in order to increase stockholder value and the success of our company by motivating such individuals to perform to the best of their abilities and achieve our objectives.
Facilities
Our corporate headquarters consists of a total of approximately 8,000 square feet and is located at 419 Lafayette Street, 6th Floor, New York, NY 10003. The current lease term is effective May 1, 2022 through April 30, 2029, with monthly rent of $39,000 for the first year of the leasing period, and an increase in rent of 3% for every year thereafter. Previously in 2022, the Company also had additional office space located at 648 Broadway, Suite 200, New York, NY 10012. The lease term was effective September 9, 2021 through September 9, 2022, with monthly rent of $12,955 for the leasing period. During 2021, the Company also had additional office space located at 2050 Center Ave, Suite 640 and Suite 660, Fort Lee, NJ 07024. The lease term was effective June 5, 2018 through July 5, 2023, with monthly rent of $7,693 for the first year and increases at a rate of 3% for each subsequent year thereafter. Subsequent to December 31, 2021, the Company reached an agreement with the landlord at the New Jersey location to terminate the lease effective February 28, 2022.
Legal Proceedings
From time to time, we may become involved in various lawsuits and legal proceedings, which arise in the ordinary course of business. Litigation is subject to inherent uncertainties, and an adverse result in these or other matters may arise from time to time that may harm our business. Except as set forth below, we are currently not aware of any such legal proceedings or claims that will have, individually or in the aggregate, a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or operating results.
On or about August 30, 2021, Robert W. Monster and Anonymize, Inc. (“Monster”) filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington at Seattle, Robert W. Monster, et al. v. Creatd, Inc., et al. (Western District of Washington at Seattle 2:21-CV-1177). The Complaint alleges, among other things, that action for Declaratory Judgment under 28 U.S.C. § 2201 that Monster’s registration and use of the internet domain name VOCL.COM (the “Domain Name”) does not violate Creatd’s rights under the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (“ACPA”), 15 U.S.C. § 1125(d), or otherwise under the Lanham Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1051 et seq. Creatd claims trademark rights and certain other rights with respect to the term and the domain name VOCL.COM. Monster seeks a determination by the Court that Monster’s registration and/or use of VOCL.COM is not, and has not been in violation of the ACPA, and that Plaintiffs’ use of VOCL.COM constitutes neither a violation of the ACPA nor trademark infringement or dilution under the Lanham Act. Creatd believes the lawsuit lacks merit and will vigorously challenge the action. At this time, we are unable to estimate potential damage exposure, if any, related to the litigation.
A complaint against the Company, dated September 21, 2022, has been filed in the Supreme Court of the State of New York, New York County, by Lind Global Macro Fund LP and Lind Global Fund II LP, making certain claims alleging breach of contract related to two Securities Purchase Agreements executed on May 31, 2022, seeking damages in excess of $920,000. On November 18, 2022, Creatd filed a motion to dismiss the Complaint in its entirety. No response to the motion to dismiss has been filed to date. Given the premature nature of this case, it is still too early for the Company to make an assessment as to liability.
Corporate Information
The Company’s address is 419 Lafayette Street, 6th Floor, New York, NY 10003. The Company’s telephone number is (201) 258-3770. Our website is https://creatd.com. The information on, or that can be accessed through, this website is not part of this prospectus, and you should not rely on any such information in making the decision whether to purchase the securities.
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MANAGEMENT
The following table and biographical summaries set forth information, including principal occupation and business experience, about our directors and executive officers as of the date of this prospectus:
Name | Age | Positions | ||||
Jeremy Frommer | 53 | Chief Executive Officer, Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors | ||||
Peter Majar | 58 | Director | ||||
Erica Wagner | 55 | Director | ||||
Justin Maury | 33 | Chief Operating Officer, President and Director | ||||
Chelsea Pullano | 31 | Chief Financial Officer |
Jeremy Frommer – Executive Chairman and Co-Founder
Mr. Frommer was appointed Executive Chairman in February 2022 and has been a member of our board of directors since February 2016. Previously, he served as our Chief Executive Officer from February 2016 to August 2021, and Co-Chief Executive Officer from August 2021 to February 2022. Mr. Frommer has over 20 years of experience in the financial technology industry. Previously, Mr. Frommer held key leadership roles in the investment banking and trading divisions of large financial institutions. From 2009 to 2012, Mr. Frommer was briefly retired until beginning concept formation for Jerrick Ventures which he officially founded in 2013. From 2007 to 2009, Mr. Frommer was Managing Director of Global Prime Services at RBC Capital Markets, the investment banking arm of the Royal Bank of Canada, the largest financial institution in Canada, after the sale of Carlin Financial Group, a professional trading firm. From 2004 to 2007, Mr. Frommer was the Chief Executive Officer of Carlin Financial Group after the sale of NextGen Trading, a software development company focused on building equity trading platforms. From 2002 to 2004, Mr. Frommer was Founder and Chief Executive Officer of NextGen Trading. From 2000 to 2002, he was Managing Director of Merger Arbitrage Trading at Bank of America, a financial services firm. Mr. Frommer was also a director of LionEye Capital, a hedge fund from June 2012 to June 2014. He holds a B.A. from the University of Albany. We believe Mr. Frommer is qualified to serve on our board of directors due to his financial and leadership experience.
Peter Majar– Director
Mr. Majar joined the Board in November 2022. Mr. Majar, Founder and Managing Member of Majar Advisors, previously held numerous senior management and executive positions including Chief Financial Officer, Head of Financial Technology, Head of Strategy, as well as several Managing Director positions. From 2015 to 2017, Mr. Majar served as Managing Director in Investment Banking and co-Head of Diversified Financial Services at Piper Jaffray & Co. (now Piper Sandler Companies). From 2017 to 2018, Mr. Majar provided management consulting services through his self-established firm, Majar Advisors LLC, which remains in operation through the present. From 2018 to 2021, Mr. Majar served as Managing Director, Head of Financial Technology at New York-based investment banking and financial advisory firm, TAP Advisors, LLC. Between 2021 and 2022, Mr. Majar served as Chief Financial Officer at information technology company Hoyos Integrity Corp., having previously served as a longtime advisor to the firm. Mr. Majar holds an undergraduate degree from University of Washington and an MBA from Columbia University. As a board director, Mr. Majar will add considerable value, including through his comprehensive and diverse investment management experience, deep knowledge of financial technology services and transactions, and broad experience with corporate development, strategy consulting, and executive leadership.
Erica Wagner – Director
Ms. Wagner joined the Board in November 2022. From 2016 through 2021, Ms. Wagner was a Lecturer, and later Senior Lecturer, at Goldsmith’s College, University of London, where she taught creative writing. Ms. Wagner was previously Lead Editorial Innovator for Creatd, Inc., has previously and currently held roles as a freelance editor, journalist, and contributing writer for numerous outlets both in the U.K. and the U.S., including The New Statesman, Harper’s Bazaar, the Economist, the Observer, the New York Times. Ms. Wagner is also a freelance literary and creative consultant for Chanel, as well as the host of their branded podcast. She has twice been a judge of the Booker Prize and has been judge and Chair of the Goldsmiths Prize. In 2015, Ms. Wagner was awarded an Honorary PhD by the University of East Anglia, and currently Goldsmith’s College Distinguished Writers’ Centre Fellow. She has an undergraduate degree from University of Cambridge, a Master’s degree from University of East Anglia, and an Honorary PhD from the University of East Anglia. As a member of Creatd’s board of directors, Ms. Wagner will add significant expertise with respect to informing the Company’s literary and creative direction, having worked closely with news organizations, commercial companies and publishers, to advise their creative direction and its application towards commercial success.
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Justin Maury – Chief Operating Officer, Co-Founder and Director
Mr. Maury has served as our President since January 2019, and was appointed Chief Operating Officer in August 2021. He is a full stack design director with an expertise in product development. With over ten years of design and product management experience in the creative industry, Mr. Maury’s passion for the creative arts and technology ultimately resulted in the vision for Vocal. Since joining Creatd in 2013, Maury has overseen the development and launch of the company’s flagship product, Vocal, an innovative platform that provides storytelling tools and engaged communities for creators and brands to get discovered while funding their creativity. Under Maury’s supervision, Vocal has achieved growth to over 380,000 creators across 34 genre-specific communities in its first two years since launch.
Chelsea Pullano – Chief Financial Officer
Ms. Pullano has been our Chief Financial Officer since June 2020. She has a long history of leadership at Creatd, serving as a member of the Company’s Management Committee for four years. Prior to her current role, Ms. Pullano was an integral member of our finance department since 2017, most recently serving as our Head of Corporate Finance, a role in which she coordinated our periodic reports under the Exchange Act and other financial matters. Prior to joining the Finance Department, Ms. Pullano was a member of our operations team from 2015 to 2017. She holds a B.A. from the State University of New York College at Geneseo.
Director Terms; Qualifications
Members of our board of directors serve until the next annual meeting of stockholders, or until their successors have been duly elected.
When considering whether directors and nominees have the experience, qualifications, attributes and skills to enable the board of directors to satisfy its oversight responsibilities effectively in light of the Company’s business and structure, the board of directors focuses primarily on the industry and transactional experience, and other background, in addition to any unique skills or attributes associated with a director.
Director or Officer Involvement in Certain Legal Proceedings
There are no material proceedings to which any director or officer, or any associate of any such director or officer, is a party that is adverse to our Company or any of our subsidiaries or has a material interest adverse to our Company or any of our subsidiaries. No director or executive officer has been a director or executive officer of any business which has filed a bankruptcy petition or had a bankruptcy petition filed against it during the past ten years. No director or executive officer has been convicted of a criminal offense or is the subject of a pending criminal proceeding during the past ten years. No director or executive officer has been the subject of any order, judgment or decree of any court permanently or temporarily enjoining, barring, suspending or otherwise limiting his involvement in any type of business, securities or banking activities during the past ten years. No director or officer has been found by a court to have violated a federal or state securities or commodities law during the past ten years.
Directors and Officers Liability Insurance
The Company has directors’ and officers’ liability insurance insuring its directors and officers against liability for acts or omissions in their capacities as directors or officers, subject to certain exclusions. Such insurance also insures the Company against losses, which it may incur in indemnifying its officers and directors. In addition, officers and directors also have indemnification rights under applicable laws, and the Company’s Second Amended and Restated Articles of Incorporation and Amended and Restated Bylaws.
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Director Independence
The listing rules of The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC (“Nasdaq”) require that independent directors must comprise a majority of a listed company’s board of directors. In addition, the rules of Nasdaq require that, subject to specified exceptions, each member of a listed company’s audit, compensation, and nominating and governance committees be independent. Audit committee members must also satisfy the independence criteria set forth in Rule 10A-3 under the Exchange Act. Under the rules of Nasdaq, a director will only qualify as an “independent director” if, in the opinion of that company’s board of directors, that person does not have a relationship that would interfere with the exercise of independent judgment in carrying out the responsibilities of a director.
Our board of directors has undertaken a review of the independence of our directors and considered whether any director has a material relationship with it that could compromise his or her ability to exercise independent judgment in carrying out his or her responsibilities. Based upon information requested from and provided by each director concerning his background, employment and affiliations, including family relationships, the board of directors has determined that Peter Majar is “independent” as that term is defined under the applicable rules and regulations of the SEC and the listing standards of Nasdaq. In making these determinations, our board of directors considered the current and prior relationships that each non-employee director has with the Company and all other facts and circumstances our board of directors deemed relevant in determining their independence, including the beneficial ownership of the Company’s capital stock by each non-employee director, and any transactions involving them described in the section captioned “—Certain relationships and related transactions and director independence.”
Board Committees
The Company’s Board has established three standing committees: Audit, Compensation, and Nominating and Corporate Governance. Each of the committees operates pursuant to its charter. The committee charters will be reviewed annually by the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee. If appropriate, and in consultation with the chairs of the other committees, the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee may propose revisions to the charters. The responsibilities of each committee are described in more detail below.
Nasdaq permits a phase-in period of up to one year for an issuer registering securities in an initial public offering to meet the Audit Committee, Compensation Committee and Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee independence requirements. Under the initial public offering phase-in period, only one member of each committee is required to satisfy the heightened independence requirements at the time our registration statement becomes effective, a majority of the members of each committee must satisfy the heightened independence requirements within 90 days following the effectiveness of our registration statement, and all members of each committee must satisfy the heightened independence requirements within one year from the effectiveness of our registration statement.
Audit Committee
The Audit Committee, among other things, will be responsible for:
● | Appointing; approving the compensation of; overseeing the work of; and assessing the independence, qualifications, and performance of the independent auditor; |
● | Reviewing the internal audit function, including its independence, plans, and budget; |
● | Approving, in advance, audit and any permissible non-audit services performed by our independent auditor; |
● | Reviewing our internal controls with the independent auditor, the internal auditor, and management; |
● | Reviewing the adequacy of our accounting and financial controls as reported by the independent auditor, the internal auditor, and management; |
● | Overseeing our financial compliance system; and |
● | Overseeing our major risk exposures regarding the Company’s accounting and financial reporting policies, the activities of our internal audit function, and information technology. |
The board of directors has affirmatively determined that each member of the Audit Committee meets the additional independence criteria applicable to audit committee members under SEC rules and Nasdaq listing rules. The board of directors has adopted a written charter setting forth the authority and responsibilities of the Audit Committee. The Board has affirmatively determined that each member of the Audit Committee is financially literate, and that Mr. Majar meets the qualifications of an Audit Committee financial expert.
The Audit Committee consists of Mr. Majar, Chair.
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Compensation Committee
The Compensation Committee will be responsible for:
● | Reviewing and making recommendations to the Board with respect to the compensation of our officers and directors, including the CEO; |
● | Overseeing and administering the Company’s executive compensation plans, including equity-based awards; |
● | Negotiating and overseeing employment agreements with officers and directors; and |
● | Overseeing how the Company’s compensation policies and practices may affect the Company’s risk management practices and/or risk-taking incentives. |
The board of directors has adopted a written charter setting forth the authority and responsibilities of the Compensation Committee.
The Compensation Committee consists of Mr. Majar, who serves as chair, and Ms. Wagner. The board of directors has affirmatively determined that each member of the Compensation Committee meets the independence criteria applicable to compensation committee members under SEC rules and Nasdaq listing rules. The Company believes that the composition of the Compensation Committee meets the requirements for independence under, and the functioning of such Compensation Committee will comply with, any applicable requirements of the rules and regulations of Nasdaq listing rules and the SEC.
Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee
The Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee, among other things, is responsible for:
● | Reviewing and assessing the development of the executive officers and considering and making recommendations to the Board regarding promotion and succession issues; | |
● | Evaluating and reporting to the Board on the performance and effectiveness of the directors, committees and the Board as a whole; | |
● | Working with the Board to determine the appropriate and desirable mix of characteristics, skills, expertise and experience, including diversity considerations, for the full Board and each committee; | |
● | Annually presenting to the Board a list of individuals recommended to be nominated for election to the Board; | |
● | Reviewing, evaluating, and recommending changes to the Company’s Corporate Governance Principles and Committee Charters; | |
● | Recommending to the Board individuals to be elected to fill vacancies and newly created directorships; | |
● | Overseeing the Company’s compliance program, including the Code of Conduct; and | |
● | Overseeing and evaluating how the Company’s corporate governance and legal and regulatory compliance policies and practices, including leadership, structure, and succession planning, may affect the Company’s major risk exposures. |
The board of directors has adopted a written charter setting forth the authority and responsibilities of the Corporate Governance/Nominating Committee.
The Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee consists of Ms. Wagner, who serves as chair, and Mr. Majar. The Company’s board of directors has determined that each member of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee is independent within the meaning of the independent director guidelines of Nasdaq listing rules.
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Compensation Committee Interlocks and Insider Participation
None of the Company’s executive officers serves, or in the past has served, as a member of the board of directors or compensation committee, or other committee serving an equivalent function, of any entity that has one or more executive officers who serve as members of the Company’s board of directors or its compensation committee. None of the members of the Company’s compensation committee is, or has ever been, an officer or employee of the company.
Code of Business Conduct and Ethics
The Company’s Board of Directors has adopted a code of business conduct and ethics applicable to its employees, directors and officers, in accordance with applicable U.S. federal securities laws and the corporate governance rules of Nasdaq. The code of business conduct and ethics will be publicly available on the Company’s website. Any substantive amendments or waivers of the code of business conduct and ethics or code of ethics for senior financial officers may be made only by the Company’s board of directors and will be promptly disclosed as required by applicable U.S. federal securities laws and the corporate governance rules of Nasdaq.
Corporate Governance Guidelines
The Company’s board of directors has adopted corporate governance guidelines in accordance with the corporate governance rules of Nasdaq.
Delinquent Section 16(A) Reports
Section 16(a) of the Exchange Act requires the Company’s officers and directors, and persons who beneficially own more than 10% of a registered class of the Company’s equity securities, to file reports of ownership and changes in ownership with the SEC and are required to furnish copies to the Company. Based solely on the review of the Changes of Beneficial Ownership disclosures on Forms 3, 4 and 5 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the following persons filed the following number of transactions on Section 16 beneficial ownership disclosure filings late for transactions:
● | Mr. Mark Standish filed one Form 4 late with respect to one transaction; |
● | Mr. Arthur Rosen filed one Form 5 for late filings with respect to five transactions; and |
● | Mr. Eric Ellis Goldberg filed one Form 4 for late filings with respect to two transactions, and one Form 3 late with respect to two transactions. |
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EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION
The following information is related to the compensation paid, distributed or accrued by us for the years ended December 31, 2021 and December 31, 2020 for our Chief Executive Officer (principal executive officer) serving during the year ended December 31, 2021 and the three other executive officers serving at December 31, 2021 whose total compensation exceeded $100,000 (the “Named Executive Officers”).
Name and Principal Position | Year | Salary ($) | Bonus ($) | Stock Awards ($) | Option Awards ($) | Non-Equity Incentive Plan Compensation ($) | Nonqualified Deferred Compensation Earnings ($) | All
Other Compensation ($) | Total ($) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Laurie Weisberg | 2021 | $ | 313,750 | $ | 25,000 | $ | 20,226 | $ | 763,894 | - | - | $ | 24,925 | (1) | $ | 1,147,795 | ||||||||||||||||||||
Chief Executive Officer | 2020 | $ | 60,577 | $ | - | - | - | - | - | $ | 7,875 | (2) | $ | 68,452 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Justin Maury | 2021 | $ | 306,923 | $ | 5,000 | - | $ | 1,479,328 | - | - | $ | 7,919 | (3) | $ | 1,799,170 | |||||||||||||||||||||
President & Chief Operating Officer | 2020 | $ | 147,009 | - | $ | 412,204 | (9) | $ | 713,563 | - | - | $ | 7,920 | (4) | $ | 1,280,696 | ||||||||||||||||||||
Chelsea Pullano | 2021 | $ | 207,616 | $ | - | - | $ | 610,052 | - | - | $ | 7,632 | (5) | $ | 825,300 | |||||||||||||||||||||
Chief Financial Officer | 2020 | $ | 123,500 | - | $ | 38,050 | (10) | $ | 522,121 | - | - | $ | 1,908 | (6) | $ | 685,579 | ||||||||||||||||||||
Jeremy Frommer | 2021 | $ | 665,433 | $ | 200,000 | - | $ | 1,709,628 | - | - | $ | 98,237 | (7) | $ | 2,673,298 | |||||||||||||||||||||
Executive Chairman | 2020 | $ | 234,231 | $ | 182,000 | $ | 469,255 | (11) | $ | 931,339 | - | - | $ | 86,686 | (8) | $ | 1,903,511 |
(1) | The $24,925 includes payment to Ms. Weisberg for health insurance. |
(2) | The $7,875 includes payment to Ms. Weisberg for health insurance. |
(3) | The $7,919 includes payment to Mr. Maury for health insurance. |
(4) | The $7,920 includes payment to Mr. Maury for health insurance. |
(5) | The $7,632 includes payment to Ms. Pullano for health insurance. |
(6) | The $1,908 includes payment to Ms. Pullano for health insurance. |
(7) | The $98,237 includes payment to Mr. Frommer for living expenses, health insurance and a vehicle allowance. |
(8) | The $86,686 includes payment to Mr. Frommer for living expenses, health insurance and a vehicle allowance. |
(9) | On May 13, 2020, the Company exchanged 167,955 stock options for 251,933 shares of Common Stock. $403,604 is attributable to this exchange. $8,660 of this amount is attributable to the issuance of shares in lieu of wages. |
(10) | On May 13, 2020, the Company exchanged 14,205 stock options for 21,308 shares of Common Stock. |
(11) | On May 13, 2020, the Company exchanged 200,000 stock options for 300,000 shares of Common Stock. $456,134 is attributable to this exchange. $12,121 of this amount is attributable to the issuance of shares in lieu of wages. |
Employment Agreements
As of December 31, 2021, the Company had not entered into any employment agreements, but has entered into such agreements with its Chief Executive Officer, Executive Chairman, President& Chief Operating Officer, and Chief Financial Officer subsequent to December 31, 2021.
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2020 Equity Incentive Plan
Our 2020 Equity Incentive Plan (the “2020 Plan”) provides for the issuance of incentive stock options, non-statutory stock options, stock appreciation rights (“SARs”), restricted stock, restricted stock units (“RSUs”), and other stock-based awards and there are 2,500,000 shares originally reserved under the 2020 Plan.
No further awards may be issued under the Jerrick Ventures 2015 Incentive and Award Plan (the “2015 Plan”), but all awards under the 2015 Plan that are outstanding as of the Effective Date will continue to be governed by the terms, conditions and procedures set forth in the 2015 Plan and any applicable award agreement.
Outstanding Equity Awards at Fiscal Year-End 2021
At December 31, 2021, we had outstanding equity awards as follows:
Name | Number of Securities Underlying Unexercised Options Exercisable | Number of Securities Underlying Unexercised Options Unexercisable | Equity Incentive Plan Awards: Number of Securities Underlying Unexercised Unearned Options | Weighted Average Exercise Price | Expiration Date | Number of Shares or Units of Stock That Have Not Vested | Market Value of Shares or Units of Stock That Have Not Vested | Equity Incentive Plan Awards: Number of Unearned Shares, Units or Other Rights That Have Not Vested | Equity Incentive Plan Awards: Market or Payout Value of Unearned Shares, Units or Other Rights That Have Not Vested | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Jeremy Frommer (1) | 210,188 | 400,000 | - | $ | 5.94 | February 19, 2028 (5) | - | $ | - | - | - | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Laurie Weisberg (2) | 137,667 | 87,083 | - | $ | 7.13 | February 19, 2028 (6) | - | $ | - | - | - | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Justin Maury (3) | 149,333 | 374,000 | - | $ | 5.93 | February 19, 2028 (7) | - | $ | - | - | - | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Chelsea Pullano (4) | 87,000 | 150,000 | - | $ | 4.37 | February 19, 2028 (8) | - | $ | - | - | - |
(1) | Effective February 5, 2016, to August 13, 2021, Jeremy Frommer was appointed as our Chief Executive Officer. Starting August 13, 2021, Jeremy Frommer was appointed Co-Chief Executive Officer with Laurie Weisberg. |
(2) | Effective September 28, 2020, to August 13, 2021, Laurie Weisberg was appointed as our Chief Operating Officer. Starting August 13, 2021, Laurie Weisberg Co-Chief Executive Officer with Jeremy Frommer. |
(3) | Effective January 31, 2019, to August 13, 2021, Justin Maury was appointed as our President. Starting August 13, 2021, Justin Maury was appointed Chief Operating Officer in addition to President. |
(4) | Effective June 29, 2020, Chelsea Pullano was appointed Chief Financial Officer. |
(5) | 121,000 options expire on October 28, 2026, 200,000 options expire on February 19, 2027, 200,000 options expire on February 19, 2028. |
(6) | 53,750 options expire on February 4, 2026, 121,000 options expire on October 28, 2026, 25,000 options expire on February 19, 2027, 25,000 options expire on February 19, 2028. |
(7) | 81,000 options expire on October 28, 2026, 187,000 options expire on February 19, 2027, 187,000 options expire on February 19, 2028. |
(8) | 37,000 options expire on October 28, 2026, 75,000 options expire on February 19, 2027, 75,000 options expire on February 19, 2028. |
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Director Compensation
The following table presents the total compensation for each person who served as a non-employee member of our board of directors and received compensation for such service during the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021. Other than as set forth in the table and described more fully below, we did not pay any compensation, make any equity awards or non-equity awards to, or pay any other compensation to any of the non-employee members of our board of directors in 2021.
Director | Option Awards (1) | Fees Earned or Paid in Cash | Total | |||||||||
Mark Standish (4) | $ | 340,414 | $ | - | $ | 340,414 | ||||||
Mark Patterson (2) | $ | 131,845 | $ | - | $ | 131,845 | ||||||
Leonard Schiller (4) | $ | 171,453 | $ | - | $ | 171,453 | ||||||
LaBrena Martin (4) | $ | 169,078 | $ | - | $ | 169,078 | ||||||
Laurie Weisberg (3) | $ | 763,894 | $ | - | $ | 763,894 |
(1) | Amounts shown in this column do not reflect dollar amounts actually received by our non-employee directors. Instead, these amounts represent the aggregate grant date fair value of stock option awards determined in accordance with FASB ASC Topic 718. |
(2) | Mark Patterson resigned from the board of directors effective July 31, 2021. |
(3) | Laurie Weisberg was appointed the Company’s Chief Operating Officer on September 28, 2020. |
(4) | Mark Standish, Leonard Schiller, and LaBrena Martin resigned from the board of directors subsequent to December 31, 2021. |
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CERTAIN RELATIONSHIPS AND RELATED TRANSACTIONS
The following includes a summary of transactions during our fiscal years ended December 31, 2021 and December 31, 2020 to which we have been a party, including transactions in which the amount involved in the transaction exceeds the lesser of $120,000 or 1% of the average of our total assets at year-end for the last two completed fiscal years, and in which any of our directors, executive officers or, to our knowledge, beneficial owners of more than 5% of our capital stock or any member of the immediate family of any of the foregoing persons had or will have a direct or indirect material interest, other than equity and other compensation, termination, change in control and other arrangements, which are described elsewhere in this Annual Report. We are not otherwise a party to a current related party transaction, and no transaction is currently proposed, in which the amount of the transaction exceeds the lesser of $120,000 or 1% of the average of our total assets at year-end for the last two completed fiscal years and in which a related person had or will have a direct or indirect material interest.
Revenue
During the year ended December 31, 2021 the Company received revenue of $80,000 from Dune for branded content services prior to consolidation but after recognition as an equity method investee.
The July 2020 Convertible Note Offering
From July 2020 to September 2020, the Company conducted multiple closings of a private placement offering to accredited investors (the “July 2020 Convertible Note Offering”) of units of the Company’s securities by entering into subscription agreements with “accredited investors” (the “July 2020 Investors”) for aggregate gross proceeds of $50,000. The July 2020 Convertible Note Offering accrues interest at a rate of twelve percent per annum (12%). The July 2020 Convertible Note Offering mature on the six (6th) month anniversary of their issuance dates.
The July 2020 Note Offering is convertible into shares of the Company’s common stock, par value $.001 per share (“Conversion Shares”) at the lesser of (i) a fixed conversion price equal to $12.75 per share after the maturity date or (ii) any private placement offerings or one or more registered public offerings by the Company under the Securities Act in connection with its listing onto a national securities exchange (a “Qualified Offering”).
Upon default the July 2020 Convertible Note Offering is convertible into shares of the Company’s common stock, par value $.001 per share (“Conversion Shares”) equal to 61% multiplied by the lowest trade of the common stock during the twenty (15) consecutive trading day period immediately preceding the date of the respective conversion.
The conversion feature of the July 2020 Convertible Note Offering provides for an effective conversion price that is below market value on the date of issuance. Such feature is normally characterized as a beneficial conversion feature. When the Company records a BCF the relative fair value of the BCF is recorded as a debt discount against the face amount of the respective debt instrument. The Company recorded a BCF and related debt discount of $9,812, the discount is being accreted over the life of the Debenture to accretion of debt discount and issuance cost.
The Company recorded a $21,577 debt discount relating to 3,922 July 2020 Convertible Note Offering issued to investors based on the relative fair value of each equity instrument on the dates of issuance. The debt discount is being accreted over the life of these notes to accretion of debt discount and issuance cost.
During the year ended December 31, 2020, the Company converted $50,000 of principal and $630 of unpaid interest into the September 2020 Equity Raise.
The January 2020 Rosen Loan Agreement
On January 14, 2020, the Company entered into a loan agreement (the “January 2020 Rosen Loan Agreement”), whereby the Company issued a promissory note in the principal amount of $150,000 (the “January 2020 Rosen Note”). Pursuant to the January 2020 Rosen Loan Agreement, the January 2020 Rosen Note accrues interest at a fixed amount of $2,500 for the duration of the note.
During the year ended December 31, 2020 the Company repaid $150,000 in principal and $15,273 in interest.
The February Banner 2020 Loan Agreement
On February 15, 2020, the Company entered into a loan agreement (the “February 2020 Banner Loan Agreement”), whereby the Company issued a promissory note in the principal amount of $9,900 (the “February 2020 Note”) for expenses paid on behalf of the Company by an employee. Pursuant to the February 2020 Loan Agreement, the February 2020 Note bears interest at a rate of $495. As additional consideration for entering in the February 2020 Loan Agreement, the Company issued a five-year warrant to purchase 49 shares of the Company’s common stock at a purchase price of $18.00 per share.
During the year ended December 31, 2020 the Company repaid $9,900 in principal and $495 in interest.
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The February 2020 Frommer Loan Agreement
On February 18, 2020, the Company entered into a loan agreement (the “February 2020 Frommer Loan Agreement”) with Jeremy Frommer, an officer of the Company, whereby the Company issued Frommer a promissory note in the principal amount of $2,989 (the “February 2020 Frommer Note”). As additional consideration for entering in the June 2018 Frommer Note Loan Agreement, the Company issued Frommer a five-year warrant to purchase 15 shares of the Company’s common stock at a purchase price of $18.00 per share. Pursuant to the February 2020 Frommer Loan Agreement, the note is payable on the maturity date of February 28, 2020 (the “February 2020 Frommer Maturity Date”).
During the year ended December 31, 2020 the Company repaid $2,989 in principal and $160 in interest.
The September 2020 Goldberg Loan Agreement
On September 15, 2020, the Company entered into a loan agreement (the “September 2020 Goldberg Loan Agreement”) with Goldberg whereby the Company issued a promissory note of $16,705 (the “September 2020 Goldberg Note”). Pursuant to the September 2020 Goldberg Loan Agreement, the September 2020 Goldberg Note has an interest rate of 7%. The maturity date of the September 2020 Goldberg Note is September 15, 2022 (the “September 2020 Goldberg Maturity Date”), at which time all outstanding principal, accrued and unpaid interest and other amounts due under note are due. The September 2020 Goldberg Loan is secured by the tangible and intangible property of the Company.
Since the September 2020 Goldberg Note has a make-whole provision if the share price of the Company’s common stock is below 2.92 on September 14, 2020, they are subject to derivative liability treatment. The Company has applied ASC 815, due to the potential for settlement in a variable quantity of shares. The make-whole feature of gave rise to a derivative liability of $2,557,275 which was recorded as a loss on extinguishment of debt.
During the year ended December 31, 2020 the Company accrued interest of $347.
The September 2020 Rosen Loan Agreement
On September 15, 2020, the Company entered into a loan agreement (the “September 2020 Rosen Loan Agreement”) with Rosen whereby the Company issued a promissory note of $3,295 (the “September 2020 Rosen Note”). Pursuant to the September 2020 Rosen Loan Agreement, the September 2020 Rosen Note has an interest rate of 7%. The maturity date of the September 2020 Rosen Note is September 15, 2022 (the “September 2020 Rosen Maturity Date”), at which time all outstanding principal, accrued and unpaid interest and other amounts due under the note are due. The September 2020 Rosen Loan is secured by the tangible and intangible property of the Company.
Since the September 2020 Rosen Note has a make-whole provision if the share price of the Company’s common stock is below 2.92 on September 14, 2020, they are subject to derivative liability treatment. The Company has applied ASC 815, due to the potential for settlement in a variable quantity of shares. The make-whole feature of gave rise to a derivative liability of $504,413 which was recorded as a loss on extinguishment of debt.
During the year ended December 31, 2020 the Company accrued interest of $67.
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PRINCIPAL STOCKHOLDERS
The following table sets forth certain information, as of January 5, 2023, with respect to the beneficial ownership of the outstanding common stock by (i) any holder of more than five (5%) percent; (ii) each of the Company’s executive officers and directors; and (iii) the Company’s directors and executive officers as a group. Except as otherwise indicated, each of the stockholders listed below has sole voting and investment power over the shares beneficially owned. Except as otherwise indicated, each of the stockholders listed below has sole voting and investment power over the shares beneficially owned. The address for each person is 419 Lafayette Street, 6th Floor, New York, NY 10003.
Shares Beneficially Owned(1) | Percentage Ownership | |||||||
Executive Officers and Directors | ||||||||
Jeremy Frommer | 2,037,001 | (2) | 5.05 | % | ||||
Justin Maury | 1,160,536 | (3) | 2.90 | % | ||||
Chelsea Pullano | 420,818 | (4) | 1.07 | % | ||||
Erica Wagner | 32,767 | (5) | * | % | ||||
Peter Majar | — | 0 | % | |||||
All current directors and officers as a group | 3,651,122 | 9.10 | % |
* | less than one percent |
(1) | The securities “beneficially owned” by a person are determined in accordance with the definition of “beneficial ownership” set forth in the regulations of the SEC and accordingly, may include securities owned by or for, among others, the spouse, children or certain other relatives of such person, as well as other securities over which the person has or shares voting or investment power or securities which the person has the right to acquire within 60 days. |
(2) | Includes 721,462 shares of common stock, 1,121,188 shares of common stock underlying stock options, and 194,351 shares of common stock underlying warrants. |
(3) | Includes 159,060 shares of common stock, 994,333 shares of common stock underlying stock options, and 7,143 shares of common stock underlying warrants. |
(4) | Includes 44,818 shares of common stock, 374,000 shares of common stock underlying stock options and 2,000 shares of common stock underlying warrants. |
(5) | Includes 7,053 shares of common stock, 20,000 shares of common stock underlying stock options and 5,714 shares of common stock underlying warrants. |
Securities Authorized for Issuance Under Equity Compensation Plans
As of December 31, 2021, we had awards outstanding under our 2020 Equity Incentive Plan:
Number of securities to be issued upon exercise of outstanding options and warrants | Weighted- average exercise price of outstanding options, warrants and rights | Number of securities remaining available for future issuance under equity compensation plans (excluding securities reflected in column (a) | ||||||||||
Plan Category | (a) | (b) | (c) | |||||||||
Equity compensation plans approved by security holders | 2,950,402 | (1) | $ | 7.07 | 351,515 | |||||||
Equity compensation plans not approved by stockholders | N/A | N/A | N/A | |||||||||
Total | 2,950,402 | $ | 7.07 | 351,515 |
(1) | During the year ended December 31, 2021, we had awards outstanding under the 2020 Plan. As of the end of fiscal year 2021, we had 3,039,308 shares of our common stock issuable upon the exercise of outstanding options granted pursuant to the 2020 Plan. The securities available under the Plan for issuance and issuable pursuant to exercises of outstanding options may be adjusted in the event of a change in outstanding stock by reason of stock dividend, stock splits, reverse stock splits, etc. Pursuant to the terms of the 2020 Plan we can grant stock options, restricted stock unit awards, and other awards at levels determined appropriate by our Board and/or compensation committee. The 2020 Plan also allows us to utilize a broad array of equity incentives and performance cash incentives in order to secure and retain the services of our employees, |
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SELLING STOCKHOLDERS FOR WHOSE ACCOUNTS WE ARE REGISTERING SHARES
The shares of our Common Stock being offered by the Selling Stockholders are issuable upon conversion of the July Debentures, exercise of the Series E Warrants, exercise of the Series F warrants, exercise of the November Warrants, conversion of the October Debenture, and conversion of the December Debenture. For additional information regarding the issuance of such debentures and warrants see above descriptions of the July Purchase Agreement, the September Purchase Agreement, the October Debenture, the November Warrants, and the December Debenture. We are registering the shares of our Common Stock in order to permit the Selling Stockholders to offer the shares for resale from time to time. Except as otherwise described in the footnotes to the table below and for the ownership of the registered shares issued pursuant to the July Purchase Agreement, the September Purchase Agreement and/or the October Purchase Agreement, neither the Selling Stockholders nor any of the persons that control them has had any material relationships with us or our affiliates within the past three (3) years.
The table below lists the Selling Stockholders and other information regarding the beneficial ownership (as determined under Section 13(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”) (and the rules and regulations thereunder) of the shares of our Common Stock by each of the Selling Stockholders.
The second column lists the number of shares of our Common Stock beneficially owned by each Selling Stockholder before this Offering (including shares which the Selling Stockholder has the right to acquire within 60 days, including upon conversion of any convertible securities)
The third column lists the shares of our Common Stock being offered by this prospectus by each Selling Stockholder.
The fourth and fifth columns list the number of shares of Common Stock beneficially owned by each Selling Stockholder and their percentage ownership after the Offering (including shares which the Selling Stockholder has the right to acquire within 60 days, including upon conversion of any convertible securities), assuming the sale of all of the shares offered by each Selling Stockholder pursuant to this prospectus.
Under the terms of the July Debenture, the November Warrants, the October Debenture, and the December Debenture a Selling Stockholder may not convert any such securities to the extent such conversion or exercise would cause such Selling Stockholder, together with any other person with which the Selling Stockholder is considered to be part of a group under Section 13 of the Exchange Act or with which the Selling Stockholder otherwise files reports under Section 13 and/or 16 of the Exchange Act, to beneficially own a number of shares of Common Stock which exceeds 4.99% or 9.99%, as applicable, of the Equity Interests of a class that is registered under the Exchange Act that is outstanding at such time.
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The amounts and information set forth below are based upon information provided to us by the Selling Stockholders as of January 10, 2023, except as otherwise noted below. The Selling Stockholders may sell all or some of the shares of Common Stock it is offering, and may sell, unless indicated otherwise in the footnotes below, shares of our common stock otherwise than pursuant to this prospectus. The tables below assume the Selling Stockholders sell all of the shares offered by them in offerings pursuant to this prospectus, and do not acquire any additional shares. We are unable to determine the exact number of shares that will actually be sold or when or if these sales will occur.
Selling Stockholder | Number of Shares Owned Before Offering (1) | Shares Offered Hereby | Number of Shares Owned After Offering | Percentage of Shares Beneficially Owned After Offering (1) | ||||||||||||
Anson Investment Master Fund LP (2) | 1,207,297 | 779,982 | 1,207,297 | 2.41 | % | |||||||||||
Anson East Master Fund (3) | 301,825 | 194,995 | 301,825 | 0.60 | % | |||||||||||
L1 Capital Global Opportunities Master Fund (4) | 0 | 21,428 | 0 | 0.00 | % | |||||||||||
Joseph Reda (5) | 1,272,768 | 1,675,601 | 1,272,768 | 2.54 | % | |||||||||||
Gregory Castaldo (6) | 575,000 | 194,995 | 575,000 | 1.15 | % | |||||||||||
Andrew Arno (7) | 300,000 | 617,366 | 300,000 | 0.60 | % | |||||||||||
Dorado Goose, LLC (8) | 0 | 6,833,250 | 0 | 0.00 | % | |||||||||||
Jonathan Schechter (9) | 170,000 | 462,000 | 170,000 | 0.34 | % | |||||||||||
Daniel Ripp (10) | 0 | 192,604 | 0 | 0.00 | % | |||||||||||
Linda MacKay (11) | 13,000 | 84,415 | 13,000 | 0.03 | % |
(1) | Percentages are calculated based on an aggregate of 39,024,070 shares of Common Stock outstanding as of January 10, 2023. As applicable, such percentages have been further adjusted to account for outstanding convertible securities of such Selling Stockholder. |
(2) | Represents 371,428 shares of issuable upon the exercise of warrants and 408,554 shares issuable upon the conversion of convertible notes. Anson Advisors Inc. and Anson Funds Management LP, the Co-Investment Advisers of Anson Investments Master Fund LP (“AIMF”) hold voting and dispositive power over the Common Shares held by Anson. Bruce Winson is the managing member of Anson 4 Management GP LLC, which is the general partner of Anson Funds Management LP. Moez Kassam and Amin Nathoo are directors of Anson Advisors Inc. Mr. Winson, Mr. Kassam and Mr. Nathoo each disclaim beneficial ownership of these Common Shares except to the extent of their pecuniary interest therein. The principal business address of Anson is Walkers Corporate Limited, Cayman Corporate Centre, 27 Hospital Road, George Town, Grand Cayman KY1-9008, Cayman Islands. |
(3) | Represents 92,858 shares issuable upon the exercise of warrants and 102,137 shares issuable upon the conversion of convertible notes. Anson Advisors Inc. and Anson Funds Management LP, the Co-Investment Advisers of Anson Investments Master Fund LP (“AIMF”) hold voting and dispositive power over the Common Shares held by Anson. Bruce Winson is the managing member of Anson 4 Management GP LLC, which is the general partner of Anson Funds Management LP. Moez Kassam and Amin Nathoo are directors of Anson Advisors Inc. Mr. Winson, Mr. Kassam and Mr. Nathoo each disclaim beneficial ownership of these Common Shares except to the extent of their pecuniary interest therein. The principal business address of Anson is Walkers Corporate Limited, Cayman Corporate Centre, 27 Hospital Road, George Town, Grand Cayman KY1-9008, Cayman Islands. |
(4) | Represents 21,428 shares issuable upon the exercise of warrants. David Feldman is a director of L1 Capital Global Opportunities Master Fund and may be deemed to having voting and investment power over the securities listed in the table above. Such Selling Stockholder’s address is 161A Shedden Road, 1 Artillery Court, PO Box 10085, Grand Cayman KY1-1001, Cayman Islands. |
(5) | Represents 1,152,142 shares issuable upon the exercise of warrants and 523,459 shares issuable upon the conversion of convertible notes. |
(6) | Represents 92,858 shares issuable upon the exercise of warrants and 102,137 shares issuable upon the conversion of convertible notes. |
(7) | Represents 425,858 shares issuable upon the exercise of warrants and 191,508 shares issuable upon the conversion of convertible notes. |
(8) | Represents 6,833,250 shares issuable upon the conversion of convertible notes. Tommy Wang is a director of Dorado Goose, LLC and may be deemed to having voting and investment power over the securities listed in the table above. Such Selling Stockholder’s address is 170 Dorado Bch E, Dorado, Puerto Rico 00646. |
(9) | Represents 462,000 shares issuable upon the exercise of warrants. |
(10) | Represents 192,604 shares issuable upon the exercise of warrants. |
(11) | Represents 84,415 shares issuable upon the exercise of warrants. |
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DESCRIPTION OF SECURITIES
The following description of the Company’s capital stock and provisions of its Second Amended and Restated Articles of Incorporation and Amended and Restated Bylaws are summaries and are qualified by reference to the Company’s Second Amended and Restated Articles of Incorporation and Amended and Restated Bylaws.
Description of Stock
The Company is authorized to issue 120,000,000 shares of capital stock, par value $0.001 per share, of which 100,000,000 are shares of common stock and 20,000,000 are shares of “blank check” preferred stock. As of January 5, 2023, there were shares of common stock issued and outstanding. There were 450 shares of Preferred Series E Stock issued or outstanding as of January 10, 2023.
On August 13, 2020, we filed a certificate of amendment to our Second Amended and Restated Articles of Incorporation (the “Amendment”), with the Secretary of State of the State of Nevada to effectuate a one-for-three (1:3) reverse stock split (the “August 2020 Reverse Stock Split”) of our common stock without any change to its par value. The Amendment became effective on August 17, 2020. No fractional shares were issued in connection with the August 2020 Reverse Stock Split as all fractional shares were rounded down to the next whole share.
The holders of the Common Stock are entitled to one vote per share. In addition, the holders of the Company’s common stock will be entitled to receive dividends ratably, if any, declared by the Company’s board of directors out of legally available funds; however, the current policy of the board of directors is to retain earnings, if any, for operations and growth. Upon liquidation, dissolution or winding-up, the holders of the Company’s common stock are entitled to share ratably in all assets that are legally available for distribution. The holders of the Company’s common stock have no preemptive, subscription, redemption or conversion rights. The rights, preferences and privileges of holders of the Company’s common stock are subject to, and may be adversely affected by, the rights of the holders of any series of preferred stock, which may be designated solely by action of the board of directors and issued in the future.
The Common Stock is quoted on the OTCQB under the trading symbol “CRTD.”
The Company’s transfer agent is Pacific Stock Transfer.
Applicable Anti-Takeover Law
Set forth below is a summary of provisions in our Articles of Incorporation and the Bylaws that could have the effect of delaying or preventing a change in control of the Company. The following description is only a summary and it is qualified by refence our Articles of Incorporation, Bylaws and relevant provisions of the Nevada Revised Statutes.
No Cumulative Voting
Our Articles of Incorporation and the Bylaws do not provide holders of our common stock cumulative voting rights in the election of directors. The absence of cumulative voting could have the effect of preventing stockholders holding a minority of our shares of common stock from obtaining representation on our board of directors. The absence of cumulative voting might also, under certain circumstances, render more difficult or discourage a merger, tender offer or proxy contest favored by a majority of our stockholders, the assumption of control by a holder of a large block of our stock or the removal of incumbent management.
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PLAN OF DISTRIBUTION
Each Selling Stockholder and any of their pledgees, assignees and successors-in-interest may, from time to time, sell any or all of their securities covered hereby on any stock exchange, market or trading facility on which the securities are traded or in private transactions. These sales may be at fixed or negotiated prices. The Company will not receive any of the proceeds from the sale by the Selling Stockholders. A Selling Stockholders may use any one or more of the following methods when selling securities:
● | ordinary brokerage transactions and transactions in which the broker-dealer solicits purchasers; |
● | block trades in which the broker-dealer will attempt to sell the securities as agent but may position and resell a portion of the block as principal to facilitate the transaction; |
● | purchases by a broker-dealer as principal and resale by the broker-dealer for its account; |
● | an exchange distribution in accordance with the rules of the applicable exchange; |
● | privately negotiated transactions; |
● | settlement of short sales; |
● | in transactions through broker-dealers that agree with the Selling Stockholders to sell a specified number of such securities at a stipulated price per security; |
● | through the writing or settlement of options or other hedging transactions, whether through an options exchange or otherwise; |
● | a combination of any such methods of sale; or |
● | any other method permitted pursuant to applicable law. |
The Selling Stockholders may also sell securities under Rule 144 or any other exemption from registration under the Securities Act, if available, rather than under this prospectus.
Broker-dealers engaged by the Selling Stockholders may arrange for other brokers-dealers to participate in sales. Broker-dealers may receive commissions or discounts from the Selling Shareholders (or, if any broker-dealer acts as agent for the purchaser of securities, from the purchaser) in amounts to be negotiated, but, except as set forth in a supplement to this Prospectus, in the case of an agency transaction not in excess of a customary brokerage commission in compliance with FINRA Rule 2440; and in the case of a principal transaction a markup or markdown in compliance with FINRA IM-2440.
In connection with the sale of the securities or interests therein, the Selling Stockholders may enter into hedging transactions with broker-dealers or other financial institutions, which may in turn engage in short sales of the securities in the course of hedging the positions they assume. The Selling Stockholders may also sell securities short and deliver these securities to close out their short positions, or loan or pledge the securities to broker-dealers that in turn may sell these securities. The Selling Stockholders may also enter into option or other transactions with broker-dealers or other financial institutions or create one or more derivative securities which require the delivery to such broker-dealer or other financial institution of securities offered by this prospectus, which securities such broker-dealer or other financial institution may resell pursuant to this prospectus (as supplemented or amended to reflect such transaction).
The Selling Stockholders and any broker-dealers or agents that are involved in selling the securities may be deemed to be “underwriters” within the meaning of the Securities Act in connection with such sales. In such event, any commissions received by such broker-dealers or agents and any profit on the resale of the securities purchased by them may be deemed to be underwriting commissions or discounts under the Securities Act. Each Selling Stockholder has informed the Company that it does not have any written or oral agreement or understanding, directly or indirectly, with any person to distribute the securities.
The Company is required to pay certain fees and expenses incurred by the Company incident to the registration of the securities. The Company has agreed to indemnify the Selling Stockholders against certain losses, claims, damages and liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act.
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We agreed to keep this prospectus effective until the earlier of (i) the date on which the securities may be freely resold by the Selling Stockholders without registration and without regard to any volume or manner-of-sale limitations by reason of Rule 144, without the requirement for the Company to be in compliance with the current public information under Rule 144 under the Securities Act or any other rule of similar effect, or (ii) all of the securities have been sold pursuant to this prospectus or Rule 144 under the Securities Act or any other rule of similar effect, under circumstances in which any legend borne by such securities relating to restrictions on transferability thereof, under the Securities Act or otherwise, is removed. The resale securities will be sold only through registered or licensed brokers or dealers if required under applicable state securities laws. In addition, in certain states, the resale securities covered hereby may not be sold unless they have been registered or qualified for sale in the applicable state or an exemption from the registration or qualification requirement is available and is complied with.
Under applicable rules and regulations under the Exchange Act, any person engaged in the distribution of the resale securities may not simultaneously engage in market making activities with respect to the securities for the applicable restricted period, as defined in Regulation M, prior to the commencement of the distribution. In addition, the Selling Stockholders will be subject to applicable provisions of the Exchange Act and the rules and regulations thereunder, including Regulation M, which may limit the timing of purchases and sales of the securities by the Selling Stockholders or any other person. We will make copies of this prospectus available to the Selling Stockholders and have informed them of the need to deliver a copy of this prospectus to each purchaser of the securities at or prior to the time of the sale (including by compliance with Rule 172 under the Securities Act).
LEGAL MATTERS
The validity of the securities offered hereby will be passed upon for us by Lucosky Brookman LLP.
EXPERTS
The financial statements as of the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021 and 2020 have been audited by Rosenberg Rich Baker Berman, P.A., an independent registered public accounting firm, as stated in their reports. Such financial statements have been so included in reliance upon the reports of such firm given upon their authority as experts in accounting and auditing.
WHERE YOU CAN FIND ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Available Information
We file reports, proxy statements and other information with the SEC. Information filed with the SEC by us can be inspected and copied at the Public Reference Room maintained by the SEC at 100 F Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20549. You may also obtain copies of this information by mail from the Public Reference Room of the SEC at prescribed rates. Further information on the operation of the SEC’s Public Reference Room in Washington, D.C. can be obtained by calling the SEC at 1-800-SEC-0330. The SEC also maintains a web site that contains reports, proxy and information statements and other information about issuers, such as us, who file electronically with the SEC. The address of that website is http://www.sec.gov.
Our website address is https://creatd.com. The information on our website, however, is not, and should not be deemed to be, a part of this prospectus.
This prospectus and any prospectus supplement are part of a registration statement that we filed with the SEC and do not contain all of the information in the registration statement. The full registration statement may be obtained from the SEC or us, as provided below. Forms of the documents establishing the terms of the offered securities are or may be filed as exhibits to the registration statement. Statements in this prospectus or any prospectus supplement about these documents are summaries and each statement is qualified in all respects by reference to the document to which it refers. You should refer to the actual documents for a more complete description of the relevant matters. You may inspect a copy of the registration statement at the SEC’s Public Reference Room in Washington, D.C. or through the SEC’s website, as provided above.
73
PART I - FINANCIAL INFORMATION
Creatd, Inc.
September 30, 2022
Index to the Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements
F-1
Creatd, Inc.
Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets
September 30, 2022 | December 31, 2021 | |||||||
(Unaudited) | ||||||||
Assets | ||||||||
Current Assets | ||||||||
Cash | $ | 439,539 | $ | 3,794,734 | ||||
Accounts receivable, net | 222,183 | 337,440 | ||||||
Inventory | 879,050 | 106,403 | ||||||
Marketable securities | 96 | - | ||||||
Prepaid expenses and other current assets | 139,726 | 236,665 | ||||||
Total Current Assets | 1,680,594 | 4,475,242 | ||||||
Property and equipment, net | 248,963 | 102,939 | ||||||
Intangible assets | 2,536,599 | 2,432,841 | ||||||
Goodwill | 1,365,328 | 1,374,835 | ||||||
Deposits and other assets | 769,136 | 718,951 | ||||||
Minority investment in businesses | - | 50,000 | ||||||
Operating lease right of use asset | 2,123,171 | 18,451 | ||||||
Total Assets | $ | 8,723,791 | $ | 9,173,259 | ||||
Liabilities and Stockholders’ Deficit | ||||||||
Current Liabilities | ||||||||
Accounts payable and accrued liabilities | $ | 6,714,606 | $ | 3,730,540 | ||||
Share liability | 52,080 | - | ||||||
Convertible Notes, net of debt discount and issuance costs | 6,062,926 | 159,193 | ||||||
Current portion of operating lease payable | 279,593 | 18,451 | ||||||
Note payable, net of debt discount and issuance costs | 1,758,179 | 1,278,672 | ||||||
Deferred revenue | 305,555 | 234,159 | ||||||
Total Current Liabilities | 15,172,939 | 5,421,015 | ||||||
Non-current Liabilities: | ||||||||
Note payable | 28,920 | 63,992 | ||||||
Operating lease payable | 2,135,393 | |||||||
Total Non-current Liabilities | 2,164,313 | 63,992 | ||||||
Total Liabilities | 17,337,252 | 5,485,007 | ||||||
Commitments and contingencies | ||||||||
Stockholders’ Equity (Deficit) | ||||||||
Preferred stock, $0.001 par value, 20,000,000 shares authorized | ||||||||
Series E Preferred stock, $0.001 par value, 8,000 shares authorized 500 and 500 shares issued and outstanding, respectively | ||||||||
Common stock par value $0.001: 100,000,000 shares authorized; 24,469,675 issued and 24,380,218 outstanding as of September 30, 2022 and 16,691,170 Outstanding 16,685,513 outstanding as of December 31, 2021 | 24,470 | 16,691 | ||||||
Additional paid in capital | 124,667,772 | 111,563,618 | ||||||
Less: Treasury stock at cost, 89,457 and 5,657 shares, respectively | (76,106 | ) | (62,406 | ) | ||||
Accumulated deficit | (133,762,800 | ) | (109,632,574 | ) | ||||
Accumulated other comprehensive income | (143,991 | ) | (78,272 | ) | ||||
Total Creatd, Inc. Stockholders’ Equity | (9,290,655 | ) | 1,807,057 | |||||
Non-controlling interest in consolidated subsidiaries | 677,194 | 1,881,195 | ||||||
(8,613,461 | ) | 3,688,252 | ||||||
Total Liabilities and Stockholders’ Equity (Deficit) | $ | 8,723,791 | $ | 9,173,259 |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these condensed consolidated financial statements.
F-2
Creatd, Inc.
Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations and Comprehensive Loss
(Unaudited)
For the Three Months Ended | For the Three Months Ended | For the Nine Months Ended | For the Nine Months Ended | |||||||||||||
September 30, 2022 | September 30, 2021 | September 30, 2022 | September 30, 2021 | |||||||||||||
Net revenue | $ | 1,022,851 | $ | 1,179,620 | $ | 3,997,490 | $ | 2,894,390 | ||||||||
Cost of revenue | 1,404,562 | 1,418,213 | 4,771,151 | 4,160,743 | ||||||||||||
Gross margin (loss) | (381,711 | ) | (238,593 | ) | (773,661 | ) | (1,266,353 | ) | ||||||||
Operating expenses | ||||||||||||||||
Research and development | 234,965 | 322,946 | 686,131 | 708,396 | ||||||||||||
Marketing | 646,520 | 1,812,400 | 4,016,051 | 8,049,579 | ||||||||||||
Stock based compensation | 626,568 | 2,151,900 | 3,848,578 | 5,662,389 | ||||||||||||
Impairment of intangible assets | 249,586 | - | 257,117 | 93,791 | ||||||||||||
General and administrative | 3,837,469 | 2,385,135 | 11,397,989 | 5,457,258 | ||||||||||||
Total operating expenses | 5,595,108 | 6,672,381 | 20,205,866 | 19,971,413 | ||||||||||||
Loss from operations | (5,976,819 | ) | (6,910,974 | ) | (20,979,527 | ) | (21,237,766 | ) | ||||||||
Other income (expenses) | ||||||||||||||||
Other income | - | 123,710 | 99 | 123,710 | ||||||||||||
Interest expense | (673,694 | ) | (59,859 | ) | (707,950 | ) | (319,290 | ) | ||||||||
Accretion of debt discount and issuance cost | (1,884,679 | ) | (2,176,651 | ) | (2,531,687 | ) | (3,028,015 | ) | ||||||||
Derivative expense | - | - | - | (100,502 | ) | |||||||||||
Change in derivative liability | - | (833,456 | ) | 3,729 | (1,096,287 | ) | ||||||||||
Impairment of investment | - | - | (50,000 | ) | (62,733 | ) | ||||||||||
Settlement of vendor liabilities | - | - | (2,867 | ) | 92,909 | |||||||||||
Loss on marketable securities | (11,415 | ) | - | (11,646 | ) | - | ||||||||||
Gain (loss) on extinguishment of debt | (979,738 | ) | 137,109 | (832,482 | ) | 423,118 | ||||||||||
Gain on forgiveness of debt | - | - | - | 279,022 | ||||||||||||
Other expenses, net | (3,549,526 | ) | (2,809,147 | ) | (4,132,804 | ) | (3,688,068 | ) | ||||||||
Loss before income tax provision | (9,526,345 | ) | (9,720,121 | ) | (25,112,331 | ) | (24,925,834 | ) | ||||||||
Equity in net loss from equity method investment | - | (16,413 | ) | - | (16,413 | ) | ||||||||||
Income tax provision | ||||||||||||||||
Net loss | (9,526,345 | ) | (9,736,534 | ) | (25,112,331 | ) | (24,942,247 | ) | ||||||||
Non-controlling interest in net loss | 299,903 | (60,477 | ) | 1,285,661 | (60,045 | ) | ||||||||||
Net Loss attributable to Creatd, Inc. | (9,226,442 | ) | (9,797,011 | ) | (23,826,670 | ) | (25,002,292 | ) | ||||||||
Deemed dividend | (221,829 | ) | - | (303,557 | ) | (410,750 | ) | |||||||||
Net loss attributable to common shareholders | $ | (9,448,271 | ) | $ | (9,797,011 | ) | $ | (24,130,227 | ) | $ | (25,413,042 | ) | ||||
Comprehensive loss | ||||||||||||||||
Net loss | (9,526,345 | ) | (9,736,534 | ) | (25,112,331 | ) | (24,942,247 | ) | ||||||||
Currency translation gain (loss) | (36,110 | ) | (8,436 | ) | (65,719 | ) | (16,299 | ) | ||||||||
Comprehensive loss | $ | (9,562,455 | ) | $ | (9,744,970 | ) | $ | (25,178,050 | ) | $ | (24,958,546 | ) | ||||
Per-share data | ||||||||||||||||
$ | (0.45 | ) | $ | (0.71 | ) | $ | (1.23 | ) | $ | (2.20 | ) | |||||
21,030,188 | 13,710,111 | 19,669,411 | 11,563,150 |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these condensed consolidated financial statements.
F-3
Creatd, Inc.
Condensed Consolidated Statement of Changes in Stockholders’ Equity (Deficit)
For the Three Months Ended September 30, 2022
(Unaudited)
Series
E Preferred Stock | Common Stock | Treasury stock | Additional Paid In | Accumulated | Non-Controlling | Other Comprehensive | Stockholders’ Equity | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Shares | Amount | Shares | Amount | Shares | Amount | Capital | Deficit | Interest | Income | (Deficit) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Balance, July 1, 2022 | 500 | $ | 20,254,839 | $ | 20,255 | (5,657 | ) | $ | (62,406 | ) | $ | 122,068,892 | $ | (124,314,529 | ) | $ | 895,437 | $ | (107,881 | ) | $ | (1,500,232 | ) | |||||||||||||||||||||
Stock based compensation | - | 107,260 | 107 | - | 568,107 | 568,214 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Shares issued for prepaid services | - | 50,000 | 50 | - | 34,900 | 34,950 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Shares issued for acquisition | - | 57,576 | 58 | - | 40,937 | 81,660 | 122,655 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Purchase of treasury stock | - | - | (83,800 | ) | (13,700 | ) | (13,700 | ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Cash received for common stock and warrants, net of $75,000 of issuance costs | - | 4,000,000 | 4,000 | - | 721,000 | 725,000 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Stock warrants issued with note payable | - | - | - | 1,012,107 | 1,012,107 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Foreign currency translation adjustments | - | - | - | (36,110 | ) | (36,110 | ) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dividends | - | - | - | 221,829 | (221,829 | ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Net loss for the three months ended September 30, 2022 | - | - | - | (9,226,442 | ) | (299,903 | ) | (9,526,345 | ) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Balance, September 30, 2022 | 500 | $ | 24,469,675 | $ | 24,470 | (89,457 | ) | $ | (76,106 | ) | $ | 124,667,772 | $ | (133,762,800 | ) | $ | 677,194 | $ | (143,991 | ) | $ | (8,613,461 | ) |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these consolidated financial statements.
F-4
Creatd, Inc.
Condensed Consolidated Statement of Changes in Stockholders’ Equity (Deficit)
For the Nine Months Ended September 30, 2022
(Unaudited)
Series E Preferred Stock | Common Stock | Treasury stock | Additional Paid In | Accumulated | Non-Controlling | Other Comprehensive | Stockholders’ Equity | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Shares | Amount | Shares | Amount | Shares | Amount | Capital | Deficit | Interest | Income | (Deficit) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Balance, January 1, 2022 | 500 | $ | 16,691,170 | $ | 16,691 | (5,657 | ) | $ | (62,406 | ) | $ | 111,563,618 | $ | (109,632,574 | ) | $ | 1,881,195 | $ | (78,272 | ) | $ | 3,688,252 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Stock based compensation | - | 415,180 | 415 | - | 3,822,564 | 3,822,979 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Shares issued for prepaid services | - | 150,000 | 150 | - | 141,000 | 141,150 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Shares issued for acquisition | - | 57,576 | 58 | - | 40,937 | 81,660 | 122,655 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Purchase of treasury stock | - | - | (83,800 | ) | (13,700 | ) | (13,700 | ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Stock warrants issued with note payable | - | - | - | 2,907,497 | 2,907,497 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Cash received for common stock and warrants, net of $190,000 of issuance costs | - | 7,046,314 | 7,046 | - | 5,715,254 | 5,722,300 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Common stock issued upon conversion of notes payable | - | 109,435 | 110 | - | 173,346 | 173,456 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Foreign currency translation adjustments | - | - | - | (65,719 | ) | (65,719 | ) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dividends | - | - | - | 303,556 | (303,556 | ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Net loss for the nine months ended September 30, 2022 | - | - | - | (23,826,670 | ) | (1,285,661 | ) | (25,112,331 | ) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Balance, September 30, 2022 | 500 | $ | 24,469,675 | $ | 24,470 | (89,457 | ) | $ | (76,106 | ) | $ | 124,667,772 | $ | (133,762,800 | ) | $ | 677,194 | $ | (143,991 | ) | $ | (8,613,461 | ) |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these consolidated financial statements.
F-5
Creatd, Inc.
Condensed Consolidated Statement of Changes in Stockholders’ Equity (Deficit)
For the Three Months Ended September 30, 2021
(Unaudited)
Series E Preferred Stock | Common Stock | Treasury stock | Additional Paid In | Accumulated | Non-Controlling | Other Comprehensive | Stockholders’ | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Shares | Amount | Shares | Amount | Shares | Amount | Capital | Deficit | Interest | Income | Equity | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Balance, July 1, 2021 | 1,048 | $ | 1 | 11,857,675 | $ | 11,858 | (5,657 | ) | $ | (62,406 | ) | $ | 87,131,333 | $ | (87,544,953 | ) | $ | 56,433 | $ | (45,097 | ) | $ | (452,831 | ) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Stock based compensation | - | 22,934 | 23 | - | 2,094,787 | 2,094,810 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Conversion of warrants to stock | - | 954,568 | 955 | - | 4,198,442 | 4,199,397 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Shares issued for acquisition | - | 224,503 | 224 | - | 893,297 | 893,521 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Cash received for common stock | - | 87,500 | 87 | - | 248,613 | - | - | - | 248,700 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Common stock issued upon conversion of notes payable | - | 779,706 | 779 | - | 3,697,725 | 3,698,504 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Conversion of preferred series E to stock | (438 | ) | 106,311 | 106 | (106 | ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Foreign currency translation adjustments | - | - | - | (8,436 | ) | (8,436 | ) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Non-controlling interest in consolidated subsidiary from acquisition | - | - | - | 1,190,000 | 1,190,000 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Net loss for the three months ended September 30, 2021 | - | - | - | (9,797,011 | ) | 60,477 | (9,736,534 | ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Balance, September 30, 2021 | 610 | $ | 1 | 14,033,197 | $ | 14,032 | (5,657 | ) | $ | (62,406 | ) | $ | 98,264,091 | $ | (97,341,964 | ) | $ | 1,306,910 | $ | (53,533 | ) | $ | 2,127,131 |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these condensed consolidated financial statements.
F-6
Creatd, Inc.
Condensed Consolidated Statement of Changes in Stockholders’ Equity (Deficit)
For the Nine Months Ended September 30, 2021
(Unaudited)
Series
E Preferred Stock | Common Stock | Treasury stock | Additional Paid In | Subscription | Accumulated | Non- Controlling | Other Comprehensive | Stockholders’ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Shares | Amount | Shares | Amount | Shares | Amount | Capital | Receivable | Deficit | Interest | Income | Equity | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Balance, January 1, 2021 | 7,738 | $ | 8 | 8,736,378 | $ | 8,737 | (5,657 | ) | $ | (62,406 | ) | $ | 77,505,013 | $ | (40,000 | ) | $ | (71,928,922 | ) | $ | - | $ | (37,234 | ) | $ | 5,445,196 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Stock based compensation | - | 224,245 | 224 | - | 5,505,165 | 5,505,389 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Shares issued for prepaid services | - | 50,000 | 50 | - | 226,450 | 226,500 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Shares issued to settle vendor liabilities | - | 44,895 | 44 | - | 181,341 | 181,385 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Common stock issued upon conversion of notes payable | - | 900,665 | 901 | - | 4,014,424 | 4,015,325 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Exercise of warrants to stock | - | 1,275,261 | 1,275 | - | 5,470,793 | 5,472,068 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Cash received for common | - | 837,500 | 837 | - | 2,461,363 | 2,462,200 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Cash received for preferred series E and warrants | 40 | - | - | (4,225 | ) | 40,000 | 35,775 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Conversion of preferred series E to stock | (7,168 | ) | (7 | ) | 1,739,750 | 1,739 | (1,732 | ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Stock warrants issued with note payable | - | - | - | 1,601,452 | 1,601,452 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Shares issued for acquisition | - | 224,503 | 225 | - | 893,297 | 893,522 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Foreign currency translation adjustments | - | - | - | (16,299 | ) | (16,299 | ) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Non-controlling interest in consolidated subsidiary from acquisition | - | - | - | 1,246,865 | 1,246,865 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dividends | - | - | - | 410,750 | (410,750 | ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Net loss for the nine months ended September 30, 2021 | - | - | - | (25,002,292 | ) | 60,045 | (24,942,247 | ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Balance, September 30, 2021 | 610 | $ | 1 | 14,033,197 | $ | 14,032 | (5,657 | ) | $ | (62,406 | ) | $ | 98,264,091 | $ | $ | (97,341,964 | ) | $ | 1,306,910 | $ | (53,533 | ) | $ | 2,127,131 |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these condensed consolidated financial statements.
F-7
Creatd, Inc.
Condensed Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows
(Unaudited)
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these condensed consolidated financial statements.
F-8
Creatd, Inc.
September 30, 2022
Notes to the Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements
Note 1 – Organization and Operations
Creatd, Inc., formerly Jerrick Media Holdings, Inc. (“we,” “us,” the “Company,” or “Creatd”), is a technology company focused on providing economic opportunities for creators, which it accomplishes through its four main business pillars: Creatd Labs, Creatd Partners, Creatd Ventures, and Creatd Studios. Creatd’s flagship product, Vocal, delivers a robust long-form, digital publishing platform organized into highly engaged niche-communities capable of hosting all forms of rich media content. Through Creatd’s proprietary algorithm dynamics, Vocal enhances the visibility of content and maximizes viewership, providing advertisers access to target markets that most closely match their interests.
The Company was originally incorporated under the laws of the State of Nevada on December 30, 1999 under the name LILM, Inc. The Company changed its name on December 3, 2013 to Great Plains Holdings, Inc. as part of its plan to diversify its business.
On February 5, 2016 (the “Closing Date”), GTPH, GPH Merger Sub, Inc., a Nevada corporation and wholly-owned subsidiary of GTPH (“Merger Sub”), and Jerrick Ventures, Inc., a privately-held Nevada corporation headquartered in New Jersey (“Jerrick”), entered into an Agreement and Plan of Merger (the “Merger”) pursuant to which the Merger Sub was merged with and into Jerrick, with Jerrick surviving as a wholly-owned subsidiary of GTPH (the “Merger”). GTPH acquired, pursuant to the Merger, all of the outstanding capital stock of Jerrick in exchange for issuing Jerrick’s shareholders (the “Jerrick Shareholders”), pro-rata, a total of 475,000 shares of GTPH’s common stock. In connection therewith, GTPH acquired 33,415 shares of Jerrick’s Series A Convertible Preferred Stock (the “Jerrick Series A Preferred”) and 8,064 shares of Series B Convertible Preferred Stock (the “Jerrick Series B Preferred”).
In connection with the Merger, on the Closing Date, GTPH and Kent Campbell entered into a Spin-Off Agreement (the “Spin-Off Agreement”), pursuant to which Mr. Campbell purchased from GTPH (i) all of GTPH’s interest in Ashland Holdings, LLC, a Florida limited liability company, and (ii) all of GTPH’s interest in Lil Marc, Inc., a Utah corporation, in exchange for the cancellation of 39,091 shares of GTPH’s Common Stock held by Mr. Campbell. In addition, Mr. Campbell assumed all debts, obligations and liabilities of GTPH, including any existing prior to the Merger, pursuant to the terms and conditions of the Spin-Off Agreement.
Upon closing of the Merger on February 5, 2016, the Company changed its business plan to that of Jerrick.
Effective February 28, 2016, GTPH entered into an Agreement and Plan of Merger (the “Statutory Merger Agreement”) with Jerrick, pursuant to which GTPH became the parent company of Jerrick Ventures, LLC, a wholly-owned operating subsidiary of Jerrick (the “Statutory Merger”) and GTPH changed its name to Jerrick Media Holdings, Inc. to better reflect its new business strategy.
On September 11, 2019, the Company acquired 100% of the membership interests of Seller’s Choice, LLC, a New Jersey limited liability company (“Seller’s Choice”), a digital e-commerce agency.
On September 9, 2020, the Company filed a certificate of amendment with the Secretary of State of the State of Nevada to change our name to “Creatd, Inc.”, which became effective on September 10, 2020.
F-9
On June 4, 2021, the Company acquired 89% of the membership interests of Plant Camp, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company (“Plant Camp”), which the Company subsequently rebranded as Camp. Camp is a direct-to-consumer (DTC) food brand which creates healthy upgrades to classic comfort food favorites. The results of Plant Camp’s operations have been included since the date of acquisition in the Statements of Operations.
On July 20, 2021, the Company acquired 44% of the membership interests of WHE Agency, Inc. WHE Agency, Inc, is a talent management and public relations agency based in New York (“WHE”). WHE has been consolidated due to the Company’s ownership of 55% voting control, and the results of operations have been included since the date of acquisition in the Statements of Operations.
Between October 21, 2020, and August 16, 2021, the Company acquired 21% of the membership interests of Dune, Inc. Dune, Inc. is a direct-to-consumer brand focused on promoting wellness through its range of health-oriented beverages.
On October 3, 2021, the Company acquired an additional 29% of the membership interests of Dune, Inc., bringing our total membership interests to 50%. Dune, Inc., has been consolidated due to the Company’s ownership of 50% voting control, and the results of operations have been included since the date of acquisition in the Statements of Operations.
On March 7, 2022, the Company acquired 100% of the membership interests of Denver Bodega, LLC, d/b/a Basis, a Colorado limited liability company (“Basis”). Basis is a direct-to-consumer functional beverage brand that makes high-electrolyte mixes meant to aid hydration. Denver Bodega, LLC has been consolidated due to the Company’s ownership of 100% voting control, and the results of operations have been included since the date of acquisition in the Statement of Operations.
On August 1, 2022, the Company acquired 51% of the membership interests of Orbit Media LLC, a New York limited liability company. Orbit is a app-based stock trading platform designed to empower a new generation of investors. Orbit has been consolidated due to the Company’s ownership of 51% voting control, and the results of operations have been included since the date of acquisition in the Statement of Operations.
On September 13, 2022, the Company acquired 100% of the membership interests of Brave Foods, LLC, a Maine limited liability company. Brave is a plant-based food company that provides convenient and healthy breakfast food products. Brave Foods, LLC has been consolidated due to the Company’s ownership of 100% voting control, and the results of operations have been included since the date of acquisition in the Statement of Operations.
Note 2 – Significant Accounting Policies and Practices
Management of the Company is responsible for the selection and use of appropriate accounting policies and the appropriateness of accounting policies and their application. Critical accounting policies and practices are those that are both most important to the portrayal of the Company’s financial condition and results and require management’s most difficult, subjective, or complex judgments, often as a result of the need to make estimates about the effects of matters that are inherently uncertain. The Company’s significant and critical accounting policies and practices are disclosed below as required by the accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.
F-10
Basis of Presentation
The Company’s condensed consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“U.S. GAAP”) and following the requirements of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) for interim reporting. As permitted under those rules, certain footnotes or other financial information that are normally required by U.S. GAAP can be condensed or omitted. These interim financial statements have been prepared on the same basis as the Company’s annual financial statements and, in the opinion of management, reflect all adjustments, consisting only of normal recurring adjustments, which are necessary for a fair statement of the Company’s financial information. These interim results are not necessarily indicative of the results to be expected for the year ending December 31, 2022 or any other interim period or for any other future year. These unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements should be read in conjunction with the Company’s audited consolidated financial statements and the notes thereto for the year ended December 31, 2021, included in the Company’s 2021 Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC. The balance sheet as of December 31, 2021 has been derived from audited financial statements at that date but does not include all of the information required by U.S. GAAP for complete financial statements.
Use of Estimates and Critical Accounting Estimates and Assumptions
The preparation of financial statements in conformity with U.S. GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the dates of the financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting periods.
These significant accounting estimates or assumptions bear the risk of change due to the fact that there are uncertainties attached to these estimates or assumptions, and certain estimates or assumptions are difficult to measure or value.
Management bases its estimates on historical experience and on various assumptions that are believed to be reasonable in relation to the financial statements taken as a whole under the circumstances, the results of which form the basis for making judgments about the carrying values of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources.
Management regularly evaluates the key factors and assumptions used to develop the estimates utilizing currently available information, changes in facts and circumstances, historical experience and reasonable assumptions. After such evaluations, if deemed appropriate, those estimates are adjusted accordingly. The Company uses estimates in accounting for, among other items, revenue recognition, allowance for doubtful accounts, stock-based compensation, income tax provisions, excess and obsolete inventory reserve, and impairment of intellectual property.
Actual results could differ from those estimates.
Presentation
During 2021, we adopted a change in presentation on our Condensed Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Loss in order to present a gross profit line and allocate certain overhead expenses, the presentation of which is consistent with our peers. Under the new presentation, we began allocating overhead expenses related to cost of goods sold. Prior periods have been revised to reflect this change in presentation.
F-11
Principles of consolidation
The Company consolidates all majority-owned subsidiaries, if any, in which the parent’s power to control exists.
As of September 30, 2022, the Company’s consolidated subsidiaries and/or entities are as follows:
Name of combined affiliate | State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization |
Company Ownership Interest |
||||
Jerrick Ventures LLC | Delaware | 100 | % | |||
Abacus Tech Pty Ltd | Australia | 100 | % | |||
Brave Foods, LLC | Brave Foods, LLC | 100 | % | |||
Denver Bodega, LLC | Colorado | 100 | % | |||
Dune Inc. | Delaware | 50 | % | |||
Plant Camp LLC | Delaware | 89 | % | |||
OG Collection, Inc. | Delaware | 100 | % | |||
OG Gallery, LLC | Delaware | 100 | % | |||
Orbit Media LLC | New York | 51 | % | |||
WHE Agency, Inc. | Delaware | 44 | % |
All inter-company balances and transactions have been eliminated. The condensed consolidated financial statements include Denver Bodega, LLC activity since March 7, 2022, Orbit Media LLC activity since August 1, 2022, and Brave Foods, LLC activity since September 13, 2022.
Variable Interest Entities
Management performs an ongoing assessment of its noncontrolling interests from investments in unrelated entities to determine if those entities are variable interest entities (VIEs), and if so, whether the Company is the primary beneficiary. If an entity in such a transaction, by design, meets the definition of a VIE and the Company determines that it, or a condensed consolidated subsidiary is the primary beneficiary, the Company will include the VIE in its condensed consolidated financial statements. If such an entity is deemed to not be condensed consolidated, the Company records only its investment in equity securities as a marketable security or investment under the equity method, as applicable
Fair Value of Financial Instruments
The fair value measurement disclosures are grouped into three levels based on valuation factors:
● | Level 1 – quoted prices in active markets for identical investments |
● | Level 2 – other significant observable inputs (including quoted prices for similar investments and market corroborated inputs) |
● | Level 3 – significant unobservable inputs (including our own assumptions in determining the fair value of investments) |
F-12
The Company’s Level 1 assets/liabilities include cash, accounts receivable, marketable trading securities, accounts payable, marketable trading securities, prepaid and other current assets, line of credit and due to related parties. Management believes the estimated fair value of these accounts at September 30, 2022 approximate their carrying value as reflected in the balance sheets due to the short-term nature of these instruments or the use of market interest rates for debt instruments.
The Company’s Level 2 assets/liabilities include certain of the Company’s notes payable. Their carrying value approximates their fair values based upon a comparison of the interest rate and terms of such debt given the level of risk to the rates and terms of similar debt currently available to the Company in the marketplace.
The Company’s Level 3 assets/liabilities include goodwill, intangible assets, equity investments at cost, and derivative liabilities. Inputs to determine fair value are generally unobservable and typically reflect management’s estimates of assumptions that market participants would use in pricing the asset or liability. The fair values are therefore determined using model-based techniques, including option pricing models and discounted cash flow models. Unobservable inputs used in the models are significant to the fair values of the assets and liabilities.
The following tables provides a summary of the relevant assets that are measured at fair value on a recurring basis:
Fair Value Measurements as of
September 30, 2022
Total | Quoted Prices in Active Markets for Identical Assets or Liabilities (Level 1) | Quoted Prices for Similar Assets or Liabilities in Active Markets (Level 2) | Significant Unobservable Inputs (Level 3) | |||||||||||||
Assets: | ||||||||||||||||
Marketable securities - equity securities | $ | 96 | $ | 96 | $ | $ | ||||||||||
Total assets | $ | 96 | $ | 96 | $ | $ |
Our marketable equity securities are publicly traded stocks measured at fair value using quoted prices for identical assets in active markets and classified as Level 1 within the fair value hierarchy. Marketable equity securities as of September 30, 2022 are $96.
The change in net realized depreciation on equity trading securities that has been included in other expenses for the nine months ended September 30, 2022 and 2021 was $11,646 and $0, respectively.
Cash Equivalents
The Company considers all highly liquid investments with a maturity of three months or less when purchased to be cash equivalents.
At times, cash balances may exceed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”) or Financial Claims Scheme (“FCS”) insurable limits. The Company has never experienced any losses related to these balances. The uninsured cash balance as of September 30, 2022, was $0. The Company does not believe it is exposed to significant credit risk on cash and cash equivalents.
F-13
Concentration of Credit Risk and Other Risks and Uncertainties
The Company provides credit in the normal course of business. The Company maintains allowances for credit losses on factors surrounding the credit risk of specific customers, historical trends, and other information.
The Company operates in Australia and holds total assets of $622,445. It is reasonably possible that operations located outside an entity’s home country will be disrupted in the near term.
Property and Equipment
Property and equipment are recorded at cost. Expenditures for major additions and betterments are capitalized. Maintenance and repairs are charged to operations as incurred. Depreciation is computed by the straight-line method (after taking into account their respective estimated residual values) over the estimated useful lives of the respective assets as follows:
Estimated Useful Life (Years) | |||
Computer equipment and software | 3 | ||
Furniture and fixtures | 5 |
Upon sale or retirement of property and equipment, the related cost and accumulated depreciation are removed from the accounts and any gain or loss is reflected in the condensed consolidated statements of operations.
Long-lived Assets Including Goodwill and Other Acquired Intangible Assets
We evaluate the recoverability of property and equipment, acquired finite-lived intangible assets and, purchased infinite life digital assets for possible impairment whenever events or circumstances indicate that the carrying amount of such assets may not be recoverable. The evaluation is performed at the lowest level for which identifiable cash flows are largely independent of the cash flows of other assets and liabilities. Recoverability of these assets is measured by a comparison of the carrying amounts to the future undiscounted cash flows the assets are expected to generate from the use and eventual disposition. Digital assets accounted for as intangible assets are subject to impairment losses if the fair value of digital assets decreases other than temporary below the carrying value. The fair value is measured using the quoted price of the crypto asset at the time its fair value is being measured. If such review indicates that the carrying amount of property and equipment and intangible assets is not recoverable, the carrying amount of such assets is reduced to fair value. During the three months ended September 30, 2022, the Company recorded an impairment charge of $249,586 for intangible assets. During the nine months ended September 30, 2022, the Company recorded an impairment charge of $257,117 for intangible assets.
Acquired finite-lived intangible assets are amortized on a straight-line basis over the estimated useful lives of the assets. We routinely review the remaining estimated useful lives of property and equipment and finite-lived intangible assets. If we change the estimated useful life assumption for any asset, the remaining unamortized balance is amortized or depreciated over the revised estimated useful life. The remaining weighted average life of the intangible assets are 7.1 years.
F-14
Scheduled amortization over the next five years are as follows: |
Twelve months ending September 30, | ||||
2023 | $ | 415,215 | ||
2024 | 443,236 | |||
2025 | 280,223 | |||
2026 | 260,935 | |||
2027 | 239,934 | |||
Thereafter | 739,762 | |||
Total | 2,379,305 | |||
Intangible assets not subject to amortization | 157,294 | |||
Total Intangible Assets | $ | 2,536,599 |
Amortization expense was $94,130 and $75,069 for the three months ended September 30, 2022 and 2021, respectively. Amortization expense was $355,509 and $143,776 for the nine months ended September 30, 2022 and 2021, respectively.
Goodwill is not amortized but is subject to periodic testing for impairment in accordance with ASC Topic 350 “Intangibles – Goodwill and Other – Testing Indefinite-Lived Intangible Assets for Impairment” (“ASC Topic 350”). The Company tests goodwill for impairment on an annual basis as of the last day of the Company’s fiscal December each year or more frequently if events occur or circumstances change indicating that the fair value of the goodwill may be below its carrying amount. The Company has four reporting units. The Company uses an income-based approach to determine the fair value of the reporting units. This approach uses a discounted cash flow methodology and the ability of our reporting units to generate cash flows as measures of fair value of our reporting units.
During the year ended December 31, 2021, the Company completed its annual impairment test of goodwill. The Company performed the qualitative assessment as permitted by ASC 350-20 and determined for three of its reporting units that the fair value of those reporting units was more likely than not greater than their carrying value, including Goodwill. However, based on this qualitative assessment, the Company determined that the carrying value of the Seller’s Choice reporting unit was more likely than not greater than its carrying value, including Goodwill. Based on completion of the annual impairment test, the Company recorded an impairment charge of $1,035,795 for goodwill.
During the three months ended September 30, 2022, management observed impairment indicators that led them to believe the carrying amount of goodwill was below its carrying value. The Company determined that the carrying value of the Plant Camp and Dune reporting units were more likely than not greater than their carrying value, including Goodwill. Based on estimated impairment computed, the Company recorded an impairment charge of $25,139 for goodwill.
The following table sets forth a summary of the changes in goodwill for the three months ended September 30, 2022.
For the Three Months ended September 30, 2022 | ||||
Total | ||||
As of July 1, 2022 | $ | 1,383,785 | ||
Goodwill acquired in a business combination | 6,682 | |||
Impairment of goodwill | (25,139 | ) | ||
As of September 30, 2022 | $ | 1,365,328 |
The following table sets forth a summary of the changes in goodwill for the nine months ended September 30, 2022.
For the Nine Months ended September 30, 2022 | ||||
Total | ||||
As of January 1, 2022 | $ | 1,374,835 | ||
Goodwill acquired in a business combination | 15,632 | |||
Impairment of goodwill | (25,139 | ) | ||
As of September 30, 2022 | $ | 1,365,328 |
F-15
Commitments and Contingencies
The Company follows subtopic 450-20 of the FASB ASC to report accounting for contingencies. Certain conditions may exist as of the date the condensed consolidated financial statements are issued, which may result in a loss to the Company, but which will only be resolved when one or more future events occur or fail to occur. The Company assesses such contingent liabilities, and such assessment inherently involves an exercise of judgment. In assessing loss contingencies related to legal proceedings that are pending against the Company or un-asserted claims that may result in such proceedings, the Company evaluates the perceived merits of any legal proceedings or un-asserted claims as well as the perceived merits of the amount of relief sought or expected to be sought therein.
If the assessment of a contingency indicates that it is probable that a material loss has been incurred and the amount of the liability can be estimated, then the estimated liability would be accrued in the Company’s condensed consolidated financial statements. If the assessment indicates that a potential material loss contingency is not probable but is reasonably possible, or is probable but cannot be estimated, then the nature of the contingent liability, and an estimate of the range of possible losses, if determinable and material, would be disclosed.
Loss contingencies considered remote are generally not disclosed unless they involve guarantees, in which case the guarantees would be disclosed.
Foreign Currency
Foreign currency denominated assets and liabilities are translated into U.S. dollars using the exchange rates in effect at our Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheet dates. Results of operations and cash flows are translated using the average exchange rates throughout the periods. The effect of exchange rate fluctuations on the translation of assets and liabilities is included as a component of stockholders’ equity in accumulated other comprehensive income. Gains and losses from foreign currency transactions, which are included in operating expenses, have not been significant in any period presented.
Derivative Liability
The Company evaluates its debt and equity issuances to determine if those contracts or embedded components of those contracts qualify as derivatives to be separately accounted for in accordance with paragraph 815-10-05-4 and Section 815-40-25 of the FASB Accounting Standards Codification. The result of this accounting treatment is that the fair value of the embedded derivative is marked-to-market each balance sheet date and recorded as either an asset or a liability. In the event that the fair value is recorded as a liability, the change in fair value is recorded in the condensed consolidated statement of operations as other income or expense. Upon conversion, exercise or cancellation of a derivative instrument, the instrument is marked to fair value at the date of conversion, exercise or cancellation and then the related fair value is reclassified to equity.
In circumstances where the embedded conversion option in a convertible instrument is required to be bifurcated and there are also other embedded derivative instruments in the convertible instrument that are required to be bifurcated, the bifurcated derivative instruments are accounted for as a single, compound derivative instrument.
F-16
The classification of derivative instruments, including whether such instruments should be recorded as liabilities or as equity, is re-assessed at the end of each reporting period. Equity instruments that are initially classified as equity that become subject to reclassification are reclassified to liability at the fair value of the instrument on the reclassification date. Derivative instrument liabilities will be classified in the balance sheet as current or non-current based on whether or not net-cash settlement of the derivative instrument is expected within 12 months of the balance sheet date.
The Company adopted Section 815-40-15 of the FASB Accounting Standards Codification (“Section 815-40-15”) to determine whether an instrument (or an embedded feature) is indexed to the Company’s own stock. Section 815-40-15 provides that an entity should use a two-step approach to evaluate whether an equity-linked financial instrument (or embedded feature) is indexed to its own stock, including evaluating the instrument’s contingent exercise and settlement provisions.
The Company utilizes a binomial option model for convertible notes that have an option to convert at a variable number of shares to compute the fair value of the derivative and to mark to market the fair value of the derivative at each balance sheet date. The inputs utilized in the application of the Binomial model included a stock price on valuation date, an expected term of each debenture remaining from the valuation date to maturity, an estimated volatility, and a risk-free rate. The Company records the change in the fair value of the derivative as other income or expense in the condensed consolidated statements of operations.
Shipping and Handling Costs
The Company classifies freight billed to customers as sales revenue and the related freight costs as cost of revenue.
Revenue Recognition
Under Topic 606, revenue is recognized when control of the promised goods or services is transferred to our customers, in an amount that reflects the consideration we expect to be entitled to in exchange for those goods or services.
We determine revenue recognition through the following steps:
● | identification of the contract, or contracts, with a customer; |
● | identification of the performance obligations in the contract; |
● | determination of the transaction price. The transaction price for any given subscriber could decrease based on any payments made to that subscriber. A subscriber may be eligible for payment through one or more of the monetization features offered to Vocal creators, including earnings through reads (on a cost per mile basis) and cash prizes offered to Challenge winners; |
● | allocation of the transaction price to the performance obligations in the contract; and |
● | recognition of revenue when, or as, we satisfy a performance obligation. |
F-17
Revenue disaggregated by revenue source for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2022 and 2021 consists of the following:
Three Months Ended | Nine Months Ended | |||||||||||||||
September 30, | September 30, | |||||||||||||||
2022 | 2021 | 2022 | 2021 | |||||||||||||
Agency (Managed Services, Branded Content, & Talent Management Services) | $ | 442,867 | $ | 555,766 | $ | 1,613,924 | $ | 1,472,902 | ||||||||
Platform (Creator Subscriptions) | 230,212 | 611,714 | 1,138,812 | 1,370,581 | ||||||||||||
Ecommerce | 347,944 | 4,153 | 1,237,634 | 9,679 | ||||||||||||
Affiliate Sales | 1,828 | 7,619 | 7,120 | 23,425 | ||||||||||||
Other Revenue | 368 | 17,803 | ||||||||||||||
$ | 1,022,851 | $ | 1,179,620 | $ | 3,997,490 | $ | 2,894,390 |
The Company utilizes the output method to measures the results achieved and value transferred to a customer over time. Timing of revenue recognition for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2022 and 2021 consists of the following:
Three Months Ended | Nine Months Ended | |||||||||||||||
September 30, | September 30, | |||||||||||||||
2022 | 2021 | 2022 | 2021 | |||||||||||||
Products and services transferred over time | $ | 673,079 | $ | 1,167,480 | $ | 2,752,736 | $ | 2,843,483 | ||||||||
Products transferred at a point in time | 349,772 | 12,140 | 1,244,754 | 50,907 | ||||||||||||
$ | 1,022,851 | $ | 1,179,620 | $ | 3,997,490 | $ | 2,894,390 |
Agency Revenue
Managed Services
The Company provides Studio/Agency Service offerings to business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) product and service brands which encompasses a full range of digital marketing and e-commerce solutions. The Company’s services include the setup and ongoing management of clients’ websites, Amazon and Shopify storefronts and listings, social media pages, search engine marketing, and other various tools and sales channels utilized by e-commerce sellers for sales and growth optimization. Contracts are broken into three categories: Partners, Monthly Services, and Projects. Contract amounts for Partner and Monthly Services clients range from approximately $500-$7,500 per month while Project amounts vary depending on the scope of work. Partner and Monthly clients are billed monthly for the work completed within that month. Partner Clients may or may not have an additional billing component referred to as Sales Performance Fee, which is a fee based upon a previously agreed upon percentage point of the client’s total sales for the month. Some Partners may also have projects within their contracts that get billed and recognized as agreed upon project milestones are achieved. Revenue is recognized over time as service obligations and milestones in the contract are met.
Branded Content
Branded content represents the revenue recognized from the Company’s obligation to create and publish branded articles and/or branded challenges for clients on the Vocal platform and promote said stories, tracking engagement for the client. In the case of branded articles, the performance obligation is satisfied when the Company successfully publishes the articles on its platform and meets any required promotional milestones as per the contract. In the case of branded challenges, the performance obligation is satisfied when the Company successfully closes the challenge and winners have been announced. The Company utilizes the completed contract method when revenue is recognized over time as the services are performed and any required milestones are met. Certain contracts contain separate milestones whereas the Company separates its performance obligations and utilizes the stand-alone selling price method and residual method to determine the estimate of the allocation of the transaction price.
F-18
Below are the significant components of a typical agreement pertaining to branded content revenue:
● | The Company collects fixed fees ranging from $10,000 to $110,000, with branded challenges ranging from $10,000 to $25,000 and branded articles ranging from $2,500 to $7,500 per article. | |
● | Branded articles are created and published, and challenges are completed, within three months of the signed agreement, or as previously negotiated with the client. |
● | Branded articles and challenges are promoted per the contract and engagement reports are provided to the client. | |
● | Most contracts include provisions for clients to acquire content rights at the end of the campaign for a flat fee. |
Talent Management Services
Talent Management represents the revenue recognized by WHE Agency, Inc. (“WHE”) from the Company’s obligation to manage and oversee influencer-led campaigns from the contract negotiation stage through content creation and publication. WHE acts in an agent capacity for influencers and collects a management fee of 20% of the value of an influencer’s contract with a brand. Revenue is recognized net of the 80% of the contract that is collected by the influencer and is recognized when performance obligations of the contract are met. Performance obligations are complete when milestones and deliverables of contracts are delivered to the client.
Below are the significant components of a typical agreement pertaining to talent management revenue:
● | Total gross contracts range from $500-$50,000. |
● | The Company collects fixed fees in the amount of 20% of the gross contract amount, ranging from $100 to $20,000 in net revenue per contract. |
● | The campaign is created and made live by the influencer within the timeframe specified in the contract. |
● | Campaigns are promoted per the contract and the customer is provided a link to the live deliverables on the influencer’s social media channels. |
● | Most billing for contracts occur 100% at execution of the performance obligation. Net payment terms vary by client. |
Platform Revenue
Creator Subscriptions
Vocal+ is a premium subscription offering for Vocal creators. In addition to joining for free, Vocal creators now have the option to sign up for a Vocal+ membership for either $9.99 monthly or $99 annually, though these amounts are subject to promotional discounts and free trials. Vocal+ subscribers receive access to value-added features such as increased rate of cost per mille (thousand) (“CPM”) monetization, a decreased minimum withdrawal threshold, a discount on platform processing fees, member badges for their profiles, access to exclusive Vocal+ Challenges, and early access to new Vocal features. Subscription revenues stem from both monthly and annual subscriptions, the latter of which is amortized over a twelve-month period. Any customer payments received are recognized over the subscription period, with any payments received in advance being deferred until they are earned.
F-19
The transaction price for any given subscriber could decrease based on any payments made to that subscriber. A subscriber may be eligible for payment through one or more of the monetization features offered to Vocal creators, including earnings through reads (on a cost per mille basis) and cash prizes offered to Challenge winners. Potential revenue offset is calculated by reviewing a subscriber’s earnings in conjunction with payments made by the subscriber on a monthly and/or annual basis.
Affiliate Sales Revenue
Affiliate sales represents the commission the Company receives when a purchase is made through affiliate links placed within content hosted on the Vocal platform. Affiliate revenue is earned on a “click through” basis, upon referring visitors, via said links, to an affiliate’s site and having them complete a specific outcome, most commonly a product purchase. The Company uses multiple affiliate platforms, such as Skimlinks, Amazon, and Tune, to form and maintain thousands of vendor relationships. Each vendor establishes their own commission percentage, which typically range from 2-20%. The revenue is recognized upon receipt as reliable estimates could not be made.
E-Commerce Revenue
The Company’s e-commerce businesses are housed under Creatd Ventures, and currently consists of four majority-owned e-commerce companies, Camp (previously Plant Camp), Dune Glow Remedy (“Dune”), Basis, and Brave. The Company generates revenue through the sale of Camp, Dune, and Basis, and Brave’s consumer products through its e-commerce distribution channels. The Company satisfies its performance obligation upon shipment of product to its customers and recognizes shipping and handling costs as a fulfillment cost. Customers have 30 days from receipt of an item to return unopened, unused, or damaged items for a full refund. All returns are processed within the relevant recording period and accounted for as a reduction in revenue. The Company runs discounts from time to time to promote sales, improve market penetration, and increase customer retention. Any discounts are run as coupon codes applied at the time of transaction and accounted for as a reduction in gross revenue. The Company assesses variable consideration using the most likely amount method.
Deferred Revenue
Deferred revenue consists of billings and payments from clients in advance of revenue recognition. The Company has two types of deferred revenue, subscription revenue whereas the revenue is recognized over the subscription period and contract liabilities where the performance obligation was not satisfied. The Company will recognize the deferred revenue within the next twelve months. As of September 30, 2022, the Company had deferred revenue of $305,555. As of December 31, 2021, the Company had deferred revenue of $234,159, of which $159,727 was recognized as revenue in the nine months ended September 30, 2022, and $13,512 was recognized as revenue in the three months ended September 30, 2022.
Accounts Receivable and Allowances
Accounts receivable are recorded and carried when the Company has performed the work in accordance with managed services, project, partner, consulting and branded content agreements. For example, we bill a managed service client monthly when we have updated their Amazon store, modified SEO or completed the other services listed in the agreement. For projects and branded content, we will bill the client and record the receivable once milestones are reached that are set in the agreement. We make estimates for the allowance for doubtful accounts and allowance for unbilled receivables based upon our assessment of various factors, including historical experience, the age of the accounts receivable balances, credit quality of our customers, current economic conditions, and other factors that may affect our ability to collect from customers. During the nine months ended September 30, 2022, the Company recorded $124,186, as a bad debt expense. As of September 30, 2022, the Company has an allowance for doubtful accounts of $311,133. As of December 31, 2021, the Company has an allowance for doubtful accounts of $186,147.
F-20
Inventory
Inventories are stated at the lower of cost (first-in, first-out basis) or net realizable value. Inventories are periodically evaluated to identify obsolete or otherwise impaired products and are written off when management determines usage is not probable. The Company estimates the balance of excess and obsolete inventory by analyzing inventory by age using last used and original purchase date and existing sales pipeline for which the inventory could be used. As of September 30, 2022, and December 31, 2021, the Company had no valuation allowance.
Stock-Based Compensation
The Company recognizes compensation expense for all equity–based payments granted in accordance with Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) 718 “Compensation – Stock Compensation”. Under fair value recognition provisions, the Company recognizes equity–based compensation over the requisite service period of the award. The company has a relatively low forfeiture rate of stock based compensation and forfeitures are recognized as they occur.
Restricted stock awards are granted at the discretion of the Company. These awards are restricted as to the transfer of ownership and generally vest over the requisite service periods.
The fair value of an option award is estimated on the date of grant using the Black–Scholes option valuation model. The Black–Scholes option valuation model requires the development of assumptions that are inputs into the model. These assumptions are the value of the underlying share, the expected stock volatility, the risk–free interest rate, the expected life of the option, the dividend yield on the underlying stock and the expected forfeiture rate. Expected volatility is volatility is derived from the Company’s historical data over the expected option life and other appropriate factors. Risk–free interest rates are calculated based on continuously compounded risk–free rates for the appropriate term. The dividend yield is assumed to be zero as the Company has never paid or declared any cash dividends on its Common stock and does not intend to pay dividends on its Common stock in the foreseeable future. Forfeitures are recognized as they occur.
Determining the appropriate fair value model and calculating the fair value of equity–based payment awards requires the input of the subjective assumptions described above. The assumptions used in calculating the fair value of equity–based payment awards represent management’s best estimates, which involve inherent uncertainties and the application of management’s judgment. As a result, if factors change and the Company uses different assumptions, our equity–based compensation could be materially different in the future. The Company issues awards of equity instruments, such as stock options and restricted stock units, to employees and certain non-employee directors. Compensation expense related to these awards is based on the fair value of the underlying stock on the award date and is amortized over the service period, defined as the vesting period. The vesting period is generally one to three years. A Black-Scholes model is utilized to estimate the fair value of stock options, while the market price of the Company’s common stock at the date of grant is used for restricted stock units. Compensation expense is reduced for actual forfeitures as they occur.
Loss Per Share
Basic net loss per common share is computed by dividing net loss attributable to common stockholders by the weighted-average number of common shares outstanding during the period. Diluted net loss per common share is determined using the weighted-average number of common shares outstanding during the period, adjusted for the dilutive effect of common stock equivalents. In periods when losses are reported, which is the case for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2022 and 2021 presented in these condensed consolidated financial statements, the weighted-average number of common shares outstanding excludes common stock equivalents because their inclusion would be anti-dilutive.
F-21
The Company had the following common stock equivalents at September 30, 2022 and 2021:
September 30, | ||||||||
2022 | 2021 | |||||||
Series E preferred | 121 | 148 | ||||||
Options | 4,408,267 | 2,327,445 | ||||||
Warrants | 20,429,630 | 6,558,705 | ||||||
Convertible notes | 32,215,486 | 228,334 | ||||||
Totals | 57,053,504 | 9,114,632 |
Reclassifications
Certain prior year amounts in the condensed consolidated financial statements and the notes thereto have been reclassified where necessary to conform to the current year’s presentation. These reclassifications did not affect the prior period’s total assets, total liabilities, stockholders’ deficit, net loss or net cash used in operating activities. During the year ended December 31, 2021, we adopted a change in presentation on our condensed consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive loss in order to present a gross profit line, the presentation of which is consistent with our peers. Under the new presentation, we began allocating payroll and related expenses, professional services and creator payouts. Prior periods have been revised to reflect this change in presentation.
Recently Adopted Accounting Guidance
In May 2021, the FASB issued authoritative guidance intended to clarify and reduce diversity in an issuer’s accounting for modifications or exchanges of freestanding equity-classified written call options that remain equity classified after modification or exchange. (ASU 2021-04), “Derivatives and Hedging Contracts in Entity’s Own Equity (Topic 815). This guidance’s amendments provide measurement, recognition, and disclosure guidance for an issuer’s accounting for modifications or exchanges of freestanding equity-classified written call options that remain equity classified after modification or exchange. The updated guidance, which became effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2021, During the nine months ended September 30, 2022 the Company recognized a deemed dividend of $63,064 from the modification of warrants.
Recent Accounting Guidance Not Yet Adopted
In June 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-13, Financial Instruments – Credit Losses (Topic 326), Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments (“ASU-2016-13”). ASU 2016-13 affects loans, debt securities, trade receivables, and any other financial assets that have the contractual right to receive cash. The ASU requires an entity to recognize expected credit losses rather than incurred losses for financial assets. On October 16, 2019, FASB approved a final ASU delaying the effective date of ASU 2016-13 for small reporting companies to interim and annual periods beginning after December 15, 2022. The Company is currently evaluating the impact of these amendments to the Company’s financial position and results of operations and currently does not know or cannot reasonably quantify the impact of the adoption of the amendments as a result of the complexity and extensive changes from the amendments. The Company does not believe the adoption will have a material impact on the Company’s condensed consolidated financial statements. The adoption of the guidance will affect disclosures and estimates around accounts receivable.
F-22
In August 2020, the FASB issued ASU 2020-06, Debt—Debt with Conversion and Other Options (Subtopic 470-20) and Derivatives and Hedging—Contracts in Entity’s Own Equity (Subtopic 815-40): Accounting for Convertible Instruments and Contracts in an Entity’s Own Equity. This ASU amends the guidance on convertible instruments and the derivatives scope exception for contracts in an entity’s own equity, and also improves and amends the related EPS guidance for both Subtopics. ASU 2020-06 is effective for the fiscal year beginning after December 15, 2022, including interim periods within that fiscal year. The Company is currently evaluating the impact of the new guidance on its condensed consolidated financial statements.
In July 2021, the FASB issued ASU No. 2021-05, Lessors—Certain Leases with Variable Lease Payments (Topic 842), Which requires a lessor to classify a lease with variable lease payments that do not depend on an index or rate (hereafter referred to as “variable payments”) as an operating lease on the commencement date of the lease if specified criteria are met. ASU 2021-05 is effective for the fiscal year beginning after December 15, 2022, including interim periods within that fiscal year. The Company expects that there would be no material impact on the Company’s condensed consolidated financial statements upon the adoption of this ASU.
In October 2021, the FASB issued ASU No. 2021-08, Business Combinations — Accounting for Contract Assets and Contract Liabilities from Contracts with Customers (Topic 805), Which aims to improve the accounting for acquired revenue contracts with customers in a business combination by addressing diversity in recognition and payment terms that effect subsequent revenue recognition. ASU 2021-08 is effective for the fiscal year beginning after December 15, 2022, including interim periods within that fiscal year. The Company expects that there would be no material impact on the Company’s condensed consolidated financial statements upon the adoption of this ASU.
Management does not believe that any recently issued, but not yet effective accounting pronouncements, when adopted, will have a material effect on the accompanying condensed consolidated financial statements.
Note 3 – Going Concern
The Company’s condensed consolidated financial statements have been prepared assuming that it will continue as a going concern, which contemplates continuity of operations, realization of assets, and liquidation of liabilities in the normal course of business.
As reflected in the condensed consolidated financial statements, as of September 30, 2022, the Company had an accumulated deficit of $133.8 million, a net loss of $25.1 million and net cash used in operating activities of $13.9 million for the reporting period then ended. These factors raise substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern for a period of one year from the issuance of these financial statements.
On January 30, 2020, the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 novel coronavirus outbreak a “Public Health Emergency of International Concern” and on March 10, 2020, declared it to be a pandemic. Actions taken around the world to help mitigate the spread of the coronavirus include restrictions on travel, and quarantines in certain areas, and forced closures for certain types of public places and businesses. The COVID-19 coronavirus and actions taken to mitigate it have had and are expected to continue to have an adverse impact on the economies and financial markets of many countries, including the geographical area in which the Company operates. While it is unknown how long these conditions will last and what the complete financial impact will be to the Company, capital raising efforts and our operations may be negatively affected.
F-23
The Company is attempting to further implement its business plan and generate sufficient revenues; however, its cash position may not be sufficient to support its daily operations. While the Company believes in the viability of its strategy to further implement its business plan and generate sufficient revenues and in its ability to raise additional funds by way of a public or private offering of its debt or equity securities, there can be no assurance that it will be able to do so on reasonable terms, or at all. The ability of the Company to continue as a going concern is dependent upon its ability to further implement its business plan and generate sufficient revenues and its ability to raise additional funds by way of a public or private offering.
The condensed consolidated financial statements do not include any adjustments related to the recoverability and classification of recorded asset amounts or the amounts and classification of liabilities that might be necessary should the Company be unable to continue as a going concern.
Note 4 – Inventory
Inventory was comprised of the following at September 30, 2022 and December 31, 2021:
September 30, 2022 |
December 31, 2021 |
|||||||
Raw Materials | $ | 82,834 | $ | |||||
Packaging | 78,799 | 2,907 | ||||||
Finished goods | 717,417 | 103,496 | ||||||
$ | 879,050 | $ | 106,403 |
Note 5 – Property and Equipment
Property and equipment stated at cost, less accumulated depreciation, consisted of the following:
September 30, 2022 | December 31, 2021 | |||||||
Computer Equipment | $ | 447,342 | $ | 353,880 | ||||
Furniture and Fixtures | 184,524 | 102,416 | ||||||
Leasehold Improvements | 47,616 | 11,457 | ||||||
679,482 | 467,753 | |||||||
Less: Accumulated Depreciation | (430,519 | ) | (364,814 | ) | ||||
$ | 248,963 | $ | 102,939 |
Depreciation expense was $43,546 and $10,047 for the three months ended September 30, 2022 and 2021, respectively. Depreciation expense was $67,951 and $30,141 for the nine months ended September 30, 2022 and 2021, respectively.
F-24
Note 6 – Notes Payable
Notes payable as of September 30, 2022 and December 31, 2021 is as follows:
Outstanding Principal as of | ||||||||||||||
September 30, 2022 | December 31, 2021 | Interest Rate | Maturity Date | |||||||||||
Seller’s Choice Note | $ | - | $ | 660,000 | 30 | % | September 2020 | |||||||
The April 2020 PPP Loan Agreement | 198,577 | 198,577 | 1 | % | May 2022 | |||||||||
The First December 2021 Loan Agreement | 47,990 | 185,655 | 10 | % | June 2023 | |||||||||
The Second December 2021 Loan Agreement | - | 313,979 | 14 | % | June 2022 | |||||||||
First Denver Bodega LLC Loan | 44,008 | 5 | % | March 2025 | ||||||||||
The Third May 2022 Loan Agreement | 16,169 | % | November 2022 | |||||||||||
The Fourth May 2022 Loan Agreement | 30,558 | % | November 2022 | |||||||||||
The First August 2022 Loan Agreement | 129,634 | 14 | % | November 2022 | ||||||||||
The Second August 2022 Loan Agreement | 646,100 | % | January 2023 | |||||||||||
The First September 2022 Loan Agreement | 87,884 | % | September 2023 | |||||||||||
The Second September 2022 Loan Agreement | 848,625 | % | May 2023 | |||||||||||
The Third September 2022 Loan Agreement | 351,964 | % | April 2023 | |||||||||||
2,401,509 | 1,358,211 | |||||||||||||
Less: Debt Discount | (614,410 | ) | (15,547 | ) | ||||||||||
Less: Debt Issuance Costs | ||||||||||||||
1,787,099 | 1,342,664 | |||||||||||||
Less: Current Debt | (1,758,179 | ) | (1,278,672 | ) | ||||||||||
Total Long-Term Debt | $ | 28,920 | $ | 63,992 |
Seller’s Choice Note
On September 11, 2019, the Company entered into Seller’s Choice Purchase Agreement with Home Revolution LLC. As a part of the consideration provided pursuant to the Seller’s Choice Acquisition, the Company issued the Seller’s Choice Note to the Seller in the principal amount of $660,000. The Seller’s Choice Note bears interest at a rate of 9.5% per annum and is payable on March 11, 2020 (the “Seller’s Choice Maturity Date”) at which time all outstanding principal, accrued and unpaid interest and other amounts become due. Upon maturity the Company utilized an automatic extension up to 6 months. This resulted in a 5% increase in the interest rate every month the Seller’s Choice Note is outstanding. As of December 31, 2021, the Company was in default on the Seller’s Choice note.
On March 3, 2022, after substantial motion practice, Creatd successfully settled the dispute with Home Revolution, LLC for a total of $799,000, which includes $660,000 of note principal and $139,000 of accrued interest. The matter has been dismissed. As part of the settlement the Company recorded a Gain on extinguishment of debt of $147,256.
F-25
The April 2020 PPP Loan Agreement
On April 30, 2020, the Company was granted a loan with a principal amount of $282,432 (the “Loan”), pursuant to the Paycheck Protection Program (the “PPP”) under Division A, Title I of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (the “CARES Act”), which was enacted on March 27, 2020. The Loan, which was in the form of a Note dated April 30, 2020, matures on April 30, 2022, and bears interest at a fixed rate of 1.00% per annum, payable monthly commencing on October 30, 2020. The Note may be prepaid by the Company at any time prior to maturity without payment of any premium. Funds from the Loan may only be used to retain workers and maintain payroll or make mortgage payments, lease payments and utility payments.
During the nine months ended September 30, 2022, the Company accrued interest of $4,815.
The Company is in the process of returning the funds received from the Loan.
As of September 30, 2022, the Loan is in default, and the lender may require immediate payment of all amounts owed under the Loan or file suit and obtain judgment.
The First December 2021 Loan Agreement
On December 3, 2021, the Company entered into a loan agreement (the “First December 2021 Loan Agreement”) with a lender (the “First December 2021 Lender”) whereby the First December 2021 Lender issued the Company a promissory note of $191,975 (the “First December 2021 Note”). Pursuant to the First December 2021 Loan Agreement, the First December 2021 Note has an effective interest rate of 9%. The maturity date of the First December 2021 Note is June 3, 2023 (the “First December 2021 Maturity Date”), at which time all outstanding principal, accrued and unpaid interest and other amounts due under the First December 2021 Note are due.
During the nine months ended September 30, 2022, the Company repaid $137,665 in principal.
The Second December 2021 Loan Agreement
On December 14, 2021, the Company entered into a secured loan agreement (the “Second December 2021 Loan Agreement”) with a lender (the “Second December 2021 Lender”), whereby the Second December 2021 Lender issued the Company a secured promissory note of $438,096 AUD or $329,127 United States Dollars (the “Second December 2021 Note”). Pursuant to the Second December 2021 Loan Agreement, the Second December 2021 Note has an effective interest rate of 14%. The maturity date of the Second December 2021 Note is June 30, 2022 (the “Second December 2021 Maturity Date”) at which time all outstanding principal, accrued and unpaid interest and other amounts due under the Second December 2021 Loan Agreement are due. The Company has the option to extend the Maturity date by 60 days. The loan is secured by the Australian research & development credit.
During the nine months ended September 30, 2022, the Company accrued $22,287 in interest.
As of the date of this filing the Company has exercised its option to extend the maturity date to August 29, 2022.
During the nine months ended September 30, 2022, the Company repaid $293,499 of principal and $26,115 of interest.
F-26
The First February 2022 Loan Agreement
On February 22, 2022, the Company entered into a secured loan agreement (the “First February 2022 Loan Agreement”) with a lender (the “First February 2022 Lender”), whereby the First February 2022 Lender issued the Company a secured promissory note of $222,540 AUD or $159,223 United States Dollars (the “First February 2022 Note”). Pursuant to the First February 2022 Loan Agreement, the First February 2022 Note has an effective interest rate of 14%. The maturity date of the First February 2022 Note is June 30, 2022 (the “First February 2022 Maturity Date”) at which time all outstanding principal, accrued and unpaid interest and other amounts due under the First February 2022 Loan Agreement are due. The Company has the option to extend the Maturity date by 60 days. The loan is secured by the Australian research & development credit.
During the nine months ended September 30, 2022, the Company accrued $8,120 in interest.
As of the date of this filing the Company has exercised its option to extend the maturity date to August 29, 2022.
During the nine months ended September 30, 2022, the Company repaid $149,089 of principal and $8,120 of interest.
Denver Bodega LLC Notes payable
On March 7, 2022, The Company acquired five note payable agreements from the acquisition of Denver Bodega LLC. See note 12. The total liabilities of these notes amounted to $293,888. During the nine months ended September 30, 2022, the Company repaid $249,880. As of September 30, 2022, the Company has one note outstanding. This note has a principal balance of $44,088, bears interest at 5%, and requires 36 monthly payments of $1,496.
The First May 2022 Loan Agreement
On May 9, 2022, the Company entered into a loan agreement (the “First May 2022 Loan Agreement”) with a lender (the “First May 2022 Lender”), whereby the First May 2022 Lender issued the Company a promissory note of $693,500 (the “First May 2022 Note”). The Company received cash proceeds of $455,924. Pursuant to the First May 2022 Loan Agreement, the First May 2022 Note has an effective interest rate of 143%. The maturity date of the First May 2022 Note is December 18, 2022 (the “First May 2022 Maturity Date”). The Company is required to make weekly payment of $21,673. The First May 2022 Note is secured by officers of the Company.
The Company recorded a $237,576 debt discount relating to an original issue discount. The debt discount is being accreted over the life of the note to accretion of debt discount and issuance cost.
During the nine months ended September 30, 2022, the Company repaid $390,114 in principal.
On September 22, 2022, the Company and the First May 2022 Lender entered into an exchange agreement whereas both parties agreed to roll the remaining $303,386 in the Second September 2022 Loan Agreement. Since the PV cashflows of the new and old debt were more than 10% differences the company used extinguishment accounting. As part of the agreement the Company recognized $33,115 as loss on extinguishment of debt due to the remaining debt discount on the First May 2022 Loan Agreement.
F-27
The Second May 2022 Loan Agreement
On May 9, 2022, the Company entered into a loan agreement (the “Second May 2022 Loan Agreement”) with a lender (the “Second May 2022 Lender”), whereby the Second May 2022 Lender issued the Company a promissory note of $401,500 (the “Second May 2022 Note”). The Company received cash proceeds of $263,815. Pursuant to the Second May 2022 Loan Agreement, the Second May 2022 Note has an effective interest rate of 162 %. The maturity date of the Second May 2022 Note is November 20, 2022 (the “Second May 2022 Maturity Date”). The Company is required to make weekly payment of $14,339. The Second May 2022 Note is secured by officers of the Company.
The Company recorded a $137,685 debt discount relating to an original issue discount. The debt discount is being accreted over the life of the note to accretion of debt discount and issuance cost.
During the nine months ended September 30, 2022, the Company repaid $272,447 in principal.
On September 23, 2022, the Company and the Second May 2022 Lender entered into an exchange agreement whereas both parties agreed to roll the remaining $129,053 in the Third September 2022 Loan Agreement. Since the PV cashflows of the new and old debt were more than 10% differences the company used extinguishment accounting. As part of the agreement the Company recognized $3,905 as loss on extinguishment of debt due to the remaining debt discount on the Second May 2022 Loan Agreement.
The Third May 2022 Loan Agreement
On May 25, 2022, the Company entered into a loan agreement (the “Third May 2022 Loan Agreement”) with a lender (the “Third May 2022 Lender”), whereby the Third May 2022 Lender issued the Company a promissory note of $27,604 (the “Third May 2022 Note”). Pursuant to the Third May 2022 Loan Agreement, the Third May 2022 Note has an effective interest rate of 20%. The maturity date of the Third May 2022 Note is November 23, 2022 (the “Third May 2022 Maturity Date”). The Company is required to make monthly payments of $3,067.
During the nine months ended September 30, 2022, the Company repaid $11,435 in principal.
The Fourth May 2022 Loan Agreement
On May 26, 2022, the Company entered into a loan agreement (the “Fourth May 2022 Loan Agreement”) with a lender (the “Fourth May 2022 Lender”), whereby the Fourth May 2022 Lender issued the Company a promissory note of $40,000 (the “Fourth May 2022 Note”). Pursuant to the Fourth May 2022 Loan Agreement, the Fourth May 2022 Note has an effective interest rate of 17%. The maturity date of the Fourth May 2022 Note is November 23, 2022 (the “Fourth May 2022 Maturity Date”).
During the nine months ended September 30, 2022, the Company repaid $9,442 in principal.
The June 2022 Loan Agreement
On June 17, 2022, the Company entered into a loan agreement (the “June 2022 Loan Agreement”) with a lender (the “June 2022 Lender”), whereby the June 2022 Lender issued the Company a promissory note of $568,000 (the “June 2022 Note”). The Company received cash proceeds of $378,000. Pursuant to the June 2022 Loan Agreement, the June 2022 Note has an effective interest rate of 217%. The maturity date of the June 2022 Note is November 4, 2022 (the “June 2022 Maturity Date”). The Company is required to make weekly payment of $28,400. The June 2022 Note is secured by officers of the Company.
The Company recorded a $190,000 debt discount relating to an original issue discount. The debt discount is being accreted over the life of the note to accretion of debt discount and issuance cost.
F-28
During the nine months ended September 30, 2022, the Company repaid $255,600 in principal.
On August 19, 2022, the Company and the June 2022 Lender entered into an exchange agreement whereas both parties agreed to roll the remaining $312,400 in the Third September 2022 Loan Agreement. Since the PV cashflows of the new and old debt were more than 10% differences the company used extinguishment accounting. As part of the agreement the Company recognized $66,749 as loss on extinguishment of debt due to the remaining debt discount on the Second May 2022 Loan Agreement.
The First August 2022 Loan Agreement
On August 18, 2022, the Company entered into a secured loan agreement (the “First August 2022 Loan Agreement”) with a lender (the “First August 2022 Lender”), whereby the First August 2022 Lender issued the Company a secured promissory note of $193,500 AUD or $129,634 United States Dollars (the “First August 2022 Note”). Pursuant to the First August 2022 Loan Agreement, the First August 2022 Note has an effective interest rate of 14%. The maturity date of the First August 2022 Note is June 30, 2023 (the “First August 2022 Maturity Date”) at which time all outstanding principal, accrued and unpaid interest and other amounts due under the First August 2022 Loan Agreement are due. The Company has the option to extend the Maturity date by 60 days. The loan is secured by the Australian research & development credit.
During the nine months ended September 30, 2022, the Company accrued $2,037 AUD in interest.
The Second August 2022 Loan Agreement
On August 19, 2022, the Company entered into a loan agreement (the “Second August 2022 Loan Agreement”) with a lender (the “Second August 2022 Lender”), whereby the Second August 2022 Lender issued the Company a promissory note of $923,000 (the “Second August 2022 Note”). The Company received cash proceeds of $300,100 and rolled the remaining $312,400 of principal from the June 2022 Loan Agreement. Pursuant to the Second August 2022 Loan Agreement, the Second August 2022 Note has an effective interest rate of 704%. The maturity date of the Second August 2022 Note is January 9, 2022 (the “Second August 2022 Maturity Date”). The Company is required to make weekly payment of $46,150. The Second August 2022 Note is secured by officers of the Company.
The Company recorded a $310,500 debt discount relating to an original issue discount. The debt discount is being accreted over the life of the note to accretion of debt discount and issuance cost.
During the nine months ended September 30, 2022, the Company repaid $276,900 in principal.
The First September 2022 Loan Agreement
On September 1, 2022, the Company entered into a loan agreement (the “First September 2022 Loan Agreement”) with a lender (the “First September 2022 Lender”), whereby the First September 2022 Lender issued the Company a promissory note of $87,884 (the “First September 2022 Note”). Pursuant to the First September 2022 Loan Agreement, the First September 2022 Note has an effective interest rate of 13%. The maturity date of the First September 2022 Note is September 1, 2023 (the “First September 2022 Maturity Date”).
During the nine months ended September 30, 2022, the Company repaid $0 in principal.
The Second September 2022 Loan Agreement
On September 22, 2022, the Company entered into a loan agreement (the “Second September 2022 Loan Agreement”) with a lender (the “Second September 2022 Lender”), whereby the Second September 2022 Lender issued the Company a promissory note of $876,000 (the “Second September 2022 Note”). The Company received cash proceeds of $272,614 and rolled the remaining $303,386 of principal from the First May 2022 Loan Agreement. Pursuant to the Second September 2022 Loan Agreement, the Second September 2022 Note has an effective interest rate of 475%. The maturity date of the Second September 2022 Note is May 5, 2023 (the “Second September 2022 Maturity Date”). The Company is required to make weekly payment of $27,375. The Second September 2022 Note is secured by officers of the Company.
F-29
The Company recorded a $300,000 debt discount relating to an original issue discount. The debt discount is being accreted over the life of the note to accretion of debt discount and issuance cost.
During the nine months ended September 30, 2022, the Company repaid $27,375 in principal.
The Third September 2022 Loan Agreement
On September 22, 2022, the Company entered into a loan agreement (the “Third September 2022 Loan Agreement”) with a lender (the “Third September 2022 Lender”), whereby the Third September 2022 Lender issued the Company a promissory note of $365,000 (the “Third September 2022 Note”). The Company received cash proceeds of $110,762 and rolled the remaining $129,053 of principal from the Second May 2022 Loan Agreement. Pursuant to the Third September 2022 Loan Agreement, the Third September 2022 Note has an effective interest rate of 556%. The maturity date of the Third September 2022 Note is May 5, 2023 (the “Second September 2022 Maturity Date”). The Company is required to make weekly payment of $13,036. The Third September 2022 Note is secured by officers of the Company.
The Company recorded a $300,000 debt discount relating to an original issue discount. The debt discount is being accreted over the life of the note to accretion of debt discount and issuance cost.
During the nine months ended September 30, 2022, the Company repaid $13,036 in principal.
Note 7 – Convertible Notes Payable
Convertible notes payable as of September 30, 2022, is as follows:
Outstanding Principal as of | Warrants granted | |||||||||||||||||||||
September 30, 2022 | Interest Rate | Conversion Price | Maturity Date | Quantity | Exercise Price | |||||||||||||||||
The Second February 2022 Loan Agreement | $ | 112,613 | 11 | % | (*) | February-23 | ||||||||||||||||
The May 2022 Convertible Loan Agreement | 76,814 | 11 | % | (*) | May-23 | |||||||||||||||||
The May 2022 Convertible Note Offering | 4,090,000 | 18 | % | 2.00 | (*) | November-22 | 4,000,000 | $3.00 – $6.00 | ||||||||||||||
The July 2022 Convertible Note Offering | 2,150,000 | 18 | % | 2.00 | (*) | November-22 | 2,150,000 | $3.00 – $6.00 | ||||||||||||||
6,429,427 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Less: Debt Discount | (360,854 | ) | ||||||||||||||||||||
Less: Debt Issuance Costs | (5,648 | ) | ||||||||||||||||||||
6,062,926 |
(*) | As subject to adjustment as further outlined in the notes |
The July 2021 Convertible Loan Agreement
On July 6, 2021, the Company entered into a loan agreement (the “July 2021 Loan Agreement”) with an individual (the “July 2021 Lender”), whereby the July 2021 Lender issued the Company a promissory note of $168,850 (the “July 2021 Note”). Pursuant to the July 2021 Loan Agreement, the July 2021 Note has interest of six percent (6%). The July 2021 Note matures on the first (12th) month anniversary of its issuance date.
Upon default or 180 days after issuance the July 2021 Note is convertible into shares of the Company’s common stock, par value $0.001 per share (“Conversion Shares”) equal to 75% of average the lowest three trading prices of the Company’s common stock on the fifteen-trading day immediately preceding the date of the respective conversion.
F-30
The Company recorded a $15,850 debt discount relating to an original issue discount and $3,000 of debt issuance costs related to fees paid to vendors relating to the offering. The debt discount and debt issuance costs are being accreted over the life of the note to accretion of debt discount and issuance cost.
During the nine months ended September 30, 2022, the July 2021 Note became convertible. Due to the fact that these convertible notes have an option to convert at a variable amount, they are subject to derivative liability treatment. The Company has applied ASC 815, due to the potential for settlement in a variable quantity of shares. The conversion feature has been measured at fair value using a Binomial model at the conversion date. The conversion feature of July 2021 Note gave rise to a derivative liability of $100,532. The Company recorded this as a debt discount. The debt discount is charged to accretion of debt discount over the remaining term of the convertible note.
During the nine months ended September 30, 2022, the note holder converted $168,850 of principal and $4,605 of interest into 109,435 shares of the Company’s common stock. The unamortized debt discount of $96,803 was recorded to extinguishment of debt due to conversion.
The Second February 2022 Loan Agreement
On February 22, 2022, the Company entered into a loan agreement (the “Second February 2022 Loan Agreement”) with a lender (the “Second February 2022 Lender”), whereby the Second February 2022 Lender issued the Company a promissory note of $337,163 (the “Second February 2022 Note”). Pursuant to the Second February 2022 Loan Agreement, the Second February 2022 Note has an interest rate of 11%. The maturity date of the Second February 2022 Note is February 22, 2023 (the “Second February 2022 Maturity Date”). The Company is required to make 10 monthly payments of $37,425.
Upon default the May 2022 Note is convertible into shares of the Company’s common stock, par value $0.001 per share (“Conversion Shares”) equal to 75% of average the lowest three trading prices of the Company’s common stock on the ten-trading day immediately preceding the date of the respective conversion.
The Company recorded a $37,163 debt discount relating to an original issue discount. The debt discount is being accreted over the life of the note to accretion of debt discount and issuance cost.
During the nine months ended September 30, 2022, the Company repaid $224,550 in principal.
The May 2022 Convertible Loan Agreement
On May 20, 2022, the Company entered into a loan agreement (the “May 2022 Loan Agreement”) with an individual (the “May 2022 Lender”), whereby the May 2022 Lender issued the Company a promissory note of $115,163 (the “July 2021 Note”). Pursuant to the Third May 2022 Loan Agreement, the Third May 2022 Note has an interest rate of 11%. The May 2022 Note matures on the first (12th) month anniversary of its issuance date.
Upon default the May 2022 Note is convertible into shares of the Company’s common stock, par value $0.001 per share (“Conversion Shares”) equal to 75% of average the lowest three trading prices of the Company’s common stock on the ten-trading day immediately preceding the date of the respective conversion.
The Company recorded a $15,163 debt discount relating to an original issue discount The debt discount and debt issuance costs are being accreted over the life of the note to accretion of debt discount and issuance cost.
During the nine months ended September 30, 2022, the Company repaid $38,349 in principal.
F-31
The May 2022 Convertible Note Offering
During May of 2022, the Company conducted multiple closings of a private placement offering to accredited investors (the “May 2022 Convertible Note Offering”) of units of the Company’s securities by entering into subscription agreements with “accredited investors” (the “May 2022 Investors”) for aggregate gross proceeds of $4,000,000. The May 2022 convertible notes are convertible into shares of the Company’s common stock, par value $.001 per share at a conversion price of $2.00 per share. As additional consideration for entering in the May 2022 Convertible Note Offering, the Company issued 4,000,000 warrants of the Company’s common stock. The May 2022 Convertible Note matures on November 30, 2022.
The Company recorded a $1,895,391 debt discount relating to 4,000,000 warrants issued to investors based on the relative fair value of each equity instrument on the dates of issuance. The debt discount is being accreted over the life of these notes to accretion of debt discount and issuance cost.
The Company recorded a $399,964 debt discount relating to an original issue discount and $125,300 of debt issuance costs related to fees paid to vendors relating to the offering. The debt discount and debt issuance costs are being accreted over the life of the note to accretion of debt discount and issuance cost.
On September 2, 2022, the Company went into default on these notes. As part of the default terms the Company owes 110% of the principal outstanding and the notes accrue interest at a rate of 18%.
On September 15, 2022, the Company and six out of eight lenders May 2022 Investors agreed to forgive default interest and extend the maturity date to March 31, 2023, for a reduced conversion price of $0.20 for the convertible notes and warrants. Since the PV cashflows of the new and old debt were more than 10% differences the company used extinguishment accounting. As part of the agreement the Company recognized $737,756 as loss on extinguishment of debt due to the remaining debt discount and recognized $331,861 as a gain on extinguishment of debt due to the forgiveness of interest. The company also recognized an additional $75,610 of debt discount from the change in relative fair value on the warrants.
During the nine months ended September 30, 2022, the Company accrued $103,670 in interest that was not forgiven. As of September 30, 2022, the Company is in default on $900,000 of principal and $103,670 of interest.
Subsequent to September 30, 2022, the Company made a repayment of $35,714 towards these notes.
The July 2022 Convertible Note Offering
During July of 2022, the Company conducted multiple closings of a private placement offering to accredited investors (the “July 2022 Convertible Note Offering”) of units of the Company’s securities by entering into subscription agreements with “accredited investors” (the “July 2022 Investors”) for aggregate gross proceeds of $2,150,000. The July 2022 convertible notes are convertible into shares of the Company’s common stock, par value $.001 per share at a conversion price of $2.00 per share. As additional consideration for entering in the July 2022 Convertible Note Offering, the Company issued 2,150,000 warrants of the Company’s common stock. The July 2022 Convertible Note matures on November 30, 2022.
The Company recorded a $863,792 debt discount relating to 2,150,000 warrants issued to investors based on the relative fair value of each equity instrument on the dates of issuance. The debt discount is being accreted over the life of these notes to accretion of debt discount and issuance cost.
The Company recorded a $214,981 debt discount relating to an original issue discount. The debt discount are being accreted over the life of the note to accretion of debt discount and issuance cost.
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On September 2, 2022, the Company went into default on these notes. As part of the default terms the Company owes 110% of the principal outstanding and the notes accrue interest at a rate of 18%.
On September 15, 2022, the Company and the July Investors agreed to forgive default interest and extend the maturity date to March 31, 2023 for a reduced conversion price of $0.20 for the convertible notes and warrants. Since the present value of the cash flows of the new and old debt were more than 10% different, the company used extinguishment accounting. As part of the agreement the Company recognized $640,521 as loss on extinguishment related to the change in fair value from the restructuring agreement.
Subsequent to September 30, 2022, the Company made a repayment of $714,285 towards these notes.
Note 8 – Related Party
Equity raises
During the nine months ended September 30, 2022, the Company conducted two equity raises in which officers, directors, employees, and an affiliate of an officer cumulatively invested $421,001 for 240,571 shares of common stock and 240,571 warrants to purchase common stock.
Officer compensation
During the nine months ended September 30, 2022 and 2021, the Company paid $87,275 and $72,328, respectively for living expenses for officers of the Company.
Note 9 – Derivative Liabilities
The Company has identified derivative instruments arising from convertible notes that have an option to convert at a variable number of shares in the Company’s convertible notes payable during the nine months ended September 30, 2022. For the terms of the conversion features see Note 7. The Company had no derivative assets measured at fair value on a recurring basis as of September 30, 2022.
The Company utilizes a binomial option model for convertible notes that have an option to convert at a variable number of shares to compute the fair value of the derivative and to mark to market the fair value of the derivative at each balance sheet date. The inputs utilized in the application of the Binomial model included a stock price on valuation date, an expected term of each debenture remaining from the valuation date to maturity, an estimated volatility, and a risk-free rate. The Company records the change in the fair value of the derivative as other income or expense in the condensed consolidated statements of operations.
Risk-free interest rate: The Company uses the risk-free interest rate of a U.S. Treasury Note adjusted to be on a continuous return basis to align with the Monte Carlo simulation model and binomial model.
Dividend yield: The Company uses a 0% expected dividend yield as the Company has not paid dividends to date and does not anticipate declaring dividends in the near future.
Volatility: The Company calculates the expected volatility based on the company’s historical stock prices with a look back period commensurate with the period to maturity.
Expected term: The Company’s remaining term is based on the remaining contractual maturity of the convertible notes.
The following are the changes in the derivative liabilities during the nine months ended September 30, 2022.
Nine Months Ended September 30, 2022 | ||||||||||||
Level 1 | Level 2 | Level 3 | ||||||||||
Derivative liabilities as January 1, 2022 | $ | $ | $ | |||||||||
Addition | 100,532 | |||||||||||
Changes in fair value | (3,729 | ) | ||||||||||
Extinguishment | (96,803 | ) | ||||||||||
Derivative liabilities as September 30, 2022 | $ | $ | $ |
F-33
Note 10 – Stockholders’ Equity
Shares Authorized
The Company is authorized to issue up to one hundred and twenty million (120,000,000) shares of capital stock, of which one hundred million (100,000,000) shares are designated as common stock, par value $0.001 per share, and twenty million (20,000,000) are designated as preferred stock, par value $0.001 per share.
Preferred Stock
Series E Convertible Preferred Stock
The Company has designated 8,000 shares of Series E Convertible Preferred stock and has 500 shares issued and outstanding as of September 30, 2022.
The shares of Series E Preferred Stock have a stated value of $1,000 per share and are convertible into Common Stock at the election of the holder of the Series E Preferred Stock, at any time following the Original Issue Date at a price of $4.12 per share, subject to adjustment. Each holder of Series E Preferred Stock shall be entitled to receive, with respect to each share of Series E Preferred Stock then outstanding and held by such holder, dividends on an as-converted basis in the same form as dividends actually paid on shares of the Common Stock when, as and if such dividends are paid on shares of the Common Stock.
The holders of Series E Preferred Stock shall be paid pari passu with the holders of Common Stock with respect to payment of dividends and rights upon liquidation and shall have no voting rights. In addition, as further described in the Series E Designation, as long as any of the shares of Series E Preferred Stock are outstanding, the Company shall not, without the affirmative vote of the holders of a majority of the then outstanding shares of Series E Preferred Stock, (a) alter or change adversely the powers, preferences or rights given to the Series E Preferred Stock or alter or amend this Series E Designation, (b) amend its certificate of incorporation or other charter documents in any manner that adversely affects any rights of the holders of the Series E Preferred Stock, (c) increase the number of authorized shares of Series E Preferred Stock, or (d) enter into any agreement with respect to any of the foregoing.
Each share of Series E Preferred Stock shall be convertible, at any time and from time to time at the option of the holder of such shares, into that number of shares of Common Stock determined by dividing the Series E Stated Value by the Conversion Price, subject to certain beneficial ownership limitations.
Common Stock
During the nine months ended September 30, 2022, the Company issued 82,342 shares of its restricted common stock to settle outstanding vendor liabilities of $130,625. In connection with this transaction the Company also recorded a loss on settlement of vendor liabilities of $17,024.
On January 6, 2022, the Company issued 8,850 shares of its restricted common stock to consultants in exchange for services at a fair value of $19,736.
On February 24, 2022, the Company issued 50,000 shares of its restricted common stock to consultants in exchange for four months of services at a fair value of $69,000. These shares were recorded as common stock issued for prepaid services and will be expensed over the life of the consulting contract to share based payments. During the nine months ended September 30, 2022 the Company recorded $69,000 to share based payments.
F-34
On March 1, 2022, the Company entered into securities purchase agreements with twenty-eight accredited investors whereby, at the closing, such investors purchased from the Company an aggregate of 1,401,457 shares of the Company’s common stock and (ii) 1,401,457 warrants to purchase shares of common stock, for an aggregate purchase price of $2,452,550. Such warrants are exercisable for a term of five-years from the date of issuance, at an exercise price of $1.75 per share. The Company has recorded $40,000 to stock issuance costs, which are part of Additional Paid-in Capital.
On March 7, 2022, the Company entered into a securities purchase agreement (the “Purchase Agreement”) with thirteen accredited investors resulting in the raise of $2,659,750 in gross proceeds to the Company. Pursuant to the terms of the Purchase Agreement, the Company agreed to sell in a registered direct offering an aggregate of 1,519,857 shares of the Company’s common stock together with warrants to purchase an aggregate of 1,519,857 shares of Common Stock at an exercise price of $1.75 per share. The warrants are immediately exercisable and will expire on March 9, 2027. The Company has recorded $75,000 to stock issuance costs, which are part of Additional Paid-in Capital.
During the three months ended March 31, 2022, the Company issued 7,488 shares of its restricted common stock to consultants in exchange for services at a fair value of $8,364.
On April 5, 2022 the Company issued 185,000 shares of its restricted common stock to officers of the company in exchange for services at a fair value of $192,400.
On June 24, 2022, the Company issued 50,000 shares of its restricted common stock to consultants in exchange for four months of services at a fair value of $37,200. These shares were recorded as common stock issued for prepaid services and will be expensed over the life of the consulting contract to share based payments. During the nine months ended September 30, 2022 the Company recorded $2,405 to share based payments.
During the three months ended June 30, 2022, the Company issued 29,387 shares of its restricted common stock to consultants in exchange for services at a fair value of $24,001.
On September 15, 2022, the Company entered into a securities purchase agreement with five accredited investors resulting in the raise of $796,000 in gross proceeds to the Company. Pursuant to the terms of the Purchase Agreement, the Company agreed to sell in a registered direct offering an aggregate of 4,000,000 shares of the Company’s common stock together with warrants to purchase an aggregate of 4,000,000 shares of Common Stock at an exercise price of $0.20 per share. The warrants are immediately exercisable and will expire on September 15, 2027. The Company has recorded $75,000 to stock issuance costs, which are part of Additional Paid-in Capital.
During the three months ended September 30, 2022, the Company issued 50,000 shares of its restricted common stock to consultants in exchange for prepaid services at a fair value of $34,900.
During the three months ended September 30, 2022, the Company issued 107,206 shares of its restricted common stock to consultants in exchange for services at a fair value of $22,892.
During the three months ended September 30, 2022 the company repurchased 83,800 shares of common stock for $13,700
F-35
Stock Options
The assumptions used for options granted during the nine months ended September 30, 2022 and 2021, are as follows:
September 30, 2022 | ||||
Exercise price | $ | 1.10 – 1.90 | ||
Expected dividends | 0 | % | ||
Expected volatility | 165.38% – 166.48 | % | ||
Risk free interest rate | 2.69% – 2.95 | % | ||
Expected life of option | 5 years |
September 30, 2021 | ||||
Exercise price | $ | 2.55 – 14.10 | ||
Expected dividends | 0 | % | ||
Expected volatility | 194.39% – 242.98 | % | ||
Risk free interest rate | 0.46% – 0.98 | % | ||
Expected life of option | 5 - 7 years |
The following is a summary of the Company’s stock option activity:
Options | Weighted Average Exercise Price | Weighted Average Remaining Contractual Life (in years) | ||||||||||
Balance – December 31, 2020 – outstanding | 541,021 | 12.75 | 3.27 | |||||||||
Granted | 1,850,588 | 6.32 | 6.20 | |||||||||
Exercised | - | |||||||||||
Forfeited/Cancelled | (64,164 | ) | 13.06 | - | ||||||||
Balance – September 30, 2021 – outstanding | 2,327,445 | 7.63 | 4.29 | |||||||||
Balance – September 30, 2021 – exercisable | 608,524 | 12.75 | 3.75 |
Options | Weighted Average Exercise Price | Weighted Average Remaining Contractual Life (in years) | ||||||||||
Balance – January 1, 2022 – outstanding | 2,902,619 | 7.07 | 4.71 | |||||||||
Granted | 1,940,000 | 1.38 | ||||||||||
Exercised | ||||||||||||
Forfeited/Cancelled | (434,352 | ) | 13.56 | |||||||||
Balance – September 30, 2022 – outstanding | 4,408,267 | 3.93 | 4.43 | |||||||||
Balance – September 30, 2022 – exercisable | 3,010,101 | 4.12 | 4.32 |
Option Outstanding | Option Exercisable | |||||||||||||||||||||
Exercise price | Number Outstanding | Weighted Average Remaining Contractual Life (in years) | Weighted Average Exercise Price | Number Exercisable | Weighted Average Remaining Contractual Life (in years) | |||||||||||||||||
$ | 3.93 | 4,408,267 | 4.43 | 4.12 | 3,010,101 | 4.32 |
During the year ended December 31, 2018 the Company granted options of 11,667 to consultants that have a fair value of $57,123. As of the date of this filing the company has not issued these options and they are recorded as an accrued liability on the Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheet.
Stock-based compensation for stock options has been recorded in the consolidated statements of operations and totaled $4,100,729, for the nine months ended September 30, 2021.
Stock-based compensation for stock options has been recorded in the condensed consolidated statements of operations and totaled $523,749, for the three months ended September 30, 2022. Stock-based compensation for stock options has been recorded in the condensed consolidated statements of operations and totaled $3,355,445, for the nine months ended September 30, 2022.
As of September 30, 2022, there was $1,283,111 of total unrecognized compensation expense related to unvested employee options granted under the Company’s share-based compensation plans that is expected to be recognized over a weighted average period of approximately 1.21 years.
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Warrants
The Company applied fair value accounting for all share-based payments awards. The fair value of each warrant granted is estimated on the date of grant using the Black-Scholes option-pricing model.
The assumptions used for warrants granted during the nine months ended September 30, 2022 and 2021 are as follows:
September 30, 2021 | ||||
Exercise price | $4.50 – 4.95 | |||
Expected dividends | 0% | |||
Expected volatility | 237.14% - 237.68 % | |||
Risk free interest rate | 0.82% - 0.86 % | |||
Expected life of warrant | 5 years | |||
September
30, 2022 | ||||
Exercise price | $0.20 – 6.00 | |||
Expected dividends | 0% | |||
Expected volatility | 164.34% - 169.75% | |||
Risk free interest rate | 2.81% – 4.00% | |||
Expected life of warrant | 5.00 – 5.50 years |
Warrant Activities
The following is a summary of the Company’s warrant activity:
Warrant | Weighted Average Exercise Price | |||||||
Balance – December 31, 2020 – outstanding | 6,130,948 | 4.96 | ||||||
Granted | 1,881,267 | 5.63 | ||||||
Exercised | (1,438,788 | ) | 4.59 | |||||
Forfeited/Cancelled | (14,722 | ) | 24.00 | |||||
Balance – September 30, 2021 – outstanding | 6,558,705 | 4.92 | ||||||
Balance – September 30, 2021 – exercisable | 6,558,705 | $ | 4.92 |
Warrant | Weighted Average Exercise Price | |||||||
Balance – January 1, 2022 – outstanding | 5,658,830 | 4.98 | ||||||
Granted | 14,812,262 | 2.29 | ||||||
Exercised | ||||||||
Forfeited/Cancelled | (41,462 | ) | 12.00 | |||||
Balance – September 30, 2022 – outstanding | 20,429,630 | 1.88 | ||||||
Balance – September 30, 2022 – exercisable | 16,429,630 | $ | 2.62 |
Warrants Outstanding | Warrants Exercisable | |||||||||||||||||||||
Exercise price | Number Outstanding | Weighted Average Remaining Contractual Life (in years) | Weighted Average Exercise Price | Number Exercisable | Weighted Average Exercise Price | |||||||||||||||||
$ | 1.88 | 20,429,630 | 4.07 | 2.62 | 16,429,630 | 3.81 |
F-37
During the nine months ended September 30, 2021, the Company issued 1,275,261 shares of common stock to a certain warrant holder upon the cashless exercise of a warrant to purchase 1,438,788 shares of common stock. The Company received $5,472,068 in connection with the exercise of the warrant.
During the nine months ended September 30, 2021, a total of 486,516 warrants were issued in connection with the Series E Convertible Preferred Stock raise.
During the nine months ended September 30, 2021, a total of 1,090,908 warrants were issued with convertible notes. The warrants have a grant date fair value of $3,067,617 using a Black-Scholes option-pricing model and the above assumptions.
During the nine months ended September 30, 2021, some of the Company’s warrants had a reset provision triggered that also resulted in an additional 127,801 warrants to be issued. A deemed dividend of $410,750 was recorded to the Statements of Comprehensive Loss.
On June 17, 2021, the Company issued 46,667 warrants in connection with the underwriting agreement.
Stock-based compensation for stock warrants has been recorded in the consolidated statements of operations and totaled $480,863, for the nine months ended September 30, 2021
During the nine months ended September 30, 2022, some of the Company’s warrants had a down-round provision triggered that also resulted in an additional 1,740,948 warrants to be issued. A deemed dividend of $303,557 was recorded to the Statements of Operations and Comprehensive Loss.
During the nine months ended September 30, 2022, a total of 6,150,000 warrants were issued with convertible notes (See Note 7 above). The warrants have a grant date fair value of $5,185,826 using a Black-Scholes option-pricing model and the above assumptions and a relative fair value of $2,929,303.
Note 11 – Commitments and Contingencies
Litigation
On or about June 25, 2020, Home Revolution, LLC (“Home Revolution”) filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey, Home Revolution, LLC, et al. v. Jerrick Media Holdings, Inc. et al., Case No. 2:20-cv-07775-JMV-MF. The Complaint alleges, among other things, that Creatd, Inc. breached the Membership Interest Purchase Agreement, as modified, and ancillary transaction documents in connection with the acquisition of Seller’s Choice, LLC, from Home Revolution in September 2019. The Complaint additionally alleges violation of the New Jersey Uniform Securities Law, violations of the Exchange Act and Rule 10b-5 thereunder, fraud, equitable accounting, breach of fiduciary duty, conversion and unjust enrichment. Plaintiff also sought to have a receiver appointed by the Court to take over Creatd’s operations. After substantial motion practice, Creatd successfully settled this dispute from June 2020 for a total of $799,000, which includes $660,000 of note principal and $139,000 of accrued interest. The matter has been dismissed as of March 3, 2022.
On or about August 30, 2021, Robert W. Monster and Anonymize, Inc. (“Monster”) filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington at Seattle, Robert W. Monster, et al. v. Creatd, Inc., et al. (Western District of Washington at Seattle 2:21-CV-1177). The Complaint alleges, among other things, that action for Declaratory Judgment under 28 U.S.C. § 2201 that Monster’s registration and use of the internet domain name VOCL.COM (the “Domain Name”) does not violate Creatd’s rights under the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (“ACPA”), 15 U.S.C. § 1125(d), or otherwise under the Lanham Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1051 et seq. Creatd claims trademark rights and certain other rights with respect to the term and the domain name VOCL.COM. Monster seeks a determination by the Court that Monster’s registration and/or use of VOCL.COM is not, and has not been in violation of the ACPA, and that Plaintiffs’ use of VOCL.COM constitutes neither a violation of the ACPA nor trademark infringement or dilution under the Lanham Act. Creatd believes the lawsuit lacks merit and will vigorously challenge the action. At this time, we are unable to estimate potential damage exposure, if any, related to the litigation.
A complaint against the Company, dated September 21, 2022, has been filed in the Supreme Court of the State of New York, New York County, by Lind Global Macro Fund LP and Lind Global Fund II LP, making certain claims alleging breach of contract related to two Securities Purchase Agreements executed on May 31, 2022, seeking damages in excess of $920,000. No response to the Complaint has been filed at this time. The Company has not yet submitted a response to the Complaint or had the opportunity to conduct discovery as to the allegations. The Company will file an initial response on or before November 18, 2022. Given the premature nature of this case, it is still too early for the Company to make an assessment as to liability.
F-38
Inflation Reduction Act of 2022
On August 16, 2022, the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (“IRA”) was signed into law. The IRA includes a 15% Corporate Alternative Minimum Tax (“Corporate AMT”) for tax years beginning after December 31, 2022. We do not expect the Corporate AMT to have a material impact on our consolidated financial statements. Additionally, the IRA imposes a 1% excise tax on net repurchases of stock by certain publicly traded corporations. The excise tax is imposed on the value of the net stock repurchased or treated as repurchased. The new law will apply to stock repurchases occurring after December 31, 2022.
Lease Agreements
On April 26, 2022, the Company signed a 7-year lease for approximately 8,000 square feet of office space at 419 Lafayette Street, 6th Floor, New York, NY, 10003. Commencement date of the lease is May 1, 2022. The total amount due under this lease is $3,502,033.
On July 28, 2022, the Company signed a 3-year lease for approximately 1,364 square feet of office space at 1674 Meridian Ave., Miami Beach, FL, 33131. Commencement date of the lease is July 28, 2022. The total amount due under this lease is $181,299. During the three months ended September 30, 2022, it was decided the company would not be using the office space and recorded an impairment of $101,623 on the right-of-use asset.
The components of lease expense were as follows:
Three Months Ended September 30, 2022 | ||||
Operating lease cost | $ | 148,446 | ||
Short term lease cost | 5,568 | |||
Total net lease cost | $ | 154,015 |
Nine Months Ended September 30, 2022 | ||||
Operating lease cost | $ | 241,601 | ||
Short term lease cost | 154,108 | |||
Total net lease cost | $ | 395,709 |
Supplemental cash flow and other information related to leases was as follows:
Nine Months Ended September 30, 2022 | ||||
Cash paid for amounts included in the measurement of lease liabilities: | ||||
Operating lease payments | 54,564 | |||
Weighted average remaining lease term (in years): | 3.40 | |||
Weighted average discount rate: | 12.50 | % |
F-39
Total future minimum payments required under the lease as of September 30, are as follows:
For the Twelve Months Ended September 30, | Operating Leases |
||||
2023 | $ | 534,880 | |||
2024 | 541,905 | ||||
2025 | 513,507 | ||||
2026 | 528,589 | ||||
2027 | 544,122 | ||||
Thereafter | 892,399 | ||||
Total lease payments | 3,555,402 | ||||
Less: Amounts representing interest | (1,140,416 | ) | |||
Total lease obligations | 2,414,986 | ||||
Less: Current | (279,593 | ) | |||
$ | 2,135,393 |
Rent expense for the three months ended September 30, 2022 and 2021 was $154,015 and $67,397, respectively. Rent expense for the nine months ended September 30, 2022 and 2021 was $395,709 and $121,266, respectively.
Market price risk of crypto (“digital”) assets
The Company holds crypto and digital assets in third-party wallets. Crypto asset price risk could adversely affect its operating results and will depend upon the market price of Bitcoin, ETH, as well as other crypto assets. Crypto asset prices have fluctuated significantly from quarter to quarter. There is no assurance that crypto asset prices will reflect historical trends. A decline in the market price of Bitcoin, ETH, and Other crypto assets could have an adverse effect on our earnings, the carrying value of the crypto assets, and future cash flows. This may also affect the liquidity and the ability to meet our ongoing obligations.
Appointment of New Directors
On February 17, 2022, the Board of Directors (the “Board”) of the Company appointed Joanna Bloor, Brad Justus, and Lorraine Hendrickson to serve as members of the Board. Ms. Bloor has been nominated to, and will serve as, chair of the Compensation Committee, and to be a member of the Audit Committee and Nominating & Corporate Governance Committee. Mr. Justus has been nominated, and will serve as, chair of the Nominating & Corporate Governance Committee, and to be a member of the Compensation Committee and Audit Committee. Ms. Hendrickson has been nominated to, and will serve as, chair of the Audit Committee and to be a member of the Compensation and Nominating & Corporate Governance Committee.
Departure of Directors
On February 17, 2022, the Board received notice that effective immediately, Mark Standish resigned as Chair of the Board, Chair of the Audit Committee and as a member of the Compensation Committee and Nominating & Corporate Governance Committee; Leonard Schiller resigned as member of the Board, Chair of the Compensation Committee and as a member of the Audit Committee and Nominating & Corporate Governance Committee; and LaBrena Martin resigned as a member of the Board, Chair of the Nominating & Corporate Governance Committee and as a member of the Audit Committee and Compensation Committee. Such resignations are not the result of any disagreement with the Company on any matter relating to the Company’s operations, policies or practices.
Management Restructuring
On February 17, 2022, the Board of the Company approved the restructuring of the Company’s senior management team to eliminate the Co-Chief Executive Officer role, appointing Jeremy Frommer as Executive Chairman and Founder, and appointing Laurie Weisberg as Chief Executive Officer (the “Second Restructuring”). Prior to the Second Restructuring, Mr. Frommer and Ms. Weisberg served as the Company’s co-Chief Executive Officers and Ms. Weisberg served as the Company’s Chief Operating Officer. The Second Restructuring does not impact the role or functions of the Company’s Chief Financial Officer, Chelsea Pullano, or the role or functions of the Company’s President and Chief Operating Officer, Justin Maury.
F-40
Nasdaq Notice of Delisting
On September 2, 2022, the Company received a letter from the staff of The Nasdaq Capital Market notifying the Company that the Nasdaq Hearings Panel has determined to delist the Company’s common stock from the Exchange, based on the Company’s failure to comply with the listing requirements of Nasdaq Rule 5550(b)(1) as a result of the Company’s shareholder equity deficit for the period ended June 30, 2022, as demonstrated in Company’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed on August 15, 2022, following the Company having not complied with the market value of listed securities requirement in Nasdaq Rule 5550(b)(2) on March 1, 2022, while the Company was under a Panel Monitor, as had been previously disclosed. Suspension of trading in the Company’s shares on the Exchange became effective at the opening of business on September 7, 2022, at which time the Company’s common stock, under the symbol “CRTD,” and publicly-traded warrants, under the symbol “CRTDW,” was quoted on the OTCPink marketplace operated by OTC Markets Group Inc.
Following passage of the proscribed 15-day time period for appeal as stated in the Letter, on October 26, 2022, Nasdaq completed the delisting by filing a Form 25 Notification of Delisting with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The Company’s common stock, under the symbol “CRTD,” is quoted on the OTCQB marketplace operated by OTC Markets Group Inc. effective as of September 26, 2022. The Company’s publicly-traded warrants, under the symbol “CRTDW,” are quoted on the OTCPink marketplace operated by OTC Markets Group Inc.
Employment Agreements
On April 5, 2022, upon the recommendation of the Compensation Committee of the Board, the Board approved employment agreements with, and equity issuances for, (i) Jeremy Frommer, Executive Chairman, who will receive (a) an signing award of $80,000, (b) an annual salary of $420,000; (c) 121,000 options, to vest immediately with a strike price of $1.75, and (d) 50,000 shares of the Company’s restricted common stock; (ii) Laurie Weisberg, Chief Executive Officer, who will receive (a) an annual salary of $475,000; (b) 121,000 options, to vest immediately with a strike price of $1.75, and (c) 50,000 shares of the Company’s restricted common stock; (iii) Justin Maury, Chief Operating Officer & President, who will receive (a) an annual salary of $475,000 (b) 81,000 options, to vest immediately with a strike price of $1.75, and (c) 50,000 shares of the Company’s restricted common stock; and (iv) Chelsea Pullano, Chief Financial Officer, who will receive (a) an annual salary of $250,000; (b) 37,000 options, to vest immediately with a strike price of $1.75, and (c) 35,000 shares of the Company’s restricted common stock (collectively, the “Executive Employment Arrangements”).
Pursuant to the Executive Employment Arrangements, the Company entered into executive employment agreements with each of the respective executives as of April 5, 2022 (the “Executive Employment Agreements”). The Executive Employment Agreements contain customary terms, conditions and rights.
Executive Separation Agreement
On September 2, 2022, the Company entered into an Executive Separation Agreement with Laurie Weisberg the Company’s Chief Executive Officer and member of the Board of Directors setting forth the terms and conditions related to the Executive’s resignation for good reason as Chief Executive Officer, Director and any other positions held with the Company or any subsidiary.
The Company will pay severance in the aggregate amount of $475,000, payable as follows: (i) 1/24 will be paid on each of September 15, 2022, October 1, 2022 and November 1, 2022, respectively; (ii) 1/8 will be paid on each of December 1, 2022, January 1, 2023 and February 1, 2023, respectively; (iii) 1/4 will be paid on April 1, 2023; and (iv) the balance will be paid on May 1, 2023. The Company has executed and delivered a Confession of Judgment concerning the severance amount, which is being held in escrow pending satisfaction of payment.
Additionally, all unvested and/or outstanding stock options held by Ms. Weisberg as of the date of the separation agreement that are not subject to metric based vesting shall automatically and fully vest. All unvested and/or outstanding stock options held by Ms. Weisberg as of the date of the separation agreement that are subject to metric based vesting shall vest in accordance with their respective original terms.
Note 12 – Acquisitions
Denver Bodega, LLC d/b/a Basis
On March 7, 2022, the Company entered into a Membership Interest Purchase (the “Agreement”) with Henry Springer and Kyle Nowak (collectively the “Sellers”), whereby the Company purchased a majority stake in Denver Bodega, LLC, a Colorado limited liability company whose product is Basis, a direct-to-consumer functional beverage brand that makes high-electrolyte mixes meant to aid hydration. Pursuant to the Agreement, Creatd acquired all of the issued and outstanding membership interests of Denver Bodega, LLC for consideration of one dollar ($1.00), as well as the Company’s payoff, assumption, or satisfaction of certain debts and liabilities.
F-41
The following sets forth the components of the purchase price:
Purchase price: | ||||
Cash paid to seller | $ | 1 | ||
Total purchase price | 1 | |||
Assets acquired: | ||||
Cash | 44,977 | |||
Accounts Receivable | 2,676 | |||
Inventory | 194,365 | |||
Total assets acquired | 242,018 | |||
Liabilities assumed: | ||||
Accounts payable and accrued expenses | 127,116 | |||
Notes payable | 293,888 | |||
Total liabilities assumed | 421,004 | |||
Net liabilities acquired | (178,986 | ) | ||
Excess purchase price | $ | 178,987 |
The excess purchase price amounts are provisional and may be adjusted during the one-year measurement period as required by U.S. GAAP. The following table provides a summary of the preliminary allocation of the excess purchase price.
Goodwill | $ | 8,950 | ||
Trade Names & Trademarks | 8,949 | |||
Know-How and Intellectual Property | 107,392 | |||
Website | 8,949 | |||
Customer Relationships | 44,747 | |||
Excess purchase price | $ | 178,987 |
The goodwill represents the assembled workforce, acquired capabilities, and future economic benefits resulting from the acquisition.
Acquisition of Orbit
On August 1, 2022 the Company entered into a Membership Interest Purchase (the “Agreement”) with Zachary Shenkman, Wuseok Jung, Wesley Petry, Nicholas Scibilia, Gary Rettig, Brandon Fallin (collectively the “Sellers”), whereby the Company purchased a majority stake in Orbit Media LLC, a New York limited liability company whose product is an app-based stock trading platform designed to empower a new generation of investors, providing users with a like-minded community as well as access to tools, content, and other resources to learn, train, and excel in the financial markets. Pursuant to the Agreement, Creatd acquired fifty one percent (51%) of the issued and outstanding membership interests of Orbit Media LLC for consideration of forty-four thousand dollars ($44,000) in cash and 57,576 shares of the Company’s Common Stock.
F-42
The following sets forth the components of the purchase price:
Purchase price: | ||||
Cash paid to seller | $ | 44,000 | ||
Shares granted to seller | 40,994 | |||
Total purchase price | 84,994 | |||
Net Assets acquired | - | |||
Non-controlling interest in consolidated subsidiary | 81,661 | |||
Excess purchase price | $ | 166,655 |
The excess purchase price amounts are provisional and may be adjusted during the one-year measurement period as required by U.S. GAAP. The following table provides a summary of the preliminary allocation of the excess purchase price.
Know-How and Intellectual Property | $ | 166,655 | ||
Excess purchase price | $ | 166,655 |
On September 13, 2022, the Company acquired 100% of the membership interests of Brave Foods, LLC, a Maine limited liability company for $150,000. Brave is a plant-based food company that provides convenient and healthy breakfast food products.
The following sets forth the components of the purchase price:
Purchase price: | ||||
Cash paid to seller | $ | 150,000 | ||
Total purchase price | 150,000 | |||
Assets acquired: | ||||
Cash | 73,344 | |||
Inventory | 86,154 | |||
Total assets acquired | 159,498 | |||
Liabilities assumed: | ||||
Accounts payable and accrued expenses | 1,316 | |||
Notes payable | 75,000 | |||
Total liabilities assumed | 76,316 | |||
Net assets acquired | 83,182 | |||
Excess purchase price | $ | 66,818 |
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The excess purchase price amounts are provisional and may be adjusted during the one-year measurement period as required by U.S. GAAP. The following table provides a summary of the preliminary allocation of the excess purchase price.
Goodwill | $ | 6,683 | ||
Trade Names & Trademarks | 16,704 | |||
Know-How and Intellectual Property | 16,704 | |||
Website | 16,704 | |||
Customer Relationships | 10,023 | |||
Excess purchase price | $ | 66,818 |
The goodwill represents the assembled workforce, acquired capabilities, and future economic benefits resulting from the acquisition.
The following presents the unaudited pro-forma combined results of operations of the Company with Plant Camp, WHE, Dune, Denver Bodega, Orbit, and Brave as if the entities were combined on January 1, 2021.
Three Months Ended | ||||
September 30, | ||||
2021 | ||||
Revenues | $ | 3,429,748 | ||
Net loss attributable to common shareholders | $ | (25,735,007 | ) | |
Net loss per share | $ | (2.17 | ) | |
Weighted average number of shares outstanding | 11,845,229 |
Three Months Ended | ||||
September 30, | ||||
2022 | ||||
Revenues | $ | 4,057,080 | ||
Net loss attributable to common shareholders | $ | (9,425,313 | ) | |
Net loss per share | $ | (0.45 | ) | |
Weighted average number of shares outstanding | 21,087,764 |
Nine Months Ended | ||||
2021 | ||||
Revenues | $ | 5,069,181 | ||
Net loss attributable to common shareholders | $ | (26,428,192 | ) | |
Net loss per share | $ | (2.23 | ) | |
Weighted average number of shares outstanding | 11,845,229 |
Nine Months | ||||
2022 | ||||
Revenues | $ | 4,683,843 | ||
Net loss attributable to common shareholders | $ | (24,217,030 | ) | |
Net loss per share | $ | (1.23 | ) | |
Weighted average number of shares outstanding | 19,726,987 |
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Note 13 – Segment Information
We operate in three reportable segments: Creatd Labs, Creatd Ventures, and Creatd Partners. Our segments were determined based on the economic characteristics of our products and services, our internal organizational structure, the manner in which our operations are managed and the criteria used by our Chief Operating Decision Maker (CODM) to evaluate performance, which is generally the segment’s operating losses.
Operations of: | Products and services provided: | |
Creatd Labs |
Creatd Labs is the segment focused on development initiatives. Creatd Labs houses the Company’s proprietary technology, including its flagship platform, Vocal, as well as oversees the Company’s content creation framework, and management of its digital communities. Creatd Labs derives revenues from Vocal creator subscriptions, platform processing fees and technology licensing fees.
| |
Creatd Ventures |
Creatd Ventures builds, develops, and scales e-commerce brands. This segment generates revenues through product sales of its two majority-owned direct-to-consumer brands, Camp and Dune Glow Remedy.
| |
Creatd Partners | Creatd Partners fosters relationships between brands and creators through its suite of agency services, including content marketing (Vocal for Brands), performance marketing (Seller’s Choice), and influencer marketing (WHE Agency). Creatd Partners derives revenues in the form of brand fees and talent management commissions. |
The following tables present certain financial information related to our reportable segments and Corporate:
As of September 30, 2022 | ||||||||||||||||||||
Creatd Labs | Creatd Ventures | Creatd Partners | Corporate | Total | ||||||||||||||||
Accounts receivable, net | $ | $ | 4,973 | $ | 217,210 | $ | $ | 222,183 | ||||||||||||
Prepaid expenses and other current assets | 43,336 | 96,390 | 139,726 | |||||||||||||||||
Deposits and other assets | 576,551 | 192,585 | 769,136 | |||||||||||||||||
Intangible assets | 162,489 | 1,568,347 | 648,469 | 157,294 | 2,536,599 | |||||||||||||||
Goodwill | 15,632 | 1,349,696 | 1,365,328 | |||||||||||||||||
Inventory | 879,050 | 879,050 | ||||||||||||||||||
All other assets | 2,811,769 | 2,811,769 | ||||||||||||||||||
Total Assets | $ | 782,376 | $ | 2,468,002 | $ | 2,215,375 | $ | 3,258,038 | $ | 8,723,791 | ||||||||||
Accounts payable and accrued liabilities | $ | 1,365 | $ | 1,518,544 | $ | 68,063 | $ | 5,126,634 | $ | 6,714,606 | ||||||||||
Note payable, net of debt discount and issuance costs | 129,634 | 170,365 | 1,487,100 | 1,787,099 | ||||||||||||||||
Deferred revenue | 161,112 | - | 144,443 | 305,555 | ||||||||||||||||
All other Liabilities | 8,529,992 | 8,529,992 | ||||||||||||||||||
Total Liabilities | $ | 292,111 | $ | 1,688,909 | $ | 212,506 | $ | 15,143,726 | $ | 17,337,252 |
As of December 31, 2021 | ||||||||||||||||||||
Creatd Labs | Creatd Ventures | Creatd Partners | Corporate | Total | ||||||||||||||||
Accounts receivable, net | $ | $ | 2,884 | $ | 334,556 | $ | $ | 337,440 | ||||||||||||
Prepaid expenses and other current assets | 48,495 | 188,170 | 236,665 | |||||||||||||||||
Deposits and other assets | 626,529 | 92,422 | 718,951 | |||||||||||||||||
Intangible assets | 1,637,924 | 783,676 | 11,241 | 2,432,841 | ||||||||||||||||
Goodwill | 25,139 | 1,349,696 | 1,374,835 | |||||||||||||||||
Inventory | 106,403 | 106,403 | ||||||||||||||||||
All other assets | 3,966,124 | 3,966,124 | ||||||||||||||||||
Total Assets | $ | 675,024 | $ | 1,772,350 | $ | 2,467,928 | $ | 4,257,957 | $ | 9,173,259 | ||||||||||
Accounts payable and accrued liabilities | $ | 9,693 | $ | 766,253 | $ | 6,232 | $ | 2,948,362 | $ | 3,730,540 | ||||||||||
Note payable, net of debt discount and issuance costs | 313,979 | 1,028,685 | 1,342,664 | |||||||||||||||||
Deferred revenue | 161,112 | 13,477 | 59,570 | 234,159 | ||||||||||||||||
All other Liabilities | 177,644 | 177,644 | ||||||||||||||||||
Total Liabilities | $ | 484,784 | $ | 779,730 | $ | 65,802 | $ | 4,154,691 | $ | 5,485,007 |
F-45
For the three months ended September 30, 2022 | ||||||||||||||||||||
Creatd Labs | Creatd Ventures | Creatd Partners | Corporate | Total | ||||||||||||||||
Net revenue | $ | 291,414 | $ | 316,654 | $ | 414,783 | $ | $ | 1,022,851 | |||||||||||
Cost of revenue | 564,349 | 502,396 | 337,817 | 1,404,562 | ||||||||||||||||
Gross margin (loss) | (272,935 | ) | (185,742 | ) | 76,966 | (381,711 | ) | |||||||||||||
Research and development | 139,997 | 94,968 | 234,965 | |||||||||||||||||
Marketing | 370,584 | 234,760 | 41,176 | 646,520 | ||||||||||||||||
Stock based compensation | 122,964 | 111,472 | 126,654 | 265,478 | 626,568 | |||||||||||||||
General and administrative not including depreciation, amortization, or Impairment | 90,212 | 476,386 | 384,365 | 3,136,092 | 4,087,055 | |||||||||||||||
Depreciation and amortization | 1,489 | 43,001 | 40,917 | 72,589 | 157,996 | |||||||||||||||
Impairment of intangibles | 85,406 | 164,180 | 249,586 | |||||||||||||||||
Total operating expenses | $ | 723,757 | $ | 822,618 | $ | 647,163 | $ | 3,401,570 | $ | 5,595,108 | ||||||||||
Interest expense | (17,048 | ) | (656,647 | ) | (673,694 | ) | ||||||||||||||
All other expenses | (2,875,832 | ) | (2,875,832 | ) | ||||||||||||||||
Other expenses, net | (17,048 | ) | (3,532,479 | ) | (3,549,526 | ) | ||||||||||||||
Loss before income tax provision | $ | (1,001,024 | ) | $ | (1,008,360 | ) | $ | (570,197 | ) | $ | (6,946,764 | ) | $ | (9,526,345 | ) |
For the three months ended September 30, 2021 | ||||||||||||||||||||
Creatd Labs | Creatd Ventures | Creatd Partners | Corporate | Total | ||||||||||||||||
Net revenue | $ | 565,852 | $ | 3,919 | $ | 609,849 | $ | - | $ | 1,179,620 | ||||||||||
Cost of revenue | 849,079 | 174,438 | 394,696 | - | 1,418,213 | |||||||||||||||
Gross margin | (283,227 | ) | (170,519 | ) | 215,153 | - | (238,593 | ) | ||||||||||||
Research and development | 250,474 | 60 | 72,412 | - | 322,946 | |||||||||||||||
Marketing | 1,540,540 | - | 181,240 | 90,620 | 1,812,400 | |||||||||||||||
Stock based compensation | 337,026 | - | 332,531 | 1,179,579 | 2,151,900 | |||||||||||||||
General and administrative | 386,844 | 302,764 | 293,296 | 1,672,176 | 2,385,135 | |||||||||||||||
Total operating expenses | 2,514,884 | 32,819 | 879,479 | 2,942,375 | 6,672,381 | |||||||||||||||
Loss before income tax provision and equity in net loss from unconsolidated investments | $ | (2,802,443 | ) | $ | (506,162 | ) | $ | (664,326 | ) | $ | (5,747,190 | ) | $ | (9,720,121 | ) |
For the Nine months ended September 30, 2022 | ||||||||||||||||||||
Creatd Labs | Creatd Ventures | Creatd Partners | Corporate | Total | ||||||||||||||||
Net revenue | $ | 1,138,904 | $ | 1,237,542 | $ | 1,621,044 | $ | - | $ | 3,997,490 | ||||||||||
Cost of revenue | 1,917,039 | 1,706,586 | 1,147,526 | - | 4,771,151 | |||||||||||||||
Gross margin (loss) | (778,135 | ) | (469,044 | ) | 473,518 | - | (773,661 | ) | ||||||||||||
Research and development | 408,810 | - | 277,321 | - | 686,131 | |||||||||||||||
Marketing | 2,301,994 | 1,458,280 | 255,777 | - | 4,016,051 | |||||||||||||||
Stock based compensation | 755,284 | 684,697 | 777,948 | 1,630,649 | 3,848,578 | |||||||||||||||
General and administrative not including depreciation, amortization, or Impairment | 242,330 | 1,279,676 | 1,032,487 | 8,401,553 | 10,956,046 | |||||||||||||||
Depreciation and amortization | 4,166 | 120,282 | 114,453 | 203,042 | 441,943 | |||||||||||||||
Impairment of intangibles | - | 87,983 | - | 169,134 | 257,117 | |||||||||||||||
Total operating expenses | $ | 3,712,584 | $ | 3,630,918 | $ | 2,457,986 | $ | 10,404,378 | $ | 20,205,866 | ||||||||||
Interest expense | (34,095 | ) | - | (673,855 | ) | (707,950 | ) | |||||||||||||
All other expenses | - | - | (3,424,854 | ) | (3,424,854 | ) | ||||||||||||||
Other expenses, net | (34,095 | ) | - | (4,098,709 | ) | (4,132,804 | ) | |||||||||||||
Loss before income tax provision | $ | (4,524,814 | ) | $ | (4,099,962 | ) | $ | (1,984,468 | ) | $ | (14,503,087 | ) | $ | (25,112,331 | ) |
F-46
For the nine months ended September 30, 2021 | ||||||||||||||||||||
Creatd Labs | Creatd Ventures | Creatd Partners | Corporate | Total | ||||||||||||||||
Net revenue | $ | 1,388,411 | $ | 9,616 | $ | 1,496,363 | $ | - | $ | 2,894,390 | ||||||||||
Cost of revenue | 2,482,848 | 497,194 | 1,180,701 | - | 4,160,743 | |||||||||||||||
Gross margin | (1,094,437 | ) | (487,578 | ) | 315,662 | - | (1,266,353 | ) | ||||||||||||
Research and development | 549,426 | 131 | 158,839 | - | 708,396 | |||||||||||||||
Marketing | 6,842,142 | - | 804,958 | 402,479 | 8,049,579 | |||||||||||||||
Stock based compensation | 886,832 | 796,676 | 875,004 | 3,103,877 | 5,662,389 | |||||||||||||||
General and administrative | 900,323 | 76,381 | 682,602 | 3,891,743 | 5,551,049 | |||||||||||||||
Total operating expenses | $ | 9,178,723 | $ | 873,188 | $ | 2,521,403 | $ | 7,398,099 | $ | 19,971,413 | ||||||||||
Loss before income tax provision and equity in net loss from unconsolidated investments | $ | (10,286,156 | ) | $ | (1,360,766 | ) | $ | (2,205,741 | ) | $ | (11,073,171 | ) | $ | (24,925,834 | ) |
Note 14 – Subsequent Events
Warrant Exercises
Subsequent to September 30, 2022, a total of 4,227,114 warrants were exercised, resulting in the cancellation of 4,227,114 warrants, the issuance of 3,802,626 shares of Common Stock, and gross proceeds of $354,994 to the Company.
Promissory Notes
Subsequent to September 30, 2022, the Company entered into one promissory note agreement with net proceeds of $100,000.
Common Stock Purchase Agreement, Securities Purchase Agreement and Promissory Note
On October 20, 2022, Creatd, Inc. a Nevada corporation (the “Company”), entered into a Common Stock Purchase Agreement (the “Investment Agreement”) with an otherwise unaffiliated third party (the “Investor”). Pursuant to the terms of the Investment Agreement, for a period of thirty-six (36) months commencing on the trading day immediately following date of effectiveness of the Registration Statement (as defined below), the Investor purchase up to $15,000,000 of the Company’s common stock, par value $0.001 per share (the “Shares”), pursuant to Drawdown Notices (as defined below), covering the Registrable Securities (as defined below). The purchase price of the Shares under the Investment Agreement is equal to 82% of the lowest volume weighted average price (VWAP) during the last ten trading days after the Company delivers to the Investor a Put notice (a “Drawdown Notice”) in writing requiring Investor to purchase shares of the Company, subject to the terms of the Investment Agreement.
On October 20, 2022, the Company also entered into a Securities Purchase Agreement (the “Purchase Agreement”) with the Investor, pursuant to which the Company issued to the Investor on that date a Promissory Note (the “Note”) in the principal amount of $300,000 in exchange for a purchase price of $255,000, which the Investor funded on October 20,2022. The proceeds of the Note will be used by the Company for general working capital purposes.
F-47
The Note bears interest at the rate of 10% per annum. Starting on the fifth month anniversary of the funding of the Note, and for the next six months thereafter, the Company will make seven equal monthly payments of $47,142.85 to the Investor.
On October 20, 2022, in connection with the entry by the Company and the Investor into the economic agreements, (i.e., the Investment Agreement, the Purchase Agreement, and the Note and the funding thereof), the Company issued 800,000 shares of its common stock to the Investor.
Securities Purchase Agreement
On October 24, 2022 (the “Effective Date”), the Company, entered into and closed securities purchase agreement (the “Purchase Agreement”) with one accredited investor (the “Investor”), whereby the Investor purchased from the Company for an aggregate of $1,500,000 in subscription amount, an unsecured debenture in the principal amount of $1,666,650 (the “Debenture”).
The Debenture has an original issue discount of 10%, has a term of six months with a maturity date of April 24, 2023, may be extended by six months at the Company’s option subject to certain conditions, and are convertible into shares of Common Stock at a conversion price of $0.20 per share, subject to adjustment upon certain events.
In connection with its entry into the Purchase Agreement and issuance of the Debenture, the Company also entered into a side letter agreement (the “Letter Agreement”) with the holders of debentures of the Company, the Series C Warrants and Series D Warrants issued as of May 31, 2022 (the “May Investors”) and the holders of debentures of the Company, the Series E Warrants and Series F Warrants issued as of July 25, 2022 (the “July Investors”). Pursuant to the Letter Agreement each of the May Investors and the July Investors have entered into a lock-up agreement whereby they may not sell any such debentures, warrants, the shares into which such debentures may be converted, or certain shares underlying such warrants until the date that is 30 days after the date on which the registration statement registering for resale the shares of the Company’s common stock underlying the Debenture is declared effective by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Additionally, the Letter Agreement, provides that the May Investors and July Investors have agreed to a further lock up of such shares for a further 30 days upon the receipt of a certain amount of the proceeds from future potential issuances of debentures, common stock or similar securities by the Company. Further additionally, pursuant to the Letter Agreement, the May Investors and the July Investors have agreed to exchange and return for cancellation the Series C Warrants, Series D Warrants, Series E Warrants and Series F Warrants, receiving replacement warrants from the Company (the “Replacement Warrants”), in consideration for (i) the Company’s payment of $750,000 of the proceeds from the sale of the Debenture to the May Investors and July Investors on a pro rata basis and (ii) the Company’s agreement to pay, on a pro rata basis to the May Investors and July Investors, the greater of (x) $750,000 and (y) 50% of the gross proceeds raised in a subsequent financing. The Replacement Warrants reflect a reduction in the number of Series C and Series D Warrants from 1,550,000 in each class to 1,536,607 in each class and a reduction in the number of Series E and Series F Warrants from 1,075,000 in each class to 807,143 in each class, and the initial exercise date for the Replacement Warrants are unchanged from the date as set forth in the respective exchanged Series C, Series D, Series E or Series F Warrant.
F-48
Creatd, Inc.
December 31, 2021 and 2020
Index to the Consolidated Financial Statements
F-49
www.rrbb.com | |
ROSENBERG RICH BAKER BERMAN & COMPANY | |
265 Davidson Avenue, Suite 210 ● Somerset, NJ 08873-4120 ● PHONE 908-231-1000 ● FAX 908-231-6894 | |
111 Dunnell Road, Suite 100 ● Maplewood, NJ 07040 ● PHONE 973-763-6363 ● FAX 973-763-4430 |
REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM
To the Board of Directors and
Stockholders of Creatd, Inc. and Subsidiaries
Opinion on the Financial Statements
We have audited the accompanying balance sheets of Creatd, Inc. and Subsidiaries (the Company) as of December 31, 2021 and 2020, and the related statements of income, comprehensive income, stockholders’ equity, and cash flows for years then ended, and the related notes (collectively referred to as the financial statements). In our opinion, the financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Company as of December 31, 2021 and 2020, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for each of the years then ended, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.
Basis for Opinion
These financial statements are the responsibility of the Company’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company’s financial statements based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB) and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.
We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud. The Company is not required to have, nor were we engaged to perform, an audit of its internal control over financial reporting. As part of our audits, we are required to obtain an understanding of internal control over financial reporting, but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the Company’s internal control over financial reporting. Accordingly, we express no such opinion.
Our audits included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.
Critical Audit Matters
The critical audit matters communicated below are matters arising from the current period audit of the financial statements that were communicated or required to be communicated to the audit committee and that: (1) relate to accounts or disclosures that are material to the financial statements and (2) involved our especially challenging, subjective, or complex judgments. The communication of critical audit matters does not alter in any way our opinion on the financial statements, taken as a whole, and we are not, by communicating the critical audit matters below, providing separate opinions on the critical audit matters or on the accounts or disclosures to which they relate.
AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF CERTIFIED PUBLIC ACCOUNTANTS ● CENTER FOR AUDIT QUALITY ● PRIVATE COMPANIES PRACTICE SECTION ● PRIME GLOBAL ● REGISTERED WITH THE PUBLIC COMPANY ACCOUNTING OVERSIGHT BOARD
F-50
ROSENBERG RICH BAKER BERMAN & COMPANY |
To the Board of Directors and
Stockholders of Creatd, Inc. and Subsidiaries
Revenue Recognition
As described in Note 2 to the consolidated financial statements, the Company recognizes revenue in accordance with FASB Accounting Standards Codification 606, Revenue from Contracts with Customers (“ASC 606”). ASC 606 requires the Company to apply the following steps: (1) identify the contract with the customers; (2) identify performance obligations in the contract; (3) determine the transaction price; (4) allocate the transaction price to the performance obligations in the contract; and (5) recognize revenue when, or as, the Company satisfies the performance obligations.
For subscription revenue recognized by the Company, the transaction price is reduced for consideration payable to customers. Because such consideration is paid to both customers and “freemium” subscribers, it requires significant estimates as to the allocation and timing of these reductions in the transaction price. These estimates required auditor judgment and consideration of some subjective factors in evaluating the estimates.
How the Critical Matter Was Addressed in the Audit
The primary audit procedures we performed to address this critical audit matter included:
● | Gained detailed understanding of processes related to subscription revenue, including evaluation of controls within the Company and the results of an audit of internal controls at the external payment processing organization. |
● | Verified the validity of customer payment data by testing the completeness and accuracy of the population of customer payments and by subscriber type. |
● | Critically evaluated management’s estimated allocations based on supportable information, including refined methodologies and estimates based on historical data for consideration paid to customers. |
Evaluation of Variable Interest Entities for Consolidation
As described in Note 2 to the consolidated financial statements, the Company’s management performs an ongoing assessment of its noncontrolling interests from investments in unrelated entities to determine if those entities are variable interest entities (VIEs), and if so, whether the Company is the primary beneficiary. If an entity in such a transaction, by design, meets the definition of a VIE and the Company determines that it, or a consolidated subsidiary is the primary beneficiary, the Company will include the VIE in its consolidated financial statements. If such an entity is deemed to not be consolidated, the Company records only its investment in equity securities as a marketable security or investment under the equity method, as applicable.
We identified management’s accounting for variable interest entities as a critical audit matter because there is significant judgment required by management to evaluate the contractual arrangements under the variable interest entity consolidation model. Auditing such considerations involved especially challenging auditor judgment in evaluating the appropriateness of the Company’s assessment and an increased audit effort.
F-51
ROSENBERG RICH BAKER BERMAN & COMPANY |
To the Board of Directors and
Stockholders of Creatd, Inc. and Subsidiaries
How the Critical Matter Was Addressed in the Audit
The primary audit procedures we performed to address this critical audit matter included:
● | Evaluating the reasonableness and appropriateness of management’s evaluation of each VIE and determination of primary beneficiary of the VIE through a decision-making workflow. |
● | Reading pertinent supporting organizational documents and agreements associated with each VIE and relevant business plans and documentation to agree key terms with those used in management’s evaluation of each VIE. |
● | Performed corroborative interviews with personnel involved in each entity analyzed to determine the business purpose of the transactions in the time frame the initial equity interests were acquired. |
Rosenberg Rich Baker Berman, P.A.
We have served as the Company’s auditor since 2018.
Somerset, New Jersey
April 6, 2022
F-52
Creatd, Inc.
Consolidated Balance Sheets
December 31, 2021 | December 31, 2020 | |||||||
Assets | ||||||||
Current Assets | ||||||||
Cash | $ | 3,794,734 | $ | 7,906,782 | ||||
Accounts receivable, net | 337,440 | 90,355 | ||||||
Inventory | 106,403 | - | ||||||
Prepaid expenses and other current assets | 236,665 | 23,856 | ||||||
Total Current Assets | 4,475,242 | 8,020,993 | ||||||
Property and equipment, net | 102,939 | 56,258 | ||||||
Intangible assets | 2,432,841 | 960,611 | ||||||
Goodwill | 1,374,835 | 1,035,795 | ||||||
Marketable securities | - | 62,733 | ||||||
Deposits and other assets | 718,951 | 191,836 | ||||||
Minority investment in businesses | 50,000 | 217,096 | ||||||
Operating lease right of use asset | 18,451 | 239,158 | ||||||
Total Assets | $ | 9,173,259 | $ | 10,784,480 | ||||
Liabilities and Stockholders’ Deficit | ||||||||
Current Liabilities | ||||||||
Accounts payable and accrued liabilities | $ | 3,730,540 | $ | 2,638,688 | ||||
Derivative liabilities | - | 42,231 | ||||||
Convertible Notes, net of debt discount and issuance costs | 159,193 | 897,516 | ||||||
Current portion of operating lease payable | 18,451 | 79,816 | ||||||
Note payable, net of debt discount and issuance costs | 1,278,672 | 1,221,539 | ||||||
Deferred revenue | 234,159 | 88,637 | ||||||
Total Current Liabilities | 5,421,015 | 4,968,427 | ||||||
Non-current Liabilities: | ||||||||
Note payable | 63,992 | 213,037 | ||||||
Operating lease payable | - | 157,820 | ||||||
Total Non-current Liabilities | 63,992 | 370,857 | ||||||
Total Liabilities | 5,485,007 | 5,339,284 | ||||||
Commitments and contingencies | ||||||||
Stockholders’ Equity | ||||||||
Series E Preferred stock, $0.001 par value, 500 and 7,738 shares issued and outstanding, respectively | - | 8 | ||||||
Common stock par value $0.001: 100,000,000 shares authorized; 16,691,170 issued and 16,685,513 outstanding as of December 31, 2021 and 8,736,378 issued and 8,727,028 outstanding as of December 31, 2020 | 16,691 | 8,737 | ||||||
Additional paid in capital | 111,563,618 | 77,505,013 | ||||||
Subscription receivable | - | (40,000 | ) | |||||
Less: Treasury stock, 5,657 and 5,657 shares, respectively | (62,406 | ) | (62,406 | ) | ||||
Accumulated deficit | (109,632,574 | ) | (71,928,922 | ) | ||||
Accumulated other comprehensive income | (78,272 | ) | (37,234 | ) | ||||
Total Creatd, Inc. Stockholders’ Equity | 1,807,057 | 5,445,196 | ||||||
Non-controlling interest in consolidated subsidiaries | 1,881,195 | - | ||||||
3,688,252 | 5,445,196 | |||||||
Total Liabilities and Stockholders’ Equity | $ | 9,173,259 | $ | 10,784,480 |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these consolidated financial statements.
F-53
Creatd, Inc.
Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Loss
For the Year Ended | For the Year Ended | |||||||
December 31, 2021 | December 31, 2020 | |||||||
Net revenue (related party of $80,000 and $0) | $ | 4,299,717 | $ | 1,212,870 | ||||
Cost of revenue | 5,300,037 | 1,495,042 | ||||||
Gross loss | (1,000,320 | ) | (282,172 | ) | ||||
Operating expenses | ||||||||
Research and development | 983,528 | 257,431 | ||||||
Marketing | 9,626,982 | 2,854,904 | ||||||
Stock based compensation | 9,661,168 | 6,861,163 | ||||||
Impairment of goodwill | 1,035,795 | - | ||||||
General and administrative | 11,060,927 | 6,027,665 | ||||||
Total operating expenses | 32,368,400 | 16,001,163 | ||||||
Loss from operations | (33,368,720 | ) | (16,283,335 | ) | ||||
Other income (expenses) | ||||||||
Other income | 396,223 | 512,071 | ||||||
Interest expense | (372,106 | ) | (1,376,902 | ) | ||||
Accretion of debt discount and issuance cost | (3,612,669 | ) | (4,303,072 | ) | ||||
Derivative expense | (100,502 | ) | - | |||||
Change in derivative liability | (1,096,287 | ) | 3,019,457 | |||||
Impairment of investment | (589,461 | ) | (11,450 | ) | ||||
Impairment of debt security | - | (50,000 | ) | |||||
Settlement of vendor liabilities | 59,792 | (126,087 | ) | |||||
Loss on marketable securities | - | (7,453 | ) | |||||
Gain (loss) on extinguishment of debt | 1,025,555 | (5,586,482 | ) | |||||
Gain on forgiveness of debt | 279,022 | 470 | ||||||
Other expenses, net | (4,010,433 | ) | (7,929,448 | ) | ||||
Loss before income tax provision and equity in net loss from unconsolidated investments | (37,379,153 | ) | (24,212,783 | ) | ||||
- | - | |||||||
Equity in net loss from equity method investment Income tax provision | ||||||||
Net loss | (37,379,153 | ) | (24,212,783 | ) | ||||
Non-controlling interest in net loss | 86,251 | - | ||||||
Net Loss attributable to Creatd, Inc. | (37,292,902 | ) | (24,212,783 | ) | ||||
Deemed dividend | (410,750 | ) | (3,135,702 | ) | ||||
Inducement expense | ||||||||
Net loss attributable to common shareholders | $ | (37,703,652 | ) | $ | (27,348,485 | ) | ||
Comprehensive loss | ||||||||
Net loss | (37,379,153 | ) | (24,212,783 | ) | ||||
Currency translation gain (loss) | (41,038 | ) | (31,239 | ) | ||||
Comprehensive loss | $ | (37,420,191 | ) | $ | (24,244,022 | ) | ||
Per-share data | ||||||||
$ | (2.98 | ) | $ | (5.68 | ) | |||
12,652,470 | 4,812,153 |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these consolidated financial statements.
F-54
Creatd, Inc.
Consolidated Statement of Changes in Stockholders’ Equity (Deficit)
For the Years Ended December 31, 2021 and 2020
Series E Preferred Stock | Common Stock | Treasury stock | Additional Paid In | Subscription | Accumulated | Non-Controlling | Other Comprehensive | Stockholders’ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Shares | Amount | Shares | Amount | Shares | Amount | Capital | Receivable | Deficit | Interest | Income | Equity | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Balance, December 31, 2019 | $ | 3,059,646 | $ | 3,059 | (53,283 | ) | $ | (367,174 | ) | $ | 36,391,819 | $ | $ | (44,580,437 | ) | $ | $ | (5,995 | ) | $ | (8,558,728 | ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Shares issued with notes payable | - | 59,774 | 60 | - | 243,685 | 243,745 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Stock based compensation | - | 169,800 | 170 | - | 5,743,970 | 5,744,140 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Shares issued to settle vendor liabilities | - | 23,565 | 24 | - | 235,607 | 235,631 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Conversion of warrants to stock | - | 7,239 | 7 | - | (4,236 | ) | (4,229 | ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Conversion of options to stock | - | 229,491 | 229 | - | 1,116,802 | 1,117,031 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Stock warrants issued with note payable | - | - | - | 1,078,501 | 1,078,501 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Cancellation of Treasury stock | - | (50,650 | ) | (50 | ) | 54,343 | 374,184 | (374,134 | ) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Purchase of treasury stock | - | - | (6,717 | ) | (69,416 | ) | (69,416 | ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Recognition of intrinsic value of beneficial conversion features – convertible notes | - | - | - | 3,099,837 | 3,099,837 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Cash received for common stock and warrants | - | 1,725,000 | 1,725 | - | 7,028,355 | 7,030,080 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Cash received for preferred series E and warrants | 7,738 | 8 | - | - | 6,710,417 | (40,000 | ) | 6,670,425 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Common stock and warrants issued upon conversion of notes payable | - | 768,225 | 769 | - | 3,182,898 | 3,183,667 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Common stock and warrants issued upon extinguishment of notes payable | 2,744,288 | 2,744 | - | 9,915,790 | 9,918,534 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Foreign currency translation adjustments | - | - | - | (31,239 | ) | (31,239 | ) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dividends | - | - | - | 3,135,702 | (3,135,702 | ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Net loss for the year ended December 31, 2020 | - | - | - | (24,212,783 | ) | (24,212,783 | ) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Balance, December 31, 2020 | 7,738 | $ | 8 | 8,736,378 | $ | 8,737 | (5,657 | ) | $ | (62,406 | ) | $ | 77,505,013 | $ | (40,000 | ) | $ | (71,928,922 | ) | $ | - | $ | (37,234 | ) | $ | 5,445,196 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
Stock based compensation | - | 388,411 | 388 | - | 9,446,687 | 9,447,075 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Shares issued for prepaid services | - | 50,000 | 50 | - | 226,450 | 226,500 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Shares issued to settle vendor liabilities | - | 294,895 | 295 | - | 791,091 | 791,386 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Common stock issued upon conversion of notes payable | - | 1,128,999 | 1,129 | - | 5,155,865 | 5,156,994 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Exercise of warrants to stock | - | 2,250,691 | 2,251 | - | 9,484,972 | 9,487,223 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Cash received for common stock and warrants | - | 1,687,500 | 1,687 | - | 5,665,263 | 5,666,950 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Cash received for preferred series E and warrants | 40 | - | - | (4,225 | ) | 40,000 | 35,775 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Conversion of preferred series E to stock | (7,278 | ) | (8 | ) | 1,766,449 | 1,766 | (1,758 | ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Stock warrants issued with note payable | - | - | - | 1,665,682 | 1,665,682 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Shares issued for acquisition | - | 387,847 | 388 | - | 1,217,828 | 1,967,446 | 3,185,662 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Foreign currency translation adjustments | - | - | - | (41,038 | ) | (41,038 | ) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dividends | - | - | - | 410,750 | (410,750 | ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Net loss for the year months ended December 31, 2021 | - | - | - | (37,292,902 | ) | (86,251 | ) | (37,379,153 | ) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Balance, December 31, 2021 | 500 | $ | 16,691,170 | $ | 16,691 | (5,657 | ) | $ | (62,406 | ) | $ | 111,563,618 | $ | $ | (109,632,574 | ) | $ | 1,881,195 | $ | (78,272 | ) | $ | 3,688,252 |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these consolidated financial statements.
F-55
Creatd, Inc.
Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these consolidated financial statements.
F-56
Creatd, Inc.
December 31, 2021
Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements
Note 1 – Organization and Operations
Creatd, Inc., formerly Jerrick Media Holdings, Inc. (“we,” “us,” the “Company,” or “Creatd”), is a technology company focused on providing economic opportunities for creators, which it accomplishes through its four main business pillars: Creatd Labs, Creatd Partners, Creatd Ventures, and Creatd Studios. Creatd’s flagship product, Vocal, delivers a robust long-form, digital publishing platform organized into highly engaged niche-communities capable of hosting all forms of rich media content. Through Creatd’s proprietary algorithm dynamics, Vocal enhances the visibility of content and maximizes viewership, providing advertisers access to target markets that most closely match their interests.
The Company was originally incorporated under the laws of the State of Nevada on December 30, 1999 under the name LILM, Inc. The Company changed its name on December 3, 2013 to Great Plains Holdings, Inc. as part of its plan to diversify its business.
On February 5, 2016 (the “Closing Date”), GTPH, GPH Merger Sub, Inc., a Nevada corporation and wholly-owned subsidiary of GTPH (“Merger Sub”), and Jerrick Ventures, Inc., a privately-held Nevada corporation headquartered in New Jersey (“Jerrick”), entered into an Agreement and Plan of Merger (the “Merger”) pursuant to which the Merger Sub was merged with and into Jerrick, with Jerrick surviving as a wholly-owned subsidiary of GTPH (the “Merger”). GTPH acquired, pursuant to the Merger, all of the outstanding capital stock of Jerrick in exchange for issuing Jerrick’s shareholders (the “Jerrick Shareholders”), pro-rata, a total of 475,000 shares of GTPH’s common stock. In connection therewith, GTPH acquired 33,415 shares of Jerrick’s Series A Convertible Preferred Stock (the “Jerrick Series A Preferred”) and 8,064 shares of Series B Convertible Preferred Stock (the “Jerrick Series B Preferred”).
In connection with the Merger, on the Closing Date, GTPH and Kent Campbell entered into a Spin-Off Agreement (the “Spin-Off Agreement”), pursuant to which Mr. Campbell purchased from GTPH (i) all of GTPH’s interest in Ashland Holdings, LLC, a Florida limited liability company, and (ii) all of GTPH’s interest in Lil Marc, Inc., a Utah corporation, in exchange for the cancellation of 39,091 shares of GTPH’s Common Stock held by Mr. Campbell. In addition, Mr. Campbell assumed all debts, obligations and liabilities of GTPH, including any existing prior to the Merger, pursuant to the terms and conditions of the Spin-Off Agreement.
Upon closing of the Merger on February 5, 2016, the Company changed its business plan to that of Jerrick.
Effective February 28, 2016, GTPH entered into an Agreement and Plan of Merger (the “Statutory Merger Agreement”) with Jerrick, pursuant to which GTPH became the parent company of Jerrick Ventures, LLC, a wholly-owned operating subsidiary of Jerrick (the “Statutory Merger”) and GTPH changed its name to Jerrick Media Holdings, Inc. to better reflect its new business strategy.
On September 11, 2019, the Company acquired 100% of the membership interests of Seller’s Choice, LLC, a New Jersey limited liability company (“Seller’s Choice”). Seller’s Choice is a digital e-commerce agency based in New Jersey.
On September 9, 2020, the Company filed a certificate of amendment with the Secretary of State of the State of Nevada to change our name to “Creatd, Inc.”, which became effective on September 10, 2020.
On June 4, 2021, the Company acquired 89% of the membership interests of Plant Camp, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company (“Plant Camp”), which the Company subsequently rebranded as Camp. Plant Camp is a direct-to-consumer (DTC) food brand which creates healthy upgrades to classic comfort food favorites. The results of Plant Camp’s operations have bene included since the date of acquisition in the Statements of Operations.
On July 20, 2021, the Company acquired 44% of the membership interests of WHE Agency, Inc,. WHE Agency, Inc, is a talent management and public relations agency based in New York. WHE Agency, Inc, has been consolidated due to the Company’s ownership of 55% voting control, and the results of operations have been included since the date of acquisition in the Statements of Operations.
On August 16, 2021, the Company acquired 16% of the membership interests of Dune, Inc. bring our total membership interests to 21%.
On October 3, 2021, the Company acquired 29% of the membership interests of Dune, Inc. bring our total membership interests to 50%. Dune, Inc. is a direct-to-consumer brand focused on promoting wellness through its range of health-oriented beverages. Dune, Inc, has been consolidated due to the Company’s ownership of 50% voting control, and the results of operations have been included since the date of acquisition in the Statements of Operations.
Note 2 – Significant Accounting Policies and Practices
Management of the Company is responsible for the selection and use of appropriate accounting policies and the appropriateness of accounting policies and their application. Critical accounting policies and practices are those that are both most important to the portrayal of the Company’s financial condition and results and require management’s most difficult, subjective, or complex judgments, often as a result of the need to make estimates about the effects of matters that are inherently uncertain. The Company’s significant and critical accounting policies and practices are disclosed below as required by the accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America.
F-57
Use of Estimates and Critical Accounting Estimates and Assumptions
The preparation of financial statements in conformity with U.S. GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the dates of the financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting periods.
These significant accounting estimates or assumptions bear the risk of change due to the fact that there are uncertainties attached to these estimates or assumptions, and certain estimates or assumptions are difficult to measure or value.
Management bases its estimates on historical experience and on various assumptions that are believed to be reasonable in relation to the financial statements taken as a whole under the circumstances, the results of which form the basis for making judgments about the carrying values of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources.
Management regularly evaluates the key factors and assumptions used to develop the estimates utilizing currently available information, changes in facts and circumstances, historical experience and reasonable assumptions. After such evaluations, if deemed appropriate, those estimates are adjusted accordingly. The Company uses estimates in accounting for, among other items, revenue recognition, allowance for doubtful accounts, stock-based compensation, income tax provisions, excess and obsolete inventory reserve, and impairment of intellectual property.
During the fourth quarter of 2021, management changed its estimates for cost of revenues. This change in estimates did not result in a change to loss from operations or net loss.
Actual results could differ from those estimates.
Presentation
During 2021, we adopted a change in presentation on our Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Loss in order to present a gross profit line and allocate certain overhead expenses, the presentation of which is consistent with our peers. Under the new presentation, we began allocating overhead expenses related to cost of goods sold. Prior periods have been revised to reflect this change in presentation.
Principles of consolidation
The Company consolidates all majority-owned subsidiaries, if any, in which the parent’s power to control exists.
As of December 31, 2021, the Company’s consolidated subsidiaries and/or entities are as follows:
Name of combined affiliate | State
or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization |
Company Ownership Interest |
||||
Jerrick Ventures LLC | Delaware | 100 | % | |||
Abacus Tech Pty Ltd | Australia | 100 | % | |||
Seller’s Choice, LLC | New Jersey | 100 | % | |||
Recreatd, LLC | Delaware | 100 | % | |||
Give, LLC | Delaware | 100 | % | |||
Creatd Partners LLC | Delaware | 100 | % | |||
Dune Inc. | Delaware | 50 | % | |||
Plant Camp LLC | Delaware | 89 | % | |||
Sci-Fi Shop, LLC | Delaware | 100 | % | |||
OG Collection LLC | Delaware | 100 | % | |||
VMENA LLC | Delaware | 100 | % | |||
Vocal For Brands, LLC | Delaware | 100 | % | |||
Vocal Ventures LLC | Delaware | 100 | % | |||
What to Buy, LLC | Delaware | 100 | % | |||
WHE Agency, Inc. | Delaware | 44 | % |
All inter-company balances and transactions have been eliminated.
Variable Interest Entities
Management performs an ongoing assessment of its noncontrolling interests from investments in unrelated entities to determine if those entities are variable interest entities (VIEs), and if so, whether the Company is the primary beneficiary. If an entity in such a transaction, by design, meets the definition of a VIE and the Company determines that it, or a consolidated subsidiary is the primary beneficiary, the Company will include the VIE in its consolidated financial statements. If such an entity is deemed to not be consolidated, the Company records only its investment in equity securities as a marketable security or investment under the equity method, as applicable
F-58
Fair Value of Financial Instruments
The fair value measurement disclosures are grouped into three levels based on valuation factors:
● | Level 1 – quoted prices in active markets for identical investments |
● | Level 2 – other significant observable inputs (including quoted prices for similar investments and market corroborated inputs) |
● | Level 3 – significant unobservable inputs (including our own assumptions in determining the fair value of investments) |
The Company’s Level 1 assets/liabilities include cash, accounts receivable, marketable trading securities, accounts payable, prepaid and other current assets, line of credit and due to related parties. Management believes the estimated fair value of these accounts at December 31, 2021 approximate their carrying value as reflected in the balance sheets due to the short-term nature of these instruments or the use of market interest rates for debt instruments.
The Company’s Level 2 assets/liabilities include certain of the Company’s notes payable and capital lease obligations. Their carrying value approximates their fair values based upon a comparison of the interest rate and terms of such debt given the level of risk to the rates and terms of similar debt currently available to the Company in the marketplace.
The Company’s Level 3 assets/liabilities include goodwill, intangible assets, marketable debt securities, equity investments at cost, and derivative liabilities. Inputs to determine fair value are generally unobservable and typically reflect management’s estimates of assumptions that market participants would use in pricing the asset or liability. The fair values are therefore determined using model-based techniques, including option pricing models and discounted cash flow models. Unobservable inputs used in the models are significant to the fair values of the assets and liabilities.
The following tables provides a summary of the relevant assets and liabilities that are measured at fair value on recurring basis:
Fair Value Measurements as of
December 31, 2020
Total | Quoted Prices in Active Markets for Identical Assets or Liabilities (Level 1) | Quoted Prices for Similar Assets or Liabilities in Active Markets (Level 2) | Significant Unobservable Inputs (Level 3) | |||||||||||||
Assets: | ||||||||||||||||
Marketable securities - debt securities | $ | 62,733 | $ | $ | $ | 62,733 | ||||||||||
Total assets | $ | 62,733 | $ | $ | $ | 62,733 | ||||||||||
Liabilities: | ||||||||||||||||
Derivative liabilities | $ | 42,231 | $ | $ | $ | 42,231 | ||||||||||
Total Liabilities | 42,231 | $ | $ | $ | 42,231 |
Fair Value Measurements as of
December 31, 2021
Total | Quoted
Prices in Active Markets for Identical Assets or Liabilities (Level 1) |
Quoted
Prices for Similar Assets or Liabilities in Active Markets (Level 2) |
Significant
Unobservable Inputs (Level 3) |
|||||||||||||
Assets: | ||||||||||||||||
Marketable securities - debt securities | $ | $ | $ | $ | ||||||||||||
Total assets | $ | $ | $ | $ | ||||||||||||
Liabilities: | ||||||||||||||||
Derivative liabilities | $ | $ | $ | $ | ||||||||||||
Total Liabilities | $ | $ | $ |
F-59
The following table shows the valuation methodology and unobservable inputs for Level 3 assets and liabilities measured at fair value on recurring basis as of December 31, 2021 and 2020:
Fair
Value As of December 31, 2021 | Fair
Value As of December 31, 2020 | Valuation
Methodology | Unobservable
Inputs | |||||||||
Marketable securities - debt securities | $ | $ | 62,733 | Discounted cash flow analysis | Expected cash flows from the investment | |||||||
Derivative liabilities | $ | $ | 42,231 | Monte Carlo simulations and Binomial model | Risk free rate Expected volatility; Drift rate |
The following tables provides a summary of the relevant assets that are measured at fair value on non-recurring basis:
Fair Value Measurements as of
December 31, 2021
Total | Quoted Prices in Active Markets for Identical Assets or Liabilities (Level 1) | Quoted Prices for Similar Assets or Liabilities in Active Markets (Level 2) | Significant Unobservable Inputs (Level 3) | |||||||||||||
Assets: | ||||||||||||||||
Equity investments, at cost | $ | 50,000 | $ | $ | $ | 50,000 | ||||||||||
Total assets | $ | 50,000 | $ | $ | $ | 50,000 |
Fair Value Measurements as of
December 31, 2020
Total | Quoted Prices in Active Markets for Identical Assets or Liabilities (Level 1) |
Quoted Prices for Similar Assets or Liabilities in Active Markets (Level 2) |
Significant Unobservable Inputs (Level 3) |
|||||||||||||
Assets: | ||||||||||||||||
Equity investments, at cost | $ | 217,096 | $ | $ | $ | 217,096 | ||||||||||
Total assets | $ | 217,096 | $ | $ | $ | 217,096 |
The following table shows the valuation methodology and unobservable inputs for Level 3 assets measured at fair value on non-recurring basis as of December 31, 2021:
Fair
Value As of December 31, 2021 | Fair
Value As of December 31, 2020 | Valuation Methodology | Unobservable Inputs | |||||||||
Equity investments, at cost | $ | $ | 217,096 | Qualitative assessment per ASC 321-10-35 | Qualitative factors |
The Company recognizes impairment on loans or notes receivable (that do not meet the definition of a debt security) when it is probable that it will be unable to collect all amounts due according to the contractual terms, and the amount of loss can be estimated. The loss is estimated based on the present value of expected cash flows.
F-60
The change in net realized depreciation on equity trading securities that has been included in other expenses for the year ended December 31, 2021 and 2020 was $0 and $(7,453), respectively.
The Company valued the initial value of debt securities, which are investments in convertible notes receivable, by assessing the separate values of the debt and equity components for similar instruments convertible into private company equity (Level 3). The investment was initially measured at cost, which was determined to approximate fair value due to the lack of marketability of the conversion shares underlying these convertible instruments and the expected recoverability of the note principal. The key assumption affecting the level 3 fair values would be observable price changes to the equity investments. The Company monitors for impairment indicators at each balance sheet date.
Cash Equivalents
The Company considers all highly liquid investments with a maturity of three months or less when purchased to be cash equivalents.
At times, cash balances may exceed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”) or Financial Claims Scheme (“FCS”) insurable limits . The Company has never experienced any losses related to these balances. As of December 31, 2021 and 2020, cash amounts in excess of $250,000 were not fully insured. The uninsured cash balance as of December 31, 2021 and 2020, was approximately $2.7 million and $7.7 million, respectively. The Company does not believe it is exposed to significant credit risk on cash and cash equivalents.
Concentration of Credit Risk and Other Risks and Uncertainties
The Company provides credit in the normal course of business. The Company maintains allowances for credit losses on factors surrounding the credit risk of specific customers, historical trends, and other information.
The Company operates in Australia and holds total assets of $675,024 that are considered to be reasonably possible that operations located outside an entity’s home country will be disrupted in the near term.
Property and Equipment
Property and equipment are recorded at cost. Expenditures for major additions and betterments are capitalized. Maintenance and repairs are charged to operations as incurred. Depreciation is computed by the straight-line method (after taking into account their respective estimated residual values) over the estimated useful lives of the respective assets as follows:
Estimated Useful Life (Years) | ||
Computer equipment and software | 3 | |
Furniture and fixtures | 5 |
Upon sale or retirement of property and equipment, the related cost and accumulated depreciation are removed from the accounts and any gain or loss is reflected in the consolidated statements of operations.
Long-lived Assets Including Goodwill and Other Acquired Intangible Assets
We evaluate the recoverability of property and equipment and acquired finite-lived intangible assets for possible impairment whenever events or circumstances indicate that the carrying amount of such assets may not be recoverable. The evaluation is performed at the lowest level for which identifiable cash flows are largely independent of the cash flows of other assets and liabilities. Recoverability of these assets is measured by a comparison of the carrying amounts to the future undiscounted cash flows the assets are expected to generate from the use and eventual disposition. If such review indicates that the carrying amount of property and equipment and intangible assets is not recoverable, the carrying amount of such assets is reduced to fair value. During the year ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, the Company recorded an impairment charge of $688,127.00 and $0, respectively for intangible assets.
Acquired finite-lived intangible assets are amortized on a straight-line basis over the estimated useful lives of the assets. We routinely review the remaining estimated useful lives of property and equipment and finite-lived intangible assets. If we change the estimated useful life assumption for any asset, the remaining unamortized balance is amortized or depreciated over the revised estimated useful life. The remaining weighted average life of the intangible assets are 7.26 years.
Scheduled amortization over the next five years are as follows: |
Twelve months ending December 31, | ||||
2022 | $ | 493,660 | ||
2023 | 407,848 | |||
2024 | 347,936 | |||
2025 | 231,624 | |||
2026 | 219,749 | |||
Thereafter | 732,024 | |||
Total | $ | 2,432,841 |
F-61
Goodwill is not amortized but is subject to periodic testing for impairment in accordance with ASC Topic 350 “Intangibles - Goodwill and Other - Testing Indefinite-Lived Intangible Assets for Impairment” (“ASC Topic 350”). The Company tests goodwill for impairment on an annual basis as of the last day of the Company’s fiscal December each year or more frequently if events occur or circumstances change indicating that the fair value of the goodwill may be below its carrying amount. The Company has four reporting units. The Company uses an income-based approach to determine the fair value of the reporting units. This approach uses a discounted cash flow methodology and the ability of our reporting units to generate cash flows as measures of fair value of our reporting units.
During the year ended December 31, 2021, the Company completed its annual impairment test of goodwill. The Company performed the qualitative assessment as permitted by ASC 350-20 and determined for three of its reporting units that the fair value of those reporting units was more likely than not greater than their carrying value, including Goodwill. However, based on this qualitative assessment, the Company determined that the carrying value of the Seller’s Choice reporting unit was more likely than not greater than its carrying value, including Goodwill. Based on completion of the annual impairment test, the Company recorded an impairment charge of $1,035,795 for goodwill.
The following table sets forth a summary of the changes in goodwill for the years ended December 31, 2020 and 2021.
For
the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020 | ||||
Total | ||||
As of January 1, 2020 and 2021 | $ | 1,035,795 | ||
Goodwill acquired in a business combination | 1,374,835 | |||
Impairment of goodwill | (1,035,795 | ) | ||
As of December 31, 2021 | 1,374,835 |
Investments
Marketable securities that are bought and held principally for the purpose of selling them in the near term are classified as trading securities and are reported at fair value, with unrealized gains and losses recognized in earnings. Debt securities not classified as held-to-maturity or as trading are classified as available-for-sale, and are carried at fair market value, with the unrealized gains and losses, net of tax, included in the determination of comprehensive income and reported in stockholders’ equity.
The Company accounts for its investments in available-for-sale debt securities, in accordance with sub-topic 320-10 of the FASB ASC (“Sub-Topic 320-10”). Accrued interest on these securities is included in fair value and amortized cost.
Pursuant to Paragraph 320-10-35, investments in debt securities that are classified as available for sale shall be measured subsequently at fair value in the statement of financial position. Unrealized holding gains and losses for available-for-sale securities (including those classified as current assets) shall be excluded from earnings and reported in other comprehensive income until realized.
The Company follows FASB ASC 320-10-35 to assess whether an investment in debt securities is impaired in each reporting period. An investment in debt securities is impaired if the fair value of the investment is less than its amortized cost. If the Company intends to sell the debt security (that is, it has decided to sell the security), an other-than-temporary impairment shall be considered to have occurred. If the Company more likely than not will be required to sell the security before recovery of its amortized cost basis or it otherwise does not expect to recover the entire amortized cost basis of the security, an other-than-temporary impairment shall be considered to have occurred. The Company considers the expected cash flows from the investment based on reasonable and supportable forecasts as well as several other factors to estimate whether a credit loss exists. If the Company intends to sell the security or more likely than not will be required to sell the security before recovery of its amortized cost basis less any current-period credit loss, the other-than-temporary impairment shall be recognized in earnings equal to the entire difference between the investment’s amortized cost basis and its fair value at the balance sheet date.
The following table sets forth a summary of the changes in marketable securities - available-for-sale debt securities that are measured at fair value on a recurring basis:
For
the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020 | ||||
Total | ||||
As of January 1, 2020 | ||||
Purchase of marketable securities | $ | 210,000 | ||
Interest due at maturity | 4,829 | |||
Other than temporary impairment | (50,000 | ) | ||
Conversion of marketable securities | (102,096 | ) | ||
As of December 31, 2020 | 62,733 | |||
Purchase of marketable securities | ||||
Interest due at maturity | ||||
Other than temporary impairment | (62,733 | ) | ||
Conversion of marketable securities | ||||
December 31, 2021 | $ |
F-62
We invest in debt securities. Our investments in debt securities are subject to interest rate risk. To minimize the exposure due to an adverse shift in interest rates, we invest in securities with maturities of two years or less and maintain a weighted average maturity of one year or less. As of December 31, 2021, all of our investments had maturities between one and three years. The marketable debt security investments are evaluated for impairment if events or circumstances arise that indicate that the carrying amount of such assets may not be recoverable. During the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, the Company recognized a $62,733 and $50,000 respectively from the impairment of the debt security.
The following table sets forth a summary of the changes in equity investments, at cost that are measured at fair value on a non-recurring basis:
For
the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020 | ||||
Total | ||||
As of January 1, 2020 | $ | |||
Purchase of equity investments | 115,000 | |||
Conversion of marketable securities | 102,096 | |||
As of December 31, 2020 | 217,096 | |||
Purchase of equity investments | 150,000 | |||
Other than temporary impairment | (102,096 | ) | ||
Conversion to equity method investments | (215,000 | ) | ||
As of December 31, 2021 | $ | 50,000 |
The Company has elected to measure its equity securities without a readily determinable fair value at cost minus impairment, if any, plus or minus changes resulting from observable price changes in orderly transactions for the identical or a similar investment of the same issuer. An election to measure an equity security in accordance with this paragraph shall be made for each investment separately.
The Company performed a qualitative assessment considering impairment indicators to evaluate whether these investments were impaired. Impairment indicators that the Company considered included the following: a) a significant deterioration in the earnings performance, credit rating, asset quality or business prospects of the investee; b) a significant adverse change in the regulatory, economic or technology environment of the investee; c) a significant adverse change in the general market condition of either the geographical area or the industry in which the investee operates; d) a bona fide offer to purchase or an offer by the investee to sell the investment; e) factors that raise significant concerns about the investee’s ability to continue as a going concern. During the year ended December 31, 2021 the Company recognized a $102,096 impairment of the equity security.
Equity Method Investments
Investments in unconsolidated entities over which we have significant influence are accounted for under the equity method of accounting. Under the equity method of accounting, the Company does not consolidate the investment’s financial statements within its consolidated financial statements. Equity method investments are initially recorded at cost, then our proportional share of the underlying net income or loss is recorded as equity in net loss from equity method investments in our statement of operations, with a corresponding increase or decrease to the carrying value of the investment. Distributions received from the investee reduce our carrying value of the investment and are recorded in the consolidated statements of cash flows using the cumulative earnings approach. These investments are evaluated for impairment if events or circumstances arise that indicate that the carrying amount of such assets may not be recoverable. There were indicators of impairment related to our equity method investments for the year ended December 31, 2021. During the year ended December 31, 2021, the Company recorded an impairment charge of $487,365 for investments.
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Commitments and Contingencies
The Company follows subtopic 450-20 of the FASB ASC to report accounting for contingencies. Certain conditions may exist as of the date the consolidated financial statements are issued, which may result in a loss to the Company, but which will only be resolved when one or more future events occur or fail to occur. The Company assesses such contingent liabilities, and such assessment inherently involves an exercise of judgment. In assessing loss contingencies related to legal proceedings that are pending against the Company or un-asserted claims that may result in such proceedings, the Company evaluates the perceived merits of any legal proceedings or un-asserted claims as well as the perceived merits of the amount of relief sought or expected to be sought therein.
If the assessment of a contingency indicates that it is probable that a material loss has been incurred and the amount of the liability can be estimated, then the estimated liability would be accrued in the Company’s consolidated financial statements. If the assessment indicates that a potential material loss contingency is not probable but is reasonably possible, or is probable but cannot be estimated, then the nature of the contingent liability, and an estimate of the range of possible losses, if determinable and material, would be disclosed.
Loss contingencies considered remote are generally not disclosed unless they involve guarantees, in which case the guarantees would be disclosed.
Foreign Currency
Foreign currency denominated assets and liabilities are translated into U.S. dollars using the exchange rates in effect at our Consolidated Balance Sheet dates. Results of operations and cash flows are translated using the average exchange rates throughout the periods. The effect of exchange rate fluctuations on the translation of assets and liabilities is included as a component of stockholders’ equity in accumulated other comprehensive income. Gains and losses from foreign currency transactions, which are included in operating expenses, have not been significant in any period presented.
Derivative Liability
The Company evaluates its debt and equity issuances to determine if those contracts or embedded components of those contracts qualify as derivatives to be separately accounted for in accordance with paragraph 815-10-05-4 and Section 815-40-25 of the FASB Accounting Standards Codification. The result of this accounting treatment is that the fair value of the embedded derivative is marked-to-market each balance sheet date and recorded as either an asset or a liability. In the event that the fair value is recorded as a liability, the change in fair value is recorded in the consolidated statement of operations as other income or expense. Upon conversion, exercise or cancellation of a derivative instrument, the instrument is marked to fair value at the date of conversion, exercise or cancellation and then the related fair value is reclassified to equity.
In circumstances where the embedded conversion option in a convertible instrument is required to be bifurcated and there are also other embedded derivative instruments in the convertible instrument that are required to be bifurcated, the bifurcated derivative instruments are accounted for as a single, compound derivative instrument.
The classification of derivative instruments, including whether such instruments should be recorded as liabilities or as equity, is re-assessed at the end of each reporting period. Equity instruments that are initially classified as equity that become subject to reclassification are reclassified to liability at the fair value of the instrument on the reclassification date. Derivative instrument liabilities will be classified in the balance sheet as current or non-current based on whether or not net-cash settlement of the derivative instrument is expected within 12 months of the balance sheet date.
F-64
The Company adopted Section 815-40-15 of the FASB Accounting Standards Codification (“Section 815-40-15”) to determine whether an instrument (or an embedded feature) is indexed to the Company’s own stock. Section 815-40-15 provides that an entity should use a two-step approach to evaluate whether an equity-linked financial instrument (or embedded feature) is indexed to its own stock, including evaluating the instrument’s contingent exercise and settlement provisions. The Company changed its method of accounting for the debt and warrants through the early adoption of ASU 2017-11 during the three months ended December 31, 2017, on a retrospective basis.
The Company utilizes a Monte Carlo simulation model for the make whole feature and a binomial option model for convertible notes that have an option to convert at a variable number of shares to compute the fair value of the derivative and to mark to market the fair value of the derivative at each balance sheet date. The inputs utilized in the application of the Monte Carlo model included a starting stock price, an expected term of each debenture remaining from the valuation date to maturity, an estimated volatility, drift, and a risk-free rate. The inputs utilized in the application of the Binomial model included a stock price on valuation date, an expected term of each debenture remaining from the valuation date to maturity, an estimated volatility, and a risk-free rate. The Company records the change in the fair value of the derivative as other income or expense in the consolidated statements of operations.
Shipping and Handling Costs
The Company classifies freight billed to customers as sales revenue and the related freight costs as cost or revenue.
Revenue Recognition
Under Topic 606, revenue is recognized when control of the promised goods or services is transferred to our customers, in an amount that reflects the consideration we expect to be entitled to in exchange for those goods or services.
We determine revenue recognition through the following steps:
● | identification of the contract, or contracts, with a customer; |
● | identification of the performance obligations in the contract; |
● | determination of the transaction price. The transaction price for any given subscriber could decrease based on any payments made to that subscriber. A subscriber may be eligible for payment through one or more of the monetization features offered to Vocal creators, including earnings through reads (on a cost per mile basis) and cash prizes offered to Challenge winners; |
● | allocation of the transaction price to the performance obligations in the contract; and |
● | recognition of revenue when, or as, we satisfy a performance obligation. |
Revenue disaggregated by revenue source for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020 consists of the following:
Years Ended | ||||||||
December 31, | ||||||||
2021 | 2020 | |||||||
Agency (Managed Services, Branded Content, & Talent Management Services) | $ | 2,256,546 | $ | 1,100,199 | ||||
Platform (Creator Subscriptions) | 1,926,135 | 70,623 | ||||||
Ecommerce (Tangible products) | 90,433 | |||||||
Affiliate Sales | 26,453 | 33,748 | ||||||
Other Revenue | 150 | 8,300 | ||||||
$ | 4,299,717 | $ | 1,212,870 |
F-65
The Company utilizes the output method to measures the results achieved and value transferred to a customer over time. Timing of revenue recognition for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020 consists of the following:
Years Ended | ||||||||
December 31, | ||||||||
2021 | 2020 | |||||||
Products and services transferred over time | $ | 4,182,681 | $ | 1,100,199 | ||||
Products and services transferred at a point in time | 117,036 | 112,671 | ||||||
$ | 4,299,717 | $ | 1,212,870 |
Agency Revenue
Managed Services
The Company provides Studio/Agency Service offerings to business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) product and service brands which encompasses a full range of digital marketing and e-commerce solutions. The Company’s services include the setup and ongoing management of clients’ websites, Amazon and Shopify storefronts and listings, social media pages, search engine marketing, and other various tools and sales channels utilized by e-commerce sellers for sales and growth optimization. Contracts are broken into three categories: Partners, Monthly Services, and Projects. Contract amounts for Partner and Monthly Services clients range from approximately $500-$7,500 per month while Project amounts vary depending on the scope of work. Partner and Monthly clients are billed monthly for the work completed within that month. Partner Clients may or may not have an additional billing component referred to as Sales Performance Fee, which is a fee based upon a previously agreed upon percentage point of the client’s total sales for the month. Some Partners may also have projects within their contracts that get billed and recognized as agreed upon project milestones are achieved. Revenue is recognized over time as service obligations and milestones in the contract are met.
Branded Content
Branded content represents the revenue recognized from the Company’s obligation to create and publish branded articles and/or branded challenges for clients on the Vocal platform and promote said stories, tracking engagement for the client. In the case of branded articles, the performance obligation is satisfied when the Company successfully publishes the articles on its platform and meets any required promotional milestones as per the contract. In the case of branded challenges, the performance obligation is satisfied when the Company successfully closes the challenge and winners have been announced. The Company utilizes the completed contract method when revenue is recognized over time as the services are performed and any required milestones are met. Certain contracts contain separate milestones whereas the Company separates its performance obligations and utilizes the stand-alone selling price method and residual method to determine the estimate of the allocation of the transaction price.
Below are the significant components of a typical agreement pertaining to branded content revenue:
● | The Company collects fixed fees ranging from $10,000 to $110,000, with branded challenges ranging from $10,000 to $25,000 and branded articles ranging from $2,500 to $7,500 per article. | |
● | Branded articles are created and published, and challenges are completed, within three months of the signed agreement, or as previously negotiated with the client. |
F-66
● | Branded articles and challenges are promoted per the contract and engagement reports are provided to the client. | |
● | Most contracts include provisions for clients to acquire content rights at the end of the campaign for a flat fee. |
Talent Management Services
Talent Management represents the revenue recognized by WHE Agency, Inc. (“WHE”) from the Company’s obligation to manage and oversee influencer-led campaigns from the contract negotiation stage through content creation and publication. WHE acts in an agent capacity for influencers and collects a management fee of 20% of the value of an influencer’s contract with a brand. Revenue is recognized net of the 80% of the contract that is collected by the influencer and is recognized when performance obligations of the contract are met. Performance obligations are complete when milestones and deliverables of contracts are delivered to the client.
Below are the significant components of a typical agreement pertaining to talent management revenue:
● | Total gross contracts range from $500-$50,000. |
● | The Company collects fixed fees in the amount of 20% of the gross contract amount, ranging from $100 to $20,000 in net revenue per contract. |
● | The campaign is created and made live by the influencer within one month of the signed agreement, or as previously negotiated with the client. |
● | Campaigns are promoted per the contract and the customer is provided a link to the live deliverables on the influencer’s social media channels. |
● | Most billing for contracts occur 100% at execution of the performance obligation. Net payment terms vary by client. |
Platform Revenue
Creator Subscriptions
Vocal+ is a premium subscription offering for Vocal creators. In addition to joining for free, Vocal creators now have the option to sign up for a Vocal+ membership for either $9.99 monthly or $99 annually, though these amounts are subject to promotional discounts and free trials. Vocal+ subscribers receive access to value-added features such as increased rate of cost per mille (thousand) (“CPM”) monetization, a decreased minimum withdrawal threshold, a discount on platform processing fees, member badges for their profiles, access to exclusive Vocal+ Challenges, and early access to new Vocal features. Subscription revenues stem from both monthly and annual subscriptions, the latter of which is amortized over a twelve-month period. Any customer payments received are recognized over the subscription period, with any payments received in advance being deferred until they are earned.
The transaction price for any given subscriber could decrease based on any payments made to that subscriber. A subscriber may be eligible for payment through one or more of the monetization features offered to Vocal creators, including earnings through reads (on a cost per mille basis) and cash prizes offered to Challenge winners. Estimates are utilized for payments made for earnings through reads, by establishing the lifetime a subscriber has had a Vocal account, determining the percentage of that lifetime that the subscriber has been a paying customer, and applying that percentage to payments for earnings through reads in the relevant reporting period.
Affiliate Sales Revenue
Affiliate sales represents the commission the Company receives when a purchase is made through affiliate links placed within content hosted on the Vocal platform. Affiliate revenue is earned on a “click through” basis, upon referring visitors, via said links, to an affiliate’s site and having them complete a specific outcome, most commonly a product purchase. The Company uses multiple affiliate platforms, such as Skimlinks, Amazon, and Tune, to form and maintain thousands of vendor relationships. Each vendor establishes their own commission percentage, which typically range from 2-20%. The revenue is recognized upon receipt as reliable estimates could not be made.
E-Commerce Revenue
The Company’s e-commerce businesses are housed under Creatd Ventures, and currently consists of two majority-owned e-commerce companies, Camp (previously Plant Camp) and Dune Glow Remedy (“Dune”). The Company generates revenue through the sale of Camp and Dune’s consumer products through its e-commerce distribution channels. The Company satisfies its performance obligation upon shipment of product to its customers and recognizes shipping and handling costs as a fulfillment cost. Customers have 30 days from receipt of an item to return unopened, unused items. The Company runs discounts from time to time to promote sales, improve market penetration, and increase customer retention.
Deferred Revenue
Deferred revenue consists of billings and payments from clients in advance of revenue recognition. The Company has two types of deferred revenue, subscription revenue whereas the revenue is recognized over the subscription period and contract liabilities where the performance obligation was not satisfied. The Company will recognize the deferred revenue over the next year. As of December 31, 2021, and 2020, the Company had deferred revenue of $234,159 and $88,637, respectively.
F-67
Accounts Receivable and Allowances
Accounts receivable are recorded and carried when the Company has performed the work in accordance with managed services, project, partner, consulting and branded content agreements. For example, we bill a managed service client monthly when we have updated their Amazon store, modified SEO or completed the other services listed in the agreement. For projects and branded content, we will bill the client and record the receivable once milestones are reached that are set in the agreement. We make estimates for the allowance for doubtful accounts and allowance for unbilled receivables based upon our assessment of various factors, including historical experience, the age of the accounts receivable balances, credit quality of our customers, current economic conditions, and other factors that may affect our ability to collect from customers. During the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, the Company recorded $110,805 and $53,692, respectively as a bad debt expense. As of December 31, 2021 and 2020, the Company has an allowance for doubtful accounts of $186,147 and $80,509, respectively.
Inventory
Inventories are stated at the lower of cost (first-in, first-out basis) or net realizable value. Inventories are periodically evaluated to identify obsolete or otherwise impaired products and are written off when management determines usage is not probable. The Company estimates the balance of excess and obsolete inventory by analyzing inventory by age using last used and original purchase date and existing sales pipeline for which the inventory could be used. As of December 31, 2021 and 2020, the Company has no valuation allowance.
Stock-Based Compensation
The Company recognizes compensation expense for all equity–based payments granted in accordance with Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) 718 “Compensation – Stock Compensation”. Under fair value recognition provisions, the Company recognizes equity–based compensation over the requisite service period of the award. The company has a relatively low forfeiture rate of stock based compensation and forfeitures are recognized as they occur.
Restricted stock awards are granted at the discretion of the Company. These awards are restricted as to the transfer of ownership and generally vest over the requisite service periods.
The fair value of an option award is estimated on the date of grant using the Black–Scholes option valuation model. The Black–Scholes option valuation model requires the development of assumptions that are inputs into the model. These assumptions are the value of the underlying share, the expected stock volatility, the risk–free interest rate, the expected life of the option, the dividend yield on the underlying stock and the expected forfeiture rate. Expected volatility is volatility is derived from the Company’s historical data over the expected option life and other appropriate factors. Risk–free interest rates are calculated based on continuously compounded risk–free rates for the appropriate term. The dividend yield is assumed to be zero as the Company has never paid or declared any cash dividends on its Common stock and does not intend to pay dividends on its Common stock in the foreseeable future. Forfeitures are recognized as they occur.
Determining the appropriate fair value model and calculating the fair value of equity–based payment awards requires the input of the subjective assumptions described above. The assumptions used in calculating the fair value of equity–based payment awards represent management’s best estimates, which involve inherent uncertainties and the application of management’s judgment. As a result, if factors change and the Company uses different assumptions, our equity–based compensation could be materially different in the future. The Company issues awards of equity instruments, such as stock options and restricted stock units, to employees and certain non-employee directors. Compensation expense related to these awards is based on the fair value of the underlying stock on the award date and is amortized over the service period, defined as the vesting period. The vesting period is generally one to three years. A Black-Scholes model is utilized to estimate the fair value of stock options, while the market price of the Company’s common stock at the date of grant is used for restricted stock units. Compensation expense is reduced for actual forfeitures as they occur.
Income Taxes
Income taxes are provided in accordance with ASC No. 740, “Accounting for Income Taxes”. A deferred tax asset or liability is recorded for all temporary differences between financial and tax reporting and net operating loss carryforwards. Deferred tax expense (benefit) results from the net change during the period of deferred tax assets and liabilities.
Deferred tax assets are reduced by a valuation allowance when, in the opinion of management, it is more likely than not that some portion or all of the deferred tax assets will not be realized. Deferred tax assets and liabilities are adjusted for the effects of changes in tax laws and rates on the date of enactment.
F-68
Management makes judgments as to the interpretation of the tax laws that might be challenged upon an audit and cause changes to previous estimates of tax liability. In addition, the Company operates within multiple taxing jurisdictions and is subject to audit in these jurisdictions. In management’s opinion, adequate provisions for income taxes have been made for all years. If actual taxable income by tax jurisdiction varies from estimates, additional allowances or reversals of reserves may be necessary.
During the year ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, we recognized a $275,213 and $507,242 respectively, benefit for research and development tax credits in other income on the Statements of Comprehensive Income (Loss). The tax credits were claimed on our previous Australian tax returns and were based upon a research and development costs paid to an Australian company.
Loss Per Share
Basic net loss per common share is computed by dividing net loss attributable to common stockholders by the weighted-average number of common shares outstanding during the period. Diluted net loss per common share is determined using the weighted-average number of common shares outstanding during the period, adjusted for the dilutive effect of common stock equivalents. In periods when losses are reported, which is the case for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020 presented in these consolidated financial statements, the weighted-average number of common shares outstanding excludes common stock equivalents because their inclusion would be anti-dilutive.
The Company had the following common stock equivalents at December 31, 2021 and 2020:
December 31, | ||||||||
2021 | 2020 | |||||||
Options | 2,902,619 | 541,021 | ||||||
Warrants | 5,658,830 | 3,228,235 | ||||||
Totals | 8,561,449 | 3,769,256 |
Reclassifications
Certain prior year amounts in the consolidated financial statements and the notes thereto have been reclassified where necessary to conform to the current year’s presentation. These reclassifications did not affect the prior period’s total assets, total liabilities, stockholders’ deficit, net loss or net cash used in operating activities. During the year ended December 31, 2021, we adopted a change in presentation on our consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive loss in order to present a gross profit line, the presentation of which is consistent with our peers. Under the new presentation, we began allocating payroll and related expenses, professional services and creator payouts. Prior periods have been revised to reflect this change in presentation.
Recently Adopted Accounting Guidance
In December 2019, the FASB issued authoritative guidance intended to simplify the accounting for income taxes (ASU 2019-12, “Income Taxes (Topic 740): Simplifying the Accounting for Income Taxes”). This guidance eliminates certain exceptions to the general approach to the income tax accounting model and adds new guidance to reduce the complexity in accounting for income taxes. This guidance is effective for annual periods after December 15, 2020, including interim periods within those annual periods. The updated guidance, which became effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2020, did not have a material impact on the Company’s consolidated financial statements.
Recent Accounting Guidance Not Yet Adopted
In June 2016, the FASB issued ASU No. 2016-13, Financial Instruments - Credit Losses (Topic 326), Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments (“ASU-2016-13”). ASU 2016-13 affects loans, debt securities, trade receivables, and any other financial assets that have the contractual right to receive cash. The ASU requires an entity to recognize expected credit losses rather than incurred losses for financial assets. ASU 2016-13 is effective for the fiscal year beginning after December 15, 2022, including interim periods within that fiscal year. The Company is currently evaluating the impact of the new guidance on its consolidated financial statements.
F-69
In August 2020, the FASB issued ASU 2020-06, Debt—Debt with Conversion and Other Options (Subtopic 470-20) and Derivatives and Hedging—Contracts in Entity’s Own Equity (Subtopic 815-40): Accounting for Convertible Instruments and Contracts in an Entity’s Own Equity. This ASU amends the guidance on convertible instruments and the derivatives scope exception for contracts in an entity’s own equity, and also improves and amends the related EPS guidance for both Subtopics. The ASU will be effective for annual reporting periods after December 15, 2021, and interim periods within those annual periods and early adoption is permitted. The Company is currently evaluating the impact of the new guidance on its consolidated financial statements.
In May 2021, the FASB issued authoritative guidance intended to clarify and reduce diversity in an issuer’s accounting for modifications or exchanges of freestanding equity-classified written call options that remain equity classified after modification or exchange. (ASU 2021-04), “Derivatives and Hedging Contracts in Entity’s Own Equity (Topic 815). This guidance amendments provide measurement, recognition, and disclosure guidance for an issuer’s accounting for modifications or exchanges of freestanding equity-classified written call options that remain equity classified after modification or exchange. This guidance is effective for annual periods after December 15, 2021, including interim periods within those annual periods. The Company is currently evaluating the impact of the new guidance on its consolidated financial statements.
In July 2021, the FASB issued ASU No. 2021-05, Lessors—Certain Leases with Variable Lease Payments (Topic 842), Which requires a lessor to classify a lease with variable lease payments that do not depend on an index or rate (hereafter referred to as “variable payments”) as an operating lease on the commencement date of the lease if specified criteria are met. ASU 2021-05 is effective for the fiscal year beginning after December 15, 2022, including interim periods within that fiscal year. The Company expects that there would be no material impact on the Company’s consolidated financial statements upon the adoption of this ASU.
In October 2021, the FASB issued ASU No. 2021-08, Business Combinations — Accounting for Contract Assets and Contract Liabilities from Contracts with Customers (Topic 805), Which aims to improve the accounting for acquired revenue contracts with customers in a business combination by addressing diversity in recognition and payment terms that effect subsequent revenue recognition. ASU 2021-08 is effective for the fiscal year beginning after December 15, 2022, including interim periods within that fiscal year. The Company expects that there would be no material impact on the Company’s consolidated financial statements upon the adoption of this ASU.
Management does not believe that any recently issued, but not yet effective accounting pronouncements, when adopted, will have a material effect on the accompanying consolidated financial statements.
Note 3 – Going Concern
The Company’s consolidated financial statements have been prepared assuming that it will continue as a going concern, which contemplates continuity of operations, realization of assets, and liquidation of liabilities in the normal course of business.
As reflected in the consolidated financial statements, as of December 31, 2021, the Company had an accumulated deficit of $109.6 million, a net loss of $37.3 million and net cash used in operating activities of $21.1 million for the reporting period then ended. These factors raise substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern for a period of one year from the issuance of these financial statements.
On January 30, 2020, the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 novel coronavirus outbreak a “Public Health Emergency of International Concern” and on March 10, 2020, declared it to be a pandemic. Actions taken around the world to help mitigate the spread of the coronavirus include restrictions on travel, and quarantines in certain areas, and forced closures for certain types of public places and businesses. The COVID-19 coronavirus and actions taken to mitigate it have had and are expected to continue to have an adverse impact on the economies and financial markets of many countries, including the geographical area in which the Company operates. While it is unknown how long these conditions will last and what the complete financial impact will be to the Company, capital raising efforts and our operations may be negatively affected.
F-70
The Company is attempting to further implement its business plan and generate sufficient revenues; however, its cash position may not be sufficient to support its daily operations. While the Company believes in the viability of its strategy to further implement its business plan and generate sufficient revenues and in its ability to raise additional funds by way of a public or private offering of its debt or equity securities, there can be no assurance that it will be able to do so on reasonable terms, or at all. The ability of the Company to continue as a going concern is dependent upon its ability to further implement its business plan and generate sufficient revenues and its ability to raise additional funds by way of a public or private offering.
The consolidated financial statements do not include any adjustments related to the recoverability and classification of recorded asset amounts or the amounts and classification of liabilities that might be necessary should the Company be unable to continue as a going concern.
Note 4 – Inventory
Inventory was comprised of the following at December 31, 2021:
December 31, 2021 | ||||
Packaging | $ | 2,907 | ||
Finished goods | 103,496 | |||
$ | 106,403 |
Note 5 – Property and Equipment
Property and equipment stated at cost, less accumulated depreciation and amortization, consisted of the following:
December 31, 2021 | December 31, 2020 | |||||||
Computer Equipment | $ | 353,880 | $ | 284,928 | ||||
Furniture and Fixtures | 102,416 | 86,888 | ||||||
Leasehold Improvements | 11,457 | - | ||||||
467,753 | 371,816 | |||||||
Less: Accumulated Depreciation | (364,814 | ) | (315,558 | ) | ||||
$ | 102,939 | $ | 56,258 |
Depreciation expense was $49,254 and $31,094 for the year ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively.
Note 6 – Equity investments, at cost
The Company has elected to measure its equity securities without a readily determinable fair value at cost minus impairment, if any, plus or minus changes resulting from observable price changes in orderly transactions for the identical or a similar investment of the same issuer. An election to measure an equity security in accordance with this paragraph shall be made for each investment separately.
The Company performed a qualitative assessment considering impairment indicators to evaluate whether these investments were impaired. Impairment indicators that the Company considered included the following: a) a significant deterioration in the earnings performance, credit rating, asset quality or business prospects of the investee; b) a significant adverse change in the regulatory, economic or technology environment of the investee; c) a significant adverse change in the general market condition of either the geographical area or the industry in which the investee operates; d) a bona fide offer to purchase or an offer by the investee to sell the investment; e) factors that raise significant concerns about the investee’s ability to continue as a going concern.
F-71
On October 2, 2020, the Company converted $102,096 of its marketable debt security into 119,355 shares of preferred stock or a 1.3% equity investment in a private company. During the year ended December 31, 2021, the Company recorded a full impairment on this investment.
On October 23, 2020, the Company entered into an equity interest purchase agreement whereas the Company purchased 3.8% ownership of a private company for $115,000. During the year ended December 31, 2021, the Company acquired additional equity interests that resulted in the Company achieving significant influence over this investee, therefore the investments were reclassified as an equity method investment (see Note 7).
On February 17, 2021, the Company entered into a membership interest purchase agreement whereas the Company purchased another 3.3% ownership of a private company for $100,000. During the year ended December 31, 2021, the Company acquired additional equity interests that resulted in the Company achieving significant influence over this investee, therefore the investments were reclassified as an equity method investment (see Note 7).
On May 21, 2021, the Company entered into a common stock purchase agreement whereas the Company purchased 10.0% ownership of a private company for $50,000.
Note 7 – Equity Method Investments
During the year ended December 31, 2021, we invested $410,000 in cash into Dune, Inc., and received equity interest for services valued at $123,710 that were recorded to other income on the Statement of Operations. Our investment in Dune, Inc., was accounted for under the equity method until the 29% purchased on October 3, 2021 that increased our ownership to 50.41%. During the year ended December 31, 2021, we recorded $16,413 of losses from this investment as equity in net loss from equity method investment and an impairment in investment of $424,632 related to the remeasurement of previously held interest as of October 3, 2021. These amounts are recorded within our consolidated statements of operations. As of December 31, 2021, our Equity method investment total $0.
Note 8 – Notes Payable
Notes payable as of December 31, 2021 and 2020 is as follows:
Outstanding Principal as of | ||||||||||||||
December 31, 2021 |
December 31, 2020 |
Interest Rate |
Maturity Date | |||||||||||
Seller’s Choice Note | $ | 660,000 | $ | 660,000 | 30 | % | September 2020 | |||||||
The May 2020 PPP Loan Agreement | 412,500 | 1 | % | April 2022 | ||||||||||
The April 2020 PPP Loan Agreement | 198,577 | 282,432 | 1 | % | May 2022 | |||||||||
The October 2020 Loan Agreement | 55,928 | 14 | % | July 2021 | ||||||||||
The November 2020 Loan Agreement | 23,716 | 14 | % | May 2021 | ||||||||||
The February 2021 Loan Agreement | 14 | % | July 2021 | |||||||||||
The July 2021 Loan Agreement | 10 | % | October 2022 | |||||||||||
The First December 2021 Loan Agreement | 185,655 | 10 | % | June 2023 | ||||||||||
The Second December 2021 Loan Agreement | 313,979 | 14 | % | June 2022 | ||||||||||
1,358,211 | 1,434,576 | |||||||||||||
Less: Debt Discount | (15,547 | ) | ||||||||||||
Less: Debt Issuance Costs | ||||||||||||||
1,342,664 | 1,434,576 | |||||||||||||
Less: Current Debt | (1,278,672 | ) | (1,221,539 | ) | ||||||||||
Total Long-Term Debt | $ | 63,992 | $ | 213,037 |
Seller’s Choice Note
On September 11, 2019, the Company entered into Seller’s Choice Purchase Agreement with Home Revolution LLC. As a part of the consideration provided pursuant to the Seller’s Choice Acquisition, the Company issued the Seller’s Choice Note to the Seller in the principal amount of $660,000. The Seller’s Choice Note bears interest at a rate of 9.5% per annum and is payable on March 11, 2020 (the “Seller’s Choice Maturity Date”) at which time all outstanding principal, accrued and unpaid interest and other amounts become due. Upon maturity the Company utilized an automatic extension up to 6 months. This resulted in a 5% increase in the interest rate every month the Seller’s Choice Note is outstanding. As of December 31, 2021, the Company is in default on the Seller’s Choice note.
F-72
During the year ended December 31, 2021, the Company accrued interest of $198,000.
On March 3, 2022, the Company settled the Seller’s Choice Note for a cash payment of $799,000.
The First March 2020 Loan Agreement
On March 23, 2020, the Company entered into a loan agreement (the “First March 2020 Loan Agreement”) with an individual (the “First March 2020 Lender”) whereby the First March 2020 Lender issued the Company a promissory note of $11,000 (the “First March 2020 Note”). Pursuant to the First March 2020 Loan Agreement, the First March 2020 Note has an effective interest rate of 25%. The maturity date of the First March 2020 Note was September 23, 2020 (the “First March 2020 Maturity Date”), at which time all outstanding principal, accrued and unpaid interest and other amounts due under the First March 2020 Note were due.
During the year ended December 31, 2020, the Company repaid $11,000 in principal and $2,695 in interest.
The Second March 2020 Loan Agreement
On March 26, 2020, the Company entered into a loan agreement (the “Second March 2020 Loan Agreement”) with an individual (the “Second March 2020 Lender”), whereby the Second March 2020 Lender issued the Company a promissory note of $17,000 (the “Second March 2020 Note”). Pursuant to the Second March 2020 Loan Agreement, the Second March 2020 Note has an effective interest rate of 19%. The maturity date of the Second March 2020 Note was September 17, 2020 (the “Second March 2020 Maturity Date”), at which time all outstanding principal, accrued and unpaid interest and other amounts due under the Second March 2020 Note were due.
During the year ended December 31, 2020, the Company repaid $17,000 in principal and $1,398 in interest.
The April 2020 PPP Loan Agreement
On April 30, 2020, the Company was granted a loan with a principal amount of $282,432 (the “Loan”), pursuant to the Paycheck Protection Program (the “PPP”) under Division A, Title I of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (the “CARES Act”), which was enacted on March 27, 2020. The Loan, which was in the form of a Note dated April 30, 2020, matures on April 30, 2022, and bears interest at a fixed rate of 1.00% per annum, payable monthly commencing on October 30, 2020. The Note may be prepaid by the Company at any time prior to maturity without payment of any premium. Funds from the Loan may only be used to retain workers and maintain payroll or make mortgage payments, lease payments and utility payments.
During the year ended December 31, 2021, the Company accrued interest of $1,637.
During the year ended December 31, 2021, the Company repaid $83,855 in principal.
The Company is in the process of returning the funds received from the Loan.
When the applications for PPP first opened up, there was limited available funding and much confusion surrounding the application process. The Company initially submitted its application for the May 2020 PPP Loan in early April but received no response in the aftermath of submitting the application. After consulting multiple advisors, the Company made the decision to apply elsewhere, due to the rampant media coverage of institutions running out of funding and the Company’s need for the capital and belief that if 2 separate loans were approved, the remaining application could simply be withdrawn.
Therefore, in late April, the company proceeded with applying for the April 2020 PPP Loan. After some conflicting communications regarding acceptance, the Company attempted to contact the lender to clarify but got no response. After continued attempts to follow up with both lenders, the Company received approval for the May 2020 PPP Loan and funding for the April 2020 PPP Loan on the same day, followed the next day by the funding of the May 2020 PPP Loan. The Company immediately separated the funds for the April 2020 PPP Loan into a separate reserved bank account with the intention of returning the funds. However, after several attempts to contact the lender with no response, the Company was faced with difficulty raising funds in the early-Covid economy and made the decision to utilize the funds for operations and pursue an installment repayment plan when they were able to reach the lender. As of the date of this filing, the Company has begun making repayments on the loan, absent a formal installment agreement due to difficulties reaching the lender.
As each company is only permitted one loan under the CARES Act, there is a possibility the loan may be called by the SBA and the Company would have to repay the loan in full at such time.
F-73
The May 2020 PPP Loan Agreement
On May 4, 2020, Jerrick Ventures, LLC (“Jerrick Ventures”), the Company’s wholly-owned subsidiary, was granted a loan from PNC Bank, N.A. with a principal amount of $412,500, pursuant to the Paycheck Protection Program (the “PPP”). The Loan, which was in the form of a Note dated May 4, 2020, matures on May 4, 2022, and bears interest at a fixed rate of 1.00% per annum, payable monthly commencing on November 4, 2020. The Note may be prepaid by Jerrick Ventures at any time prior to maturity without payment of any premium. Funds from the Loan may only be used to retain workers and maintain payroll or make mortgage payments, lease payments and utility payments. Jerrick Ventures intends to use the entire Loan amount for qualifying expenses. Under the terms of the PPP, certain amounts of the Loan may be forgiven if they are used for qualifying expenses as described in the CARES Act.
During the year ended December 31, 2021, the Company accrued interest of $396.
During the year ended December 31, 2021, the Company repaid $136,597 in principal and was forgiven $275,903 of principal and $3,119 of accrued interest.
The June 2020 Loan Agreement
On June 30, 2020, the Company entered into a loan agreement (the “June 2020 Loan Agreement”) with a banking institution (the “June 2020 Lender”), whereby the June 2020 Lender issued the Company a promissory note of A$510,649 Australian dollar (“AUD”) or $351,692 United States Dollar (the “June 2020 Note”). Pursuant to the June 2020 Loan Agreement, the June 2020 Note has an effective interest rate of 15%. The maturity date of the June 2020 Note was July 31, 2020 (the “June 2020 Maturity Date”) at which time all outstanding principal, accrued and unpaid interest and other amounts due under the June 2020 Note were due in AUD currency. This loan was secured by the Australian research & development credit.
During the year ended December 31, 2020 the Company repaid A$510,649 in principal and A$14,814 in interest.
The October 2020 Loan Agreement
On October 6, 2020, the Company entered into a secured loan agreement (the “October 2020 Loan Agreement”) with a lender (the “October 2020 Lender”), whereby the October 2020 Lender issued the Company a secured promissory note of $74,300 AUD or $54,412 United States Dollars (the “October 2020 Note”). Pursuant to the October 2020 Loan Agreement, the October 2020 Note has an effective interest rate of 14%. The maturity date of the October 2020 Note is September 30, 2021 (the “October 2020 Maturity Date”) at which time all outstanding principal, accrued and unpaid interest and other amounts due under the October 2020 Loan Agreement are due. The loan is secured by the Australian research & development credit.
During the year ended December 31, 2021, the Company accrued $4,850 AUD in interest.
During the year ended December 31, 2021, the Company’s repaid $111,683 in principal and $6,408 in interest from our R&D tax credit receivable.
The November 2020 Loan Agreement
On November 24, 2020, the Company entered into a loan agreement (the “November 2020 Loan Agreement”) with a lender (the “November 2020 Lender”) whereby the November 2020 Lender issued the Company a promissory note of $34,000 (the “November 2020 Note”). Pursuant to the November 2020 Loan Agreement, the November 2020 Note has an effective interest rate of 14%. The maturity date of the November 2020 Note is May 25, 2021 (the “November 2020 Maturity Date”), at which time all outstanding principal, accrued and unpaid interest and other amounts due under the November 2020 Note are due.
During the year ended December 31, 2020, the Company repaid $10,284 in principal.
During the year ended December 31, 2021, the Company repaid $23,716 in principal and $4,736 of accrued interest.
The February 2021 Loan Agreement
On February 24, 2021, the Company entered into a secured loan agreement (the “February 2021 Loan Agreement”) with a lender (the “February 2021 Lender”), whereby the February 2021 Lender issued the Company a secured promissory note of $111,683 AUD or $81,789 United States Dollars (the “February 2021 Note”). Pursuant to the February 2021 Loan Agreement, the February 2021 Note has an effective interest rate of 14%. The maturity date of the February 2021 Note is July 31, 2021 (the “February 2021 Maturity Date”) at which time all outstanding principal, accrued and unpaid interest and other amounts due under the February 2021 Loan Agreement are due. The loan is secured by the Australian research & development credit.
During the year ended December 31, 2021, the Company accrued $9,339 AUD in interest.
F-74
The April 2021 Loan Agreement
On April 9, 2021, the Company entered into a loan agreement (the “April 2021 Loan Agreement”) with a lender (the “April 2021 Lender”) whereby the April 2021 Lender issued the Company a promissory note of $128,110 (the “April 2021 Note”). Pursuant to the April 2021 Loan Agreement, the April 2021 Note has an effective interest rate of 11%. The maturity date of the April 2021 Note is October 8, 2022 (the “April 2021 Maturity Date”), at which time all outstanding principal, accrued and unpaid interest and other amounts due under the April 2021 Note are due.
During the year ended December 31, 2021, the Company repaid $92,140 in principal and converted $35,970 into the July 2021 Loan Agreement. As part of the conversion the Company recorded $8,341 as extinguishment expense.
The July 2021 Loan Agreement
On July 2, 2021, the Company entered into a loan agreement (the “July 2021 Loan Agreement”) with a lender (the “July 2021 Lender”) whereby the July 2021 Lender issued the Company a promissory note of $137,625 (the “July 2021 Note”). Pursuant to the July 2021 Loan Agreement, the July 2021 Note has an effective interest rate of 10%. The maturity date of the July 2021 Note is December 31, 2022 (the “July 2021 Maturity Date”), at which time all outstanding principal, accrued and unpaid interest and other amounts due under the July 2021 Note are due.
During the year ended December 31, 2021, the Company repaid $113,606 in principal and converted $24,019 into the Second December 2021 Loan. As part of the conversion the Company recorded $7,109 as extinguishment expense.
The First December 2021 Loan Agreement
On December 3, 2021, the Company entered into a loan agreement (the “First December 2021 Loan Agreement”) with a lender (the “First December 2021 Lender”) whereby the First December 2021 Lender issued the Company a promissory note of $191,975 (the “First December 2021 Note”). Pursuant to the First December 2021 Loan Agreement, the First December 2021 Note has an effective interest rate of 9%. The maturity date of the First December 2021 Note is June 3, 2023 (the “First December 2021 Maturity Date”), at which time all outstanding principal, accrued and unpaid interest and other amounts due under the First December 2021 Note are due.
During the year ended December 31, 2021, the Company repaid $6,320 in principal.
The Second December 2021 Loan Agreement
On December 14, 2021, the Company entered into a secured loan agreement (the “Second December 2021 Loan Agreement”) with a lender (the “Second December 2021 Lender”), whereby the Second December 2021 Lender issued the Company a secured promissory note of $438,096 AUD or $329,127 United States Dollars (the “Second December 2021 Note”). Pursuant to the Second December 2021 Loan Agreement, the Second December 2021 Note has an effective interest rate of 14%. The maturity date of the Second December 2021 Note is June 30, 2022 (the “Second December 2021 Maturity Date”) at which time all outstanding principal, accrued and unpaid interest and other amounts due under the Second December 2021 Loan Agreement are due. The loan is secured by the Australian research & development credit.
During the year ended December 31, 2021, the Company accrued $2,857 AUD in interest.
Note 9 – Convertible Notes Payable
Convertible notes payable as of December 31, 2021, and 2020, is as follows:
Outstanding Principal as of | Warrants granted | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
December 31, 2021 |
December 31, 2020 |
Interest Rate |
Conversion Price |
Maturity Date |
Quantity | Exercise Price |
||||||||||||||||||||||
The September 2020 convertible Loan Agreement | $ | $ | 341,880 | 12 | % | (*) | September-21 | 85,555 | 5 | |||||||||||||||||||
The First December 2020 convertible Loan Agreement | 600,000 | 12 | % | (*) | December-21 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
The October 2020 convertible Loan Agreement | 169,400 | 6 | % | (*) | October-21 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
The Second December 2020 convertible Loan Agreement | 169,400 | 6 | % | (*) | December-21 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
The May 2021 Loan | % | 5.00 | (*) | November-22 | 1,090,908 | 4.50 | ||||||||||||||||||||||
The July 2021 Loan | 168,850 | 6 | % | (*) | July - 22 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
168,850 | 1,280,680 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Less: Debt Discount | (8,120 | ) | (309,637 | ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Less: Debt Issuance Costs | (1,537 | ) | (73,527 | ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
897,516 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Less: Current Debt | (159,193 | ) | (897,516 | ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Total Long-Term Debt | $ | $ |
(*) | As subject to adjustment as further outlined in the notes |
F-75
The February 2018 Convertible Note Offering
During the three months ended March 31, 2018, the Company conducted multiple closings of a private placement offering to accredited investors (the “February 2018 Convertible Note Offering”) of units of the Company’s securities by entering into subscription agreements with “accredited investors” (the “February 2018 Investors”) for aggregate gross proceeds of $725,000. In addition, $250,000 of the Company’s short-term debt along with accrued but unpaid interest of $40,675 was exchanged for convertible debt in the February 2018 Offering. These conversions resulted in the issuance of 24,223 warrants with a fair value of $181,139. These were recorded as a loss on extinguishment of debt.
The February 2018 Convertible Note Offering consisted of a maximum of $750,000 of units of the Company’s securities (each, a “February 2018 Unit” and collectively, the “February 2018 Units”), with each February 2018 Unit consisting of (a) a 15% Convertible Secured Promissory Note (each a “February 2018 Convertible Note” and together the “February 2018 Convertible Notes”), convertible into shares of the Company’s common stock, par value $.001 per share (“February 2018 Conversion Shares”) at a conversion price of $12.00 per share (the “February 2018 Note Conversion Price”), and (b) a five-year warrant (each a “February 2018 Offering Warrant and together the “February 2018 Offering Warrants”) to purchase common stock equal to one hundred percent (100%) of the shares into which the February 2018 Convertible Notes can be converted into (“February 2018 Warrant Shares”) at an exercise price of $12.00 per share (“February 2018 Warrant Exercise Price”). The February 2018 Offering Notes mature on the second (2nd) anniversary of their issuance dates. The February 2018 Offering Notes are secured by a second priority security interest in the Company’s assets up to $1,000,000.
The February 2018 Note Conversion Price and the February 2018 Offering Warrant Exercise Price are subject to adjustment for issuances of the Company’s common stock or any equity linked instruments or securities convertible into the Company’s common stock at a purchase price of less than the prevailing Conversion Price or Exercise Price. Such adjustment shall result in the Conversion Price and Exercise Price being reduced to such lower purchase price, subject to carve-outs as described therein.
The conversion feature of the February 2018 Convertible Note Offering provides for an effective conversion price that is below market value on the date of issuance. Such feature is normally characterized as a beneficial conversion feature (“BCF”). When the Company records a BCF the relative fair value of the BCF is recorded as a debt discount against the face amount of the respective debt instrument. The Company recorded a BCF and related debt discount of $37,350, the discount is being accreted over the life of the first Debenture to accretion of debt discount and issuance cost.
The Company recorded a $316,875 debt discount relating to 60,416 February 2018 Offering Warrants issued to investors based on the relative fair value of each equity instrument on the dates of issuance. The debt discount is being accreted over the life of these notes to accretion of debt discount and issuance cost.
In connection with the February 2018 Convertible Note Offering, the Company retained a placement agent (the “Placement Agent”), to carry out the Offering on a “best-efforts” basis. For services in its capacity as Placement Agent, the Company has paid the Placement Agent a cash fee of $94,250 and issued to the Placement Agent shares of the Company’s common stock equal to ten percent (10%) of the Conversion Shares underlying the February 2018 Convertible Notes or 6,041 shares that had a fair value of $74,881, which was recorded as issuance cost and is being accreted over the life of these notes to accretion of debt discount and issuance cost.
During the year ended December 31, 2018, the Company converted $940,675 of principal and $86,544 of unpaid interest into the August 2018 Equity Raise.
During the year ended December 31, 2019 the Company repaid $19,758 in interest.
During the year ended December 31, 2020 the Company repaid $75,000 in principal and $781 in interest, and the February 2018 Convertible Notes are no longer outstanding.
The March 2018 Convertible Note Offering
During the three months ended March 31, 2018, the Company conducted multiple closings of a private placement offering to accredited investors (the “March 2018 Convertible Note Offering”) of units of the Company’s securities by entering into subscription agreements with “accredited investors” (the “March 2018 Investors”) for aggregate gross proceeds of $770,000. In addition, $50,000 of the Company’s short-term debt, $767 accrued but unpaid interest and $140,600 of the Company’s vendor liabilities was exchanged for convertible debt within the March 2018 Convertible Note Offering. These conversions resulted in the issuance of 15,947 warrants with a fair value of $84,087. These were recorded as a loss on extinguishment of debt.
The March 2018 Convertible Note Offering consisted of a maximum of $900,000, with an over-allotment option of an additional $300,000 of units of the Company’s securities (each, a “March 2018 Unit” and collectively, the “March 2018 Units”), with each March 2018 Unit consisting of (a) a 14% Convertible Secured Promissory Note (each a “March 2018 Note” and together the “March 2018 Notes”), convertible into shares of the Company’s common stock, par value $.001 per share (“Conversion Shares”) at a conversion price of $12.00 per share (the “Conversion Price”), and (b) a four-year warrant (each a “Warrant and together the “Warrants”) to purchase common stock equal to one hundred percent (100%) of the shares into which the Notes can be converted into (“Warrant Shares”) at an exercise price of $12.00 per share (“Exercise Price”). The March 2018 Notes mature on the second (2nd) anniversary of their issuance dates.
The Conversion Price of the March 2018 Note and the Exercise Price of the Warrants are subject to adjustment for issuances of the Company’s common stock or any equity linked instruments or securities convertible into the Company’s common stock at a purchase price of less than the prevailing Conversion Price or Exercise Price. Such adjustment shall result in the Conversion Price and Exercise Price being reduced to such lower purchase price, subject to carve-outs as described therein.
F-76
The Company recorded a $254,788 debt discount relating to 80,114 warrants issued to investors based on the relative fair value of each equity instrument on the dates of issuance. The debt discount is being accreted over the life of the note to accretion of debt discount and issuance cost.
During the year ended December 31, 2018, the Company converted $886,367 of principal and $51,293 of unpaid interest pursuant to the August 2018 Equity Raise.
During the year ended December 31, 2020, the Company converted $50,000 of principal and $17,949 of unpaid interest into the September 2020 Equity Raise.
During the year ended December 31, 2020, the Company repaid $25,000 in principal and $9,364 in interest.
The February 2019 Convertible Note Offering
During the year ended December 31, 2019, the Company conducted an offering to accredited investors (the “February 2019 Convertible Note Offering”) of units of the Company’s securities by entering into subscription agreements with “accredited investors” (the “February 2019 Investors”) for aggregate gross proceeds of $1,993,025.
The February 2019 Convertible Note Offering consisted of (a) a 10% Convertible Promissory Note (each a “February 2019 Note” and together, the “February 2019 Notes”), convertible into shares of the Company’s common stock, par value $.001 per share (“Conversion Shares”) at the lesser of (i) a fixed conversion price equal to $15.00 per share or (ii) the price provided to investors in connection with (a) any private placement offerings or one or more registered public offerings by the Company under the Securities Act, pursuant to which the Company receives monies in the amount greater than $1,500,000 in exchange for securities of the Company between February 21, 2019 and the date on which the Company’s consummates a listing onto a national securities exchange, or (b) any private placement offerings or one or more registered public offerings by the Company under the Securities Act in connection with its listing onto a national securities exchange (a “Qualified Offering”), and (b) a four-year stock purchase warrant (each a “Warrant and together the “Warrants”) to purchase a quantity of shares of the Company’s common stock up to thirty-three percent (33%) of the number of shares of common stock into which the underlying Notes may be converted, at an exercise price of $18.00 per share (“Exercise Price”). During the year ended December 31, 2019 a total of 44,396 Warrants were issued in conjunction with The February 2019 Convertible Note Offering.
The February 2019 Notes mature on the first (1st) anniversary of their issuance dates. In the event that the Offering’s Purchasers do not choose to convert the Notes into the Common Stock on or prior to the Maturity Dates, the principal and interest evidenced by the Note shall be mandatorily converted upon the earlier of (i) the listing of the Common Stock onto a national securities exchange, or (ii) upon a Qualified Offering.
The Conversion Price of the February 2019 Note and the Exercise Price of the Warrants are subject to adjustment for issuances of the Company’s common stock or any equity linked instruments or securities convertible into the Company’s common stock at a purchase price of less than the prevailing Conversion Price or Exercise Price. Such adjustment shall result in the Conversion Price and Exercise Price being reduced to such lower purchase price, subject to carve-outs as described therein.
The Company recorded a $222,632 debt discount relating to 44,396 warrants issued to investors based on the relative fair value of each equity instrument on the dates of issuance. The debt discount is being accreted over the life of the note to accretion of debt discount and issuance cost.
During the year ended December 31, 2020, the Company converted $1,963,567 of principal and $416,786 of unpaid interest into the September 2020 Equity Raise.
During the year ended December 31, 2020, the Company repaid $348,136 in principal and $0 in interest.
The November 2019 Convertible Note Offering
During the year ended December 31, 2019, the Company conducted an offering to accredited investors (the “November 2019 Convertible Note Offering”) of units of the Company’s securities by entering into subscription agreements with “accredited investors” (the “November 2019 Investors”) for aggregate gross proceeds of $479,500. In addition, the Company converted $318,678 in Accounts Payable into this offering.
The November 2019 Convertible Note Offering consisted of (a) a 10% Convertible Promissory Note (each a “November 2019 Note” and together, the “November 2019 Notes”), convertible into shares of the Company’s common stock, par value $.001 per share (“Conversion Shares”) at a fixed conversion price equal to $13.50 per share.
The November 2019 Notes mature six months after the anniversary of their issuance dates. At any time on or after the maturity date, at the election of the Offering’s Purchaser, this Note may convert into Common Stock equal to the quotient obtained by dividing the outstanding principal and unpaid accrued interest of this Note on the date of such conversion by $13.50.
The Company recorded a $84,377 debt discount relating to an original issue discount equal to $79,933 and a beneficial conversion feature of $4,444. The debt discount is being accreted over the life of the note to accretion of debt discount and issuance cost.
During the year ended December 31, 2020, the Company converted $559,433 of principal and $77,785 of unpaid interest into the September 2020 Equity Raise.
F-77
The January 2020 Convertible Note Offering
During the three months ended March 31, 2020, the Company conducted an offering to accredited investors (the “January 2020 Convertible Note Offering”) of units of the Company’s securities by entering into subscription agreements with “accredited investors” (the “January 2020 Investors”) for aggregate gross proceeds of $87,473.
The January 2020 Convertible Note Offering consisted of (a) a 12% Convertible Promissory Note (each a “January 2020 Note” and together, the “January 2020 Notes”), convertible into shares of the Company’s common stock, par value $.001 per share (“Conversion Shares”) at the lesser of (i) a fixed conversion price equal to $13.50 per share or (ii) the price provided to investors in connection with (a) any private placement offerings or one or more registered public offerings by the Company under the Securities Act, pursuant to which the Company receives monies in the amount greater than $1,500,000 in exchange for securities of the Company, or (b) any private placement offerings or one or more registered public offerings by the Company under the Securities Act in connection with its listing onto a national securities exchange (a “Qualified Offering”).
The January 2020 Notes mature on the first (6th) month anniversary of their issuance dates. If an event of default occurs and is not cured within 30 days of the Company receiving notice, the notes will be convertible at 80% multiplied by the lowest VWAP of the common stock during the five (5) consecutive trading day period immediately preceding the date of the respective conversion, and a default interest rate of 24% will become effective.
The Conversion Price of the January 2020 Note are subject to adjustment for issuances of the Company’s common stock or any equity linked instruments or securities convertible into the Company’s common stock at a purchase price of less than the prevailing Conversion Price or Exercise Price. Such adjustment shall result in the Conversion Price being reduced to such lower purchase price, subject to carve-outs as described therein.
The Company recorded a $12,473 debt discount relating to original issue discount associated with these notes. The debt discount is being accreted over the life of the note to accretion of debt discount and issuance cost.
During the year ended December 31, 2020, the Company converted $87,473 of principal and $8,275 of unpaid interest into the September 2020 Equity Raise.
The First February 2020 Convertible Loan Agreement
On February 4, 2020, the Company entered into a loan agreement (the “First February 2020 Loan Agreement”) with an individual (the “First February 2020 Lender”), whereby the First February 2020 Lender issued the Company a promissory note of $85,000 (the “First February 2020 Note”). Pursuant to the First February 2020 Loan Agreement, the First February 2020 Note has interest of ten percent (10%).
The First February 2020 Note are convertible into shares of the Company’s common stock, par value $.001 per share (“Conversion Shares”) at the lesser of (i) a fixed conversion price equal to $12.00 per share or (ii) the price provided to investors in connection with (a) any private placement offerings or one or more registered public offerings by the Company under the Securities Act, pursuant to which the Company receives monies in the amount greater than $1,500,000 in exchange for securities of the Company, or (b) any private placement offerings or one or more registered public offerings by the Company under the Securities Act in connection with its listing onto a national securities exchange (a “Qualified Offering”).
The First February 2020 Notes mature on the first (6th) month anniversary of their issuance dates. In the event that the Offering’s Purchasers do not choose to convert the Notes into the Common Stock on or prior to the Maturity Dates and the Notes have not been repaid or an event of default occurs as defined in the Notes, the notes will be convertible at the lesser of the fixed conversion price or 65% multiplied by the lowest trade of the common stock during the twenty (20) consecutive trading day period immediately preceding the date of the respective conversion and a default interest rate of 15% will be applied.
The Conversion Price of the First February 2020 Note are subject to adjustment for issuances of the Company’s common stock or any equity linked instruments or securities convertible into the Company’s common stock at a purchase price of less than the prevailing Conversion Price or Exercise Price. Such adjustment shall result in the Conversion Price being reduced to such lower purchase price, subject to carve-outs as described therein.
The Company recorded a $8,000 debt discount relating to original issue discount associated with these notes. The debt discount is being accreted over the life of the note to accretion of debt discount and issuance cost.
During the year ended December 31, 2020, the Company repaid $158,065 in principal and $0 in interest.
The Second February 2020 Convertible Loan Agreement
On February 11, 2020, the Company entered into a loan agreement (the “Second February 2020 Loan Agreement”) with an individual (the “Second February 2020 Lender”), whereby the Second February 2020 Lender issued the Company a promissory note of $200,000 (the “Second February 2020 Note”). Pursuant to the Second February 2020 Loan Agreement, the Second February 2020 Note has interest of twelve percent (12%). As additional consideration for entering in the Second February 2020 convertible Loan Agreement, the Company issued a five-year warrant to purchase 6,666 shares of the Company’s common stock at a purchase price of $15.00 per share.
The Second February 2020 Note is convertible into shares of the Company’s common stock, par value $.001 per share (“Conversion Shares”) at the lesser of (i) a fixed conversion price equal to $13.50 per share or (ii) the price provided to investors in connection with (a) any private placement offerings or one or more registered public offerings by the Company under the Securities Act, pursuant to which the Company receives monies in the amount greater than $1,500,000 in exchange for securities of the Company, or (b) any private placement offerings or one or more registered public offerings by the Company under the Securities Act in connection with its listing onto a national securities exchange (a “Qualified Offering”).
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The Second February 2020 Note matures on the first (12th) month anniversary of its issuance date. In the event that the Offering’s Purchasers do not choose to convert the Notes into the Common Stock on or prior to the Maturity Date and the Note is unpaid, the note will be convertible at the lesser of the fixed conversion price or 75% multiplied by the lowest trade of the common stock during the twenty (20) consecutive trading day period immediately preceding the date of the respective conversion.
The Conversion Price of the First February 2020 Note is subject to adjustment for issuances of the Company’s common stock or any equity linked instruments or securities convertible into the Company’s common stock at a purchase price of less than the prevailing Conversion Price or Exercise Price. Such adjustment shall result in the Conversion Price being reduced to such lower purchase price, subject to carve-outs as described therein.
The Company recorded a $33,340 debt discount relating to original issue discount associated with this note. The debt discount is being accreted over the life of the note to accretion of debt discount and issuance cost.
During the year ended December 31, 2020, the Company converted $125,000 of principal and $0 of unpaid interest into the September 2020 Equity Raise.
The Company recorded a Loss on extinguishment of debt of $136,115.
During the year ended December 31, 2020, the Company repaid $175,000 in principal and $0 in interest.
The Third February 2020 Convertible Loan Agreement
On February 25, 2020, the Company entered into a loan agreement (the “Third February 2020 Loan Agreement”) with an individual (the “Third February 2020 Lender”), whereby the Third February 2020 Lender issued the Company a promissory note of $1,500,000 (the “Third February 2020 Note”). The Company received proceeds of $864,950 and converted notes payable of $385,000 in exchange for the note (see Note 5). Pursuant to the Third February 2020 Loan Agreement, the Second February 2020 Note has interest of twelve percent (12%).
The Third February 2020 Note is convertible into shares of the Company’s common stock, par value $.001 per share (“Conversion Shares”) at the lesser of (i) a fixed conversion price equal to $4.50 per share or (ii) the price provided to investors in connection with (a) any private placement offerings or one or more registered public offerings by the Company under the Securities Act, pursuant to which the Company receives monies in the amount greater than $1,500,000 in exchange for securities of the Company, or (b) any private placement offerings or one or more registered public offerings by the Company under the Securities Act in connection with its listing onto a national securities exchange (a “Qualified Offering”).
The Third February 2020 Note matures on the first (12th) month anniversary of their issuance dates. In the event that the Offering’s Purchasers do not choose to convert the Notes into the Common Stock on or prior to the Maturity Dates and the note is unpaid, the notes will be convertible at the lower of the fixed conversion price or 75% multiplied by the lowest trade of the common stock during the twenty (20) consecutive trading day period immediately preceding the date of the respective conversion.
The Conversion Price of the Third February 2020 Note are subject to adjustment for issuances of the Company’s common stock or any equity linked instruments or securities convertible into the Company’s common stock at a purchase price of less than the prevailing Conversion Price or Exercise Price. Such adjustment shall result in the Conversion Price being reduced to such lower purchase price, subject to carve-outs as described therein.
In accordance with ASC 470-50, since the present value of the cash flows under the new debt instrument was at least ten percent different from the present value of the remaining cash flows under the terms of the original debt instrument, the Company accounted for the note exchange as described above as a debt extinguishment. The Company recorded a loss on debt extinguishment of $535,041. This represents the fair value of the warrants issued $445,705 and a debt premium of $89,336. The note has an effective interest rate of 24%. The Company recorded a debt discount of $160,714. This is made up of an original issue discount of $250,050 less a debt premium of $89,336.
During the year ended December 31, 2020, the Company converted $1,500,000 of principal and $100,603 of unpaid interest into the September 2020 Equity Raise.
The April 2020 Convertible Note Offering
During April of 2020, the Company conducted multiple closings of a private placement offering to accredited investors (the “April 2020 Convertible Note Offering”) of units of the Company’s securities by entering into subscription agreements with “accredited investors” (the “April 2020 Investors”) for aggregate gross proceeds of $350,010. The April 2020 Convertible Note Offering accrues interest at a rate of twelve percent per annum (12%). The April 2020 Convertible Note Offering mature on the six (6th) month anniversary of their issuance dates.
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The April 2020 Note is convertible into shares of the Company’s common stock, par value $.001 per share (“Conversion Shares”) at the lesser of (i) a fixed conversion price equal to $13.50 per share after the maturity date or (ii) any private placement offerings or one or more registered public offerings by the Company under the Securities Act in connection with its listing onto a national securities exchange (a “Qualified Offering”).
The Company recorded a $50,010 debt discount relating to original issue discount associated with these notes. The debt discount is being accreted over the life of the note to accretion of debt discount and issuance cost.
During the year ended December 31, 2020, the Company converted $350,010 of principal and $16,916 of unpaid interest into the September 2020 Equity Raise.
The June 2020 Convertible Loan Agreement
On June 19, 2020, the Company entered into a loan agreement (the “June 2020Loan Agreement”) with an individual (the “June 2020 Lender”), whereby the June 2020 Lender issued the Company a promissory note of $550,000 (the “June 2020 Note”). Pursuant to the June 2020 Loan Agreement, the June 2020 Note has interest of twelve percent (12%). As additional consideration for entering in the June 2020 convertible Loan Agreement, the Company issued a five-year warrant to purchase 49,603 shares of the Company’s common stock at a purchase price of $11.55 per share. The June 2020 Note matures on the first (12th) month anniversary of its issuance date.
Upon default the June 2020 Note is convertible into shares of the Company’s common stock, par value $.001 per share (“Conversion Shares”) equal to the closing bid price of the Company’s common stock on the trading day immediately preceding the date of the respective conversion.
The Company recorded a $67,500 debt discount relating to original issue discount associated with this note. The Company recorded a $274,578 debt discount relating to 49,603 warrants and 5,424 shares issued to investors based on the relative fair value of each equity instrument on the dates of issuance. The debt discount is being accreted over the life of the note to accretion of debt discount and issuance cost.
During the year ended December 31, 2020, the lender converted $59,200 of principal into the Second July 2020 Convertible Loan Agreement
During the year ended December 31, 2020, the Company repaid $490,800 in principal and $16,944 in interest.
The First July 2020 Convertible Loan Agreement
On July 01, 2020, the Company entered into a loan agreement (the “First July 2020 Loan Agreement”) with an individual (the “First July 2020 Lender”), whereby the First July 2020 Lender issued the Company a promissory note of $68,000 (the “First July 2020 Note”). Pursuant to the First July 2020 Loan Agreement, the First July 2020 Note has interest of ten percent (10%). The First July 2020 Note matures on June 29, 2021.
Upon default or 180 days after issuance the First July 2020 Note is convertible into shares of the Company’s common stock, par value $.001 per share (“Conversion Shares”) equal to 61% multiplied by the lowest trade of the common stock during the twenty (15) consecutive trading day period immediately preceding the date of the respective conversion.
During the year ended December 31, 2021, the First July 2020 Note became convertible. Due to the fact that these convertible notes have an option to convert at a variable amount, they are subject to derivative liability treatment. The Company has applied ASC 815, due to the potential for settlement in a variable quantity of shares. The conversion feature has been measured at fair value using a Binomial model at the conversion date and the period end. The conversion feature of First July 2020 Note gave rise to a derivative liability of $112,743. The Company recorded $68,000 as a debt discount and $44,743 was recorded to derivative expense. The debt discount is charged to accretion of debt discount over the remaining term of the convertible note.
During the year ended December 31, 2021, the Company converted $68,000 in principal and $3,400 in interest into 35,469 shares of the Company’s common stock.
The Second July 2020 Convertible Loan Agreement
On July 17, 2020, the Company entered into a loan agreement (the “Second July 2020 Loan Agreement”) with an individual (the “Second July 2020 Lender”), whereby the Second July 2020 Lender issued the Company a promissory note of $250,000 (the “Second July 2020 Note”). Pursuant to the Second July 2020 Loan Agreement, the Second July 2020 Note has interest of twelve percent (12%). The Second July 2020 Note matures on July 17, 2021.
Upon default the Second July 2020 Note is convertible into shares of the Company’s common stock, par value $.001 per share (“Conversion Shares”) equal to the closing bid price of the Company’s common stock on the trading day immediately preceding the date of the respective conversion.
The Company recorded a $46,750 debt discount relating to original issue discount associated with this note. The Company recorded a $71,329 debt discount relating to 6,667 warrants issued to investors based on the relative fair value of each equity instrument on the dates of issuance. The debt discount is being accreted over the life of the note to accretion of debt discount and issuance cost.
During the year ended December 31, 2020, the Company repaid $250,000 in principal and $0 in interest.
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The July 2020 Convertible Note Offering
From July 2020 to September 2020, the Company conducted multiple closings of a private placement offering to accredited investors (the “July 2020 Convertible Note Offering”) of units of the Company’s securities by entering into subscription agreements with “accredited investors” (the “July 2020 Investors”) for aggregate gross proceeds of $390,000. The July 2020 Convertible Note Offering accrues interest at a rate of twelve percent per annum (12%). The July 2020 Convertible Note Offering mature on the six (6th) month anniversary of their issuance dates.
The July 2020 Note Offering is convertible into shares of the Company’s common stock, par value $.001 per share (“Conversion Shares”) at the lesser of (i) a fixed conversion price equal to $12.75 per share after the maturity date or (ii) any private placement offerings or one or more registered public offerings by the Company under the Securities Act in connection with its listing onto a national securities exchange (a “Qualified Offering”).
Upon default the July 2020 Convertible Note Offering is convertible into shares of the Company’s common stock, par value $.001 per share (“Conversion Shares”) equal to 61% multiplied by the lowest trade of the common stock during the twenty (15) consecutive trading day period immediately preceding the date of the respective conversion.
The conversion feature of the July 2020 Convertible Note Offering provides for an effective conversion price that is below market value on the date of issuance. Such feature is normally characterized as a beneficial conversion feature. When the Company records a BCF the relative fair value of the BCF is recorded as a debt discount against the face amount of the respective debt instrument. The Company recorded a BCF and related debt discount of $38,215, the discount is being accreted over the life of the Debenture to accretion of debt discount and issuance cost.
The Company recorded a $158,078 debt discount relating to 30,589 July 2020 Convertible Note Offering issued to investors based on the relative fair value of each equity instrument on the dates of issuance. The debt discount is being accreted over the life of these notes to accretion of debt discount and issuance cost.
During the year ended December 31, 2020, the Company converted $390,000 of principal and $3,436 of unpaid interest into the September 2020 Equity Raise.
The August 2020 Convertible Loan Agreement
On August 17, 2020, the Company entered into a loan agreement (the “August 2020 Loan Agreement”) with an individual (the “August 2020 Lender”), whereby the August 2020 Lender issued the Company a promissory note of $68,000 (the “August 2020 Note”). Pursuant to the August 2020 Loan Agreement, the August 2020 Note has interest of twelve percent (12%). The August 2020 Note matures on August 17, 2021.
Upon default or 180 days after issuance the August 2020 Convertible Note is convertible into shares of the Company’s common stock, par value $.001 per share (“Conversion Shares”) equal to 61% multiplied by the lowest trade of the common stock during the twenty (15) consecutive trading day period immediately preceding the date of the respective conversion.
The Company recorded a $3,000 debt discount relating to original issue discount associated with this note. The debt discount is being accreted over the life of the note to accretion of debt discount and issuance cost.t
During the year ended December 31, 2021, the August 2020 Note became convertible. Due to the fact that these convertible notes have an option to convert at a variable amount, they are subject to derivative liability treatment. The Company has applied ASC 815, due to the potential for settlement in a variable quantity of shares. The conversion feature has been measured at fair value using a Binomial model at the conversion date and the period end. The conversion feature of August 2020 Note gave rise to a derivative liability of $120,759. The Company recorded $65,000 was recorded as a debt discount and $55,759 was recorded to derivative expense. The debt discount is charged to accretion of debt discount over the remaining term of the convertible note.
During the year ended December 31, 2021, the Company converted $68,000 in principal and $3,400 in interest into 29,859 shares of the Company’s common stock.
The September 2020 Convertible Loan Agreement
On September 23, 2020, the Company entered into a loan agreement (the “September 2020 Loan Agreement”) with an individual (the “September 2020 Lender”), whereby the September 2020 Lender issued the Company a promissory note of $385,000 (the “September 2020 Note”). Pursuant to the September 2020 Loan Agreement, the September 2020 Note has interest of twelve percent (12%). The September 2020 Note matures on September 23, 2021.
Upon default or 180 days after issuance the Second July 2020 Note is convertible into shares of the Company’s common stock, par value $.001 per share equal to the closing bid price of the Company’s common stock on the trading day immediately preceding the date of the respective conversion.
The Company recorded a $68,255 debt discount relating to original issue discount associated with this note. The Company recorded a $146,393 debt discount relating to 85,555 warrants issued to investors based on the relative fair value of each equity instrument on the dates of issuance. The debt discount is being accreted over the life of the note to accretion of debt discount and issuance cost.
During the year ended December 31, 2021, the Company repaid $341,880 in principal and $46,200 in interest.
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The October 2020 Convertible Loan Agreement
On October 2, 2020, the Company entered into a loan agreement (the “October 2020 Loan Agreement”) with an individual (the “October 2020 Lender”), whereby the October 2020 Lender issued the Company a promissory note of $169,400 (the “October 2020 Note”). Pursuant to the October 2020 Loan Agreement, the October 2020 Note has interest of six percent (6%). The October 2020 Note matures on the first (12th) month anniversary of its issuance date.
Upon default or 180 days after issuance the October 2020 Note is convertible into shares of the Company’s common stock, par value $0.001 per share (“Conversion Shares”) equal to 75% of average the lowest three trading prices of the Company’s common stock on the fifteen-trading day immediately preceding the date of the respective conversion.
The Company recorded a $19,400 debt discount relating to original issue discount associated with this note. The debt discount is being accreted over the life of the note to accretion of debt discount and issuance cost.
During the year ended December 31, 2021, the Second July 2020 Note became convertible. Due to the fact that these convertible notes have an option to convert at a variable amount, they are subject to derivative liability treatment. The Company has applied ASC 815, due to the potential for settlement in a variable quantity of shares. The conversion feature has been measured at fair value using a Binomial model at the conversion date and the period end. The conversion feature of Second July 2020 Note gave rise to a derivative liability of $74,860. The Company recorded this as a debt discount. The debt discount is charged to accretion of debt discount over the remaining term of the convertible note.
During the year ended December 31, 2021, the Company converted $169,400 in principal and $4,620 in interest into 55,631 shares of the Company’s common stock.
The First December 2020 convertible Loan Agreement
On December 9, 2020, the Company entered into a loan agreement (the “First December 2020 Loan Agreement”) with an individual (the “First December 2020 Lender”), whereby the First December 2020 Lender issued the Company a promissory note of $600,000 (the “First December 2020 Note”). Pursuant to the First December 2020 Loan Agreement, the First December 2020 Note has interest of twelve percent (12%). As additional consideration for entering in the First December 2020 convertible Loan Agreement, the Company issued 45,000 shares of the Company’s common stock. The First December 2020 Note matures on the first (12th) month anniversary of its issuance date.
Upon default the First December 2020 Note is convertible into shares of the Company’s common stock, par value $.001 per share (“Conversion Shares”) equal to the closing bid price of the Company’s common stock on the trading day immediately preceding the date of the respective conversion.
The Company recorded a $110,300 debt discount relating to original issue discount associated with this note. The Company recorded a $113,481 debt discount relating to 45,000 shares issued to investors based on the relative fair value of each equity instrument on the dates of issuance. The debt discount is being accreted over the life of the note to accretion of debt discount and issuance cost.
During the year ended December 31, 2021 the Company repaid $600,000 in principal and $4,340 in interest.
The Second December 2020 Convertible Loan Agreement
On December 30, 2020, the Company entered into a loan agreement (the “Second December 2020 Loan Agreement”) with an individual (the “Second December 2020 Lender”), whereby the Second December 2020 Lender issued the Company a promissory note of $169,400 (the “Second December 2020 Note”). Pursuant to the Second December 2020 Loan Agreement, the Second December 2020 Note has interest of six percent (6%). The Second December 2020 Note matures on the first (12th) month anniversary of its issuance date.
Upon default the Second December 2020 Note is convertible into shares of the Company’s common stock, par value $0.001 per share (“Conversion Shares”) equal to 75% of average the lowest three trading prices of the Company’s common stock on the fifteen-trading day immediately preceding the date of the respective conversion.
The Company recorded a $18,900 debt discount relating to original issue discount associated with this note. The debt discount is being accreted over the life of the note to accretion of debt discount and issuance cost.
During the year ended December 31, 2021, the Second December 2020 Note became convertible. Due to the fact that these convertible notes have an option to convert at a variable amount, they are subject to derivative liability treatment. The Company has applied ASC 815, due to the potential for settlement in a variable quantity of shares. The conversion feature has been measured at fair value using a Binomial model at the conversion date and the period end. The conversion feature of Second December 2020 Note gave rise to a derivative liability of $108,880. The Company recorded this as a debt discount. The debt discount is charged to accretion of debt discount over the remaining term of the convertible note.
During the year ended December 31, 2021, the Company converted $168,900 in principal and $4,605 in interest into 74,706 shares of the Company’s common stock.
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The May 2021 Convertible Note Offering
On May 14, 2021, the Company conducted multiple closings of a private placement offering to accredited investors (the “May 2021 Convertible Note Offering”) of units of the Company’s securities by entering into subscription agreements with “accredited investors” (the “May 2021 Investors”) for aggregate gross proceeds of $3,690,491. The May 2021 convertible notes are convertible into shares of the Company’s common stock, par value $.001 per share at a conversion price of $5.00 per share. As additional consideration for entering in the May 2021 Convertible Note Offering, the Company issued 1,090,908 warrants of the Company’s common stock. The May 2021 Convertible Note matures on November 14, 2022.
The Company recorded a $1,601,452 debt discount relating to 1,090,908 warrants issued to investors based on the relative fair value of each equity instrument on the dates of issuance. The debt discount is being accreted over the life of these notes to accretion of debt discount and issuance cost.
The Company recorded a $666,669 debt discount relating to an original issue discount and $539,509 of debt issuance costs related to fees paid to vendors relating to the offering. The debt discount and debt issuance costs are being accreted over the life of the note to accretion of debt discount and issuance cost.
During the year ended December 31, 2021, the Company converted $4,666,669 in principal into 933,334 shares of the Company’s common stock.
The July 2021 Convertible Loan Agreement
On July 6, 2021, the Company entered into a loan agreement (the “July 2021 Loan Agreement”) with an individual (the “July 2021 Lender”), whereby the July 2021 Lender issued the Company a promissory note of $168,850 (the “July 2021 Note”). Pursuant to the July 2021 Loan Agreement, the July 2021 Note has interest of six percent (6%). The July 2021 Note matures on the first (12th) month anniversary of its issuance date.
Upon default or 180 days after issuance the July 2021 Note is convertible into shares of the Company’s common stock, par value $0.001 per share (“Conversion Shares”) equal to 75% of average the lowest three trading prices of the Company’s common stock on the fifteen-trading day immediately preceding the date of the respective conversion.
The Company recorded a $15,850 debt discount relating to an original issue discount and $3,000 of debt issuance costs related to fees paid to vendors relating to the offering. The debt discount and debt issuance costs are being accreted over the life of the note to accretion of debt discount and issuance cost.
During the year ended December 31, 2021, the Company accrued $4,941 in interest.
Note 10 – Related Party
Note receivable
October 2019 Cacher Loan Agreement
On October 28, 2019, the Company entered into a loan agreement with Cacher Studios LLC (the “October 2019 Cacher Loan Agreement”) whereby Cacher Studios issued the Company a promissory note in the principal amount of $11,450 (the “October 2019 Cacher Note”). The October 2019 Cacher Note has a maturity date of October 28, 2020. Repayment is due from Cacher Studios LLC’s revenues, with 100% of net revenues due to the Company until $2,500 in principal has been repaid, and 50% of net revenues due to the Company thereafter. Cacher Studios LLC is owned and operated by Alexandra Frommer, daughter of Jeremy Frommer, the Company’s CEO. This investment is evaluated for impairment if events or circumstances arise that indicate that the carrying amount of such assets may not be recoverable. During the year ended December 31, 2020 the Company recorded an impairment of $11,450.
Convertible notes
The March 2018 Convertible Note Offering
During the year ended December 31, 2018, the Company conducted multiple closings of a private placement offering to accredited investors (the “March 2018 Convertible Note Offering”) of units of the Company’s securities by entering into subscription agreements with “accredited investors” (the “Investors”) for aggregate gross proceeds of $239,400.
The March 2018 Convertible Note Offering consisted of a maximum of $900,000, with an over-allotment option of an additional $300,000, of units of the Company’s securities (each, a “March 2018 Unit” and collectively, the “March 2018 Units”), with each March 2018 Unit consisting of (a) a 14% Convertible Secured Promissory Note (each a “March 2018 Note” and together the “March 2018 Notes”), convertible into shares of the Company’s common stock, par value $.001 per share (“Conversion Shares”) at a conversion price of $12.00 per share (the “Conversion Price”), and (b) a four-year warrant (each a “Warrant and together the “Warrants”) to purchase common stock equal to one hundred percent (100%) of the shares into which the Notes can be converted into (“Warrant Shares”) at an exercise price of $12.00 per share (“Exercise Price”). The Notes mature on the second (2nd) anniversary of their issuance dates.
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The Conversion Price of the Note and the Exercise Price of the Warrants are subject to adjustment for issuances of the Company’s common stock or any equity linked instruments or securities convertible into the Company’s common stock at a purchase price of less than the prevailing Conversion Price or Exercise Price. Such adjustment shall result in the Conversion Price and Exercise Price being reduced to such lower purchase price, subject to carve-outs as described therein.
The Company recorded a $84,854 debt discount relating to 19,950 warrants issued to investors based on the relative fair value of each equity instrument on the dates of issuance. The debt discount is being accreted over the life of these notes to accretion of debt discount and issuance cost.
During the year ended December 31, 2018, the Company converted $239,000 of principal and $15,401 of unpaid interest into the August 2018 Equity Raise.
During the year ended December 31, 2020 the lender forgave $400 of principal and $70 of unpaid interest. This was recorded as a gain on settlement of debt on the Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income (Loss).
The February 2019 Convertible Note Offering
During the year ended December 31, 2019, the Company conducted an offering to accredited investors (the “February 2019 Convertible Note Offering”) of units of the Company’s securities by entering into subscription agreements with “accredited investors” (the “February 2019 Investors”) for aggregate gross proceeds of $20,000.
The February 2019 Convertible Note Offering consisted of (a) a 10% Convertible Promissory Note (each a “February 2019 Note” and together, the “February 2019 Notes”), convertible into shares of the Company’s common stock, par value $.001 per share (“Conversion Shares”) at the lesser of (i) a fixed conversion price equal to $15.00 per share or (ii) the price provided to investors in connection with (a) any private placement offerings or one or more registered public offerings by the Company under the Securities Act, pursuant to which the Company receives monies in the amount greater than $1,500,000 in exchange for securities of the Company between February 21, 2019 and the date on which the Company’s consummates a listing onto a national securities exchange, or (b) any private placement offerings or one or more registered public offerings by the Company under the Securities Act in connection with its listing onto a national securities exchange (a “Qualified Offering”), and (b) a four-year stock purchase warrant (each a “Warrant and together the “Warrants”) to purchase a quantity of shares of the Company’s common stock up to thirty-three percent (33%) of the number of shares of common stock into which the underlying Notes may be converted, at an exercise price of $18.00 per share (“Exercise Price”). During the year ended December 31, 2019 a total of 440 Warrants were issued in conjunction with The February 2019 Convertible Note Offering.
The February 2019 Notes mature on the first (1st) anniversary of their issuance dates. In the event that the Offering’s Purchasers do not choose to convert the Notes into the Common Stock on or prior to the Maturity Dates, the principal and interest evidenced by the Note shall be mandatorily converted upon the earlier of (i) the listing of the Common Stock onto a national securities exchange, or (ii) upon a Qualified Offering.
The Company recorded a $2,465 debt discount relating to 440 warrants issued to investors based on the relative fair value of each equity instrument on the dates of issuance. The debt discount is being accreted over the life of the note to accretion of debt discount and issuance cost.
During the year ended December 31, 2019, $20,000 of principal was converted from a promissory note into this offering.
During the year ended December 31, 2020, the Company converted $20,000 of principal and $3,065 of unpaid interest into the September 2020 Equity Raise.
The July 2020 Convertible Note Offering
From July 2020 to September 2020, the Company conducted multiple closings of a private placement offering to accredited investors (the “July 2020 Convertible Note Offering”) of units of the Company’s securities by entering into subscription agreements with “accredited investors” (the “July 2020 Investors”) for aggregate gross proceeds of $50,000. The July 2020 Convertible Note Offering accrues interest at a rate of twelve percent per annum (12%). The July 2020 Convertible Note Offering mature on the six (6th) month anniversary of their issuance dates.
The July 2020 Note Offering is convertible into shares of the Company’s common stock, par value $.001 per share (“Conversion Shares”) at the lesser of (i) a fixed conversion price equal to $12.75 per share after the maturity date or (ii) any private placement offerings or one or more registered public offerings by the Company under the Securities Act in connection with its listing onto a national securities exchange (a “Qualified Offering”).
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Upon default the July 2020 Convertible Note Offering is convertible into shares of the Company’s common stock, par value $.001 per share (“Conversion Shares”) equal to 61% multiplied by the lowest trade of the common stock during the twenty (15) consecutive trading day period immediately preceding the date of the respective conversion.
The conversion feature of the July 2020 Convertible Note Offering provides for an effective conversion price that is below market value on the date of issuance. Such feature is normally characterized as a beneficial conversion feature. When the Company records a BCF the relative fair value of the BCF is recorded as a debt discount against the face amount of the respective debt instrument. The Company recorded a BCF and related debt discount of $9,812, the discount is being accreted over the life of the Debenture to accretion of debt discount and issuance cost.
The Company recorded a $21,577 debt discount relating to 3,922 July 2020 Convertible Note Offering issued to investors based on the relative fair value of each equity instrument on the dates of issuance. The debt discount is being accreted over the life of these notes to accretion of debt discount and issuance cost.
During the year ended December 31, 2020, the Company converted $50,000 of principal and $630 of unpaid interest into the September 2020 Equity Raise.
Notes payable
Notes payable – related party as of December 31, 2021 and 2020 is as follows:
The June 2018 Frommer Loan Agreement
On June 29, 2018, the Company entered into a loan agreement (the “June 2018 Frommer Loan Agreement”) with Jeremy Frommer, an officer and director of the Company, whereby the Company issued Frommer a promissory note in the principal amount of $10,000 (the “June 2018 Frommer Note”). As additional consideration for entering in the June 2018 Frommer Note Loan Agreement, the Company issued Frommer a four-year warrant to purchase 500 shares of the Company’s common stock at a purchase price of $12.00 per share. Pursuant to the June 2018 Frommer Loan Agreement, the June 2018 Frommer Note bears interest at a rate of 6% per annum and payable on the maturity date of August 17, 2018 (the “June 2018 Frommer Maturity Date”). On November 8, 2018, the Company executed upon an agreement that extended the maturity date of the June 2018 Frommer Agreement to March 7, 2019. As part of the extension agreement, the Company issued Frommer an additional 681 warrants to purchase common stock of the Company at an exercise price of $18.00. These warrants had a fair value of $4,645 which was recorded to loss on extinguishment of debt. On February 18, 2019 the Company executed upon an agreement that further extended the maturity date of the June 2018 Frommer Agreement to March 30, 2019. As part of the extension agreement, the Company issued Frommer an additional 692 warrants to purchase common stock of the Company at an exercise price of $18.00. On March 29, 2019, the Company entered into an agreement with Mr. Frommer that further extended the maturity date of this loan to May 15, 2019. On June 29, 2019 the Company entered into an agreement with Mr. Frommer that further extended the maturity date of this loan to December 15, 2019. On December 15, 2019 the Company entered into an agreement with Mr. Frommer that further extended the maturity date to May 15, 2020.
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During the year ended December 31, 2020, the Company converted $10,000 of principal and $2,748 of unpaid interest into the September 2020 Equity Raise and the June 2018 Frommer Note is no longer outstanding.
The July 2018 Schiller Loan Agreement
On July 17, 2018, the Company entered into a loan agreement (the “Second July 2018 Schiller Loan Agreement”) with Schiller, a member of the Board, whereby the Company issued Schiller a promissory note in the principal aggregate amount of $25,000 (the “Second July 2018 Schiller Note”). As additional consideration for entering in the Second July 2018 Schiller Loan Agreement, the Company issued Schiller a four-year warrant to purchase 1,250 shares of the Company’s common stock at a purchase price of $12.00 per share. Pursuant to the Second July 2018 Schiller Loan Agreement, the Second July 2018 Schiller Note bears interest at a rate of 6% per annum and payable on the maturity date of August 17, 2018. Subsequent to the balance sheet date, on November 8, 2018 the Company executed upon an agreement that extended the maturity date of this loan to March 7, 2019. As part of the extension agreement, the Company issued Schiller warrants to purchase 1,698 shares of common stock of the Company at an exercise price of $18.00. On February 18, 2019 the Company executed upon an agreement that further extended the maturity date of the Second July 2018 Schiller Loan Agreement to March 7, 2019. As part of the extension agreement, the Company issued Schiller an additional 1,726 warrants to purchase common stock of the Company at an exercise price of $18.00. On March 29, 2019 the Company entered into an agreement with Mr. Schiller that further extended the maturity date of this loan to May 15, 2019. On December 15, 2019 the Company entered into an agreement that further extended the maturity date of this loan to May 15, 2020.
During the year ended December 31, 2019 $4,137 in principal was converted into the February 2019 Convertible Note Offering.
During the year ended December 31, 2020 the Company repaid $20,863 in principal and $3,216 in interest.
The June 2019 Loan Agreement
On June 3, 2019, the Company entered into a loan agreement (the “June 2019 Loan Agreement”), pursuant to which the Company was to be indebted in the amount of $2,400,000, of which $1,200,000 was funded by September 30, 2019 and $1,200,000 was exchanged from the May 2016 Rosen Loan Agreement dated May 26, 2016 in favor of Rosen for a joint and several interest in the Term Loan pursuant to the Debt Exchange Agreement. The June 2019 Loan Agreement, the June 2019 Loan bears interest at a rate of 12.5% per annum, compounded annually and payable on the maturity date of December 3, 2019 (the “June 2019 Maturity Date”) at which time all outstanding principal, accrued and unpaid interest and other amounts due under the June 2019. In connection with the conversion of the May 2016 Rosen Loan Agreement the Company recorded a debt discount of $92,752. The debt discount is being accreted over the life of the note to accretion of debt discount and issuance cost.
On July 29, 2019, the Company entered into the First Amendment Agreement to the June 2019 Loan Agreement pursuant to which the parties agreed to amend the June 2019 Loan Agreement and the June 2019 Security Agreement so as to (i) increase the principal aggregate amount of the June 2019 Loan to $2,500,000, and (ii) amend the provisions regarding the ranking of interest of such loan.
On August 12, 2019, the Company entered into the Second Amendment Agreement to the June 2019 Loan Agreement pursuant to which the parties agreed to further amend the June 2019 Loan Agreement and the June 2019 Security Agreement so as to (i) increase the principal aggregate amount of the June 2019 Loan to $3,000,000, and (ii) amend the provisions regarding the ranking of interest of such loan.
On September 16, 2019, the Company entered into the Third Amendment Agreement to the June 2019 Loan Agreement pursuant to which the parties agreed to further amend the June 2019 Loan Agreement and the June 2019 Security Agreement so as to (i) increase the principal amount of the June 2019 Loan to $4,000,000; and (ii) amend the provisions therein with regard to the ranking of security interests.
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On October 10, 2019 the Company and investors entered into the Fourth Amendment Agreement to the June 2019 Loan Agreement, whereby the parties thereto agreed to (i) increase the principal amount of the June 2019 Loan to $4,825,000; and (ii) amend the interest, conversion terms, and other covenants of the note.
On February 27, 2020, the Company entered into a fifth amendment agreement to the June 2019 Loan Agreement, whereby the parties agreed to amend Section 2.6 of the June 2019 Loan Agreement and provide for: (i) an additional 10% of shares to be issued at the time of conversion in the event that the price per share (or unit, as applicable) of securities issued in a Qualified Public Offering (as such term is defined in the Fifth Amendment) is below $15.00; and (ii) provide for the acceleration of all outstanding interest due on the Loan upon the consummation of a Qualified Public Offering.
During year ended December 31, 2020, the Company converted $4,325,000 of principal and $752,346 of unpaid interest into the September 2020 Equity Raise.
During the year ended December 31, 2020 the Company repaid $500,000 in principal and $0 in interest.
The December 2019 Gravitas Loan Agreement
On December 23, 2019, the Company entered into a loan agreement (the “December 2019 Gravitas Loan Agreement”), whereby the Company issued Gravitas a promissory note in the principal amount of $300,000 (the “December 2019 Gravitas Note”). Pursuant to the December 2019 Gravitas Loan Agreement, the December 2019 Gravitas Note has a flat interest payment of $20,000.
During the year ended December 31, 2020 the Company repaid $300,000 in principal and $50,000 in accrued interest.
The First January 2020 Loan Agreement
On January 3, 2020, the Company entered into a loan agreement (the “First January 2020 Loan Agreement”) with an individual (the “First January 2020 Lender”) whereby the First January 2020 Lender issued the Company a promissory note of $250,000 (the “First January 2020 Note”). Pursuant to the First January 2020 Loan Agreement, the First January 2020 Note has an effective interest rate of 6%. As additional consideration for entering in the First January 2020 Loan Agreement, the Company issued the First January 2020 Lender 1,333 shares of the Company’s common stock. The maturity date of the First January 2020 Note was January 15, 2020 (the “First January 2020 Maturity Date”) at which time all outstanding principal, accrued and unpaid interest and other amounts due under the First January 2020 Note were due. The Company recorded a $16,000 debt discount relating to the 1,333 shares issued to investors based on the relative fair value of each equity instrument on the dates of issuance. The debt discount is being accreted over the life of these notes to accretion of debt discount and issuance cost.
During the year ended December 31, 2020, the Company converted $250,000 in principal to the Third February 2020 Note (as defined in Note 8).
The Second January 2020 Loan Agreement
On January 14, 2020, the Company entered into a loan agreement (the “Second January 2020 Loan Agreement”) with an individual (the “Second January 2020 Lender”), whereby the Second January 2020 Lender issued the Company a promissory note of $10,000 (the “Second January 2020 Note”). Pursuant to the Second January 2020 Loan Agreement, the Second January 2020 Note has an effective interest rate of 5%. The maturity date of the Second January 2020 Note was January 24, 2020 (the “Second January 2020 Maturity Date”), at which time all outstanding principal, accrued and unpaid interest and other amounts due under the Second January 2020 Note were due. As additional consideration for entering in the Second January Loan Agreement, the Company issued a five-year warrant to purchase 50 shares of the Company’s common stock at a purchase price of $18.00 per share. The Company recorded a $580 debt discount relating to 50 warrants issued to investors based on the relative fair value of each equity instrument on the dates of issuance. The debt discount is being accreted over the life of the note to accretion of debt discount and issuance cost.
During the year ended December 31, 2020, the Company repaid $10,000 in principal and $500 in interest.
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The Third January 2020 Loan Agreement
On January 22, 2020, the Company entered into a loan agreement (the “Third January 2020 Loan Agreement”) with an individual (the “Third January 2020 Lender”), whereby the Third January 2020 Lender issued the Company a promissory note of $15,000 (the “Third January 2020 Note”). Pursuant to the Third January 2020 Loan Agreement, the Third January 2020 Note has an effective interest rate of 10%. The maturity date of the Third January 2020 Note was January 29, 2020 (the “Third January 2020 Maturity Date”), at which time all outstanding principal, accrued and unpaid interest and other amounts due under the Third January 2020 Note were due. As additional consideration for entering in the Third January Loan Agreement, the Company issued a five-year warrant to purchase 75 shares of the Company’s common stock at a purchase price of $18.00 per share. The Company recorded a $892 debt discount relating to 75 warrants issued to the Third January 2020 Lender based on the relative fair value of each equity instrument on the dates of issuance. The debt discount is being accreted over the life of the note to accretion of debt discount and issuance cost.
During the year ended December 31, 2020, the Company repaid $15,000 in principal and $1,500 in interest.
The Fourth January 2020 Loan Agreement
On January 23, 2020, the Company entered into a loan agreement (the “Fourth January 2020 Loan Agreement”) with an individual (the “Fourth January 2020 Lender”) whereby the Fourth January 2020 Lender issued the Company a promissory note of $135,000 (the “Fourth January 2020 Note”). Pursuant to the Fourth January 2020 Loan Agreement, the Fourth January 2020 Note has an effective interest rate of 7%. As additional consideration for entering in the First January 2020 Loan Agreement, the Company issued the Fourth January 2020 Lender 750 shares of the Company’s common stock. The maturity date of the Fourth January 2020 Note was February 23, 2020 (the “Fourth January 2020 Maturity Date”) at which time all outstanding principal, accrued and unpaid interest and other amounts due under the Fourth January 2020 Note were due.
During the year ended December 31, 2020, the Company converted $135,000 in principal to the Second February 2020 Note (as defined below).
The January 2020 Rosen Loan Agreement
On January 14, 2020, the Company entered into a loan agreement (the “January 2020 Rosen Loan Agreement”), whereby the Company issued a promissory note in the principal amount of $150,000 (the “January 2020 Rosen Note”). Pursuant to the January 2020 Rosen Loan Agreement, the January 2020 Rosen Note accrues interest at a fixed amount of $2,500 for the duration of the note.
During the year ended December 31, 2020 the Company repaid $150,000 in principal and $15,273 in interest.
The February Banner 2020 Loan Agreement
On February 15, 2020, the Company entered into a loan agreement (the “February 2020 Banner Loan Agreement”), whereby the Company issued a promissory note in the principal amount of $9,900 (the “February 2020 Note”) for expenses paid on behalf of the Company by an employee. Pursuant to the February 2020 Loan Agreement, the February 2020 Note bears interest at a rate of $495. As additional consideration for entering in the February 2020 Loan Agreement, the Company issued a five-year warrant to purchase 49 shares of the Company’s common stock at a purchase price of $18.00 per share.
During the year ended December 31, 2020 the Company repaid $9,900 in principal and $495 in interest.
The February 2020 Frommer Loan Agreement
On February 18, 2020, the Company entered into a loan agreement (the “February 2020 Frommer Loan Agreement”) with Jeremy Frommer, an officer of the Company, whereby the Company issued Frommer a promissory note in the principal amount of $2,989 (the “February 2020 Frommer Note”). As additional consideration for entering in the June 2018 Frommer Note Loan Agreement, the Company issued Frommer a five-year warrant to purchase 15 shares of the Company’s common stock at a purchase price of $18.00 per share. Pursuant to the February 2020 Frommer Loan Agreement, the note is payable on the maturity date of February 28, 2020 (the “February 2020 Frommer Maturity Date”).
During the year ended December 31, 2020 the Company repaid $2,989 in principal and $160 in interest.
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The February 2020 Loan Agreement
On February 25, 2020, the Company entered into a loan agreement (the “February 2020 Loan Agreement”) with an individual (the “February 2020 Lender”), whereby the February 2020 Lender issued the Company a promissory note of $15,000 (the “February 2020 Note”). Pursuant to the February 2020 Loan Agreement, the February 2020 Note has an effective interest rate of 5%. The maturity date of the February 2020 Note was March 3, 2020 (the “February 2020 Maturity Date”), at which time all outstanding principal, accrued and unpaid interest and other amounts due under the February 2020 Note were due. As additional consideration for entering in the February 2020 Loan Agreement, the Company issued a five-year warrant to purchase 75 shares of the Company’s common stock at a purchase price of $18.00 per share. The Company recorded a $801 debt discount relating to 75 warrants issued to investors based on the relative fair value of each equity instrument on the dates of issuance. The debt discount is being accreted over the life of the note to accretion of debt discount and issuance cost.
During the year ended December 31, 2020, the Company repaid $15,000 in principal and $750 in interest.
The July 2020 Loan Agreement
On July 30, 2020, the Company entered into a loan agreement (the “July 2020 Loan Agreement”) with an individual (the “July 2020 Lender”), whereby the July 2020 Lender issued the Company a promissory note of $5,000 (the “July 2020 Note”). Pursuant to the July 2020 Loan Agreement, the July 2020 Note has an effective interest rate of 5%. The maturity date of the July 2020 Note was August 06, 2020 (the “July 2020 Maturity Date”), at which time all outstanding principal, accrued and unpaid interest and other amounts due under the July 2020 Note were due. As additional consideration for entering in the July 2020 Loan Agreement, the Company issued a five-year warrant to purchase 25 shares of the Company’s common stock at a purchase price of $18.00 per share. The Company recorded a $316 debt discount relating to 25 warrants issued to investors based on the relative fair value of each equity instrument on the dates of issuance. The debt discount is being accreted over the life of the note to accretion of debt discount and issuance cost.
During the year ended December 31, 2020, the Company repaid $5,000 in principal and $250 in interest.
The September 2020 Goldberg Loan Agreement
On September 15, 2020, the Company entered into a loan agreement (the “September 2020 Goldberg Loan Agreement”) with Goldberg whereby the Company issued a promissory note of $16,705 (the “September 2020 Goldberg Note”). Pursuant to the September 2020 Goldberg Loan Agreement, the September 2020 Goldberg Note has an interest rate of 7%. The maturity date of the September 2020 Goldberg Note is September 15, 2022 (the “September 2020 Goldberg Maturity Date”), at which time all outstanding principal, accrued and unpaid interest and other amounts due under note are due. The September 2020 Goldberg Loan is secured by the tangible and intangible property of the Company.
Since the September 2020 Goldberg Note has a make-whole provision if the shares of the Company’s common stock issued to the lender in accordance with the Lender’s Exchange Agreement (see note 10) have a value equal to or less than $6,463,363 determined by using the lowest VWAP of the last 30 days prior to September 14, 2021. The principal amount of the September 2020 Goldberg Note shall increase by 200% of the difference between the initial consideration and the September 14, 2021, value. The Company has applied ASC 815, due to the potential for settlement in a variable quantity of shares. The make-whole feature gave rise to a derivative liability that has been marked to market during the year ended December 31, 2021, and the change in derivative liability is recorded on Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Loss. See note 10.
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On September 15, 2021, the make-whole provision was triggered, causing an increase in principal of the September 2020 Goldberg Note by $939,022.
During the year ended December 31, 2021, the Company accrued interest of $3,576.
During the year ended December 31, 2021, the Company entered into a settlement agreement whereas the Company agreed to pay $200,000 in cash and $150,000 in shares of Common Stock.
The September 2020 Rosen Loan Agreement
On September 15, 2020, the Company entered into a loan agreement (the “September 2020 Rosen Loan Agreement”) with Rosen whereby the Company issued a promissory note of $3,295 (the “September 2020 Rosen Note”). Pursuant to the September 2020 Rosen Loan Agreement, the September 2020 Rosen Note has an interest rate of 7%. The maturity date of the September 2020 Rosen Note is September 15, 2022 (the “September 2020 Rosen Maturity Date”), at which time all outstanding principal, accrued and unpaid interest and other amounts due under the note are due. The September 2020 Rosen Loan is secured by the tangible and intangible property of the Company.
Since the September 2020 Rosen Note has a make-whole provision if the shares of the Company’s common stock issued to the lender in accordance with the Lender’s Exchange Agreement (see note 10) have a value equal to or less than $1,274,553 determined by using the lowest VWAP of the last 30 days prior to September 14, 2021. The principal amount of the September 2020 Rosen Note shall increase by 200% of the difference the initial consideration and the September 14, 2021 value. The Company has applied ASC 815, due to the potential for settlement in a variable quantity of shares. The make-whole feature of gave rise to a derivative that has been marked to market during the year ended December 31, 2021, and the change in derivative liability is recorded on Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Loss. See note 10.
On September 15, 2021 the make-whole provision was triggered, causing an increase in principal of the September 2020 Rosen Note by $185,279.
During the year ended December 31, 2021, the Company accrued interest of $1,610.
During the year ended December 31, 2021, the Company repaid $188,574 in principal and $1,677 in interest.
Demand loan
During the year ended December 31, 2020 the Company repaid $75,000 of principal.
On December 17, 2019, Standish made non-interest bearing loans of $150,000 to the Company in the form of cash. The loan is due on demand and unsecured.
During the year ended December 31, 2020 the Company repaid $150,000 of principal.
On March 27, 2020, a lender made non-interest bearing loans of $100,000 to the Company in the form of cash. The loan is due on demand and unsecured.
During the year ended December 31, 2020, the Company converted $100,000 of principal and $6,707 of unpaid interest into the September 2020 Equity Raise.
On April 9, 2020, a lender made non-interest bearing loans of $50,000 to the Company in the form of cash. The loan is due on demand and unsecured.
During the year ended December 31, 2020, the Company converted $50,000 of principal into the September 2020 Equity Raise.
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On April 21, 2020, a lender made non-interest bearing loans of $100,000 to the Company in the form of cash. The loan is due on demand and unsecured.
During the year ended December 31, 2020, the Company converted $100,000 of principal and $6,707 of unpaid interest into the September 2020 Equity Raise.
On July 6, 2020, a lender made non-interest bearing loans of $100,000 to the Company in the form of cash. The loan is due on demand and unsecured.
During the year ended December 31, the Company converted $100,000 of principal and $6,707 of unpaid interest into the September 2020 Equity Raise.
On August 10, 2020, a lender made non-interest bearing loans of $40,000 to the Company in the form of cash. The loan is due on demand and unsecured.
During the year ended December 31, 2020 the Company repaid $40,000 of principal.
On September 9, 2020, a lender made non-interest bearing loans of $50,000 to the Company in the form of cash. The loan is due on demand and unsecured.
During the year ended December 31, 2020 the Company repaid $50,000 of principal.
Officer compensation
During the year ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, the Company paid $138,713 and $57,455, respectively for living expenses for officers of the Company.
Revenue
During the year ended December 31, 2021 the Company received revenue of $80,000 from Dune for branded content services prior to consolidation but after recognition as an equity method investee.
Note 11 – Derivative Liabilities
The Company has identified derivative instruments arising from a make-whole feature in the Company’s notes payable during the year ended December 31, 2021. For the terms of the make-whole features see the September 2020 Rosen Loan Agreement and the September 2020 Goldberg Loan Agreement in Note 10. The Company has also identified derivative instruments arising from convertible notes that have an option to convert at a variable number of shares in the Company’s convertible notes payable during the year ended December 31, 2021. For the terms of the conversion features see Note 10. The Company had no derivative assets or liabilities measured at fair value on a recurring basis as of December 31, 2021.
The Company utilizes a Monte Carlo simulation model for the make whole feature and a binomial option model for convertible notes that have an option to convert at a variable number of shares to compute the fair value of the derivative and to mark to market the fair value of the derivative at each balance sheet date. The inputs utilized in the application of the Monte Carlo model included a starting stock price, an expected term of each debenture remaining from the valuation date to maturity, an estimated volatility, drift, and a risk-free rate. The inputs utilized in the application of the Binomial model included a stock price on valuation date, an expected term of each debenture remaining from the valuation date to maturity, an estimated volatility, and a risk-free rate. The Company records the change in the fair value of the derivative as other income or expense in the consolidated statements of operations.
Risk-free interest rate: The Company uses the risk-free interest rate of a U.S. Treasury Note adjusted to be on a continuous return basis to align with the Monte Carlo simulation model and binomial model.
Dividend yield: The Company uses a 0% expected dividend yield as the Company has not paid dividends to date and does not anticipate declaring dividends in the near future.
Volatility: The Company calculates the expected volatility based on the company’s historical stock prices with a look back period commensurate with the period to maturity.
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Expected term: The Company’s remaining term is based on the remaining contractual maturity of the convertible notes.
The following are the changes in the derivative liabilities during the year ended December 31, 2021 and 2020.
Years Ended December 31, 2021 and 2020 | ||||||||||||
Level 1 | Level 2 | Level 3 | ||||||||||
Derivative liabilities as January 1, 2020 | $ | $ | $ | |||||||||
Addition | 3,061,688 | |||||||||||
Changes in fair value | (3,019,457 | ) | ||||||||||
Derivative liabilities as January 1, 2021 | 42,231 | |||||||||||
Addition | 417,241 | |||||||||||
Extinguishment | (431,458 | ) | ||||||||||
Conversion to Note payable - related party | (1,124,301 | ) | ||||||||||
Changes in fair value | 1,096,287 | |||||||||||
Derivative liabilities as December 31, 2021 | $ | $ | $ |
Note 12 – Stockholders’ Equity
Shares Authorized
Prior to July 13, 2020, the Company was authorized to issue up to thirty-five million (35,000,000) shares of capital stock, of which fifteen million (15,000,000) shares are designated as common stock, par value $0.001 per share, and twenty million (20,000,000) are designated as “blank check” preferred stock, par value $0.001 per share. The designations, rights, and preferences of such preferred stock are to be determined by the Company’s board of directors.
On July 13, 2020, the Company filed the Second Amended and Restated Articles of Incorporation with the Secretary of State of the State of Nevada, which authorize the issuance of 100,000,000 shares of common stock, and 20,000,000 shares of preferred stock.
On August 17, 2020, following board of director’s approval, the Company filed a Certificate of Change to its Articles of Incorporation (the “Amendment”), with the Secretary of State of the State of Nevada to effectuate a one-for-twenty (1:3) reverse stock split (the “Reverse Stock Split”) of its common stock, par value $0.001 per share, without any change to its par value. The Amendment became effective on August 17, 2020. No fractional shares were issued in connection with the Reverse Stock Split as all fractional shares were “rounded up” to the next whole share. As a result, all share information in the accompanying consolidated financial statements has been adjusted as if the reverse stock split happened on the earliest date presented.
Preferred Stock
Series E Convertible Preferred Stock
On December 29, 2020, the Company entered into securities purchase agreements with thirty-three accredited investors whereby the Investors have agreed to purchase from the Company an aggregate of 7,778 shares of the Company’s Series E Convertible Preferred Stock, par value $0.001 per share and 2,831,715 warrants to purchase shares of the Company’s common stock, par value $0.001 per share. The Series E Preferred Stock is convertible into a total of 1,887,810 shares of Common Stock. The combined purchase price of one Conversion Share and one and a half warrant was $4.12. The aggregate purchase price for the Series E Preferred Stock and warrants was $7,777,777. The Company has recorded $817,353 to stock issuance costs, which are part of Additional Paid-in Capital.
The warrants are exercisable for a term of five-years from the date of issuance, at an exercise price of $4.50 per share. The warrants provide for cashless exercise to the extent that there is no registration statement available for the underlying shares of Common Stock.
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The placement agent for the transaction and received cash compensation equal to 10% of the aggregate purchase price and warrants to purchase 471,953 shares of the Company’s common stock, at an exercise price of $5.15 per share (the “PA Warrants”). The PA Warrants are exercisable for a term of five-years from the date of issuance.
During the year ended December 31, 2021, the Company received the $40,000 of the subscription receivable for the Series E Convertible Preferred Stock. The Company has recorded $4,225 to stock issuance costs, which are part of Additional Paid-in Capital.
During the year ended December 31, 2021, investors converted 7,278 shares of the Company’s Series E Convertible Preferred Stock into 1,766,449 shares of the Company’s common stock.
Common Stock
On January 30, 2020, the Company issued 50,000 shares of its restricted common stock to consultants in exchange for three months of services at a fair value of $585,000. These shares were recorded as common stock issued for prepaid services and will be expensed over the life of the consulting contract to share based payments. During the year ended December 31, 2020 the Company recorded $585,000 to share based payments.
On January 6, 2020, the Company issued 1,412 shares of its restricted common stock to settle outstanding vendor liabilities of $12,500. In connection with this transaction the Company also recorded a loss on settlement of vendor liabilities of $4,233.
On March 5, 2020, the Company issued 2,153 shares of its restricted common stock to settle outstanding vendor liabilities of $25,000. In connection with this transaction, the Company also recorded a gain on settlement of vendor liabilities of $1,098.
On March 13, 2020 the Company entered into an exchange agreement with a warrant holder. The company agreed to exchange 5,833 warrants for 5,000 shares of the company common stock. In connection with this agreement the company recorded a loss on conversion of warrants to stock of $5,772.
On March 19, 2020, the Company issued 20,000 shares of its restricted common stock to settle outstanding vendor liabilities of $72,048. In connection with this transaction the Company also recorded a gain on settlement of vendor liabilities of $122,953.
On June 18, 2020, the Company issued 50,000 shares of its restricted common stock to consultants in exchange for services at a fair value of $525,000.
On June 29, 2020 the Company entered into an exchange agreement with a warrant holder. The company agreed to exchange 5,833 warrants for 2,239 shares of the company common stock and $10,000.
On July 3, 2020, the Company issued 15,000 shares of its restricted common stock to consultants in exchange for services at a fair value of $204,300.
On July 17, 2020 the Company issued 6,667 shares of its restricted common stock to the Second February 2020 Lender in connection with the Second July 2020 convertible Loan Agreement.
On August 15, 2020, the Company issued 6,167 shares of its restricted common stock to consultants in exchange for services at a fair value of $50,693.
On August 21, 2020, the Company issued 20,000 shares of its restricted common stock to consultants in exchange for services at a fair value of $180,000.
On August 31, 2020, the Company issued 1,866 shares of its restricted common stock to consultants in exchange for services at a fair value of $15,842.
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On September 11, 2020 the Second February 2020 Lender converted $125,000 of the outstanding principal into 34,722 shares of the Company’s common stock.
On September 11, 2020 the February 2019 Convertible Note Lender converted $70,542 of the outstanding principal and $112,888 of the outstanding interest into 64,124 shares of the Company’s common stock.
Lender’s Exchange Agreement
On September 15, 2020, the Company exchanged $7,325,000 of principal and $967,518 of accrued but unpaid interest of the Company’s debt obligations for $500,000 cash, 2,744,288 shares of Common Stock, and 331,456 warrants (the “Lender’s Exchange Agreement”). The Company also issued the lenders notes totaling $20,000. See note 9 for the September 2020 Goldberg Loan and the September 2020 Rosen Loan. The warrants have an exercise price equal to $4.50 per share, expiring five years from the date of issuance. Since the terms of the original debt were exchanged this was accounted for under extinguishment accounting. The Company determined this debt exchange was a debt extinguishment and the Company recognized a loss on debt extinguishment of $4,915,327, including the derivative liability value.
September 2020 Equity Raise
Effective September 15, 2020, the Company consummated an underwritten public offering (the “September 2020 Equity Raise”) of 1,725,000 units of securities (the “Units”), with each Unit consisting of (i) one share of common stock, and (ii) one warrant to purchase one share of common stock (the “Warrants”). The September 2020 Equity Raise was conducted pursuant to an Underwriting Agreement, dated September 10, 2020, by and between the Company and The Benchmark Company, LLC, acting as the representative (the “Representative”) of the several underwriters named therein (the “Underwriting Agreement”). In connection with the September 2020 Equity Raise, the Company granted the underwriters a 45-day option to purchase up to 258,750 shares of common stock and/or 258,750 Warrants to purchase common stock to cover over-allotments, if any.
The public offering price per Unit was $4.50. The shares of common stock and Warrants were issued separately and were immediately separable upon issuance. Each Warrant represents the right to purchase one share of common stock at an exercise price of $4.50 per share, expiring 5 years from the date of issuance.
The gross proceeds to the Company from the September 2020 Equity Raise, before deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and other estimated offering expenses, and excluding the exercise of any Warrants, was approximately $7,762,500.
In connection with the September 2020 Equity Raise, the Company converted $3,183,667 of principal and accrued but unpaid interest of the Company’s debt obligations into 768,204 shares of Common Stock and $570,416 warrants. See Notes 7, 8, and 9. The warrants have an exercise price equal to $4.50 per share, expiring five years from the date of issuance. A down-round event was triggered in connection with the September 2020 Equity Raise, resulting in a contingent BCF that had a value of $3,051,810. As these notes were fully converted in the September 2020 Equity Raise, the discount was expensed to accretion of debt discount and issuance cost on the Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Loss.
On September 30, 2020, the Company issued 7,979 shares of its restricted common stock to consultants in exchange for services at a fair value of $21,304.
On December 14, 2020, the Company issued 10,417 shares of its restricted common stock to consultants in exchange for services at a fair value of $38,647.
On December 21, 2020, the Company issued 8,371 shares of its restricted common stock to employees in exchange for services at a fair value of $31,323.
During the year ended December 31, 2020 the Company cancelled 50,650 shares of treasury stock.
F-94
On January 14, 2021, the Company issued 30,000 shares of its restricted common stock to consultants in exchange for services at a fair value of $133,200.
On January 20, 2021, the Company issued 40,000 shares of its restricted common stock to consultants in exchange for a year of services at a fair value of $192,000. On May 24, 2021, the Company amended the contract and issued and additional 10,000 shares of its restricted common stock. these shares had a fair value of $34,500. The shares issued to the consultant were recorded as common stock issued for prepaid services and will be expensed over the life of the consulting contract to share based payments. During the year ended December 31, 2021, the Company recorded $99,908 to stock-based compensation expense related to these shares.
On February 1, 2021, the Company issued 50,000 shares of its restricted common stock to consultants in exchange for services at a fair value of $196,000.
On February 3, 2021, the Company issued 1,929 shares of its restricted common stock to consultants in exchange for services at a fair value of $8,198.
On February 8, 2021, the Company entered into a consulting agreement whereas the Company issued a total of 2,092 shares of common stock in exchange for services at a fair value of $7,502.
On February 18, 2021, the Company issued 10,000 shares of its restricted common stock to consultants in exchange for services at a fair value of $48,000.
On February 18, 2021, the Company issued 10,417 shares of its restricted common stock to consultants in exchange for services at a fair value of $50,002.
On February 26, 2021, the Company issued 291 shares of its restricted common stock to consultants in exchange for services at a fair value of $1,499.
On March 17, 2021, the Company issued 9,624 shares of its restricted common stock to consultants in exchange for services at a fair value of $49,371.
On March 28, 2021, the Company issued 31,782 shares of its restricted common stock to settle outstanding vendor liabilities of $125,000.
On March 31, 2021, the Company issued 13,113 shares of its restricted common stock to settle outstanding vendor liabilities of $43,667. In connection with this transaction the Company also recorded a loss on settlement of vendor liabilities of $12,719.
On April 10, 2021, the Company issued 16,275 shares of its restricted common stock to consultants in exchange for services at a fair value of $69,332.
On April 21, 2021, the Company entered into a consulting agreement whereas the Company issued a total of 1,048 shares of common stock in exchange for services at a fair value of $3,587.
On June 17, 2021, the Company entered into an underwriting agreement with The Benchmark Company LLC, pursuant to which we agreed to sell to the Underwriter in a firm commitment underwritten public offering an aggregate of 750,000 shares of the Company’s common stock, at a public offering price of $3.40 per share. The Company also granted the Underwriter a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 112,500 shares of Common Stock to cover over-allotments, if any. The Offering closed on June 21, 2021. The net proceeds to the Company from the equity raise was $2,213,500. As part of the underwriting agreement the Company issued 46,667 warrants of the Company’s common stock to Benchmark. The warrants have an exercise price $5.40 and a term of five years. On July 9, 2021, the Representative exercised the over-allotment option to purchase an additional 954,568 shares of Common Stock.
On July 20, 2021, the Company issued 2,154 shares of its restricted common stock to consultants in exchange for services at a fair value of $8,570.
F-95
On July 15, 2021, the Company issued 715 shares of its restricted common stock to consultants in exchange for services at a fair value of $2,500.
On August 15, 2021, the Company issued 820 shares of its restricted common stock to consultants in exchange for services at a fair value of $2,500.
On August 26, 2021, the Company issued 348 shares of its restricted common stock to consultants in exchange for services at a fair value of $999.
On September 15, 2021, the Company issued 793 shares of its restricted common stock to consultants in exchange for services at a fair value of $2,500.
On October 25, 2021, the Company entered into a securities purchase agreement with institutional investors resulting in the raise of $3,407,250 in gross proceeds to the Company. Pursuant to the terms of the purchase agreement, the Company agreed to sell, in a registered direct offering, an aggregate of 850,000 shares of the Company’s common stock, par value $0.001 per share, at a purchase price of $4.50 per Share.
On November 5, 2021, the Company issued 25,000 shares of its restricted common stock to consultants in exchange for services at a fair value of $85,750.
On November 15, 2021, the Company issued 13,392 shares of its restricted common stock to consultants in exchange for services at a fair value of $41,917.
On November 29, 2021, the Company issued 250,000 shares of its restricted common stock to settle outstanding vendor liabilities of $576,783. In connection with this transaction the Company also recorded a loss on settlement of vendor liabilities of $33,217.
On November 29, 2021, the Company issued 101,097 shares of its restricted common stock to consultants in exchange for services at a fair value of $246,676.
On December 3, 2021, the Company issued 194 shares of its restricted common stock to consultants in exchange for services at a fair value of $429.
On December 14, 2021, the Company issued 211 shares of its restricted common stock to consultants in exchange for services at a fair value of $452.
Stock Options
The Company applied fair value accounting for all share-based payments awards. The fair value of each option granted is estimated on the date of grant using the Black-Scholes option-pricing model.
The assumptions used for options granted during the years December 31, 2021 and 2020, are as follows:
December 31, 2021 | December 31, 2020 | |||||||
Exercise price | $ 2.09 - 4.89 | $ 8.55 | ||||||
Expected dividends | 0% | 0% | ||||||
Expected volatility | 169.78 – 242.98% | 229.95% | ||||||
Risk free interest rate | 0.46 – 1.26% | 0.25% | ||||||
Expected life of option | 5 - 7 years | 5.67 years |
F-96
The following is a summary of the Company’s stock option activity:
Options | Weighted Average Exercise Price | Weighted Average Remaining Contractual Life (in years) | ||||||||||
Balance – January 1, 2020 – outstanding | 303,825 | 24.48 | 2.51 | |||||||||
Granted | 391,853 | 8.55 | 5.67 | |||||||||
Exercised | ||||||||||||
Cancelled/Modified | (154,657 | ) | 25.17 | |||||||||
Balance – December 31, 2020 – outstanding | 541,021 | 12.75 | 4.29 | |||||||||
Balance – December 31, 2020 – exercisable | 149,168 | 23.77 | 1.75 | |||||||||
Balance – December 31, 2020 – outstanding | 541,021 | 12.75 | 3.27 | |||||||||
Granted | 2,425,762 | 5.97 | 5.91 | |||||||||
Exercised | ||||||||||||
Forfeited/Cancelled | (64,164 | ) | 13.06 | |||||||||
Balance – December 31, 2021 – outstanding | 2,902,619 | 7.07 | 4.71 | |||||||||
Balance – December 31, 2021 – exercisable | 1,165,191 | 9.01 | 4.12 |
Option Outstanding | Option Exercisable | |||||||||||||||||||||
Exercise price | Number Outstanding | Weighted Average Remaining Contractual Life (in years) | Weighted Average Exercise Price | Number Exercisable | Weighted Average Remaining Contractual Life (in years) | |||||||||||||||||
$ | 7.07 | 2,902,619 | 4.71 | 9.01 | 1,165,191 | 4.12 |
During the year ended December 31, 2018 the Company granted options of 11,667 to consultants that has a fair value of $57,123. As of the date of this filing the company has not issued these options and they are recorded as an accrued liability on the Consolidated Balance Sheet.
On May 7, 2020, the board of directors approved the Jerrick Media Holdings, Inc. 2020 Omnibus Equity Incentive Plan (the “Plan”). Only employees, non-employee directors and consultants are eligible for awards under the Plan. The Plan provides for awards in the form of options (incentive stock options or nonstatutory stock options) restricted stock grants, and restricted stock unit grants. Up to 2,500,000 shares of common stock may be issued under the Plan and the option exercise price of stock options granted under the Plan shall not be less than 100% of the Fair Market Value (as defined in the Plan) (110% for 10% shareholders in the case of ISOs) of a share of common stock on the date of the grant. The option exercise price may be payable in cash, surrender of stock, cashless exercise or net exercise. Each grant awarded under the Plan shall be evidenced by a grant agreement and may or may not be subject to vesting. The Plan is subject to the approval of the Company’s stockholders within one year of the date of adoption by the Board of Directors. On July 8, 2020, the Company’s stockholders approved the Plan, which terminates on May 7, 2030. The Board of Directors may amend or terminate the Plan at any time and for any reason. An amendment of the Plan shall be subject to the approval of the Company’s stockholders only to the extent required by applicable laws, regulations or rules.
On May 13, 2020 the Company entered into an exchange agreement with eight option holders. The company agreed to exchange 152,992 options previously issued under the 2015 Incentive Stock and Award Plan for 229,491 shares of the Company common stock. In connection with this agreement the Company recorded incremental compensation on the exchange of options to stock of $1,117,031.
F-97
Stock-based compensation for stock options has been recorded in the consolidated statements of operations and totaled $7,616,195 and $4,092,013, for the year ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively.
As of December 31, 2021, there was $3,197,018 of total unrecognized compensation expense related to unvested employee options granted under the Company’s share-based compensation plans that is expected to be recognized over a weighted average period of approximately 1.23 year.
Warrants
The Company applied fair value accounting for all share-based payments awards. The fair value of each warrant granted is estimated on the date of grant using the Black-Scholes option-pricing model.
The assumptions used for warrants granted during the year ended December 31, 2021 are as follows:
December 31, 2021 |
December 31, 2020 |
|||||||
Exercise price | $ | 4.50 – 5.40 | $ | 4.50 - 18.00 | ||||
Expected dividends | 0 | % | 0 | % | ||||
Expected volatility | 232.10% - 237.14 | % | 234.03% - 247 | % | ||||
Risk free interest rate | 0.82% - 0.89 | % | 0.21% - 1.63 | % | ||||
Expected life of warrant | 5 – 5.5 years | 5 years |
Warrant Activities
The following is a summary of the Company’s warrant activity:
Warrant | Weighted Average Exercise Price | |||||||
Balance – January 1, 2020 – outstanding | 247,403 | 15.75 | ||||||
Granted | 5,921,071 | 4.70 | ||||||
Exercised | ||||||||
Cancelled/Modified | (37,526 | ) | 13.31 | |||||
Balance – December 31, 2020 – outstanding | 6,130,948 | 4.96 | ||||||
Balance – December 31, 2020 – exercisable | 3,228,235 | 5.37 | ||||||
Balance – December 31, 2020 – outstanding | 6,130,948 | 4.96 | ||||||
Granted | 1,961,267 | 5.60 | ||||||
Exercised | (2,414,218 | ) | 4.55 | |||||
Forfeited/Cancelled | (19,167 | ) | 24.00 | |||||
Balance – December 31, 2021 – outstanding | 5,658,830 | 4.98 | ||||||
Balance – December 31, 2021 – exercisable | 5,616,330 | $ | 4.97 |
Warrants Outstanding | Warrants Exercisable | |||||||||||||||||||||
Exercise price | Number Outstanding | Weighted Average Remaining Contractual Life (in years) | Weighted Average Exercise Price | Number Exercisable | Weighted Average Exercise Price | |||||||||||||||||
$ | 4.98 | 5,658,830 | 3.80 | 4.97 | 5,616,330 | 3.79 |
F-98
On October 6, 2020, the underwriters for the September 2020 Equity Raise partially exercised the over-allotment option and on October 8, 2020, purchased an additional 258,750 warrants, generating gross proceeds, before deducting underwriting discounts and commissions, of $2,588.
During the year ended December 31, 2020 a total of 214,080 warrants were issued with convertible notes (See Note 8 above). The warrants have a grant date fair value of $1,520,449 using a Black-Scholes option-pricing model and the above assumptions.
During the year ended December 31, 2020, a total of 289 warrants were issued with notes payable – related party (See Note 9 above). The warrants have a grant date fair value of $3,342 using a Black-Scholes option-pricing model and the above assumptions.
During the year ended December 31, 2020, a total of 3,922 warrants were issued with convertible notes payable – related party (See Note 9 above). The warrants have a grant date fair value of $37,927 using a Black-Scholes option-pricing model and the above assumptions.
During the year ended December 31, 2020, some of the Company’s warrants had a down-round provision triggered that resulted in a lower exercise price. A deemed dividend of $18,421 was recorded to the Statements of Comprehensive Loss.
During the Year ended December 31, 2021, the Company issued 2,250,691 shares of common stock to a certain warrant holder upon the exercise of 2,414,218 warrants. The Company received $9,487,223 in connection with the exercise of the warrant.
During the year ended December 31, 2021, a total of 486,516 warrants were issued in connection with the Series E Convertible Preferred Stock raise.
During the year ended December 31, 2021, a total of 1,137,575 warrants were issued with convertible notes (See Note 9 above). The warrants have a grant date fair value of $3,258,955 using a Black-Scholes option-pricing model and the above assumptions.
During the year ended December 31, 2021, some of the Company’s warrants had a down-round provision triggered that also resulted in an additional 127,801 warrants to be issued. A deemed dividend of $410,750 was recorded to the Statements of Comprehensive Loss.
During the year ended December 31, 2021, the Company issued 80,000 warrants in connection with the underwriting agreement.
Stock-based compensation for stock warrants of 129,375 has been recorded in the Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Loss and totaled $480,863, for the year ended December 31, 2021.
Share-based awards, restricted stock award (“RSAs”)
On February 4, 2021, the Board resolved that, the Company shall pay each member of the Board, for each calendar quarter during which such member continues to serve on the Board, compensation as a group amounts to $62,500 per quarter. The shares vest one year after issuance.
A summary of the activity related to RSUs for the year ended December 31, 2021 is presented below:
Restricted stock units (RSUs) | Total shares |
Grant date fair value |
||||||
RSAs non-vested at January 1, 2021 | $ | |||||||
RSAs granted | 112,010 | $ | 2.71 – 4.32 | |||||
RSAs vested | $ | |||||||
RSAs forfeited | (13,927 | ) | $ | 3.75 – 4.32 | ||||
RSAs non-vested December 31, 2021 | 98,083 | $ | 2.71 – 4.32 |
Stock-based compensation for RSA’s has been recorded in the consolidated statements of operations and totaled $391,035 for the year ended December 31, 2021.
F-99
Note 13 – Commitments and Contingencies
The CARES Act lifts certain deduction limitations originally imposed by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (“2017 Tax Act”). Corporate taxpayers may carry back net operating losses (NOLs) originating between 2018 and 2020 for up to five years, which was not previously allowed under the 2017 Tax Act. The CARES Act also eliminates the 80% of taxable income limitations by allowing corporate entities to fully utilize NOL carryforwards to offset taxable income in 2018, 2019 or 2020. Taxpayers may generally deduct interest up to the sum of 50% of adjusted taxable income plus business interest income (30% limit under the 2017 Tax Act) for 2019 and 2020. The CARES Act allows taxpayers with alternative minimum tax credits to claim a refund in 2020 for the entire amount of the credits instead of recovering the credits through refunds over a period of years, as originally enacted by the 2017 Tax Act.
In addition, the CARES Act raises the corporate charitable deduction limit to 25% of taxable income and makes qualified improvement property generally eligible for 15-year cost-recovery and 100% bonus depreciation. The enactment of the CARES Act did not result in any material adjustments to our income tax provision for the year ended December 31, 2020.
On March 26, 2020 and April 30, 2020, the Company received 2 separate loans pursuant to the Paycheck Protection Program (the “PPP”) under Division A, Title I of the CARES Act.
When the applications for PPP first opened up, there was limited available funding and much confusion surrounding the application process. The Company initially submitted its application for the May 2020 PPP Loan in early April but received no response in the aftermath of submitting the application. After consulting multiple advisors, the Company made the decision to apply elsewhere, due to the rampant media coverage of institutions running out of funding and the Company’s need for the capital and belief that if 2 separate loans were approved, the remaining application could simply be withdrawn.
Therefore, in late April, the company proceeded with applying for the April 2020 PPP Loan. After some conflicting communications regarding acceptance, the Company attempted to contact the lender to clarify but got no response. After continued attempts to follow up with both lenders, the Company received approval for the May 2020 PPP Loan and funding for the April 2020 PPP Loan on the same day, followed the next day by the funding of the May 2020 PPP Loan. The Company immediately separated the funds for the April 2020 PPP Loan into a separate reserved bank account with the intention of returning the funds. However, after several attempts to contact the lender with no response, the Company was faced with difficulty raising funds in the early-Covid economy and made the decision to utilize the funds for operations and pursue an installment repayment plan when they were able to reach the lender. As of the date of this filing, the Company has begun making repayments on the loan, absent a formal installment agreement due to difficulties reaching the lender. The Company intends to complete repayment before the end of 2021.
As each company is only permitted one loan under the CARES Act, there is a possibility the loan may be called by the SBA and the Company would have to repay the loan in full at such time.
As of December 31, 2021, the May 2020 PPP Loan is no longer outstanding, as during the year ended December 31, 2021, the Company repaid $136,597 in principal and was forgiven $275,903 of principal and $3,119 of accrued interest. As of December 31, 2021 there was $198,655 in principal outstanding on the April 2020 PPP Loan.
Litigation
On or about June 25, 2020, Home Revolution, LLC (“Home Revolution”) filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey, Home Revolution, LLC, et al. v. Jerrick Media Holdings, Inc. et al., Case No. 2:20-cv-07775-JMV-MF. The Complaint alleges, among other things, that Creatd, Inc. breached the Membership Interest Purchase Agreement, as modified, and ancillary transaction documents in connection with the acquisition of Seller’s Choice, LLC, from Home Revolution in September 2019. The Complaint additionally alleges violation of the New Jersey Uniform Securities Law, violations of the Exchange Act and Rule 10b-5 thereunder, fraud, equitable accounting, breach of fiduciary duty, conversion and unjust enrichment. Plaintiff also sought to have a receiver appointed by the Court to take over Creatd’s operations. After substantial motion practice, Creatd successfully settled this dispute from June 2020 for a total of $799,000, which includes $660,000 of note principal and $139,000 of accrued interest. The matter has been dismissed as of March 3, 2022.
On or about August 30, 2021, Robert W. Monster and Anonymize, Inc. (“Monster”) filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Western District of Washington at Seattle, Robert W. Monster, et al. v. Creatd, Inc., et al. (Western District of Washington at Seattle 2:21-CV-1177). The Complaint alleges, among other things, that action for Declaratory Judgment under 28 U.S.C. § 2201 that Monster’s registration and use of the internet domain name VOCL.COM (the “Domain Name”) does not violate Creatd’s rights under the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (“ACPA”), 15 U.S.C. § 1125(d), or otherwise under the Lanham Act, 15 U.S.C. § 1051 et seq. Creatd claims trademark rights and certain other rights with respect to the term and the domain name VOCL.COM. Monster seeks a determination by the Court that Monster’s registration and/or use of VOCL.COM is not, and has not been in violation of the ACPA, and that Plaintiffs’ use of VOCL.COM constitutes neither a violation of the ACPA nor trademark infringement or dilution under the Lanham Act. Creatd believes the lawsuit lacks merit and will vigorously challenge the action. At this time, we are unable to estimate potential damage exposure, if any, related to the litigation.
F-100
Lease Agreements
On May 5, 2018, the Company signed a 5-year lease for approximately 2,300 square feet of office space at 2050 Center Avenue Suite 640, Fort Lee, New Jersey 07024. Commencement date of the lease is June 1, 2018. The total amount due under this lease is $411,150.
On April 1, 2019, the Company signed a 4-year lease for approximately 796 square feet of office space at 2050 Center Avenue Suite 660, Fort Lee, New Jersey 07024. Commencement date of the lease is April 1, 2019. The total amount due under this lease is $108,229.
On July 28, 2021, the Company signed a 3-year lease for approximately 1,364 square feet of office space at 1674 Meridian Avenue, Miami Beach, Florida 33139. The office space is currently under construction and the Company’s commencement date was April 1, 2022. The total amount due under this lease is $181,300.
On February 16, 2022, the company entered into a termination agreement whereas CRTD agrees to pay $115,000 and forfeit the security deposit of $16,836. The lease was terminated as of February 28, 2022 and was determined that the lease agreement was abandoned under ASC 842- 20 -35 -10. The Company updated useful life of the ROU asset and marked the ROU asset and lease liability its single lease cost of $18,451.
Year Ended December 31, 2021 | ||||
Operating lease cost | $ | 202,804 | ||
Short term lease cost | 14,041 | |||
Total net lease cost | $ | 216,845 |
Supplemental cash flow and other information related to leases was as follows:
Year Ended December 31, 2021 | ||||
Cash paid for amounts included in the measurement of lease liabilities: | ||||
Operating lease payments | $ | 100,100 | ||
Weighted average remaining lease term (in years): | 0.17 | |||
Weighted average discount rate: | 0 | % |
Total payments required under the lease as of December 31, 2021, are $18,451 and will recognized in the first quarter of 2022.
Rent expense for the year ended December 31, 2021 and 2020 was $216,845 and $107,737, respectively.
Note 14 – Acquisition
Plant Camp LLC
On June 1, 2021, the Company, entered into a Membership Interest Purchase Agreement (the “MIPA”) with Angela Hein (“Hein”) and Heidi Brown (“Brown”, and together with Hein, the “Sellers”), pursuant to which the Purchaser acquired 490,863 common units (the “Membership Interests”) of Plant Camp LLC, a Delaware limited liability company (“Plant Camp”) from the Sellers, resulting in the Purchaser owning 33% of the issued and outstanding equity of Plant Camp. The Membership Interests were purchased for $175,000.
On June 4, 2021, the Company, entered into a MIPA with Sellers, pursuant to which the Purchaser acquired 841,005 common units of Plant Camp from the Sellers, resulting in the Purchaser owning a total of 89% of the issued and outstanding equity of Plant Camp. The additional Membership Interests were purchased for $300,000. The acquisition was accounted for as a step acquisition however there was no change in value of the Company’s existing equity interest. The Company utilized the fair value of the consideration to determine the fair value of the existing equity interest based on the total merger consideration offered.
F-101
The following sets forth the components of the purchase price:
Purchase price: | ||||
Cash paid to seller | $ | 300,000 | ||
Fair value of equity investment purchased on June 1, 2021 | 175,000 | |||
Total purchase price | 475,000 | |||
Assets acquired: | ||||
Cash | 5,232 | |||
Accounts Receivable | 7,645 | |||
Inventory | 19,970 | |||
Total assets acquired | 32,847 | |||
Liabilities assumed: | ||||
Accounts payable and accrued expenses | 5,309 | |||
Deferred Revenue | 671 | |||
Total liabilities assumed | 5,980 | |||
Net assets acquired | 26,867 | |||
Non-controlling interest in consolidated subsidiary | 56,865 | |||
Excess purchase price | $ | 504,998 |
The excess purchase price amounts are provisional and may be adjusted during the one-year measurement period as required by U.S. GAAP. The following table provides a summary of the preliminary allocation of the excess purchase price.
Goodwill | $ | 7,198 | ||
Trade Names & Trademarks | 100,000 | |||
Know-How and Intellectual Property | 316,500 | |||
Website | 51,300 | |||
Customer Relationships | 30,000 | |||
Excess purchase price | $ | 504,998 |
The goodwill represents the assembled workforce, acquired capabilities, and future economic benefits resulting from the acquisition.
The following presents the unaudited pro-forma combined results of operations of the Company with Plant Camp as if the entities were combined on January 1, 2020.
Year Ended | ||||
December 31, | ||||
2021 | ||||
Revenues | $ | 4,335,593 | ||
Net loss attributable to common shareholders | $ | (37,822,820 | ) | |
Net loss per share | $ | (2.99 | ) | |
Weighted average number of shares outstanding | 12,652,470 |
Year Ended December 31, 2020 | ||||
Revenues | $ | 1,213,430 | ||
Net loss attributable to common shareholders | $ | (27,476,400 | ) | |
Net loss per share | $ | (5.71 | ) | |
Weighted average number of shares outstanding | 4,812,153 |
WHE Agency, Inc.
On July 20, 2021, the Company entered into a Stock Purchase Agreement to purchase 44% ownership and 55% of voting power of the issued and outstanding shares of WHE Agency, Inc., (“WHE”). The aggregate closing consideration was $1,038,271, which consists of a combination of $144,750 in cash and $893,521 in the form of 224,503 shares of the Company’s restricted common stock at a price of $3.98 per share. Based on the purchase price of $1,038,271 for 44% ownership, the fair value of the non-controlling interest was estimated to be $1,190,000 based on the consideration from the Company.
WHE is a talent management and public relations agency dedicated to the representation and management of family- and lifestyle-focused influencers and digital creators.
F-102
The following sets forth the components of the purchase price:
Purchase price: | ||||
Cash paid to seller | $ | 144,750 | ||
Shares granted to seller | 893,521 | |||
Total purchase price | 1,038,271 | |||
Assets acquired: | ||||
Cash | 26,575 | |||
Accounts Receivable | 446,272 | |||
Total assets acquired | 472,847 | |||
Liabilities assumed: | ||||
Accounts payable and accrued expenses | 353,017 | |||
Total liabilities assumed | 353,017 | |||
Net assets acquired | 119,830 | |||
Non-controlling interest in consolidated subsidiary | 1,190,000 | |||
Excess purchase price | $ | 2,108,442 |
The excess purchase price amounts were recorded to goodwill and is provisional and may be adjusted during the one-year measurement period as required by U.S. GAAP. The following table provides a summary of the preliminary allocation of the excess purchase price.
Goodwill | $ | 1,349,697 | ||
Trade Names & Trademarks | 85,945 | |||
Non-Compete Agreements | 45,190 | |||
Influencers / Customers | 627,610 | |||
Excess purchase price | $ | 2,108,442 |
The goodwill represents the assembled workforce, acquired capabilities, and future economic benefits resulting from the acquisition.
The following presents the unaudited pro-forma combined results of operations of the Company with WHE as if the entities were combined on January 1, 2020.
Year Ended | ||||
December 31, | ||||
2021 | ||||
Revenues | $ | 4,916,777 | ||
Net loss attributable to common shareholders | $ | (37,707,250 | ) | |
Net loss per share | $ | (2.98 | ) | |
Weighted average number of shares outstanding | 12,652,470 |
Year Ended | ||||
December 31, | ||||
2020 | ||||
Revenues | $ | 1,685,336 | ||
Net loss attributable to common shareholders | $ | (27,235,057 | ) | |
Net loss per share | $ | (5.66 | ) | |
Weighted average number of shares outstanding | 4,812,153 |
Dune Inc.
Prior to October 3, 2021, the Company invested $732,297 into Dune See note 6 & 7. Using step acquisition accounting, the Company decreased the value of its existing equity interest to its fair value based on its purchase price on October 3, 2021, resulting in the recognition of an impairment in investment of $424,632, which was included in within our consolidated statements of operations. The Company utilized the fair value of the consideration to determine the fair value of the existing equity interest based on the total merger consideration offered and the Company’s stock price at acquisition.
On October 3, 2021, we, through Creatd Partners, LLC (“Buyer”), entered into a Stock Purchase Agreement (the “Dune Agreement”) with Standard Holdings, Inc. (“SHI”) and Mark De Luca (“De Luca”) (SHI and De Luca, collectively the “Dune Sellers”), and Stephanie Roy Dufault, whereby Buyer purchased a majority stake in Dune, Inc., a Delaware corporation (“Dune”). Pursuant to the Dune Agreement, which closed on October 4, 2021, Buyer acquired a total of 3,905,634 shares of the common stock of Dune (the “Purchased Shares”). The Company issued 163,344 restricted shares of the Company’s common stock to the Dune Sellers.
In addition, pursuant to the Dune Agreement, $50,000 worth of the Company’s common stock issuable to the Dune Sellers on a pro rata basis, priced in accordance with the terms and conditions set forth in the Dune Agreement (the “Indemnification Escrow Amount”), shall be held in escrow and reserved in each Dune Seller’s name by the Company’s transfer agent until such time as release is authorized under the Agreement.
F-103
The following sets forth the components of the purchase price:
Purchase price: | ||||
Shares granted to seller | $ | 424,698 | ||
Fair value of equity investment purchased before October 4, 2021 | 307,665 | |||
Total purchase price | 732,363 | |||
Assets acquired: | ||||
Cash | 186,995 | |||
Inventory | 47,250 | |||
Total assets acquired | 234,246 | |||
Liabilities assumed: | ||||
Accounts payable | 40,000 | |||
Total liabilities assumed | 40,000 | |||
Net assets acquired | 194,246 | |||
Non-controlling interest in consolidated subsidiary | 720,581 | |||
Excess purchase price | $ | 1,258,698 |
Due to the limited amount of time since the acquisition date, the assets and liabilities of Dune Inc. were recorded based primarily on their acquisition date carrying values. Management believes the estimated fair value of these accounts on the acquisition date approximates their carrying value as reflected in the table above due to the short-term nature of these instruments. The remaining assets and liabilities primarily consisted of goodwill, customer relationships, know how, and tradenames. We will adjust the remaining assets and liabilities to fair value as valuations are completed and we obtain information necessary to complete the analyses, but no later than one year from the acquisition data.
The excess purchase price amounts are provisional and may be adjusted during the one-year measurement period as required by U.S. GAAP. The following table provides a summary of the preliminary allocation of the excess purchase price.
Goodwill | $ | 17,941 | ||
Trade Names & Trademarks | 249,248 | |||
Know-How and Intellectual Property | 788,870 | |||
Website | 127,864 | |||
Customer Relationships | 74,774 | |||
Excess purchase price | $ | 1,258,698 |
The goodwill represents the assembled workforce, acquired capabilities, and future economic benefits resulting from the acquisition.
The following presents the unaudited pro-forma combined results of operations of the Company with Dune as if the entities were combined on January 1, 2020.
Year Ended | ||||
December 31, | ||||
2021 | ||||
Revenues | $ | 4,299,717 | ||
Net loss attributable to common shareholders | $ | (38,265,301 | ) | |
Net loss per share | $ | (3.02 | ) | |
Weighted average number of shares outstanding | 12,652,470 |
Year Ended | ||||
December 31, | ||||
2020 | ||||
Revenues | $ | 1,212,870 | ||
Net loss attributable to common shareholders | $ | (27,382,216 | ) | |
Net loss per share | $ | (5.69 | ) | |
Weighted average number of shares outstanding | 4,812,153 |
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Note 15 – Segment Information
We operate in three reportable segments: Creatd Labs, Creatd Ventures, and Creatd Partners. Our segments were determined based on the economic characteristics of our products and services, our internal organizational structure, the manner in which our operations are managed and the criteria used by our Chief Operating Decision Maker (CODM) to evaluate performance, which is generally the segment’s operating losses.
The following tables present certain financial information related to our reportable segments and Corporate:
As of December 31, 2021 | ||||||||||||||||||||
Creatd Labs | Creatd Ventures | Creatd Partners | Corporate | Total | ||||||||||||||||
Accounts receivable, net | $ | $ | 2,884 | $ | 334,556 | $ | $ | 337,440 | ||||||||||||
Prepaid expenses and other current assets | 48,495 | 188,170 | 236,665 | |||||||||||||||||
Deposits and other assets | 626,529 | 92,422 | 718,951 | |||||||||||||||||
Intangible assets | 1,637,924 | 783,676 | 11,241 | 2,432,841 | ||||||||||||||||
Goodwill | 25,139 | 1,349,696 | 1,374,835 | |||||||||||||||||
Inventory | 106,403 | 106,403 | ||||||||||||||||||
All other assets | 3,966,124 | 3,966,124 | ||||||||||||||||||
Total Assets | $ | 675,024 | $ | 1,772,350 | $ | 2,467,928 | $ | 4,257,957 | $ | 9,173,259 | ||||||||||
Accounts payable and accrued liabilities | $ | 9,693 | $ | 766,253 | $ | 6,232 | $ | 2,948,362 | $ | 3,730,540 | ||||||||||
Note payable, net of debt discount and issuance costs | 313,979 | 1,028,685 | 1,342,664 | |||||||||||||||||
Deferred revenue | 161,112 | 13,477 | 59,570 | 234,159 | ||||||||||||||||
All other Liabilities | 177,644 | 177,644 | ||||||||||||||||||
Total Liabilities | $ | 484,784 | $ | 779,730 | $ | 65,802 | $ | 4,154,691 | $ | 5,485,007 |
As of December 31, 2020 | ||||||||||||||||
Creatd Labs | Creatd Partners | Corporate | Total | |||||||||||||
Accounts receivable, net | $ | 3,800 | $ | 86,555 | $ | $ | 90,355 | |||||||||
Prepaid expenses and other current assets | 19,631 | 4,225 | 23,856 | |||||||||||||
Intangible assets | 960,611 | 960,611 | ||||||||||||||
Goodwill | 1,035,795 | 1,035,795 | ||||||||||||||
All other assets | 8,673,863 | 8,673,863 | ||||||||||||||
Total Assets | $ | 23,431 | $ | 2,082,961 | $ | 8,678,088 | $ | 10,784,480 | ||||||||
Accounts payable and accrued liabilities | $ | 6,221 | $ | 83,964 | $ | 2,548,503 | $ | 2,638,688 | ||||||||
Note payable, net of debt discount and issuance costs | 55,928 | 1,165,611 | 1,221,539 | |||||||||||||
Deferred revenue | 88,637 | 88,637 | ||||||||||||||
All other Liabilities | 1,390,420 | 1,390,420 | ||||||||||||||
Total Liabilities | $ | 62,149 | $ | 172,601 | $ | 5,104,534 | $ | 5,339,284 |
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For the year ended December 31, 2021 | ||||||||||||||||||||
Creatd Labs | Creatd Ventures | Creatd Partners | Corporate | Total | ||||||||||||||||
Net revenue | $ | 1,926,374 | $ | 90,194 | $ | 2,283,149 | $ | $ | 4,299,717 | |||||||||||
Cost of revenue | 3,186,240 | 148,989 | 1,964,808 | 5,300,037 | ||||||||||||||||
Gross margin | (1,259,866 | ) | (58,940 | ) | 318,341 | (1,000,320 | ) | |||||||||||||
Research and development | 758,293 | 131 | 225,104 | 983,528 | ||||||||||||||||
Marketing | 8,182,935 | 962,698 | 481,349 | 9,626,982 | ||||||||||||||||
Stock based compensation | 1,727,021 | 1,560,546 | 1,884,986 | 4,488,615 | 9,661,168 | |||||||||||||||
Impairment of goodwill | 1,035,795 | 1,035,795 | ||||||||||||||||||
General and administrative not including depreciation, amortization, or Impairment | 3,918,130 | 1,665,783 | 1,600,212 | 2,791,236 | 9,975,360 | |||||||||||||||
Depreciation and amortization | 100,633 | 252,730 | 44,076 | 397,440 | ||||||||||||||||
Impairment of intangibles | 688,127 | 688,127 | ||||||||||||||||||
Total operating expenses | $ | 14,586,379 | $ | 3,327,093 | $ | 6,649,652 | $ | 11,803,003 | $ | 32,368,400 | ||||||||||
Interest expense | (12,706 | ) | (359,400 | ) | (372,106 | ) | ||||||||||||||
All other expenses | (3,638,327 | ) | (3,638,327 | ) | ||||||||||||||||
Other expenses, net | (12,706 | ) | (3,997,727 | ) | (4,010,433 | ) | ||||||||||||||
Loss before income tax provision and equity in net loss from unconsolidated investments | $ | (15,858,951 | ) | $ | (3,385,888 | ) | $ | (6,331,311 | ) | $ | (11,803,003 | ) | $ | (37,379,153 | ) |
For the year ended December 31, 2020 | ||||||||||||||||
Creatd Labs | Creatd Partners | Corporate | Total | |||||||||||||
Net revenue | $ | 375,043 | $ | 837,827 | $ | $ | 1,212,870 | |||||||||
Cost of revenue | 652,259 | 842,783 | 1,495,042 | |||||||||||||
Gross margin | (277,216 | ) | (4,956 | ) | (282,172 | ) | ||||||||||
Research and development | 227,656 | 29,775 | 257,431 | |||||||||||||
Marketing | 2,426,668 | 285,490 | 142,745 | 2,854,904 | ||||||||||||
Stock based compensation | 1,226,495 | 1,338,678 | 4,295,990 | 6,861,163 | ||||||||||||
General and administrative not including depreciation, amortization, or Impairment | 2,301,088 | 939,792 | 2,592,581 | 5,858,454 | ||||||||||||
Depreciation and amortization | 132,768 | 24,993 | 157,761 | |||||||||||||
Impairment of intangibles | 11,450 | 11,450 | ||||||||||||||
Total operating expenses | $ | 6,181,907 | $ | 2,726,504 | $ | 7,067,759 | $ | 16,001,163 | ||||||||
Interest expense | (15,828 | ) | (356,278 | ) | (372,106 | ) | ||||||||||
All other expenses | (7,557,342 | ) | (7,557,342 | ) | ||||||||||||
Other expenses, net | (15,828 | ) | (7,913,620 | ) | (7,929,448 | ) | ||||||||||
Loss before income tax provision and equity in net loss from unconsolidated investments | $ | (6,474,951 | ) | $ | (2,731,460 | ) | $ | (14,981,379 | ) | $ | (24,212,783 | ) |
During the year ended December 31, 2021, Creatd Partners acquired assets from the Purchase of WHE. See note 14 for a list of assets acquired.
During the year ended December 31, 2021, Creatd Ventures acquired assets from the Purchase of Dune and Plant Camp. See note 14 for a list of assets acquired.
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Note 16 –Income Taxes
Components of deferred tax assets are as follows:
December 31, 2021 | December 31, 2020 | |||||||
Net deferred tax assets – Non-current: | ||||||||
Depreciation | $ | (70,194 | ) | $ | (145,749 | ) | ||
Amortization | 95,115 | 21,096 | ||||||
Stock based compensation | 4,369,372 | 1,653,617 | ||||||
Expected income tax benefit from NOL carry-forwards | 15,073,606 | 8,780,233 | ||||||
Less valuation allowance | (19,467,900 | ) | (10,309,197 | ) | ||||
Deferred tax assets, net of valuation allowance | $ | $ |
Income Tax Provision in the Consolidated Statements of Operations
A reconciliation of the federal statutory income tax rate and the effective income tax rate as a percentage of income before income taxes is as follows:
For the Year Ended December 31, 2021 | For the Year Ended December 31, 2020 | |||||||
Federal statutory income tax rate | 21.0 | % | 21.0 | % | ||||
State tax rate, net of federal benefit | 7.1 | % | 6.5 | % | ||||
Change in valuation allowance on net operating loss carry-forwards | (28.1 | )% | (27.5 | )% | ||||
Effective income tax rate | 0.0 | % | 0.0 | % |
The following is a reconciliation of the beginning and ending amount of the unrecognized tax benefit for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020:
2021 | 2020 | |||||||
Balance at January 1, | $ | $ | 68,000 | |||||
Additions based on tax positions relating to the current year | ||||||||
Reductions for tax positions of prior years | (68,000 | ) | ||||||
Balance at December 31, | $ | $ |
Based on the available objective evidence, management believes it is more likely than not that the net deferred tax assets of the Company will not be fully realizable for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020. Accordingly, management had applied a full valuation allowance against net deferred tax assets as of December 31, 2021 and 2020.
As of December 31, 2021, the Company had approximately $54 million of federal net operating loss carryforwards available to reduce future taxable income which will begin to expire in 2034 for both federal and state purposes.
On December 22, 2017, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (the “Act”) was signed into law making significant changes to the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”). The Act reduces the federal corporate income tax rate from 35% to 21% effective for tax years beginning after December 31, 2017. ASC 470 requires the Company to remeasure the existing net deferred tax asset in the period of enactment. The Act also provides for immediate expensing of 100% or the costs of qualified property that is incurred and placed in service during the period from September 27, 2017 to December 31, 2022. Beginning January 1, 2023, the immediate expensing provision is phased down by 20% per year until it is completely phased out as of January 1, 2027. Additionally, effective January 1, 2018, the Act imposes possible limitations on the deductibility of interest expense. As a result of the provisions of the Act, the Company’s deduction for interest expense could be limited in future years. The effects of other provisions of the Act are not expected to have a material impact on the Company’s financial statements.
On December 22, 2017, the SEC staff issued Staff Accounting Bulletin No. 118 (“SAB 118”) to provide guidance on accounting for the tax effects of the Act. SAB 118 provides a measurement period that begins in the reporting period that includes the Act’s enactment date and ends when an entity has obtained, prepared and analyzed the information that was needed in order to complete the accounting requirements under ASC 720. However, in no circumstance should the measurement period extend beyond one year from the enactment date. In accordance with SAB 118, a company must reflect in its financial statements the income tax effects of those aspects of the Act for which the accounting under ASC 740 is complete. SAB 118 provides that to the extent that a company’s accounting for certain income tax effects of the Tax Act is incomplete, but it is able to determine a reasonable estimate, it must record a provisional estimate in the financial statements.
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The Company does not reflect a deferred tax asset in its financial statements but includes that calculation and valuation in its footnotes. We are still analyzing the impact of certain provisions of the Act and refining our calculations. The Company will disclose any change in the estimates as it refines the accounting for the impact of the Act.
Federal and state tax laws impose limitations on the utilization of net operating losses and credit carryforwards in the event of an ownership change for tax purposes, as defined in Section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code. Accordingly, the Company’s ability to utilize these carryforwards may be limited as a result of an ownership change which may have already happened or may happen in the future. Such an ownership change could result in a limitation in the use of the net operating losses in future years and possibly a reduction of the net operating losses available.
Note 17 – Subsequent Events
Board of Directors and Management
Appointment of New Directors
On February 17, 2022, the Board of Directors (the “Board”) of the Company appointed Joanna Bloor, Brad Justus, and Lorraine Hendrickson to serve as members of the Board. Ms. Bloor has been nominated to, and will serve as, chair of the Compensation Committee, and to be a member of the Audit Committee and Nominating & Corporate Governance Committee. Mr. Justus has been nominated, and will serve as, chair of the Nominating & Corporate Governance Committee, and to be a member of the Compensation Committee and Audit Committee. Ms. Hendrickson has been nominated to, and will serve as, chair of the Audit Committee and to be a member of the Compensation and Nominating & Corporate Governance Committee.
Departure of Directors
On February 17, 2022, the Board received notice that effective immediately, Mark Standish resigned as Chair of the Board, Chair of the Audit Committee and as a member of the Compensation Committee and Nominating & Corporate Governance Committee; Leonard Schiller resigned as member of the Board, Chair of the Compensation Committee and as a member of the Audit Committee and Nominating & Corporate Governance Committee; and LaBrena Martin resigned as a member of the Board, Chair of the Nominating & Corporate Governance Committee and as a member of the Audit Committee and Compensation Committee. Such resignations are not the result of any disagreement with the Company on any matter relating to the Company’s operations, policies or practices.
Management Restructuring
On February 17, 2022, the Board of the Company approved the restructuring of the Company’s senior management team to eliminate the Co-Chief Executive Officer role, appointing Jeremy Frommer as Executive Chairman and Founder, and appointing Laurie Weisberg as Chief Executive Officer (the “Second Restructuring”). Prior to the Second Restructuring, Mr. Frommer and Ms. Weisberg served as the Company’s co-Chief Executive Officers and Ms. Weisberg served as the Company’s Chief Operating Officer. The Second Restructuring does not impact the role or functions of the Company’s Chief Financial Officer, Chelsea Pullano, or the role or functions of the Company’s President and Chief Operating Officer, Justin Maury.
Securities Purchase Agreement
On March 1, 2022, the Company entered into securities purchase agreements with twenty-eight accredited investors whereby, at the closing, such investors purchased from the Company an aggregate of 1,401,457 shares of the Company’s common stock and (ii) 1,401,457 warrants to purchase shares of common stock, for an aggregate purchase price of $2,452,550. Such warrants are exercisable for a term of five-years from the date of issuance, at an exercise price of $1.75 per share.
Nasdaq Notice of Delisting
On March 1, 2022, the Company received a letter (the “Letter”) from the staff of The Nasdaq Capital Market (the “Exchange”) notifying the Company that the Exchange has determined to delist the Company’s common stock from the Exchange based on the Company’s Market Value of Listed Securities for the 30-consecutive day period between January 15, 2022 and February 25, 2022 falling short of the requirements under Listing Rule 5550(b)(2) (the “Rule”). Although a 180-day period is typically allowed for an issuer to regain compliance, the Company is not eligible to use such compliance period, as the Exchange had instituted a Panel Monitor through March 9, 2022.
The Company is pursuing an appeal to the Panel of such determination, in accordance with the Exchange’s rules and, pursuant to such request by the Company to appeal, the delisting of the Company’s securities and the Form 25 Notification of Delisting filing will be stayed pending the Panel’s decision.
The Company intends to present to the Panel evidence that the Company has regained compliance with the Rule; however, there can be no assurance that the Panel will grant the Company’s request for continued listing.
F-108
The Letter has no immediate impact on the listing of the Company’s common stock or warrants, which will continue to be listed and traded on the Exchange, subject to the Company’s compliance with other continued listing requirements. The Company’s receipt of the Letter does not affect the Company’s business, operations or reporting requirements with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Registered Direct Offering
On March 7, 2022, the Company entered into a securities purchase agreement (the “Purchase Agreement”) with thirteen accredited investors resulting in the raise of $2,659,750 in gross proceeds to the Company. Pursuant to the terms of the Purchase Agreement, the Company agreed to sell in a registered direct offering an aggregate of 1,519,857 shares of the Company’s common stock together with warrants to purchase an aggregate of 1,519,857 shares of Common Stock at an exercise price of $1.75 per share. The warrants are immediately exercisable and will expire on March 9, 2027.
Acquisition of Denver Bodega, LLC d/b/a Basis
On March 7, 2022, the Company entered into a Membership Interest Purchase (the “Agreement”) with Henry Springer and Kyle Nowak (collectively the “Sellers”), whereby the Company purchased a majority stake in Denver Bodega, LLC, a Colorado limited liability company whose product is Basis, a direct-to-consumer functional beverage brand that makes high-electrolyte mixes meant to aid hydration. Pursuant to the Agreement, Creatd acquired all of the issued and outstanding membership interests of Denver Bodega, LLC for consideration of one dollar ($1.00), as well as the Company’s payoff, assumption, or satisfaction of certain debts and liabilities totaling $278,163.
Settlement of Home Revolution Litigation
On March 3, 2022, after substantial motion practice, Creatd successfully settled the dispute with Home Revolution, LLC for a total of $799,000, which includes $660,000 of note principal and $139,000 of accrued interest. The matter has been dismissed.
Note Conversions
Subsequent to December 31, 2021, a total of $168,850 in principal of convertible notes converted into 109,435 shares of common stock.
Promissory Note
Subsequent to December 31, 2021, the Company entered into one promissory note agreement with net proceeds of $300,000 and one promissory note agreement with net proceeds of AUD$224,540.
Consultant Shares
Subsequent to December 31, 2021, the Company issued 183,590 shares of Common Stock to consultants.
Employment Agreements
On April 5, 2022, upon the recommendation of the Compensation Committee of the Board, the Board approved employment agreements with, and equity issuances for, (i) Jeremy Frommer, Executive Chairman, who will receive (a) an signing award of $80,000, (b) an annual salary of $420,000; (c) 121,000 options, to vest immediately with a strike price of $1.75, and (d) 50,000 shares of the Company’s restricted common stock; (ii) Laurie Weisberg, Chief Executive Officer, who will receive (a) an annual salary of $475,000; (b) 121,000 options, to vest immediately with a strike price of $1.75, and (c) 50,000 shares of the Company’s restricted common stock; (iii) Justin Maury, Chief Operating Officer & President, who will receive (a) an annual salary of $475,000 (b) 81,000 options, to vest immediately with a strike price of $1.75, and (c) 50,000 shares of the Company’s restricted common stock; and (iv) Chelsea Pullano, Chief Financial Officer, who will receive (a) an annual salary of $250,000; (b) 37,000 options, to vest immediately with a strike price of $1.75, and (c) 35,000 shares of the Company’s restricted common stock (collectively, the “Executive Employment Arrangements”).
Pursuant to the Executive Employment Arrangements, the Company entered into executive employment agreements with each of the respective executives as of April 5, 2022 (the “Executive Employment Agreements”). The Executive Employment Agreements contain customary terms, conditions and rights.
The foregoing descriptions of the Executive Employment Agreements do not purport to be complete and are qualified in their entirety by reference to the forms of Amended Executive Employment Agreements, copies of which are filed as Exhibits 10.40, 10.41, 10.42 and 10.43 to this Annual Report on Form 10-K and is incorporated herein by reference.
F-109
11,056,636 Shares of Common Stock
PROSPECTUS
January 10, 2023
PART II
INFORMATION NOT REQUIRED IN THE PROSPECTUS
Item 13. Other Expenses of Issuance and Distribution.
The following table sets forth the expenses payable by us in connection with the offering of securities described in this registration statement. All amounts shown are estimates, except for the SEC registration fee. We will bear all expenses shown below.
SEC registration fee | $ | 756 | ||
Legal fees and expenses | $ | 75,000 | ||
Accounting fees and expenses | $ | 50,000 | ||
Miscellaneous fees and expenses | $ | - | ||
Total | $ | 125,675 |
Item 14. Indemnification of Directors and Officers.
Each of our Second Amended and Restated Articles of Incorporation and our Amended and Restated Bylaws provide for indemnification of our directors and officers. Our Amended and Restated Bylaws provide that we will indemnify any person who was or is a party or threatened to be made a party to any threatened, pending or completed action, suit or proceeding, whether civil, criminal, administrative (other than an action by or in the right of the corporation) by reason of the fact that such person is or was a director or officer of the corporation, 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 if such person acted in good faith and in a manner such person reasonably believed to be in or not opposed to the best interests of the Company, and with respect to any criminal action or proceeding, had no reasonable cause to believe such person’s conduct was unlawful. The termination of any action, suit or proceeding by judgment, order, settlement, conviction, or upon a plea of nolo contendere or its equivalent will not, without more, create a presumption that the person did not act in good faith and in a manner which such person reasonably believed to be in or not opposed to the best interest of the corporation, and, with respect to any criminal action or proceeding, had reasonable cause to believe that his conduct was unlawful. The Company may by action of its Board of Directors, grant rights to indemnification and advancement of expenses to employees and agents of the Company with the same scope and effects as the indemnification provisions for officers and directors.
Insofar as indemnification for liabilities under the Securities Act may be permitted to officers, directors or persons controlling the Company pursuant to the foregoing provisions, the Company has been informed that is it is the opinion of the Securities and Exchange Commission that such indemnification is against public policy as expressed in such Securities Act and is, therefore, unenforceable.
Item 15. Recent Sales of Unregistered Securities.
Consultant Shares
During the three months ended September 30, 2022, the Company issued 157,260 shares of Common Stock to consultants and employees.
Acquisition of Orbit
On August 1, 2022 the Company entered into a Membership Interest Purchase Agreement whereby the Company purchased a majority stake in Orbit Media LLC, a New York limited liability company. Pursuant to the Agreement, Creatd issued 57,576 shares of the Company’s Common Stock to the sellers.
II-1
Item 16. Exhibits and Consolidated Financial Statement Schedules.
II-2
II-3
+ | Indicates management contract or compensatory plan. |
* | To be filed by amendment. |
(b) | Consolidated Financial Statement Schedules |
Schedules not listed above have been omitted because the information required to be set forth therein is not applicable or is shown in the financial statements or notes thereto.
II-4
Item 17. Undertakings.
(a) | The undersigned registrant hereby undertakes: |
(1) | To file, during any period in which offers or sales are being made, a post-effective amendment to this registration statement: |
(i) | To include any prospectus required by Section 10(a)(3) of the Securities Act; |
(ii) | To reflect in the prospectus any facts or events arising after the effective date of this registration statement (or the most recent post-effective amendment thereof) which, individually or in the aggregate, represent a fundamental change in the information set forth in the registration statement. Notwithstanding the foregoing, any increase or decrease in volume of securities offered (if the total dollar value of securities offered would not exceed that which was registered) and any deviation from the low or high and of the estimated maximum offering range may be reflected in the form of prospectus filed with the Commission pursuant to Rule 424(b) if, in the aggregate, the changes in volume and price represent no more than 20 percent change in the maximum aggregate offering price set forth in the “Calculation of Registration Fee” table in the effective registration statement; and |
(iii) | To include any material information with respect to the plan of distribution not previously disclosed in this registration statement or any material change to such information in this registration statement;
provided, however, that paragraphs (1)(i), (1)(ii) and (1)(iii) above do not apply if the registration statement is on Form S-1 and the information required to be included in a post-effective amendment by those paragraphs is contained in reports filed with or furnished to the Commission by the registrant pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act that are incorporated by reference in the registration statement. |
(2) | That, for the purpose of determining any liability under the Securities Act, each such post-effective amendment shall be deemed to be a new registration statement relating to the securities offered therein, and the offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona fide offering thereof. |
(3) | To remove from registration by means of a post-effective amendment any of the securities being registered which remain unsold at the termination of the offering. |
(4) | That, for the purpose of determining liability under the Securities Act to any purchaser: |
(i) | Each prospectus filed by the registrant pursuant to Rule 424(b)(3) shall be deemed to be part of the registration statement as of the date the filed prospectus was deemed part of and included in the registration statement; and | |
(ii) | Each prospectus filed pursuant to Rule 424(b) as part of a registration statement relating to an offering, other than registration statements relying on Rule 430B or other than prospectuses filed in reliance on Rule 430A, shall be deemed to be part of and included in the registration statement as of the date it is first used after effectiveness. Provided, however, that no statement made in a registration statement or prospectus that is part of the registration statement or made in a document incorporated or deemed incorporated by reference into the registration statement or prospectus that is part of the registration statement will, as to a purchaser with a time of contract of sale prior to such first use, supersede or modify any statement that was made in the registration statement or prospectus that was part of the registration statement or made in any such document immediately prior to such date of first use. |
II-5
(5) | That, for the purpose of determining liability of the registrant under the Securities Act to any purchaser in the initial distribution of the securities, in a primary offering of securities of the undersigned registrant pursuant to this registration statement, regardless of the underwriting method used to sell the securities to the purchaser, if the securities are offered or sold to such purchaser by means of any of the following communications, the undersigned registrant will be a seller to the purchaser and will be considered to offer or sell such securities to such purchaser: |
(i) | any preliminary prospectus or prospectus of the undersigned registrant relating to the offering required to be filed pursuant to Rule 424; |
(ii) | any free writing prospectus relating to the offering prepared by or on behalf of the undersigned registrant or used or referred to by the undersigned registrant; |
(iii) | the portion of any other free writing prospectus relating to the offering containing material information about the undersigned registrant or its securities provided by or on behalf of the undersigned registrant; and | |
(iv) | any other communication that is an offer in the offering made by the undersigned registrant to the purchaser. |
(b) | The undersigned registrant hereby undertakes that, for purposes of determining any liability under the Securities Act, each filing of the registrant’s annual report pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Exchange Act (and, where applicable, each filing of an employee benefit plan’s annual report pursuant to Section 15(d) of the Exchange Act) that is incorporated by reference in the registration statement shall be deemed to be a new registration statement relating to the securities offered therein, and the offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona fide offering thereof. |
(c) | Insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising under the Securities Act, as amended, may be permitted to directors, officers and controlling persons of the registrant pursuant to the foregoing provisions, or otherwise, the registrant has been advised that in the opinion of the SEC such indemnification is against public policy as expressed in the Act and is, therefore, unenforceable. In the event that a claim for indemnification against such liabilities (other than the payment by the registrant of expenses incurred or paid by a director, officer or controlling person of the registrant in the successful defense of any action, suit or proceeding) is asserted by such director, officer or controlling person in connection with the securities being registered, the registrant will, unless in the opinion of its counsel the matter has been settled by controlling precedent, submit to a court of appropriate jurisdiction the question whether such indemnification by it is against public policy as expressed in the Act and will be governed by the final adjudication of such issue. The undersigned registrant hereby undertakes to file an application for the purpose of determining the eligibility of the trustee to act under subsection (a) of Section 310 of the Trust Indenture Act (“Act”) in accordance with the rules and regulations prescribed by the Commission under Section 305(b)(2) of the Act. |
(d) | The undersigned registrant hereby undertakes that: |
(i) | For purposes of determining any liability under the Securities Act of 1933, the information omitted from the form of prospectus filed as part of this registration statement in reliance upon Rule 430A and contained in a form of prospectus filed by the registrant pursuant to Rule 424(b)(I) or (4) or 497(h) under the Securities Act shall be deemed to be part of this registration statement as of the time it was declared effective; and |
(ii) | For the purpose of determining any liability under the Securities Act of 1933, each post-effective amendment that contains a form of prospectus shall be deemed to be a new registration statement relating to the securities offered therein, and the offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona fide offering thereof. |
II-6
SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, the registrant has duly caused this registration statement to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized in the City of New York, State of New York, on January 10, 2023.
Creatd, Inc. | |||
By: | Jeremy Frommer | ||
Name: | Jeremy Frommer | ||
Title: | Chief Executive Officer | ||
(Principal Executive Officer) |
POWER OF ATTORNEY: KNOW ALL PERSONS BY THESE PRESENTS that each individual whose signature appears below constitutes and appoints Laurie Weisberg, his true and lawful attorneys-in-fact and agents with full power of substitution, for him and in his name, place and stead, in any and all capacities, to sign any and all amendments (including post-effective amendments) to this Registration Statement, and to sign any registration statement for the same offering covered by the Registration Statement that is to be effective upon filing pursuant to Rule 462(b) promulgated under the Securities Act, and all post-effective amendments thereto, and to file the same, with all exhibits thereto and all documents in connection therewith, with the Securities and Exchange Commission, granting unto said attorneys-in-fact and agents, and each of them, 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 he or she might or could do in person, hereby ratifying and confirming all that said attorneys-in-fact and agents or any of them, or his, her or their substitute or substitutes, may lawfully do or cause to be done or 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:
Signature | Title | Date | ||
/s/ Jeremy Frommer | Chief Executive Officer, Chairman | January 10, 2023 | ||
Jeremy Frommer | (Principal Executive Officer) | |||
/s/ Chelsea Pullano | Chief Financial Officer | January 10, 2023 | ||
Chelsea Pullano | (Principal Financial and Accounting Officer) | |||
/s/ Justin Maury | Chief Operating Officer, Director | January 10, 2023 | ||
Justin Maury | ||||
/s/ Peter Majar | Director | January 10, 2023 | ||
Peter Majar | ||||
/s/ Erica Wagner | Director | January 10, 2023 | ||
Erica Wagner |
II-7
Exhibit 4.11
NEITHER THIS SECURITY NOR THE SECURITIES FOR WHICH THIS SECURITY IS EXERCISABLE HAVE BEEN REGISTERED WITH THE SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION OR THE SECURITIES COMMISSION OF ANY STATE IN RELIANCE UPON AN EXEMPTION FROM REGISTRATION UNDER THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933, AS AMENDED (THE “SECURITIES ACT”), AND, ACCORDINGLY, MAY NOT BE OFFERED OR SOLD EXCEPT PURSUANT TO AN EFFECTIVE REGISTRATION STATEMENT UNDER THE SECURITIES ACT OR PURSUANT TO AN AVAILABLE EXEMPTION FROM, OR IN A TRANSACTION NOT SUBJECT TO, THE REGISTRATION REQUIREMENTS OF THE SECURITIES ACT AND IN ACCORDANCE WITH APPLICABLE STATE SECURITIES LAWS. THIS SECURITY AND THE SECURITIES ISSUABLE UPON EXERCISE OF THIS SECURITY MAY BE PLEDGED IN CONNECTION WITH A BONA FIDE MARGIN ACCOUNT OR OTHER LOAN SECURED BY SUCH SECURITIES.
COMMON STOCK PURCHASE WARRANT
CREATD, INC.
Warrant Shares: | Issue Date: November 18, 2022 |
THIS COMMON STOCK PURCHASE WARRANT (the “Warrant”) certifies that, for value received, or its assigns (the “Holder”) is entitled, upon the terms and subject to the limitations on exercise and the conditions hereinafter set forth, at any time on or after November 18, 2022 (the “Initial Exercise Date”) and on or prior to 5:00 p.m. (New York City time) on November 18, 2027 (the “Termination Date”) but not thereafter, to subscribe for and purchase from CREATD, INC., a Nevada corporation (the “Company”), up to shares (as subject to adjustment hereunder, the “Warrant Shares”) of Common Stock. The purchase price of one share of Common Stock under this Warrant shall be equal to the Exercise Price, as defined in Section 2(b).
Section 1. Definitions. Capitalized terms used and not otherwise defined herein shall have the meanings set forth in that certain Letter Agreement (the “Letter Agreement”), dated November 18, 2022, between the Company and the respective purchasers signatory thereto.
Section 2. Exercise.
a) Exercise of Warrant. Exercise of the purchase rights represented by this Warrant may be made, in whole or in part, at any time or times on or after the Initial Exercise Date and on or before the Termination Date by delivery to the Company of a duly executed PDF copy submitted by e-mail (or e-mail attachment) of the Notice of Exercise in the form annexed hereto (the “Notice of Exercise”). Within the earlier of (i) two (2) Trading Days and (ii) the number of Trading Days comprising the Standard Settlement Period (as defined in Section 2(d)(i) herein) following the date of exercise as aforesaid, the Holder shall deliver the aggregate Exercise Price for the shares specified in the applicable Notice of Exercise by wire transfer or cashier’s check drawn on a United States bank unless the cashless exercise procedure specified in Section 2(c) below is specified in the applicable Notice of Exercise. No ink-original Notice of Exercise shall be required, nor shall any medallion guarantee (or other type of guarantee or notarization) of any Notice of Exercise be required. Notwithstanding anything herein to the contrary, the Holder shall not be required to physically surrender this Warrant to the Company until the Holder has purchased all of the Warrant Shares available hereunder and the Warrant has been exercised in full, in which case, the Holder shall surrender this Warrant to the Company for cancellation as soon as reasonably practicable of the date on which the final Notice of Exercise is delivered to the Company. Partial exercises of this Warrant resulting in purchases of a portion of the total number of Warrant Shares available hereunder shall have the effect of lowering the outstanding number of Warrant Shares purchasable hereunder in an amount equal to the applicable number of Warrant Shares purchased. The Holder and the Company shall maintain records showing the number of Warrant Shares purchased and the date of such purchases. The Company shall deliver any objection to any Notice of Exercise within one (1) Business Day of receipt of such notice. The Holder and any assignee, by acceptance of this Warrant, acknowledge and agree that, by reason of the provisions of this paragraph, following the purchase of a portion of the Warrant Shares hereunder, the number of Warrant Shares available for purchase hereunder at any given time may be less than the amount stated on the face hereof.
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b) Exercise Price. The exercise price per share of Common Stock under this Warrant shall be $0.77, subject to adjustment hereunder (the “Exercise Price”).
c) Cashless Exercise. If at the time of exercise hereof there is no effective registration statement registering, or the prospectus contained therein is not available for the resale of the Warrant Shares by the Holder, then this Warrant may also be exercised, in whole or in part, at such time by means of a “cashless exercise” in which the Holder shall be entitled to receive a number of Warrant Shares equal to the quotient obtained by dividing [(A-B) (X)] by (A), where:
(A) = | as applicable: (i) the VWAP on the Trading Day immediately preceding the date of the applicable Notice of Exercise if such Notice of Exercise is (1) both executed and delivered pursuant to Section 2(a) hereof on a day that is not a Trading Day or (2) both executed and delivered pursuant to Section 2(a) hereof on a Trading Day prior to the opening of “regular trading hours” (as defined in Rule 600(b) of Regulation NMS promulgated under the federal securities laws) on such Trading Day, (ii) at the option of the Holder, either (y) the VWAP on the Trading Day immediately preceding the date of the applicable Notice of Exercise or (z) the Bid Price of the Common Stock on the principal Trading Market as reported by Bloomberg L.P. (“Bloomberg”) as of the time of the Holder’s execution of the applicable Notice of Exercise if such Notice of Exercise is executed during “regular trading hours” on a Trading Day and is delivered within two (2) hours thereafter (including until two (2) hours after the close of “regular trading hours” on a Trading Day) pursuant to Section 2(a) hereof or (iii) the VWAP on the date of the applicable Notice of Exercise if the date of such Notice of Exercise is a Trading Day and such Notice of Exercise is both executed and delivered pursuant to Section 2(a) hereof after the close of “regular trading hours” on such Trading Day; |
(B) = | the Exercise Price of this Warrant, as adjusted hereunder; and |
(X) = | the number of Warrant Shares that would be issuable upon exercise of this Warrant in accordance with the terms of this Warrant if such exercise were by means of a cash exercise rather than a cashless exercise. |
If Warrant Shares are issued in such a cashless exercise, the parties acknowledge and agree that in accordance with Section 3(a)(9) of the Securities Act, the holding period of the Warrant Shares being issued may be tacked on to the holding period of this Warrant. The Company agrees not to take any position contrary to this Section 2(c).
“Bid Price” means, for any date, the price determined by the first of the following clauses that applies: (a) if the Common Stock is then listed or quoted on a Trading Market, the bid price of the Common Stock for the time in question (or the nearest preceding date) on the Trading Market on which the Common Stock is then listed or quoted as reported by Bloomberg (based on a Trading Day from 9:30 a.m. (New York City time) to 4:02 p.m. (New York City time)), (b) if OTCQB or OTCQX is not a Trading Market, the volume weighted average price of the Common Stock for such date (or the nearest preceding date) on OTCQB or OTCQX as applicable, (c) if the Common Stock is not then listed or quoted for trading on OTCQB or OTCQX and if prices for the Common Stock are then reported on The Pink Open Market (or a similar organization or agency succeeding to its functions of reporting prices), the most recent bid price per share of the Common Stock so reported, or (d) in all other cases, the fair market value of a share of Common Stock as determined by an independent appraiser selected in good faith by the Purchasers of a majority in interest of the Securities then outstanding and reasonably acceptable to the Company, the fees and expenses of which shall be paid by the Company.
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“VWAP” means, for any date, the price determined by the first of the following clauses that applies: (a) if the Common Stock is then listed or quoted on a Trading Market, the daily volume weighted average price of the Common Stock for such date (or the nearest preceding date) on the Trading Market on which the Common Stock is then listed or quoted as reported by Bloomberg (based on a Trading Day from 9:30 a.m. (New York City time) to 4:02 p.m. (New York City time)), (b) if OTCQB or OTCQX is not a Trading Market, the volume weighted average price of the Common Stock for such date (or the nearest preceding date) on OTCQB or OTCQX as applicable, (c) if the Common Stock is not then listed or quoted for trading on OTCQB or OTCQX and if prices for the Common Stock are then reported on The Pink Open Market (or a similar organization or agency succeeding to its functions of reporting prices), the most recent bid price per share of the Common Stock so reported, or (d) in all other cases, the fair market value of a share of Common Stock as determined by an independent appraiser selected in good faith by the Purchasers of a majority in interest of the Securities then outstanding and reasonably acceptable to the Company, the fees and expenses of which shall be paid by the Company.
Notwithstanding anything herein to the contrary, on the Termination Date, this Warrant shall be automatically exercised via cashless exercise pursuant to this Section 2(c).
d) Mechanics of Exercise.
i. Delivery of Warrant Shares Upon Exercise. The Company shall cause the Warrant Shares purchased hereunder to be transmitted by the Transfer Agent to the Holder by crediting the account of the Holder’s or its designee’s balance account with The Depository Trust Company through its Deposit or Withdrawal at Custodian system (“DWAC”) if the Company is then a participant in such system and either (A) there is an effective registration statement permitting the issuance of the Warrant Shares to or resale of the Warrant Shares by the Holder or (B) the Warrant Shares are eligible for resale by the Holder without volume or manner-of-sale limitations pursuant to Rule 144 (assuming cashless exercise of the Warrants), and otherwise by physical delivery of a certificate, registered in the Company’s share register in the name of the Holder or its designee, for the number of Warrant Shares to which the Holder is entitled pursuant to such exercise to the address specified by the Holder in the Notice of Exercise by the date that is the earliest of (i) two (2) Trading Days after the delivery to the Company of the Notice of Exercise, (ii) one (1) Trading Day after delivery of the aggregate Exercise Price to the Company and (iii) the number of Trading Days comprising the Standard Settlement Period after the delivery to the Company of the Notice of Exercise (such date, the “Warrant Share Delivery Date”). Upon delivery of the Notice of Exercise, the Holder shall be deemed for all corporate purposes to have become the holder of record of the Warrant Shares with respect to which this Warrant has been exercised, irrespective of the date of delivery of the Warrant Shares, provided that payment of the aggregate Exercise Price (other than in the case of a cashless exercise) is received within the earlier of (i) two (2) Trading Days and (ii) the number of Trading Days comprising the Standard Settlement Period following delivery of the Notice of Exercise. If the Company fails for any reason to deliver to the Holder the Warrant Shares subject to a Notice of Exercise by the Warrant Share Delivery Date, the Company shall pay to the Holder, in cash, as liquidated damages and not as a penalty, for each $1,000 of Warrant Shares subject to such exercise (based on the VWAP of the Common Stock on the date of the applicable Notice of Exercise), $10 per Trading Day (increasing to $20 per Trading Day on the third Trading Day after the Warrant Share Delivery Date) for each Trading Day after such Warrant Share Delivery Date until such Warrant Shares are delivered or Holder rescinds such exercise. The Company agrees to maintain a transfer agent that is a participant in the FAST program so long as this Warrant remains outstanding and exercisable. As used herein, “Standard Settlement Period” means the standard settlement period, expressed in a number of Trading Days, on the Company’s primary Trading Market with respect to the Common Stock as in effect on the date of delivery of the Notice of Exercise.
ii. Delivery of New Warrants Upon Exercise. If this Warrant shall have been exercised in part, the Company shall, at the request of a Holder and upon surrender of this Warrant certificate, at the time of delivery of the Warrant Shares, deliver to the Holder a new Warrant evidencing the rights of the Holder to purchase the unpurchased Warrant Shares called for by this Warrant, which new Warrant shall in all other respects be identical with this Warrant.
iii. Rescission Rights. If the Company fails to cause the Transfer Agent to transmit to the Holder the Warrant Shares pursuant to Section 2(d)(i) by the Warrant Share Delivery Date, then the Holder will have the right to rescind such exercise.
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iv. Compensation for Buy-In on Failure to Timely Deliver Warrant Shares Upon Exercise. In addition to any other rights available to the Holder, if the Company fails to cause the Transfer Agent to transmit to the Holder the Warrant Shares in accordance with the provisions of Section 2(d)(i) above pursuant to an exercise on or before the Warrant Share Delivery Date, and if after such date the Holder is required by its broker to purchase (in an open market transaction or otherwise) or the Holder’s brokerage firm otherwise purchases, shares of Common Stock to deliver in satisfaction of a sale by the Holder of the Warrant Shares which the Holder anticipated receiving upon such exercise (a “Buy-In”), then the Company shall (A) pay in cash to the Holder the amount, if any, by which (x) the Holder’s total purchase price (including brokerage commissions, if any) for the shares of Common Stock so purchased exceeds (y) the amount obtained by multiplying (1) the number of Warrant Shares that the Company was required to deliver to the Holder in connection with the exercise at issue times (2) the price at which the sell order giving rise to such purchase obligation was executed, and (B) at the option of the Holder, either reinstate the portion of the Warrant and equivalent number of Warrant Shares for which such exercise was not honored (in which case such exercise shall be deemed rescinded) or deliver to the Holder the number of shares of Common Stock that would have been issued had the Company timely complied with its exercise and delivery obligations hereunder. For example, if the Holder purchases Common Stock having a total purchase price of $11,000 to cover a Buy-In with respect to an attempted exercise of shares of Common Stock with an aggregate sale price giving rise to such purchase obligation of $10,000, under clause (A) of the immediately preceding sentence the Company shall be required to pay the Holder $1,000. The Holder shall provide the Company written notice indicating the amounts payable to the Holder in respect of the Buy-In and, upon request of the Company, evidence of the amount of such loss. Nothing herein shall limit a Holder’s right to pursue any other remedies available to it hereunder, at law or in equity including, without limitation, a decree of specific performance and/or injunctive relief with respect to the Company’s failure to timely deliver shares of Common Stock upon exercise of the Warrant as required pursuant to the terms hereof.
v. No Fractional Shares or Scrip. No fractional shares or scrip representing fractional shares shall be issued upon the exercise of this Warrant. As to any fraction of a share which the Holder would otherwise be entitled to purchase upon such exercise, the Company shall, at its election, either pay a cash adjustment in respect of such final fraction in an amount equal to such fraction multiplied by the Exercise Price or round up to the next whole share.
vi. Charges, Taxes and Expenses. Issuance of Warrant Shares shall be made without charge to the Holder for any issue or transfer tax or other incidental expense in respect of the issuance of such Warrant Shares, all of which taxes and expenses shall be paid by the Company, and such Warrant Shares shall be issued in the name of the Holder or in such name or names as may be directed by the Holder; provided, however, that, in the event that Warrant Shares are to be issued in a name other than the name of the Holder, this Warrant when surrendered for exercise shall be accompanied by the Assignment Form attached hereto duly executed by the Holder and the Company may require, as a condition thereto, the payment of a sum sufficient to reimburse it for any transfer tax incidental thereto. The Company shall pay all Transfer Agent fees required for same-day processing of any Notice of Exercise and all fees to the Depository Trust Company (or another established clearing corporation performing similar functions) required for same-day electronic delivery of the Warrant Shares.
vii. Closing of Books. The Company will not close its stockholder books or records in any manner which prevents the timely exercise of this Warrant, pursuant to the terms hereof.
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e) Holder’s Exercise Limitations. The Company shall not effect any exercise of this Warrant, and a Holder shall not have the right to exercise any portion of this Warrant, pursuant to Section 2 or otherwise, to the extent that after giving effect to such issuance after exercise as set forth on the applicable Notice of Exercise, the Holder (together with the Holder’s Affiliates, and any other Persons acting as a group together with the Holder or any of the Holder’s Affiliates (such Persons, “Attribution Parties”)), would beneficially own in excess of the Beneficial Ownership Limitation (as defined below). For purposes of the foregoing sentence, the number of shares of Common Stock beneficially owned by the Holder and its Affiliates and Attribution Parties shall include the number of shares of Common Stock issuable upon exercise of this Warrant with respect to which such determination is being made, but shall exclude the number of shares of Common Stock which would be issuable upon (i) exercise of the remaining, nonexercised portion of this Warrant beneficially owned by the Holder or any of its Affiliates or Attribution Parties and (ii) exercise or conversion of the unexercised or nonconverted portion of any other securities of the Company (including, without limitation, any other Common Stock Equivalents) subject to a limitation on conversion or exercise analogous to the limitation contained herein beneficially owned by the Holder or any of its Affiliates or Attribution Parties. Except as set forth in the preceding sentence, for purposes of this Section 2(e), beneficial ownership shall be calculated in accordance with Section 13(d) of the Exchange Act and the rules and regulations promulgated thereunder, it being acknowledged by the Holder that the Company is not representing to the Holder that such calculation is in compliance with Section 13(d) of the Exchange Act and the Holder is solely responsible for any schedules required to be filed in accordance therewith. To the extent that the limitation contained in this Section 2(e) applies, the determination of whether this Warrant is exercisable (in relation to other securities owned by the Holder together with any Affiliates and Attribution Parties) and of which portion of this Warrant is exercisable shall be in the sole discretion of the Holder, and the submission of a Notice of Exercise shall be deemed to be the Holder’s determination of whether this Warrant is exercisable (in relation to other securities owned by the Holder together with any Affiliates and Attribution Parties) and of which portion of this Warrant is exercisable, in each case subject to the Beneficial Ownership Limitation, and the Company shall have no obligation to verify or confirm the accuracy of such determination. In addition, a determination as to any group status as contemplated above shall be determined in accordance with Section 13(d) of the Exchange Act and the rules and regulations promulgated thereunder. For purposes of this Section 2(e), in determining the number of outstanding shares of Common Stock, a Holder may rely on the number of outstanding shares of Common Stock as reflected in (A) the Company’s most recent periodic or annual report filed with the Commission, as the case may be, (B) a more recent public announcement by the Company or (C) a more recent written notice by the Company or the Transfer Agent setting forth the number of shares of Common Stock outstanding. Upon the written or oral request of a Holder, the Company shall within one Trading Day confirm orally and in writing to the Holder the number of shares of Common Stock then outstanding. In any case, the number of outstanding shares of Common Stock shall be determined after giving effect to the conversion or exercise of securities of the Company, including this Warrant, by the Holder or its Affiliates or Attribution Parties since the date as of which such number of outstanding shares of Common Stock was reported. The “Beneficial Ownership Limitation” shall be 4.99% of the number of shares of the Common Stock outstanding immediately after giving effect to the issuance of shares of Common Stock issuable upon exercise of this Warrant. The Holder, upon notice to the Company, may increase or decrease the Beneficial Ownership Limitation provisions of this Section 2(e), provided that the Beneficial Ownership Limitation in no event exceeds 9.99% of the number of shares of the Common Stock outstanding immediately after giving effect to the issuance of shares of Common Stock upon exercise of this Warrant held by the Holder and the provisions of this Section 2(e) shall continue to apply. Any increase in the Beneficial Ownership Limitation will not be effective until the 61st day after such notice is delivered to the Company. The provisions of this paragraph shall be construed and implemented in a manner otherwise than in strict conformity with the terms of this Section 2(e) to correct this paragraph (or any portion hereof) which may be defective or inconsistent with the intended Beneficial Ownership Limitation herein contained or to make changes or supplements necessary or desirable to properly give effect to such limitation. The limitations contained in this paragraph shall apply to a successor holder of this Warrant.
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Section 3. Certain Adjustments.
a) Stock Dividends and Splits. If the Company, at any time while this Warrant is outstanding: (i) pays a stock dividend or otherwise makes a distribution or distributions on shares of its Common Stock or any other equity or equity equivalent securities payable in shares of Common Stock (which, for avoidance of doubt, shall not include any shares of Common Stock issued by the Company upon exercise of this Warrant), (ii) subdivides outstanding shares of Common Stock into a larger number of shares, (iii) combines (including by way of reverse stock split) outstanding shares of Common Stock into a smaller number of shares, or (iv) issues by reclassification of shares of the Common Stock any shares of capital stock of the Company, then in each case the Exercise Price shall be multiplied by a fraction of which the numerator shall be the number of shares of Common Stock (excluding treasury shares, if any) outstanding immediately before such event and of which the denominator shall be the number of shares of Common Stock outstanding immediately after such event, and the number of shares issuable upon exercise of this Warrant shall be proportionately adjusted such that the aggregate Exercise Price of this Warrant shall remain unchanged. Any adjustment made pursuant to this Section 3(a) shall become effective immediately after the record date for the determination of stockholders entitled to receive such dividend or distribution and shall become effective immediately after the effective date in the case of a subdivision, combination or re-classification.
b) Subsequent Equity Sales. If the Company or any Subsidiary thereof, as applicable, at any time while this Warrant is outstanding, shall sell, enter into an agreement to sell, or grant any option to purchase, or sell or grant any right to reprice, or otherwise dispose of or issue (or announce any offer, sale, grant or any option to purchase or other disposition) any Common Stock or Common Stock Equivalents, at an effective price per share less than the Exercise Price then in effect (such lower price, the “Base Share Price” and such issuances collectively, a “Dilutive Issuance”) (it being understood and agreed that if the holder of the Common Stock or Common Stock Equivalents so issued shall at any time, whether by operation of purchase price adjustments, reset provisions, floating conversion, exercise or exchange prices or otherwise, or due to warrants, options or rights per share which are issued in connection with such issuance, be entitled to receive shares of Common Stock at an effective price per share that is less than the Exercise Price, such issuance shall be deemed to have occurred for less than the Exercise Price on such date of the Dilutive Issuance at such effective price), then simultaneously with the consummation (or, if earlier, the announcement) of each Dilutive Issuance the Exercise Price shall be reduced and only reduced to equal the Base Share Price and the number of Warrant Shares issuable hereunder shall be increased such that the aggregate Exercise Price payable hereunder, after taking into account the decrease in the Exercise Price, shall be equal to the aggregate Exercise Price prior to such adjustment. Notwithstanding the foregoing, no adjustments shall be made, paid or issued under this Section 3(b) in respect of an Exempt Issuance. The Company shall notify the Holder, in writing, no later than the Trading Day following the issuance or deemed issuance of any Common Stock or Common Stock Equivalents subject to this Section 3(b), indicating therein the applicable issuance price, or applicable reset price, exchange price, conversion price and other pricing terms (such notice, the “Dilutive Issuance Notice”). For purposes of clarification, whether or not the Company provides a Dilutive Issuance Notice pursuant to this Section 3(b), upon the occurrence of any Dilutive Issuance, the Holder is entitled to receive a number of Warrant Shares based upon the Base Share Price regardless of whether the Holder accurately refers to the Base Share Price in the Notice of Exercise. If the Company enters into a Variable Rate Transaction, the Company shall be deemed to have issued Common Stock or Common Stock Equivalents at the lowest possible price, conversion price or exercise price at which such securities may be issued, converted or exercised.
c) Subsequent Rights Offerings. During such time as this Warrant is outstanding, if the Company shall declare or make any dividend or other distribution of its assets (or rights to acquire its assets) to holders of shares of Common Stock, by way of return of capital or otherwise (including, without limitation, any distribution of cash, stock or other securities, property or options by way of a dividend, spin off, reclassification, corporate rearrangement, scheme of arrangement or other similar transaction) (a “Distribution”), at any time after the issuance of this Warrant, then, in each such case, the Holder shall be entitled to participate in such Distribution to the same extent that the Holder would have participated therein if the Holder had held the number of shares of Common Stock acquirable upon complete exercise of this Warrant (without regard to any limitations on exercise hereof, including without limitation, the Beneficial Ownership Limitation) immediately before the date of which a record is taken for such Distribution, or, if no such record is taken, the date as of which the record holders of shares of Common Stock are to be determined for the participation in such Distribution (provided, however, that, to the extent that the Holder’s right to participate in any such Distribution would result in the Holder exceeding the Beneficial Ownership Limitation, then the Holder shall not be entitled to participate in such Distribution to such extent (or in the beneficial ownership of any shares of Common Stock as a result of such Distribution to such extent) and the portion of such Distribution shall be held in abeyance for the benefit of the Holder until such time, if ever, as its right thereto would not result in the Holder exceeding the Beneficial Ownership Limitation).
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d) Fundamental Transaction. If, at any time while this Warrant is outstanding, (i) the Company, directly or indirectly, in one or more related transactions effects any merger or consolidation of the Company with or into another Person, (ii) the Company (or any Subsidiary), directly or indirectly, effects any sale, lease, license, assignment, transfer, conveyance or other disposition of all or substantially all of its assets in one or a series of related transactions, (iii) any, direct or indirect, purchase offer, tender offer or exchange offer (whether by the Company or another Person) is completed pursuant to which holders of Common Stock are permitted to sell, tender or exchange their shares for other securities, cash or property and has been accepted by the holders of 50% or more of the outstanding Common Stock or 50% or more of the voting power of the common equity of the Company, (iv) the Company, directly or indirectly, in one or more related transactions effects any reclassification, reorganization or recapitalization of the Common Stock or any compulsory share exchange pursuant to which the Common Stock is effectively converted into or exchanged for other securities, cash or property, or (v) the Company, directly or indirectly, in one or more related transactions consummates a stock or share purchase agreement or other business combination (including, without limitation, a reorganization, recapitalization, spin-off, merger or scheme of arrangement) with another Person or group of Persons whereby such other Person or group acquires 50% or more of the outstanding shares of Common Stock or 50% or more of the voting power of the common equity of the Company (each a “Fundamental Transaction”), then, upon any subsequent exercise of this Warrant, the Holder shall have the right to receive, for each Warrant Share that would have been issuable upon such exercise immediately prior to the occurrence of such Fundamental Transaction, at the option of the Holder (without regard to any limitation in Section 2(e) on the exercise of this Warrant), the number of shares of Common Stock of the successor or acquiring corporation or of the Company, if it is the surviving corporation, and any additional consideration (the “Alternate Consideration”) receivable as a result of such Fundamental Transaction by a holder of the number of shares of Common Stock for which this Warrant is exercisable immediately prior to such Fundamental Transaction (without regard to any limitation in Section 2(e) on the exercise of this Warrant). For purposes of any such exercise, the determination of the Exercise Price shall be appropriately adjusted to apply to such Alternate Consideration based on the amount of Alternate Consideration issuable in respect of one share of Common Stock in such Fundamental Transaction, and the Company shall apportion the Exercise Price among the Alternate Consideration in a reasonable manner reflecting the relative value of any different components of the Alternate Consideration. If holders of Common Stock are given any choice as to the securities, cash or property to be received in a Fundamental Transaction, then the Holder shall be given the same choice as to the Alternate Consideration it receives upon any exercise of this Warrant following such Fundamental Transaction. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary, in the event of a Fundamental Transaction, the Company or any Successor Entity (as defined below) shall, at the Holder’s option, exercisable at any time concurrently with, or within 30 days after, the consummation of the Fundamental Transaction (or, if later, the date of the public announcement of the applicable Fundamental Transaction), purchase this Warrant from the Holder by paying to the Holder an amount of cash equal to the Black Scholes Value (as defined below) of the remaining unexercised portion of this Warrant on the date of the consummation of such Fundamental Transaction; provided, however, that, if the Fundamental Transaction is not within the Company’s control, including not approved by the Company’s Board of Directors, the Holder shall only be entitled to receive from the Company or any Successor Entity the same type or form of consideration (and in the same proportion), at the Black Scholes Value of the unexercised portion of this Warrant, that is being offered and paid to the holders of Common Stock of the Company in connection with the Fundamental Transaction, whether that consideration be in the form of cash, stock or any combination thereof, or whether the holders of Common Stock are given the choice to receive from among alternative forms of consideration in connection with the Fundamental Transaction; provided, further, that if holders of Common Stock of the Company are not offered or paid any consideration in such Fundamental Transaction, such holders of Common Stock will be deemed to have received common stock of the Successor Entity (which Entity may be the Company following such Fundamental Transaction) in such Fundamental Transaction. “Black Scholes Value” means the value of this Warrant based on the Black-Scholes Option Pricing Model obtained from the “OV” function on Bloomberg determined as of the day of consummation of the applicable Fundamental Transaction for pricing purposes and reflecting (A) a risk-free interest rate corresponding to the U.S. Treasury rate for a period equal to the time between the date of the public announcement of the applicable contemplated Fundamental Transaction and the Termination Date, (B) an expected volatility equal to the greater of 100% and the 100 day volatility obtained from the HVT function on Bloomberg (determined utilizing a 365 day annualization factor) as of the Trading Day immediately following the public announcement of the applicable contemplated Fundamental Transaction, (C) the underlying price per share used in such calculation shall be the greater of (i) the sum of the price per share being offered in cash, if any, plus the value of any non-cash consideration, if any, being offered in such Fundamental Transaction and (ii) the highest VWAP during the period beginning on the Trading Day immediately preceding the public announcement of the applicable contemplated Fundamental Transaction (or the consummation of the applicable Fundamental Transaction, if earlier) and ending on the Trading Day of the Holder’s request pursuant to this Section 3(e), (D) a remaining option time equal to the time between the date of the public announcement of the applicable contemplated Fundamental Transaction and the Termination Date, and (E) a zero cost of borrow. The payment of the Black Scholes Value will be made by wire transfer of immediately available funds (or such other consideration) within the later of (i) five Business Days of the Holder’s election and (ii) the date of consummation of the Fundamental Transaction. The Company shall cause any successor entity in a Fundamental Transaction in which the Company is not the survivor (the “Successor Entity”) to assume in writing all of the obligations of the Company under this Warrant and the other Transaction Documents in accordance with the provisions of this Section 3(e) pursuant to written agreements in form and substance reasonably satisfactory to the Holder and approved by the Holder (without unreasonable delay) prior to such Fundamental Transaction and shall, at the option of the Holder, deliver to the Holder in exchange for this Warrant a security of the Successor Entity evidenced by a written instrument substantially similar in form and substance to this Warrant which is exercisable for a corresponding number of shares of capital stock of such Successor Entity (or its parent entity) equivalent to the shares of Common Stock acquirable and receivable upon exercise of this Warrant (without regard to any limitations on the exercise of this Warrant) prior to such Fundamental Transaction, and with an exercise price which applies the exercise price hereunder to such shares of capital stock (but taking into account the relative value of the shares of Common Stock pursuant to such Fundamental Transaction and the value of such shares of capital stock, such number of shares of capital stock and such exercise price being for the purpose of protecting the economic value of this Warrant immediately prior to the consummation of such Fundamental Transaction), and which is reasonably satisfactory in form and substance to the Holder. Upon the occurrence of any such Fundamental Transaction, the Successor Entity shall be added to the term “Company” under this Warrant (so that from and after the occurrence or consummation of such Fundamental Transaction, each and every provision of this Warrant and the other Transaction Documents referring to the “Company” shall refer instead to each of the Company and the Successor Entity or Successor Entities, jointly and severally), and the Successor Entity or Successor Entities, jointly and severally with the Company, may exercise every right and power of the Company prior thereto and the Successor Entity or Successor Entities shall assume all of the obligations of the Company prior thereto under this Warrant and the other Transaction Documents with the same effect as if the Company and such Successor Entity or Successor Entities, jointly and severally, had been named as the Company herein. For the avoidance of doubt, the Holder shall be entitled to the benefits of the provisions of this Section 3(e) regardless of (i) whether the Company has sufficient authorized shares of Common Stock for the issuance of Warrant Shares and/or (ii) whether a Fundamental Transaction occurs prior to the Initial Exercise Date.
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e) Calculations. All calculations under this Section 3 shall be made to the nearest cent or the nearest 1/100th of a share, as the case may be. For purposes of this Section 3, the number of shares of Common Stock deemed to be issued and outstanding as of a given date shall be the sum of the number of shares of Common Stock (excluding treasury shares, if any) issued and outstanding.
f) Notice to Holder.
i. Adjustment to Exercise Price. Whenever the Exercise Price is adjusted pursuant to any provision of this Section 3, the Company shall promptly deliver to the Holder by email a notice setting forth the Exercise Price after such adjustment and any resulting adjustment to the number of Warrant Shares and setting forth a brief statement of the facts requiring such adjustment.
ii. Notice to Allow Exercise by Holder. If (A) the Company shall declare a dividend (or any other distribution in whatever form) on the Common Stock, (B) the Company shall declare a special nonrecurring cash dividend on or a redemption of the Common Stock, (C) the Company shall authorize the granting to all holders of the Common Stock rights or warrants to subscribe for or purchase any shares of capital stock of any class or of any rights, (D) the approval of any stockholders of the Company shall be required in connection with any reclassification of the Common Stock, any consolidation or merger to which the Company (or any of its Subsidiaries) is a party, any sale or transfer of all or substantially all of its assets, or any compulsory share exchange whereby the Common Stock is converted into other securities, cash or property, or (E) the Company shall authorize the voluntary or involuntary dissolution, liquidation or winding up of the affairs of the Company, then, in each case, the Company shall cause to be delivered by email to the Holder at its last email address as it shall appear upon the Warrant Register of the Company, at least 20 calendar days prior to the applicable record or effective date hereinafter specified, a notice stating (x) the date on which a record is to be taken for the purpose of such dividend, distribution, redemption, rights or warrants, or if a record is not to be taken, the date as of which the holders of the Common Stock of record to be entitled to such dividend, distributions, redemption, rights or warrants are to be determined or (y) the date on which such reclassification, consolidation, merger, sale, transfer or share exchange is expected to become effective or close, and the date as of which it is expected that holders of the Common Stock of record shall be entitled to exchange their shares of the Common Stock for securities, cash or other property deliverable upon such reclassification, consolidation, merger, sale, transfer or share exchange; provided that the failure to deliver such notice or any defect therein or in the delivery thereof shall not affect the validity of the corporate action required to be specified in such notice. To the extent that any notice provided in this Warrant constitutes, or contains, material, non-public information regarding the Company or any of the Subsidiaries, the Company shall simultaneously file such notice with the Commission pursuant to a Current Report on Form 8-K. The Holder shall remain entitled to exercise this Warrant during the period commencing on the date of such notice to the effective date of the event triggering such notice except as may otherwise be expressly set forth herein.
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Section 4. Transfer of Warrant.
a) Transferability. Subject to compliance with any applicable securities laws and the conditions set forth in Section 4(d) hereof, this Warrant and all rights hereunder (including, without limitation, any registration rights) are transferable, in whole or in part, upon surrender of this Warrant at the principal office of the Company or its designated agent, together with a written assignment of this Warrant substantially in the form attached hereto duly executed by the Holder or its agent or attorney and funds sufficient to pay any transfer taxes payable upon the making of such transfer. Upon such surrender and, if required, such payment, the Company shall execute and deliver a new Warrant or Warrants in the name of the assignee or assignees, as applicable, and in the denomination or denominations specified in such instrument of assignment, and shall issue to the assignor a new Warrant evidencing the portion of this Warrant not so assigned, and this Warrant shall promptly be cancelled. Notwithstanding anything herein to the contrary, the Holder shall not be required to physically surrender this Warrant to the Company unless the Holder has assigned this Warrant in full, in which case, the Holder shall surrender this Warrant to the Company within three (3) Trading Days of the date on which the Holder delivers an assignment form to the Company assigning this Warrant in full. The Warrant, if properly assigned in accordance herewith, may be exercised by a new holder for the purchase of Warrant Shares without having a new Warrant issued.
b) New Warrants. This Warrant may be divided or combined with other Warrants upon presentation hereof at the aforesaid office of the Company, together with a written notice specifying the names and denominations in which new Warrants are to be issued, signed by the Holder or its agent or attorney. Subject to compliance with Section 4(a), as to any transfer which may be involved in such division or combination, the Company shall execute and deliver a new Warrant or Warrants in exchange for the Warrant or Warrants to be divided or combined in accordance with such notice. All Warrants issued on transfers or exchanges shall be dated the original Issue Date and shall be identical with this Warrant except as to the number of Warrant Shares issuable pursuant thereto.
c) Warrant Register. The Company shall register this Warrant, upon records to be maintained by the Company for that purpose (the “Warrant Register”), in the name of the record Holder hereof from time to time. The Company may deem and treat the registered Holder of this Warrant as the absolute owner hereof for the purpose of any exercise hereof or any distribution to the Holder, and for all other purposes, absent actual notice to the contrary.
d) Transfer Restrictions. If, at the time of the surrender of this Warrant in connection with any transfer of this Warrant, the transfer of this Warrant shall not be either (i) registered pursuant to an effective registration statement under the Securities Act and under applicable state securities or blue sky laws or (ii) eligible for resale without volume or manner-of-sale restrictions or current public information requirements pursuant to Rule 144, the Company may require, as a condition of allowing such transfer, that the Holder or transferee of this Warrant, as the case may be, comply with the provisions of the Letter Agreement.
e) Representation by the Holder. The Holder, by the acceptance hereof, represents and warrants that it is acquiring this Warrant and, upon any exercise hereof, will acquire the Warrant Shares issuable upon such exercise, for its own account and not with a view to or for distributing or reselling such Warrant Shares or any part thereof in violation of the Securities Act or any applicable state securities law, except pursuant to sales registered or exempted under the Securities Act.
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Section 5. Miscellaneous.
a) No Rights as Stockholder Until Exercise; No Settlement in Cash. This Warrant does not entitle the Holder to any voting rights, dividends or other rights as a stockholder of the Company prior to the exercise hereof as set forth in Section 2(d)(i), except as expressly set forth in Section 3. Without limiting any rights of a Holder to receive Warrant Shares on a “cashless exercise” pursuant to Section 2(c) or to receive cash payments pursuant to Section 2(d)(i) and Section 2(d)(iv) herein, in no event shall the Company be required to net cash settle an exercise of this Warrant.
b) Loss, Theft, Destruction or Mutilation of Warrant. The Company covenants that upon receipt by the Company of evidence reasonably satisfactory to it of the loss, theft, destruction or mutilation of this Warrant or any stock certificate relating to the Warrant Shares, and in case of loss, theft or destruction, of indemnity or security reasonably satisfactory to it (which, in the case of the Warrant, shall not include the posting of any bond), and upon surrender and cancellation of such Warrant or stock certificate, if mutilated, the Company will make and deliver a new Warrant or stock certificate of like tenor and dated as of such cancellation, in lieu of such Warrant or stock certificate.
c) Saturdays, Sundays, Holidays, etc. If the last or appointed day for the taking of any action or the expiration of any right required or granted herein shall not be a Business Day, then such action may be taken or such right may be exercised on the next succeeding Business Day.
d) Authorized Shares.
The Company covenants that, during the period the Warrant is outstanding, it will reserve from its authorized and unissued Common Stock a sufficient number of shares to provide for the issuance of the Warrant Shares upon the exercise of any purchase rights under this Warrant. The Company further covenants that its issuance of this Warrant shall constitute full authority to its officers who are charged with the duty of issuing the necessary Warrant Shares upon the exercise of the purchase rights under this Warrant. The Company will take all such reasonable action as may be necessary to assure that such Warrant Shares may be issued as provided herein without violation of any applicable law or regulation, or of any requirements of the Trading Market upon which the Common Stock may be listed. The Company covenants that all Warrant Shares which may be issued upon the exercise of the purchase rights represented by this Warrant will, upon exercise of the purchase rights represented by this Warrant and payment for such Warrant Shares in accordance herewith, be duly authorized, validly issued, fully paid and nonassessable and free from all taxes, liens and charges created by the Company in respect of the issue thereof (other than taxes in respect of any transfer occurring contemporaneously with such issue).
Except and to the extent as waived or consented to by the Holder, the Company shall not by any action, including, without limitation, amending its certificate of incorporation or through any reorganization, transfer of assets, consolidation, merger, dissolution, issue or sale of securities or any other voluntary action, avoid or seek to avoid the observance or performance of any of the terms of this Warrant, but will at all times in good faith assist in the carrying out of all such terms and in the taking of all such actions as may be necessary or appropriate to protect the rights of Holder as set forth in this Warrant against impairment. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, the Company will (i) not increase the par value of any Warrant Shares above the amount payable therefor upon such exercise immediately prior to such increase in par value, (ii) take all such action as may be necessary or appropriate in order that the Company may validly and legally issue fully paid and nonassessable Warrant Shares upon the exercise of this Warrant and (iii) use commercially reasonable efforts to obtain all such authorizations, exemptions or consents from any public regulatory body having jurisdiction thereof, as may be, necessary to enable the Company to perform its obligations under this Warrant.
Before taking any action which would result in an adjustment in the number of Warrant Shares for which this Warrant is exercisable or in the Exercise Price, the Company shall obtain all such authorizations or exemptions thereof, or consents thereto, as may be necessary from any public regulatory body or bodies having jurisdiction thereof.
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e) Jurisdiction. All questions concerning the construction, validity, enforcement and interpretation of this Warrant shall be governed by and construed and enforced in accordance with the internal laws of the State of New York, without regard to the principles of conflicts of law thereof. Each party agrees that all legal proceedings concerning the interpretations, enforcement and defense of the transactions contemplated by this Agreement and the Letter Agreement (whether brought against a party hereto or its respective affiliates, directors, officers, shareholders, partners, members, employees or agents) shall be commenced exclusively in the state and federal courts sitting in the City of New York. Each party hereby irrevocably submits to the exclusive jurisdiction of the state and federal courts sitting in the City of New York, Borough of Manhattan for the adjudication of any dispute hereunder or in connection herewith or with any transaction contemplated hereby or discussed herein (including with respect to the enforcement of any of the Transaction Documents), and hereby irrevocably waives, and agrees not to assert in any Action or Proceeding, any claim that it is not personally subject to the jurisdiction of any such court, that such Action or Proceeding is improper or is an inconvenient venue for such Proceeding. Each party hereby irrevocably waives personal service of process and consents to process being served in any such Action or Proceeding by mailing a copy thereof via registered or certified mail or overnight delivery (with evidence of delivery) to such party at the address in effect for notices to it under this Agreement and agrees that such service shall constitute good and sufficient service of process and notice thereof. Nothing contained herein shall be deemed to limit in any way any right to serve process in any other manner permitted by law. “Proceeding” means an action, claim, suit, investigation or proceeding (including, without limitation, an informal investigation or partial proceeding, such as a deposition), whether commenced or threatened. “Action” means any action, suit, inquiry, notice of violation, proceeding or investigation pending or, threatened against or affecting the Company, any Company subsidiary or any of their respective properties before or by any court, arbitrator, governmental or administrative agency or regulatory authority (federal, state, county, local or foreign).
f) Restrictions. The Holder acknowledges that the Warrant Shares acquired upon the exercise of this Warrant, if not registered, and the Holder does not utilize cashless exercise, will have restrictions upon resale imposed by state and federal securities laws.
g) Nonwaiver and Expenses. No course of dealing or any delay or failure to exercise any right hereunder on the part of Holder shall operate as a waiver of such right or otherwise prejudice the Holder’s rights, powers or remedies. Without limiting any other provision of this Warrant or the Letter Agreement, if the Company willfully and knowingly fails to comply with any provision of this Warrant, which results in any material damages to the Holder, the Company shall pay to the Holder such amounts as shall be sufficient to cover any costs and expenses including, but not limited to, reasonable attorneys’ fees, including those of appellate proceedings, incurred by the Holder in collecting any amounts due pursuant hereto or in otherwise enforcing any of its rights, powers or remedies hereunder.
h) Notices. Any notice, request or other document required or permitted to be given or delivered to the Holder by the Company shall be delivered in accordance with the notice provisions of the Letter Agreement.
i) Limitation of Liability. No provision hereof, in the absence of any affirmative action by the Holder to exercise this Warrant to purchase Warrant Shares, and no enumeration herein of the rights or privileges of the Holder, shall give rise to any liability of the Holder for the purchase price of any Common Stock or as a stockholder of the Company, whether such liability is asserted by the Company or by creditors of the Company.
j) Remedies. The Holder, in addition to being entitled to exercise all rights granted by law, including recovery of damages, will be entitled to specific performance of its rights under this Warrant. The Company agrees that monetary damages would not be adequate compensation for any loss incurred by reason of a breach by it of the provisions of this Warrant and hereby agrees to waive and not to assert the defense in any action for specific performance that a remedy at law would be adequate.
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k) Successors and Assigns. Subject to applicable securities laws, this Warrant and the rights and obligations evidenced hereby shall inure to the benefit of and be binding upon the successors and permitted assigns of the Company and the successors and permitted assigns of Holder. The provisions of this Warrant are intended to be for the benefit of any Holder from time to time of this Warrant and shall be enforceable by the Holder or holder of Warrant Shares.
l) Amendment. This Warrant may be modified or amended or the provisions hereof waived with the written consent of the Company and the Holder.
m) Severability. Wherever possible, each provision of this Warrant shall be interpreted in such manner as to be effective and valid under applicable law, but if any provision of this Warrant shall be prohibited by or invalid under applicable law, such provision shall be ineffective to the extent of such prohibition or invalidity, without invalidating the remainder of such provisions or the remaining provisions of this Warrant.
n) Headings. The headings used in this Warrant are for the convenience of reference only and shall not, for any purpose, be deemed a part of this Warrant.
********************
(Signature Page Follows)
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IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the Company has caused this Warrant to be executed by its officer thereunto duly authorized as of the date first above indicated.
CREATD, INC. | |||
By: | |||
Name: | Jeremy Frommer | ||
Title: | CEO |
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NOTICE OF EXERCISE
To: CREATD, INC.
(1) The undersigned hereby elects to purchase ________ Warrant Shares of the Company pursuant to the terms of the attached Warrant (only if exercised in full), and tenders herewith payment of the exercise price in full, together with all applicable transfer taxes, if any.
(2) Payment shall take the form of (check applicable box):
[ ] in lawful money of the United States; or
[ ] if permitted the cancellation of such number of Warrant Shares as is necessary, in accordance with the formula set forth in subsection 2(c), to exercise this Warrant with respect to the maximum number of Warrant Shares purchasable pursuant to the cashless exercise procedure set forth in subsection 2(c).
(3) Please issue said Warrant Shares in the name of the undersigned or in such other name as is specified below:
_______________________________
The Warrant Shares shall be delivered to the following DWAC Account Number:
_______________________________
_______________________________
_______________________________
(4) Accredited Investor. The undersigned is an “accredited investor” as defined in Regulation D promulgated under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended.
[SIGNATURE OF HOLDER]
Name of Investing Entity: ________________________________________________________________________
Signature of Authorized Signatory of Investing Entity: _________________________________________________
Name of Authorized Signatory: ___________________________________________________________________
Title of Authorized Signatory: ____________________________________________________________________
Date: ________________________________________________________________________________________
EXHIBIT B
ASSIGNMENT FORM
(To assign the foregoing Warrant, execute this form and supply required information. Do not use this form to purchase shares.)
FOR VALUE RECEIVED, the foregoing Warrant and all rights evidenced thereby are hereby assigned to
Name: | ||
(Please Print) | ||
Address: | ||
|
(Please Print) | |
Phone Number: | ||
Email Address: | ||
Dated: _______________ __, ________ | ||
Holder’s Signature:_______________________ | ||
Holder’s Address:________________________ |
Exhibit 4.12
EXHIBIT A
NEITHER THIS SECURITY NOR THE SECURITIES INTO WHICH THIS SECURITY IS CONVERTIBLE HAVE BEEN REGISTERED WITH THE SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION OR THE SECURITIES COMMISSION OF ANY STATE IN RELIANCE UPON AN EXEMPTION FROM REGISTRATION UNDER THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933, AS AMENDED (THE “SECURITIES ACT”), AND, ACCORDINGLY, MAY NOT BE OFFERED OR SOLD EXCEPT PURSUANT TO AN EFFECTIVE REGISTRATION STATEMENT UNDER THE SECURITIES ACT OR PURSUANT TO AN AVAILABLE EXEMPTION FROM, OR IN A TRANSACTION NOT SUBJECT TO, THE REGISTRATION REQUIREMENTS OF THE SECURITIES ACT AND IN ACCORDANCE WITH APPLICABLE STATE SECURITIES LAWS. THIS SECURITY AND THE SECURITIES ISSUABLE UPON CONVERSION OF THIS SECURITY MAY BE PLEDGED IN CONNECTION WITH A BONA FIDE MARGIN ACCOUNT OR OTHER LOAN SECURED BY SUCH SECURITIES.
Original Issue Date: December 12, 2022
Original Conversion Price (subject to adjustment herein): $0.20
$750,000 |
SENIOR CONVERTIBLE DEBENTURE
DUE June 12, 2023
THIS SENIOR CONVERTIBLE DEBENTURE is one of a series of duly authorized and validly issued Senior Convertible Debentures of Creatd, Inc., a Nevada corporation (the “Company”), having its principal place of business at 419 Lafayette Street, 6th Floor, New York, New York 10003, designated as its Senior Convertible Debenture due June 12, 2023 (this debenture, the “Debenture” and, collectively with the other debentures of such series, the “Debentures”).
FOR VALUE RECEIVED, the Company promises to pay to Dorado Goose, LLC or its registered assigns (the “Holder”), or shall have paid pursuant to the terms hereunder, the principal sum of $750,000 on April 24, 2023 (the “Maturity Date”), which Maturity Date may be extended by the Company pursuant to Section 2(b), or such earlier date as this Debenture is required or permitted to be repaid as provided hereunder, to pay interest on the unpaid principal balance hereof at the rate of ten percent (10%)(the “Interest Rate”) per annum from the date hereof until the same becomes due and payable. This Debenture is subject to the following additional provisions:
Section 1. Definitions. For the purposes hereof, in addition to the terms defined elsewhere in this Debenture, (a) capitalized terms not otherwise defined herein shall have the meanings set forth in the Purchase Agreement and (b) the following terms shall have the following meanings:
“Alternate Consideration” shall have the meaning set forth in Section 5(d).
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“Bankruptcy Event” means any of the following events: (a) the Company or any Significant Subsidiary (as such term is defined in Rule 1-02(w) of Regulation S-X) thereof commences a case or other proceeding under any bankruptcy, reorganization, arrangement, adjustment of debt, relief of debtors, dissolution, insolvency or liquidation or similar law of any jurisdiction relating to the Company or any Significant Subsidiary thereof, (b) there is commenced against the Company or any Significant Subsidiary thereof any such case or proceeding that is not dismissed within 60 days after commencement, (c) the Company or any Significant Subsidiary thereof is adjudicated insolvent or bankrupt or any order of relief or other order approving any such case or proceeding is entered, (d) the Company or any Significant Subsidiary thereof suffers any appointment of any custodian or the like for it or any substantial part of its property that is not discharged or stayed within 60 calendar days after such appointment, (e) the Company or any Significant Subsidiary thereof makes a general assignment for the benefit of creditors, (f) the Company or any Significant Subsidiary thereof calls a meeting of its creditors with a view to arranging a composition, adjustment or restructuring of its debts, (g) the Company or any Significant Subsidiary thereof admits in writing that it is generally unable to pay its debts as they become due, or (h) the Company or any Significant Subsidiary thereof, by any act or failure to act, expressly indicates its consent to, approval of or acquiescence in any of the foregoing or takes any corporate or other action for the purpose of effecting any of the foregoing.
“Beneficial Ownership Limitation” shall have the meaning set forth in Section 4(d).
“Business Day” means any day other than Saturday, Sunday or other day on which commercial banks in The City of New York are authorized or required by law to remain closed; provided, however, for clarification, commercial banks shall not be deemed to be authorized or required by law to remain closed due to “stay at home”, “shelter-in-place”, “non-essential employee” or any other similar orders or restrictions or the closure of any physical branch locations at the direction of any governmental authority so long as the electronic funds transfer systems (including for wire transfers) of commercial banks in The City of New York are generally are open for use by customers on such day.
“Buy-In” shall have the meaning set forth in Section 4(c)(v).
“Change of Control Transaction” means the occurrence after the date hereof of any of (a) an acquisition after the date hereof by an individual or legal entity or “group” (as described in Rule 13d-5(b)(1) promulgated under the Exchange Act) of effective control (whether through legal or beneficial ownership of capital stock of the Company, by contract or otherwise) of in excess of 33% of the voting securities of the Company (other than by means of conversion or exercise of the Debentures and the Securities issued together with the Debentures), (b) the Company merges into or consolidates with any other Person, or any Person merges into or consolidates with the Company and, after giving effect to such transaction, the stockholders of the Company immediately prior to such transaction own less than 66% of the aggregate voting power of the Company or the successor entity of such transaction, (c) the Company (and all of its Subsidiaries, taken as a whole) sells or transfers all or substantially all of its assets to another Person and the stockholders of the Company immediately prior to such transaction own less than 66% of the aggregate voting power of the acquiring entity immediately after the transaction, (d) a replacement at one time or within a three year period of more than one-half of the members of the Board of Directors which is not approved by a majority of those individuals who are members of the Board of Directors on the Original Issue Date (or by those individuals who are serving as members of the Board of Directors on any date whose nomination to the Board of Directors was approved by a majority of the members of the Board of Directors who are members on the date hereof), or (e) the execution by the Company of an agreement to which the Company is a party or by which it is bound, providing for any of the events set forth in clauses (a) through (d) above.
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“Conversion” shall have the meaning ascribed to such term in Section 4.
“Conversion Date” shall have the meaning set forth in Section 4(a).
“Conversion Price” shall have the meaning set forth in Section 4(b).
“Conversion Schedule” means the Conversion Schedule in the form of w attached hereto.
“Conversion Shares” means, collectively, the shares of Common Stock issuable upon conversion of this Debenture in accordance with the terms hereof.
“Debenture Register” shall have the meaning set forth in Section 2(c).
“Effectiveness Period” shall have the meaning set forth in the Registration Rights Agreement.
“Equity Conditions” means, during the period in question, (a) the Company shall have duly honored all conversions and redemptions scheduled to occur or occurring by virtue of one or more Notices of Conversion of the Holder, if any, (b) (i) there is an effective Registration Statement pursuant to which the Holder is permitted to utilize the prospectus thereunder to resell all of the shares of Common Stock issuable pursuant to the Transaction Documents (and the Company believes, in good faith, that such effectiveness will continue uninterrupted for the foreseeable future) or (ii) all of the Conversion Shares issuable pursuant to the Transaction Documents (and shares issuable in lieu of cash payments of interest) may be resold pursuant to Rule 144 without volume or manner-of-sale restrictions or current public information requirements as determined by the counsel to the Company as set forth in a written opinion letter to such effect, addressed and acceptable to the Transfer Agent and the Holder, and (c) there is no existing Event of Default and no existing event which, with the passage of time or the giving of notice, would constitute an Event of Default.
“Equity Conditions Period” shall have the meaning set forth in Section 2(b).
“Event of Default” shall have the meaning set forth in Section 8(a).
“Fundamental Transaction” shall have the meaning set forth in Section 5(d).
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“Mandatory Default Amount” means the sum of (a) the greater of (i) the outstanding principal amount of this Debenture, plus all accrued and unpaid interest hereon, divided by the Conversion Price on the date the Mandatory Default Amount is either (A) demanded (if demand or notice is required to create an Event of Default) or otherwise due or (B) paid in full, whichever has a lower Conversion Price, multiplied by the VWAP on the date the Mandatory Default Amount is either (x) demanded or otherwise due or (y) paid in full, whichever has a higher VWAP, or (ii) 110% of the outstanding principal amount of this Debenture, plus 100% of accrued and unpaid interest hereon, and (b) all other amounts, costs, expenses and liquidated damages due in respect of this Debenture.
“Maturity Date Extension” shall have the meaning set forth in Section 2(b).
“Maturity Date Extension Notice” shall have the meaning set forth in Section 2(b).
“Maturity Date Extension Notice Date” shall have the meaning set forth in Section 2(b).
“Maturity Date Extension Period” shall have the meaning set forth in Section 2(b).
“Monthly Redemption” means the redemption of this Debenture pursuant to Section 6(a) hereof.
“Monthly Redemption Amount” means, as to a Monthly Redemption, the sum of (i) an amount equal to 1/6 of the outstanding principal amount of this Debenture held by the Holder, as determined on the day immediately prior to the commencement of the Maturity Date Extension Period and (ii) accrued but unpaid interest, liquidated damages and any other amounts then owing to the Holder in respect of this Debenture as of the date in question.
“Monthly Redemption Date” means, following a Maturity Date Extension, the last day of each calendar month during the Maturity Date Extension Period, and terminating upon the full redemption of this Debenture.
“New Maturity Date” shall have the meaning set forth in Section 2(b).
“New York Courts” shall have the meaning set forth in Section 9(d).
“Notice of Conversion” shall have the meaning set forth in Section 4(a).
“Original Issue Date” means the date of the first issuance of the Debentures, regardless of any transfers of any Debenture and regardless of the number of instruments which may be issued to evidence such Debentures.
“Permitted Indebtedness” means (a) the indebtedness evidenced by the Debentures, (b) the Indebtedness existing on the Original Issue Date and set forth on Schedule 3.1(bb) attached to the Purchase Agreement, (c) lease obligations and purchase money indebtedness of up to $250,000, in the aggregate, incurred in connection with the acquisition of capital assets and lease obligations with respect to newly acquired or leased assets, and (d) indebtedness that (i) is expressly subordinate to the Debentures pursuant to a written subordination agreement with the Purchasers that is acceptable to each Purchaser in its sole and absolute discretion and (ii) matures at a date later than the 91st day following the Maturity Date (as such date may be extended hereunder).
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“Permitted Lien” means the individual and collective reference to the following: (a) Liens for taxes, assessments and other governmental charges or levies not yet due or Liens for taxes, assessments and other governmental charges or levies being contested in good faith and by appropriate proceedings for which adequate reserves (in the good faith judgment of the management of the Company) have been established in accordance with GAAP, (b) Liens imposed by law which were incurred in the ordinary course of the Company’s business, such as carriers’, warehousemen’s and mechanics’ Liens, statutory landlords’ Liens, and other similar Liens arising in the ordinary course of the Company’s business, and which (x) do not individually or in the aggregate materially detract from the value of such property or assets or materially impair the use thereof in the operation of the business of the Company and its consolidated Subsidiaries or (y) are being contested in good faith by appropriate proceedings, which proceedings have the effect of preventing for the foreseeable future the forfeiture or sale of the property or asset subject to such Lien, (c) Liens incurred in connection with Permitted Indebtedness under clauses (a) and (b) thereunder, and (d) Liens incurred in connection with Permitted Indebtedness under clause (c) thereunder, provided that such Liens are not secured by assets of the Company or its Subsidiaries other than the assets so acquired or leased.
“Purchase Agreement” means the Securities Purchase Agreement, dated as of December 11, 2022 among the Company and the original Holders, as amended, modified or supplemented from time to time in accordance with its terms.
“Registration Rights Agreement” means the Registration Rights Agreement, dated as of the date of the Purchase Agreement, among the Company and the original Holders, in the form of Exhibit B attached to the Purchase Agreement.
“Registration Statement” means a registration statement meeting the requirements set forth in the Registration Rights Agreement and covering the resale of the Underlying Shares by each Holder as provided for in the Registration Rights Agreement.
“Rights Offering” means the Company’s offering of subscription rights to purchase units of the Company (“Units”), each Unit comprised of shares of Common Stock, Series A common stock purchase warrants (the “Series A Warrants”) and Series B common stock purchase warrants (the “Series B Warrants”) (and/or any other securities included in the Units) of the Company, pursuant to the registration statement on Form S1 (File No. 333-265251).
“Securities Act” means the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and the rules and regulations promulgated thereunder.
“Share Delivery Date” shall have the meaning set forth in Section 4(c)(ii).
“Subsequent Financing” means any issuance by the Company or any of its Subsidiaries of Common Stock or Common Stock Equivalents for cash consideration, Indebtedness or a combination of units thereof.
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“Successor Entity” shall have the meaning set forth in Section 5(d).
“Trading Day” means a day on which the principal Trading Market is open for trading.
“Trading Market” means any of the following markets or exchanges on which the Common Stock is listed or quoted for trading on the date in question: the NYSE American, the Nasdaq Capital Market, the Nasdaq Global Market, the Nasdaq Global Select Market, the New York Stock Exchange, the Pink Open Market, OTCQB or the OTCQX (or any successors to any of the foregoing).
Section 2. Interest Payment; Extension of Maturity Date.
a) Interest shall accrue on the Principal Amount at a rate of ten percent (10%) per annum, due in full at the Maturity Date, which Maturity Date may be extended by the Company pursuant to Section 2(b), or such earlier date as this Debenture is required or permitted to be repaid as provided hereunder.
b) Extension of Maturity Date. Subject to the provisions of this Section 2(b), at any time prior to the date that is ten (10) Trading Days prior to the Maturity Date, the Company may deliver a written notice to the Holder (a “Maturity Date Extension Notice” and the date on which such notice is deemed delivered hereunder, the “Maturity Date Extension Notice Date”) of its irrevocable election to extend the term of this Debenture until the date that is six (6) months following the Maturity Date (such date, the “New Maturity Date” and such extension of the term, the “Maturity Date Extension” and such additional six (6) month period, the “Maturity Date Extension Period”). The Maturity Date Extension shall be effective on the Maturity Extension Notice Date and, as of such date, the term “Maturity Date” herein shall mean the New Maturity Date. The Company may only effect a Maturity Date Extension if, unless waived in writing by the Holder, all of the Equity Conditions are satisfied on the ten (10) Trading Days prior to the Maturity Extension Notice Date through and including June 11, 20231 (such period, the “Equity Conditions Period”). If any of the Equity Conditions shall cease to be satisfied at any time during the Equity Conditions Period, then a Holder may elect to nullify the Maturity Date Extension Notice as to such Holder by notice to the Company within 3 Trading Days after the first day on which any such Equity Condition has not been met (provided that if, by a provision of the Transaction Documents, the Corporation is obligated to notify the Holders of the non-existence of an Equity Condition, such notice period shall be extended to the third Trading Day after proper notice from the Corporation) in which case the Maturity Date Extension Notice shall be null and void, ab initio. A Maturity Extension shall not alter or amend any provision in this Debenture, other than the extension of the term of the Debenture as described herein.
1 | Original Maturity Date |
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c) Prepayment. Except as otherwise set forth in this Debenture, the Company may not prepay any portion of the principal amount of this Debenture without the prior written consent of the Holder.
Section 3. Registration of Transfers and Exchanges.
a) Different Denominations. This Debenture is exchangeable for an equal aggregate principal amount of Debentures of different authorized denominations, as requested by the Holder surrendering the same. No service charge will be payable for such registration of transfer or exchange.
b) Investment Representations. This Debenture has been issued subject to certain investment representations of the original Holder set forth in the Purchase Agreement and may be transferred or exchanged only in compliance with the Purchase Agreement and applicable federal and state securities laws and regulations.
c) Reliance on Debenture Register. Prior to due presentment for transfer to the Company of this Debenture, the Company and any agent of the Company may treat the Person in whose name this Debenture is duly registered on the Debenture Register as the owner hereof for the purpose of receiving payment as herein provided and for all other purposes, whether or not this Debenture is overdue, and neither the Company nor any such agent shall be affected by notice to the contrary.
Section 4. Conversion.
a) Voluntary Conversion. At any time after the Original Issue Date until this Debenture is no longer outstanding, this Debenture shall be convertible, in whole or in part, into shares of Common Stock at the option of the Holder, at any time and from time to time (subject to the conversion limitations set forth in Section 4(d) hereof). The Holder shall effect conversions by delivering to the Company a Notice of Conversion, the form of which is attached hereto as Annex A (each, a “Notice of Conversion”), specifying therein the principal amount of this Debenture plus any accrued and unpaid interest to be converted and the date on which such conversion shall be effected (such date, the “Conversion Date”). If no Conversion Date is specified in a Notice of Conversion, the Conversion Date shall be the date that such Notice of Conversion is deemed delivered hereunder. No ink-original Notice of Conversion shall be required, nor shall any medallion guarantee (or other type of guarantee or notarization) of any Notice of Conversion form be required. To effect conversions hereunder, the Holder shall not be required to physically surrender this Debenture to the Company unless the entire principal amount of this Debenture, plus all accrued and unpaid interest thereon, has been so converted in which case the Holder shall surrender this Debenture as promptly as is reasonably practicable after such conversion without delaying the Company’s obligation to deliver the shares on the Share Delivery Date. Conversions hereunder shall have the effect of lowering the outstanding principal amount of this Debenture in an amount equal to the applicable conversion. The Holder and the Company shall maintain records showing the principal amount(s) converted and the date of such conversion(s). The Company may deliver an objection to any Notice of Conversion within one (1) Business Day of delivery of such Notice of Conversion. In the event of any dispute or discrepancy, the records of the Holder shall be controlling and determinative in the absence of manifest error. The Holder, and any assignee by acceptance of this Debenture, acknowledge and agree that, by reason of the provisions of this paragraph, following conversion of a portion of this Debenture, the unpaid and unconverted principal amount of this Debenture may be less than the amount stated on the face hereof.
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b) Conversion Price. The conversion price in effect on any Conversion Date shall be equal to $0.20, subject to adjustment herein (the “Conversion Price”).
c) Mechanics of Conversion.
i. Conversion Shares Issuable Upon Conversion. The number of Conversion Shares issuable upon a conversion hereunder shall be determined by the quotient obtained by dividing (x) the outstanding principal amount of this Debenture to be converted plus any accrued interest to be converted by (y) the Conversion Price.
ii. Delivery of Conversion Shares Upon Conversion. Not later than the earlier of (i) two (2) Trading Days and (ii) the number of Trading Days comprising the Standard Settlement Period (as defined below) after each Conversion Date (the “Share Delivery Date”), the Company shall deliver, or cause to be delivered, to the Holder (A) the Conversion Shares which, on or after the earlier of (i) the six month anniversary of the Original Issue Date or (ii) the Effective Date, shall be free of restrictive legends and trading restrictions (other than those which may then be required by the Purchase Agreement) representing the number of Conversion Shares being acquired upon the conversion of this Debenture (including, if the Company has given continuous notice pursuant to Section 2(b) for payment of interest in shares of Common Stock at least 20 Trading Days prior to the date on which the Notice of Conversion is delivered to the Company, shares of Common Stock representing the payment of accrued interest otherwise determined pursuant to Section 2(a) but assuming that the Interest Notice Period is the 20 Trading Days period immediately prior to the date on which the Notice of Conversion is delivered to the Company and excluding for such issuance the condition that the Company deliver Interest Conversion Shares as to such interest payment prior to the commencement of the Interest Notice Period) and (B) a bank check in the amount of accrued and unpaid interest (if the Company has elected or is required to pay accrued interest in cash). On or after the earlier of (i) the six month anniversary of the Original Issue Date or (ii) the Effective Date, the Company shall deliver any Conversion Shares required to be delivered by the Company under this Section 4(c) electronically through the Depository Trust Company or another established clearing corporation performing similar functions. As used herein, “Standard Settlement Period” means the standard settlement period, expressed in a number of Trading Days, on the Company’s primary Trading Market with respect to the Common Stock as in effect on the date of delivery of the Notice of Conversion.
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iii. Failure to Deliver Conversion Shares. If, in the case of any Notice of Conversion, such Conversion Shares are not delivered to or as directed by the applicable Holder by the Share Delivery Date, the Holder shall be entitled to elect by written notice to the Company at any time on or before its receipt of such Conversion Shares, to rescind such Conversion, in which event the Company shall promptly return to the Holder any original Debenture delivered to the Company and the Holder shall promptly return to the Company the Conversion Shares issued to such Holder pursuant to the rescinded Conversion Notice.
iv. Obligation Absolute; Partial Liquidated Damages. The Company’s obligations to issue and deliver the Conversion Shares upon conversion of this Debenture in accordance with the terms hereof are absolute and unconditional, irrespective of any action or inaction by the Holder to enforce the same, any waiver or consent with respect to any provision hereof, the recovery of any judgment against any Person or any action to enforce the same, or any setoff, counterclaim, recoupment, limitation or termination, or any breach or alleged breach by the Holder or any other Person of any obligation to the Company or any violation or alleged violation of law by the Holder or any other Person, and irrespective of any other circumstance which might otherwise limit such obligation of the Company to the Holder in connection with the issuance of such Conversion Shares; provided, however, that such delivery shall not operate as a waiver by the Company of any such action the Company may have against the Holder. In the event the Holder of this Debenture shall elect to convert any or all of the outstanding principal amount hereof, the Company may not refuse conversion based on any claim that the Holder or anyone associated or affiliated with the Holder has been engaged in any violation of law, agreement or for any other reason, unless an injunction from a court, on notice to Holder, restraining and or enjoining conversion of all or part of this Debenture shall have been sought and obtained, and the Company posts a surety bond for the benefit of the Holder in the amount of 150% of the outstanding principal amount of this Debenture, which is subject to the injunction, which bond shall remain in effect until the completion of arbitration/litigation of the underlying dispute and the proceeds of which shall be payable to the Holder to the extent it obtains judgment. In the absence of such injunction, the Company shall issue Conversion Shares or, if applicable, cash, upon a properly noticed conversion. If the Company fails for any reason to deliver to the Holder such Conversion Shares pursuant to Section 4(c)(ii) by the Share Delivery Date, the Company shall pay to the Holder, in cash, as liquidated damages and not as a penalty, for each $1,000 of principal amount being converted, $10 per Trading Day (increasing to $20 per Trading Day on the fifth (5th) Trading Day after such liquidated damages begin to accrue) for each Trading Day after such Share Delivery Date until such Conversion Shares are delivered or Holder rescinds such conversion. Nothing herein shall limit a Holder’s right to pursue actual damages or declare an Event of Default pursuant to Section 8 hereof for the Company’s failure to deliver Conversion Shares within the period specified herein and the Holder shall have the right to pursue all remedies available to it hereunder, at law or in equity including, without limitation, a decree of specific performance and/or injunctive relief. The exercise of any such rights shall not prohibit the Holder from seeking to enforce damages pursuant to any other Section hereof or under applicable law.
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v. Compensation for Buy-In on Failure to Timely Deliver Conversion Shares Upon Conversion. In addition to any other rights available to the Holder, if the Company fails for any reason to deliver to the Holder such Conversion Shares by the Share Delivery Date pursuant to Section 4(c)(ii), and if after such Share Delivery Date the Holder is required by its brokerage firm to purchase (in an open market transaction or otherwise), or the Holder’s brokerage firm otherwise purchases, shares of Common Stock to deliver in satisfaction of a sale by the Holder of the Conversion Shares which the Holder was entitled to receive upon the conversion relating to such Share Delivery Date (a “Buy-In”), then the Company shall (A) pay in cash to the Holder (in addition to any other remedies available to or elected by the Holder) the amount, if any, by which (x) the Holder’s total purchase price (including any brokerage commissions) for the Common Stock so purchased exceeds (y) the product of (1) the aggregate number of shares of Common Stock that the Holder was entitled to receive from the conversion at issue multiplied by (2) the actual sale price at which the sell order giving rise to such purchase obligation was executed (including any brokerage commissions) and (B) at the option of the Holder, either reissue (if surrendered) this Debenture in a principal amount equal to the principal amount of the attempted conversion (in which case such conversion shall be deemed rescinded) or deliver to the Holder the number of shares of Common Stock that would have been issued if the Company had timely complied with its delivery requirements under Section 4(c)(ii). For example, if the Holder purchases Common Stock having a total purchase price of $11,000 to cover a Buy-In with respect to an attempted conversion of this Debenture with respect to which the actual sale price of the Conversion Shares (including any brokerage commissions) giving rise to such purchase obligation was a total of $10,000 under clause (A) of the immediately preceding sentence, the Company shall be required to pay the Holder $1,000. The Holder shall provide the Company written notice indicating the amounts payable to the Holder in respect of the Buy-In and, upon request of the Company, evidence of the amount of such loss. Nothing herein shall limit a Holder’s right to pursue any other remedies available to it hereunder, at law or in equity including, without limitation, a decree of specific performance and/or injunctive relief with respect to the Company’s failure to timely deliver Conversion Shares upon conversion of this Debenture as required pursuant to the terms hereof.
vi. Reservation of Shares Issuable Upon Conversion. The Company covenants that it will at all times reserve and keep available out of its authorized and unissued shares of Common Stock for the sole purpose of issuance upon conversion of this Debenture and payment of interest on this Debenture, each as herein provided, free from preemptive rights or any other actual contingent purchase rights of Persons other than the Holder (and the other holders of the Debentures), not less than such aggregate number of shares of the Common Stock as shall (subject to the terms and conditions set forth in the Purchase Agreement) be issuable (taking into account the adjustments and restrictions of Section 5) upon the conversion of the then outstanding principal amount of this Debenture and payment of interest hereunder. The Company covenants that all shares of Common Stock that shall be so issuable shall, upon issue, be duly authorized, validly issued, fully paid and nonassessable and, if the Registration Statement is then effective under the Securities Act, shall be registered for public resale in accordance with such Registration Statement (subject to such Holder’s compliance with its obligations under the Registration Rights Agreement).
vii. Fractional Shares. No fractional shares or scrip representing fractional shares shall be issued upon the conversion of this Debenture. As to any fraction of a share which the Holder would otherwise be entitled to purchase upon such conversion, the Company shall at its election, either pay a cash adjustment in respect of such final fraction in an amount equal to such fraction multiplied by the Conversion Price or round up to the next whole share.
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viii. Transfer Taxes and Expenses. The issuance of Conversion Shares on conversion of this Debenture shall be made without charge to the Holder hereof for any documentary stamp or similar taxes that may be payable in respect of the issue or delivery of such Conversion Shares, provided that the Company shall not be required to pay any tax that may be payable in respect of any transfer involved in the issuance and delivery of any such Conversion Shares upon conversion in a name other than that of the Holder of this Debenture so converted and the Company shall not be required to issue or deliver such Conversion Shares unless or until the Person or Persons requesting the issuance thereof shall have paid to the Company the amount of such tax or shall have established to the satisfaction of the Company that such tax has been paid. The Company shall pay all Transfer Agent fees required for same-day processing of any Notice of Conversion and all fees to the Depository Trust Company (or another established clearing corporation performing similar functions) required for same-day electronic delivery of the Conversion Shares.
d) Holder’s Conversion Limitations. The Company shall not effect any conversion of this Debenture, and a Holder shall not have the right to convert any portion of this Debenture, to the extent that after giving effect to the conversion set forth on the applicable Notice of Conversion, the Holder (together with the Holder’s Affiliates, and any other Persons acting as a group together with the Holder or any of the Holder’s Affiliates (such Persons, “Attribution Parties”)) would beneficially own in excess of the Beneficial Ownership Limitation (as defined below). For purposes of the foregoing sentence, the number of shares of Common Stock beneficially owned by the Holder and its Affiliates and Attribution Parties shall include the number of shares of Common Stock issuable upon conversion of this Debenture with respect to which such determination is being made, but shall exclude the number of shares of Common Stock which would be issuable upon (i) conversion of the remaining, unconverted principal amount of this Debenture beneficially owned by the Holder or any of its Affiliates or Attribution Parties and (ii) exercise or conversion of the unexercised or unconverted portion of any other securities of the Company subject to a limitation on conversion or exercise analogous to the limitation contained herein (including, without limitation, any other Debentures or the Warrants) beneficially owned by the Holder or any of its Affiliates or Attribution Parties. Except as set forth in the preceding sentence, for purposes of this Section 4(d), beneficial ownership shall be calculated in accordance with Section 13(d) of the Exchange Act and the rules and regulations promulgated thereunder. To the extent that the limitation contained in this Section 4(d) applies, the determination of whether this Debenture is convertible (in relation to other securities owned by the Holder together with any Affiliates and Attribution Parties) and of which principal amount of this Debenture is convertible shall be in the sole discretion of the Holder, and the submission of a Notice of Conversion shall be deemed to be the Holder’s determination of whether this Debenture may be converted (in relation to other securities owned by the Holder together with any Affiliates or Attribution Parties) and which principal amount of this Debenture is convertible, in each case subject to the Beneficial Ownership Limitation, and the Company shall have no obligation to verify or confirm the accuracy of such determination. In addition, a determination as to any group status as contemplated above shall be determined in accordance with Section 13(d) of the Exchange Act and the rules and regulations promulgated thereunder. For purposes of this Section 4(d), in determining the number of outstanding shares of Common Stock, the Holder may rely on the number of outstanding shares of Common Stock as reflected in (A) the Company’s most recent periodic or annual report filed with the Commission, as the case may be, (B) a more recent public announcement by the Company, or (C) a more recent written notice by the Company or the Company’s transfer agent setting forth the number of shares of Common Stock outstanding. Upon the written or oral request of a Holder, the Company shall within one Trading Day confirm orally and in writing to the Holder the number of shares of Common Stock then outstanding. In any case, the number of outstanding shares of Common Stock shall be determined after giving effect to the conversion or exercise of securities of the Company, including this Debenture, by the Holder or its Affiliates since the date as of which such number of outstanding shares of Common Stock was reported. The “Beneficial Ownership Limitation” shall be [4.99%] [9.99%] of the number of shares of the Common Stock outstanding immediately after giving effect to the issuance of shares of Common Stock issuable upon conversion of this Debenture. The Holder, upon notice to the Company, may increase or decrease the Beneficial Ownership Limitation provisions of this Section 4(d), provided that the Beneficial Ownership Limitation in no event exceeds 9.99% of the number of shares of the Common Stock outstanding immediately after giving effect to the issuance of shares of Common Stock upon conversion of this Debenture held by the Holder and the Beneficial Ownership Limitation provisions of this Section 4(d) shall continue to apply. Any increase in the Beneficial Ownership Limitation will not be effective until the 61st day after such notice is delivered to the Company. The Beneficial Ownership Limitation provisions of this paragraph shall be construed and implemented in a manner otherwise than in strict conformity with the terms of this Section 4(d) to correct this paragraph (or any portion hereof) which may be defective or inconsistent with the intended Beneficial Ownership Limitation contained herein or to make changes or supplements necessary or desirable to properly give effect to such limitation. The limitations contained in this paragraph shall apply to a successor holder of this Debenture.
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Section 5. Certain Adjustments.
a) Stock Dividends and Stock Splits. If the Company, at any time while this Debenture is outstanding: (i) pays a stock dividend or otherwise makes a distribution or distributions payable in shares of Common Stock on shares of Common Stock or any Common Stock Equivalents (which, for avoidance of doubt, shall not include any shares of Common Stock issued by the Company upon conversion of, or payment of interest on, the Debentures), (ii) subdivides outstanding shares of Common Stock into a larger number of shares, (iii) combines (including by way of a reverse stock split) outstanding shares of Common Stock into a smaller number of shares or (iv) issues, in the event of a reclassification of shares of the Common Stock, any shares of capital stock of the Company, then the Conversion Price shall be multiplied by a fraction of which the numerator shall be the number of shares of Common Stock (excluding any treasury shares of the Company) outstanding immediately before such event, and of which the denominator shall be the number of shares of Common Stock outstanding immediately after such event. Any adjustment made pursuant to this Section shall become effective immediately after the record date for the determination of stockholders entitled to receive such dividend or distribution and shall become effective immediately after the effective date in the case of a subdivision, combination or re-classification.
b) Subsequent Rights Offerings. In addition to any adjustments pursuant to Section 5(a) above, if at any time the Company grants, issues or sells any Common Stock Equivalents or rights to purchase stock, warrants, securities or other property pro rata to the record holders of any class of shares of Common Stock (the “Purchase Rights”), then the Holder will be entitled to acquire, upon the terms applicable to such Purchase Rights, the aggregate Purchase Rights which the Holder could have acquired if the Holder had held the number of shares of Common Stock acquirable upon complete conversion of this Debenture (without regard to any limitations on exercise hereof, including without limitation, the Beneficial Ownership Limitation) immediately before the date on which a record is taken for the grant, issuance or sale of such Purchase Rights, or, if no such record is taken, the date as of which the record holders of shares of Common Stock are to be determined for the grant, issue or sale of such Purchase Rights (provided, however, that, to the extent that the Holder’s right to participate in any such Purchase Right would result in the Holder exceeding the Beneficial Ownership Limitation, then the Holder shall not be entitled to participate in such Purchase Right to such extent (or beneficial ownership of such shares of Common Stock as a result of such Purchase Right to such extent) and such Purchase Right to such extent shall be held in abeyance for the Holder until such time, if ever, as its right thereto would not result in the Holder exceeding the Beneficial Ownership Limitation).
c) Pro Rata Distributions. During such time as this Debenture is outstanding, if the Company shall declare or make any dividend or other distribution of its assets (or rights to acquire its assets) to holders of shares of Common Stock, by way of return of capital or otherwise (including, without limitation, any distribution of cash, stock or other securities, property or options by way of a dividend, spin off, reclassification, corporate rearrangement, scheme of arrangement or other similar transaction) (a “Distribution”), at any time after the issuance of this Debenture, then, in each such case, the Holder shall be entitled to participate in such Distribution to the same extent that the Holder would have participated therein if the Holder had held the number of shares of Common Stock acquirable upon complete conversion of this Debenture (without regard to any limitations on conversion hereof, including without limitation, the Beneficial Ownership Limitation) immediately before the date of which a record is taken for such Distribution, or, if no such record is taken, the date as of which the record holders of shares of Common Stock are to be determined for the participation in such Distribution (provided, however, that, to the extent that the Holder’s right to participate in any such Distribution would result in the Holder exceeding the Beneficial Ownership Limitation, then the Holder shall not be entitled to participate in such Distribution to such extent (or in the beneficial ownership of any shares of Common Stock as a result of such Distribution to such extent) and the portion of such Distribution shall be held in abeyance for the benefit of the Holder until such time, if ever, as its right thereto would not result in the Holder exceeding the Beneficial Ownership Limitation).
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d) Fundamental Transaction. If, at any time while this Debenture is outstanding, (i) the Company, directly or indirectly, in one or more related transactions effects any merger or consolidation of the Company with or into another Person, (ii) the Company (and all of its Subsidiaries, taken as a whole), directly or indirectly, effects any sale, lease, license, assignment, transfer, conveyance or other disposition of all or substantially all of its assets in one or a series of related transactions, (iii) any, direct or indirect, purchase offer, tender offer or exchange offer (whether by the Company or another Person) is completed pursuant to which holders of Common Stock are permitted to sell, tender or exchange their shares for other securities, cash or property and has been accepted by the holders of 50% or more of the outstanding Common Stock, (iv) the Company, directly or indirectly, in one or more related transactions effects any reclassification, reorganization or recapitalization of the Common Stock or any compulsory share exchange pursuant to which the Common Stock is effectively converted into or exchanged for other securities, cash or property, or (v) the Company, directly or indirectly, in one or more related transactions consummates a stock or share purchase agreement or other business combination (including, without limitation, a reorganization, recapitalization, spin-off, merger or scheme of arrangement) with another Person or group of Persons whereby such other Person or group acquires more than 50% of the outstanding shares of Common Stock (not including any shares of Common Stock held by the other Person or other Persons making or party to, or associated or affiliated with the other Persons making or party to, such stock or share purchase agreement or other business combination) (each a “Fundamental Transaction”), then, upon any subsequent conversion of this Debenture, the Holder shall have the right to receive, for each Conversion Share that would have been issuable upon such conversion immediately prior to the occurrence of such Fundamental Transaction (without regard to any limitation in Section 4(d) on the conversion of this Debenture), the number of shares of Common Stock of the successor or acquiring corporation or of the Company, if it is the surviving corporation, and any additional consideration (the “Alternate Consideration”) receivable as a result of such Fundamental Transaction by a holder of the number of shares of Common Stock for which this Debenture is convertible immediately prior to such Fundamental Transaction (without regard to any limitation in Section 4(d) on the conversion of this Debenture). For purposes of any such conversion, the determination of the Conversion Price shall be appropriately adjusted to apply to such Alternate Consideration based on the amount of Alternate Consideration issuable in respect of one (1) share of Common Stock in such Fundamental Transaction, and the Company shall apportion the Conversion Price among the Alternate Consideration in a reasonable manner reflecting the relative value of any different components of the Alternate Consideration. If holders of Common Stock are given any choice as to the securities, cash or property to be received in a Fundamental Transaction, then the Holder shall be given the same choice as to the Alternate Consideration it receives upon any conversion of this Debenture following such Fundamental Transaction. The Company shall cause any successor entity in a Fundamental Transaction in which the Company is not the survivor (the “Successor Entity”) to assume in writing all of the obligations of the Company under this Debenture and the other Transaction Documents (as defined in the Purchase Agreement) in accordance with the provisions of this Section 5(d) pursuant to written agreements in form and substance reasonably satisfactory to the Holder and approved by the Holder (without unreasonable delay) prior to such Fundamental Transaction and shall, at the option of the holder of this Debenture, deliver to the Holder in exchange for this Debenture a security of the Successor Entity evidenced by a written instrument substantially similar in form and substance to this Debenture which is convertible for a corresponding number of shares of capital stock of such Successor Entity (or its parent entity) equivalent to the shares of Common Stock acquirable and receivable upon conversion of this Debenture (without regard to any limitations on the conversion of this Debenture) prior to such Fundamental Transaction, and with a conversion price which applies the conversion price hereunder to such shares of capital stock (but taking into account the relative value of the shares of Common Stock pursuant to such Fundamental Transaction and the value of such shares of capital stock, such number of shares of capital stock and such conversion price being for the purpose of protecting the economic value of this Debenture immediately prior to the consummation of such Fundamental Transaction), and which is reasonably satisfactory in form and substance to the Holder. Upon the occurrence of any such Fundamental Transaction, the Successor Entity shall succeed to, and be substituted for (so that from and after the date of such Fundamental Transaction, the provisions of this Debenture and the other Transaction Documents referring to the “Company” shall refer instead to the Successor Entity), and may exercise every right and power of the Company and shall assume all of the obligations of the Company under this Debenture and the other Transaction Documents with the same effect as if such Successor Entity had been named as the Company herein.
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e) Calculations. All calculations under this Section 5 shall be made to the nearest cent or the nearest 1/100th of a share, as the case may be. For purposes of this Section 5, the number of shares of Common Stock deemed to be issued and outstanding as of a given date shall be the sum of the number of shares of Common Stock (excluding any treasury shares of the Company) issued and outstanding.
f) Notice to the Holder.
(i) Adjustment to Conversion Price. Whenever the Conversion Price is adjusted pursuant to any provision of this Section 5, the Company shall promptly deliver to each Holder a notice setting forth the Conversion Price after such adjustment and setting forth a brief statement of the facts requiring such adjustment.
(ii) Notice to Allow Conversion by Holder. If (A) the Company shall declare a dividend (or any other distribution in whatever form) on the Common Stock, (B) the Company shall declare a special nonrecurring cash dividend on or a redemption of the Common Stock, (C) the Company shall authorize the granting to all holders of the Common Stock of rights or warrants to subscribe for or purchase any shares of capital stock of any class or of any rights, (D) the approval of any stockholders of the Company shall be required in connection with any reclassification of the Common Stock, any consolidation or merger to which the Company(and all of its Subsidiaries, taken as a whole) is a party, any sale or transfer of all or substantially all of the assets of the Company, or any compulsory share exchange whereby the Common Stock is converted into other securities, cash or property or (E) the Company shall authorize the voluntary or involuntary dissolution, liquidation or winding up of the affairs of the Company, then, in each case, the Company shall cause to be filed at each office or agency maintained for the purpose of conversion of this Debenture, and shall cause to be delivered to the Holder at its last address as it shall appear upon the Debenture Register, at least twenty (20) calendar days prior to the applicable record or effective date hereinafter specified, a notice stating (x) the date on which a record is to be taken for the purpose of such dividend, distribution, redemption, rights or warrants, or if a record is not to be taken, the date as of which the holders of the Common Stock of record to be entitled to such dividend, distributions, redemption, rights or warrants are to be determined or (y) the date on which such reclassification, consolidation, merger, sale, transfer or share exchange is expected to become effective or close, and the date as of which it is expected that holders of the Common Stock of record shall be entitled to exchange their shares of the Common Stock for securities, cash or other property deliverable upon such reclassification, consolidation, merger, sale, transfer or share exchange, provided that the failure to deliver such notice or any defect therein or in the delivery thereof shall not affect the validity of the corporate action required to be specified in such notice. To the extent that any notice provided hereunder constitutes, or contains, material, non-public information regarding the Company or any of the Subsidiaries, the Company shall simultaneously file such notice with the Commission pursuant to a Current Report on Form 8-K. The Holder shall remain entitled to convert this Debenture during the 20-day period commencing on the date of such notice through the effective date of the event triggering such notice except as may otherwise be expressly set forth herein.
g) Reserved.
Section 6. Redemption.
a) Monthly Redemption. On each Monthly Redemption Date, the Company shall redeem the Monthly Redemption Amount (the “Monthly Redemption”). The Monthly Redemption Amount payable on each Monthly Redemption Date shall be paid in cash. The Holder may convert, pursuant to Section 4(a), any principal amount of this Debenture subject to a Monthly Redemption at any time prior to the date that the Monthly Redemption Amount, plus accrued but unpaid interest, liquidated damages and any other amounts then owing to the Holder are due and paid in full. The Company covenants and agrees that it will honor all Notices of Conversion tendered up until such amounts are paid in full.
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b) Redemption Procedure. The payment of cash pursuant to a Monthly Redemption shall be payable on the Monthly Redemption Date. If any portion of the payment pursuant to a Monthly Redemption shall not be paid by the Company by the applicable due date, interest shall accrue thereon at an interest rate equal to the lesser of 18% per annum or the maximum rate permitted by applicable law until such amount is paid in full. Notwithstanding anything herein contained to the contrary, if any portion of the Monthly Redemption Amount remains unpaid after such date, the Holder may elect, by written notice to the Company given at any time thereafter, to invalidate such Monthly Redemption, ab initio. The Holder may elect to convert the outstanding principal amount of the Debenture pursuant to Section 4 prior to actual payment in cash for any redemption under this Section 6 by the delivery of a Notice of Conversion to the Company.
c) Mandatory Redemption at Election by Holder. Subject to the provisions of this Section 6, at any time while this Debenture is outstanding, in the event of a Subsequent Financing, the Holder shall have the right to require the Company to use up to 30% (as such percentage is determined by the Holder and set forth in the applicable notice) of the aggregate gross proceeds to the Company in cash to repay the then outstanding principal amount, plus any interest or other amounts payable pursuant to this Debenture (any such proceeds, the “Holder Mandatory Redemption Proceeds”, and any such redemption, a “Mandatory Redemption”). Not less than three (3) Business Days prior to the closing of a Subsequent Financing, the Company shall deliver to each Holder of the Debentures a written notice of such Subsequent Financing (“Subsequent Financing Notice”). At any time following the Subsequent Financing Notice, each Holder shall notify the Company in writing that it either wishes to immediately exercise its right to require a Mandatory Redemption at the closing of the Subsequent Financing or defer its right to exercise its right to require a Mandatory Redemption at a later date selected by the Holder in its sole discretion (“Mandatory Redemption Exercise Notice”). If no Mandatory Redemption Exercise Notice is delivered to the Company prior to the later of the three (3) Business Days following delivery of the Subsequent Financing Notice and the date of closing of the Subsequent Financing, the Holder shall be deemed to not have elected to receive the Mandatory Redemption at such closing. The Company shall effect the Mandatory Redemption and pay the Holder the Holder Mandatory Redemption Proceeds reflected in the Mandatory Redemption Exercise Notice (such amount, the “Holder Elected Amount”) on the closing of such Subsequent Financing or, if the Holder elects to defer the Mandatory Redemption to after the closing, within five Business Days following delivery to the Company of a subsequent Mandatory Redemption Exercise Notice specifying such date after closing (“Mandatory Redemption Date”). The Company’s payment of the Holder Mandatory Redemption Proceeds shall be paid to each Holder participating pursuant to this Section 6 in accordance with the Holder’s Mandatory Redemption Exercise Notice. Notwithstanding anything herein to the contrary, any proceeds from a Subsequent Financing in excess of the Holder Mandatory Redemption Proceeds payable to all holders of Debentures shall be deposited into an account of the Company. The Company’s payment of the Mandatory Redemption Proceeds shall be applied ratably to all of the holders of the then outstanding Debentures which exercise the right to require a Mandatory Redemption on the basis of their (or their predecessor’s) initial purchases of Debentures pursuant to the Purchase Agreement. Notwithstanding the foregoing, this Section 6 shall not apply with respect to an Exempt Issuance, except that no Variable Rate Transaction shall be an Exempt Issuance.
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d) Mandatory Redemption Procedure. The payment of cash pursuant to a Mandatory Redemption shall be payable in full on or before the Mandatory Redemption Date. If any portion of the payment pursuant to a Mandatory Redemption shall not be paid by the Company by the applicable due date, interest shall accrue thereon at an interest rate equal to the lesser of 18% per annum or the maximum rate permitted by applicable law until such amount is paid in full. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this Section 6, the Holder Mandatory Redemption Proceeds shall be applied ratably among the Holders of Debentures if more than one Holder shall deliver a Mandatory Redemption Exercise Notice, in accordance with Holder Elected Amounts of the Holders of Debentures.
Section 7. Negative Covenants. As long as any portion of this Debenture remains outstanding, unless the holders of at least 67% in principal amount of the then outstanding Debentures shall have otherwise given prior written consent, the Company shall not, and shall not permit any of the Subsidiaries to, directly or indirectly:
a) other than Permitted Indebtedness, enter into, create, incur, assume, guarantee or suffer to exist any indebtedness for borrowed money of any kind, including, but not limited to, a guarantee, on or with respect to any of its property or assets now owned or hereafter acquired or any interest therein or any income or profits therefrom;
b) other than Permitted Liens, enter into, create, incur, assume or suffer to exist any Liens of any kind, on or with respect to any of its property or assets now owned or hereafter acquired or any interest therein or any income or profits therefrom;
c) amend its charter documents, including, without limitation, its certificate of incorporation and bylaws, in any manner that materially and adversely affects any rights of the Holder;
d) repay, repurchase or offer to repay, repurchase or otherwise acquire more than a de minimis number of shares of its Common Stock or Common Stock Equivalents other than as to (i) the Conversion Shares or Warrant Shares as permitted or required under the Transaction Documents and (ii) repurchases of Common Stock or Common Stock Equivalents of departing officers and directors of the Company, provided that such repurchases shall not exceed an aggregate of $100,000 for all officers and directors during the term of this Debenture;
e) repay, repurchase or offer to repay, repurchase or otherwise acquire any Indebtedness, other than the Debentures if on a pro-rata basis, other than regularly scheduled principal and interest payments as such terms are in effect as of the Original Issue Date, provided that such payments shall not be permitted if, at such time, or after giving effect to such payment, any Event of Default exists or occurs;
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f) pay cash dividends or distributions on any equity securities of the Company;
g) enter into any transaction with any Affiliate of the Company which would be required to be disclosed in any public filing with the Commission, unless such transaction is made on an arm’s-length basis and expressly approved by a majority of the disinterested directors of the Company (even if less than a quorum otherwise required for board approval); or
h) enter into any agreement with respect to any of the foregoing.
Section 8. Events of Default.
a) “Event of Default” means, wherever used herein, any of the following events (whatever the reason for such event and whether such event shall be voluntary or involuntary or effected by operation of law or pursuant to any judgment, decree or order of any court, or any order, rule or regulation of any administrative or governmental body):
i. any default in the payment of (A) the principal amount of any Debenture or (B) interest, liquidated damages and other amounts owing to a Holder on any Debenture, as and when the same shall become due and payable (whether on a Conversion Date, the Maturity Date, a Mandatory Redemption Date or a Monthly Redemption Date or by acceleration or otherwise) which default is not cured within 3 Trading Days;
ii. the Company shall fail to observe or perform any other covenant or agreement contained in the Debentures (other than a breach by the Company of its obligations to deliver shares of Common Stock to the Holder upon conversion, which breach is addressed in clause (xi) below) or in any Transaction Document, which failure is not cured, if possible to cure, within the earlier to occur of (A) 5 Trading Days after notice of such failure sent by the Holder or by any other Holder to the Company and (B) 10 Trading Days after the Company has become or should have become aware of such failure;
iii. a default or event of default (subject to any grace or cure period provided in the applicable agreement, document or instrument) shall occur under (A) any of the Transaction Documents or (B) any other material agreement, lease, document or instrument to which the Company or any Subsidiary is obligated (and not covered by clause (vi) below), which default or event of default, with respect to clause (B) herein, is not cured, if possible to cure, within the earlier to occur of (A) 5 Trading Days after notice of such failure sent by the Holder or by any other Holder to the Company and (B) 10 Trading Days after the Company has become or should have become aware of such default;
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iv. any representation or warranty made in this Debenture, any other Transaction Documents, any written statement pursuant hereto or thereto or any other report, financial statement or certificate made or delivered to the Holder or any other Holder shall be untrue or incorrect in any material respect as of the date when made or deemed made, which breach is not cured, if possible to cure, within the earlier to occur of (A) 5 Trading Days after notice of such failure sent by the Holder or by any other Holder to the Company and (B) 10 Trading Days after the Company has become or should have become aware of such breach;
v. the Company or any Significant Subsidiary (as such term is defined in Rule 1-02(w) of Regulation S-X) shall be subject to a Bankruptcy Event;
vi. the Company or any Subsidiary shall default on any of its obligations under any mortgage, credit agreement or other facility, indenture agreement, factoring agreement or other instrument under which there may be issued, or by which there may be secured or evidenced, any indebtedness for borrowed money or money due under any long term leasing or factoring arrangement that (a) involves an obligation greater than $250,000, whether such indebtedness now exists or shall hereafter be created, and (b) results in such indebtedness becoming or being declared due and payable prior to the date on which it would otherwise become due and payable;
vii. the Common Stock shall not be eligible for listing or quotation for trading on a Trading Market and shall not be eligible to resume listing or quotation for trading thereon within five Trading Days;
viii. the Company (and all of its Subsidiaries, taken as a whole) shall be a party to any Change of Control Transaction or Fundamental Transaction or shall agree to sell or dispose of all or in excess of 33% of its assets in one transaction or a series of related transactions (whether or not such sale would constitute a Change of Control Transaction);
ix. the Initial Registration Statement (as defined in the Registration Rights Agreement) shall not have been declared effective by the Commission on or prior to the 120th calendar day after the Closing Date or the Company does not meet the current public information requirements under Rule 144 in respect of the Registrable Securities (as defined in the Registration Rights Agreement);
x. if, during the Effectiveness Period (as defined in the Registration Rights Agreement), either (a) the effectiveness of the Registration Statement lapses for any reason or (b) the Holder shall not be permitted to resell Registrable Securities (as defined in the Registration Rights Agreement) under the Registration Statement for a period of more than 20 consecutive Trading Days or 30 non-consecutive Trading Days during any 12 month period; provided, however, that if the Company is negotiating a merger, consolidation, acquisition or sale of all or substantially all of its assets or a similar transaction and, in the written opinion of counsel to the Company, the Registration Statement would be required to be amended to include information concerning such pending transaction(s) or the parties thereto which information is not available or may not be publicly disclosed at the time, the Company shall be permitted an additional 10 consecutive Trading Days during any 12 month period pursuant to this Section 8(a)(x);
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xi. the Company shall fail for any reason to deliver Conversion Shares to a Holder prior to the fifth Trading Day after a Conversion Date pursuant to Section 4(c) or the Company shall provide at any time notice to the Holder, including by way of public announcement, of the Company’s intention to not honor requests for conversions of any Debentures in accordance with the terms hereof;
xii. the electronic transfer by the Company of shares of Common Stock through the Depository Trust Company or another established clearing corporation is no longer available or is subject to a “chill”;
xiii. any monetary judgment, writ or similar final process shall be entered or filed against the Company, any subsidiary or any of their respective property or other assets for more than $100,000, and such judgment, writ or similar final process shall remain unvacated, unbonded or unstayed for a period of 60 calendar days; or
xiv. a false or inaccurate certification (including a false or inaccurate deemed certification) by the Company that the Equity Conditions are satisfied or that there has been no Equity Conditions Failure or as to whether any Event of Default has occurred.
b) Remedies Upon Event of Default. If any Event of Default occurs, the outstanding principal amount of this Debenture, plus accrued but unpaid interest, liquidated damages and other amounts owing in respect thereof through the date of acceleration, shall become, at the Holder’s election, immediately due and payable in cash at the Mandatory Default Amount. Commencing 5 days after the occurrence of any Event of Default that results in the eventual acceleration of this Debenture, the interest rate on this Debenture shall accrue at an interest rate equal to the lesser of 18% per annum or the maximum rate permitted under applicable law. Upon the payment in full of the Mandatory Default Amount, the Holder shall promptly surrender this Debenture to or as directed by the Company. In connection with such acceleration described herein, the Holder need not provide, and the Company hereby waives, any presentment, demand, protest or other notice of any kind, and the Holder may immediately and without expiration of any grace period enforce any and all of its rights and remedies hereunder and all other remedies available to it under applicable law. Such acceleration may be rescinded and annulled by Holder at any time prior to payment hereunder and the Holder shall have all rights as a holder of the Debenture until such time, if any, as the Holder receives full payment pursuant to this Section 8(b). No such rescission or annulment shall affect any subsequent Event of Default or impair any right consequent thereon.
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Section 9. Miscellaneous.
a) Notices. Any and all notices or other communications or deliveries to be provided by the Holder hereunder, including, without limitation, any Notice of Conversion, shall be in writing and delivered personally, by email attachment, or sent by a nationally recognized overnight courier service, addressed to the Company, at the address set forth above, or such other email address, or address as the Company may specify for such purposes by notice to the Holder delivered in accordance with this Section 9(a). Any and all notices or other communications or deliveries to be provided by the Company hereunder shall be in writing and delivered personally, by email attachment, or sent by a nationally recognized overnight courier service addressed to each Holder at the email address or address of the Holder appearing on the books of the Company, or if no such email attachment or address appears on the books of the Company, at the principal place of business of such Holder, as set forth in the Purchase Agreement. Any notice or other communication or deliveries hereunder shall be deemed given and effective on the earliest of (i) the date of transmission, if such notice or communication is delivered via email attachment to the email address set forth on the signature pages attached hereto prior to 5:30 p.m. (New York City time) on any date, (ii) the next Trading Day after the date of transmission, if such notice or communication is delivered via email attachment to the email address set forth on the signature pages attached hereto on a day that is not a Trading Day or later than 5:30 p.m. (New York City time) on any Trading Day, (iii) the second Trading Day following the date of mailing, if sent by U.S. nationally recognized overnight courier service or (iv) upon actual receipt by the party to whom such notice is required to be given.
b) Absolute Obligation. Except as expressly provided herein, no provision of this Debenture shall alter or impair the obligation of the Company, which is absolute and unconditional, to pay the principal of, liquidated damages and accrued interest, as applicable, on this Debenture at the time, place, and rate, and in the coin or currency, herein prescribed. This Debenture is a direct debt obligation of the Company. This Debenture ranks pari passu with all other Debentures now or hereafter issued under the terms set forth herein.
c) Lost or Mutilated Debenture. If this Debenture shall be mutilated, lost, stolen or destroyed, the Company shall execute and deliver, in exchange and substitution for and upon cancellation of a mutilated Debenture, or in lieu of or in substitution for a lost, stolen or destroyed Debenture, a new Debenture for the principal amount of this Debenture so mutilated, lost, stolen or destroyed, but only upon receipt of evidence of such loss, theft or destruction of such Debenture, and of the ownership hereof, reasonably satisfactory to the Company.
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d) Governing Law. All questions concerning the construction, validity, enforcement and interpretation of this Debenture shall be governed by and construed and enforced in accordance with the internal laws of the State of New York, without regard to the principles of conflict of laws thereof. Each party agrees that all legal proceedings concerning the interpretation, enforcement and defense of the transactions contemplated by any of the Transaction Documents (whether brought against a party hereto or its respective Affiliates, directors, officers, shareholders, employees or agents) shall be commenced in the state and federal courts sitting in the City of New York, Borough of Manhattan (the “New York Courts”). Each party hereto hereby irrevocably submits to the exclusive jurisdiction of the New York Courts for the adjudication of any dispute hereunder or in connection herewith or with any transaction contemplated hereby or discussed herein (including with respect to the enforcement of any of the Transaction Documents), and hereby irrevocably waives, and agrees not to assert in any suit, action or proceeding, any claim that it is not personally subject to the jurisdiction of such New York Courts, or such New York Courts are improper or inconvenient venue for such proceeding. Each party hereby irrevocably waives personal service of process and consents to process being served in any such suit, action or proceeding by mailing a copy thereof via registered or certified mail or overnight delivery (with evidence of delivery) to such party at the address in effect for notices to it under this Debenture and agrees that such service shall constitute good and sufficient service of process and notice thereof. Nothing contained herein shall be deemed to limit in any way any right to serve process in any other manner permitted by applicable law. Each party hereto hereby irrevocably waives, to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, any and all right to trial by jury in any legal proceeding arising out of or relating to this Debenture or the transactions contemplated hereby. If any party shall commence an action or proceeding to enforce any provisions of this Debenture, then the prevailing party in such action or proceeding shall be reimbursed by the other party for its attorneys fees and other costs and expenses incurred in the investigation, preparation and prosecution of such action or proceeding.
e) Waiver. Any waiver by the Company or the Holder of a breach of any provision of this Debenture shall not operate as or be construed to be a waiver of any other breach of such provision or of any breach of any other provision of this Debenture. The failure of the Company or the Holder to insist upon strict adherence to any term of this Debenture on one or more occasions shall not be considered a waiver or deprive that party of the right thereafter to insist upon strict adherence to that term or any other term of this Debenture on any other occasion. Any waiver by the Company or the Holder must be in writing.
f) Severability. If any provision of this Debenture is invalid, illegal or unenforceable, the balance of this Debenture shall remain in effect, and if any provision is inapplicable to any Person or circumstance, it shall nevertheless remain applicable to all other Persons and circumstances. If it shall be found that any interest or other amount deemed interest due hereunder violates the applicable law governing usury, the applicable rate of interest due hereunder shall automatically be lowered to equal the maximum rate of interest permitted under applicable law. The Company covenants (to the extent that it may lawfully do so) that it shall not at any time insist upon, plead, or in any manner whatsoever claim or take the benefit or advantage of, any stay, extension or usury law or other law which would prohibit or forgive the Company from paying all or any portion of the principal of or interest on this Debenture as contemplated herein, wherever enacted, now or at any time hereafter in force, or which may affect the covenants or the performance of this Debenture, and the Company (to the extent it may lawfully do so) hereby expressly waives all benefits or advantage of any such law, and covenants that it will not, by resort to any such law, hinder, delay or impede the execution of any power herein granted to the Holder, but will suffer and permit the execution of every such as though no such law has been enacted.
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g) Remedies, Characterizations, Other Obligations, Breaches and Injunctive Relief. The remedies provided in this Debenture shall be cumulative and in addition to all other remedies available under this Debenture and any of the other Transaction Documents at law or in equity (including a decree of specific performance and/or other injunctive relief), and nothing herein shall limit the Holder’s right to pursue actual and consequential damages for any failure by the Company to comply with the terms of this Debenture. The Company covenants to the Holder that there shall be no characterization concerning this instrument other than as expressly provided herein. Amounts set forth or provided for herein with respect to payments, conversion and the like (and the computation thereof) shall be the amounts to be received by the Holder and shall not, except as expressly provided herein, be subject to any other obligation of the Company (or the performance thereof). The Company acknowledges that a breach by it of its obligations hereunder will cause irreparable harm to the Holder and that the remedy at law for any such breach may be inadequate. The Company therefore agrees that, in the event of any such breach or threatened breach, the Holder shall be entitled, in addition to all other available remedies, to an injunction restraining any such breach or any such threatened breach, without the necessity of showing economic loss and without any bond or other security being required. The Company shall provide all information and documentation to the Holder that is requested by the Holder to enable the Holder to confirm the Company’s compliance with the terms and conditions of this Debenture.
h) Next Business Day. Whenever any payment or other obligation hereunder shall be due on a day other than a Business Day, such payment shall be made on the next succeeding Business Day.
i) Headings. The headings contained herein are for convenience only, do not constitute a part of this Debenture and shall not be deemed to limit or affect any of the provisions hereof.
Section 10. Disclosure. Upon receipt or delivery by the Company of any notice in accordance with the terms of this Debenture, unless the Company has in good faith determined that the matters relating to such notice do not constitute material, nonpublic information relating to the Company or its Subsidiaries, the Company shall within two (2) Business Days after such receipt or delivery publicly disclose such material, nonpublic information on a Current Report on Form 8-K or otherwise. In the event that the Company believes that a notice contains material, non-public information relating to the Company or its Subsidiaries, the Company so shall indicate to the Holder contemporaneously with delivery of such notice, and in the absence of any such indication, the Holder shall be allowed to presume that all matters relating to such notice do not constitute material, nonpublic information relating to the Company or its Subsidiaries.
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(Signature Page Follows)
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IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the Company has caused this Debenture to be duly executed by a duly authorized officer as of the date first above indicated.
CREATD, INC. | ||
By: | /s/ Jeremy Frommer | |
Name: | Jeremy Frommer | |
Title: | CEO |
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ANNEX A
NOTICE
OF CONVERSION
The undersigned hereby elects to convert principal under the Senior Convertible Debenture due ________, 2023 of Creatd, Inc., a Nevada corporation (the “Company”), into shares of common stock (the “Common Stock”), of the Company according to the conditions hereof, as of the date written below. If shares of Common Stock are to be issued in the name of a person other than the undersigned, the undersigned will pay all transfer taxes payable with respect thereto and is delivering herewith such certificates and opinions as reasonably requested by the Company in accordance therewith. No fee will be charged to the holder for any conversion, except for such transfer taxes, if any.
By the delivery of this Notice of Conversion the undersigned represents and warrants to the Company that its ownership of the Common Stock does not exceed the amounts specified under Section 4 of this Debenture, as determined in accordance with Section 13(d) of the Exchange Act.
The undersigned agrees to comply with the prospectus delivery requirements under the applicable securities laws in connection with any transfer of the aforesaid shares of Common Stock.
Conversion calculations:
Date to Effect Conversion: | |
Principal Amount of Debenture to be Converted: | |
Accrued Interest Amount to be Converted: | |
Number of shares of Common Stock to be issued: | |
Signature: | |
Name: | |
Address for Delivery of Common Stock Certificates: | |
Or | |
DWAC Instructions: | |
Broker No: | |
Account No: |
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Schedule 1 CONVERSION SCHEDULE
The Senior Convertible Debentures due on ________, 2023 in the aggregate principal amount of $____________ are issued by Creatd, Inc., a Nevada corporation. This Conversion Schedule reflects conversions made under Section 4 of the above referenced Debenture.
Dated:
Date of Conversion (or for first entry, Original Issue Date) |
Amount of Conversion |
Aggregate Principal Amount Remaining Subsequent to Conversion (or original Principal Amount) |
Company Attest |
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Exhibit 10.65
SECURITIES PURCHASE AGREEMENT
This Securities Purchase Agreement (this “Agreement”) is dated as of December 12, 2022, between Creatd, Inc., a Nevada corporation (the “Company”), and each purchaser identified on the signature pages hereto (each, including its successors and assigns, a “Purchaser” and collectively, the “Purchasers”).
WHEREAS, subject to the terms and conditions set forth in this Agreement and pursuant to Section 4(a)(2) of the Securities Act (as defined below), and Rule 506 promulgated thereunder, the Company desires to issue and sell to each Purchaser, and each Purchaser, severally and not jointly, desires to purchase from the Company, securities of the Company as more fully described in this Agreement.
NOW, THEREFORE, IN CONSIDERATION of the mutual covenants contained in this Agreement, and for other good and valuable consideration, the receipt and adequacy of which are hereby acknowledged, the Company and each Purchaser agree as follows:
ARTICLE I.
DEFINITIONS
1.1 Definitions. In addition to the terms defined elsewhere in this Agreement: (a) capitalized terms that are not otherwise defined herein have the meanings given to such terms in the Debentures (as defined herein), and (b) the following terms have the meanings set forth in this Section 1.1:
“Acquiring Person” shall have the meaning ascribed to such term in Section 4.7.
“Action” shall have the meaning ascribed to such term in Section 3.1(j).
“Affiliate” means any Person that, directly or indirectly through one or more intermediaries, controls or is controlled by or is under common control with a Person, as such terms are used in and construed under Rule 405 under the Securities Act.
“Board of Directors” means the board of directors of the Company.
“Business Day” means any day other than Saturday, Sunday or other day on which commercial banks in The City of New York are authorized or required by law to remain closed; provided, however, for clarification, commercial banks shall not be deemed to be authorized or required by law to remain closed due to “stay at home”, “shelter-in-place”, “non-essential employee” or any other similar orders or restrictions or the closure of any physical branch locations at the direction of any governmental authority so long as the electronic funds transfer systems (including for wire transfers) of commercial banks in The City of New York are generally open for use by customers on such day.
“Closing” means a closing of the purchase and sale of the Securities pursuant to Section 2.1.
“Closing Date” in respect of any Closing, means the Trading Day on which all of the Transaction Documents have been executed and delivered by the applicable parties thereto, and all conditions precedent to (i) the Purchasers’ obligations to pay the Principal Amount and (ii) the Company’s obligations to deliver the Securities, in each case, have been satisfied or waived.
“Closing Statement” means a Closing Statement in the form on Annex A attached hereto.
“Commission” means the United States Securities and Exchange Commission.
“Common Stock” means the common stock of the Company, par value $0.001 per share, and any other class of securities into which such securities may hereafter be reclassified or changed.
“Common Stock Equivalents” means any securities of the Company or the Subsidiaries which would entitle the holder thereof to acquire at any time Common Stock, including, without limitation, any debt, preferred stock, right, option, warrant or other instrument that is at any time convertible into or exercisable or exchangeable for, or otherwise entitles the holder thereof to receive, Common Stock.
“Company Counsel” means Lucosky Brookman LLP, with offices located at 101 Wood Avenue South, 5th Floor, Iselin, NJ 08830.
“Conversion Price” shall have the meaning ascribed to such term in the Debentures.
“Conversion Shares” shall have the meaning ascribed to such term in the Debentures.
“Debentures” means the Senior Convertible Debentures due, subject to the terms therein, six (6) months from their date of issuance, issued by the Company to the Purchasers hereunder, in the form of Exhibit A attached hereto.
“Disclosure Schedules” shall have the meaning ascribed to such term in Section 3.1.
“Disclosure Time” means, (i) if this Agreement is signed on a day that is not a Trading Day or after 9:00 a.m. (New York City time) and before midnight (New York City time) on any Trading Day, 9:01 a.m. (New York City time) on the Trading Day immediately following the date hereof, unless otherwise instructed as to an earlier time by the placement agent, and (ii) if this Agreement is signed between midnight (New York City time) and 9:00 a.m. (New York City time) on any Trading Day, no later than 9:01 a.m. (New York City time) on the date hereof, unless otherwise instructed as to an earlier time by the placement agent.
“Effective Date” means the earliest of the date that (a) the initial Registration Statement has been declared effective by the Commission, (b) all of the Underlying Shares have been sold pursuant to Rule 144 or may be sold pursuant to Rule 144 without the requirement for the Company to be in compliance with the current public information required under Rule 144 and without volume or manner-of-sale restrictions, (c) following the one year anniversary of the initial Closing Date provided that a holder of the Underlying Shares is not an Affiliate of the Company or (d) all of the Underlying Shares may be sold pursuant to an exemption from registration under Section 4(a)(1) of the Securities Act without volume or manner-of-sale restrictions and Company Counsel has delivered to such holders a standing written unqualified opinion that resales may then be made by such holders of the Underlying Shares pursuant to such exemption which opinion shall be in form and substance reasonably acceptable to such holders.
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“Evaluation Date” shall have the meaning ascribed to such term in Section 3.1(s).
“Exchange Act” means the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and the rules and regulations promulgated thereunder.
“Exempt Issuance” means the issuance of (a) shares of Common Stock or options to employees, officers, directors or consultants of the Company pursuant to any stock or option plan duly adopted for such purpose, by a majority of the non-employee members of the Board of Directors or a majority of the members of a committee of non-employee directors established for such purpose for services rendered to the Company provided that such issuances are for not less than $0.20 per share, subject to adjustment for reverse and forward stock splits, stock dividends, stock combinations and other similar transactions of the Common Stock, (b) securities upon the exercise or exchange of or conversion of any Securities issued hereunder and/or other securities exercisable or exchangeable for or convertible into shares of Common Stock issued and outstanding on the date of this Agreement, provided that such securities have not been amended since the date of this Agreement to increase the number of such securities or to decrease the exercise price, exchange price or conversion price of such securities (other than in connection with stock splits or combinations) or to extend the term of such securities, or warrants to the placement agent in connection with the transactions pursuant to this Agreement and any securities upon exercise of warrants to the placement agent, (c) securities issued pursuant to acquisitions or strategic transactions approved by a majority of the disinterested directors of the Company, provided that such securities are issued as “restricted securities” (as defined in Rule 144) and carry no registration rights that require or permit the filing of any registration statement in connection therewith during the prohibition period in Section 4.12(a) herein, and provided that any such issuance shall only be to a Person (or to the equityholders of a Person) which is, itself or through its subsidiaries, an operating company or an owner of an asset in a business synergistic with the business of the Company and shall provide to the Company additional benefits in addition to the investment of funds, but shall not include a transaction in which the Company is issuing securities primarily for the purpose of raising capital or to an entity whose primary business is investing in securities, and (d) securities in the Rights Offering.
“FCPA” means the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977, as amended.
“GAAP” shall have the meaning ascribed to such term in Section 3.1(h).
“Indebtedness” shall have the meaning ascribed to such term in Section 3.1(bb).
“Intellectual Property Rights” shall have the meaning ascribed to such term in Section 3.1(o).
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“Legend Removal Date” shall have the meaning ascribed to such term in Section 4.1(c).
“Liens” means a lien, charge, pledge, security interest, encumbrance, right of first refusal, preemptive right or other restriction.
“Material Adverse Effect” shall have the meaning assigned to such term in Section 3.1(b).
“Material Permits” shall have the meaning ascribed to such term in Section 3.1(m).
“Maximum Rate” shall have the meaning ascribed to such term in Section 5.17.
“Person” means an individual or corporation, partnership, trust, incorporated or unincorporated association, joint venture, limited liability company, joint stock company, government (or an agency or subdivision thereof) or other entity of any kind.
“Principal Amount” means, as to each Purchaser, the amounts set forth below such Purchaser’s signature block on the signature pages hereto next to the heading “Principal Amount,” in United States Dollars.
“Proceeding” means an action, claim, suit, investigation or proceeding (including, without limitation, an informal investigation or partial proceeding, such as a deposition), whether commenced or threatened.
“Public Information Failure” shall have the meaning ascribed to such term in Section 4.3(b).
“Public Information Failure Payments” shall have the meaning ascribed to such term in Section 4.3(b).
“Purchaser Party” shall have the meaning ascribed to such term in Section 4.10.
“Registration Rights Agreement” means the Registration Rights Agreement, dated as of the date of a Closing, among the Company and the Purchasers, in the form of Exhibit B attached hereto.
“Registration Statement” means a registration statement meeting the requirements set forth in the Registration Rights Agreement and covering the resale of the Underlying Shares by each Purchaser as provided for in the Registration Rights Agreement.
“Required Approvals” shall have the meaning ascribed to such term in Section 3.1(e).
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“Required Minimum” means, as of any date, the maximum aggregate number of shares of Common Stock then issued or potentially issuable in the future pursuant to the Transaction Documents, including any Underlying Shares issuable upon exercise in full of all Warrants or conversion in full of all Debentures (including Underlying Shares issuable as payment of interest on the Debentures), ignoring any conversion or exercise limits set forth therein, and assuming that the Conversion Price is at all times on and after the date of determination 75% of the then Conversion Price on the Trading Day immediately prior to the date of determination.
“Rights Offering” means the Company’s offering of subscription rights to purchase units of the Company (each, a “Unit”), each Unit comprised of one share of Common Stock, a Series A common stock purchase warrant to purchase one share of Common Stock (a “Series A Warrant”) and a Series B common stock purchase warrant to purchase one share of Common Stock (a “Series B Warrant”) (and/or any other securities included in the Units) of the Company, pursuant to the registration statement on Form S1 (File No. 333-265251).
”Rule 144” means Rule 144 promulgated by the Commission pursuant to the Securities Act, as such Rule may be amended from time to time, or any similar rule or regulation hereafter adopted by the Commission having substantially the same effect as such Rule.
“Rule 424” means Rule 424 promulgated by the Commission pursuant to the Securities Act, as such Rule may be amended or interpreted from time to time, or any similar rule or regulation hereafter adopted by the Commission having substantially the same purpose and effect as such Rule.
“SEC Reports” shall have the meaning ascribed to such term in Section 3.1(h).
“Securities” means the Debentures, the Warrants, the Warrant Shares and the Underlying Shares.
“Securities Act” means the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and the rules and regulations promulgated thereunder.
“Short Sales” means all “short sales” as defined in Rule 200 of Regulation SHO under the Exchange Act (but shall not be deemed to include locating and/or borrowing shares of Common Stock).
“Subsequent Financing” means any issuance by the Company or any of its Subsidiaries of Common Stock or Common Stock Equivalents for cash consideration, Indebtedness or a combination of units thereof.
“Subsidiary” means any subsidiary of the Company as set forth on Schedule 3.1(a) and shall, where applicable, also include any direct or indirect subsidiary of the Company formed or acquired after the date hereof.
“Subsidiary Guarantee” means the Subsidiary Guarantee, dated the date hereof, by each Subsidiary in favor of the Purchasers, in the form of Exhibit C attached hereto.
“Trading Day” means a day on which the principal Trading Market is open for trading.
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“Trading Market” means any of the following markets or exchanges on which the Common Stock is listed or quoted for trading on the date in question: the NYSE American, the Nasdaq Capital Market, the Nasdaq Global Market, the Nasdaq Global Select Market, the New York Stock Exchange, the Pink Open Market, OTCQB or the OTCQX (or any successors to any of the foregoing).
“Transaction Documents” means this Agreement, the Debentures, the Registration Rights Agreement, the Subsidiary Guarantee, all exhibits and schedules thereto and hereto and any other documents or agreements executed in connection with the transactions contemplated hereunder.
“Transfer Agent” means Pacific Stock Transfer, the current transfer agent of the Company, and any successor transfer agent of the Company.
“Underlying Shares” means the shares of Common Stock issued and issuable pursuant to the terms of the Debenture, including without limitation, shares of Common Stock issued and issuable in lieu of the cash payment of interest on the Debentures in accordance with the terms of the Debentures, in each case without respect to any limitation or restriction on the conversion of the Debentures.
“Variable Rate Transaction” shall have the meaning ascribed to such term in Section 4.12(b).
“VWAP” means, for any date, the price determined by the first of the following clauses that applies: (a) if the Common Stock is then listed or quoted on a Trading Market, the daily volume weighted average price of the Common Stock for such date (or the nearest preceding date) on the Trading Market on which the Common Stock is then listed or quoted as reported by Bloomberg L.P. (based on a Trading Day from 9:30 a.m. (New York City time) to 4:02 p.m. (New York City time)), (b) if OTCQB or OTCQX is not a Trading Market, the volume weighted average price of the Common Stock for such date (or the nearest preceding date) on OTCQB or OTCQX as applicable, (c) if the Common Stock is not then listed or quoted for trading on OTCQB or OTCQX and if prices for the Common Stock are then reported on the Pink Open Market (or a similar organization or agency succeeding to its functions of reporting prices), the most recent bid price per share of the Common Stock so reported, or (d) in all other cases, the fair market value of a share of Common Stock as determined by an independent appraiser selected in good faith by the Purchasers of a majority in interest of the Securities then outstanding and reasonably acceptable to the Company, the fees and expenses of which shall be paid by the Company.
“Warrants” means warrants to purchase 562,500 shares, delivered to the Purchasers at the Closing in accordance with Section 2.2(a) hereof, which Warrants shall be exercisable immediately following issuance and have a term of exercise equal to five years from the date of issuance, in the form of Exhibit D attached hereto.
“Warrant Shares” means the shares of Common Stock issuable upon exercise of the Warrants.
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ARTICLE II.
PURCHASE AND SALE
2.1 Closing. Upon the terms and subject to the conditions set forth herein, substantially concurrent with the execution and delivery of this Agreement by the parties hereto, the Company agrees to sell, and the Purchasers, severally and not jointly, agree to purchase, up to an aggregate of $750,000 in Principal Amount of the Debentures. Each Purchaser shall deliver to the Company, via wire transfer or a certified check, immediately available funds equal to such Purchaser’s Principal Amount as set forth on the signature page hereto executed by such Purchaser, and the Company shall deliver to each Purchaser its respective Debenture, as determined pursuant to Section 2.2(a), and the Company and each Purchaser shall deliver the other items set forth in Section 2.2 deliverable at each Closing. Upon satisfaction of the covenants and conditions set forth in Sections 2.2 and 2.3, a Closing shall take place remotely by electronic transfer of the Closing documentation. There may one or more Closings under this Agreement.
2.2 Deliveries.
(a) On or prior to each Closing Date, the Company shall deliver or cause to be delivered to each Purchaser the following:
(i) this Agreement duly executed by the Company;
(ii) a Debenture with a principal amount equal to such Purchaser’s Principal Amount, registered in the name of such Purchaser;
(iii) a warrant registered in the name of such Purchaser to purchase up to 562,500 shares on the Closing Date, with an exercise price equal to $0.20, subject to adjustment therein;
(iv) the Company shall have provided each Purchaser with the Company’s wire instructions, on Company letterhead and executed by the Chief Executive Officer or Chief Financial Officer;
(v) the Subsidiary Guarantee duly executed by the parties thereto; and
(vi) the Registration Rights Agreement duly executed by the Company (provided that the Debentures sold in such closing shall result in proceeds to the Company of no less than $750,000).
(b) On or prior to each Closing Date, each Purchaser shall deliver or cause to be delivered to the Company the following:
(i) this Agreement duly executed by such Purchaser;
(ii) such Purchaser’s Principal Amount by wire transfer to the account specified in writing by the Company; and
(iii) the Registration Rights Agreement duly executed by such Purchaser (provided that the Debentures sold in such closing shall result in proceeds to the Company of no less than $750,000).
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2.3 Closing Conditions.
(a) The obligations of the Company hereunder in connection with a Closing are subject to the following conditions being met:
(i) the accuracy in all material respects (or, to the extent representations or warranties are qualified by materiality, in all respects) on such Closing Date of the representations and warranties of the Purchasers contained herein (unless as of a specific date therein in which case they shall be accurate in all material respects (or, to the extent representations or warranties are qualified by materiality, in all respects) as of such date);
(ii) all obligations, covenants and agreements of each Purchaser required to be performed at or prior to such Closing Date shall have been performed; and
(iii) the delivery by each Purchaser of the items set forth in Section 2.2(b) of this Agreement.
(b) The respective obligations of the Purchasers hereunder in connection with a Closing are subject to the following conditions being met:
(i) the accuracy in all material respects (or, to the extent representations or warranties are qualified by materiality or Material Adverse Effect, in all respects) when made and on such Closing Date of the representations and warranties of the Company contained herein (unless as of a specific date therein in which case they shall be accurate in all material respects or, to the extent representations or warranties are qualified by materiality or Material Adverse Effects, in all respects) as of such date);
(ii) all obligations, covenants and agreements of the Company required to be performed at or prior to such Closing Date shall have been performed;
(iii) the delivery by the Company of the items set forth in Section 2.2(a) of this Agreement;
(iv) there shall have been no Material Adverse Effect with respect to the Company;
(v) from the date hereof to the applicable Closing Date, trading in the Common Stock shall not have been suspended by the Commission or the Company’s principal Trading Market and, at any time prior to the applicable Closing Date, trading in securities generally as reported by Bloomberg L.P. shall not have been suspended or limited, or minimum prices shall not have been established on securities whose trades are reported by such service, or on any Trading Market, nor shall a banking moratorium have been declared either by the United States or New York State authorities nor shall there have occurred any material outbreak or escalation of hostilities or other national or international calamity of such magnitude in its effect on, or any material adverse change in, any financial market which, in each case, in the reasonable judgment of such Purchaser, makes it impracticable or inadvisable to purchase the Securities at the applicable Closing.
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ARTICLE III.
REPRESENTATIONS AND WARRANTIES
3.1 Representations and Warranties of the Company. Except as set forth in the Disclosure Schedules, which Disclosure Schedules shall be deemed a part hereof and shall qualify any representation or otherwise made herein to the extent of the disclosure contained in the corresponding section of the Disclosure Schedules, the Company hereby makes the following representations and warranties to each Purchaser:
(a) Subsidiaries. All of the direct and indirect subsidiaries of the Company are set forth on Schedule 3.1(a). The Company owns, directly or indirectly, all of the capital stock or other equity interests of each Subsidiary free and clear of any Liens, and all of the issued and outstanding shares of capital stock of each Subsidiary are validly issued and are fully paid, non-assessable and free of preemptive and similar rights to subscribe for or purchase securities. If the Company has no subsidiaries, all other references to the Subsidiaries or any of them in the Transaction Documents shall be disregarded.
(b) Organization and Qualification. The Company and each of the Subsidiaries is an entity duly incorporated or otherwise organized, validly existing and in good standing under the laws of the jurisdiction of its incorporation or organization, with the requisite power and authority to own and use its properties and assets and to carry on its business as currently conducted. Neither the Company nor any Subsidiary is in violation nor default of any of the provisions of its respective certificate or articles of incorporation, bylaws or other organizational or charter documents. Each of the Company and the Subsidiaries is duly qualified to conduct business and is in good standing as a foreign corporation or other entity in each jurisdiction in which the nature of the business conducted or property owned by it makes such qualification necessary, except where the failure to be so qualified or in good standing, as the case may be, could not have or reasonably be expected to result in: (i) a material adverse effect on the legality, validity or enforceability of any Transaction Document, (ii) a material adverse effect on the results of operations, assets, business, prospects or condition (financial or otherwise) of the Company and the Subsidiaries, taken as a whole, or (iii) a material adverse effect on the Company’s ability to perform in any material respect on a timely basis its obligations under any Transaction Document (any of (i), (ii) or (iii), a “Material Adverse Effect”) and no Proceeding has been instituted in any such jurisdiction revoking, limiting or curtailing or seeking to revoke, limit or curtail such power and authority or qualification; provided, however, that “Material Adverse Effect” shall not include any event, occurrence, fact, condition or change, directly or indirectly, arising out of or attributable to: (i) general economic or political conditions, (ii) conditions generally affecting the industry in which the Company or any Subsidiary operates, (iii) any changes in financial or securities markets in general, (iv) acts of war (whether or not declared), armed hostilities or terrorism, or the escalation or worsening thereof, (v) any pandemic, epidemics or human health crises (including COVID-19), (vi) any changes in applicable laws or accounting rules (including GAAP), (vii) the announcement, pendency or completion of the transactions contemplated by the Transaction Documents, or (viii) any action required or permitted by the Transaction Documents or any action taken (or omitted to be taken) with the written consent of or at the written request of the Purchasers holding a majority in principal amount outstanding of the Debentures).
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(c) Authorization; Enforcement.
(i) The Company has the requisite corporate power and authority to enter into and to consummate the transactions contemplated by this Agreement and each of the other Transaction Documents and otherwise to carry out its obligations hereunder and thereunder. The execution and delivery of this Agreement and each of the other Transaction Documents by the Company and the consummation by it of the transactions contemplated hereby and thereby have been duly authorized by all necessary action on the part of the Company and no further action is required by the Company, the Board of Directors or the Company’s stockholders in connection herewith or therewith other than in connection with the Required Approvals. This Agreement and each other Transaction Document to which it is a party has been (or upon delivery will have been) duly executed by the Company and, when delivered in accordance with the terms hereof and thereof, will constitute the valid and binding obligation of the Company enforceable against the Company in accordance with its terms, except (i) as limited by general equitable principles and applicable bankruptcy, insolvency, reorganization, moratorium and other laws of general application affecting enforcement of creditors’ rights generally, (ii) as limited by laws relating to the availability of specific performance, injunctive relief or other equitable remedies and (iii) insofar as indemnification and contribution provisions may be limited by applicable law.
(ii) With respect to the Subsidiary Guarantee, each of the Subsidiaries has the requisite corporate power and authority to enter into and to consummate the transactions contemplated by such agreement and otherwise to carry out its obligations thereunder. The execution and delivery of the Subsidiary Guarantee and the consummation by the Company of the transactions contemplated thereby have been duly authorized by all necessary action on the part of the Company, and no further action is required by the respective Subsidiary, its managers or its members in connection therewith. The Subsidiary Guarantee has been (or upon delivery will have been) duly executed by the respective Subsidiaries and, when delivered in accordance with the terms thereof, will constitute the valid and binding obligation of the respective Subsidiary enforceable against such Subsidiary in accordance with its terms, except (A) as listed by general equitable principals and applicable bankruptcy, insolvency, reorganization, moratorium and other laws of general application affecting enforcement of creditors’ rights generally, (B) as limited by laws relating to the availability of specific performance, injunctive relief or other equitable remedies and (C) insofar as indemnification and contribution provisions may be limited by applicable law.
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(d) No Conflicts. The execution, delivery and performance by the Company of this Agreement and the other Transaction Documents to which it is a party, the issuance and sale of the Securities and the consummation by it of the transactions contemplated hereby and thereby do not and will not (i) conflict with or violate any provision of the Company’s or any Subsidiary’s certificate or articles of incorporation, bylaws or other organizational or charter documents, or (ii) conflict with, or constitute a default (or an event that with notice or lapse of time or both would become a default) under, result in the creation of any Lien upon any of the properties or assets of the Company or any Subsidiary, or give to others any rights of termination, amendment, antidilution or similar adjustments, acceleration or cancellation (with or without notice, lapse of time or both) of, any agreement, credit facility, debt or other instrument (evidencing a Company or Subsidiary debt or otherwise) or other understanding to which the Company or any Subsidiary is a party or by which any property or asset of the Company or any Subsidiary is bound or affected, or (iii) subject to the Required Approvals, conflict with or result in a violation of any law, rule, regulation, order, judgment, injunction, decree or other restriction of any court or governmental authority to which the Company or a Subsidiary is subject (including federal and state securities laws and regulations), or by which any property or asset of the Company or a Subsidiary is bound or affected; except in the case of each of clauses (ii) and (iii), such as could not have or reasonably be expected to result in a Material Adverse Effect.
(e) Filings, Consents and Approvals. The Company is not required to obtain any consent, waiver, authorization or order of, give any notice to, or make any filing or registration with, any court or other federal, state, local or other governmental authority or other Person in connection with the execution, delivery and performance by the Company of the Transaction Documents, other than: (i) the filings required pursuant to Section 4.6 of this Agreement, (ii) the filing with the Commission pursuant to the Registration Rights Agreement, (iii) the notice and/or application(s) to each applicable Trading Market for the issuance and sale of the Securities and the listing of the Conversion Shares for trading thereon in the time and manner required thereby, and (iv) the filing of Form D with the Commission and such filings as are required to be made under applicable state securities laws (collectively, the “Required Approvals”).
(f) Issuance of the Securities. The Securities are duly authorized and, when issued and paid for in accordance with the applicable Transaction Documents, will be duly and validly issued, fully paid and nonassessable, free and clear of all Liens imposed by the Company other than restrictions on transfer provided for in the Transaction Documents. The Underlying Shares, when issued in accordance with the terms of the Transaction Documents, will be validly issued, fully paid and nonassessable, free and clear of all Liens imposed by the Company other than restrictions on transfer provided for in the Transaction Documents. The Company has reserved from its duly authorized capital stock a number of shares of Common Stock for issuance of the Underlying Shares at least equal to the Required Minimum on the date hereof.
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(g) Capitalization. The capitalization of the Company as of the date hereof is as set forth on Schedule 3.1(g), which Schedule 3.1(g) shall also include the number of shares of Common Stock owned beneficially, and of record, by Affiliates of the Company as of the date hereof. The Company has not issued any capital stock since its most recently filed periodic report under the Exchange Act, other than pursuant to the exercise of employee stock options under the Company’s stock option plans, the issuance of shares of Common Stock to employees pursuant to the Company’s employee stock purchase plans and pursuant to the conversion and/or exercise of Common Stock Equivalents outstanding as of the date of the most recently filed periodic report under the Exchange Act. No Person has any right of first refusal, preemptive right, right of participation, or any similar right to participate in the transactions contemplated by the Transaction Documents. Except as a result of the purchase and sale of the Securities and as set forth on Schedule 3.1(g), there are no outstanding options, warrants, scrip rights to subscribe to, calls or commitments of any character whatsoever relating to, or securities, rights or obligations convertible into or exercisable or exchangeable for, or giving any Person any right to subscribe for or acquire, any shares of Common Stock or the capital stock of any Subsidiary, or contracts, commitments, understandings or arrangements by which the Company or any Subsidiary is or may become bound to issue additional shares of Common Stock or Common Stock Equivalents or capital stock of any Subsidiary. The issuance and sale of the Securities will not obligate the Company or any Subsidiary to issue shares of Common Stock or other securities to any Person (other than the Purchasers). There are no outstanding securities or instruments of the Company or any Subsidiary with any provision that adjusts the exercise, conversion, exchange or reset price of such security or instrument upon an issuance of securities by the Company or any Subsidiary. There are no outstanding securities or instruments of the Company or any Subsidiary that contain any redemption or similar provisions, and there are no contracts, commitments, understandings or arrangements by which the Company or any Subsidiary is or may become bound to redeem a security of the Company or such Subsidiary. The Company does not have any stock appreciation rights or “phantom stock” plans or agreements or any similar plan or agreement. All of the outstanding shares of capital stock of the Company are duly authorized, validly issued, fully paid and nonassessable, have been issued in compliance with all federal and state securities laws, and none of such outstanding shares was issued in violation of any preemptive rights or similar rights to subscribe for or purchase securities. No further approval or authorization of any stockholder, the Board of Directors or others is required for the issuance and sale of the Securities. There are no stockholders agreements, voting agreements or other similar agreements with respect to the Company’s capital stock to which the Company is a party or, to the knowledge of the Company, between or among any of the Company’s stockholders.
(h) SEC Reports; Financial Statements. The Company has filed all reports, schedules, forms, statements and other documents required to be filed by the Company under the Securities Act and the Exchange Act, including pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) thereof, for the two years preceding the date hereof (or such shorter period as the Company was required by law or regulation to file such material) (the foregoing materials, including the exhibits thereto and documents incorporated by reference therein, being collectively referred to herein as the “SEC Reports”) on a timely basis or has received a valid extension of such time of filing and has filed any such SEC Reports prior to the expiration of any such extension. As of their respective dates, the SEC Reports complied in all material respects with the requirements of the Securities Act and the Exchange Act, as applicable, and none of the SEC Reports, when filed, contained any untrue statement of a material fact or omitted to state a material fact required to be stated therein or necessary in order to make the statements therein, in the light of the circumstances under which they were made, not misleading. The Company has never been an issuer subject to Rule 144(i) under the Securities Act. The financial statements of the Company included in the SEC Reports comply in all material respects with applicable accounting requirements and the rules and regulations of the Commission with respect thereto as in effect at the time of filing. Such financial statements have been prepared in accordance with United States generally accepted accounting principles applied on a consistent basis during the periods involved (“GAAP”), except as may be otherwise specified in such financial statements or the notes thereto and except that unaudited financial statements may not contain all footnotes required by GAAP, and fairly present in all material respects the financial position of the Company and its consolidated Subsidiaries as of and for the dates thereof and the results of operations and cash flows for the periods then ended, subject, in the case of unaudited statements, to normal, immaterial, year-end audit adjustments.
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(i) Material Changes; Undisclosed Events, Liabilities or Developments. Since the date of the latest financial statements included within the SEC Reports, except as set forth on Schedule 3.1(i) or the Company’s SEC Reports, (i) there has been no event, occurrence or development that has had or that could reasonably be expected to result in a Material Adverse Effect, (ii) the Company has not incurred any liabilities (contingent or otherwise) other than (A) trade payables and accrued expenses incurred in the ordinary course of business consistent with past practice and (B) liabilities not required to be reflected in the Company’s financial statements pursuant to GAAP or disclosed in filings made with the Commission, (iii) the Company has not altered its method of accounting, (iv) the Company has not declared or made any dividend or distribution of cash or other property to its stockholders or purchased, redeemed or made any agreements to purchase or redeem any shares of its capital stock and (v) the Company has not issued any equity securities to any officer, director or Affiliate, except pursuant to existing Company stock option plans. The Company does not have pending before the Commission any request for confidential treatment of information. Except for the issuance of the Securities contemplated by this Agreement or as set forth on Schedule 3.1(i) or the Company’s SEC Reports, no event, liability, fact, circumstance, occurrence or development has occurred or exists or is reasonably expected to occur or exist with respect to the Company or its Subsidiaries or their respective businesses, prospects, properties, operations, assets or financial condition, that would be required to be disclosed by the Company under applicable securities laws at the time this representation is made or deemed made that has not been publicly disclosed at least 1 Trading Day prior to the date that this representation is made.
(j) Litigation. Except as set forth on Schedule 3.1(j), to the knowledge of the Company, there is no action, suit, inquiry, notice of violation, proceeding or investigation pending or, threatened against or affecting the Company, any Subsidiary or any of their respective properties before or by any court, arbitrator, governmental or administrative agency or regulatory authority (federal, state, county, local or foreign) (collectively, an “Action”). None of the Actions set forth on Schedule 3.1(j), (i) adversely affects or challenges the legality, validity or enforceability of any of the Transaction Documents or the Securities or (ii) could, if there were an unfavorable decision, have or reasonably be expected to result in a Material Adverse Effect. Neither the Company nor any Subsidiary, nor any director or officer thereof, is or has been the subject of any Action involving a claim of violation of or liability under federal or state securities laws or a claim of breach of fiduciary duty. There has not been, and to the knowledge of the Company, there is not pending or contemplated, any investigation by the Commission involving the Company or any current or former director or officer of the Company. The Commission has not issued any stop order or other order suspending the effectiveness of any registration statement filed by the Company or any Subsidiary under the Exchange Act or the Securities Act.
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(k) Labor Relations. No labor dispute exists or, to the knowledge of the Company, is imminent with respect to any of the employees of the Company, which could reasonably be expected to result in a Material Adverse Effect. None of the Company’s or its Subsidiaries’ employees is a member of a union that relates to such employee’s relationship with the Company or such Subsidiary, and neither the Company nor any of its Subsidiaries is a party to a collective bargaining agreement, and the Company and its Subsidiaries believe that their relationships with their employees are good. To the knowledge of the Company, no executive officer of the Company or any Subsidiary, is, or is now expected to be, in violation of any material term of any employment contract, confidentiality, disclosure or proprietary information agreement or non-competition agreement, or any other contract or agreement or any restrictive covenant in favor of any third party, and the continued employment of each such executive officer does not subject the Company or any of its Subsidiaries to any liability with respect to any of the foregoing matters. The Company and its Subsidiaries are in compliance with all U.S. federal, state, local and foreign laws and regulations relating to employment and employment practices, terms and conditions of employment and wages and hours, except where the failure to be in compliance could not, individually or in the aggregate, reasonably be expected to have a Material Adverse Effect.
(l) Compliance. Except as set forth on Schedule 3.1(l), neither the Company nor any Subsidiary: (i) is in default under or in violation of (and no event has occurred that has not been waived that, with notice or lapse of time or both, would result in a default by the Company or any Subsidiary under), nor has the Company or any Subsidiary received notice of a claim that it is in default under or that it is in violation of, any indenture, loan or credit agreement or any other agreement or instrument to which it is a party or by which it or any of its properties is bound (whether or not such default or violation has been waived), (ii) is in violation of any judgment, decree or order of any court, arbitrator or other governmental authority or (iii) is or has been in violation of any statute, rule, ordinance or regulation of any governmental authority, including without limitation all foreign, federal, state and local laws relating to taxes, environmental protection, occupational health and safety, product quality and safety and employment and labor matters, except in each case as could not have or reasonably be expected to result in a Material Adverse Effect.
(m) Environmental Laws. The Company and its Subsidiaries (i) are in compliance with all federal, state, local and foreign laws relating to pollution or protection of human health or the environment (including ambient air, surface water, groundwater, land surface or subsurface strata), including laws relating to emissions, discharges, releases or threatened releases of chemicals, pollutants, contaminants, or toxic or hazardous substances or wastes (collectively, “Hazardous Materials”) into the environment, or otherwise relating to the manufacture, processing, distribution, use, treatment, storage, disposal, transport or handling of Hazardous Materials, as well as all authorizations, codes, decrees, demands, or demand letters, injunctions, judgments, licenses, notices or notice letters, orders, permits, plans or regulations, issued, entered, promulgated or approved thereunder (“Environmental Laws”); (ii) have received all permits licenses or other approvals required of them under applicable Environmental Laws to conduct their respective businesses; and (iii) are in compliance with all terms and conditions of any such permit, license or approval where in each clause (i), (ii) and (iii), the failure to so comply could be reasonably expected to have, individually or in the aggregate, a Material Adverse Effect.
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(n) Regulatory Permits. The Company and the Subsidiaries possess all certificates, authorizations and permits issued by the appropriate federal, state, local or foreign regulatory authorities necessary to conduct their respective businesses as described in the SEC Reports, except where the failure to possess such permits could not reasonably be expected to result in a Material Adverse Effect (“Material Permits”), and neither the Company nor any Subsidiary has received any notice of proceedings relating to the revocation or modification of any Material Permit.
(o) Title to Assets. The Company and the Subsidiaries have good and marketable title in fee simple to all real property owned by them and good and marketable title in all personal property owned by them that is material to the business of the Company and the Subsidiaries, in each case free and clear of all Liens, except for (i) Liens as do not materially affect the value of such property and do not materially interfere with the use made and proposed to be made of such property by the Company and the Subsidiaries and (ii) Liens for the payment of federal, state or other taxes, for which appropriate reserves have been made therefor in accordance with GAAP and, the payment of which is neither delinquent nor subject to penalties. Any real property and facilities held under lease by the Company and the Subsidiaries are held by them under valid, subsisting and enforceable leases with which the Company and the Subsidiaries are in compliance.
(p) Intellectual Property. The Company and the Subsidiaries have, or have rights to use, all patents, patent applications, trademarks, trademark applications, service marks, trade names, trade secrets, inventions, copyrights, licenses and other intellectual property rights and similar rights necessary or required for use in connection with their respective businesses as described in the SEC Reports and which the failure to so have could have a Material Adverse Effect (collectively, the “Intellectual Property Rights”). None of, and neither the Company nor any Subsidiary has received a notice (written or otherwise) that any of, the Intellectual Property Rights has expired, terminated or been abandoned, or is expected to expire or terminate or be abandoned, within two (2) years from the date of this Agreement. Neither the Company nor any Subsidiary has received, since the date of the latest audited financial statements included within the SEC Reports, a written notice of a claim or otherwise has any knowledge that the Intellectual Property Rights violate or infringe upon the rights of any Person, except as could not have or reasonably be expected to not have a Material Adverse Effect. To the knowledge of the Company, all such Intellectual Property Rights are enforceable and there is no existing infringement by another Person of any of the Intellectual Property Rights. The Company and its Subsidiaries have taken reasonable security measures to protect the secrecy, confidentiality and value of all of their intellectual properties, except where failure to do so could not, individually or in the aggregate, reasonably be expected to have a Material Adverse Effect.
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(q) Insurance. The Company and the Subsidiaries are insured by insurers of recognized financial responsibility against such losses and risks and in such amounts as are prudent and customary in the businesses in which the Company and the Subsidiaries are engaged, including, but not limited to, directors and officers insurance coverage at least equal to the aggregate Principal Amount. Neither the Company nor any Subsidiary has any reason to believe that it will not be able to renew its existing insurance coverage as and when such coverage expires or to obtain similar coverage from similar insurers as may be necessary to continue its business without a significant increase in cost.
(r) Transactions with Affiliates and Employees. Except as set forth on Schedule 3.1(r), none of the officers or directors of the Company or any Subsidiary and, to the knowledge of the Company, none of the employees of the Company or any Subsidiary is presently a party to any transaction with the Company or any Subsidiary (other than for services as employees, officers and directors), including any contract, agreement or other arrangement providing for the furnishing of services to or by, providing for rental of real or personal property to or from providing for the borrowing of money from or lending of money to, or otherwise requiring payments to or from any officer, director or such employee or, to the knowledge of the Company, any entity in which any officer, director, or any such employee has a substantial interest or is an officer, director, trustee, stockholder, member or partner, in each case in excess of $120,000 other than for (i) payment of salary or consulting fees for services rendered, (ii) reimbursement for expenses incurred on behalf of the Company and (iii) other employee benefits, including stock option agreements under any stock option plan of the Company.
(s) Sarbanes-Oxley; Internal Accounting Controls. The Company and the Subsidiaries are in compliance with any and all applicable requirements of the SarbanesOxley Act of 2002, as amended, that are effective as of the date hereof, and any and all applicable rules and regulations promulgated by the Commission thereunder that are effective as of the date hereof and as of the applicable Closing Date. The Company and the Subsidiaries maintain a system of internal accounting controls sufficient to provide reasonable assurance that: (i) transactions are executed in accordance with management’s general or specific authorizations, (ii) transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in conformity with GAAP and to maintain asset accountability, (iii) access to assets is permitted only in accordance with management’s general or specific authorization, and (iv) the recorded accountability for assets is compared with the existing assets at reasonable intervals and appropriate action is taken with respect to any differences. The Company and the Subsidiaries have established disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d15(e)) for the Company and the Subsidiaries and designed such disclosure controls and procedures to ensure that information required to be disclosed by the Company in the reports it files or submits under the Exchange Act is recorded, processed, summarized and reported, within the time periods specified in the Commission’s rules and forms. The Company’s certifying officers have evaluated the effectiveness of the disclosure controls and procedures of the Company and the Subsidiaries as of the end of the period covered by the most recently filed periodic report under the Exchange Act (such date, the “Evaluation Date”). The Company presented in its most recently filed periodic report under the Exchange Act the conclusions of the certifying officers about the effectiveness of the disclosure controls and procedures based on their evaluations as of the Evaluation Date. Since the Evaluation Date, there have been no changes in the internal control over financial reporting (as such term is defined in the Exchange Act) that have materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, the internal control over financial reporting of the Company and its Subsidiaries.
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(t) Certain Fees. Except for fees payable by the Company to the placement agent, no brokerage or finder’s fees or commissions are or will be payable by the Company or any Subsidiaries to any broker, financial advisor or consultant, finder, placement agent, investment banker, bank or other Person with respect to the transactions contemplated by the Transaction Documents. The Purchasers shall have no obligation with respect to any fees or with respect to any claims made by or on behalf of other Persons for fees of a type contemplated in this Section that may be due in connection with the transactions contemplated by the Transaction Documents.
(u) Private Placement. Assuming the accuracy of the Purchasers’ representations and warranties set forth in Section 3.2, no registration under the Securities Act is required for the offer and sale of the Securities by the Company to the Purchasers as contemplated hereby. The issuance and sale of the Securities hereunder does not contravene the rules and regulations of the Trading Market.
(v) Investment Company. The Company is not, and is not an Affiliate of, and immediately after receipt of payment for the Securities, will not be or be an Affiliate of, an “investment company” within the meaning of the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended. The Company shall conduct its business in a manner so that it will not become an “investment company” subject to registration under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended.
(w) Registration Rights. Other than each of the Purchasers, no Person has any right to cause the Company or any Subsidiary to effect the registration under the Securities Act of any securities of the Company or any Subsidiaries.
(x) Listing and Maintenance Requirements. The Common Stock is registered pursuant to Section 12(b) or 12(g) of the Exchange Act, and the Company has taken no action designed to, or which to its knowledge is likely to have the effect of, terminating the registration of the Common Stock under the Exchange Act nor has the Company received any notification that the Commission is contemplating terminating such registration. Except as set forth on Schedule 3.1(x) or disclosed in the Company’s SEC filings, the Company has not, in the 12 months preceding the date hereof, received notice from any Trading Market on which the Common Stock is or has been listed or quoted to the effect that the Company is not in compliance with the listing or maintenance requirements of such Trading Market. The Common Stock is currently eligible for electronic transfer through the Depository Trust Company or another established clearing corporation and the Company is current in payment of the fees to the Depository Trust Company (or such other established clearing corporation) in connection with such electronic transfer.
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(y) Application of Takeover Protections. The Company and the Board of Directors have taken all necessary action, if any, in order to render inapplicable any control share acquisition, business combination, poison pill (including any distribution under a rights agreement) or other similar anti-takeover provision under the Company’s certificate of incorporation (or similar charter documents) or the laws of its state of incorporation that is or could become applicable to the Purchasers as a result of the Purchasers and the Company fulfilling their obligations or exercising their rights under the Transaction Documents, including without limitation as a result of the Company’s issuance of the Securities and the Purchasers’ ownership of the Securities.
(z) Disclosure. Except with respect to the material terms and conditions of the transactions contemplated by the Transaction Documents, the Company confirms that neither it nor any other Person acting on its behalf has provided any of the Purchasers or their agents or counsel with any information that it believes constitutes or might constitute material, non-public information. The Company understands and confirms that the Purchasers will rely on the foregoing representation in effecting transactions in securities of the Company. All of the disclosure furnished by or on behalf of the Company to the Purchasers regarding the Company and its Subsidiaries, their respective businesses and the transactions contemplated hereby, including the Disclosure Schedules to this Agreement, is true and correct and does not contain any untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state any material fact necessary in order to make the statements made therein, in the light of the circumstances under which they were made, not misleading. The press releases disseminated by the Company during the twelve months preceding the date of this Agreement taken as a whole do not contain any untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact required to be stated therein or necessary in order to make the statements therein, in the light of the circumstances under which they were made and when made, not misleading. The Company acknowledges and agrees that no Purchaser makes or has made any representations or warranties with respect to the transactions contemplated hereby other than those specifically set forth in Section 3.2 hereof.
(aa) No Integrated Offering. Assuming the accuracy of the Purchasers’ representations and warranties set forth in Section 3.2, neither the Company, nor any of its Affiliates, nor any Person acting on its or their behalf has, directly or indirectly, made any offers or sales of any security or solicited any offers to buy any security, under circumstances that would cause this offering of the Securities to be integrated with prior offerings by the Company for purposes of (i) the Securities Act which would require the registration of any such securities under the Securities Act, or (ii) any applicable shareholder approval provisions of any Trading Market on which any of the securities of the Company are listed or designated.
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(bb) Solvency. Based on the consolidated financial condition of the Company as of the applicable Closing Date, after giving effect to the receipt by the Company of the proceeds from the sale of the Securities hereunder, (i) the fair saleable value of the Company’s assets exceeds the amount that will be required to be paid on or in respect of the Company’s existing debts and other liabilities (including known contingent liabilities) as they mature, (ii) the Company’s assets do not constitute unreasonably small capital to carry on its business as now conducted and as proposed to be conducted including its capital needs taking into account the particular capital requirements of the business conducted by the Company, consolidated and projected capital requirements and capital availability thereof, and (iii) the current cash flow of the Company, together with the proceeds the Company would receive, were it to liquidate all of its assets, after taking into account all anticipated uses of the cash, would be sufficient to pay all amounts on or in respect of its liabilities when such amounts are required to be paid. The Company does not intend to incur debts beyond its ability to pay such debts as they mature (taking into account the timing and amounts of cash to be payable on or in respect of its debt). The Company has no knowledge of any facts or circumstances which lead it to believe that it will file for reorganization or liquidation under the bankruptcy or reorganization laws of any jurisdiction within one year from the applicable Closing Date. Schedule 3.1(bb) sets forth as of the date hereof all outstanding secured and unsecured Indebtedness of the Company or any Subsidiary, or for which the Company or any Subsidiary has commitments. For the purposes of this Agreement, “Indebtedness” means (x) any liabilities for borrowed money or amounts owed in excess of $50,000 (other than trade accounts payable incurred in the ordinary course of business), (y) all guaranties, endorsements and other contingent obligations in respect of indebtedness of others, whether or not the same are or should be reflected in the Company’s consolidated balance sheet (or the notes thereto), except guaranties by endorsement of negotiable instruments for deposit or collection or similar transactions in the ordinary course of business; and (z) the present value of any lease payments in excess of $50,000 due under leases required to be capitalized in accordance with GAAP. Neither the Company nor any Subsidiary is in default with respect to any Indebtedness.
(cc) Tax Status. Except for matters that would not, individually or in the aggregate, have or reasonably be expected to result in a Material Adverse Effect, the Company and its Subsidiaries each (i) has made or filed all United States federal, state and local income and all foreign income and franchise tax returns, reports and declarations required by any jurisdiction to which it is subject, (ii) has paid all taxes and other governmental assessments and charges that are material in amount, shown or determined to be due on such returns, reports and declarations and (iii) has set aside on its books provision reasonably adequate for the payment of all material taxes for periods subsequent to the periods to which such returns, reports or declarations apply. There are no unpaid taxes in any material amount claimed to be due by the taxing authority of any jurisdiction, and the officers of the Company or of any Subsidiary know of no basis for any such claim.
(dd) No General Solicitation. Neither the Company nor any Person acting on behalf of the Company has offered or sold any of the Securities by any form of general solicitation or general advertising. The Company has offered the Securities for sale only to the Purchasers and certain other “accredited investors” within the meaning of Rule 501 under the Securities Act.
(ee) Foreign Corrupt Practices. Neither the Company nor any Subsidiary, nor to the knowledge of the Company or any Subsidiary, any agent or other person acting on behalf of the Company or any Subsidiary, has (i) directly or indirectly, used any funds for unlawful contributions, gifts, entertainment or other unlawful expenses related to foreign or domestic political activity, (ii) made any unlawful payment to foreign or domestic government officials or employees or to any foreign or domestic political parties or campaigns from corporate funds, (iii) failed to disclose fully any contribution made by the Company or any Subsidiary (or made by any person acting on its behalf of which the Company is aware) which is in violation of law or (iv) violated in any material respect any provision of FCPA.
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(ff) Accountants. The Company’s accounting firm is set forth on Schedule 3.1(ff) of the Disclosure Schedules. To the knowledge and belief of the Company, such accounting firm (i) is a registered public accounting firm as required by the Exchange Act and (ii) shall express its opinion with respect to the financial statements to be included in the Company’s Annual Report for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2022.
(gg) Reserved.
(hh) No Disagreements with Accountants and Lawyers. There are no disagreements of any kind presently existing, or reasonably anticipated by the Company to arise, between the Company and the accountants and lawyers formerly or presently employed by the Company and the Company is current with respect to any fees owed to its accountants and lawyers which could affect the Company’s ability to perform any of its obligations under any of the Transaction Documents.
(ii) Acknowledgment Regarding Purchasers’ Purchase of Securities. The Company acknowledges and agrees that each of the Purchasers is acting solely in the capacity of an arm’s length purchaser with respect to the Transaction Documents and the transactions contemplated thereby. The Company further acknowledges that no Purchaser is acting as a financial advisor or fiduciary of the Company (or in any similar capacity) with respect to the Transaction Documents and the transactions contemplated thereby and any advice given by any Purchaser or any of their respective representatives or agents in connection with the Transaction Documents and the transactions contemplated thereby is merely incidental to the Purchasers’ purchase of the Securities. The Company further represents to each Purchaser that the Company’s decision to enter into this Agreement and the other Transaction Documents has been based solely on the independent evaluation of the transactions contemplated hereby by the Company and its representatives.
(jj) Acknowledgment Regarding Purchaser’s Trading Activity. Anything in this Agreement or elsewhere herein to the contrary notwithstanding (except for Sections 3.2(g) and 4.14 hereof), it is understood and acknowledged by the Company that: (i) none of the Purchasers has been asked by the Company to agree, nor has any Purchaser agreed, to desist from purchasing or selling, long and/or short, securities of the Company, or “derivative” securities based on securities issued by the Company or to hold the Securities for any specified term, (ii) past or future open market or other transactions by any Purchaser, specifically including, without limitation, Short Sales or “derivative” transactions, before or after the closing of this or future private placement transactions, may negatively impact the market price of the Company’s publicly-traded securities, (iii) any Purchaser, and counter-parties in “derivative” transactions to which any such Purchaser is a party, directly or indirectly, may presently have a “short” position in the Common Stock and (iv) each Purchaser shall not be deemed to have any affiliation with or control over any arm’s length counter-party in any “derivative” transaction. The Company further understands and acknowledges that (y) one or more Purchasers may engage in hedging activities at various times during the period that the Securities are outstanding, including, without limitation, during the periods that the value of the Underlying Shares deliverable with respect to Securities are being determined, and (z) such hedging activities (if any) could reduce the value of the existing stockholders’ equity interests in the Company at and after the time that the hedging activities are being conducted. The Company acknowledges that such aforementioned hedging activities do not constitute a breach of any of the Transaction Documents.
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(kk) Regulation M Compliance. The Company has not, and to its knowledge no one acting on its behalf has, (i) taken, directly or indirectly, any action designed to cause or to result in the stabilization or manipulation of the price of any security of the Company to facilitate the sale or resale of any of the Securities, (ii) sold, bid for, purchased, or paid any compensation for soliciting purchases of, any of the Securities, or (iii) paid or agreed to pay to any Person any compensation for soliciting another to purchase any other securities of the Company, other than, in the case of clauses (ii) and (iii), compensation paid to the placement agent in connection with the placement of the Securities.
(ll) Reserved.
(mm) Stock Option Plans. Each stock option granted by the Company under the Company’s stock option plan was granted (i) in accordance with the terms of the Company’s stock option plan and (ii) with an exercise price at least equal to the fair market value of the Common Stock on the date such stock option would be considered granted under GAAP and applicable law. No stock option granted under the Company’s stock option plan has been backdated. The Company has not knowingly granted, and there is no and has been no Company policy or practice to knowingly grant, stock options prior to, or otherwise knowingly coordinate the grant of stock options with, the release or other public announcement of material information regarding the Company or its Subsidiaries or their financial results or prospects.
(nn) Cybersecurity. (i)(x) There has been no security breach or other compromise of or relating to any of the Company’s or any Subsidiary’s information technology and computer systems, networks, hardware, software, data (including the data of its respective customers, employees, suppliers, vendors and any third party data maintained by or on behalf of it), equipment or technology (collectively, “IT Systems and Data”) and (y) the Company and the Subsidiaries have not been notified of, and has no knowledge of any event or condition that would reasonably be expected to result in, any security breach or other compromise to its IT Systems and Data; (ii) the Company and the Subsidiaries are presently in compliance with all applicable laws or statutes and all judgments, orders, rules and regulations of any court or arbitrator or governmental or regulatory authority, internal policies and contractual obligations relating to the privacy and security of IT Systems and Data and to the protection of such IT Systems and Data from unauthorized use, access, misappropriation or modification, except as would not, individually or in the aggregate, have a Material Adverse Effect; (iii) the Company and the Subsidiaries have implemented and maintained commercially reasonable safeguards to maintain and protect its material confidential information and the integrity, continuous operation, redundancy and security of all IT Systems and Data; and (iv) the Company and the Subsidiaries have implemented backup and disaster recovery technology consistent with industry standards and practices.
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(oo) Office of Foreign Assets Control. Neither the Company nor any Subsidiary nor, to the Company’s knowledge, any director, officer, agent, employee or affiliate of the Company or any Subsidiary is currently subject to any U.S. sanctions administered by the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the U.S. Treasury Department (”OFAC”).
(pp) U.S. Real Property Holding Corporation. The Company is not and has never been a U.S. real property holding corporation within the meaning of Section 897 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended, and the Company shall so certify upon Purchaser’s request.
(qq) Bank Holding Company Act. Neither the Company nor any of its Subsidiaries or Affiliates is subject to the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956, as amended (the “BHCA”) and to regulation by the Board of Governors of the Federal
Reserve System (the “Federal Reserve”). Neither the Company nor any of its Subsidiaries or Affiliates owns or controls, directly or indirectly, five percent (5%) or more of the outstanding shares of any class of voting securities or twenty-five percent or more of the total equity of a bank or any entity that is subject to the BHCA and to regulation by the Federal Reserve. Neither the Company nor any of its Subsidiaries or Affiliates exercises a controlling influence over the management or policies of a bank or any entity that is subject to the BHCA and to regulation by the Federal Reserve.
(rr) Money Laundering. The operations of the Company and its Subsidiaries are and have been conducted at all times in compliance with applicable financial recordkeeping and reporting requirements of the Currency and Foreign Transactions Reporting Act of 1970, as amended, applicable money laundering statutes and applicable rules and regulations thereunder (collectively, the “Money Laundering Laws”), and no Action or Proceeding by or before any court or governmental agency, authority or body or any arbitrator involving the Company or any Subsidiary with respect to the Money Laundering Laws is pending or, to the knowledge of the Company or any Subsidiary, threatened.
(ss) No Disqualification Events. With respect to the Securities to be offered and sold hereunder in reliance on Rule 506 under the Securities Act, none of the Company, any of its predecessors, any affiliated issuer, any director, executive officer, other officer of the Company participating in the offering hereunder, any beneficial owner of 20% or more of the Company’s outstanding voting equity securities, calculated on the basis of voting power, nor any promoter (as that term is defined in Rule 405 under the Securities Act) connected with the Company in any capacity at the time of sale (each, an “Issuer Covered Person” and, together, “Issuer Covered Persons”) is subject to any of the “Bad Actor” disqualifications described in Rule 506(d)(1)(i) to (viii) under the Securities Act (a “Disqualification Event”), except for a Disqualification Event covered by Rule 506(d)(2) or (d)(3). The Company has exercised reasonable care to determine whether any Issuer Covered Person is subject to a Disqualification Event. The Company has complied, to the extent applicable, with its disclosure obligations under Rule 506(e), and has furnished to the Purchasers a copy of any disclosures provided thereunder.
(tt) Other Covered Persons. Other than the placement agent, the Company is not aware of any person (other than any Issuer Covered Person) that has been or will be paid (directly or indirectly) remuneration for solicitation of purchasers in connection with the sale of any Securities.
(uu) Notice of Disqualification Events. The Company will notify the Purchasers and the placement agent in writing, prior to the applicable Closing Date of (i) any Disqualification Event relating to any Issuer Covered Person and (ii) any event that would, with the passage of time, become a Disqualification Event relating to any Issuer Covered Person.
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3.2 Representations and Warranties of the Purchasers. Each Purchaser, for itself and for no other Purchaser, hereby represents and warrants as of the date hereof and as of the applicable Closing Date to the Company as follows (unless as of a specific date therein, in which case they shall be accurate as of such date):
(a) Organization; Authority. Such Purchaser is either an individual or an entity duly incorporated or formed, validly existing and in good standing under the laws of the jurisdiction of its incorporation or formation with full right, corporate, partnership, limited liability company or similar power and authority to enter into and to consummate the transactions contemplated by the Transaction Documents and otherwise to carry out its obligations hereunder and thereunder. The execution and delivery of the Transaction Documents and performance by such Purchaser of the transactions contemplated by the Transaction Documents have been duly authorized by all necessary corporate, partnership, limited liability company or similar action, as applicable, on the part of such Purchaser. Each Transaction Document to which it is a party has been duly executed by such Purchaser, and when delivered by such Purchaser in accordance with the terms hereof, will constitute the valid and legally binding obligation of such Purchaser, enforceable against it in accordance with its terms, except (i) as limited by general equitable principles and applicable bankruptcy, insolvency, reorganization, moratorium and other laws of general application affecting enforcement of creditors’ rights generally, (ii) as limited by laws relating to the availability of specific performance, injunctive relief or other equitable remedies and (iii) insofar as indemnification and contribution provisions may be limited by applicable law.
(b) Own Account. Such Purchaser understands that the Securities are “restricted securities” and have not been registered under the Securities Act or any applicable state securities law and is acquiring the Securities as principal for its own account and not with a view to or for distributing or reselling such Securities or any part thereof in violation of the Securities Act or any applicable state securities law, has no present intention of distributing any of such Securities in violation of the Securities Act or any applicable state securities law and has no direct or indirect arrangement or understandings with any other persons to distribute or regarding the distribution of such Securities in violation of the Securities Act or any applicable state securities law (this representation and warranty not limiting such Purchaser’s right to sell the Securities pursuant to the Registration Statement or otherwise in compliance with applicable federal and state securities laws). Such Purchaser is acquiring the Securities hereunder in the ordinary course of its business.
(c) Purchaser Status. At the time such Purchaser was offered the Securities, it was, and as of the date hereof it is, and on each date on which it converts any Debentures it will be an “accredited investor” as defined in Rule 501(a)(1), (a)(2), (a)(3), (a)(7), (a)(8), (a)(9), (a)(12), or (a)(13) under the Securities Act.
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(d) Experience of Such Purchaser. Such Purchaser, either alone or together with its representatives, has such knowledge, sophistication and experience in business and financial matters so as to be capable of evaluating the merits and risks of the prospective investment in the Securities, and has so evaluated the merits and risks of such investment. Such Purchaser is able to bear the economic risk of an investment in the Securities and, at the present time, is able to afford a complete loss of such investment.
(e) General Solicitation. Such Purchaser is not, to such Purchaser’s knowledge, purchasing the Securities as a result of any advertisement, article, notice or other communication regarding the Securities published in any newspaper, magazine or similar media or broadcast over television or radio or presented at any seminar or, to the knowledge of such Purchaser, any other general solicitation or general advertisement.
(f) Access to Information. Such Purchaser acknowledges that it has had the opportunity to review the Transaction Documents (including all exhibits and schedules thereto) and the SEC Reports and has been afforded (i) the opportunity to ask such questions as it has deemed necessary of, and to receive answers from, representatives of the Company concerning the terms and conditions of the offering of the Securities and the merits and risks of investing in the Securities; (ii) access to information about the Company and its financial condition, results of operations, business, properties, management and prospects sufficient to enable it to evaluate its investment; and (iii) the opportunity to obtain such additional information that the Company possesses or can acquire without unreasonable effort or expense that is necessary to make an informed investment decision with respect to the investment. Such Purchaser acknowledges and agrees that neither the placement agent nor any Affiliate of the placement agent has provided such Purchaser with any information or advice with respect to the Securities nor is such information or advice necessary or desired. Neither the placement agent nor any Affiliate has made or makes any representation as to the Company or the quality of the Securities and the placement agent and any Affiliate may have acquired non-public information with respect to the Company which such Purchaser agrees need not be provided to it. In connection with the issuance of the Securities to such Purchaser, neither the placement agent nor any of its Affiliates has acted as a financial advisor or fiduciary to such Purchaser.
(g) Certain Transactions and Confidentiality. Other than consummating the transactions contemplated hereunder, such Purchaser has not, nor has any Person acting on behalf of or pursuant to any understanding with such Purchaser, directly or indirectly executed any purchases or sales, including Short Sales, of the securities of the Company during the period commencing as of the time that such Purchaser first received a term sheet (written or oral) from the Company or any other Person representing the Company setting forth the material terms of the transactions contemplated hereunder and ending immediately prior to the execution hereof. Notwithstanding the foregoing, in the case of a Purchaser that is a multi-managed investment vehicle whereby separate portfolio managers manage separate portions of such Purchaser’s assets and the portfolio managers have no direct knowledge of the investment decisions made by the portfolio managers managing other portions of such Purchaser’s assets, the representation set forth above shall only apply with respect to the portion of assets managed by the portfolio manager that made the investment decision to purchase the Securities covered by this Agreement. Other than to other Persons party to this Agreement or to such Purchaser’s representatives, including, without limitation, its officers, directors, partners, legal and other advisors, employees, agents and Affiliates, such Purchaser has maintained the confidentiality of all disclosures made to it in connection with this transaction (including the existence and terms of this transaction). Notwithstanding the foregoing, for the avoidance of doubt, nothing contained herein shall constitute a representation or warranty against, or a prohibition of, any actions with respect to the borrowing of, arrangement to borrow, identification of the availability of, and/or securing of, securities of the Company in order for such Purchaser (or its broker or other financial representative) to effect Short Sales or similar transactions in the future.
The Company acknowledges and agrees that the representations contained in this Section 3.2 shall not modify, amend or affect such Purchaser’s right to rely on the Company’s representations and warranties contained in this Agreement or any representations and warranties contained in any other Transaction Document or any other document or instrument executed and/or delivered in connection with this Agreement or the consummation of the transactions contemplated hereby. Notwithstanding the foregoing, for the avoidance of doubt, nothing contained herein shall constitute a representation or warranty, or preclude any actions, with respect to locating or borrowing shares in order to effect Short Sales or similar transactions in the future.
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ARTICLE IV.
OTHER AGREEMENTS OF THE PARTIES
4.1 Transfer Restrictions.
(a) The Securities may only be disposed of in compliance with state and federal securities laws. In connection with any transfer of Securities other than pursuant to an effective registration statement or Rule 144, to the Company or to an Affiliate of a Purchaser or in connection with a pledge as contemplated in Section 4.1(b), the Company may require the transferor thereof to provide to the Company an opinion of counsel selected by the transferor and reasonably acceptable to the Company, the form and substance of which opinion shall be reasonably satisfactory to the Company, to the effect that such transfer does not require registration of such transferred Securities under the Securities Act. As a condition of transfer, any such transferee shall agree in writing to be bound by the terms of this Agreement and the Registration Rights Agreement and shall have the rights and obligations of a Purchaser under this Agreement and the Registration Rights Agreement.
(b) The Purchasers agree to the imprinting, so long as is required by this Section 4.1, of a legend on any of the Securities in the following form:
[NEITHER] THIS SECURITY [NOR THE SECURITIES INTO WHICH THIS SECURITY IS [EXERCISABLE] [CONVERTIBLE]] HAS [NOT] BEEN REGISTERED WITH THE SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION OR THE SECURITIES COMMISSION OF ANY STATE IN RELIANCE UPON AN EXEMPTION FROM REGISTRATION UNDER THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933, AS AMENDED (THE “SECURITIES ACT”), AND, ACCORDINGLY, MAY NOT BE OFFERED OR SOLD EXCEPT PURSUANT TO AN EFFECTIVE REGISTRATION STATEMENT UNDER THE SECURITIES ACT OR PURSUANT TO AN AVAILABLE EXEMPTION FROM, OR IN A TRANSACTION NOT SUBJECT TO, THE REGISTRATION REQUIREMENTS OF THE SECURITIES ACT AND IN ACCORDANCE WITH APPLICABLE STATE SECURITIES LAWS. THIS SECURITY [AND THE SECURITIES ISSUABLE UPON [EXERCISE] [CONVERSION] OF THIS SECURITY] MAY BE PLEDGED IN CONNECTION WITH A BONA FIDE MARGIN ACCOUNT WITH A REGISTERED BROKERDEALER OR OTHER LOAN WITH A FINANCIAL INSTITUTION THAT IS AN “ACCREDITED INVESTOR” AS DEFINED IN RULE 501(a) UNDER THE SECURITIES ACT OR OTHER LOAN SECURED BY SUCH SECURITIES.
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The Company acknowledges and agrees that a Purchaser may from time to time pledge pursuant to a bona fide margin agreement with a registered broker-dealer or grant a security interest in some or all of the Securities to a financial institution that is an “accredited investor” as defined in Rule 501(a) under the Securities Act and, if required under the terms of such arrangement, such Purchaser may transfer pledged or secured Securities to the pledgees or secured parties. Such a pledge or transfer would not be subject to approval of the Company and no legal opinion of legal counsel of the pledgee, secured party or pledgor shall be required in connection therewith. Further, no notice shall be required of such pledge. At the appropriate Purchaser’s expense, the Company will execute and deliver such reasonable documentation as a pledgee or secured party of Securities may reasonably request in connection with a pledge or transfer of the Securities, including, if the Securities are subject to registration pursuant to the Registration Rights Agreement, the preparation and filing of any required prospectus supplement under Rule 424(b)(3) under the Securities Act or other applicable provision of the Securities Act to appropriately amend the list of Selling Stockholders (as defined in the Registration Rights Agreement) thereunder.
(c) Certificates evidencing the Underlying Shares shall not contain any legend (including the legend set forth in Section 4.1(b) hereof): (i) while a registration statement (including the Registration Statement) covering the resale of such security is effective under the Securities Act, (ii) following any sale of such Underlying Shares pursuant to Rule 144, (iii) if such Underlying Shares are eligible for sale under Rule 144, or (iv) if such legend is not required under applicable requirements of the Securities Act (including judicial interpretations and pronouncements issued by the staff of the Commission). The Company shall cause its counsel to issue a legal opinion to the Transfer Agent or the Purchaser promptly if required by the Transfer Agent to effect the removal of the legend hereunder, or if requested by a Purchaser, respectively. If all or any portion of a Debenture is converted at a time when there is an effective registration statement to cover the resale of the Underlying Shares, or if such Underlying Shares may be sold under Rule 144 or if such legend is not otherwise required under applicable requirements of the Securities Act (including judicial interpretations and pronouncements issued by the staff of the Commission) then such Underlying Shares shall be issued free of all legends. The Company agrees that, at such time as such legend is no longer required under this Section 4.1(c), it will, no later than the earlier of (i) two (2) Trading Days and (ii) the number of Trading Days comprising the Standard Settlement Period (as defined below) following the delivery by a Purchaser to the Company or the Transfer Agent of a certificate representing Underlying Shares, as applicable, issued with a restrictive legend (such date, the “Legend Removal Date”), deliver or cause to be delivered to such Purchaser a certificate representing such shares that is free from all restrictive and other legends. The Company may not make any notation on its records or give instructions to the Transfer Agent that enlarge the restrictions on transfer set forth in this Section 4. Certificates for Underlying Shares subject to legend removal hereunder shall be transmitted by the Transfer Agent to the Purchaser by crediting the account of the Purchaser’s prime broker with the Depository Trust Company System as directed by such Purchaser. As used herein, “Standard Settlement Period” means the standard settlement period, expressed in a number of Trading Days, on the Company’s primary Trading Market with respect to the Common Stock as in effect on the date of delivery of a certificate representing Underlying Shares, as applicable, issued with a restrictive legend.
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(d) In addition to such Purchaser’s other available remedies, the Company shall pay to a Purchaser, in cash, (i) as partial liquidated damages and not as a penalty, for each $1,000 of Underlying Shares (based on the VWAP of the Common Stock on the date such Securities are submitted to the Transfer Agent) delivered for removal of the restrictive legend and subject to Section 4.1(c), $10 per Trading Day (increasing to $20 per Trading Day five (5) Trading Days after the Legend Removal Date) for each Trading Day after the Legend Removal Date until such certificate is delivered without a legend and (ii) if the Company fails to (a) issue and deliver (or cause to be delivered) to a Purchaser by the Legend Removal Date a certificate representing the Securities so delivered to the Company by such Purchaser that is free from all restrictive and other legends and (b) if after the Legend Removal Date such Purchaser purchases (in an open market transaction or otherwise) shares of Common Stock to deliver in satisfaction of a sale by such Purchaser of all or any portion of the number of shares of Common Stock, or a sale of a number of shares of Common Stock equal to all or any portion of the number of shares of Common Stock that such Purchaser anticipated receiving from the Company without any restrictive legend, then, an amount equal to the excess of such Purchaser’s total purchase price (including brokerage commissions and other out-of-pocket expenses, if any) for the shares of Common Stock so purchased (including brokerage commissions and other out-of-pocket expenses, if any) (the “Buy-In Price”) over the product of (A) such number of Underlying Shares that the Company was required to deliver to such Purchaser by the Legend Removal Date multiplied by (B) the lowest closing sale price of the Common Stock on any Trading Day during the period commencing on the date of the delivery by such Purchaser to the Company of the applicable Underlying Shares (as the case may be) and ending on the date of such delivery and payment under this clause (ii).
(e) Each Purchaser, severally and not jointly with the other Purchasers, agrees with the Company that such Purchaser will sell any Securities pursuant to either the registration requirements of the Securities Act, including any applicable prospectus delivery requirements, or an exemption therefrom, and that if Securities are sold pursuant to a Registration Statement, they will be sold in compliance with the plan of distribution set forth therein, and acknowledges that the removal of the restrictive legend from certificates representing Securities as set forth in this Section 4.1 is predicated upon the Company’s reliance upon this understanding.
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4.2 Acknowledgment of Dilution. The Company acknowledges that the issuance of the Securities may result in dilution of the outstanding shares of Common Stock, which dilution may be substantial under certain market conditions. The Company further acknowledges that its obligations under the Transaction Documents, including, without limitation, its obligation to issue the Underlying Shares pursuant to the Transaction Documents, are unconditional and absolute and not subject to any right of set off, counterclaim, delay or reduction, regardless of the effect of any such dilution or any claim the Company may have against any Purchaser and regardless of the dilutive effect that such issuance may have on the ownership of the other stockholders of the Company.
4.3 Furnishing of Information; Public Information.
(a) Until the earlier of the time that no Purchaser owns Securities, the Company covenants to maintain the registration of the Common Stock under Section 12(b) or 12(g) of the Exchange Act and to timely file (or obtain extensions in respect thereof and file within the applicable grace period) all reports required to be filed by the Company after the date hereof pursuant to the Exchange Act even if the Company is not then subject to the reporting requirements of the Exchange Act.
(b) At any time during the period commencing from the six (6) month anniversary of the date hereof and ending at such time that all of the Securities may be sold without the requirement for the Company to be in compliance with Rule 144(c)(1) and otherwise without restriction or limitation pursuant to Rule 144, if the Company (i) shall fail for any reason to satisfy the current public information requirement under Rule 144(c) or (ii) has ever been an issuer described in Rule 144 (i)(1)(i) or becomes an issuer in the future, and the Company shall fail to satisfy any condition set forth in Rule 144(i)(2) (a “Public Information Failure”) then, in addition to such Purchaser’s other available remedies, the Company shall pay to a Purchaser, in cash, as partial liquidated damages and not as a penalty, by reason of any such delay in or reduction of its ability to sell the Securities, an amount in cash equal to two percent (2.0%) of the aggregate Prinicpal Amount of such Purchaser’s Securities on the day of a Public Information Failure and on every thirtieth (30th) day (pro rated for periods totaling less than thirty days) thereafter until the earlier of (a) the date such Public Information Failure is cured and (b) such time that such public information is no longer required for the Purchasers to transfer the Underlying Shares pursuant to Rule 144. The payments to which a Purchaser shall be entitled pursuant to this Section 4.3(b) are referred to herein as “Public Information Failure Payments.” Public Information Failure Payments shall be paid on the earlier of (i) the last day of the calendar month during which such Public Information Failure Payments are incurred and (ii) the third (3rd) Business Day after the event or failure giving rise to the Public Information Failure Payments is cured. In the event the Company fails to make Public Information Failure Payments in a timely manner, such Public Information Failure Payments shall bear interest at the rate of 1.5% per month (prorated for partial months) until paid in full. Nothing herein shall limit such Purchaser’s right to pursue actual damages for the Public Information Failure, and such Purchaser shall have the right to pursue all remedies available to it at law or in equity including, without limitation, a decree of specific performance and/or injunctive relief.
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4.4 Integration. The Company shall not sell, offer for sale or solicit offers to buy or otherwise negotiate in respect of any security (as defined in Section 2 of the Securities Act) that would be integrated with the offer or sale of the Securities in a manner that would require the registration under the Securities Act of the sale of the Securities or that would be integrated with the offer or sale of the Securities for purposes of the rules and regulations of any Trading Market such that it would require shareholder approval prior to the closing of such other transaction unless shareholder approval is obtained before the closing of such subsequent transaction.
4.5 Conversion Procedures. Each form of Notice of Conversion included in the Debentures set forth the totality of the procedures required of the Purchasers in order to convert the Debentures. Without limiting the preceding sentences, no ink-original Notice of Conversion shall be required, nor shall any medallion guarantee (or other type of guarantee or notarization) of any Notice of Conversion form be required in order to convert the Debentures. No additional legal opinion, other information or instructions shall be required of the Purchasers to convert their Debentures. The Company shall honor conversions of the Debentures and shall deliver Underlying Shares in accordance with the terms, conditions and time periods set forth in the Transaction Documents.
4.6 Securities Laws Disclosure; Publicity. The Company shall (a) by the Disclosure Time, issue a press release disclosing the material terms of the transactions contemplated hereby, and (b) file a Current Report on Form 8-K, including the Transaction Documents as exhibits thereto, with the Commission within the time required by the Exchange Act. From and after the issuance of such press release, the Company represents to the Purchasers that it shall have publicly disclosed all material, non-public information delivered to any of the Purchasers by the Company or any of its Subsidiaries, or any of their respective officers, directors, employees, Affiliates or agents, including without limitation, the placement agent, in connection with the transactions contemplated by the Transaction Documents. In addition, effective upon the issuance of such press release, the Company acknowledges and agrees that any and all confidentiality or similar obligations under any agreement, whether written or oral, between the Company, any of its Subsidiaries or any of their respective officers, directors, agents, employees, Affiliates or agents, including, without limitation, the placement agent, on the one hand, and any of the Purchasers or any of their Affiliates on the other hand, shall terminate and be of no further force or effect. The Company understands and confirms that each Purchaser shall be relying on the foregoing covenant in effecting transactions in securities of the Company. The Company and each Purchaser shall consult with each other in issuing any other press releases with respect to the transactions contemplated hereby, and neither the Company nor any Purchaser shall issue any such press release nor otherwise make any such public statement without the prior consent of the Company, with respect to any press release of any Purchaser, or without the prior consent of each Purchaser, with respect to any press release of the Company, which consent shall not unreasonably be withheld or delayed, except if such disclosure is required by law, in which case the disclosing party shall promptly provide the other party with prior notice of such public statement or communication. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Company shall not publicly disclose the name of any Purchaser, or include the name of any Purchaser in any filing with the Commission or any regulatory agency or Trading Market, without the prior written consent of such Purchaser, except (a) as required by federal securities law in connection with (i) any registration statement contemplated by the Registration Rights Agreement and (ii) the filing of final Transaction Documents with the Commission and (b) to the extent such disclosure is required by law or Trading Market regulations, in which case the Company shall provide the Purchasers with prior notice of such disclosure permitted under this clause (b) and reasonably cooperate with such Purchaser regarding such disclosure.
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4.7 Shareholder Rights Plan. No claim will be made or enforced by the Company or, with the consent of the Company, any other Person, that any Purchaser is an “Acquiring Person” under any control share acquisition, business combination, poison pill (including any distribution under a rights agreement) or similar anti-takeover plan or arrangement in effect or hereafter adopted by the Company, or that any Purchaser could be deemed to trigger the provisions of any such plan or arrangement, by virtue of receiving Securities under the Transaction Documents or under any other agreement between the Company and the Purchasers.
4.8 Non-Public Information. Except with respect to the material terms and conditions of the transactions contemplated by the Transaction Documents, which shall be disclosed pursuant to Section 4.6, the Company covenants and agrees that neither it, nor any other Person acting on its behalf will provide any Purchaser or its agents or counsel with any information that constitutes, or the Company reasonably believes constitutes, material non-public information, unless prior thereto such Purchaser shall have consented in writing to the receipt of such information and agreed in writing with the Company to keep such information confidential. The Company understands and confirms that each Purchaser shall be relying on the foregoing covenant in effecting transactions in securities of the Company. To the extent that the Company, any of its Subsidiaries, or any of their respective officers, director, agents, employees or Affiliates delivers any material, non-public information to a Purchaser without such Purchaser’s consent, the Company hereby covenants and agrees that such Purchaser shall not have any duty of confidentiality to the Company, any of its Subsidiaries, or any of their respective officers, directors, employees, Affiliates, or agents, including, without limitation, the placement agent, or a duty to the Company, any of its Subsidiaries or any of their respective officers, directors, employees, Affiliates or agents, including, without limitation, the placement agent, not to trade on the basis of, such material, non-public information, provided that the Purchaser shall remain subject to applicable law. To the extent that any notice provided pursuant to any Transaction Document constitutes, or contains, material, non-public information regarding the Company or any Subsidiaries, the Company shall simultaneously with the delivery of such notice file such notice with the Commission pursuant to a Current Report on Form 8-K. The Company understands and confirms that each Purchaser shall be relying on the foregoing covenant in effecting transactions in securities of the Company.
4.9 Use of Proceeds. Except as set forth on Schedule 4.9 attached hereto, the Company shall use the net proceeds from the sale of the Securities hereunder for working capital purposes and for the satisfaction certain portions of the Company’s debt and shall not use such proceeds: (a) for the redemption of any Common Stock or Common Stock Equivalents, (b) for the settlement of any outstanding litigation or (c) in violation of FCPA or OFAC regulations.
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4.10 Indemnification of Purchasers. Subject to the provisions of this Section 4.10, the Company will indemnify and hold each Purchaser and its directors, officers, shareholders, members, partners, employees and agents (and any other Persons with a functionally equivalent role of a Person holding such titles notwithstanding a lack of such title or any other title), each Person who controls such Purchaser (within the meaning of Section 15 of the Securities Act and Section 20 of the Exchange Act), and the directors, officers, shareholders, agents, members, partners or employees (and any other Persons with a functionally equivalent role of a Person holding such titles notwithstanding a lack of such title or any other title) of such controlling persons (each, a “Purchaser Party”) harmless from any and all losses, liabilities, obligations, claims, contingencies, damages, costs and expenses, including all judgments, amounts paid in settlements, court costs and reasonable attorneys’ fees and costs of investigation that any such Purchaser Party may suffer or incur as a result of or relating to (a) any breach of any of the representations, warranties, covenants or agreements made by the Company in this Agreement or in the other Transaction Documents or (b) any action instituted against the Purchaser Parties in any capacity, or any of them or their respective Affiliates, by any stockholder of the Company who is not an Affiliate of such Purchaser Party, with respect to any of the transactions contemplated by the Transaction Documents (unless such action is solely based upon a material breach of such Purchaser Party’s representations, warranties or covenants under the Transaction Documents or any agreements or understandings such Purchaser Party may have with any such stockholder or any violations by such Purchaser Party of state or federal securities laws or any conduct by such Purchaser Party which is finally judicially determined to constitute fraud, gross negligence or willful misconduct). If any action shall be brought against any Purchaser Party in respect of which indemnity may be sought pursuant to this Agreement, such Purchaser Party shall promptly notify the Company in writing, and the Company shall have the right to assume the defense thereof with counsel of its own choosing reasonably acceptable to the Purchaser Party. Any Purchaser Party shall have the right to employ separate counsel in any such action and participate in the defense thereof, but the fees and expenses of such counsel shall be at the expense of such Purchaser Party except to the extent that (i) the employment thereof has been specifically authorized by the Company in writing, (ii) the Company has failed after a reasonable period of time to assume such defense and to employ counsel or (iii) in such action there is, in the reasonable opinion of counsel, a material conflict on any material issue between the position of the Company and the position of such Purchaser Party, in which case the Company shall be responsible for the reasonable fees and expenses of no more than one such separate counsel. The Company will not be liable to any Purchaser Party under this Agreement (y) for any settlement by a Purchaser Party effected without the Company’s prior written consent, which shall not be unreasonably withheld or delayed; or (z) to the extent, but only to the extent that a loss, claim, damage or liability is attributable to any Purchaser Party’s breach of any of the representations, warranties, covenants or agreements made by such Purchaser Party in this Agreement or in the other Transaction Documents. The indemnification required by this Section 4.10 shall be made by periodic payments of the amount thereof during the course of the investigation or defense, as and when bills are received or are incurred. The indemnity agreements contained herein shall be in addition to any cause of action or similar right of any Purchaser Party against the Company or others and any liabilities the Company may be subject to pursuant to law.
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4.11 Reservation and Listing of Securities.
(a) The Company shall maintain a reserve of the Required Minimum from its duly authorized shares of Common Stock for issuance pursuant to the Transaction Documents in such amount as may then be required to fulfill its obligations in full under the Transaction Documents.
(b) If, on any date, the number of authorized but unissued (and otherwise unreserved) shares of Common Stock is less than the Required Minimum on such date, then the Board of Directors shall use commercially reasonable efforts to amend the Company’s certificate or articles of incorporation to increase the number of authorized but unissued shares of Common Stock to at least the Required Minimum at such time, as soon as possible and in any event not later than the 75th day after such date.
(c) The Company shall, if applicable: (i) in the time and manner required by the principal Trading Market, prepare and file with such Trading Market an additional shares listing application covering a number of shares of Common Stock at least equal to the Required Minimum on the date of such application, (ii) take all steps necessary to cause such shares of Common Stock to be approved for listing or quotation on such Trading Market as soon as possible thereafter, (iii) provide to the Purchasers evidence of such listing or quotation and (iv) maintain the listing or quotation of such Common Stock on any date at least equal to the Required Minimum on such date on such Trading Market or another Trading Market. The Company agrees to maintain the eligibility of the Common Stock for electronic transfer through the Depository Trust Company or another established clearing corporation, including, without limitation, by timely payment of fees to the Depository Trust Company or such other established clearing corporation in connection with such electronic transfer.
4.12 Subsequent Equity Sales.
(a) From the date hereof until sixty (60) days after the Effective Date, neither the Company nor any Subsidiary shall (i) issue, enter into any agreement to issue or announce the issuance or proposed issuance of any shares of Common Stock or Common Stock Equivalents or (ii) file any registration statement or any amendment or supplement thereto, in each case other than as contemplated pursuant to the Registration Rights Agreement.
(b) From the date hereof until such time as no Purchaser holds any of the Debentures, the Company shall be prohibited from effecting or entering into an agreement to effect any issuance by the Company or any of its Subsidiaries of Common Stock or Common Stock Equivalents (or a combination of units thereof) involving a Variable Rate Transaction. “Variable Rate Transaction” means a transaction in which the Company (i) issues or sells any debt or equity securities that are convertible into, exchangeable or exercisable for, or include the right to receive, additional shares of Common Stock either (A) at a conversion price, exercise price or exchange rate or other price that is based upon, and/or varies with, the trading prices of or quotations for the shares of Common Stock at any time after the initial issuance of such debt or equity securities or (B) with a conversion, exercise or exchange price that is subject to being reset at some future date after the initial issuance of such debt or equity security or upon the occurrence of specified or contingent events directly or indirectly related to the business of the Company or the market for the Common Stock or (ii) enters into, or effects a transaction under, any agreement, including, but not limited to, an equity line of credit or an “at-the-market offering”, whereby the Company may issue securities at a future determined price. Any Purchaser shall be entitled to obtain injunctive relief against the Company to preclude any such issuance, which remedy shall be in addition to any right to collect damages.
(c) Notwithstanding the foregoing, this Section 4.12 shall not apply in respect of an Exempt Issuance, except that no Variable Rate Transaction shall be an Exempt Issuance.
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4.13 Equal Treatment of Purchasers. No consideration (including any modification of any Transaction Document) shall be offered or paid to any Person to amend or consent to a waiver or modification of any provision of the Transaction Documents unless the same consideration is also offered to all of the parties to such Transaction Documents. Further, the Company shall not make any payment of principal or interest on the Debentures in amounts which are disproportionate to the respective principal amounts outstanding on the Debentures at any applicable time. For clarification purposes, this provision constitutes a separate right granted to each Purchaser by the Company and negotiated separately by each Purchaser, and is intended for the Company to treat the Purchasers as a class and shall not in any way be construed as the Purchasers acting in concert or as a group with respect to the purchase, disposition or voting of Securities or otherwise.
4.14 Certain Transactions and Confidentiality. Each Purchaser, severally and not jointly with the other Purchasers, covenants that neither it, nor any Affiliate acting on its behalf or pursuant to any understanding with it will execute any purchases or sales, including Short Sales, of any of the Company’s securities during the period commencing with the execution of this Agreement and ending at such time that the transactions contemplated by this Agreement are first publicly announced pursuant to the initial press release as described in Section 4.6. Each Purchaser, severally and not jointly with the other Purchasers, covenants that until such time as the transactions contemplated by this Agreement are publicly disclosed by the Company pursuant to the initial press release as described in Section 4.6, such Purchaser will maintain the confidentiality of the existence and terms of this transaction and the information included in the Disclosure Schedules (other than as disclosed to its legal and other representatives). Notwithstanding the foregoing, and notwithstanding anything contained in this Agreement to the contrary, the Company expressly acknowledges and agrees that (i) no Purchaser makes any representation, warranty or covenant hereby that it will not engage in effecting transactions in any securities of the Company after the time that the transactions contemplated by this Agreement are first publicly announced pursuant to the initial press release as described in Section 4.6, (ii) no Purchaser shall be restricted or prohibited from effecting any transactions in any securities of the Company in accordance with applicable securities laws from and after the time that the transactions contemplated by this Agreement are first publicly announced pursuant to the initial press release as described in Section 4.6 and (iii) no Purchaser shall have any duty of confidentiality or duty not to trade in the securities of the Company to the Company, any of its Subsidiaries, or any of their respective officers, directors, employees, Affiliates or agent, including, without limitation, the placement agent, after the issuance of the initial press release as described in Section 4.6. Notwithstanding the foregoing, in the case of a Purchaser that is a multi-managed investment vehicle whereby separate portfolio managers manage separate portions of such Purchaser’s assets and the portfolio managers have no direct knowledge of the investment decisions made by the portfolio managers managing other portions of such Purchaser’s assets, the covenant set forth above shall only apply with respect to the portion of assets managed by the portfolio manager that made the investment decision to purchase the Securities covered by this Agreement.
4.15 Form D; Blue Sky Filings. The Company agrees to timely file a Form D with respect to the Securities as required under Regulation D and to provide a copy thereof, promptly upon request of any Purchaser. The Company shall take such action as the Company shall reasonably determine is necessary in order to obtain an exemption for, or to qualify the Securities for, sale to the Purchasers at a Closing under applicable securities or “Blue Sky” laws of the states of the United States, and shall provide evidence of such actions promptly upon request of any Purchaser.
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ARTICLE V.
MISCELLANEOUS
5.1 Termination. This Agreement may be terminated by any Purchaser, as to such Purchaser’s obligations hereunder only and without any effect whatsoever on the obligations between the Company and the other Purchasers, by written notice to the other parties, if a Closing has not been consummated on or before the fifth (5th) Trading Day following the date hereof, provided, however, that no such termination will affect the right of any party to sue for any breach by any other party (or parties).
5.2 Fees and Expenses. Each Party shall be responsible for its own legal expenses in connection with the preparation and review of the Transaction Documents. The Company shall deliver to each Purchaser, prior to applicable Closing, a completed and executed copy of a Closing Statement, attached hereto as Annex A. Except as expressly set forth in the Transaction Documents to the contrary, each party shall pay the fees and expenses of its advisers, counsel, accountants and other experts, if any, and all other expenses incurred by such party incident to the negotiation, preparation, execution, delivery and performance of this Agreement. The Company shall pay all Transfer Agent fees (including, without limitation, any fees required for same-day processing of any instruction letter delivered by the Company and any conversion or exercise notice delivered by a Purchaser), stamp taxes and other taxes and duties levied in connection with the delivery of any Securities to the Purchasers.
5.3 Entire Agreement. The Transaction Documents, together with the exhibits and schedules thereto, contain the entire understanding of the parties with respect to the subject matter hereof and thereof and supersede all prior agreements and understandings, oral or written, with respect to such matters, which the parties acknowledge have been merged into such documents, exhibits and schedules.
5.4 Notices. Any and all notices or other communications or deliveries required or permitted to be provided hereunder shall be in writing and shall be deemed given and effective on the earliest of: (a) the time of transmission, if such notice or communication is delivered via email attachment at the email address as set forth on the signature pages attached hereto at or prior to 5:30 p.m. (New York City time) on a Trading Day, (b) the next Trading Day after the time of transmission, if such notice or communication is delivered via email attachment as set forth on the signature pages attached hereto on a day that is not a Trading Day or later than 5:30 p.m. (New York City time) on any Trading Day, (c) the second (2nd) Trading Day following the date of mailing, if sent by U.S. nationally recognized overnight courier service or (d) upon actual receipt by the party to whom such notice is required to be given. The address for such notices and communications shall be as set forth on the signature pages attached hereto.
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5.5 Amendments; Waivers. No provision of this Agreement may be waived, modified, supplemented or amended except in a written instrument signed, in the case of an amendment, by the Company and Purchasers which purchased at least 67% in interest of the Debentures based on the initial Principal Amounts hereunder (or, prior to the initial Closing, the Company and each Purchaser) or, in the case of a waiver, by the party against whom enforcement of any such waived provision is sought, provided that if any amendment, modification or waiver disproportionately and adversely impacts a Purchaser (or group of Purchasers), the consent of such disproportionately impacted Purchaser (or group of Purchasers) shall also be required. No waiver of any default with respect to any provision, condition or requirement of this Agreement shall be deemed to be a continuing waiver in the future or a waiver of any subsequent default or a waiver of any other provision, condition or requirement hereof, nor shall any delay or omission of any party to exercise any right hereunder in any manner impair the exercise of any such right. Any proposed amendment or waiver that disproportionately, materially and adversely affects the rights and obligations of any Purchaser relative to the comparable rights and obligations of the other Purchasers shall require the prior written consent of such adversely affected Purchaser. Any amendment effected in accordance with this Section 5.5 shall be binding upon each Purchaser and holder of Securities and the Company.
5.6 Headings. The headings herein are for convenience only, do not constitute a part of this Agreement and shall not be deemed to limit or affect any of the provisions hereof.
5.7 Successors and Assigns. This Agreement shall be binding upon and inure to the benefit of the parties and their successors and permitted assigns. The Company may not assign this Agreement or any rights or obligations hereunder without the prior written consent of each Purchaser (other than by merger). Any Purchaser may assign any or all of its rights under this Agreement to any Person to whom such Purchaser assigns or transfers any Securities, provided that such transferee agrees in writing to be bound, with respect to the transferred Securities, by the provisions of the Transaction Documents that apply to the “Purchasers.”
5.8 No Third Party Beneficiaries. The placement agent shall be the third-party beneficiary of the representations and warranties of the Company in Section 3.1 and the representations and warranties of the Purchasers in Section 3.2. This Agreement is intended for the benefit of the parties hereto and their respective successors and permitted assigns and is not for the benefit of, nor may any provision hereof be enforced by, any other Person, except as otherwise set forth in Section 4.10 and this Section 5.8.
5.9 Governing Law. All questions concerning the construction, validity, enforcement and interpretation of the Transaction Documents shall be governed by and construed and enforced in accordance with the internal laws of the State of New York, without regard to the principles of conflicts of law thereof. Each party agrees that all legal Proceedings concerning the interpretations, enforcement and defense of the transactions contemplated by this Agreement and any other Transaction Documents (whether brought against a party hereto or its respective affiliates, directors, officers, shareholders, partners, members, employees or agents) shall be commenced exclusively in the state and federal courts sitting in the City of New York. Each party hereby irrevocably submits to the exclusive jurisdiction of the state and federal courts sitting in the City of New York, Borough of Manhattan for the adjudication of any dispute hereunder or in connection herewith or with any transaction contemplated hereby or discussed herein (including with respect to the enforcement of any of the Transaction Documents), and hereby irrevocably waives, and agrees not to assert in any Action or Proceeding, any claim that it is not personally subject to the jurisdiction of any such court, that such Action or Proceeding is improper or is an inconvenient venue for such Proceeding. Each party hereby irrevocably waives personal service of process and consents to process being served in any such Action or Proceeding by mailing a copy thereof via registered or certified mail or overnight delivery (with evidence of delivery) to such party at the address in effect for notices to it under this Agreement and agrees that such service shall constitute good and sufficient service of process and notice thereof. Nothing contained herein shall be deemed to limit in any way any right to serve process in any other manner permitted by law. If any party shall commence an Action or Proceeding to enforce any provisions of the Transaction Documents, then, in addition to the obligations of the Company under Section 4.10, the prevailing party in such Action or Proceeding shall be reimbursed by the non-prevailing party for its reasonable attorneys’ fees and other costs and expenses incurred with the investigation, preparation and prosecution of such Action or Proceeding.
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5.10 Survival. The representations and warranties contained herein shall survive the initial Closing and the delivery of the Securities.
5.11 Execution. This Agreement may be executed in two or more counterparts, all of which when taken together shall be considered one and the same agreement and shall become effective when counterparts have been signed by each party and delivered to each other party, it being understood that the parties need not sign the same counterpart. In the event that any signature is delivered by e-mail delivery of a “.pdf” format data file, such signature shall create a valid and binding obligation of the party executing (or on whose behalf such signature is executed) with the same force and effect as if such “.pdf” signature page were an original thereof.
5.12 Severability. If any term, provision, covenant or restriction of this Agreement is held by a court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, illegal, void or unenforceable, the remainder of the terms, provisions, covenants and restrictions set forth herein shall remain in full force and effect and shall in no way be affected, impaired or invalidated, and the parties hereto shall use their commercially reasonable efforts to find and employ an alternative means to achieve the same or substantially the same result as that contemplated by such term, provision, covenant or restriction. It is hereby stipulated and declared to be the intention of the parties that they would have executed the remaining terms, provisions, covenants and restrictions without including any of such that may be hereafter declared invalid, illegal, void or unenforceable.
5.13 Rescission and Withdrawal Right. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in (and without limiting any similar provisions of) any of the other Transaction Documents, whenever any Purchaser exercises a right, election, demand or option under a Transaction Document and the Company does not timely perform its related obligations within the periods therein provided, then such Purchaser may rescind or withdraw, in its sole discretion from time to time upon written notice to the Company, any relevant notice, demand or election in whole or in part without prejudice to its future actions and rights; provided, however, that, in the case of a rescission of a conversion of a Debenture, the applicable Purchaser shall be required to return any shares of Common Stock subject to any such rescinded conversion notice.
5.14 Replacement of Securities. If any certificate or instrument evidencing any Securities is mutilated, lost, stolen or destroyed, the Company shall issue or cause to be issued in exchange and substitution for and upon cancellation thereof (in the case of mutilation), or in lieu of and substitution therefor, a new certificate or instrument, but only upon receipt of evidence reasonably satisfactory to the Company of such loss, theft or destruction. The applicant for a new certificate or instrument under such circumstances shall also pay any reasonable third-party costs (including customary indemnity) associated with the issuance of such replacement Securities.
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5.15 Remedies. In addition to being entitled to exercise all rights provided herein or granted by law, including recovery of damages, each of the Purchasers and the Company will be entitled to specific performance under the Transaction Documents. The parties agree that monetary damages may not be adequate compensation for any loss incurred by reason of any breach of obligations contained in the Transaction Documents and hereby agree to waive and not to assert in any Action for specific performance of any such obligation the defense that a remedy at law would be adequate.
5.16 Payment Set Aside. To the extent that the Company makes a payment or payments to any Purchaser pursuant to any Transaction Document or a Purchaser enforces or exercises its rights thereunder, and such payment or payments or the proceeds of such enforcement or exercise or any part thereof are subsequently invalidated, declared to be fraudulent or preferential, set aside, recovered from, disgorged by or are required to be refunded, repaid or otherwise restored to the Company, a trustee, receiver or any other Person under any law (including, without limitation, any bankruptcy law, state or federal law, common law or equitable cause of action), then to the extent of any such restoration the obligation or part thereof originally intended to be satisfied shall be revived and continued in full force and effect as if such payment had not been made or such enforcement or setoff had not occurred.
5.17 Usury. To the extent it may lawfully do so, the Company hereby agrees not to insist upon or plead or in any manner whatsoever claim, and will resist any and all efforts to be compelled to take the benefit or advantage of, usury laws wherever enacted, now or at any time hereafter in force, in connection with any Action or Proceeding that may be brought by any Purchaser in order to enforce any right or remedy under any Transaction Document. Notwithstanding any provision to the contrary contained in any Transaction Document, it is expressly agreed and provided that the total liability of the Company under the Transaction Documents for payments in the nature of interest shall not exceed the maximum lawful rate authorized under applicable law (the “Maximum Rate”), and, without limiting the foregoing, in no event shall any rate of interest or default interest, or both of them, when aggregated with any other sums in the nature of interest that the Company may be obligated to pay under the Transaction Documents exceed such Maximum Rate. It is agreed that if the maximum contract rate of interest allowed by law and applicable to the Transaction Documents is increased or decreased by statute or any official governmental action subsequent to the date hereof, the new maximum contract rate of interest allowed by law will be the Maximum Rate applicable to the Transaction Documents from the effective date thereof forward, unless such application is precluded by applicable law. If under any circumstances whatsoever, interest in excess of the Maximum Rate is paid by the Company to any Purchaser with respect to indebtedness evidenced by the Transaction Documents, such excess shall be applied by such Purchaser to the unpaid principal balance of any such indebtedness or be refunded to the Company, the manner of handling such excess to be at such Purchaser’s election.
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5.18 Independent Nature of Purchasers’ Obligations and Rights. The obligations of each Purchaser under any Transaction Document are several and not joint with the obligations of any other Purchaser, and no Purchaser shall be responsible in any way for the performance or non-performance of the obligations of any other Purchaser under any Transaction Document. Nothing contained herein or in any other Transaction Document, and no action taken by any Purchaser pursuant hereto or thereto, shall be deemed to constitute the Purchasers as a partnership, an association, a joint venture or any other kind of entity, or create a presumption that the Purchasers are in any way acting in concert or as a group with respect to such obligations or the transactions contemplated by the Transaction Documents. Each Purchaser shall be entitled to independently protect and enforce its rights, including, without limitation, the rights arising out of this Agreement or out of the other Transaction Documents, and it shall not be necessary for any other Purchaser to be joined as an additional party in any Proceeding for such purpose. Each Purchaser has been represented by its own separate legal counsel in its review and negotiation of the Transaction Documents. The Company has elected to provide all Purchasers with the same terms and Transaction Documents for the convenience of the Company and not because it was required or requested to do so by any of the Purchasers. It is expressly understood and agreed that each provision contained in this Agreement and in each other Transaction Document is between the Company and a Purchaser, solely, and not between the Company and the Purchasers collectively and not between and among the Purchasers.
5.19 Liquidated Damages. The Company’s obligations to pay any partial liquidated damages or other amounts owing under the Transaction Documents is a continuing obligation of the Company and shall not terminate until all unpaid partial liquidated damages and other amounts have been paid notwithstanding the fact that the instrument or security pursuant to which such partial liquidated damages or other amounts are due and payable shall have been canceled.
5.20 Saturdays, Sundays, Holidays, etc. If the last or appointed day for the taking of any action or the expiration of any right required or granted herein shall not be a Business Day, then such action may be taken or such right may be exercised on the next succeeding Business Day.
5.21 Construction. The parties agree that each of them and/or their respective counsel have reviewed and had an opportunity to revise the Transaction Documents and, therefore, the normal rule of construction to the effect that any ambiguities are to be resolved against the drafting party shall not be employed in the interpretation of the Transaction Documents or any amendments thereto. In addition, each and every reference to share prices and shares of Common Stock in any Transaction Document shall be subject to adjustment for reverse and forward stock splits, stock dividends, stock combinations and other similar transactions of the Common Stock that occur after the date of this Agreement.
5.22 WAIVER OF JURY TRIAL. IN ANY ACTION, SUIT, OR PROCEEDING IN ANY JURISDICTION BROUGHT BY ANY PARTY AGAINST ANY OTHER PARTY, THE PARTIES EACH KNOWINGLY AND INTENTIONALLY, TO THE GREATEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, HEREBY ABSOLUTELY, UNCONDITIONALLY, IRREVOCABLY AND EXPRESSLY WAIVES FOREVER TRIAL BY JURY.
(Signature Pages Follow)
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IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the parties hereto have caused this Securities Purchase Agreement to be duly executed by their respective authorized signatories as of the date first indicated above.
CREATD, INC. | |||||
Address for Notice: | |||||
419 Lafayette Street | |||||
6th Floor | |||||
New York, NY 10003 | |||||
Email: chelsea@creatd.com | |||||
By: | |||||
Name: | |||||
Title: | |||||
With a copy to (which shall not constitute notice): | |||||
Lucosky Brookman LLP | |||||
101 Wood Avenue South | |||||
Woodbridge, NJ 08830 |
[REMAINDER OF PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK
SIGNATURE PAGE FOR PURCHASER FOLLOWS]
[PURCHASER SIGNATURE PAGES TO CRTD SECURITIES PURCHASE AGREEMENT]
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the undersigned have caused this Securities Purchase Agreement to be duly executed by their respective authorized signatories as of the date first indicated above.
Name of Purchaser: _______________________
Signature of Authorized Signatory of Purchaser: __________________________________
Name of Authorized Signatory: ____________________________________________
Title of Authorized Signatory: _________________
Email Address of Authorized Signatory:
Address for Notice to Purchaser: | 170 Dorado Bch E |
Dorado, PR 00646 |
Address for Delivery of Securities to Purchaser (if not same as address for notice):
Principal Amount: $750,000
EIN Number: _______________________
[SIGNATURE PAGES CONTINUE]
Annex A
CLOSING STATEMENT
Pursuant to the attached Securities Purchase Agreement, dated as of the date hereto, the purchasers shall purchase up to $______ of Debentures from Creatd, Inc., a Nevada corporation (the “Company”). All funds will be wired into an account maintained by the Company. All funds will be disbursed in accordance with this Closing Statement.
Disbursement Date: ______, 2022
__________________________________________________________________________________
I. | PURCHASE PRICE |
Gross Proceeds to be Received | $ |
II. | DISBURSEMENTS |
$ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
$ |
Total Amount Disbursed: | $ |
WIRE INSTRUCTIONS:
Please see attached.
Acknowledged and agreed to
this ___ day of _________, 2022
CREATD, INC.
By: | ||
Name: | ||
Title: |
Exhibit 10.66
EXHIBIT B
REGISTRATION RIGHTS AGREEMENT
This Registration Rights Agreement (this “Agreement”) is made and entered into as of December 11, 2022, between Creatd, Inc., a Nevada corporation (the “Company”), and each of the several purchasers signatory hereto (each such purchaser, a “Purchaser” and, collectively, the “Purchasers”).
This Agreement is made pursuant to the Securities Purchase Agreement, dated as of the date hereof, between the Company and each Purchaser (the “Purchase Agreement”).
The Company and each Purchaser hereby agrees as follows:
1. Definitions.
Capitalized terms used and not otherwise defined herein that are defined in the Purchase Agreement shall have the meanings given such terms in the Purchase Agreement. As used in this Agreement, the following terms shall have the following meanings:
“Advice” shall have the meaning set forth in Section 6(c).
“Effectiveness Date” means, with respect to the Initial Registration Statement required to be filed hereunder, the 90th calendar day following the date Filing Date and with respect to any additional Registration Statements which may be required pursuant to Section 2(c) or Section 3(c), the 90th calendar day following the date on which an additional Registration Statement is required to be filed hereunder; provided, however, that in the event the Company is notified by the Commission that one or more of the above Registration Statements will not be reviewed or is no longer subject to further review and comments, the Effectiveness Date as to such Registration Statement shall be the fifth Trading Day following the date on which the Company is so notified if such date precedes the dates otherwise required above, provided, further, if such Effectiveness Date falls on a day that is not a Trading Day, then the Effectiveness Date shall be the next succeeding Trading Day.
“Effectiveness Period” shall have the meaning set forth in Section 2(a).
“Event” shall have the meaning set forth in Section 2(d).
“Event Date” shall have the meaning set forth in Section 2(d).
“Filing Date” means, with respect to the Initial Registration Statement required hereunder, the 30th calendar day following the date hereof and, with respect to any additional Registration Statements which may be required pursuant to Section 2(c) or Section 3(c), the earliest practical date on which the Company is permitted by SEC Guidance to file such additional Registration Statement related to the Registrable Securities.
“Holder” or “Holders” means the holder or holders, as the case may be, from time to time of Registrable Securities.
“Indemnified Party” shall have the meaning set forth in Section 5(c).
“Indemnifying Party” shall have the meaning set forth in Section 5(c).
“Initial Registration Statement” means the initial Registration Statement filed pursuant to this Agreement.
“Losses” shall have the meaning set forth in Section 5(a).
“Plan of Distribution” shall have the meaning set forth in Section 2(a).
“Prospectus” means the prospectus included in a Registration Statement (including, without limitation, a prospectus that includes any information previously omitted from a prospectus filed as part of an effective registration statement in reliance upon Rule 430A promulgated by the Commission pursuant to the Securities Act), as amended or supplemented by any prospectus supplement, with respect to the terms of the offering of any portion of the Registrable Securities covered by a Registration Statement, and all other amendments and supplements to the Prospectus, including post-effective amendments, and all material incorporated by reference or deemed to be incorporated by reference in such Prospectus.
“Registrable Securities” means, as of any date of determination, (a) all of the shares of Common Stock then issued and issuable upon conversion in full of the Debentures (assuming on such date the Debentures are converted in full without regard to any conversion limitations therein), (b) any additional shares of Common Stock issued and issuable in connection with any anti-dilution provisions in the Debentures (in each case, without giving effect to any limitations on conversion set forth in the Debentures) and (c) any securities issued or then issuable upon any stock split, dividend or other distribution, recapitalization or similar event with respect to the foregoing; provided, however, that any such Registrable Securities shall cease to be Registrable Securities (and the Company shall not be required to maintain the effectiveness of any, or file another, Registration Statement hereunder with respect thereto) for so long as (a) a Registration Statement with respect to the sale of such Registrable Securities is declared effective by the Commission under the Securities Act and such Registrable Securities have been disposed of by the Holder in accordance with such effective Registration Statement, (b) such Registrable Securities have been previously sold in accordance with Rule 144, or (c) such securities become eligible for resale without volume or manner-of-sale restrictions and without current public information pursuant to Rule 144 as set forth in a written opinion letter to such effect, addressed, delivered and acceptable to the Transfer Agent and the affected Holders (assuming that such securities and any securities issuable upon exercise, conversion or exchange of which, or as a dividend upon which, such securities were issued or are issuable, were at no time held by any Affiliate of the Company), as reasonably determined by the Company, upon the advice of counsel to the Company.
“Registration Statement” means any registration statement required to be filed hereunder pursuant to Section 2(a) and any additional registration statements contemplated by Section 2(c) or Section 3(c), including (in each case) the Prospectus, amendments and supplements to any such registration statement or Prospectus, including pre- and post-effective amendments, all exhibits thereto, and all material incorporated by reference or deemed to be incorporated by reference in any such registration statement.
“Rule 415” means Rule 415 promulgated by the Commission pursuant to the Securities Act, as such Rule may be amended or interpreted from time to time, or any similar rule or regulation hereafter adopted by the Commission having substantially the same purpose and effect as such Rule.
“Rule 424” means Rule 424 promulgated by the Commission pursuant to the Securities Act, as such Rule may be amended or interpreted from time to time, or any similar rule or regulation hereafter adopted by the Commission having substantially the same purpose and effect as such Rule.
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“Selling Stockholder Questionnaire” shall have the meaning set forth in Section 3(a).
“SEC Guidance” means (i) any publicly-available written or oral guidance of the Commission staff, or any comments, requirements or requests of the Commission staff and (ii) the Securities Act.
2. Shelf Registration.
(a) On or prior to each Filing Date, subject to restrictions and limitations which may be imposed by the Commission, the Company shall prepare and file with the Commission a Registration Statement covering the resale of all of the Registrable Securities that are not then registered on an effective Registration Statement for an offering to be made on a continuous basis pursuant to Rule 415. Each Registration Statement filed hereunder shall be on Form S-3 (except if the Company is not then eligible to register for resale the Registrable Securities on Form S-3, in which case such registration shall be on another appropriate form in accordance herewith, subject to the provisions of Section 2(e)) and shall contain (unless otherwise directed by at least 85% in interest of the Holders) substantially the “Plan of Distribution” attached hereto as Annex A and substantially the “Selling Stockholder” section attached hereto as Annex B; provided, however, that no Holder shall be required to be named as an “underwriter” without such Holder’s express prior written consent. Subject to the terms of this Agreement, the Company shall use its best efforts to cause a Registration Statement filed under this Agreement (including, without limitation, under Section 3(c)) to be declared effective under the Securities Act as promptly as possible after the filing thereof, but in any event no later than the applicable Effectiveness Date, and shall use its best efforts to keep such Registration Statement continuously effective under the Securities Act until the date that all Registrable Securities covered by such Registration Statement (i) have been sold, thereunder or pursuant to Rule 144, or (ii) may be sold without volume or manner-of-sale restrictions pursuant to Rule 144 and without the requirement for the Company to be in compliance with the current public information requirement under Rule 144, as determined by the counsel to the Company pursuant to a written opinion letter to such effect, addressed and acceptable to the Transfer Agent and the affected Holders (the “Effectiveness Period”). The Company shall telephonically request effectiveness of a Registration Statement as of 5:00 p.m. (New York City time) on a Trading Day. The Company shall immediately notify the Holders via e-mail of the effectiveness of a Registration Statement on the same Trading Day that the Company telephonically confirms effectiveness with the Commission, which shall be the date requested for effectiveness of such Registration Statement. The Company shall, by 9:30 a.m. (New York City time) on the Trading Day after the effective date of such Registration Statement, file a final Prospectus with the Commission as required by Rule 424. Failure to so notify the Holder within one (1) Trading Day of such notification of effectiveness or failure to file a final Prospectus as foresaid shall be deemed an Event under Section 2(d).
(b) Notwithstanding the registration obligations set forth in Section 2(a), if the Commission informs the Company that all of the Registrable Securities cannot, as a result of the application of Rule 415, be registered for resale as a secondary offering on a single registration statement, the Company agrees to promptly inform each of the Holders thereof and use its commercially reasonable efforts to file amendments to the Initial Registration Statement as required by the Commission, covering the maximum number of Registrable Securities permitted to be registered by the Commission, on Form S-3 or such other form available to register for resale the Registrable Securities as a secondary offering, subject to the provisions of Section 2(e); with respect to filing on Form S-3 or other appropriate form, and subject to the provisions of Section 2(d) with respect to the payment of liquidated damages; provided, however, that prior to filing such amendment, the Company shall be obligated to use diligent efforts to advocate with the Commission for the registration of all of the Registrable Securities in accordance with the SEC Guidance, including without limitation, Compliance and Disclosure Interpretation 612.09.
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(c) Notwithstanding any other provision of this Agreement and subject to the payment of liquidated damages pursuant to Section 2(d), if the Commission or any SEC Guidance sets forth a limitation on the number of Registrable Securities permitted to be registered on a particular Registration Statement as a secondary offering (and notwithstanding that the Company used diligent efforts to advocate with the Commission for the registration of all or a greater portion of Registrable Securities), unless otherwise directed in writing by a Holder as to its Registrable Securities, the number of Registrable Securities to be registered on such Registration Statement will be reduced as follows:
a. | First, the Company shall reduce or eliminate any securities to be included other than Registrable Securities; |
b. | Second, the Company shall reduce Registrable Securities represented by Conversion Shares (applied, in the case that some Conversion Shares may be registered, to the Holders on a pro rata basis based on the total number of unregistered Conversion Shares held by such Holders). |
In the event of a cutback hereunder, the Company shall give the Holder at least three (3) Trading Days prior written notice along with the calculations as to such Holder’s allotment. In the event the Company amends the Initial Registration Statement in accordance with the foregoing, the Company will use its best efforts to file with the Commission, as promptly as allowed by Commission or SEC Guidance provided to the Company or to registrants of securities in general, one or more registration statements on Form S-3 or such other form available to register for resale those Registrable Securities that were not registered for resale on the Initial Registration Statement, as amended.
(d) If: (i) the Initial Registration Statement is not filed on or prior to its Filing Date (if the Company files the Initial Registration Statement without affording the Holders the opportunity to review and comment on the same as required by Section 3(a) herein or the Company subsequent withdraws the filing of the Registration Statement, the Company shall be deemed to have not satisfied this clause as of the Filing Date (i)), or (ii) the Company fails to file with the Commission a request for acceleration of a Registration Statement in accordance with Rule 461 promulgated by the Commission pursuant to the Securities Act, within five Trading Days of the date that the Company is notified (orally or in writing, whichever is earlier) by the Commission that such Registration Statement will not be “reviewed” or will not be subject to further review, or (iii) prior to the effective date of a Registration Statement, the Company fails to file a preeffective amendment and otherwise respond in writing to comments made by the Commission in respect of such Registration Statement within ten (10) calendar days after the receipt of comments by or notice from the Commission that such amendment is required in order for such Registration Statement to be declared effective, or (iv) a Registration Statement registering for resale all of the Registrable Securities is not declared effective by the Commission by the Effectiveness Date of the Initial Registration Statement (provided if the Registration Statement does not allow for the resale of Registrable Securities at prevailing market prices (i.e. only allows for fixed price sales), the Company shall have been deemed to have not satisfied this clause) or (v) after the effective date of a Registration Statement, such Registration Statement ceases for any reason to remain continuously effective as to all Registrable Securities included in such Registration Statement, or the Holders are otherwise not permitted to utilize the Prospectus therein to resell such Registrable Securities, for more than ten (10) consecutive calendar days or more than an aggregate of fifteen (15) calendar days (which need not be consecutive calendar days) during any 12-month period (any such failure or breach being referred to as an “Event”, and for purposes of clauses (i) and (iv), the date on which such Event occurs, and for purpose of clause (ii) the date on which such five (5) Trading Day period is exceeded, and for purpose of clause (iii) the date which such ten (10) calendar day period is exceeded, and for purpose of clause (v) the date on which such ten (10) or fifteen (15) calendar day period, as applicable, is exceeded being referred to as “Event Date”), then, in addition to any other rights the Holders may have hereunder or under applicable law, on each such Event Date and on each monthly anniversary of each such Event Date (if the applicable Event shall not have been cured by such date) until the applicable Event is cured, the Company shall pay to each Holder an amount in cash, as partial liquidated damages and not as a penalty, equal to the product of 1.5% multiplied by the aggregate Subscription Amount paid by such Holder pursuant to the Purchase Agreement. If the Company fails to pay any partial liquidated damages pursuant to this Section in full within seven days after the date payable, the Company will pay interest thereon at a rate of 18% per annum (or such lesser maximum amount that is permitted to be paid by applicable law) to the Holder, accruing daily from the date such partial liquidated damages are due until such amounts, plus all such interest thereon, are paid in full. The partial liquidated damages pursuant to the terms hereof shall apply on a daily pro rata basis for any portion of a month prior to the cure of an Event.
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(e) If Form S-3 is not available for the registration of the resale of Registrable Securities hereunder, the Company shall (i) register the resale of the Registrable Securities on another appropriate form and (ii) undertake to register the Registrable Securities on Form S-3 as soon as such form is available, provided that the Company shall maintain the effectiveness of the Registration Statement then in effect until such time as a Registration Statement on Form S-3 covering the Registrable Securities has been declared effective by the Commission.
(f) Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained herein, in no event shall the Company be permitted to name any Holder or affiliate of a Holder as any Underwriter without the prior written consent of such Holder.
3. Registration Procedures.
In connection with the Company’s registration obligations hereunder, the Company shall:
(a) Not less than five (5) Trading Days prior to the filing of each Registration Statement and not less than one (1) Trading Day prior to the filing of any related Prospectus or any amendment or supplement thereto (including any document that would be incorporated or deemed to be incorporated therein by reference), the Company shall (i) furnish to each Holder copies of all such documents proposed to be filed, which documents (other than those incorporated or deemed to be incorporated by reference) will be subject to the review of such Holders, and (ii) cause its officers and directors, counsel and independent registered public accountants to respond to such inquiries as shall be necessary, in the reasonable opinion of respective counsel to each Holder, to conduct a reasonable investigation within the meaning of the Securities Act. The Company shall not file a Registration Statement or any such Prospectus or any amendments or supplements thereto to which the Holders of a majority of the Registrable Securities shall reasonably object in good faith, provided that, the Company is notified of such objection in writing no later than five (5) Trading Days after the Holders have been so furnished copies of a Registration Statement or one (1) Trading Day after the Holders have been so furnished copies of any related Prospectus or amendments or supplements thereto. Each Holder agrees to furnish to the Company a completed questionnaire in the form attached to this Agreement as Annex B (a “Selling Stockholder Questionnaire”) on a date that is not less than two (2) Trading Days prior to the Filing Date or by the end of the fourth (4th) Trading Day following the date on which such Holder receives draft materials in accordance with this Section.
(b) (i) Prepare and file with the Commission such amendments, including post-effective amendments, to a Registration Statement and the Prospectus used in connection therewith as may be necessary to keep a Registration Statement continuously effective as to the applicable Registrable Securities for the Effectiveness Period and prepare and file with the Commission such additional Registration Statements in order to register for resale under the Securities Act all of the Registrable Securities, (ii) cause the related Prospectus to be amended or supplemented by any required Prospectus supplement (subject to the terms of this Agreement), and, as so supplemented or amended, to be filed pursuant to Rule 424, (iii) respond as promptly as reasonably possible to any comments received from the Commission with respect to a Registration Statement or any amendment thereto and provide as promptly as reasonably possible to the Holders true and complete copies of all correspondence from and to the Commission relating to a Registration Statement (provided that, the Company shall excise any information contained therein which would constitute material non-public information regarding the Company or any of its Subsidiaries), and (iv) comply in all material respects with the applicable provisions of the Securities Act and the Exchange Act with respect to the disposition of all Registrable Securities covered by a Registration Statement during the applicable period in accordance (subject to the terms of this Agreement) with the intended methods of disposition by the Holders thereof set forth in such Registration Statement as so amended or in such Prospectus as so supplemented.
(c) If during the Effectiveness Period, the number of Registrable Securities at any time exceeds 100% of the number of shares of Common Stock then registered in a Registration Statement, then the Company shall file as soon as reasonably practicable, but in any case prior to the applicable Filing Date, an additional Registration Statement covering the resale by the Holders of not less than the number of such Registrable Securities.
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(d) Notify the Holders of Registrable Securities to be sold (which notice shall, pursuant to clauses (iii) through (vi) hereof, be accompanied by an instruction to suspend the use of the Prospectus until the requisite changes have been made) as promptly as reasonably possible (and, in the case of (i)(A) below, not less than one (1) Trading Day prior to such filing) and (if requested by any such Person) confirm such notice in writing no later than one (1) Trading Day following the day (i)(A) when a Prospectus or any Prospectus supplement or posteffective amendment to a Registration Statement is proposed to be filed, (B) when the Commission notifies the Company whether there will be a “review” of such Registration Statement and whenever the Commission comments in writing on such Registration Statement, and (C) with respect to a Registration Statement or any post-effective amendment, when the same has become effective, (ii) of any request by the Commission or any other federal or state governmental authority for amendments or supplements to a Registration Statement or Prospectus or for additional information, (iii) of the issuance by the Commission or any other federal or state governmental authority of any stop order suspending the effectiveness of a Registration Statement covering any or all of the Registrable Securities or the initiation of any Proceedings for that purpose, (iv) of the receipt by the Company of any notification with respect to the suspension of the qualification or exemption from qualification of any of the Registrable Securities for sale in any jurisdiction, or the initiation or threatening of any Proceeding for such purpose, (v) of the occurrence of any event or passage of time that makes the financial statements included in a Registration Statement ineligible for inclusion therein or any statement made in a Registration Statement or Prospectus or any document incorporated or deemed to be incorporated therein by reference untrue in any material respect or that requires any revisions to a Registration Statement, Prospectus or other documents so that, in the case of a Registration Statement or the Prospectus, as the case may be, it will not contain any untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state any material fact required to be stated therein or necessary to make the statements therein, in light of the circumstances under which they were made, not misleading, and (vi) of the occurrence or existence of any pending corporate development with respect to the Company that the Company believes may be material and that, in the determination of the Company, makes it not in the best interest of the Company to allow continued availability of a Registration Statement or Prospectus; provided, however, that in no event shall any such notice contain any information which would constitute material, non-public information regarding the Company or any of its Subsidiaries, and the Company agrees that the Holders shall not have any duty of confidentiality to the Company or any of its Subsidiaries and shall not have any duty to the Company or any of its Subsidiaries not to trade on the basis of such information.
(e) Use its best efforts to avoid the issuance of, or, if issued, obtain the withdrawal of (i) any order stopping or suspending the effectiveness of a Registration Statement, or (ii) any suspension of the qualification (or exemption from qualification) of any of the Registrable Securities for sale in any jurisdiction, at the earliest practicable moment.
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(f) Furnish to each Holder, without charge, at least one conformed copy of each such Registration Statement and each amendment thereto, including financial statements and schedules, all documents incorporated or deemed to be incorporated therein by reference to the extent requested by such Person, and all exhibits to the extent requested by such Person (including those previously furnished or incorporated by reference) promptly after the filing of such documents with the Commission, provided that any such item which is available on the EDGAR system (or successor thereto) need not be furnished in physical form.
(g) Subject to the terms of this Agreement, the Company hereby consents to the use of such Prospectus and each amendment or supplement thereto by each of the selling Holders in connection with the offering and sale of the Registrable Securities covered by such Prospectus and any amendment or supplement thereto, except after the giving of any notice pursuant to Section 3(d).
(h) Prior to any resale of Registrable Securities by a Holder, use its commercially reasonable efforts to register or qualify or cooperate with the selling Holders in connection with the registration or qualification (or exemption from the Registration or qualification) of such Registrable Securities for the resale by the Holder under the securities or Blue Sky laws of such jurisdictions within the United States as any Holder reasonably requests in writing, to keep each registration or qualification (or exemption therefrom) effective during the Effectiveness Period and to do any and all other acts or things reasonably necessary to enable the disposition in such jurisdictions of the Registrable Securities covered by each Registration Statement, provided that the Company shall not be required to qualify generally to do business in any jurisdiction where it is not then so qualified, subject the Company to any material tax in any such jurisdiction where it is not then so subject or file a general consent to service of process in any such jurisdiction.
(i) If requested by a Holder, cooperate with such Holder to facilitate the timely preparation and delivery of certificates representing Registrable Securities to be delivered to a transferee pursuant to a Registration Statement, which certificates shall be free, to the extent permitted by the Purchase Agreement, of all restrictive legends, and to enable such Registrable Securities to be in such denominations and registered in such names as any such Holder may request.
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(j) Upon the occurrence of any event contemplated by Section 3(d), as promptly as reasonably possible under the circumstances taking into account the Company’s good faith assessment of any adverse consequences to the Company and its stockholders of the premature disclosure of such event, prepare a supplement or amendment, including a post-effective amendment, to a Registration Statement or a supplement to the related Prospectus or any document incorporated or deemed to be incorporated therein by reference, and file any other required document so that, as thereafter delivered, neither a Registration Statement nor such Prospectus will contain an untrue statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact required to be stated therein or necessary to make the statements therein, in light of the circumstances under which they were made, not misleading. If the Company notifies the Holders in accordance with clauses (iii) through (vi) of Section 3(d) above to suspend the use of any Prospectus until the requisite changes to such Prospectus have been made, then the Holders shall suspend use of such Prospectus. The Company will use its best efforts to ensure that the use of the Prospectus may be resumed as promptly as is practicable. The Company shall be entitled to exercise its right under this Section 3(j) to suspend the availability of a Registration Statement and Prospectus, subject to the payment of partial liquidated damages otherwise required pursuant to Section 2(d), for a period not to exceed 60 calendar days (which need not be consecutive days) in any 12-month period.
(k) Otherwise use commercially reasonable efforts to comply with all applicable rules and regulations of the Commission under the Securities Act and the Exchange Act, including, without limitation, Rule 172 under the Securities Act, file any final Prospectus, including any supplement or amendment thereof, with the Commission pursuant to Rule 424 under the Securities Act, promptly inform the Holders in writing if, at any time during the Effectiveness Period, the Company does not satisfy the conditions specified in Rule 172 and, as a result thereof, the Holders are required to deliver a Prospectus in connection with any disposition of Registrable Securities and take such other actions as may be reasonably necessary to facilitate the registration of the Registrable Securities hereunder.
(l) The Company shall use its best efforts to maintain eligibility for use of Form S-3 (or any successor form thereto) for the registration of the resale of Registrable Securities.
(m) The Company may require each selling Holder to furnish to the Company a certified statement as to the number of shares of Common Stock beneficially owned by such Holder and, if required by the Commission, the natural persons thereof that have voting and dispositive control over the shares. During any periods that the Company is unable to meet its obligations hereunder with respect to the registration of the Registrable Securities solely because any Holder fails to furnish such information within three Trading Days of the Company’s request, any liquidated damages that are accruing at such time as to such Holder only shall be tolled and any Event that may otherwise occur solely because of such delay shall be suspended as to such Holder only, until such information is delivered to the Company.
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4. Registration Expenses. All fees and expenses incident to the performance of or compliance with, this Agreement by the Company shall be borne by the Company whether or not any Registrable Securities are sold pursuant to a Registration Statement. The fees and expenses referred to in the foregoing sentence shall include, without limitation, (i) all registration and filing fees (including, without limitation, fees and expenses of the Company’s counsel and independent registered public accountants) (A) with respect to filings made with the Commission, (B) with respect to filings required to be made with any Trading Market on which the Common Stock is then listed for trading, and (C) in compliance with applicable state securities or Blue Sky laws reasonably agreed to by the Company in writing (including, without limitation, fees and disbursements of counsel for the Company in connection with Blue Sky qualifications or exemptions of the Registrable Securities), (ii) printing expenses (including, without limitation, expenses of printing certificates for Registrable Securities), (iii) messenger, telephone and delivery expenses, (iv) fees and disbursements of counsel for the Company, (v) Securities Act liability insurance, if the Company so desires such insurance, and (vi) fees and expenses of all other Persons retained by the Company in connection with the consummation of the transactions contemplated by this Agreement. In addition, the Company shall be responsible for all of its internal expenses incurred in connection with the consummation of the transactions contemplated by this Agreement (including, without limitation, all salaries and expenses of its officers and employees performing legal or accounting duties), the expense of any annual audit and the fees and expenses incurred in connection with the listing of the Registrable Securities on any securities exchange as required hereunder. In no event shall the Company be responsible for any broker or similar commissions of any Holder or, except to the extent provided for in the Transaction Documents, any legal fees or other costs of the Holders.
5. Indemnification.
(a) Indemnification by the Company. The Company shall, notwithstanding any termination of this Agreement, indemnify and hold harmless each Holder, the officers, directors, members, partners, agents, brokers (including brokers who offer and sell Registrable Securities as principal as a result of a pledge or any failure to perform under a margin call of Common Stock), investment advisors and employees (and any other Persons with a functionally equivalent role of a Person holding such titles, notwithstanding a lack of such title or any other title) of each of them, each Person who controls any such Holder (within the meaning of Section 15 of the Securities Act or Section 20 of the Exchange Act) and the officers, directors, members, stockholders, partners, agents and employees (and any other Persons with a functionally equivalent role of a Person holding such titles, notwithstanding a lack of such title or any other title) of each such controlling Person, to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, from and against any and all losses, claims, damages, liabilities, costs (including, without limitation, reasonable attorneys’ fees) and expenses (collectively, “Losses”), as incurred, arising out of or relating to (1) any untrue or alleged untrue statement of a material fact contained in a Registration Statement, any Prospectus or any form of prospectus or in any amendment or supplement thereto or in any preliminary prospectus, or arising out of or relating to any omission or alleged omission of a material fact required to be stated therein or necessary to make the statements therein (in the case of any Prospectus or supplement thereto, in light of the circumstances under which they were made) not misleading or (2) any violation or alleged violation by the Company of the Securities Act, the Exchange Act or any state securities law, or any rule or regulation thereunder, in connection with the performance of its obligations under this Agreement, except to the extent, but only to the extent, that (i) such untrue statements or omissions are based solely upon information regarding such Holder furnished in writing to the Company by such Holder expressly for use therein, or to the extent that such information relates to such Holder or such Holder’s proposed method of distribution of Registrable Securities and was reviewed and expressly approved in writing by such Holder expressly for use in a Registration Statement, such Prospectus or in any amendment or supplement thereto (it being understood that the Holder has approved Annex A hereto for this purpose) or (ii) in the case of an occurrence of an event of the type specified in Section 3(d)(iii)-(vi), the use by such Holder of an outdated, defective or otherwise unavailable Prospectus after the Company has notified such Holder in writing that the Prospectus is outdated, defective or otherwise unavailable for use by such Holder and prior to the receipt by such Holder of the Advice contemplated in Section 6(c). The Company shall notify the Holders promptly of the institution, threat or assertion of any Proceeding arising from or in connection with the transactions contemplated by this Agreement of which the Company is aware. Such indemnity shall remain in full force and effect regardless of any investigation made by or on behalf of such indemnified person and shall survive the transfer of any Registrable Securities by any of the Holders in accordance with Section 6(f).
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(b) Indemnification by Holders. Each Holder shall, severally and not jointly, indemnify and hold harmless the Company, its directors, officers, agents and employees, each Person who controls the Company (within the meaning of Section 15 of the Securities Act and Section 20 of the Exchange Act), and the directors, officers, agents or employees of such controlling Persons, to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, from and against all Losses, as incurred, to the extent arising out of or based solely upon: any untrue or alleged untrue statement of a material fact contained in any Registration Statement, any Prospectus, or in any amendment or supplement thereto or in any preliminary prospectus, or arising out of or relating to any omission or alleged omission of a material fact required to be stated therein or necessary to make the statements therein (in the case of any Prospectus or supplement thereto, in light of the circumstances under which they were made) not misleading (i) to the extent, but only to the extent, that such untrue statement or omission is contained in any information so furnished in writing by such Holder to the Company expressly for inclusion in such Registration Statement or such Prospectus or (ii) to the extent, but only to the extent, that such information relates to such Holder’s information provided in the Selling Stockholder Questionnaire or the proposed method of distribution of Registrable Securities and was reviewed and expressly approved in writing by such Holder expressly for use in a Registration Statement (it being understood that the Holder has approved Annex A hereto for this purpose), such Prospectus or in any amendment or supplement thereto. In no event shall the liability of a selling Holder be greater in amount than the dollar amount of the proceeds (net of all expenses paid by such Holder in connection with any claim relating to this Section 5 and the amount of any damages such Holder has otherwise been required to pay by reason of such untrue statement or omission) received by such Holder upon the sale of the Registrable Securities included in the Registration Statement giving rise to such indemnification obligation.
(c) Conduct of Indemnification Proceedings. If any Proceeding shall be brought or asserted against any Person entitled to indemnity hereunder (an “Indemnified Party”), such Indemnified Party shall promptly notify the Person from whom indemnity is sought (the “Indemnifying Party”) in writing, and the Indemnifying Party shall have the right to assume the defense thereof, including the employment of counsel reasonably satisfactory to the Indemnified Party and the payment of all fees and expenses incurred in connection with defense thereof, provided that the failure of any Indemnified Party to give such notice shall not relieve the Indemnifying Party of its obligations or liabilities pursuant to this Agreement, except (and only) to the extent that it shall be finally determined by a court of competent jurisdiction (which determination is not subject to appeal or further review) that such failure shall have materially and adversely prejudiced the Indemnifying Party.
An Indemnified Party shall have the right to employ separate counsel in any such Proceeding and to participate in the defense thereof, but the fees and expenses of such counsel shall be at the expense of such Indemnified Party or Parties unless: (1) the Indemnifying Party has agreed in writing to pay such fees and expenses, (2) the Indemnifying Party shall have failed promptly to assume the defense of such Proceeding and to employ counsel reasonably satisfactory to such Indemnified Party in any such Proceeding, or (3) the named parties to any such Proceeding (including any impleaded parties) include both such Indemnified Party and the Indemnifying Party, and counsel to the Indemnified Party shall reasonably believe that a material conflict of interest is likely to exist if the same counsel were to represent such Indemnified Party and the Indemnifying Party (in which case, if such Indemnified Party notifies the Indemnifying Party in writing that it elects to employ separate counsel at the expense of the Indemnifying Party, the Indemnifying Party shall not have the right to assume the defense thereof and the reasonable fees and expenses of no more than one separate counsel shall be at the expense of the Indemnifying Party). The Indemnifying Party shall not be liable for any settlement of any such Proceeding effected without its written consent, which consent shall not be unreasonably withheld or delayed. No Indemnifying Party shall, without the prior written consent of the Indemnified Party, effect any settlement of any pending Proceeding in respect of which any Indemnified Party is a party, unless such settlement includes an unconditional release of such Indemnified Party from all liability on claims that are the subject matter of such Proceeding.
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Subject to the terms of this Agreement, all reasonable fees and expenses of the Indemnified Party (including reasonable fees and expenses to the extent incurred in connection with investigating or preparing to defend such Proceeding in a manner not inconsistent with this Section) shall be paid to the Indemnified Party, as incurred, within ten Trading Days of written notice thereof to the Indemnifying Party, provided that the Indemnified Party shall promptly reimburse the Indemnifying Party for that portion of such fees and expenses applicable to such actions for which such Indemnified Party is finally determined by a court of competent jurisdiction (which determination is not subject to appeal or further review) not to be entitled to indemnification hereunder.
(d) Contribution. If the indemnification under Section 5(a) or 5(b) is unavailable to an Indemnified Party or insufficient to hold an Indemnified Party harmless for any Losses, then each Indemnifying Party shall contribute to the amount paid or payable by such Indemnified Party, in such proportion as is appropriate to reflect the relative fault of the Indemnifying Party and Indemnified Party in connection with the actions, statements or omissions that resulted in such Losses as well as any other relevant equitable considerations. The relative fault of such Indemnifying Party and Indemnified Party shall be determined by reference to, among other things, whether any action in question, including any untrue or alleged untrue statement of a material fact or omission or alleged omission of a material fact, has been taken or made by, or relates to information supplied by, such Indemnifying Party or Indemnified Party, and the parties’ relative intent, knowledge, access to information and opportunity to correct or prevent such action, statement or omission. The amount paid or payable by a party as a result of any Losses shall be deemed to include, subject to the limitations set forth in this Agreement, any reasonable attorneys’ or other fees or expenses incurred by such party in connection with any Proceeding to the extent such party would have been indemnified for such fees or expenses if the indemnification provided for in this Section was available to such party in accordance with its terms.
The parties hereto agree that it would not be just and equitable if contribution pursuant to this Section 5(d) were determined by pro rata allocation or by any other method of allocation that does not take into account the equitable considerations referred to in the immediately preceding paragraph. In no event shall the contribution obligation of a Holder of Registrable Securities be greater in amount than the dollar amount of the proceeds (net of all expenses paid by such Holder in connection with any claim relating to this Section 5 and the amount of any damages such Holder has otherwise been required to pay by reason of such untrue or alleged untrue statement or omission or alleged omission) received by it upon the sale of the Registrable Securities giving rise to such contribution obligation.
The indemnity and contribution agreements contained in this Section are in addition to any liability that the Indemnifying Parties may have to the Indemnified Parties.
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6. Miscellaneous.
(a) Remedies. In the event of a breach by the Company or by a Holder of any of their respective obligations under this Agreement, each Holder or the Company, as the case may be, in addition to being entitled to exercise all rights granted by law and under this Agreement, including recovery of damages, shall be entitled to specific performance of its rights under this Agreement. Each of the Company and each Holder agrees that monetary damages would not provide adequate compensation for any losses incurred by reason of a breach by it of any of the provisions of this Agreement and hereby further agrees that, in the event of any action for specific performance in respect of such breach, it shall not assert or shall waive the defense that a remedy at law would be adequate.
(b) No Piggyback on Registrations; Prohibition on Filing Other Registration Statements. Except as set forth on Schedule 6(b) attached hereto, neither the Company nor any of its security holders (other than the Holders in such capacity pursuant hereto) may include securities of the Company in any Registration Statements other than the Registrable Securities. The Company shall not file any other registration statements until all Registrable Securities are registered pursuant to a Registration Statement that is declared effective by the Commission, provided that this Section 6(b) shall not prohibit the Company from filing amendments to registration statements filed prior to the date of this Agreement so long as no new securities are registered on any such existing registration statements.
(c) Discontinued Disposition. By its acquisition of Registrable Securities, each Holder agrees that, upon receipt of a notice from the Company of the occurrence of any event of the kind described in Section 3(d)(iii) through (vi), such Holder will forthwith discontinue disposition of such Registrable Securities under a Registration Statement until it is advised in writing (the “Advice”) by the Company that the use of the applicable Prospectus (as it may have been supplemented or amended) may be resumed. The Company will use its best efforts to ensure that the use of the Prospectus may be resumed as promptly as is practicable. The Company agrees and acknowledges that any periods during which the Holder is required to discontinue the disposition of the Registrable Securities hereunder shall be subject to the provisions of Section 2(d).
(d) Amendments and Waivers. The provisions of this Agreement, including the provisions of this sentence, may not be amended, modified or supplemented, and waivers or consents to departures from the provisions hereof may not be given, unless the same shall be in writing and signed by the Company and the Holders of 67% or more of the then outstanding Registrable Securities (for purposes of clarification, this includes any Registrable Securities issuable upon exercise or conversion of any Security), provided that, if any amendment, modification or waiver disproportionately and adversely impacts a Holder (or group of Holders), the consent of such disproportionately impacted Holder (or group of Holders) shall be required. If a Registration Statement does not register all of the Registrable Securities pursuant to a waiver or amendment done in compliance with the previous sentence, then the number of Registrable Securities to be registered for each Holder shall be reduced pro rata among all Holders and each Holder shall have the right to designate which of its Registrable Securities shall be omitted from such Registration Statement. Notwithstanding the foregoing, a waiver or consent to depart from the provisions hereof with respect to a matter that relates exclusively to the rights of a Holder or some Holders and that does not directly or indirectly affect the rights of other Holders may be given only by such Holder or Holders of all of the Registrable Securities to which such waiver or consent relates; provided, however, that the provisions of this sentence may not be amended, modified, or supplemented except in accordance with the provisions of the first sentence of this Section 6(d). No consideration shall be offered or paid to any Person to amend or consent to a waiver or modification of any provision of this Agreement unless the same consideration also is offered to all of the parties to this Agreement.
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(e) Notices. Any and all notices or other communications or deliveries required or permitted to be provided hereunder shall be delivered as set forth in the Purchase Agreement.
(f) Successors and Assigns. This Agreement shall inure to the benefit of and be binding upon the successors and permitted assigns of each of the parties and shall inure to the benefit of each Holder. The Company may not assign (except by merger) its rights or obligations hereunder without the prior written consent of all of the Holders of the then outstanding Registrable Securities. Each Holder may assign their respective rights hereunder in the manner and to the Persons as permitted under Section 5.7 of the Purchase Agreement.
(g) No Inconsistent Agreements. Neither the Company nor any of its Subsidiaries has entered, as of the date hereof, nor shall the Company or any of its Subsidiaries, on or after the date of this Agreement, enter into any agreement with respect to its securities, that would have the effect of impairing the rights granted to the Holders in this Agreement or otherwise conflicts with the provisions hereof. Except as set forth on Schedule 6(i), neither the Company nor any of its Subsidiaries has previously entered into any agreement granting any registration rights with respect to any of its securities to any Person that have not been satisfied in full.
(h) Execution and Counterparts. This Agreement may be executed in two or more counterparts, all of which when taken together shall be considered one and the same agreement and shall become effective when counterparts have been signed by each party and delivered to the other party, it being understood that both parties need not sign the same counterpart. In the event that any signature is delivered by e-mail delivery of a “.pdf” format data file or any electronic signature complying with the U.S. federal ESIGN Act of 2000 (e.g., www.docusign.com), such signature shall create a valid and binding obligation of the party executing (or on whose behalf such signature is executed) with the same force and effect as if such “.pdf” signature page were an original thereof.
(i) Governing Law. All questions concerning the construction, validity, enforcement and interpretation of this Agreement shall be determined in accordance with the provisions of the Purchase Agreement.
(j) Cumulative Remedies. The remedies provided herein are cumulative and not exclusive of any other remedies provided by law.
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(k) Severability. If any term, provision, covenant or restriction of this Agreement is held by a court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid, illegal, void or unenforceable, the remainder of the terms, provisions, covenants and restrictions set forth herein shall remain in full force and effect and shall in no way be affected, impaired or invalidated, and the parties hereto shall use their commercially reasonable efforts to find and employ an alternative means to achieve the same or substantially the same result as that contemplated by such term, provision, covenant or restriction. It is hereby stipulated and declared to be the intention of the parties that they would have executed the remaining terms, provisions, covenants and restrictions without including any of such that may be hereafter declared invalid, illegal, void or unenforceable.
(l) Headings. The headings in this Agreement are for convenience only, do not constitute a part of the Agreement and shall not be deemed to limit or affect any of the provisions hereof.
(m) Independent Nature of Holders’ Obligations and Rights. The obligations of each Holder hereunder are several and not joint with the obligations of any other Holder hereunder, and no Holder shall be responsible in any way for the performance of the obligations of any other Holder hereunder. Nothing contained herein or in any other agreement or document delivered at any closing, and no action taken by any Holder pursuant hereto or thereto, shall be deemed to constitute the Holders as a partnership, an association, a joint venture or any other kind of group or entity, or create a presumption that the Holders are in any way acting in concert or as a group or entity with respect to such obligations or the transactions contemplated by this Agreement or any other matters, and the Company acknowledges that the Holders are not acting in concert or as a group, and the Company shall not assert any such claim, with respect to such obligations or transactions. Each Holder shall be entitled to protect and enforce its rights, including without limitation the rights arising out of this Agreement, and it shall not be necessary for any other Holder to be joined as an additional party in any proceeding for such purpose. The use of a single agreement with respect to the obligations of the Company contained was solely in the control of the Company, not the action or decision of any Holder, and was done solely for the convenience of the Company and not because it was required or requested to do so by any Holder. It is expressly understood and agreed that each provision contained in this Agreement is between the Company and a Holder, solely, and not between the Company and the Holders collectively and not between and among Holders.
******************** |
(Signature Pages Follow)
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IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the parties have executed this Registration Rights Agreement as of the date first written above.
CREATD, INC. | ||
By: | ||
Name: | ||
Title: | CEO |
[SIGNATURE PAGE OF HOLDERS FOLLOWS]
[SIGNATURE PAGE OF HOLDERS TO CRTD RRA]
Name of Holder: Dorado Goose, LLC
Signature of Authorized Signatory of Holder: /s/ Tommy Wang
Name of Authorized Signatory: Tommy Wang
Title of Authorized Signatory: Director
[SIGNATURE PAGES CONTINUE]
Annex A
Plan of Distribution
Each Selling Stockholder (the “Selling Stockholders”) of the securities and any of their pledgees, assignees and successors-in-interest may, from time to time, sell any or all of their securities covered hereby on the Nasdaq Capital Market or any other stock exchange, market or trading facility on which the securities are traded or in private transactions. These sales may be at fixed or negotiated prices. A Selling Stockholder may use any one or more of the following methods when selling securities:
● | ordinary brokerage transactions and transactions in which the broker-dealer solicits purchasers; |
● | block trades in which the broker-dealer will attempt to sell the securities as agent but may position and resell a portion of the block as principal to facilitate the transaction; |
● | purchases by a broker-dealer as principal and resale by the broker-dealer for its account; |
● | an exchange distribution in accordance with the rules of the applicable exchange; |
● | privately negotiated transactions; |
● | settlement of short sales; |
● | in transactions through broker-dealers that agree with the Selling Stockholders to sell a specified number of such securities at a stipulated price per security; |
● | through the writing or settlement of options or other hedging transactions, whether through an options exchange or otherwise; |
● | a combination of any such methods of sale; or |
● | any other method permitted pursuant to applicable law. |
The Selling Stockholders may also sell securities under Rule 144 or any other exemption from registration under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), if available, rather than under this prospectus.
Broker-dealers engaged by the Selling Stockholders may arrange for other brokers-dealers to participate in sales. Broker-dealers may receive commissions or discounts from the Selling Stockholders (or, if any broker-dealer acts as agent for the purchaser of securities, from the purchaser) in amounts to be negotiated, but, except as set forth in a supplement to this Prospectus, in the case of an agency transaction not in excess of a customary brokerage commission in compliance with FINRA Rule 2121; and in the case of a principal transaction a markup or markdown in compliance with FINRA Rule 2121.
A-1
In connection with the sale of the securities or interests therein, the Selling Stockholders may enter into hedging transactions with broker-dealers or other financial institutions, which may in turn engage in short sales of the securities in the course of hedging the positions they assume. The Selling Stockholders may also sell securities short and deliver these securities to close out their short positions, or loan or pledge the securities to broker-dealers that in turn may sell these securities. The Selling Stockholders may also enter into option or other transactions with broker-dealers or other financial institutions or create one or more derivative securities which require the delivery to such broker-dealer or other financial institution of securities offered by this prospectus, which securities such broker-dealer or other financial institution may resell pursuant to this prospectus (as supplemented or amended to reflect such transaction).
The Selling Stockholders and any broker-dealers or agents that are involved in selling the securities may be deemed to be “underwriters” within the meaning of the Securities Act in connection with such sales. In such event, any commissions received by such broker-dealers or agents and any profit on the resale of the securities purchased by them may be deemed to be underwriting commissions or discounts under the Securities Act. Each Selling Stockholder has informed the Company that it does not have any written or oral agreement or understanding, directly or indirectly, with any person to distribute the securities.
The Company is required to pay certain fees and expenses incurred by the Company incident to the registration of the securities. The Company has agreed to indemnify the Selling Stockholders against certain losses, claims, damages and liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act.
We agreed to keep this prospectus effective until the earlier of (i) the date on which the securities may be resold by the Selling Stockholders without registration and without regard to any volume or manner-of-sale limitations by reason of Rule 144, without the requirement for the Company to be in compliance with the current public information under Rule 144 under the Securities Act or any other rule of similar effect or (ii) all of the securities have been sold pursuant to this prospectus or Rule 144 under the Securities Act or any other rule of similar effect. The resale securities will be sold only through registered or licensed brokers or dealers if required under applicable state securities laws. In addition, in certain states, the resale securities covered hereby may not be sold unless they have been registered or qualified for sale in the applicable state or an exemption from the registration or qualification requirement is available and is complied with.
Under applicable rules and regulations under the Exchange Act, any person engaged in the distribution of the resale securities may not simultaneously engage in market making activities with respect to the common stock for the applicable restricted period, as defined in Regulation M, prior to the commencement of the distribution. In addition, the Selling Stockholders will be subject to applicable provisions of the Exchange Act and the rules and regulations thereunder, including Regulation M, which may limit the timing of purchases and sales of the common stock by the Selling Stockholders or any other person. We will make copies of this prospectus available to the Selling Stockholders and have informed them of the need to deliver a copy of this prospectus to each purchaser at or prior to the time of the sale (including by compliance with Rule 172 under the Securities Act).
A-2
SELLING SHAREHOLDERS
The common stock being offered by the selling shareholders are those previously issued to the selling shareholders, and those issuable to the selling shareholders, upon conversion of the debentures. For additional information regarding the issuances of those shares of debentures see “Private Placement of Debentures” above. We are registering the shares of common stock in order to permit the selling shareholders to offer the shares for resale from time to time. Except for the ownership of the debentures, the selling shareholders have not had any material relationship with us within the past three years.
The table below lists the selling shareholders and other information regarding the beneficial ownership of the shares of common stock by each of the selling shareholders. The second column lists the number of shares of common stock beneficially owned by each selling shareholder, based on its ownership of the shares of common stock, as of December 11, 2022, assuming conversion of the debentures held by the selling shareholders on that date, without regard to any limitations on conversions or exercises.
The third column lists the shares of common stock being offered by this prospectus by the selling shareholders.
In accordance with the terms of a registration rights agreement with the selling shareholders, this prospectus generally covers the resale of the sum of (i) the number of shares of common stock issued to the selling shareholders in the “Private Placement of Shares of Debentures” described above and (ii) the maximum number of shares of common stock issuable upon conversion of the debentures, determined as if the outstanding debentures were converted or exercised in full as of the trading day immediately preceding the date this registration statement was initially filed with the SEC, each as of the trading day immediately preceding the applicable date of determination and all subject to adjustment as provided in the registration right agreement, without regard to any limitations on the conversion of the debentures. The fourth column assumes the sale of all of the shares offered by the selling shareholders pursuant to this prospectus.
Under the terms of the debentures, a selling shareholder may not convert the debentures to the extent such conversion or exercise would cause such selling shareholder, together with its affiliates and attribution parties, to beneficially own a number of shares of common stock which would exceed 4.99% or 9.99%, as applicable, of our then outstanding common stock following such conversion or exercise, excluding for purposes of such determination shares of common stock issuable upon conversion of such debentures. The number of shares in the second and fourth columns do not reflect this limitation. The selling shareholders may sell all, some or none of their shares in this offering. See “Plan of Distribution.”
Number of
shares of Common Stock Owned Prior to Offering |
Maximum
Number of shares of Common Stock to be Sold Pursuant to this |
Number
of shares of Common Stock Owned After Offering Name of Selling Shareholder | ||
A-3
Exhibit 10.67
EXHIBIT C
SUBSIDIARY GUARANTEE
SUBSIDIARY GUARANTEE, dated as of December 11, 2022 (this “Guarantee”), made by each of the signatories hereto (together with any other entity that may become a party hereto as provided herein, the “Guarantors”), in favor of the purchasers signatory (together with their permitted assigns, the “Purchasers”) to that certain Securities Purchase Agreement, dated as of the date hereof, between Creatd, Inc., a Nevada corporation (the “Company”) and the Purchasers.
W I T N E S S E T H:
WHEREAS, pursuant to that certain Securities Purchase Agreement, dated on or about the date hereof, by and between the Company and the Purchasers (the “Purchase Agreement”), the Company has agreed to sell and issue to the Purchasers, and the Purchasers have agreed to purchase from the Company the Debentures, subject to the terms and conditions set forth therein; and
WHEREAS, each Guarantor will directly benefit from the extension of credit to the Company represented by the issuance of the Debentures; and
NOW, THEREFORE, in consideration of the premises and to induce the Purchasers to enter into the Purchase Agreement and to carry out the transactions contemplated thereby, each Guarantor hereby agrees with the Purchasers as follows:
1. Definitions. Unless otherwise defined herein, terms defined in the Purchase Agreement and used herein shall have the meanings given to them in the Purchase Agreement. The words “hereof,” “herein,” “hereto” and “hereunder” and words of similar import when used in this Guarantee shall refer to this Guarantee as a whole and not to any particular provision of this Guarantee, and Section and Schedule references are to this Guarantee unless otherwise specified. The meanings given to terms defined herein shall be equally applicable to both the singular and plural forms of such terms. The following terms shall have the following meanings:
“Guarantee” means this Subsidiary Guarantee, as the same may be amended, supplemented or otherwise modified from time to time.
“Obligations” means, in addition to all other costs and expenses of collection incurred by Purchasers in enforcing any of such Obligations and/or this Guarantee, all of the liabilities and obligations (primary, secondary, direct, contingent, sole, joint or several) due or to become due, or that are now or may be hereafter contracted or acquired, or owing to, of the Company or any Guarantor to the Purchasers, including, without limitation, all obligations under this Guarantee, the Debentures and any other instruments, agreements or other documents executed and/or delivered in connection herewith or therewith, in each case, whether now or hereafter existing, voluntary or involuntary, direct or indirect, absolute or contingent, liquidated or unliquidated, whether or not jointly owed with others, and whether or not from time to time decreased or extinguished and later increased, created or incurred, and all or any portion of such obligations or liabilities that are paid, to the extent all or any part of such payment is avoided or recovered directly or indirectly from any of the Purchasers as a preference, fraudulent transfer or otherwise as such obligations may be amended, supplemented, converted, extended or modified from time to time. Without limiting the generality of the foregoing, the term “Obligations” shall include, without limitation: (i) principal of, and interest on the Debentures and the loans extended pursuant thereto; (ii) any and all other fees, indemnities, costs, obligations and liabilities of the Company or any Guarantor from time to time under or in connection with this Guarantee, the Debentures and any other instruments, agreements or other documents executed and/or delivered in connection herewith or therewith; and (iii) all amounts (including but not limited to post-petition interest) in respect of the foregoing that would be payable but for the fact that the obligations to pay such amounts are unenforceable or not allowable due to the existence of a bankruptcy, reorganization or similar proceeding involving the Company or any Guarantor.
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2. Guarantee.
(a) Guarantee.
(i) The Guarantors hereby, jointly and severally, unconditionally and irrevocably, guarantee to the Purchasers and their respective successors, indorsees, transferees and assigns, the prompt and complete payment and performance when due (whether at the stated maturity, by acceleration or otherwise) of the Obligations.
(ii) Anything herein or in any other Transaction Document to the contrary notwithstanding, the maximum liability of each Guarantor hereunder and under the other Transaction Documents shall in no event exceed the amount which can be guaranteed by such Guarantor under applicable federal and state laws, including laws relating to the insolvency of debtors, fraudulent conveyance or transfer or laws affecting the rights of creditors generally (after giving effect to the right of contribution established in Section 2(b)).
(iii) Each Guarantor agrees that the Obligations may at any time and from time to time exceed the amount of the liability of such Guarantor hereunder without impairing the guarantee contained in this Section 2 or affecting the rights and remedies of the Purchasers hereunder.
(iv) The guarantee contained in this Section 2 shall remain in full force and effect until all the Obligations and the obligations of each Guarantor under the guarantee contained in this Section 2 shall have been satisfied by indefeasible payment in full.
(v) No payment made by the Company, any of the Guarantors, any other guarantor or any other Person or received or collected by the Purchasers from the Company, any of the Guarantors, any other guarantor or any other Person by virtue of any action or proceeding or any set-off or appropriation or application at any time or from time to time in reduction of or in payment of the Obligations shall be deemed to modify, reduce, release or otherwise affect the liability of any Guarantor hereunder which shall, notwithstanding any such payment (other than any payment made by such Guarantor in respect of the Obligations or any payment received or collected from such Guarantor in respect of the Obligations), remain liable for the Obligations up to the maximum liability of such Guarantor hereunder until the Obligations are indefeasibly paid in full.
(vi) Notwithstanding anything to the contrary in this Guarantee, with respect to any defaulted non-monetary Obligations the specific performance of which by the Guarantors is not reasonably possible (e.g. the issuance of the Company’s Common Stock), the Guarantors shall only be liable for making the Purchasers whole on a monetary basis for the Company’s failure to perform such Obligations in accordance with the Transaction Documents.
(b) Right of Contribution. Subject to Section 2(c), each Guarantor hereby agrees that to the extent that a Guarantor shall have paid more than its proportionate share of any payment made hereunder, such Guarantor shall be entitled to seek and receive contribution from and against any other Guarantor hereunder which has not paid its proportionate share of such payment. Each Guarantor’s right of contribution shall be subject to the terms and conditions of Section 2(c). The provisions of this Section 2(b) shall in no respect limit the obligations and liabilities of any Guarantor to the Purchasers and each Guarantor shall remain liable to the Purchasers for the full amount guaranteed by such Guarantor hereunder.
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(c) No Subrogation. Notwithstanding any payment made by any Guarantor hereunder or any set-off or application of funds of any Guarantor by the Purchasers, no Guarantor shall be entitled to be subrogated to any of the rights of the Purchasers against the Company or any other Guarantor or any collateral security or guarantee or right of offset held by the Purchasers for the payment of the Obligations, nor shall any Guarantor seek or be entitled to seek any contribution or reimbursement from the Company or any other Guarantor in respect of payments made by such Guarantor hereunder, until all amounts owing to the Purchasers by the Company on account of the Obligations are indefeasibly paid in full. If any amount shall be paid to any Guarantor on account of such subrogation rights at any time when all of the Obligations shall not have been paid in full, such amount shall be held by such Guarantor in trust for the Purchasers, segregated from other funds of such Guarantor, and shall, forthwith upon receipt by such Guarantor, be turned over to the Purchasers in the exact form received by such Guarantor (duly indorsed by such Guarantor to the Purchasers, if required), to be applied against the Obligations, whether matured or unmatured, in such order as the Purchasers may determine.
(d) Amendments, Etc. With Respect to the Obligations. Each Guarantor shall remain obligated hereunder notwithstanding that, without any reservation of rights against any Guarantor and without notice to or further assent by any Guarantor, any demand for payment of any of the Obligations made by the Purchasers may be rescinded by the Purchasers and any of the Obligations continued, and the Obligations, or the liability of any other Person upon or for any part thereof, or any collateral security or guarantee therefor or right of offset with respect thereto, may, from time to time, in whole or in part, be renewed, extended, amended, modified, accelerated, compromised, waived, surrendered or released by the Purchasers, and the Purchase Agreement and the other Transaction Documents and any other documents executed and delivered in connection therewith may be amended, modified, supplemented or terminated, in whole or in part, as the Purchasers may deem advisable from time to time, and any collateral security, guarantee or right of offset at any time held by the Purchasers for the payment of the Obligations may be sold, exchanged, waived, surrendered or released. The Purchasers shall have no obligation to protect, secure, perfect or insure any Lien at any time held by them as security for the Obligations or for the guarantee contained in this Section 2 or any property subject thereto.
(e) Guarantee Absolute and Unconditional. Each Guarantor waives any and all notice of the creation, renewal, extension or accrual of any of the Obligations and notice of or proof of reliance by the Purchasers upon the guarantee contained in this Section 2 or acceptance of the guarantee contained in this Section 2; the Obligations, and any of them, shall conclusively be deemed to have been created, contracted or incurred, or renewed, extended, amended or waived, in reliance upon the guarantee contained in this Section 2; and all dealings between the Company and any of the Guarantors, on the one hand, and the Purchasers, on the other hand, likewise shall be conclusively presumed to have been had or consummated in reliance upon the guarantee contained in this Section 2. Each Guarantor waives to the extent permitted by law diligence, presentment, protest, demand for payment and notice of default or nonpayment to or upon the Company or any of the Guarantors with respect to the Obligations. Each Guarantor understands and agrees that the guarantee contained in this Section 2 shall be construed as a continuing, absolute and unconditional guarantee of payment and performance without regard to (a) the validity or enforceability of the Purchase Agreement or any other Transaction Document, any of the Obligations or any other collateral security therefor or guarantee or right of offset with respect thereto at any time or from time to time held by the Purchasers, (b) any defense, set-off or counterclaim (other than a defense of payment or performance or fraud by Purchasers) which may at any time be available to or be asserted by the Company or any other Person against the Purchasers, or (c) any other circumstance whatsoever (with or without notice to or knowledge of the Company or such Guarantor) which constitutes, or might be construed to constitute, an equitable or legal discharge of the Company for the Obligations, or of such Guarantor under the guarantee contained in this Section 2, in bankruptcy or in any other instance. When making any demand hereunder or otherwise pursuing its rights and remedies hereunder against any Guarantor, the Purchasers may, but shall be under no obligation to, make a similar demand on or otherwise pursue such rights and remedies as they may have against the Company, any other Guarantor or any other Person or against any collateral security or guarantee for the Obligations or any right of offset with respect thereto, and any failure by the Purchasers to make any such demand, to pursue such other rights or remedies or to collect any payments from the Company, any other Guarantor or any other Person or to realize upon any such collateral security or guarantee or to exercise any such right of offset, or any release of the Company, any other Guarantor or any other Person or any such collateral security, guarantee or right of offset, shall not relieve any Guarantor of any obligation or liability hereunder, and shall not impair or affect the rights and remedies, whether express, implied or available as a matter of law, of the Purchasers against any Guarantor. For the purposes hereof, “demand” shall include the commencement and continuance of any legal proceedings.
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(f) Reinstatement. The guarantee contained in this Section 2 shall continue to be effective, or be reinstated, as the case may be, if at any time payment, or any part thereof, of any of the Obligations is rescinded or must otherwise be restored or returned by the Purchasers upon the insolvency, bankruptcy, dissolution, liquidation or reorganization of the Company or any Guarantor, or upon or as a result of the appointment of a receiver, intervenor or conservator of, or trustee or similar officer for, the Company or any Guarantor or any substantial part of its property, or otherwise, all as though such payments had not been made.
(g) Payments. Each Guarantor hereby guarantees that payments hereunder will be paid to the Purchasers without set-off or counterclaim in U.S. dollars at the address set forth or referred to in the Signature Pages to the Purchase Agreement.
3. Representations and Warranties. Each Guarantor hereby makes the following representations and warranties to Purchasers as of the date hereof:
(a) Organization and Qualification. The Guarantor is a corporation, duly incorporated, validly existing and in good standing under the laws of the applicable jurisdiction set forth on Schedule 1, with the requisite corporate power and authority to own and use its properties and assets and to carry on its business as currently conducted. The Guarantor has no subsidiaries other than those identified as such on the Disclosure Schedules to the Purchase Agreement. The Guarantor is duly qualified to do business and is in good standing as a foreign corporation in each jurisdiction in which the nature of the business conducted or property owned by it makes such qualification necessary, except where the failure to be so qualified or in good standing, as the case may be, could not, individually or in the aggregate, (x) adversely affect the legality, validity or enforceability of any of this Guaranty in any material respect, (y) have a material adverse effect on the results of operations, assets, prospects, or financial condition of the Guarantor or (z) adversely impair in any material respect the Guarantor’s ability to perform fully on a timely basis its obligations under this Guaranty (a “Material Adverse Effect”).
(b) Authorization; Enforcement. The Guarantor has the requisite corporate power and authority to enter into and to consummate the transactions contemplated by this Guaranty, and otherwise to carry out its obligations hereunder. The execution and delivery of this Guaranty by the Guarantor and the consummation by it of the transactions contemplated hereby have been duly authorized by all requisite corporate action on the part of the Guarantor. This Guaranty has been duly executed and delivered by the Guarantor and constitutes the valid and binding obligation of the Guarantor enforceable against the Guarantor in accordance with its terms, except as such enforceability may be limited by applicable bankruptcy, insolvency, reorganization, moratorium, liquidation or similar laws relating to, or affecting generally the enforcement of, creditors’ rights and remedies or by other equitable principles of general application.
(c) No Conflicts. The execution, delivery and performance of this Guaranty by the Guarantor and the consummation by the Guarantor of the transactions contemplated thereby do not and will not (i) conflict with or violate any provision of its Certificate of Incorporation or By-laws or (ii) conflict with, constitute a default (or an event which with notice or lapse of time or both would become a default) under, or give to others any rights of termination, amendment, acceleration or cancellation of, any agreement, indenture or instrument to which the Guarantor is a party, or (iii) result in a violation of any law, rule, regulation, order, judgment, injunction, decree or other restriction of any court or governmental authority to which the Guarantor is subject (including Federal and State securities laws and regulations), or by which any material property or asset of the Guarantor is bound or affected, except in the case of each of clauses (ii) and (iii), such conflicts, defaults, terminations, amendments, accelerations, cancellations and violations as could not, individually or in the aggregate, have or result in a Material Adverse Effect. The business of the Guarantor is not being conducted in violation of any law, ordinance or regulation of any governmental authority, except for violations which, individually or in the aggregate, do not have a Material Adverse Effect.
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(d) Consents and Approvals. The Guarantor is not required to obtain any consent, waiver, authorization or order of, or make any filing or registration with, any court or other federal, state, local, foreign or other governmental authority or other person in connection with the execution, delivery and performance by the Guarantor of this Guaranty.
(e) Purchase Agreement. The representations and warranties of the Company set forth in the Purchase Agreement as they relate to such Guarantor, each of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference, are true and correct as of each time such representations are deemed to be made pursuant to such Purchase Agreement, and the Purchasers shall be entitled to rely on each of them as if they were fully set forth herein, provided that each reference in each such representation and warranty to the Company’s knowledge shall, for the purposes of this Section 3, be deemed to be a reference to such Guarantor’s knowledge.
(f) Foreign Law. Each Guarantor has consulted with appropriate foreign legal counsel with respect to any of the above representations for which non-U.S. law is applicable. Such foreign counsel have advised each applicable Guarantor that such counsel knows of no reason why any of the above representations would not be true and accurate. Such foreign counsel were provided with copies of this Subsidiary Guarantee and the Transaction Documents prior to rendering their advice.
4. Covenants.
(a) Each Guarantor covenants and agrees with the Purchasers that, from and after the date of this Guarantee until the Obligations shall have been indefeasibly paid in full, such Guarantor shall take, and/or shall refrain from taking, as the case may be, each commercially reasonable action that is necessary to be taken or not taken, as the case may be, so that no Event of Default (as defined in the Debentures) is caused by the failure to take such action or to refrain from taking such action by such Guarantor.
(b) So long as any of the Obligations are outstanding, unless Purchasers holding at least 67% of the aggregate principal amount of the then outstanding Debentures shall otherwise consent in writing, each Guarantor will not directly or indirectly on or after the date of this Guarantee:
i. Other than Permitted Indebtedness (as defined in the Debentures) enter into, create, incur, assume or suffer to exist any indebtedness for borrowed money of any kind, including but not limited to, a guarantee, on or with respect to any of its property or assets now owned or hereafter acquired or any interest therein or any income or profits therefrom;
ii. enter into, create, incur, assume or suffer to exist any liens of any kind, on or with respect to any of its property or assets now owned or hereafter acquired or any interest therein or any income or profits therefrom;
iii. amend its certificate of incorporation, bylaws or other
charter documents so as to adversely affect any rights of any Purchaser;
iv. repay, repurchase or offer to repay, repurchase or otherwise acquire more than a de minimis number of shares of its securities or debt obligations;
v. pay cash dividends on any equity securities of the Company;
vi. enter into any transaction with any Affiliate of the Guarantor which would be required to be disclosed in any public filing of the Company with the Commission, unless such transaction is made on an arm’s-length basis and expressly approved by a majority of the disinterested directors of the Company (even if less than a quorum otherwise required for board approval); or
vii. enter into any agreement with respect to any of the foregoing.
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5. Miscellaneous.
(a) Amendments in Writing. None of the terms or provisions of this Guarantee may be waived, amended, supplemented or otherwise modified except in writing by the Purchasers.
(b) Notices. All notices, requests and demands to or upon the Purchasers or any Guarantor hereunder shall be effected in the manner provided for in the Purchase Agreement, provided that any such notice, request or demand to or upon any Guarantor shall be addressed to such Guarantor at its notice address set forth on Schedule 5(b).
(c) No Waiver By Course Of Conduct; Cumulative Remedies. The Purchasers shall not by any act (except by a written instrument pursuant to Section 5(a)), delay, indulgence, omission or otherwise be deemed to have waived any right or remedy hereunder or to have acquiesced in any default under the Transaction Documents or Event of Default. No failure to exercise, nor any delay in exercising, on the part of the Purchasers, any right, power or privilege hereunder shall operate as a waiver thereof. No single or partial exercise of any right, power or privilege hereunder shall preclude any other or further exercise thereof or the exercise of any other right, power or privilege. A waiver by the Purchasers of any right or remedy hereunder on any one occasion shall not be construed as a bar to any right or remedy which the Purchasers would otherwise have on any future occasion. The rights and remedies herein provided are cumulative, may be exercised singly or concurrently and are not exclusive of any other rights or remedies provided by law.
(d) Enforcement Expenses; Indemnification.
(i) Each Guarantor agrees to pay, or reimburse the Purchasers for, all its costs and expenses incurred in collecting against such Guarantor under the guarantee contained in Section 2 or otherwise enforcing or preserving any rights under this Guarantee and the other Transaction Documents to which such Guarantor is a party, including, without limitation, the reasonable fees and disbursements of counsel to the Purchasers.
(ii) Each Guarantor agrees to pay, and to save the Purchasers harmless from, any and all liabilities with respect to, or resulting from any delay in paying, any and all stamp, excise, sales or other taxes which may be payable or determined to be payable in connection with any of the transactions contemplated by this Guarantee.
(iii) Each Guarantor agrees to pay, and to save the Purchasers harmless from, any and all liabilities, obligations, losses, damages, penalties, actions, judgments, suits, costs, expenses or disbursements of any kind or nature whatsoever with respect to the execution, delivery, enforcement, performance and administration of this Guarantee to the extent the Company would be required to do so pursuant to the Purchase Agreement.
(iv) The agreements in this Section shall survive repayment of the Obligations and all other amounts payable under the Purchase Agreement and the other Transaction Documents.
(e) Successor and Assigns. This Guarantee shall be binding upon the successors and assigns of each Guarantor and shall inure to the benefit of the Purchasers and their respective successors and assigns; provided that no Guarantor may assign, transfer or delegate any of its rights or obligations under this Guarantee without the prior written consent of the Purchasers.
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(f) Set-Off. Each Guarantor hereby irrevocably authorizes the Purchasers at any time and from time to time while an Event of Default under any of the Transaction Documents shall have occurred and be continuing, without notice to such Guarantor or any other Guarantor, any such notice being expressly waived by each Guarantor, to set-off and appropriate and apply any and all deposits, credits, indebtedness or claims, in any currency, in each case whether direct or indirect, absolute or contingent, matured or unmatured, at any time held or owing by the Purchasers to or for the credit or the account of such Guarantor, or any part thereof in such amounts as the Purchasers may elect, against and on account of the obligations and liabilities of such Guarantor to the Purchasers hereunder and claims of every nature and description of the Purchasers against such Guarantor, in any currency, whether arising hereunder, under the Purchase Agreement, any other Transaction Document or otherwise, as the Purchasers may elect, whether or not the Purchasers have made any demand for payment and although such obligations, liabilities and claims may be contingent or unmatured. The Purchasers shall notify such Guarantor promptly of any such set-off and the application made by the Purchasers of the proceeds thereof, provided that the failure to give such notice shall not affect the validity of such set-off and application. The rights of the Purchasers under this Section are in addition to other rights and remedies (including, without limitation, other rights of set-off) which the Purchasers may have.
(g) Counterparts. This Guarantee may be executed by one or more of the parties to this Guarantee on any number of separate counterparts (including by telecopy), and all of said counterparts taken together shall be deemed to constitute one and the same instrument.
(h) Severability. Any provision of this Guarantee which is prohibited or unenforceable in any jurisdiction shall, as to such jurisdiction, be ineffective to the extent of such prohibition or unenforceability without invalidating the remaining provisions hereof, and any such prohibition or unenforceability in any jurisdiction shall not invalidate or render unenforceable such provision in any other jurisdiction.
(i) Section Headings. The Section headings used in this Guarantee are for convenience of reference only and are not to affect the construction hereof or be taken into consideration in the interpretation hereof.
(j) Integration. This Guarantee and the other Transaction Documents represent the agreement of the Guarantors and the Purchasers with respect to the subject matter hereof and thereof, and there are no promises, undertakings, representations or warranties by the Purchasers relative to subject matter hereof and thereof not expressly set forth or referred to herein or in the other Transaction Documents.
(k) Governing Laws. All questions concerning the construction, validity, enforcement and interpretation of this Guarantee shall be governed by and construed and enforced in accordance with the internal laws of the State of New York, without regard to the principles of conflicts of law thereof. Each of the Company and the Guarantors agree that all proceedings concerning the interpretations, enforcement and defense of the transactions contemplated by this Guarantee (whether brought against a party hereto or its respective affiliates, directors, officers, shareholders, partners, members, employees or agents) shall be commenced exclusively in the state and federal courts sitting in the City of New York, Borough of Manhattan. Each of the Company and the Guarantors hereby irrevocably submits to the exclusive jurisdiction of the state and federal courts sitting in the City of New York, Borough of Manhattan for the adjudication of any dispute hereunder or in connection herewith or with any transaction contemplated hereby or discussed herein, and hereby irrevocably waives, and agrees not to assert in any proceeding, any claim that it is not personally subject to the jurisdiction of any such court, that such proceeding is improper. Each party hereto hereby irrevocably waives personal service of process and consents to process being served in any such proceeding by mailing a copy thereof via registered or certified mail or overnight delivery (with evidence of delivery) to such party at the address in effect for notices to it under this Guarantee and agrees that such service shall constitute good and sufficient service of process and notice thereof. Nothing contained herein shall be deemed to limit in any way any right to serve process in any manner permitted by law. Each party hereto hereby irrevocably waives, to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, any and all right to trial by jury in any legal proceeding arising out of or relating to this Guarantee or the transactions contemplated hereby.
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(l) Acknowledgements. Each Guarantor hereby acknowledges that:
(i) it has been advised by counsel in the negotiation, execution and delivery of this Guarantee and the other Transaction Documents to which it is a party;
(ii) the Purchasers have no fiduciary relationship with or duty to any Guarantor arising out of or in connection with this Guarantee or any of the other Transaction Documents, and the relationship between the Guarantors, on the one hand, and the Purchasers, on the other hand, in connection herewith or therewith is solely that of debtor and creditor; and
(iii) no joint venture is created hereby or by the other Transaction Documents or otherwise exists by virtue of the transactions contemplated hereby among the Guarantors and the Purchasers.
(m) Additional Guarantors. The Company shall cause each of its subsidiaries formed or acquired on or subsequent to the date hereof to become a Guarantor for all purposes of this Guarantee by executing and delivering an Assumption Agreement in the form of Annex 1 hereto.
(n) Release of Guarantors. Each Guarantor will be released from all liability hereunder concurrently with the indefeasible repayment in full of all amounts owed under the Purchase Agreement, the Debentures and the other Transaction Documents.
(o) Seniority. The Obligations of each of the Guarantors hereunder rank senior in priority to any other Indebtedness (as defined in the Purchase Agreement) of such Guarantor.
(p) WAIVER OF JURY TRIAL. EACH GUARANTOR AND, BY ACCEPTANCE OF THE BENEFITS HEREOF, THE PURCHASERS, HEREBY IRREVOCABLY AND UNCONDITIONALLY WAIVE TRIAL BY JURY IN ANY LEGAL ACTION OR PROCEEDING RELATING TO THIS GUARANTEE AND FOR ANY COUNTERCLAIM THEREIN.
*********************
(Signature Pages Follow)
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IN WITNESS WHEREOF, each of the undersigned has caused this Guarantee to be duly executed and delivered as of the date first above written.
JERRICK VENTURES LLC | ||
By: | CREATD, INC. | |
Its: | Managing Member | |
By: | /s/ Jeremy Frommer | |
Name: | Jeremy Frommer | |
Title: | Chief Executive Officer | |
ABACUS TECH PTY LTD | ||
By: | CREATD, INC. | |
Its: | Managing Member | |
By: | /s/ Jeremy Frommer | |
Name: | Jeremy Frommer | |
Title: | Chief Executive Officer | |
SELLER’S CHOICE LLC | ||
By: | CREATD, INC. | |
Its: | Managing Member | |
By: | /s/ Jeremy Frommer | |
Name: | Jeremy Frommer | |
Title: | Chief Executive Officer | |
CREATD STUDIOS LLC | ||
By: | CREATD, INC. | |
Its: | Managing Member | |
By: | /s/ Jeremy Frommer | |
Name: | Jeremy Frommer | |
Title: | Chief Executive Officer | |
GIVE LLC | ||
By: | CREATD, INC. | |
Its: | Managing Member | |
By: | /s/ Jeremy Frommer | |
Name: | Jeremy Frommer | |
Title: | Chief Executive Officer |
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CREATD VENTURES, LLC | ||
By: | CREATD, INC. | |
Its: | Managing Member | |
By: | /s/ Jeremy Frommer | |
Name: | Jeremy Frommer | |
Title: | Chief Executive Officer | |
DENVER BODEGA LLC | ||
By: | CREATD, INC. | |
Its: | Managing Member | |
By: | /s/ Jeremy Frommer | |
Name: | Jeremy Frommer | |
Title: | Chief Executive Officer | |
DUNE INC. | ||
By: | CREATD, INC. | |
Its: | Managing Member | |
By: | /s/ Jeremy Frommer | |
Name: | Jeremy Frommer | |
Title: | Chief Executive Officer | |
PLANT CAMP LLC | ||
By: | CREATD, INC. | |
Its: | Managing Member | |
By: | /s/ Jeremy Frommer | |
Name: | Jeremy Frommer | |
Title: | Chief Executive Officer | |
SCI-FI.COM LLC | ||
By: | CREATD, INC. | |
Its: | Managing Member | |
By: | /s/ Jeremy Frommer | |
Name: | Jeremy Frommer | |
Title: | Chief Executive Officer | |
OG COLLECTION INC | ||
By: | CREATD, INC. | |
Its: | Managing Member | |
By: | /s/ Jeremy Frommer | |
Name: | Jeremy Frommer | |
Title: | Chief Executive Officer |
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OG GALLERY LLC | ||
By: | CREATD, INC. | |
Its: | Managing Member | |
By: | /s/ Jeremy Frommer | |
Name: | Jeremy Frommer | |
Title: | Chief Executive Officer | |
VMENA LLC | ||
By: | CREATD, INC. | |
Its: | Managing Member | |
By: | /s/ Jeremy Frommer | |
Name: | Jeremy Frommer | |
Title: | Chief Executive Officer | |
VOCAL FOR BRANDS LLC | ||
By: | CREATD, INC. | |
Its: | Managing Member | |
By: | /s/ Jeremy Frommer | |
Name: | Jeremy Frommer | |
Title: | Chief Executive Officer | |
VOCAL VENTURES LLC | ||
By: | CREATD, INC. | |
Its: | Managing Member | |
By: | /s/ Jeremy Frommer | |
Name: | Jeremy Frommer | |
Title: | Chief Executive Officer | |
WHAT TO BUY LLC | ||
By: | CREATD, INC. | |
Its: | Managing Member | |
By: | /s/ Jeremy Frommer | |
Name: | Jeremy Frommer | |
Title: | Chief Executive Officer | |
WHE AGENCY INC. | ||
By: | CREATD, INC. | |
Its: | Managing Member | |
By: | /s/ Jeremy Frommer | |
Name: | Jeremy Frommer | |
Title: | Chief Executive Officer |
11
SCHEDULE
1 GUARANTORS The
following are the names, notice addresses and jurisdiction of organization of each Guarantor.
Affiliate
Jurisdiction
of Incorporation
Company
Owned by Percentage
Jerrick Ventures, LLC
Delaware
100%
Abacus Tech Pty Ltd
Australia
100%
Seller’s Choice, LLC
New Jersey
100%
Creatd Studios, LLC
Delaware
100%
Give, LLC
Delaware
100%
Creatd Ventures, LLC
Delaware
100%
Denver Bodega , LLC
Colorado
100%
Dune, Inc.
Delaware
50%
Plant Camp, LLC
Delaware
89%
Sci-Fi.com, LLC
Delaware
100%
OG Collection, Inc.
Delaware
100%
OG Gallery, LLC
Delaware
100%
VMENA LLC
Delaware
100%
Vocal For Brands, LLC
Delaware
100%
Vocal Ventures, LLC
Delaware
100%
What to Buy, LLC
Delaware
100%
WHE Agency, Inc.
Delaware
44% economic voting control
ownership, 54%
12
Annex 1 to
SUBSIDIARY GUARANTEE
ASSUMPTION AGREEMENT, dated as of ______ made by _________, a______________ corporation (the “Additional Guarantor”), in favor of the Purchasers pursuant to the Purchase Agreement referred to below. All capitalized terms not defined herein shall have the meaning ascribed to them in such Purchase Agreement.
W I T N E S S E T H :
WHEREAS, Creatd, Inc., a Nevada corporation (the “Company”) and the Purchasers have entered into a Securities Purchase Agreement, dated as of _______, 2022 (as amended, supplemented or otherwise modified from time to time, the “Purchase Agreement”);
WHEREAS, in connection with the Purchase Agreement, the Subsidiaries of the Company (other than the Additional Guarantor) have entered into the Subsidiary Guarantee, dated as of ________, 2022 (as amended, supplemented or otherwise modified from time to time, the “Guarantee”) in favor of the Purchasers;
WHEREAS, the Purchase Agreement requires the Additional Guarantor to become a party to the Guarantee; and
WHEREAS, the Additional Guarantor has agreed to execute and deliver this Assumption Agreement in order to become a party to the Guarantee;
NOW, THEREFORE, IT IS AGREED:
1. Guarantee. By executing and delivering this Assumption Agreement, the Additional Guarantor, as provided in Section 5(m) of the Guarantee, hereby becomes a party to the Guarantee as a Guarantor thereunder with the same force and effect as if originally named therein as a Guarantor and, without limiting the generality of the foregoing, hereby expressly assumes all obligations and liabilities of a Guarantor thereunder. The information set forth in Annex 1 hereto is hereby added to the information set forth in Schedule 1 to the Guarantee. The Additional Guarantor hereby represents and warrants that each of the representations and warranties contained in Section 3 of the Guarantee is true and correct on and as the date hereof as to such Additional Guarantor (after giving effect to this Assumption Agreement) as if made on and as of such date.
2. Governing Law. THIS ASSUMPTION AGREEMENT SHALL BE GOVERNED BY, AND CONSTRUED AND INTERPRETED IN ACCORDANCE WITH, THE LAW OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the undersigned has caused this Assumption Agreement to be duly executed and delivered as of the date first above written.
[ADDITIONALGUARANTOR] | ||
By: | ||
Name: | ||
Title: |
13
Exhibit 23.1
CONSENT AND REPORT OF INDEPENDENT CERTIFIED PUBLIC ACCOUNTANT
We hereby consent to the use in this Registration Statement on Form S-1 of our report dated April 6, 2022, relating to the consolidated financial statements of Creatd, Inc. for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, and to the reference to our Firm under the caption “Experts” in the Registration Statement.
/s/ Rosenberg Rich Baker Berman, P.A.
Somerset, New Jersey
January 10, 2023
Exhibit 107
Calculation of Filing Fee Tables
Form S-3
(Form Type)
Creatd, Inc.
(Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in its Charter)
Table 1: Newly Registered and Carry Forward Securities
Security Type | Security Class Type | Fee Calculation or Carry Forward Rule | Amount Registered(1) | Proposed Maximum Offering Price Share(2) | Maximum Aggregate Offering Price | Fee Rate(3) | Amount
of Registration Fee(3) | Carry Forward Form Type | Carry Forward File Number | Carry Forward Initial Effective Date | Filing
Fee Previously Paid in Connection with Unsold Securities to be Carried Forward | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Newly Registered Securities | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Fees to be Paid | Equity | Common Stock, par value $0.001 per share issuable upon conversion of the July Debentures | 457 | (c) | 1,327,795 | $ | 0.77 | $ | 1,022,402.15 | $ | 0.0001102 | $ | 112.67 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Fees to be Paid | Equity | Common Stock, par value $0.001 per share issuable upon exercise of Common Stock Purchase Warrants | 457 | (g) | 539,286 | (4) | $ | 0.20 | $ | 107,857.20 | $ | 0.0001102 | $ | 11.89 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Fees to be Paid | Equity | Common Stock, par value $0.001 per share issuable upon exercise of Common Stock Purchase Warrants | 457 | (g) | 539,286 | (4) | $ | 0.20 | $ | 107,857.20 | $ | 0.0001102 | $ | 11.89 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Fees to be Paid | Equity | Common Stock, par value $0.001 per share issuable upon exercise of Common Stock Purchase Warrants | 457 | (g) | 1,817,019 | (4) | $ | 0.20 | $ | 363,403.80 | $ | 0.0001102 | $ | 40.05 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Fees to be Paid | Equity | Common Stock, par value $0.001 per share issuable upon exercise of October Debenture | 457 | (c) | 4,333,250 | $ | 0.77 | $ | 3,336,602.50 | $ | 0.0001102 | $ | 367.69 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Fees to be Paid | Equity | Common Stock, par value $0.001 per share issuable upon exercise of December Debenture | 457 | (c) | 2,500,000 | $ | 0.77 | $ | 1,925,000 | $ | 0.0001102 | $ | 212.14 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Carry Forward Securities | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Carry Forward Securities | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Total Offering Amounts | $ | 6,863,122.85 | $ | 756.33 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Total Fees Previously Paid | $ | 0.00 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Total Fees Offsets | $ | 0.00 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Net Fee Due | $ | 756.33 |
(1) | Pursuant to Rule 416 under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, the shares of Common Stock (as defined below) being registered hereunder include such indeterminate number of shares of Common Stock as may be issuable with respect to the shares of Common Stock being registered hereunder as a result of stock splits, stock dividends or similar transactions. |
(2) | Estimated solely for the purpose of calculating the registration fee pursuant to Rule 457(c) under the Securities Act. Based on the average of the high and low reported trading prices of Common Stock as reported on the OTCQB Marketplace operated by OTC Markets Group Inc. on January 9, 2023. |
(3) | The fee is calculated by multiplying the aggregate offering amount by $0.0001102, pursuant to Section 6(b) of the Securities Act of 1933. |
(4) | Estimated solely for purposes of calculating the registration fee pursuant to Rule 457(g) under the Securities Act, based on exercise price applicable to shares issuable upon conversion of debentures. |
Table 2: Fee Offset Claims and Sources
Registrant or Filer Name | Form or Filing Type | File Number | Initial Filing Date | Filing Date | Fee Offset Claimed | Security Type Associated with Fee Offset Claimed | Security Title Associated with Fee Offset Claimed | Unsold Securities Associated with Fee Offset Claimed | Unsold Aggregate Offering Amount Associated with Fee Offset Claimed | Fee Paid with Fee Offset Source | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Rules 457(b) and 0-11(a)(2) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Fee Offset Claims | - | - | - | - | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Fee Offset Sources | - | - | - | - | - | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Rules 457(p) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Fee Offset Claims | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Fee Offset Sources | - | - | - | - | - |
Table 3: Combined Prospectuses
Security Type | Security Class Title | Amount of Securities Previously Registered | Maximum Aggregate Offering Price of Securities Previously Registered | Form Type | File Number | Initial Effective Date | |||||||||||||||||||
- | - | - | - | - | - | - |