UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549

 

FORM 10-K

 

[X] ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

 

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2017

 

or

 

[  ] TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

 

For the transition period from _____________ to _____________

 

Commission File No. 001-38392

 

BLINK CHARGING CO.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

 

Nevada   03-0608147
(State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization)   (I.R.S. Employer Identification No.)
     
3284 N 29 th Court    
Hollywood, Florida   33020-1320
(Address of principal executive offices)   (Zip Code)

 

Registrant’s telephone number, including area code: (305) 521-0200

 

Securities registered under Section 12(b) of the Exchange Act:

 

Title of each class:   Name of each exchange on which registered:

Common Stock, par value $0.001 per share

Common Stock Purchase Warrants (Expiring February 16, 2023)

 

The NASDAQ Stock Market LLC

The NASDAQ Stock Market LLC

 

Securities registered under Section 12(g) of the Exchange Act:

None

 

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes [  ] No [X]

 

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act. Yes [  ] No [X]

 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes [  ] No [X]

 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically and posted on its corporate Web site, if any, every Interactive Data File required to be submitted and posted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit and post such files). Yes [X] No [  ]

 

Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of Regulation S-K (§ 229.405 of this chapter) is not contained herein, and will not be contained, to the best of registrant’s knowledge, in definitive proxy or information statements incorporated by reference Part III of this Form 10-K or any amendment to this Form 10-K. [X]

 

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

 

Large accelerated filer [  ] Accelerated filer [  ]
       
Non-accelerated filer [  ] Smaller reporting company [X]
(Do not check if a 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 13(a) of the Exchange Act. [  ]

 

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Act). Yes [  ] No [X]

 

State the aggregate market value of the voting and non-voting common equity held by non-affiliates (965,475 shares) computed by reference to the price at which the common equity was last sold ($8.50) as of the last business day of the registrant’s most recently completed second fiscal quarter (June 30, 2017): $8,206,534.

 

As of April 16, 2018, the registrant had 19,265,471 shares of common stock issued and outstanding.

 

Documents Incorporated by Reference: None.

 

 

 

 
 

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

PART I    
     
ITEM 1. BUSINESS 1
     
ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS 7
     
ITEM 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS 19
     
ITEM 2. PROPERTIES 20
     
ITEM 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS 20
     
ITEM 4. MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES 21
     
PART II    
     
ITEM 5. MARKET FOR REGISTRANT’S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES 22
     
ITEM 6. SELECTED FINANCIAL DATA 24
     
ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS 24
     
ITEM 7A. QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURES ABOUT MARKET RISK 31
     
ITEM 8. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND SUPPLEMENTARY DATA 31
     
ITEM 9. CHANGES IN AND DISAGREEMENTS WITH ACCOUNTANTS ON ACCOUNTING AND FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE 32
     
ITEM 9A. CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES 32
     
ITEM 9B. OTHER INFORMATION 33
     
PART III    
     
ITEM 10. DIRECTORS, EXECUTIVE OFFICERS AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE 34
     
ITEM 11. EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION 39
     
ITEM 12. SECURITY OWNERSHIP OF CERTAIN BENEFICIAL OWNERS AND MANAGEMENT AND RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS 46
     
ITEM 13. CERTAIN RELATIONSHIPS AND RELATED TRANSACTIONS, AND DIRECTOR INDEPENDENCE 47
     
ITEM 14. PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTING FEES AND SERVICES 51
     
PART IV    
     
ITEM 15. EXHIBITS, FINANCIAL STATEMENT SCHEDULES 52
     
SIGNATURES 57

 

 
 

 

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

 

This Report on Form 10-K (this “Report”) contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1934, as amended (the “Securities Act”), and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), that involve substantial risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements present our current expectations or forecasts of future events. You can identify these statements by the fact that they do not relate strictly to historical or current facts. Forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties and include statements regarding, among other things, our projected revenue growth and profitability, our growth strategies and opportunity, anticipated trends in our market and our anticipated needs for working capital. They are generally identifiable by use of the words “may,” “will,” “should,” “anticipate,” “estimate,” “plans,” “potential,” “projects,” “continuing,” “ongoing,” “expects,” “management believes,” “we believe,” “we intend” or the negative of these words or other variations on these words or comparable terminology.

 

Forward-looking statements include, without limitation, statements about our market opportunities, our business and growth strategies, our projected revenue and expense levels, possible future consolidated results of operations, the adequacy of our available cash resources, our financing plans, our competitive position and the effects of competition and the projected growth of the industries in which we operate, as well as the following statements:

 

  according to UBS Evidence Lab, almost one in every sixth car sold in the world will be electric by 2025, global sales of electric vehicles should hit 16.5 million and make up 16% of all car sales by then.
     
  that the EV charger industry as a whole is undercapitalized to deliver the full potential of the expected EV market growth in the near future;
     
  that we expect to retain our leadership position with new capital;
     
  that we do not anticipate paying any cash dividends on our common stock, par value $0.001 per share (the “Common Stock”);
     
  that we anticipate continuing to expand our revenues by selling our next generation of EV charging equipment, expanding Blink owned and operated charging equipment, expanding our sales channels, and implementing EV charging station occupancy fees (fees for remaining connected to the charging station beyond an allotted grace period after charging is completed), subscription plans for our Blink-owned public charging locations, and advertising fees;
     
  that we are unique in our ability to offer various business models to Property Partners and leverage our technology to meet the needs of both Property Partners and EV drivers;
     
  important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the results and events anticipated or implied by such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to:
     
  changes in the market acceptance of our products and services;
     
  increased levels of competition;
     
  changes in political, economic or regulatory conditions generally and in the markets in which we operate;
     
  our relationships with our key customers;
     
  adverse conditions in the industries in which our customers operate;
     
  our ability to retain and attract senior management and other key employees;
     
  our ability to quickly and effectively respond to new technological developments;
     
  our ability to protect our trade secrets or other proprietary rights, operate without infringing upon the proprietary rights of others and prevent others from infringing on our proprietary rights; and
     
  other risks, including those described in the “Risk Factors” discussion of this Report.

 

 
 

 

We operate in a very competitive and rapidly changing environment. New risks emerge from time to time. It is not possible for us to predict all of those risks, nor can we assess the impact of all of those risks on our business or the extent to which any factor may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement. The forward-looking statements in this Report are based on assumptions management believes are reasonable. However, due to the uncertainties associated with forward-looking statements, you should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements. Further, forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, and unless required by law, we expressly disclaim any obligation or undertaking to publicly update any of them in light of new information, future events, or otherwise.

 

Certain of the market data and other statistical information contained in this Report are based on information from independent industry organizations and other third-party sources, including industry publications, surveys and forecasts. Some market data and statistical information contained in this Report are also based on management’s estimates and calculations, which are derived from our review and interpretation of the independent sources listed above, our internal research and our knowledge of the EV industry. While we believe such information is reliable, we have not independently verified any third-party information and our internal data has not been verified by any independent source.

 

From time to time, forward-looking statements also are included in our other periodic reports on Forms 10-Q and 8-K, in our press releases, in our presentations, on our website and in other materials released to the public. Any or all of the forward-looking statements included in this Report and in any other reports or public statements made by us are not guarantees of future performance and may turn out to be inaccurate. These forward-looking statements represent our intentions, plans, expectations, assumptions and beliefs about future events and are subject to risks, uncertainties and other factors. Many of those factors are outside of our control and could cause actual results to differ materially from the results expressed or implied by those forward-looking statements. In light of these risks, uncertainties and assumptions, the events described in the forward-looking statements might not occur or might occur to a different extent or at a different time than we have described. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this Report. All subsequent written and oral forward-looking statements concerning other matters addressed in this Report and attributable to us or any person acting on our behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements contained or referred to in this Report.

 

Except to the extent required by law, we undertake no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, a change in events, conditions, circumstances or assumptions underlying such statements, or otherwise.

 

For discussion of factors that we believe could cause our actual results to differ materially from expected and historical results see “Item 1A — Risk Factors” below.

 

In this Report, unless otherwise indicated or the context otherwise requires, “Blink”, the “Company”, “we”, “us” or “our” refer to Blink Charging Co., a Nevada corporation, and its subsidiaries.

 

The mark “Blink” is our registered trademark in the U.S., and, in the name of Ecotality, Inc. (whose assets we acquired in October 2013), in Australia, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Philippines, South Africa, Singapore, Switzerland, Taiwan, and is a trademark registered in the European Union under the Madrid Protocol. We have registered other trademarks and also use certain trademarks, trade names, and logos that have not been registered. We claim common law rights to these unregistered trademarks, trade names and logos.

 

A 1:50 reverse stock split of the Common Stock (the “Reverse Stock Split”) was effected on August 29, 2017. The number of authorized shares remains unchanged. All share and per share information in this Annual Report on Form 10-K have been retroactively adjusted for all periods presented, unless otherwise indicated, to give effect to the Reverse Stock Split, including the financial statements and notes thereto.

 

 
 

 

PART I

 

ITEM 1. BUSINESS

 

Overview

 

We are a leading owner, operator, and provider of electric vehicle (“EV”) charging equipment and networked EV charging services. We offer both residential and commercial EV charging equipment, enabling EV drivers to easily recharge at various location types.

 

Our principal line of products and services is our Blink EV charging network (the “Blink Network”) and EV charging equipment (also known as electric vehicle supply equipment (or EVSE)) and EV related services. Our Blink Network is proprietary cloud-based software that operates, maintains, and tracks all of the Blink EV charging stations and the associated charging data. The Blink Network provides property owners, managers, and parking companies, who we refer to as our Property Partners, with cloud-based services that enable the remote monitoring and management of EV charging stations, payment processing, and provides EV drivers with vital station information including station location, availability, and applicable fees.

 

We offer our Property Partners with a flexible range of business models for EV charging equipment and services. In our comprehensive and turnkey business model, we own and operate the EV charging equipment, manage the installation, maintenance, and related services; and share a portion of the EV charging revenue with the property owner. Alternatively, Property Partners may share in the equipment and installation expenses, with us operating and managing the EV charging stations and providing connectivity to the Blink Network. For Property Partners interested in purchasing and owning EV charging stations, that they manage, we can also provide EV charging hardware, site recommendations, connectivity to the Blink Network, and service and maintenance services.

 

We have strategic partnerships across numerous transit/destination locations, including airports, auto dealers, healthcare/medical, hotels, mixed-use, municipal locations, multifamily residential and condos, parks and recreation areas, parking lots, religious institutions, restaurants, retailers, schools and universities, stadiums, supermarkets, transportation hubs, and workplace locations. As of March 20, 2018, we have approximately 14,165 charging stations deployed of which 4,690 are Level 2 commercial charging units, 113 DC Fast Charging EV chargers and 1,976 residential charging units in service on the Blink Network. Additionally, we currently have approximately 436 Level 2 commercial charging units on other networks and there are also approximately an additional 6,950 non-networked, residential Blink EV charging stations. The non-networked, residential Blink EV charging stations are all partner owned.

 

On February 16, 2018, we closed our underwritten public offering (the “Public Offering”) of an aggregate 4,353,000 shares of our common stock and warrants to purchase 8,706,000 shares of common stock at a combined public offering price of $4.25 per unit comprised of one share and two warrants. The Public Offering resulted in approximately $18.5 million of gross proceeds, less underwriting discounts and commissions and other offering expenses of approximately $4.4 million, a portion of which is included within deferred public offering costs on the balance sheet as of December 31, 2017, for aggregate net proceeds of approximately $14.1 million. The common stock and warrants were approved to list on the Nasdaq Capital Market under the symbols BLNK and BLNKW, respectively, and began trading on February 14, 2018.

 

Each warrant is exercisable for five years from issuance and has an exercise price equal to $4.25 per share. We granted the Public Offering’s underwriters a 45-day option to purchase up to an additional 652,950 shares of common stock and/or warrants to purchase 1,305,900 shares of common stock to cover over-allotments, if any. In connection with the closing of the Public Offering, the underwriters have partially exercised their over-allotment option and purchased an additional 406,956 warrants.

 

Industry Overview

 

We believe that the market for plug-in electric vehicles has experienced significant growth in recent years in response to consumer demand for vehicles with greater fuel efficiency, greater performance, and with lower environmental emissions. We believe that the demand for EVs has also been spurred in part by federal and state fuel economy standards and other state and local incentives and rebates for EVs. For example, the states of California, Oregon, New York, Maryland, Massachusetts and others have created mandates for EVs with the goal of 3.3 million EVs on the road by 2025. At the same time, oil and gas prices continue to experience spikes and fluctuations, while at the same time the cost of battery technology continues to fall as the battery industry achieves scale. In response, major automotive OEMs have accelerated the adoption of EV models, with more than 25 EV models currently available from Tesla, Nissan, Kia, GM, Ford, Fiat, BMW, Mercedes, Audi, Volkswagen, Toyota, Mitsubishi, Land Rover, Porsche, and many others. According to the Electric Drive Transportation Association, sales of plug-in vehicles since introduction to the market in 2010 is over 500,000 and according to a third-party researcher, sales are expected to grow by a factor of 12 to 2.5 million in 2025.

 

1
 

 

However, we believe that a major impediment to EV adoption has been the lack of EV charging infrastructure, and that a viable model for continued deployment of EV charging infrastructure continues to evolve. Examples of federal programs designed to stimulate development of EV charging infrastructure includes the recent White House announcement of, among other things, programs to release up to $4.5 billion in loan guarantees and invite applications to support the deployment of commercial EV charging facilities, and the launching of the Fixing America’s Surface Transportation (FAST) Act process to identify and develop corridors for zero emission and alternative fuel vehicles, which will include a network of EV fast charging stations.

 

According to Navigant Research, the global market for electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE) is expected to grow from 505,000 units in 2016 to 2.5 million in 2025. Major utility companies are also working to upgrade their grid infrastructure in order to prepare for mass consumption of electricity by electric vehicles.

 

While many believe that the majority of EV charging occurs at home, we believe the need for a robust, pervasive public EV charging infrastructure is required to eliminate range anxiety (that is, a worried feeling while driving an electric car caused by the driver thinking they might run out of power before reaching their destination). In addition to providing strategic, public charging stations, we believe that it is necessary to provide EV charging solutions to those drivers that do not live in single-family homes, but share parking facilities, including multifamily residential apartment buildings and condominiums. While there are a few, leading competitors and various, smaller EV charging equipment or service providers that have emerged in the market, we believe their products and services are limited. Typically, these companies offer EV charging equipment, an EV charging network, or EV charging services with third party equipment.

 

Our EV Charging Solutions

 

We offer a broad range of EV charging products and services to property partners and EV drivers.

 

EV Charging Products

 

  Level 2 . We offer Level 2 (AC) EV charging equipment, which is ideal for commercial and residential use, and has the standard J1772 connector, which is compatible with all major auto manufacturer electric vehicle models. Our commercial equipment is available in pedestal or wall mount configurations, with the ability to connect to our robust Blink Network. Our non-networked residential product, Blink HQ, is available in a wall-mount configuration and offers a delay start feature that allows users to optimize charging by utility rates. Level 2 charging stations typically provide a full charge in two to eight hours. Level 2 chargers are ideally suited for low-cost installations and frequently used parking locations, such as workplace, multifamily residential, retail and mixed-use, parking garages, municipalities, colleges/schools, hospitals, and airports.
     
  DCFC . Our DC Fast Charging equipment (“DCFC”) currently has the CHAdeMo connector, which is compatible with Nissan, Kia, and Tesla electric vehicle models (additional models may be potentially available in the future), and typically provides an 80% charge in less than 30 minutes. Installation of DCFC stations and grid requirements are typically greater than Level 2 charging stations, and are ideally suited for transportation hubs and locations between travel destinations.

 

We intend to enhance our current equipment offerings by developing and offering new generations of EV charging equipment in the second half of 2018. Blink’s next generation of EV charging equipment, which we anticipate will be manufactured by Liteon, offers a modern, stylish appearance, the versatility of both wall and pedestal configurations, and peer-to-peer architecture, which provides the ability to support a single primary charger and multiple secondary chargers. Additionally, the next generation of our EV charging hardware is intended to considerably reduce the current standard charging times within the industry and add new robust Blink Network features, including near-field communication (NFC) payment capabilities.

 

EV Charging Services

 

  Blink Network . Our proprietary, cloud-based Blink Network allows us to share convenient and advantageous station management features and pertinent data with Property Partners and EV drivers through user interfaces. These features include real-time station status, payment processing, detailed charging session information, monitoring and troubleshooting stations remotely, as well as standard and customized reporting capabilities on, among others, energy dispensed, greenhouse gases reduced, oil barrels saved, and gallons of fuel saved.
     
  Blink Mobile application . Our proprietary mobile application, available for iOS and Android, provides EV drivers with vital station information, including the ability to locate EV charging stations on the Blink Network, view real-time station status information, pay and initiate EV charging sessions, become a Blink member, and manage their Blink account (billing information, radio frequency identification cards, text messaging, and email notifications).

 

2
 

 

We believe that we are unique in our ability to provide various business models to property partners and leverage our technology to meet the needs of both property partners and EV drivers. Our property partner business model options include:

 

  1. Host Owned: The Property Partner purchases our EV charging equipment for use by EV drivers and pays for connectivity to the Blink Network as well as payment transaction fees.
     
  2. Blink Owned: We provide EV charging equipment, which we own and maintain, and operate the EV charging services through our Blink Network and share a portion of the revenues generated from the stations with our Property Partner.
     
  3. Hybrid: We also offer customized business models that meet individual Property Partner needs and combines features from the aforementioned business models.

 

Competitive Advantages/Operational Strengths

 

Early Mover Advantage: We continue to leverage our large and defendable first mover advantage and the digital customer experience we have created for both drivers and Property Partners. We have more than 114,000 drivers currently registered with Blink that appreciate the value of EV charging sessions on a leading, established, and robust network. We have thousands of Blink chargers deployed across the United States and the goal is to keep our Property Partners on one consistent network when expanding on any given property.

 

Long-Term Contracts with Property Owners : We have strategic and often long term agreements with location exclusivity for Property Partners across numerous transit/destination locations, including airports, car dealers, healthcare/medical, hotels, mixed-use, municipal locations, multifamily residential and condo, parks and recreation areas, parking lots, religious institutions, restaurants, retailers, schools and universities, stadiums, supermarkets, transportation hubs, and workplace locations. We have hundreds of Property Partners that include well-recognized companies, large municipalities, and local businesses. Some examples are Caltrans, Carl’s Jr., City of Azusa, City of Chula Vista, City of Springfield, City of Tucson, Cracker Barrel, Federal Realty, Fred Meyer Stores, Inc., Fry’s Food & Drug, Inc., Garage Management Company, Icon Parking, IKEA, iPark, JBG Associates, Kohls, Kroger Company, LAZ Parking, Macy’s, McDonald’s, Ralphs Grocery Company, Sears, Simon Properties, and SP+ Parking. We continue to establish new contracts with Property Partners that previously secured our services independently, or had contracts with the EV service providers that we acquired, including ECOtality, the former owner of the Blink related assets.

 

Flexible Business Model : We are able to offer and sell both EV charging equipment as well as access to our robust, cloud-based EV charging software, which we refer to as the Blink Network. We believe that we have an advantage in our ability to provide various business models to Property Partners and leverage our technology to meet the needs of both Property Partners and EV drivers.

 

Ownership and Control of EV Charging Stations and Services : We own a large percentage of our stations, which is a significant differentiation between us and some of our primary competitors. This ownership model allows us to control the settings and pricing for our EV charging services, service the equipment as necessary, and have greater brand management and price uniformity.

 

Experience with Products and Services of Other EV Charging Service Providers. From our early days and through our acquisitions, we have had the experience of owning and operating EV charging equipment provided by other EV charging service providers, including General Electric, ChargePoint, and SemaConnect. This experience has provided us with the working knowledge of the benefits and drawbacks of other equipment manufacturers and their applicable EV charging networks.

 

Our Strategy

 

Our objective is to continue to be a leading provider of EV charging solutions by deploying mass scale EV charging infrastructure, and by doing so, enable the accelerated growth of EV adoption and the EV industry. Key elements of our strategy include:

 

  Relentless Focus on Customer Satisfaction . Increase overall customer satisfaction with new and existing Property Partners and EV drivers by upgrading and expanding the EV charging footprint throughout high demand, high density geographic areas. In addition, improve productivity and utilization of existing EV charging stations, as well as to continue to enhance the valuable features of our EV charging station hardware and the Blink Network.
     
  Leverage Our Early Mover Advantage . We continue to leverage our large and defendable first mover advantage and the digital customer experience we have created for both drivers and Property Partners. We believe that there are tens of thousands of Blink driver registrants that appreciate the value of transacting charging sessions on a leading, established, and robust network experience. We have thousands of Blink chargers deployed across the United States and the tendency, among users, is to stay within one consistent network for expansion on any given property.

 

3
 

 

  Expand Sales and Marketing Resources . Our intention is to invest in sales and marketing infrastructure to capitalize on the growth in the market as well as to expand our go-to-market strategy. Today, we use a direct sales force and intend to continue to expand our efforts as well as invest in a wholesale channel go-to-market strategy that may include wholesale electrical distributors, independent sales agents, utilities, solar distributors, contractors, automotive manufacturers, and auto dealers.
     
  Continue to Invest in Technology Innovation . We will continue to enhance the product offerings available in our EV charging hardware, cloud-based software, and networking capability. This includes the design and launch of our next generation of EV charging solutions, including accelerating the charge currents currently available in EV charging hardware and new, robust Blink Network features in order to distance ourselves from the competition. Our key service solutions allow us to remain technology agnostic, and if market conditions shift, we have the option to leverage pure play hardware providers to augment our products.
     
  Properly Capitalize Our Business . We continue to pursue and welcome new potential capital sources to deliver on key operational objectives and the necessary resources to execute our overall strategy. The EV charger industry as a whole is undercapitalized to deliver the full potential of the expected EV market growth in the near future. We expect to retain our leadership position with new capital.

 

Sales

 

We currently maintain an in-house field sales force that maintains business relationships with our Property Partners and develops new sales opportunities through lead generation and marketing. We also sell our EV charging hardware, software services (connectivity to Blink Network), and service plans through reseller partners, which then sell these products and services to property representatives and/or hosts.

 

Marketing is performed by our in-house staff. To promote and sell our services to property owners and managers, parking companies, and EV drivers, we also utilize marketing and communication channels including press releases, email marketing, website ( www.blinkcharging.com ), Google AdWords, and social media. The information on our websites is not, and will not be deemed, a part of this Annual Report on Form 10-K or incorporated into any other filings we make with the SEC.

 

We continue to invest in the improvement of the service and maintenance of our Company-owned stations, as well as those stations with a service and maintenance plans, and expanding our cloud-based network capabilities. We anticipate continuing to expand our revenues by selling our next generation of EV charging equipment to current as well as new Property Partners, which includes airports, auto dealers, healthcare/medical, hotels, mixed-use, municipal locations, multifamily residential and condos, parks and recreation areas, parking lots, religious institutions, restaurants, retailers, schools and universities, stadiums, supermarkets, transportation hubs, and workplace locations, expanding our sales channels to wholesale distributors, utilities, auto original equipment manufacturers (“OEMs”), solar integrators, and dealers, which will include implementing EV charging station occupancy fees (after charging is completed, fees for remaining connected to the charging station beyond an allotted grace period), and subscription plans for EV drivers on our Blink-owned public charging locations.

 

Our revenues are primarily derived from fees charged to EV drivers for EV charging in public locations, EV charging hardware sales, and government grants. EV charging fees to EV drivers are based either on an hourly rate, a per kilowatt-hour (“kWh”) rate, or by session, and are calculated based on a variety of factors, including associated station costs and local electricity tariffs. EV charging hardware is sold to our Property Partners such as Green Commuter, IKEA, Nashville Music Center, and Wendy’s. In addition, other sources of fees from EV charging services are network fees and payment processing fees paid by our Property Partners.

 

Our Customers and Partners

 

We have strategic partnerships across numerous transit/destination locations, including airports, auto dealers, healthcare/medical, hotels, mixed-use, municipal locations, multifamily residential and condos, parks and recreation areas, parking lots, religious institutions, restaurants, retailers, schools and universities, stadiums, supermarkets, transportation hubs, and workplace locations. We have hundreds of Property Partners that include well-recognized companies, large municipalities, and local businesses. Some examples are Caltrans, City of Azusa, City of Chula Vista, City of Springfield, City of Tucson, Cracker Barrel, Federal Realty, Fred Meyer Stores, Inc., Fry’s Food & Drug, Inc., IKEA, JBG Associates, LLC, Kroger Company and Ralphs Grocery Company. We continue to establish new contracts with Property Partners that previously secured our services independently, or had contracts with the EV services providers that we acquired, including ECOtality, the former owner of the Blink related assets.

 

4
 

 

Our revenues are primarily derived from EV charging hardware sales to our Property Partners, fees from public EV charging services to EV drivers, government grants, and marketing incentives. EV charging fees to EV drivers are based either on an hourly rate, a per kWh rate, or by session, and are calculated based on a variety of factors, including associated station costs and local electricity tariffs. In addition, other sources of fees from EV charging services are network fees and payment processing fees paid by our Property Partners.

 

We continue to invest in the improvement of the service and maintenance of our Company-owned stations, as well as those stations with a service and maintenance plans, and expanding our cloud-based network capabilities. We anticipate continuing to expand our revenues by selling our next generation of EV charging equipment, expanding our sales channels, and implementing EV charging station occupancy fees (after charging is completed, fees for remaining connected to the charging station beyond an allotted grace period), subscription plans for our Blink-owned public charging locations, and advertising fees.

 

Competition

 

The EV charging equipment and service market is highly competitive and we expect the market to become increasingly competitive as new entrants enter this growing market. Our products and services compete on the basis of product performance and features, total cost of ownership, sales capabilities, financial stability, brand recognition, product reliability and size of installed base. Our existing competition currently includes ChargePoint, which manufactures EV charging equipment and operates the ChargePoint Network; and EVgo, which offers home and public charging with pay-as-you-go and subscription models. There are other entrants into the connected EV charging station equipment market, such as General Electric, SemaCharge, EVConnect, and Greenlots. We believe these additional competitors struggle with gaining the necessary network traction but could gain momentum in the future. While Tesla does offer EV charging services, the connector type utilized currently restricts the chargers to Tesla vehicles. There are many other large and small EV charger companies that offer non-networked or “basic” chargers that have limited customer leverage, but could provide a low-cost solution for basic charger needs in commercial and home locations.

 

We believe we have competitive advantages over our competitors, such as our long-term contracts with property owners and managers, and our flexible business model where we are able to sell both EV charging stations as well provide access to a leading EV charging network. However, many of our current and expected future competitors have considerably greater financial and other resources than we do, and may leverage those resources to compete effectively.

 

Government Regulation and Incentives

 

State, regional, and local regulations for installation of EV charging stations vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction and may include permitting requirements, inspection requirements, licensing of contractors, and certifications as examples. Compliance with such regulation(s) may cause installation delays.

 

Currently, we apply charging fees by the kWh for our services in states that permit this policy and hourly and by session for our services in states that do not permit per kWh pricing. California, Colorado, District of Columbia, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Utah, Virginia, and Washington have determined that companies that sell EV charging services to the public will not be regulated as utilities, therefore, allowing us to charge fees based on kW usage. These individual state determinations are not binding on any other regulator or jurisdiction; however, they demonstrate a trend in the way states view the industry. Other jurisdictions are in the process of adopting such reforms.

 

We intend to continue to vigorously seek additional grants, loans, rebates, subsidies, and incentives as a cost effective means of reducing our capital investment in the promotion, purchase, and installation of charging stations where applicable. We expect that these incentives, rebates, and tax credits will be critical to our future growth. Additionally, there are incentives that are currently offered to support electric car adoption at the federal, state, and local levels, including a $7,500 federal income tax credit, and rebates/credits in California, Colorado, Delaware, Louisiana, Massachusetts, New York, and Rhode Island.

 

CESQG

 

As a Conditionally Exempt Small Quantity Generator (“CESQG”), we generate a limited quantity of hazardous waste, mostly solvent contaminated wipes that are transported to the local solid waste facility. Scrapped electronic boards are transported to a local recycler. A CESQG of hazardous waste is a generator that:

 

  Produces no more than 100 kg (220lbs) of hazardous waste per month;
     
  Produces no more than 1 kg (2.2lbs) of acute hazardous waste per month;
     
  Does not accumulate more than 1000 kg(2204lbs) of hazardous waste on-site; and
     
  a CESQG has no time limit for accumulation.

 

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The use of our machinery and equipment must comply with the following applicable laws and regulations, including safety and environmental regulations:

 

  General Safety for all employees- includes health hazard communication, emergency exit plans, electrical safety-related work practices, office safety, and hand and hand-powered tools.
     
  Technicians and Engineers- Only authorized persons (technicians and engineers) perform product testing and repair in the production and engineering areas of the facility. Also, including those engineers involved in field service work. Regulations include control of hazardous energy, and personal protective equipment.
     
  Logisticians- includes forklift operations, which are performed only by certified shipping/receiving personnel, and material handling and storage.

 

We are in full compliance with the environmental regulations in the General Industry category applicable to us as a CESQG.

 

OSHA

 

We are subject to the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970, as amended (“OSHA”). OSHA establishes certain employer responsibilities, including maintenance of a workplace free of recognized hazards likely to cause death or serious injury, compliance with standards promulgated by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and various record keeping, disclosure and procedural requirements. Various standards, including standards for notices of hazards, safety in excavation and demolition work and the handling of asbestos, may apply to our operations. We are in full compliance with OSHA regulations.

 

NEMA

 

The National Electrical Manufacturers Association (“NEMA”) is the association of electrical equipment and medical imaging manufacturers. NEMA provides a forum for the development of technical standards that are in the best interests of the industry and users, advocacy of industry policies on legislative and regulatory matters, and collection, analysis, and dissemination of industry data. All three of the Company’s products comply with the NEMA standards that are applicable to such products.

 

CAFÉ Standards

 

The regulations mandated by the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (“CAFE”) standards set the average new vehicle fuel economy, as weighted by sales, that a manufacturer’s fleet must achieve. Although we are not a car manufacturer and are thus not directly subject to the CAFÉ standards, we believe such standards may have a material effect on our business. The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 raised the fuel economy standards of America’s cars, light trucks, and Sport Utility Vehicles (“SUVs”) to a combined average of at least 35 miles per gallon by 2020—a 10 mpg increase over 2007 levels—and required standards to be met at maximum feasible levels through 2030. Building on the success of the first phase of the National Program, the second phase of fuel economy and global warming pollution standards for light duty vehicles covers model years 2017–2025. These standards were finalized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Department of Transportation in August 2012. These new standards will reduce average global warming emissions of new passenger cars and light trucks to 163 grams per mile (g/mi) in model year 2025. This is equivalent to 54.5 miles per gallon (mpg), if the standards were met exclusively with fuel efficiency improvements. Manufacturers may choose to comply with these standards by manufacturing more EVs which will mean that more charging stations of the type we manufacture will be needed.

 

Intellectual Property

 

We rely on a combination of patent, trademark, copyright, unfair competition and trade secret laws, as well as confidentiality procedures and contractual restrictions, to establish, maintain and protect our proprietary rights. Our success depends in part upon our ability to obtain and maintain proprietary protection for our products, technology and know-how, to operate without infringing the proprietary rights of others, and to prevent others from infringing our proprietary rights.

 

As of April 16, 2018, we had 4 patents issued in the U.S. (in the name of Ecotality, Inc., whose assets we acquired in October 2013). These patents relate to various EV charging station designs. We intend to continue to regularly assess opportunities for seeking patent protection for those aspects of our technology, designs and methodologies that we believe provide a meaningful competitive advantage. However, our ability to do so may be limited until such time as we are able to generate cash flow from operations or otherwise raise sufficient capital to continue to invest in our intellectual property. For example, maintaining patents in the United States and other countries requires the payment of maintenance fees which, if we are unable to pay, may result in loss of our patent rights. If we are unable to do so, our ability to protect our intellectual property or prevent others from infringing our proprietary rights may be impaired.

 

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Employees

 

As of April 16, 2018, we have 23 full-time and 8 part-time employees. Our full-time employees work in the following places: 9 are located at our headquarters in Hollywood, Florida, 11 full-time employees and 8 part-time employees are located in Phoenix, Arizona, 1 full-time employee is located in Los Gatos, California, 1 full-time employee located in the greater Los Angeles, California area, 1 full-time employee is located in New York, New York and 1 full-time employee is located in Portland, Oregon. None of our employees are represented by a union or covered by a collective bargaining agreement. We have not experienced any work stoppages and we consider our relationship with our employees to be good.

 

Other Corporate Information

 

Blink Charging Co., a Nevada corporation, is the parent company of Car Charging, Inc., a Delaware corporation, which serves as the main operating company and is, in turn, the parent company of several distinct wholly-owned subsidiary operating companies including, but not limited to, eCharging Stations LLC, Blink, Beam Charging LLC and EV Pass LLC. Car Charging Group, Inc. was formed in the State of Nevada on October 3, 2006, under our prior name, New Image Concepts, Inc. New Image Concepts, Inc. changed its name to Car Charging Group, Inc., on December 8, 2008. On August 17, 2017, Car Charging Group Inc. changed its name to Blink Charging Co. Car Charging, Inc. was incorporated in Delaware on September 8, 2009. We purchased the assets referred to as the Blink Network from ECOtality, Inc. on October 16, 2013. From April 22, 2013 to April 16, 2014, 350 Green was a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company in which the Company had full control and was consolidated. Beginning on April 17, 2014, when 350 Green’s assets and liabilities were transferred to a trust mortgage, 350 Green became a VIE. We determined that we were the primary beneficiary of 350 Green, and as such, 350 Green’s assets, liabilities and results of operations are included in our consolidated financial statements. On May 18, 2017, each of 350 Green and Green 350 Trust Mortgage LLC filed to commence an assignment for the benefit of creditors, which results in their residual assets being controlled by an assignee in a judicial proceeding. As a result, as of May 18, 2017, 350 Green is no longer a VIE of the Company and, accordingly, 350 Green’s approximately $3.7 million of liabilities were deconsolidated from the Company’s financial statements.

 

On January 29, 2018, the Board revised the bylaws of the Company such that the quorum for a meeting of shareholders shall be the holders of thirty-three and 34/100 percent (33.34%) of the issued and outstanding shares of the Company entitled to vote at a meeting.

 

We maintain our principal offices at 3284 N 29th Court, Hollywood, Florida 33020. Our telephone number is (305) 521-0200. Our Silicon Valley office houses our CEO. Our website is www.blinkcharging.com ; we can be contacted by email at info@BlinkCharging.com . The information on our websites is not, and will not be deemed, a part of this Annual Report or incorporated into any other filings we make with the SEC.

 

ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS

 

In addition to other information in this Annual Report on Form 10-K and in other filings we make with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the following risk factors should be carefully considered in evaluating our business as they may have a significant impact on our business, operating results and financial condition. If any of the following risks actually occurs, our business, financial condition, results of operations and future prospects could be materially and adversely affected. Because of the following factors, as well as other variables affecting our operating results, past financial performance should not be considered as a reliable indicator of future performance and investors should not use historical trends to anticipate results or trends in future periods.

 

Relating to Our Business

 

Our Revenue Growth Depends on Consumers’ Willingness to Adopt Electric Vehicles.

 

Our growth is highly dependent upon the adoption by consumers of electric vehicles (“EV”), and we are subject to a risk of any reduced demand for EVs. If the market for EVs does not gain broad market acceptance or develops more slowly than we expect, our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results will be harmed. The market for alternative fuel vehicles is relatively new, rapidly evolving, characterized by rapidly changing technologies, price competition, additional competitors, evolving government regulation and industry standards, frequent new vehicle announcements, long development cycles for EV original equipment manufacturers, and changing consumer demands and behaviors. Factors that may influence the purchase and use of alternative fuel vehicles, and specifically EVs, include:

 

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  perceptions about EV quality, safety (in particular with respect to lithium-ion battery packs), design, performance and cost, especially if adverse events or accidents occur that are linked to the quality or safety of EVs;
     
  the limited range over which EVs may be driven on a single battery charge and concerns about running out of power while in use;
     
  improvements in the fuel economy of the internal combustion engine;
     
  consumers’ desire and ability to purchase a luxury automobile or one that is perceived as exclusive;
     
  the environmental consciousness of consumers;
     
  volatility in the cost of oil and gasoline;
     
  consumers’ perceptions of the dependency of the U.S. on oil from unstable or hostile countries and the impact of international conflicts;
     
  government regulations and economic incentives promoting fuel efficiency and alternate forms of energy;
     
  access to charging stations, standardization of EV charging systems and consumers’ perceptions about convenience and cost to charge an EV; and
     
  the availability of tax and other governmental incentives to purchase and operate EVs or future regulation requiring increased use of nonpolluting vehicles

 

The influence of any of the factors described above may negatively impact the widespread consumer adoption of EVs, which would materially adversely affect our business, operating results, financial condition and prospects.

 

Changes to the Corporate Average Fuel Economy Standards May Impact the Electric Vehicle Market and Affect our Business and Results of Operations.

 

As regulatory initiatives have required an increase in the consumption of renewable transportation fuels, such as ethanol and biodiesel, consumer acceptance of electric and other alternative vehicles is increasing. To meet higher fuel efficiency and greenhouse gas emission standards for passenger vehicles, automobile manufacturers are increasingly using technologies, such as turbocharging, direct injection and higher compression ratios, that require high octane gasoline. If fuel efficiency of vehicles continues to rise, and affordability of vehicles using renewable transportation fuels increases, the demand for electric and high energy vehicles could diminish. If consumers no longer purchase electric vehicles, it would materially adversely affect our business, operating results, financial condition and prospects.

 

Computer Malware, Viruses, Hacking, Phishing Attacks and Spamming Could Harm Our Business and Results of Operations.

 

Computer malware, viruses, physical or electronic break-ins and similar disruptions could lead to interruption and delays in our services and operations and loss, misuse or theft of data. Computer malware, viruses, computer hacking and phishing attacks against online networking platforms have become more prevalent and may occur on our systems in the future.

 

Any attempts by hackers to disrupt our website service or our internal systems, if successful, could harm our business, be expensive to remedy and damage our reputation or brand. Our network security business disruption insurance may not be sufficient to cover significant expenses and losses related to direct attacks on our website or internal systems. Efforts to prevent hackers from entering our computer systems are expensive to implement and may limit the functionality of our services. Though it is difficult to determine what, if any, harm may directly result from any specific interruption or attack, any failure to maintain performance, reliability, security and availability of our products and services and technical infrastructure may harm our reputation, brand and our ability to attract customers. Any significant disruption to our website or internal computer systems could result in a loss of customers and could adversely affect our business and results of operations.

 

We have previously experienced, and may in the future experience, service disruptions, outages and other performance problems due to a variety of factors, including infrastructure changes, third-party service providers, human or software errors and capacity constraints. If our mobile application is unavailable when customers attempt to access it or it does not load as quickly as they expect, customers may seek other services.

 

Our platform functions on software that is highly technical and complex and may now or in the future contain undetected errors, bugs, or vulnerabilities. Some errors in our software code may only be discovered after the code has been deployed. Any errors, bugs, or vulnerabilities discovered in our code after deployment, inability to identify the cause or causes of performance problems within an acceptable period of time or difficultly maintaining and improving the performance of our platform, particularly during peak usage times, could result in damage to our reputation or brand, loss of revenues, or liability for damages, any of which could adversely affect our business and financial results.

 

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We expect to continue to make significant investments to maintain and improve the availability of our platform and to enable rapid releases of new features and products. To the extent that we do not effectively address capacity constraints, upgrade our systems as needed and continually develop our technology and network architecture to accommodate actual and anticipated changes in technology, our business and operating results may be harmed.

 

We have a disaster recovery program to transition our operating platform and data to a failover location in the event of a catastrophe and have tested this capability under controlled circumstances, however, there are several factors ranging from human error to data corruption that could materially lengthen the time our platform is partially or fully unavailable to our user base as a result of the transition. If our platform is unavailable for a significant period of time as a result of such a transition, especially during peak periods, we could suffer damage to our reputation or brand, or loss of revenues any of which could adversely affect our business and financial results.

 

Growing Our Customer Base Depends Upon the Effective Operation of Our Mobile Applications with Mobile Operating Systems, Networks and Standards That We Do Not Control.

 

We are dependent on the interoperability of our mobile applications with popular mobile operating systems that we do not control, such as Google’s Android and iOS, and any changes in such systems that degrade our products’ functionality or give preferential treatment to competitive products could adversely affect the usage of our applications on mobile devices. Additionally, in order to deliver high quality mobile products, it is important that our products work well with a range of mobile technologies, systems, networks and standards that we do not control. We may not be successful in developing relationships with key participants in the mobile industry or in developing products that operate effectively with these technologies, systems, networks or standards.

 

We Need Additional Capital to Fund Our Growing Operations and Cannot Assure You That We Will Be Able to Obtain Sufficient Capital on Reasonable Terms or at All, and We May Be Faced to Limit the Scope of Our Operations.

 

We need additional capital to fund our growing operations and if adequate additional financing is not available on reasonable terms or available at all, we may not be able to undertake expansion or continue our marketing efforts and we would have to modify our business plans accordingly. The extent of our capital needs will depend on numerous factors, including (i) our profitability; (ii) the release of competitive products and/or services by our competition; (iii) the level of our investment in research and development; (iv) the amount of our capital expenditures, including acquisitions; and (v) our growth. We cannot assure you that we will be able to obtain capital in the future to meet our needs.

 

Even if we do find a source of additional capital, we may not be able to negotiate terms and conditions for receiving the additional capital that are acceptable to us. Any future capital investments could dilute or otherwise materially and adversely affect the holdings or rights of our existing stockholders. In addition, new equity or convertible debt securities issued by us to obtain financing could have rights, preferences and privileges senior to our Common Stock. We cannot give you any assurance that any additional financing will be available to us, or if available, will be on terms favorable to us.

 

We Have a History of Significant Losses, and If We Do Not Achieve and Sustain Profitability, Our Financial Condition Could Suffer.

 

We have experienced significant net losses, and we expect to continue to incur losses for the foreseeable future. We incurred net losses of approximately $75.4 million and approximately $7.7 million for the years ended December 31, 2017 and 2016, respectively, and as of December 31, 2017, our accumulated deficit was approximately $156.4 million.

 

The net loss was primarily due to an increase in other expenses of approximately $67.5 million from approximately $0.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2016 to approximately $68.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2017. The increase was primarily due to an increase in the non-cash change in fair value of warrant liabilities of approximately $44.7 million, which was primarily attributable to the quantity of warrants held by our Executive Chairman not being subject to our Reverse Stock Split, which, as a result of the Reverse Stock Split, caused them to increase in value.

 

On December 6, 2017, the Company and Mr. Farkas signed a letter agreement, pursuant to which, Mr. Farkas, on behalf of FGI, agreed that upon the closing of a registered offering of the Company’s securities combined with a listing of the Common Stock on a national securities exchange, FGI would cancel 2,930,596 of its shares of Common Stock (of the 2,990,404 received). The Public Offering closed on February 16, 2018. On April 16, 2018, Mr. Farkas cancelled the 2,930,596 shares of common stock.

 

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If our revenue grows more slowly than we anticipate, or if our operating expenses are higher than we expect, we may not be able to achieve profitability and our financial condition could suffer. Even if we achieve profitability in the future, we may not be able to sustain profitability in subsequent periods. Whether we can achieve cash flow levels sufficient to support our operations cannot be accurately predicted. Unless such cash flow levels are achieved, we may need to borrow additional funds or sell debt or equity securities, or some combination thereof, to provide funding for our operations. Such additional funding may not be available on commercially reasonable terms, or at all.

 

We May Not Have The Liquidity to Support Our Future Operations and Capital Requirements.

 

Whether we can achieve cash flow levels sufficient to support our operations cannot be accurately predicted. Unless such cash flow levels are achieved, in addition to the proceeds from the Public Offering, we may need to borrow additional funds or sell debt or equity securities, or some combination thereof, to provide funding for our operations. Such additional funding may not be available on commercially reasonable terms, or at all. If adequate funds are not available when needed, our financial condition and operating results would be materially and adversely affected and we may not be able to operate our business without significant changes in our operations, or at all.

 

We Have Failed to Pay Certain State and Federal Taxes and May be Subject to Penalties as a Result.

 

We are delinquent in filing and, in certain instances, paying sales taxes collected from customers in specific states that impose a tax on sales of our products. We have accrued an approximate $178,000 and $218,000 liability as of December 31, 2017 and December 31, 2016, respectively, related to this matter. In addition, the Company is currently delinquent in remitting approximately $632,000 and $244,000 as of December 31, 2017 and 2016, respectively, of federal and state payroll taxes withheld from employees. During the year ended December 31, 2017, the Company sent two letters to the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) notifying the IRS of its intention to resolve the delinquent taxes upon the receipt of additional working capital. Additionally, on March 27, 2018, the Company has submitted its Forms 940 and 941 for the year ended December 31, 2017 with the IRS. The Company has made continued IRS payroll tax payments starting from the payroll period ending on October 31, 2017 to date, and expects to continue to make regular payments on an on-going basis moving forward. Through the date of filing, the Company is currently seeking settlement with the appropriate taxing authorities for past due amounts.

 

Although Our Shares and Warrants are Currently Listed on NASDAQ, We Can Provide No Assurance That Our Common Stock and Warrants Will Continue to Meet NASDAQ Listing Requirements. If We Fail to Comply With The Continuing Listing Standards of NASDAQ, Our Securities Could Be Delisted.

 

Our Common Stock and warrants are currently listed on the Nasdaq Capital Market (“NASDAQ”) under the symbols “BLNK” and “BLNKW”, respectively. If, however, we fail to satisfy the continued listing requirements of NASDAQ, such as the corporate governance requirements, stockholder equity requirements or the minimum closing bid price requirement, NASDAQ may take steps to delist our Common Stock and warrants. Such a delisting would likely have a negative effect on the price of our Common Stock and warrants and would impair your ability to sell or purchase Common Stock and warrants underlying the units when you wish to do so. In the event of a delisting, we can provide no assurance that any action taken by us to restore compliance with listing requirements would allow our Common Stock and warrants to become listed again, stabilize the market price or improve the liquidity of our Common Stock and warrants, prevent our Common Stock from dropping below the NASDAQ minimum bid price requirement or prevent future non-compliance with NASDAQ’s listing requirements.

 

If We Are Unable to Keep Up With Advances in EV Technology, We May Suffer a Decline in Our Competitive Position.

 

The EV industry is characterized by rapid technological change. If we are unable to keep up with changes in EV technology, our competitive position may deteriorate which would materially and adversely affect our business, prospects, operating results and financial condition. As technologies change, we plan to upgrade or adapt our EV charging stations and Blink Network software in order to continue to provide EV charging services with the latest technology. However, due to our limited cash resources, our efforts to do so may be limited. For example, the EV charging network that we acquired from ECOtality was originally funded, in part, by the U.S. Department of Energy (“DOE”), which funding is no longer available to us. As a result, we may be unable to grow, maintain and enhance the network of charging stations that we acquired from ECOtality at the same rate and scale as ECOtality did prior to the acquisition or at levels comparable our current competitors. Any failure of our charging stations to compete effectively with other manufacturers’ charging stations will harm our business, operating results and prospects.

 

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We Need to Manage Growth in Operations to Realize Our Growth Potential 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 and an Impairment of Our Long-Lived Assets.

 

In order to take advantage of the growth that we anticipate 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 above-mentioned targets, the general strategies of our Company are to maintain and search for hard-working employees who have innovative initiatives, as well as to keep a close eye on expansion opportunities through merger and/or acquisition.

 

If Our Estimates or Judgments Relating to Our Critical Accounting Policies Prove to Be Incorrect, Our Financial Condition And Results of Operations Could Be Adversely Affected.

 

The preparation of financial statements in conformity with U.S. GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the amounts reported in the consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes. We base our estimates on historical experience and on various other assumptions that we believe to be reasonable under the circumstances, as discussed under “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations,” included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K and in our consolidated financial statements included herein. The results of these estimates form the basis for making judgments about the carrying values of assets, liabilities and equity, and the amount of revenue and expenses that are not readily apparent from other sources. Significant assumptions and estimates used in preparing our consolidated financial statements include those related to revenue recognition, allowance for doubtful accounts, inventory reserves, impairment of goodwill, indefinite-lived and long-lived assets, pension and other post-retirement benefits, product warranty, valuation allowances for deferred tax assets, valuation of common stock warrants, and share-based compensation. Our financial condition and results of operations may be adversely affected if our assumptions change or if actual circumstances differ from those in our assumptions, which could cause our results of operations to fall below the expectations of securities analysts and investors, resulting in a decline in the price of our Common Stock.

 

We Face Risks Arising From Acquisitions.

 

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.

 

We Could Be Forced To Pay Damages In Connection With Litigation Involving 350 Green.

 

On September 9, 2015, the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit of Chicago, Illinois affirmed the ruling of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in the matter of JNS Power & Control Systems, Inc. (“JNS”) v. 350 Green, LLC in favor of JNS, which affirmed the sale of certain assets by our former subsidiary 350 Green to JNS and the assumption of certain 350 Green liabilities by JNS. On April 7, 2016, JNS amended the complaint to add the Company alleging an unspecified amount of lost revenues from the chargers, among other matters, caused by the defendants. JNS also seeks indemnity for its unspecified costs in connection with enforcing the asset purchase agreement dated April 13, 2013 between 350 Green and JNS in courts in New York and Chicago. As of December 31, 2017, the Company accrued a $750,000 liability in connection with its settlement offer to JNS. On February 2, 2018, the parties entered into an asset purchase agreement whereby the parties agreed to settle the litigation. The Company purchased back the EV chargers it previously sold to JNS for: (a) shares of Common Stock worth $600,000 with a price per share equal to $4.25 (the price per share of the Public Offering); (b) $50,000 cash payment within ten days of the closing of the Public Offering; and (c) $100,000 cash payment within six months following the closing of the Public Offering. The Public Offering closed on February 16, 2018. The Company issued 141,176 shares on March 16, 2018. The Company made the $50,000 payment on March 16, 2018. JNS filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit without prejudice on March 23, 2018 and the judge granted the motion on March 26, 2018. JNS will file a motion to convert the dismissal without prejudice to dismissal with prejudice within three business days of the $100,000 payment. On March 16, 2018, the Company issued 23,529 shares of Common Stock to JNS to be held in escrow as security for the $100,000 payment. At the time the $100,000 payment is made by the Company, the 23,529 shares currently held in escrow will be cancelled.

 

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We Have Limited Insurance Coverage, and Any Claims Beyond Our Insurance Coverage May Result in Our Incurring Substantial Costs and a Diversion of Resources

 

We hold employer’s liability insurance generally covering death or work-related injury of employees. We hold public liability insurance covering certain incidents involving third parties that occur on or in the premises of our Company. We hold directors and officers liability insurance. We do not maintain key-man life insurance on any of our senior management or key personnel, or business interruption insurance. Our insurance coverage may be insufficient to cover any claim for product liability, damage to our fixed assets or employee injuries. Any liability or damage to, or caused by, our facilities or our personnel beyond our insurance coverage may result in our incurring substantial costs and a diversion of resources.

 

Our Future Success Depends, in Part, on the Performance and Continued Service of Our Officers.

 

We presently depend to a great extent upon the experience, abilities and continued services of our management team, which consists of Mr. Calise (our CEO), Mr. Farkas (our Executive Chairman), and Mr. Feintuch (our Chief Operating Officer). The loss of services of Mr. Calise, Mr. Farkas, or Mr. Feintuch could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition or results of operation. Failure to maintain our management team could prove disruptive to our daily operations, require a disproportionate amount of resources and management attention and could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

 

Our Future Success Depends, in Part, on Our Ability to Attract and Retain Highly Qualified Personnel.

 

Our future success also depends upon our ability to attract and retain highly qualified personnel. We are in the process of building our management team. Among other positions, we need to hire a Chief Financial Officer with public company experience. Mr. Calise currently acts as our interim principal financial officer and our interim principal accounting officer. Although we intend to hire a permanent Chief Financial Officer soon, there is no assurance that we will be able to do so. Our accounting controls may continue to be deficient unless we obtain the services of an experienced Chief Financial Officer who can help us address material weaknesses. In addition, expansion of our business and the management and operation of our Company will require additional managers and employees with industry experience, and our success will be highly dependent on our ability to attract and retain skilled management personnel and other employees. There can be no assurance that we will be able to attract or retain highly qualified personnel. As our industry continues to evolve, competition for skilled personnel with the requisite experience will be significant. This competition may make it more difficult and expensive to attract, hire and retain qualified managers and employees.

 

We Are in an Intensely Competitive Industry and There Can Be No Assurance That We Will Be Able to Compete with Our Competitors Who May Have Greater Resources.

 

We face strong competition from competitors in the EV charging services industry, including competitors who could duplicate our model. Many of these competitors may have substantially greater financial, marketing and development resources and other capabilities than us. In addition, there are very few barriers to entry into the market for our services. There can be no assurance, therefore, that any of our current and future competitors, many of whom may have far greater resources, will not independently develop services that are substantially equivalent or superior to our services. Therefore, an investment in our Company is very risky and speculative due to the competitive environment in which we may operate.

 

Our competitors may be able to provide customers with different or greater capabilities or benefits than we can provide in areas such as technical qualifications, past contract performance, geographic presence and price. Furthermore, many of our competitors may be able to utilize substantially greater resources and economies of scale to develop competing products and technologies, divert sales away from us by winning broader contracts or hire away our employees by offering more lucrative compensation packages. In the event that the market for EV charging stations expands, we expect that competition will intensify as additional competitors enter the market and current competitors expand their product lines. In order to secure contracts successfully when competing with larger, well-financed companies, we may be forced to agree to contractual terms that provide for lower aggregate payments to us over the life of the contract, which could adversely affect our margins. Our failure to compete effectively with respect to any of these or other factors could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, financial condition or operating results.

 

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We Have Experienced Significant Customer Concentration in Recent Periods, And Our Revenue Levels Could Be Adversely Affected if Any Significant Customer Fails To Purchase Products From Us At Anticipated Levels.

 

We are subject to customer concentration risk as a result of our reliance on a relatively small number of customers for a significant portion of our revenues. The relative magnitude and the mix of revenue from our largest customers have varied significantly quarter to quarter. During the year ended December 31, 2017, two customers have accounted for 29% of our revenues varying by period, to our Company. In addition, one customer accounted for 32% of total accounts receivable as of December 31, 2017. The loss of these customers could have a material adverse effect on our business.

 

If a Third Party Asserts That We Are Infringing Upon Its Intellectual Property, Whether Successful or Not, It Could Subject Us to Costly and Time-Consuming Litigation or Expensive Licenses, and Our Business May Be Harmed.

 

The EV and EV charging industries are characterized by the existence of a large number of patents, copyrights, trademarks and trade secrets. As we face increasing competition, the possibility of intellectual property rights claims against us grows. Our technologies may not be able to withstand any third-party claims or rights against their use. Additionally, although we have acquired from other companies’ proprietary technology covered by patents, we cannot be certain that any such patents will not be challenged, invalidated or circumvented. Intellectual property infringement claims against us could harm our relationships with our customers, may deter future customers from subscribing to our services or could expose us to litigation with respect to these claims. Even if we are not a party to any litigation between a customer and a third party, an adverse outcome in any such litigation could make it more difficult for us to defend our intellectual property in any subsequent litigation in which we are a named party. Any of these results could harm our brand and operating results.

 

Any intellectual property rights claim against us or our customers, with or without merit, could be time-consuming, expensive to litigate or settle and could divert management resources and attention. An adverse determination also could prevent us from offering our services to our customers and may require that we procure or develop substitute services that do not infringe.

 

With respect to any intellectual property rights claim against us or our customers, we may have to pay damages or stop using technology found to be in violation of a third party’s rights. We may have to seek a license for the technology, which may not be available on reasonable terms, may significantly increase our operating expenses or require us to restrict our business activities in one or more respects. The technology also may not be available for license to us at all. As a result, we may also be required to develop alternative non-infringing technology, which could require significant effort and expense.

 

The Success of Our Business Depends in Large Part on Our Ability to Protect and Enforce Our Intellectual Property Rights.

 

We rely on a combination of patent, copyright, service mark, trademark, and trade secret laws, as well as confidentiality procedures and contractual restrictions, to establish and protect our proprietary rights, all of which provide only limited protection. We cannot assure you that any patents will issue with respect to our currently pending patent applications, in a manner that gives us the protection that we seek, if at all, or that any future patents issued to us will not be challenged, invalidated or circumvented. Our currently issued patents and any patents that may issue in the future with respect to pending or future patent applications may not provide sufficiently broad protection or they may not prove to be enforceable in actions against alleged infringers. Also, we cannot assure you that any future service mark registrations will be issued with respect to pending or future applications or that any registered service marks will be enforceable or provide adequate protection of our proprietary rights.

 

We endeavor to enter into agreements with our employees and contractors and agreements with parties with whom we do business in order to limit access to and disclosure of our proprietary information. We cannot be certain that the steps we have taken will prevent unauthorized use of our technology or the reverse engineering of our technology. Moreover, others may independently develop technologies that are competitive to ours or infringe our intellectual property. The enforcement of our intellectual property rights also depends on our legal actions against these infringers being successful, but we cannot be sure these actions will be successful, even when our rights have been infringed.

 

Furthermore, effective patent, trademark, service mark, copyright and trade secret protection may not be available in every country in which our services are available over the Internet. In addition, the legal standards relating to the validity, enforceability and scope of protection of intellectual property rights in EV-related industries are uncertain and still evolving.

 

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 government incentives promoting fuel efficiency and alternate forms of energy, electric vehicles and others. These laws and regulations, and the interpretation or application of these laws and regulations, could change. Any reduction, elimination or discriminatory application of government subsidies and economic incentives because of policy changes, fiscal tightening or other reasons may result in diminished revenues from government sources and diminished demand for our products. 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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There are many federal, state and international laws that may affect our business, including measures to regulate charging systems, electric vehicles, and others. If we fail to comply with these applicable laws or regulations we could be subject to significant liabilities which could adversely affect our business.

 

There are a number of significant matters under review and discussion with respect to government regulations which may affect the business we intend to enter and/or harm our customers, and thereby adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

 

Our Ability to Use Our Net Operating Loss Carryforwards May Be Limited.

 

As of December 31, 2017, we had net operating loss carryforwards (“NOLs”) for U.S. federal income tax purposes of approximately $70.6 million. We generally are able to carry NOLs forward to reduce taxable income in future years. These NOLs may be offset against future taxable income through 2035, if not utilized before that time. However, our ability to utilize the NOLs is subject to the rules of Section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (“Section 382”). Section 382 generally restricts the use of NOLs after an “ownership change.” An ownership change generally occurs if, among other things, the stockholders (or specified groups of persons) who own, have owned or are treated as owning, directly or indirectly, five percent or more of our stock increase their aggregate percentage ownership of our stock by more than 50 percentage points over the lowest percentage of the stock owned by these persons over a three-year rolling period. In the event of an ownership change, Section 382 generally imposes an annual limitation on the amount of taxable income that we may offset with NOLs. Any unused annual limitation may be carried over to later years until the applicable expiration date for the respective NOLs.

 

The rules of Section 382 are complex and subject to varying interpretations. Because of our numerous capital raises, uncertainty exists as to whether we may have undergone an ownership change in the past or will undergo one as a result of the various transactions discussed herein or other future transactions. Accordingly, no assurance can be given that our NOLs will be fully available or utilizable.

 

If We Fail to Establish and Maintain an Effective System of Internal Control, We May Not Be Able to Report Our Financial Results Accurately or Prevent Fraud. Any Inability to Report and File Our Financial Results Accurately and Timely Could Harm Our Reputation and Adversely Impact the Trading Price of Our Common Stock.

 

Effective internal control is necessary for us to provide reliable financial reports and prevent fraud. If we cannot provide reliable financial reports or prevent fraud, we may not be able to manage our business as effectively as we would if an effective control environment existed, and our business and reputation with investors may be harmed. As a result, our small size and any current internal control deficiencies may adversely affect our financial condition, results of operations and access to capital. We have also experienced complications reporting as a result of material weaknesses and have at times been delinquent in our reporting obligations. We have carried out an evaluation under the supervision and with the participation of our management, including our principal executive officer and principal financial officer, of the effectiveness of the design and operation of our disclosure controls and procedures as of the end of the most recent period covered by this report. Based on the foregoing, our principal executive officer and principal financial officer concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures were not effective at the reasonable assurance level due to the material weaknesses described below.

 

During July 2017, we appointed Robert Schweitzer to our audit committee, who we have determined meets the requirements of a financial expert as defined under the applicable rules and regulations of the SEC and who has the requisite financial sophistication as defined under the applicable rules and regulations of NASDAQ. Our Board has considered the independence and other characteristics of each of the three members of our audit committee, and our Board believes that each member meets the independence and other requirements of NASDAQ and the SEC. As part of its duties, the audit committee will assist our management in the establishment and monitoring of our internal controls and procedures.

 

In November 2017, the audit committee, as currently comprised, conducted its first review of the interim financial statements for the period ended September 30, 2017. Our management believes that the controls implemented in relation to the audit committee are sufficient to address the material weakness related to the audit committee on a go forward basis and, accordingly, they concluded that, as of December 31, 2017, the material weakness that had existed previously at December 31, 2016 had been remediated.

 

A material weakness is a deficiency, or a combination of deficiencies, within the meaning of Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (“PCAOB”) Audit Standard No. 5, in internal control over financial reporting, such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of our annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis. Management has identified the following material weaknesses which have caused management to conclude that as of December 31, 2017 our internal controls over financial reporting (“ICFR”) were not effective at the reasonable assurance level:

 

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  1. We do not have written documentation of our internal control policies and procedures. Written documentation of key internal controls over financial reporting is a requirement of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act which is applicable to us for the year ended December 31, 2017. Management evaluated the impact of our failure to have written documentation of our internal controls and procedures on our assessment of our disclosure controls and procedures and has concluded that the control deficiency that resulted represented a material weakness.
     
  2. We do not have sufficient resources in our accounting function, which restricts the Company’s ability to gather, analyze and properly review information related to financial reporting in a timely manner. As a result, as of the date of filing, we have not completed our implementation process related to revenue recognition pursuant to ASC 606. In addition, due to our size and nature, segregation of all conflicting duties may not always be possible and may not be economically feasible. However, to the extent possible, the initiation of transactions, the custody of assets and the recording of transactions should be performed by separate individuals. Management evaluated the impact of our failure to have segregation of duties on our assessment of our disclosure controls and procedures and has concluded that the control deficiency that resulted represented a material weakness.
     
  3. We have inadequate controls to ensure that information necessary to properly record transactions is adequately communicated on a timely basis from non-financial personnel to those responsible for financial reporting. Management evaluated the impact of the lack of timely communication between non–financial personnel and financial personnel on our assessment of our reporting controls and procedures and has concluded that the control deficiency represented a material weakness.
     
  4. Certain control procedures were unable to be verified due to performance of the procedure not being sufficiently documented. As an example, some procedures requiring review of certain reports could not be verified due to there being no written documentation of such review. Management evaluated the impact of its failure to maintain proper documentation of the review process on its assessment of its reporting controls and procedures and has concluded that the controls deficiencies represented a material weakness.

 

We intend to continue to address these weaknesses as resources permit.

 

Notwithstanding the assessment that our ICFR was not effective and that there are material weaknesses as identified herein, we believe that our consolidated financial statements contained in this Annual Report fairly present our financial position, results of operations and cash flows for the years covered thereby in all material respects.

 

Risks Associated with Our Common Stock

 

Shares of Our Common Stock Which May Be Issued Upon Conversion of the Series D Preferred Stock being Issued in Exchange for Outstanding Indebtedness by JMJ May Dilute the Ownership Interests of Our Stockholders.

 

On October 7, 2016, we executed a Promissory Note in favor of JMJ Financial, a Nevada sole proprietorship owned by Justin Keener (“JMJ”) in the amount up to $3,725,000 bearing interest on the unpaid balance at the rate of six percent. The initial amount borrowed under the Promissory Note was $500,000, with the remaining amounts permitted to be borrowed under the Promissory Note being subject to us achieving certain milestones.

 

We initially issued one warrant to JMJ to purchase a total of 14,286 shares of our Common Stock at an exercise price equal to the lesser of: (i) 80% of the Common Stock price of the Public Offering, (ii) $35.00 per share, (iii) 80% of the unit price of the Public Offering (if applicable), (iv) the exercise price of any warrants issued in the Public Offering, or (v) the lowest conversion price, exercise price, or exchange price, of any security issued by us that is outstanding on October 13, 2016.

 

The initial amount borrowed under the Promissory Note was $500,000, with the remaining amounts permitted to be borrowed under the Promissory Note being subject to us achieving certain milestones. With the achievement of certain milestones in November 2016 (the filing with the SEC of a Preliminary Information Statement on Schedule 14C regarding the Reverse Stock Split), an additional advance of $500,000 under the Promissory Note occurred on November 28, 2016. Another warrant to purchase 14,286 shares of our Common Stock was issued as of November 28, 2016. With the achievement of certain milestones in February 2017 (the filing with the SEC of a revised Preliminary Information Statement and a Definitive Information Statement, each on Schedule 14C regarding the Reverse Stock Split), additional advances of $225,100 and $300,000 under the Promissory Note occurred on February 10 and February 27, respectively. Thus, two more warrants to purchase the Company’s Common Stock were issued, one for 6,431 shares and the other for 8,571 shares, respectively.

 

All advances after February 28, 2017 were at the discretion of JMJ without regard to any specific milestones occurring. Additional advances of $250,000 and $30,000 under the Promissory Note occurred on March 14, 2017 and March 24, 2017, respectively, and two more warrants to purchase the Company’s Common Stock were issued, one for 7,143 shares and the other for 857 shares. An additional advance of $400,000 occurred on April 5, 2017 and another warrant to purchase 11,429 shares of our Common Stock was issued on the same date. An additional advance of $295,000 occurred on May 9, 2017 and another warrant to purchase 8,429 shares of the Company’s Common Stock was issued on the same date. On July 27, 2017, an additional advance of $50,000 was made to the Company and another warrant to purchase 1,429 shares of the Company’s Common Stock was issued to JMJ. JMJ and the Company entered into a Lockup, Conversion, and Additional Investment Agreement dated October 23, 2017 (the “Additional Agreement”), however, it became effective upon the document being fully executed on October 24, 2017. In accordance with the terms of the Additional Agreement, on October 24, 2017, JMJ advanced to the Company $949,900 available pursuant to previous agreements with JMJ and another warrant to purchase 27,140 shares of the Company’s Common Stock was issued to JMJ. As of the closing of the Public Offering, ten (10) warrants to purchase a total of 100,001 shares of the Company’s Common Stock had been issued to JMJ. The aggregate exercise price was $3,500,000.

 

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The Additional Agreement extended the maturity date of the JMJ loans to December 15, 2017. On November 29, 2017, the Company and JMJ entered into the first amendment to the Additional Agreement, extending the maturity date to December 31, 2017. On January 4, 2018, the Company and JMJ entered into the second amendment to the Additional Agreement, extending the maturity date to January 31, 2018. On February 1, 2018, the Company and JMJ entered into the third amendment to the Additional Agreement, extending the maturity date to February 10, 2018. On February 7, 2018, the Company and JMJ entered into the fourth amendment to the Additional Agreement, extending the maturity date to February 15, 2018.

 

In addition, JMJ claimed that the Company would owe JMJ $12 million as a mandatory default amount pursuant to previous agreements with the Company. JMJ, in the Additional Agreement, agreed to allow the Company to have two options for settling a previously issued note (including settling the mandatory default amount for either $1.1 million or $2.1 million), securing a lockup agreement from JMJ, and exchanging previously issued warrants for shares of Common Stock. Each of these options depended upon the Public Offering closing by December 15, 2017 (subsequently extended to February 15, 2018). The option chosen was at the Company’s sole discretion.

 

“Origination Shares” was defined in the purchase agreement with JMJ as the following: on the fifth (5th) trading day after the closing of our public offering we would deliver to JMJ shares of our Common Stock equal to 48% of the consideration paid by JMJ under the Promissory Note divided by the lowest of (i) $35.00 per share, or (ii) the lowest daily closing price of our Common Stock during the ten days prior to delivery of the Origination Shares (subject to adjustment for stock splits), or (iii) 80% of the Common Stock price of this offering, or (iv) 80% of the unit price of this offering (if applicable), or (v) the exercise price of any warrants issued in this offering. The number of shares to be issued was to be determined based on the offering price of the public offering.

 

The first option was that the Company, upon the closing of the Public Offering: (a) would pay $2.0 million in cash to JMJ; and (b) would issue shares of Common Stock to JMJ with a value of $9,005,000 (including the Origination Shares). The second option was that the Company, upon the closing of the Public Offering, would not pay any cash to JMJ and would issue shares of Common Stock to JMJ with a value of $12,005,000 (including the Origination Shares).

 

Upon the closing of the Public Offering (February 16, 2018), the Company chose the second option and did not pay any cash to JMJ. Although the Public Offering closed one day after the February 15, 2018 Maturity Date, JMJ accepted payment on February 16, 2018 and did not declare a default.

 

In each case, the Company was to issue such number of duly and validly issued, fully paid and non-assessable shares of Common Stock equal to the amount in question divided by the lowest of (i) $35.00 per share, or (ii) the lowest daily closing price of the Common Stock during the ten days prior to delivery of shares (subject to adjustment for stock splits), or (iii) 80% of the Common Stock price of the Public Offering, or (iv) 80% of the unit price of the Public Offering (if applicable), or (v) the exercise price of any warrants issued in the Public Offering.

 

Prior to the Company choosing the option at the closing (with the first option including some cash and the second option not including any cash), JMJ could elect to receive some or all of the share consideration (to be issued pursuant to either option) in the form of convertible preferred stock. On January 29, 2018, JMJ made the election to receive all of the share consideration in the form of shares of convertible preferred stock.

 

Pursuant to the second option and to the election by JMJ to receive convertible preferred stock instead of common stock as permitted by the Additional Agreement, the Company, on February 16, 2018 issued to JMJ shares of Series D Preferred Stock convertible into 3,847,756 shares of Common Stock, to reflect the full payment of all dollar amounts and share amounts owed in connection with the JMJ Financing. Because the Series D Preferred Stock is convertible into shares of our Common Stock, upon JMJ’s conversion of the Series D Preferred Stock into shares of our Common Stock, holders of our Common Stock will experience dilution.

 

We refer herein to these transactions with JMJ as the “JMJ Financing”.

 

Separately from and unrelated to the JMJ Financing, JMJ lent $250,000 to the Company on January 22, 2018. We agreed with JMJ to issue units of unregistered shares of Common Stock and warrants as repayment of this $250,000 advance at the closing of the Public Offering (with each unit consisting of one share of Common Stock and two warrants each to purchase one share of Common Stock). On March 16, 2018, the Company issued 73,529 shares of Common Stock to JMJ and on April 9 the Company issued 147,058 warrants to JMJ.

 

Our Shares of Common Stock Are Very Thinly Traded, and the Price May Not Reflect Our Value and There Can Be No Assurance That There Will Be an Active Market for Our Shares of Common Stock Either Now or in the Future.

 

Our shares of Common Stock are very thinly traded, and the price, if traded, may not reflect our value. There can be no assurance that there will be an active market for our shares of Common Stock either now or in the future. The market liquidity will be dependent on the perception of our operating business and any steps that our management might take to increase awareness of our Company with investors. There can be no assurance given that there will be any awareness generated. Consequently, investors may not be able to liquidate their investment or liquidate it at a price that reflects the value of the business. If a more active market should develop, the price may be highly volatile. Because there may be a low price for our shares of Common Stock, many brokerage firms may not be willing to effect transactions in the securities. Even if an investor finds a broker willing to effect a transaction in the shares of our Common Stock, the combination of brokerage commissions, transfer fees, taxes, if any, and any other selling costs may exceed the selling price. Further, many lending institutions will not permit the use of such shares of Common Stock as collateral for loans.

 

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We Have a Significant Number of Shares of Our Common Stock Issuable Upon Conversion of Certain Outstanding Options, Warrants, and Convertible Preferred Stock, and The Issuance of Such Shares Upon Exercise or Conversion Will Have a Significant Dilutive Impact On Our Stockholders. Sales of a Substantial Number of Shares of Our Common Stock Following The Expiration of Lock-Ups May Adversely Affect the Market Price of Our Common Stock and the Issuance of Additional Shares Will Dilute All Other Stockholders.

 

As of April 16, 2018, there are 11,056,480 warrants and 74,968 options outstanding.

 

As of April 16, 2018, there are 3,847,756 shares of Common Stock issuable upon conversion of our Series D Preferred Stock.

 

In addition, our articles of incorporation, as amended, permits the issuance of up to approximately 463 million additional shares of Common Stock. Thus, we have the ability to issue substantial amounts of Common Stock in the future, which would dilute the percentage ownership held by stockholders.

 

We and our officers, directors and certain stockholders have agreed, subject to customary exceptions, not to, without the prior written consent of Joseph Gunnar & Co., LLC, the representative of the underwriters of the Public Offering, during the period ending 180 days from February 16, 2018 (the date of the closing of the Public Offering) in the case of us and our directors and officers and 90 days or 270 days from February 16, 2018 in the case of certain stockholders, directly or indirectly, offer to sell, sell, pledge or otherwise transfer or dispose of any of shares of our Common Stock, enter into any swap or other derivatives transaction that transfers to another any of the economic benefits or risks of ownership of shares of our Common Stock, make any demand for or exercise any right or cause to be filed a registration statement, including any amendments thereto, with respect to the registration of any shares of Common Stock or securities convertible into or exercisable or exchangeable for Common Stock or any other securities of our Company or publicly disclose the intention to do any of the foregoing.

 

After the lock-up agreements with certain stockholders pertaining to the Public Offering expire: (i) 270 days from February 16, 2018 unless waived earlier by the representative, up to 8,367,879 of the shares that had been locked up; and (ii) 90 days from February 16, 2018 unless waived earlier by the representative, up 338,969 of the shares that had been locked up, will be eligible for future sale in the public market. After the lock-up agreements with our directors and officers, Horton Capital, and JMJ expire 180 days from February 16, 2018 unless waived earlier by the representative, up to 7,707,819 of the shares (including shares of Common Stock issuable upon conversion of our Series D Preferred Stock) (net of any shares also restricted by lock-up agreements with certain stockholders) that had been locked up will be eligible for future sale in the public market. Sales of a significant number of these shares of Common Stock in the public market could reduce the market price of the Common Stock.

 

Future Issuance of Our Common Stock, Preferred Stock, Options and Warrants Could Dilute the Interests of Existing Stockholders.

 

We may issue additional shares of our Common Stock, preferred stock, options and warrants in the future. The issuance of a substantial amount of Common Stock, options and warrants could have the effect of substantially diluting the interests of our current stockholders. In addition, the sale of a substantial amount of Common Stock or preferred stock in the public market, or the exercise of a substantial number of warrants and options either in the initial issuance or in a subsequent resale by the target company in an acquisition which received such Common Stock as consideration or by investors who acquired such Common Stock in a private placement could have an adverse effect on the market price of our Common Stock.

 

We Do Not Intend to Pay Dividends for the Foreseeable Future, and You Must Rely on Increases in the Market Prices of Our Common Stock for Returns on Your Investment.

 

For the foreseeable future, we intend to retain any earnings to finance the development and expansion of our business, and we do not anticipate paying any cash dividends on our Common Stock. Accordingly, investors must be prepared to rely on sales of their Common Stock after price appreciation to earn an investment return, which may never occur. Investors seeking cash dividends should not purchase our Common Stock. Any determination to pay dividends in the future will be made at the discretion of our Board and will depend on our results of operations, financial condition, contractual restrictions, restrictions imposed by applicable law and other factors the Board deems relevant.

 

Our Executive Officers and Directors, Including Our Executive Chairman Mr. Farkas and His Affiliates, Possess Significant Voting Power With Respect to Our Common Stock, Which Will Limit Your Influence on Corporate Matters.

 

As of April 16, 2018, our directors and executive officers collectively beneficially own approximately 43.80% of the shares of our Common Stock on a fully-diluted basis including the beneficial ownership of Mr. Farkas and his affiliates of 39.74% of the shares of our Common Stock on a fully-diluted basis.

 

As a result, our insiders have the ability to significantly influence our management and affairs through the election and removal of our Board and all other matters requiring stockholder approval, including any future merger, consolidation or sale of all or substantially all of our assets. This concentrated voting power could discourage others from initiating any potential merger, takeover or other change-of-control transaction that may otherwise be beneficial to our stockholders. Furthermore, this concentrated control will limit the practical effect of your influence over our business and affairs, through any stockholder vote or otherwise. Any of these effects could depress the price of our Common Stock.

 

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Our Executive Chairman Mr. Farkas Will Be Able To Influence The Outcome of Stockholder Votes. Mr. Farkas’ Interests May Differ From Other Stockholders.

 

As of April 16, 2018, Mr. Farkas and his affiliates beneficially own 39.74% of the shares of our Common Stock on a fully-diluted basis. 

 

Subject to any fiduciary duties owed to our other stockholders under Nevada law, Mr. Farkas will be able to exercise significant influence over matters requiring stockholder approval, including the election of directors and approval of significant corporate transactions, and will have some control over our management and policies. Mr. Farkas may have interests that are different from yours. For example, Mr. Farkas may support proposals and actions with which you may disagree. The concentration of ownership could delay or prevent a change in control of our Company or otherwise discourage a potential acquirer from attempting to obtain control of our Company, which in turn could reduce the price of our stock. In addition, Mr. Farkas could use his voting influence to maintain our existing management and directors in office, delay or prevent changes in control of our Company, or support or reject other management and board proposals that are subject to stockholder approval, such as amendments to our employee stock plans and approvals of significant financing transactions.

 

Our Articles of Incorporation Grants Our Board The Power to Issue Additional Shares of Common And Preferred Shares And to Designate Other Classes of Preferred Shares, All Without Stockholder Approval.

 

Our authorized capital consists of 540,000,000 shares of capital stock of which 40,000,000 shares are authorized as preferred stock. Our Board, without any action by our stockholders, may designate and issue shares of preferred stock in such series as it deems appropriate and establish the rights, preferences and privileges of such shares, including dividends, liquidation and voting rights, provided it is consistent with Nevada law.

 

The rights of holders of our preferred stock that may be issued could be superior to the rights of holders of our shares of Common Stock. The designation and issuance of shares of capital stock having preferential rights could adversely affect other rights appurtenant to shares of our Common Stock. Furthermore, any issuances of additional stock (common or preferred) will dilute the percentage of ownership interest of then-current holders of our capital stock and may dilute our book value per share.

 

Certain Provisions of Our Corporate Governing Documents And Nevada Law Could Discourage, Delay, or Prevent A Merger or Acquisition at a Premium Price.

 

Certain provisions of our organizational documents and Nevada law could discourage potential acquisition proposals, delay or prevent a change in control of our Company, or limit the price that investors may be willing to pay in the future for shares of our Common Stock. For example, our articles of incorporation and bylaws permit us to issue, without any further vote or action by the stockholders, up to 40,000,000 shares of preferred stock in one or more series and, with respect to each series, to fix the number of shares constituting the series and the designation of the series, the voting powers (if any) of the shares of the series, and the preferences and relative, participating, optional, and other special rights, if any, and any qualifications, limitations, or restrictions of the shares of the series.

 

Our Stock Price Could Fall and We Could Be Delisted in Which Case Broker-Dealers May Be Discouraged from Effecting Transactions in Shares of Our Common Stock Because They May Be Considered Penny Stocks and Thus Be Subject to the Penny Stock Rules.

 

The Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) has adopted a number of rules to regulate “penny stocks” that restricts transactions involving stock which is deemed to be penny stock. Such rules include Rules 3a51-1, 15g-1, 15g-2, 15g-3, 15g-4, 15g-5, 15g-6, 15g-7, and 15g-9 under the Exchange Act. These rules may have the effect of reducing the liquidity of penny stocks. “Penny stocks” generally are equity securities with a price of less than $5.00 per share (other than securities registered on certain national securities exchanges or quoted on the NASDAQ Stock Market. Our securities have in the past constituted, and may again in the future constitute, “penny stock” within the meaning of the rules. The additional sales practice and disclosure requirements imposed upon U.S. broker-dealers may discourage such broker-dealers from effecting transactions in shares of our Common Stock, which could severely limit the market liquidity of such shares and impede their sale in the secondary market.

 

A U.S. broker-dealer selling penny stock to anyone other than an established customer or “accredited investor” (generally, an individual with net worth in excess of $1,000,000 or an annual income exceeding $200,000, or $300,000 together with his or her spouse) must make a special suitability determination for the purchaser and must receive the purchaser’s written consent to the transaction prior to sale, unless the broker-dealer or the transaction is otherwise exempt. In addition, the “penny stock” regulations require the U.S. broker-dealer to deliver, prior to any transaction involving a “penny stock”, a disclosure schedule prepared in accordance with SEC standards relating to the “penny stock” market, unless the broker-dealer or the transaction is otherwise exempt. A U.S. broker-dealer is also required to disclose commissions payable to the U.S. broker-dealer and the registered representative and current quotations for the securities. Finally, a U.S. broker-dealer is required to submit monthly statements disclosing recent price information with respect to the “penny stock” held in a customer’s account and information with respect to the limited market in “penny stocks”.

 

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Stockholders should be aware that, according to the SEC, the market for “penny stocks” has suffered in recent years from patterns of fraud and abuse. Such patterns include (i) control of the market for the security by one or a few broker-dealers that are often related to the promoter or issuer; (ii) manipulation of prices through prearranged matching of purchases and sales and false and misleading press releases; (iii) “boiler room” practices involving high-pressure sales tactics and unrealistic price projections by inexperienced sales persons; (iv) excessive and undisclosed bid-ask differentials and markups by selling broker-dealers; and (v) the wholesale dumping of the same securities by promoters and broker-dealers after prices have been manipulated to a desired level, resulting in investor losses. Our management is aware of the abuses that have occurred historically in the penny stock market. Although we do not expect to be in a position to dictate the behavior of the market or of broker-dealers who participate in the market, management will strive within the confines of practical limitations to prevent the described patterns from being established with respect to our securities.

 

We May Need Additional Capital, and the Sale of Additional Shares or Equity or Debt Securities Could Result in Additional Dilution to Our Stockholders.

 

We believe that our existing cash is sufficient to meet our anticipated cash needs for at least the next twelve months. We may, however, require additional cash resources due to changed business conditions or other future developments. If these resources are insufficient to satisfy our cash requirements, we may seek to sell additional equity or debt securities or obtain one or more credit facilities. The sale of additional equity securities could result in additional dilution to our stockholders and the terms of these securities may include liquidation or other preferences that adversely affect your rights as a Common Stock holder. The incurrence of indebtedness would result in increased debt service obligations and could result in operating and financing covenants that would restrict our operations. It is uncertain whether financing will be available in amounts or on terms acceptable to us, if at all.

 

If we raise additional funds through government grants, collaborations, strategic alliances, licensing arrangements or marketing and distribution arrangements, we may have to relinquish valuable rights to our technologies, future revenue stream or grant licenses on terms that may not be favorable to us. If we are unable to raise additional funds through equity or debt financings when needed, we may be required to delay, limit, reduce or terminate our product development or future commercialization efforts or grant rights to develop and market products that we would otherwise prefer to develop and market ourselves.

 

If Securities or Industry Analysts Do Not Publish Research or Reports About Our Business, or Publish Inaccurate or Unfavorable Research Reports About Our Business, Our Share Price and Trading Volume Could Decline.

 

The trading market for our Common Stock will, to some extent, depend on the research and reports that securities or industry analysts publish about us or our business. We do not have any control over these analysts. If one or more of the analysts who cover us from time to time should downgrade our shares or change their opinion of our business prospects, our share price would likely decline. If one or more of these analysts ceases coverage of our Company or fails to regularly publish reports on us, we could lose visibility in the financial markets, which could cause our share price or trading volume to decline.

 

Substantial Future Sales of Shares of Our Common Stock In The Public Market Could Cause Our Stock Price To Fall.

 

Stockholders can now use Rule 144 pursuant to the Securities Act to sell shares of our Common Stock. Additional sales of a substantial number of our shares of our Common Stock in the public market, or the perception that sales could occur, could have a material adverse effect on the price of our Common Stock.

 

Sales of a substantial number of shares of our Common Stock in the public market could cause the market price of our Common Stock to decline. If there are more shares of Common Stock offered for sale than buyers are willing to purchase, then the market price of our Common Stock may decline to a market price at which buyers are willing to purchase the offered shares of Common Stock and sellers remain willing to sell the shares .

 

ITEM 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS

 

This information is not required for smaller reporting companies.

 

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ITEM 2. PROPERTIES

 

We maintain our principal offices at 3284 N 29th Court, Hollywood, Florida 33020. We occupy approximately 1,500 square feet of space at the premises on a month-to-month lease basis. Monthly lease payments are approximately $1,500 a month. We also maintain 11,457 square feet of office and warehouse space in Phoenix, Arizona. Monthly lease payments range from approximately $6,300 to $6,600.

 

Our premises are suitable for our current operations.

 

ITEM 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS

 

From time to time, we are a defendant or plaintiff in various legal actions that arise in the normal course of business. We record legal costs associated with loss contingencies as incurred and has accrued for all probable and estimable settlements.

 

We are not currently involved in any material disputes and do not have any material litigation matters pending except:

 

350 GREEN, LLC

 

There have been five lawsuits filed against 350 Green by creditors of 350 Green regarding unpaid claims. These lawsuits relate solely to alleged pre-acquisition unpaid debts of 350 Green. Also, there are other unpaid creditors, aside from those noted above, that claim to be owed certain amounts for pre-acquisition work done on behalf of 350 Green solely, that potentially could file lawsuits at some point in the future.

 

On August 7, 2014, 350 Green received a copy of a complaint filed by Sheetz, a former vendor of 350 Green alleging breach of contract and unjust enrichment of $112,500. The complaint names 350 Green, 350 Holdings LLC and the Company in separate breach of contract counts and names all three entities together in an unjust enrichment claim. The Company and 350 Holdings will seek to be dismissed from the litigation, because, as the complaint is currently plead, there is no legal basis to hold the Company or 350 Green liable for a contract to which they are not parties. The Company settled with Sheetz and the parties signed two agreements on February 23, 2017: a General Release and Settlement Agreement and an Exclusive Electronic Vehicle Charging Services Agreement. The settlement involved a combination of DC charging equipment, installation, charging services, shared driver charging revenue and maintenance for two systems in exchange for no further legal action between 350 Holdings or the Company. The Exclusive Electronic Vehicle Charging Services Agreement with Sheetz is for a five (5) year term. Pursuant to the agreement, Blink shall remit to Sheetz gross revenue generated by electric vehicle charging fees and advertising, minus (i) any and all taxes, (ii) 8% transaction fees, (iii) $18.00 per charger per month; and (iv) any electricity costs incurred by Blink ((i), (ii), (iii), and (iv) being referred to as the “Service Fees”). In the event the aggregate gross revenues are insufficient to cover the Service Fees incurred in a given month by the charging stations, such unpaid Service Fees will accrue to the following month. The agreement is subject to an automatic five year renewal unless written notice for the contrary is provided.

 

Concurrent with the closing of the Public Offering, the Company was to pay the former principals of 350 Green LLC $25,000 in installment debt and $50,000 within 60 days thereafter in settlement of a $360,000 debt (inclusive of imputed interest) in accordance with a Settlement Agreement between the parties dated August 21, 2015 resulting in a gain of $285,000. As of April 16, 2018, this payment has not yet been made.

 

LITIGATION UPDATES

 

On July 28, 2015, a Notice of Arbitration was received stating ITT Cannon has a dispute with Blink Network for the manufacturing and purchase of approximately 6,500 charging cables by Blink Network, which had not taken delivery or made payment on the contract price of $737,425. ITT Cannon also seeks to be paid the cost of attorney’s fees as well as punitive damages. On June 13, 2017, as amended on November 27, 2017, Blink Network and ITT Cannon agreed to a settlement agreement under which the parties agreed to the following: (a) the Blink Network purchase order dated May 7, 2014 for approximately 6,500 charging cables is terminated, cancelled and voided; (b) three (3) business days following the closing date of a public offering of the Company’s securities and listing of such securities on NASDAQ, the Company shall issue to ITT Cannon shares of the same class of the Company’s securities with an aggregate value of $200,000 (which was accrued at September 30, 2017); and (c) within seven (7) calendar days of the valid issuance of the shares in item (b) above, ITT Cannon shall ship and provide the remaining approximately 6,500 charging cables to Blink Network and dismiss the arbitration without prejudice. On January 31, 2018, ITT Cannon, Blink Network and the Company agreed that if the Company fails to consummate a registered public offering of its common stock, list such stock on NASDAQ and issue to ITT Cannon shares of the same class of the Company’s securities by February 28, 2018, the settlement agreement will expire. The Public Offering closed on February 16, 2018. The Company issued 47,059 shares on March 16, 2018. This was a partial payment of the $200,000 in stock owed to ITT Cannon. On March 30, 2018 the Company has issued an additional 25,669 shares to satisfy in full its obligations to ITT. As of April 16, 2018, ITT Cannon has shipped approximately 4,600-4,900 charging cables and has agreed to ship the remaining balance shortly thereafter.

 

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On April 8, 2016, Douglas Stein filed a Petition for Fee Arbitration with the State Bar of Georgia against the Company for breach of contract for failure to pay invoices in the amount of $178,893 for legal work provided. The invoices have been accrued for in the periods in which the services were provided. The Company has responded to the claim and is simultaneously pursuing settlement options. The parties failed to settle after numerous attempts. On February 15, 2017, the case was brought to the Georgia Arbitration Committee. On February 26, 2017, The Stein Law firm was awarded a summary judgment for $178,893, which has been confirmed and converted into a judgment by the Superior Court of Fulton County, Georgia on August 7, 2017 in the amount of $179,168, inclusive of court costs, which continues to accrue both interest at the rate of 7.25% per annum on that amount calculated on a daily as of February 28, 2014, and costs to-date of $40,000 which are hereby added to the foregoing judgment amount (all of which was accrued at December 31, 2017). In connection with perfecting the Georgia judgment in the State of New York, Mr. Stein served an Information Subpoena with Restraining Notice dated September 12, 2017 on the underwriter of the offering for which the Company filed a registration statement on Form S-1 on November 7, 2016 (as amended) (the “Restraining Notice”). The Restraining Notice seeks to force the underwriter to pay the judgment amount directly out of the proceeds of the offering. On January 8, 2018, the Company and Mr. Stein had entered into a forbearance agreement, pursuant to which Mr. Stein has agreed to forbear from any efforts to collect or enforce the judgment awarded to him as a result of a legally-entered award of arbitration. As a result, the Company has agreed to: (i) wire transfer $30,000 to Mr. Stein within three days of the effective date of this agreement; (ii) beginning on the first calendar day of each successive month following the effective date of this agreement, the Company has agreed to pay Mr. Stein $5,000 per month until the full amount of the judgment awarded to Mr. Stein ($223,168) has been satisfied, however, the full amount awarded to Mr. Stein must be paid in full no later than April 30, 2018; and (iii) provide Mr. Stein with certain financial information of the Company. On February 16, 2018, the Company paid the full amount owed to Mr. Stein.

 

On May 18, 2016, the Company was served with a complaint from Solomon Edwards Group, LLC for breach of written agreement and unjust enrichment for failure to pay invoices in the amount of $172,645 for services provided, plus interest and costs. The invoices have been accrued for in the periods in which the services were provided. The Company has responded to the claim and is simultaneously pursuing settlement options. On May 9, 2017, the Company issued 7,281 shares of common stock to Solomon Edwards Group, LLC in satisfaction of $121,800 of the Company’s liability. On November 28, 2017, the Company and Solomon Edwards Group LLC entered into a Settlement Agreement and Release whereby the parties agreed that the Company will pay $63,445 to Solomon Edwards Group LLC over the course of eleven (11) months in full and complete satisfaction of the previously filed complaint.

 

On March 20, 2017, in connection with the Company’s Miami Beach, Florida lease, the Company’s landlord filed a complaint for eviction with the Miami-Dade County Court against the Company as a result of the Company’s default under the lease for failing to pay rent, operating expenses and sales taxes of approximately $175,000, which represents the Company’s obligations under the lease through March 31, 2017, which was accrued for as of September 30, 2017. Concurrent with the closing of the Public Offering, the Company was to pay $234,000 to the landlord pursuant to a Settlement Agreement and Release between the Company and the counterparty, dated January 19, 2018. On February 16, 2018, the Company paid the full amount owed.

 

On June 8, 2017, the Company entered into a settlement agreement with Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati to settle $475,394 in payables owed for legal services as of June 30, 2017 requiring: (a) $25,000 to be paid in cash at the closing of the Public Offering; and (b) $75,000 in the form of 17,647 shares of Common Stock issuable upon the closing of the Public Offering. On February 16, 2018, the Company paid the $25,000 in cash and on March 19, 2018, the Company issued the 17,647 shares of common stock.

 

On July 21, 2017, as amended on February 26, 2018, the Company was served with a complaint from Zwick and Banyai PLLC and Jack Zwick for a breach of a written agreement and unjust enrichment for failure to pay invoices in the aggregate of amount $53,069 for services rendered, plus interest and costs, which has been accrued as of December 31, 2017.

 

On May 30, 2013, JNS Power & Control Systems, Inc. (“JNS”) filed a complaint against 350 Green, LLC alleging claims for breach of contract, specific performance and indemnity arising out of an Asset Purchase Agreement between JNS and 350 Green entered on April 13, 2013, whereby JNS would purchase car chargers and related assets from 350 Green. On September 24, 2013, the District Court entered summary judgment in favor of JNS on its claim for specific performance. On September 9, 2015, the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit of Chicago, Illinois affirmed the ruling of the District Court, which affirmed the sale of certain assets by 350 Green to JNS and the assumption of certain 350 Green liabilities by JNS. On April 7, 2016, JNS amended the complaint to add the Company, alleging an unspecified amount of lost revenues from the chargers, among other matters, caused by the defendants. Plaintiff also seeks indemnity for its unspecified attorney’s fees and costs in connection with enforcing the Asset Purchase Agreement in courts in New York and Chicago. As of December 31, 2017, the Company accrued a $750,000 liability in connection with its settlement offer to JNS. On February 2, 2018, the parties entered into an asset purchase agreement whereby the parties agreed to settle the litigation. The Company purchased back the EV chargers it previously sold to JNS for: (a) shares of Common Stock worth $600,000 with a price per share equal to $4.25 (the price per share of the Public Offering); (b) $50,000 cash payment within ten days of the closing of the Public Offering; and (c) $100,000 cash payment within six months following the closing of the Public Offering. The Public Offering closed on February 16, 2018. The Company issued 141,176 shares on March 16, 2018. The Company made the $50,000 payment on March 16, 2018. JNS filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit without prejudice on March 23, 2018 and the judge granted the motion on March 26, 2018. JNS will file a motion to convert the dismissal without prejudice to dismissal with prejudice within three business days of the $100,000 payment. On March 16, 2018, the Company issued 23,529 shares of Common Stock to JNS to be held in escrow as security for the $100,000 payment. At the time the $100,000 payment is made by the Company, the 23,529 shares currently held in escrow will be cancelled.

 

ITEM 4. MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES

 

Not applicable

 

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PART II

 

ITEM 5. MARKET FOR REGISTRANT’S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES.

 

Market Information

 

Until February 13, 2018, our Common Stock was quoted on the OTC Pink Current Information Marketplace under the symbol “CCGI”. As of February 14, 2018, our Common Stock and warrants are now listed on NASDAQ under the symbols “BLNK” and “BLNKW”, respectively.

 

Price Range of Common Stock

 

The following table sets forth, for the periods indicated, the high and low bid prices per share for our common stock as reported by the relevant OTC quotation service. These bid prices represent prices quoted by broker-dealers on the relevant OTC quotation service. The prices reflect inter-dealer quotations, do not include retail mark-ups, markdowns or commissions and do not necessarily reflect actual transactions.

 

Quarter ended   High     Low  
             
April 1, 2018 - April 13, 2018   $ 2.89     $ 2.00  
March 31, 2018   $ 15.00     $ 2.51  
December 31, 2017   $ 11.20     $ 4.50  
September 30, 2017   $ 33.70     $ 8.50  
June 30, 2017   $ 10.50     $ 8.00  
March 31, 2017   $ 12.50     $ 5.00  
December 31, 2016   $ 22.00     $ 5.50  
September 30, 2016   $ 30.00     $ 13.00  
June 30, 2016   $ 44.50     $ 12.50  
March 31, 2016   $ 27.50     $ 5.00  

 

Security Holders

 

As of April 11, 2018, there were approximately 244 holders of record of our Common Stock. The last reported sale price of our Common Stock on April 11, 2018 on NASDAQ was $2.38 per share.

 

Dividends

 

To date, we have not paid any dividends on our Common Stock and do not anticipate paying any such dividends in the foreseeable future. The declaration and payment of dividends on the Common Stock is at the discretion of our Board and will depend on, among other things, our operating results, financial condition, capital requirements, contractual restrictions or such other factors as our Board may deem relevant. We currently expect to use all available funds to finance the future development and expansion of our business and do not anticipate paying dividends on our Common Stock in the foreseeable future.

 

Unregistered Sales of Equity Securities and Use of Proceeds

 

During the year ended December 31, 2017, we issued securities that were not registered under the Securities Act, and were not previously disclosed in a Current Report on Form 8-K as listed below. Except where noted, all of the securities discussed in this Item 5 were issued in reliance on the exemption under Section 4(a)(2) of the Securities Act.

 

In connection with the JMJ Financing, with the achievement of certain milestones in February 2017 (the filing with the SEC of a revised Preliminary Information Statement and a Definitive Information Statement, each on Schedule 14C regarding the Reverse Stock Split), additional advances of $225,100 and $300,000 under the Promissory Note occurred on February 10 and February 27, respectively. Thus, two more warrants to purchase the Company’s Common Stock were issued, one for 6,431 shares and the other for 8,571 shares, respectively.

 

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All advances after February 28, 2017 were at the discretion of JMJ without regard to any specific milestones occurring. Additional advances of $250,000 and $30,000 under the Promissory Note occurred on March 14, 2017 and March 24, 2017, respectively, and two more warrants to purchase the Company’s Common Stock were issued, one for 7,143 shares and the other for 857 shares. An additional advance of $400,000 occurred on April 5, 2017 and another warrant to purchase 11,429 shares of our Common Stock was issued on the same date. An additional advance of $295,000 occurred on May 9, 2017 and another warrant to purchase 8,429 shares of the Company’s Common Stock was issued on the same date. On July 27, 2017, an additional advance of $50,000 was made to the Company and another warrant to purchase 1,429 shares of the Company’s Common Stock was issued to JMJ. The Company and JMJ entered into the Additional Agreement on October 23, 2017. In accordance with the terms of the Additional Agreement, on October 24, 2017, JMJ advanced to the Company $949,900 available pursuant to previous agreements with JMJ and another warrant to purchase 27,140 shares of the Company’s Common Stock was issued to JMJ.

 

On May 5, 2017, the Board approved, and on May 8, 2017, the Company issued an aggregate of 61,740 shares of Series C Convertible Preferred Shares in satisfaction of aggregate liabilities of approximately $6,200,000 associated with the Company’s registration rights penalty, public information fee and Series C Convertible Preferred Shares dividends.

 

On May 5, 2017, the Board approved, and on May 8, 2017, the Company issued an aggregate of 2,166 shares of Common Stock to five people in satisfaction of aggregate liabilities of $386,900 associated with certain professional and other consulting fee agreements.

 

During the three months ended June 30, 2017, the Company received agreements signed by certain holders of outstanding warrants to purchase Common Stock, pursuant to which warrants to purchase an aggregate of 181,783 warrant shares converted into 180,533 shares of Common Stock. These 180,533 shares were issued pursuant to a Board resolution dated July 17, 2017.

 

On July 14, 2017, the Company issued 10,000 shares of its Common Stock to Mr. Schweitzer valued at $93,750 pursuant to his Director Agreement.

 

On July 18, 2017, the Company issued a promissory note to BLNK Holdings, LLC, an entity whose holdings Mr. Farkas has voting power and investment power over, in the principal amount of $5,078.22 at an interest rate of 10% annually. The date of maturity is the earlier of (i) October 17, 2017 or (ii) the closing date of the offering of the Company’s securities.

 

On July 31, 2017, the Company issued a promissory note to BLNK Holdings in the principal amount of $30,000 at an interest rate of 10% annually. The date of maturity is the earlier of (i) October 17, 2017 or (ii) the closing date of the offering of the Company’s securities.

 

On August 4, 2017, the Company issued 48,023 warrants, in lieu of options, owed to Mr. Calise pursuant to his employment agreement at prices ranging from $35.00 to $150.00, with a weighted average price of $36.44.

 

On August 7, 2017, we issued a sixty-day convertible note in the principal amount of $50,000 to FGI. Interest on the note accrues at a rate of 15% annually and is payable at maturity. The unpaid principal and accrued interest are convertible at the election of the holder into shares of Common Stock at $35.00 per share. In connection with the note issuance, we issued a five-year immediately vested warrant to purchase 100,000 shares of Common not subject to the Reverse Stock Split at an exercise price of $0.70 (not subject to the Reverse Stock Split).

 

On August 14, 2017, the Company and Wolverine Flagship Fund Trading Limited (“Wolverine”) entered into a Warrant Exchange Agreement (the “Warrant Agreement”). Pursuant to the Warrant Agreement, Wolverine agreed to exchange its 2,500,000 warrant shares for the same number of shares of the Company’s Common Stock.

 

On August 29, 2017, FGI exercised warrants on a cashless basis and received 2,990,404 shares of Common Stock.

 

From January 1, 2017 through September 25, 2017, the Company received agreements signed by certain holders of outstanding warrants to purchase Common Stock, pursuant to which warrants to purchase an aggregate of 726,704 warrant shares converted into 711,041 shares of Common Stock. These 711,041 shares were issued pursuant to Board resolutions dated September 26, 2017 and November 1, 2017.

 

On November 29, 2017, the Company issued 9,119 Series C Preferred Shares to forty-five (45) stockholders as payment in full, among other items, of registration rights penalties accrued for the period of July 1, 2017 through September 30, 2017.

 

Use of Proceeds for Registered Offering of Common Stock and Warrants

 

On February 13, 2018, our Registration Statement on Form S-1 (File No. 333-214461) was declared effective by the SEC for our underwritten public offering (the “Public Offering”), pursuant to which we sold an aggregate of 4,353,000 shares of Common Stock and warrants to purchase up to an aggregate of 8,706,000 shares of common stock (the “Warrants”), at a combined public offering price of $4.25 per unit comprised of one share of Common Stock and two Warrants. Each Warrant is exercisable for five years from issuance and has an exercise price equal to $4.25 per share. The Company granted the Public Offering’s underwriters a 45-day option to purchase up to an additional 652,950 shares of Common Stock and/or warrants to purchase 1,305,900 shares of Common Stock to cover over-allotments, if any. In connection with the closing of the Public Offering, the underwriters partially exercised their over-allotment option and purchased an additional 406,956 warrants., for aggregate gross proceeds of approximately $18.5 million, less underwriting discounts and commissions and other offering expenses of approximately $1.69 million, for aggregate net proceeds of approximately $16.8 million. The Public Offering closed on February 16, 2018. There has been no material change in the planned use of proceeds from Public Offering as described in our prospectus dated February 13, 2018, as filed with the SEC pursuant to Rule 424(b) under the Securities Act (File No. 333-214461) (“Prospectus”). Joseph Gunnar & Co., LLC acted as sole book-running manager for the Public Offering and The Benchmark Company, LLC acted as a co-manager for the Public Offering.

 

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ITEM 6. SELECTED FINANCIAL DATA

 

We are not required to provide the information required by this item because we are a smaller reporting company.

 

ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

 

The following discussion and analysis of the results of operations and financial condition for the years ended December 31, 2017 and 2016 should be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and the notes to those consolidated financial statements that are included elsewhere in this Annual Report. Our discussion includes forward-looking statements based upon current expectations that involve risks and uncertainties, such as our plans, objectives, expectations and intentions. Actual results and the timing of events could differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of a number of factors. See “Forward-Looking Statements.”

 

Overview

 

We are a leading owner, operator, and provider of electric vehicle (“EV”) charging equipment and networked EV charging services. We offer both residential and commercial EV charging equipment, enabling EV drivers to easily recharge at various location types.

 

Our principal line of products and services is our Blink EV charging network (the “Blink Network”) and EV charging equipment (also known as electric vehicle supply equipment) and EV related services. Our Blink Network is proprietary cloud-based software that operates, maintains, and tracks all of the Blink EV charging stations and the associated charging data. The Blink Network provides property owners, managers, and parking companies, who we refer to as our Property Partners, with cloud-based services that enable the remote monitoring and management of EV charging stations, payment processing, and provide EV drivers with vital station information including station location, availability, and applicable fees.

 

We offer our Property Partners a flexible range of business models for EV charging equipment and services. In our comprehensive and turnkey business model, we own and operate the EV charging equipment, manage the installation, maintenance, and related services, and share a portion of the EV charging revenue with the property owner. Alternatively, Property Partners may share in the equipment and installation expenses, with Blink operating and managing the EV charging stations and providing connectivity to the Blink Network. For Property Partners interested in purchasing and owning EV charging stations that they manage, we can also provide EV charging hardware, site recommendations, connectivity to the Blink Network, and service and maintenance services.

 

We have strategic partnerships across numerous transit/destination locations, including airports, auto dealers, healthcare/medical, hotels, mixed-use, municipal locations, multifamily residential and condos, parks and recreation areas, parking lots, religious institutions, restaurants, retailers, schools and universities, stadiums, supermarkets, transportation hubs, and workplace locations. As of April 11, 2018, we have approximately 14,165 charging stations deployed of which 4,690 are Level 2 commercial charging units, 113 DC Fast Charging EV chargers and 1,976 residential charging units in service on the Blink Network. Additionally, we currently have approximately 436 Level 2 commercial charging units on other networks and there are also approximately an additional 6,950 non-networked, residential Blink EV charging stations. The non-networked, residential Blink EV charging stations are all partner owned.

 

As reflected in our consolidated financial statements as of December 31, 2017, we had had a cash balance, a working capital deficiency and an accumulated deficit of $185,151, $34,762,130, and $156,435,278 respectively. During the years ended December 31, 2017 and 2016, we incurred net losses of $75,363,496 and $7,699,127, respectively. The Company has not yet achieved profitability. Subsequent to December 31, 2017, the Company raised aggregate net proceeds of approximately $14.1 million in connection with its public offering and exchanged aggregate liabilities of approximately $26.0 million for equity.

 

Consolidated Results of Operations

 

Year Ended December 31, 2017 Compared With Year Ended December 31, 2016

 

Revenues

 

Total revenue for the year ended December 31, 2017 was $2,500,357 compared to $3,326,021, a decline of $825,664, or 25%. The decrease is primarily attributed to a decrease in revenue from product sales of $631,853, or 56%, to $495,086 for the year ended December 31, 2017 from $1,126,939 for the year ended December 31, 2016. The decrease is due to a lower volume of residential and commercial units sold in 2017. Additionally, the decline is attributable to a $211,767 decline in grants and rebates revenue that decreased to $120,905, or 64% for the year ended December 31, 2017 compared to $332,672 for the year ended December 31, 2016. Grants and rebates relating to equipment and the related installation are deferred and amortized in a manner consistent with the depreciation expense of the related assets over their useful lives. The ability to secure grant revenues is typically unpredictable and, therefore, uncertain. We have not recently received any new grants and, as a result, the 2017 revenue is related to the amortization of previous grants.

 

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Charging service revenue company-owned charging stations was $1,186,710 for the year ended December 31, 2017 compared to $1,144,016 for the year ended December 31, 2016, a slight increase of $42,694, or 4%.

 

Total revenue from warranty revenue and network fees was $359,216 for the year ended December 31, 2017, compared to $380,884 the year ended December 31, 2016 a decrease of $21,668, or 6%. The decrease is primarily attributable to a lower volume of residential and commercial units sold in 2017.

 

Other revenue decreased by $3,070 to $338,440 for the year ended December 31, 2017 as compared to $341,510 for the year ended December 31, 2016. The decrease was primarily attributable to a decrease of $175,978 in charging revenue from host-owned stations as a result of property owners converting their charging stations from host-owned to company-owned. This decrease was almost fully offset by the sale of Low Carbon Fuel Standard credits that amounted to $172,908 during the year ended December 31, 2017.

 

Cost of Revenues

 

Cost of revenues primarily consists of depreciation of installed charging stations, amortization of the Blink Network infrastructure, the cost of charging station goods and related services sold, repairs and maintenance, electricity reimbursements and revenue share payments to hosts when we are the primary obligor in the revenue share arrangement. Cost of revenues for the year ended December 31, 2017 were $1,454,686 as compared to $2,813,680 for the year ended December 31, 2016, a decrease of $1,358,994, or 48%, primarily due to a reduction in depreciation and amortization expense that declined to $380,309 for the year ended December 31, 2017 as compared to $805,607 for the year ended December 31, 2016, as the underlying assets became fully depreciated during 2017. Warranty and repairs and maintenance costs decreased by $379,367, or 109%, to a benefit of $32,890 during the year ended December 31, 2017 from $346,477 during the year ended December 31, 2016. The decrease was primarily attributable to a decrease in warranty expenses of $340,828 as a result of us bringing our warranty service in-house in 2017. Network costs were $302,645 for the year ended December 31, 2017 compared to $511,438 for the year ended December 31, 2016, a decrease of $208,793, or 41%. This decrease is attributed to renegotiated contracts with service providers. There is a degree of variability in our gross margins related to charging services revenues from period to period primarily due to (i) the mix of revenue share payment arrangements, (ii) electricity reimbursements, and (iii) the costs of maintaining charging stations not currently in operation. Any variability in our gross margins related to equipment sales depends on the mix of products sold. Lastly, due to a decrease in the volume of residential and commercial units sold in 2017, cost of product sales decreased by $264,307 to $237,422 during the year ended December 31, 2017 as compared to $501,729 during 2016.

 

Operating Expenses

 

Operating expenses consist of selling, marketing, advertising, payroll, administrative, finance and professional expenses.

 

Compensation expense increased by $1,101,949, or 23%, from $4,879,612 (consisting of approximately $4.1 million of cash compensation and approximately $0.8 million of non-cash compensation) for the year ended December 31, 2016 to $5,981,561 (consisting of approximately $2.9 million of cash compensation and approximately $3.1 million of non-cash compensation) for the year ended December 31, 2017. The increase is primarily attributed to an increase in non-cash compensation of $1.9 million due to increased equity-based board fees and commissions during 2017. This is partially offset by a decrease in salary and other payroll expenses of $724,750 due to a reduction in head count in 2017.

 

Other operating expenses consist primarily of rent and second generation product development expenses. Other operating expenses decreased by $546,853, or 38%, from $1,451,683 for the year ended December 31, 2016 to $904,830 for the year ended December 31, 2017. The decrease was primarily attributable to a decrease in product development costs related to second generation charging stations of $338,979 to $162,190 during the year ended December 31, 2017 from $501,168 during the year ended December 31, 2016. Additionally, there was a decrease in rent expense of $135,514 to $105,246 during the year ended December 31, 2017 from $240,760 during the year ended December 31, 2016. The decrease in rent was due to our move to smaller spaces.

 

General and administrative expenses decreased by $112,029, or 8%, from $1,393,954 for the year ended December 31, 2016 to $1,281,925 for the year ended December 31, 2017. The decrease was primarily due to a decrease in accounting and consulting fees of $312,987 to $331,040 during the year ended December 31, 2017 compared to $644,027 during the year ended December 31, 2016. During 2016, there was significant accounting work performed in connection with our efforts to get current in our filings with the SEC. This was partially offset by an increase in legal fees of $303,954 to $699,143 during the year ended December 31, 2017 compared to $395,188 during the year ended December 31, 2016. During the year ended December 31, 2017, we incurred lease termination costs of $300,000 which represents the fair value of our remaining under our lease agreement.

 

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Other Expense

 

Other expense increased by $67,454,632 from $486,219 for the year ended December 31, 2016 to $67,940,851 for the year ended December 31, 2017. The increase was primarily due to an increase in the non-cash change in fair value of warrant liabilities of approximately $44.7 million, which was primarily attributable to the quantity of warrants held by our Executive Chairman not being subject to our reverse stock split, which, as a result of the reverse stock split, caused the warrants to increase in value. The increase in other expense was also attributable to a loss on settlement reserve of approximately $13.0 million, which was primarily related to our default on our note with JMJ, as well as a non-cash loss on inducement of approximately $7.6 million which related to exchange agreements whereby the fair value consideration we issued to counterparties exceeded the carrying amounts of the liabilities.

 

Net Loss

 

Our net loss for the year ended December 31, 2017 increased by $67,664,369, or 879%, to $75,363,496 as compared to $7,699,127 for the year ended December 31, 2016. The decrease was primarily attributable to an increase in other expenses of $67,454,632. Our net loss attributable to common shareholders for the year ended December 31, 2017 increased by $70,462,969, or 769%, from $9,167,627 to $79,630,596 for the aforementioned reasons and due to an increase in the dividend attributable to Series C Convertible Preferred shareholders of $2,798,600.

 

Liquidity and Capital Resources

 

During the year ended December 31, 2017, we financed our activities from proceeds derived from debt and equity financing. A significant portion of the funds raised from the sale of capital stock have been used to cover working capital needs and personnel, office expenses and various consulting and professional fees.

 

For the year ended December 31, 2017 and 2016, we used cash of $2,548,661 and $2,749,023, respectively, in operations. Our cash use for the year ended December 31, 2017 was primarily attributable to our net loss of $75,363,496, adjusted for net non-cash expenses in the aggregate amount of $58,138,853, partially offset by $14,675,982 of net cash provided by changes in the levels of operating assets and liabilities. Our cash use for the year ended December 31, 2016 was primarily attributable to our net loss of $7,699,127, adjusted for net non-cash expenses in the aggregate amount of $2,031,537 partially offset by $2,918,567 of net cash provided by changes in the levels of operating assets and liabilities.

 

During the year ended December 31, 2017, cash used in investing activities was $23,169, which was used to purchase charging stations and other fixed assets. Net cash used in investing activities was $80,463 during the year ended December 31, 2016, which was used to purchase charging stations and other fixed assets.

 

Net cash provided by financing activities for the year ended December 31, 2017 was $2,751,083, of which, $3,017,645 was provided in connection with the issuance of various forms of notes payable, partially offset by the payment of $172,158 associated with public offering costs and $72,945 of debt issuance costs as well as the repayment of notes payable of $9,893. Net cash provided by financing activities for the year ended December 31, 2016 was $2,646,153, of which $1,367,120 was provided in connection with proceeds from the issuance of Series C Convertible Preferred Stock and warrants, $1,000,000 was provided in connection with the issuance of convertible notes payable, $600,000 was provided in connection with proceeds from the issuance of convertible notes payable to a related party, partially offset by $52,500 of payment of Series C Convertible Preferred Stock issuance cost, $53,640 of payment of future offering costs, $87,405 of payment of debt issuance costs, and repayment of notes payable of $138,988.

 

Through December 31, 2017, we incurred an accumulated deficit since inception of $156,435,278. As of December 31, 2017, we had a cash balance and working capital deficit of $185,151 and $34,762,130, respectively. During the year ended December 31, 2017, we incurred a net loss of $75,363,496. We have not yet achieved profitability. Subsequent to December 31, 2017, we raised aggregate net proceeds of approximately $14.1 million in connection with the closing of our public offering and exchanged aggregate liabilities of approximately $26.0 million for equity.

 

There has been no material change in the planned use of proceeds from Public Offering as described in our Prospectus. Approximately $4.4 million was to be used for the repayment of certain debt and other obligations, of which, as of March 27, 2018, approximately $3.8 million, has been paid. The remaining amount will be used as follows:

 

  (1) Approximately $4.0 million for the deployment of charging stations;
  (2) Approximately $1.0 million to expand our product offerings including but not limited to completing the research and development, as well as the launch of our next generation of EV charging equipment;
  (3) Approximately $3.0 million to add additional staff in the areas of finance, sales, customer support, and engineering; and
  (4) The remainder for working capital and other general corporate purposes

 

We believe our current cash on hand is sufficient to meet our obligations, operating and capital requirements for at least the next twelve months from the date of this filing. Thereafter, the we will need to raise further capital, through the sale of additional equity or debt securities, or other debt instruments to support our future operations. Our operating needs include the planned costs to operate our business, including amounts required to fund working capital and capital expenditures. Our future capital requirements and the adequacy of our available funds will depend on many factors, including our ability to successfully commercialize our products and services, competing technological and market developments, and the need to enter into collaborations with other companies or acquire other companies or technologies to enhance or complement our product and service offerings. There is also no assurance that the amount of funds we might raise will enable us to complete our development initiatives or attain profitable operations. If we are unable to obtain additional financing on a timely basis, we may have to curtail our development, marketing and promotional activities, which would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations, and ultimately, we could be forced to discontinue our operations and liquidate.

 

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Since inception, our operations have primarily been funded through proceeds from equity and debt financings. Although management believes that we have access to capital resources, there are currently no commitments in place for new financing at this time, except as described below under the heading Recent Developments, and there is no assurance that we will be able to obtain funds on commercially acceptable terms, if at all.

 

Recent Developments

 

Resignation of Andy Kinard as President

 

On March 19, 2018, Andy Kinard resigned as the Company’s President, effective immediately. Mr. Kinard remains a non-executive employee of the Company. The Company has not yet appointed a new President.

 

Public Offering and Nasdaq Uplisting

 

On February 16, 2018, we closed our underwritten public offering (the “Public Offering”) of an aggregate 4,353,000 shares of our common stock and warrants to purchase 8,706,000 shares of common stock at a combined public offering price of $4.25 per unit comprised of one share and two warrants. The Public Offering resulted in approximately $18.5 million of gross proceeds, less underwriting discounts and commissions and other offering expenses of approximately $4.4 million, a portion of which is included within deferred public offering costs on the balance sheet as of December 31, 2017, for aggregate net proceeds of approximately $14.1 million. The common stock and warrants were approved to list on the Nasdaq Capital Market under the symbols BLNK and BLNKW, respectively, and began trading on February 14, 2018.

 

Each warrant is exercisable for five years from issuance and has an exercise price equal to $4.25 per share. We granted the Public Offering’s underwriters a 45-day option to purchase up to an additional 652,950 shares of common stock and/or warrants to purchase 1,305,900 shares of common stock to cover over-allotments, if any. In connection with the closing of the Public Offering, the underwriters partially exercised their over-allotment option and purchased an additional 406,956 warrants. The 45-day option expired on April 2, 2018.

 

Securities Purchase Agreement with JMJ Financial

 

On October 7, 2016, we executed a Promissory Note in favor of JMJ in the amount up to $3,725,000 bearing interest on the unpaid balance at the rate of six percent. The initial amount borrowed under the Promissory Note was $500,000, with the remaining amounts permitted to be borrowed under the Promissory Note being subject to us achieving certain milestones.

 

We initially issued one warrant to JMJ to purchase a total of 14,286 shares of our Common Stock at an exercise price equal to the lesser of: (i) 80% of the Common Stock price of the Public Offering, (ii) $35.00 per share, (iii) 80% of the unit price of the Public Offering (if applicable), (iv) the exercise price of any warrants issued in the Public Offering, or (v) the lowest conversion price, exercise price, or exchange price, of any security issued by us that is outstanding on October 13, 2016.

 

The initial amount borrowed under the Promissory Note was $500,000, with the remaining amounts permitted to be borrowed under the Promissory Note being subject to us achieving certain milestones. With the achievement of certain milestones in November 2016 (the filing with the SEC of a Preliminary Information Statement on Schedule 14C regarding the Reverse Stock Split), an additional advance of $500,000 under the Promissory Note occurred on November 28, 2016. Another warrant to purchase 14,286 shares of our Common Stock was issued as of November 28, 2016. With the achievement of certain milestones in February 2017 (the filing with the SEC of a revised Preliminary Information Statement and a Definitive Information Statement, each on Schedule 14C regarding the Reverse Stock Split), additional advances of $225,100 and $300,000 under the Promissory Note occurred on February 10 and February 27, respectively. Thus, two more warrants to purchase the Company’s Common Stock were issued, one for 6,431 shares and the other for 8,571 shares, respectively.

 

All advances after February 28, 2017 were at the discretion of JMJ without regard to any specific milestones occurring. Additional advances of $250,000 and $30,000 under the Promissory Note occurred on March 14, 2017 and March 24, 2017, respectively, and two more warrants to purchase the Company’s Common Stock were issued, one for 7,143 shares and the other for 857 shares. An additional advance of $400,000 occurred on April 5, 2017 and another warrant to purchase 11,429 shares of our Common Stock was issued on the same date. An additional advance of $295,000 occurred on May 9, 2017 and another warrant to purchase 8,429 shares of the Company’s Common Stock was issued on the same date. On July 27, 2017, an additional advance of $50,000 was made to the Company and another warrant to purchase 1,429 shares of the Company’s Common Stock was issued to JMJ. JMJ and the Company entered into a Lockup, Conversion, and Additional Investment Agreement dated October 23, 2017 (the “Additional Agreement”), however, it became effective upon the document being fully executed on October 24, 2017. In accordance with the terms of the Additional Agreement, on October 24, 2017, JMJ advanced to the Company $949,900 available pursuant to previous agreements with JMJ and another warrant to purchase 27,140 shares of the Company’s Common Stock was issued to JMJ. As of the closing of the Public Offering, ten (10) warrants to purchase a total of 100,001 shares of the Company’s Common Stock had been issued to JMJ. The aggregate exercise price was $3,500,000.

 

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The Additional Agreement extended the maturity date of the JMJ loans to December 15, 2017. On November 29, 2017, the Company and JMJ entered into the first amendment to the Additional Agreement, extending the maturity date to December 31, 2017. On January 4, 2018, the Company and JMJ entered into the second amendment to the Additional Agreement, extending the maturity date to January 31, 2018. On February 1, 2018, the Company and JMJ entered into the third amendment to the Additional Agreement, extending the maturity date to February 10, 2018. On February 7, 2018, the Company and JMJ entered into the fourth amendment to the Additional Agreement, extending the maturity date to February 15, 2018.

 

In addition, JMJ claimed that the Company would owe JMJ $12 million as a mandatory default amount pursuant to previous agreements with the Company. JMJ, in the Additional Agreement, agreed to allow the Company to have two options for settling a previously issued note (including settling the mandatory default amount for either $1.1 million or $2.1 million), securing a lockup agreement from JMJ, and exchanging previously issued warrants for shares of Common Stock. Each of these options depended upon the Public Offering closing by December 15, 2017 (subsequently extended to February 15, 2018). The option chosen was at the Company’s sole discretion.

 

The first option was that the Company, upon the closing of the Public Offering: (a) would pay $2.0 million in cash to JMJ; and (b) would issue shares of Common Stock to JMJ with a value of $9,005,000 (including the Origination Shares). The second option was that the Company, upon the closing of the Public Offering, would not pay any cash to JMJ and would issue shares of Common Stock to JMJ with a value of $12,005,000 (including the Origination Shares).

 

Upon the closing of the Public Offering (February 16, 2018), the Company chose the second option and did not pay any cash to JMJ. Although the Public Offering closed one day after the February 15, 2018 Maturity Date, JMJ accepted payment on February 16, 2018 did not declare a default.

 

In each case, the Company was to issue such number of duly and validly issued, fully paid and non-assessable shares of Common Stock equal to the amount in question divided by the lowest of (i) $35.00 per share, or (ii) the lowest daily closing price of the Common Stock during the ten days prior to delivery of shares (subject to adjustment for stock splits), or (iii) 80% of the Common Stock price of the Public Offering, or (iv) 80% of the unit price of the Public Offering (if applicable), or (v) the exercise price of any warrants issued in the Public Offering.

 

Prior to the Company choosing the option at the closing (with the first option including some cash and the second option not including any cash), JMJ could elect to receive some or all of the share consideration (to be issued pursuant to either option) in the form of convertible preferred stock. On January 29, 2018, JMJ made the election to receive all of the share consideration in the form of shares of convertible preferred stock.

 

Pursuant to the second option and to the election by JMJ to receive convertible preferred stock instead of common stock as permitted by the Additional Agreement, the Company, on February 16, 2018 issued to JMJ shares of Series D Preferred Stock convertible into 3,847,756 shares of Common Stock, to reflect the full payment of all dollar amounts and share amounts owed in connection with the JMJ Financing. Because the Series D Preferred Stock is convertible into shares of our Common Stock, upon JMJ ’s conversion of the Series D Preferred Stock into shares of our Common Stock, holders of our Common Stock will experience dilution.

 

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We refer herein to these transactions with JMJ as the “JMJ Financing”.

 

Separately from and unrelated to the JMJ Financing, JMJ lent $250,000 to the Company on January 22, 2018. We agreed with JMJ to issue units of unregistered shares of Common Stock and warrants as repayment of this $250,000 advance at the closing of the Public Offering (with each unit consisting of one share of Common Stock and two warrants each to purchase one share of Common Stock). On March 16, 2018, the Company issued 73,529 shares of Common Stock to JMJ and on April 9 the Company issued 147,058 warrants to JMJ.

 

Issuances of Restricted Common Stock

 

In connection with the closing of the Public Offering, and pursuant to obligations previously incurred by the Company, on March 16, 19, 22, and 27, 2018, the Company issued a total of 12,305,228 restricted shares of Common Stock, to approximately seventy (70) individuals or entities (the “Securities Issuance”). Details of the Securities Issuance are described below.

 

Upon the closing of the Public Offering, all outstanding shares of Series B Preferred Shares of the Company were converted into 223,235 shares of Common Stock. These 223,235 shares of Common Stock are equal to $825,000 payable to ECOtality Consolidated Qualified Creditor Trust. The Company issued to ECOtality Consolidated Qualified Creditor Trust 223,235 shares of Common Stock as payment. As of March 28, 2018, there are no longer any Series B Preferred Shares outstanding.

 

The Company issued to Mr. Michael J. Calise, the Company’s Chief Executive Officer, 10,269 restricted shares of the Company’s Common Stock. The shares were issued in settlement and consideration of services rendered during the period of April 1, 2016 through March 31, 2017. The 20,538 five-year warrants to purchase Common Stock with an exercise price of $4.25 were issued to Mr. Calise on April 9, 2018.

 

9,440 shares were issued to Mr. Andy Kinard, the Company’s former President, in settlement and consideration of services rendered during the period of April 1, 2016 through March 31, 2017. The 18,880 five-year warrants to purchase Common Stock with an exercise price of $4.25 were issued to Mr. Kinard on April 9, 2018.

 

46,655 shares of Common Stock were issued as payment of a total of $153,529 to both SemaConnect Inc. and their legal counsel pursuant to the Settlement Agreement dated June 23, 2017.

 

Pursuant to a Confidential Settlement Agreement between the Company and ITT Cannon, LLC, dated May 17, 2017, the Company owed $200,000 to ITT Cannon which was to be paid entirely in the form of shares of Common Stock. On March 16, 2018, the Company issued 47,059 shares of Common Stock to ITT Cannon as partial payment of this $200,000 in stock. On March 30, 2018 the Company has issued an additional 25,669 shares to satisfy in full its obligations to ITT.

 

74,753 shares of Common Stock were issued as payment of $221,009 owed to BLNK Holdings, in principal and interest pursuant to a Conversion Agreement between the Company and BLNK Holdings, dated August 23, 2017.

 

73,529 shares of Common Stock were issued to JMJ Financial as repayment of a $250,000 advance pursuant to a Letter Agreement between the Company and the counterparty, dated February 1, 2018. The 147,058 five-year warrants to purchase Common Stock with an exercise price of $4.25 were issued to JMJ Financial on April 9, 2018.

 

141,176 shares of Common Stock were issued to JNS Power & Control Systems, Inc. (“JNS”) as payment of $600,000 in connection with an asset purchase agreement entered into with the counterparty on February 2, 2018 in settlement of litigation.

 

23,529 shares of Common Stock were issued to JNS to be held in escrow as security for the $100,000 payment to be paid within six months of the closing of the Public Offering. At the time the $100,000 payment is made by the Company, the 23,529 shares currently held in escrow will be cancelled.

 

17,132 shares of Common Stock were issued to Genweb2 as repayment of a $58,250 debt pursuant to a Letter Agreement between the Company and the counterparty, dated February 12, 2018.

 

2,353 shares of Common Stock were issued as payment of $10,000 to Russ Klenet & Associates, Inc. pursuant to the Settlement and Release Agreement between the Company and the counterparty, dated December 29, 2016.

 

17,647 shares of Common Stock were issued as payment of $75,000 owed to Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati pursuant to a Settlement Agreement between the Company and the counterparty, dated June 8, 2017.

 

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119,700 shares of Common Stock were issued to Schafer & Weiner, PLLC as part of a repayment of a $406,981.47 debt pursuant to a Letter Agreement between the Company and the counterparty. The 239,400 five-year warrants to purchase Common Stock with an exercise price of $4.25 were issued to Schafer & Weiner, PLLC on April 9, 2018.

 

1,882 shares of Common Stock were issued to IBIS Co. in connection with an introduction to an investor.

 

550,000 shares of Common Stock were issued pursuant to letter agreements, dated December 6, 2017 and December 7, 2017 signed by the two holders of the Series A Convertible Preferred Stock (“Series A Preferred Shares”) (Mr. Farkas, our Executive Chairman is receiving 500,000 shares of Common Stock and Ira Feintuch, our Chief Operating Officer is receiving 50,000 shares of Common Stock) to convert 11,000,000 Series A Preferred Shares issued and outstanding as of February 13, 2018. As of March 28, 2018, there are no longer any Series A Preferred Shares outstanding.

 

886,119 shares of Common Stock were issued to Mr. Farkas pursuant to the December 6, 2017 letter agreement.

 

13,721 shares of Common Stock were issued to Mr. Farkas as payment of $46,651 in Board fees owed to Mr. Farkas.

 

223,456 shares of Common Stock were issued to Mr. Farkas as payment of $712,500 in shares of Common Stock owed to Mr. Farkas for the period of December 1, 2015 through May 31, 2017 pursuant to the Third Amendment to Executive Employment Agreement between the Company and Mr. Farkas, dated June 15, 2017 (the “Third Amendment”) and pursuant to a Conversion Agreement between the Company and Mr. Farkas, dated August 23, 2017.

 

153,039 shares of Common Stock were issued to Mr. Farkas as payment of $375,000 in shares of Common Stock owed to Mr. Farkas for accrued commissions on hardware sales and revenue from charging stations for the period of November 2015 through March 2017 pursuant to the Third Amendment and $145,334 in shares of Common Stock owed to Mr. Farkas for accrued commissions on hardware sales and revenue from charging stations for the period of April 2017 through February 13, 2018 pursuant to an oral agreement between the Company and Mr. Farkas. This oral agreement was reached pursuant to Section 7(B) of the Third Amendment.

 

In total 1,776,335 restricted shares of the Company’s Common Stock were issued to Mr. Farkas.

 

26,500 shares of Common Stock were issued to Mr. Feintuch pursuant to the December 7, 2017 letter agreement.

 

17,487 shares of Common Stock were issued to Mr. Feintuch as payment of $43,555 in shares of Common Stock owed to Mr. Feintuch which represents 25% of the accrued commissions on hardware sales and revenue from charging stations for the period of November 2015 through March 2017 owed to Mr. Feintuch pursuant to the Compensation Agreement between the Company and Mr. Feintuch, dated June 16, 2017 and $15,902 in shares of Common Stock owed to Mr. Feintuch which represents 25% of the accrued commissions on hardware sales and revenue from charging stations for the period of April 2017 through February 13, 2018 owed to Mr. Feintuch pursuant to an oral agreement between the Company and Mr. Feintuch. This oral agreement was reached pursuant to Section 3(B) of the Compensation Agreement.

 

In total 93,987 restricted shares of the Company’s Common Stock were issued to Mr. Feintuch.

 

360,441 shares of Common Stock were issued to Ardour Capital Investments, LLC (“Ardour”) (an entity of which Mr. Farkas owns less than 5%) in placement agent fees related to the $3,500,000 lent by JMJ Financial (“JMJ”) to the Company between October 2016 and October 2017. This share amount also includes placement agent fees owed to Ardour in connection with a separate $250,000 lent by JMJ to the Company on January 22, 2018.

 

1,167 shares of Common Stock were issued to Ardour in connection with placement agent fees related to the sale of Series C Preferred Stock in December 2014.

 

9,868 shares of Common Stock were issued to Sunrise Securities Corp. (“Sunrise”) in connection with placement agent fees related to the sale of Series C Preferred Stock in December 2014.

 

143,427 shares of Common Stock were issued to Sunrise as repayment of a $487,653 debt pursuant to a Letter Agreement between the Company and the counterparty, dated February 3, 2018. The 286,854 five-year warrants to purchase Common Stock with an exercise price of $4.25 were issued to Sunrise on April 9, 2018.

 

9,111,644 shares of Common Stock were issued to fifty-three (53) holders to convert all Series C Preferred Shares outstanding and owed as of the February 16 th closing date of the Public Offering. As of March 28, 2018, there are no longer any Series C Preferred Shares outstanding. Among the 9,111,644 shares issued, BLNK Holdings was issued 6,827,092 shares and Mr. Farkas was issued 211,276 shares.

 

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These securities were not registered under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), but qualified for exemption under Section 4(a)(2) of the Securities Act. The securities were exempt from registration under Section 4(a)(2) of the Securities Act because the issuance of such securities by the Company did not involve a “public offering,” as defined in Section 4(a)(2) of the Securities Act, due to the insubstantial number of persons involved in the transaction, size of the offering, manner of the offering and number of securities offered. All of the securities were issued without registration under the Securities Act of 1933 in reliance upon the exemption provided in Section 4(a)(2).

 

Critical Accounting Policies

 

Our critical accounting policies are included in Note 2 - Significant Accounting Policies of our consolidated financial statements included within this Annual Report.

 

Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements

 

We do not have any off-balance sheet arrangements, financings, or other relationships with unconsolidated entities or other persons, also known as “special purpose entities” (SPEs).

 

Recently Issued Accounting Standards

 

Our recently issued accounting standards are included in Note 2 - Significant Accounting Policies of our consolidated financial statements included within this Annual Report.

 

ITEM 7A. QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURES ABOUT MARKET RISK

 

We are not required to provide the information required by this Item because we are a smaller reporting company.

 

ITEM 8. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND SUPPLEMENTARY DATA

 

The financial statements required by this Item 8 are included in this Annual Report following Item 15 hereof. As a smaller reporting company, we are not required to provide supplementary financial information.

 

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ITEM 9. CHANGES IN AND DISAGREEMENTS WITH ACCOUNTANTS ON ACCOUNTING AND FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE

 

None.

 

ITEM 9A. CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES

 

Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures

 

We maintain disclosure controls and procedures that are designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed in our reports, filed under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in the SEC’s rules and forms, and that such information is accumulated and communicated to our management, including our chief executive officer and chief financial officer, as appropriate, to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure. In designing and evaluating the disclosure controls and procedures, management recognized that any controls and procedures, no matter how well designed and operated, can provide only reasonable and not absolute assurance of achieving the desired control objectives. In reaching a reasonable level of assurance, management necessarily was required to apply its judgment in evaluating the cost-benefit relationship of possible controls and procedures. In addition, the design of any system of controls also is based in part upon certain assumptions about the likelihood of future events, and there can be no assurance that any design will succeed in achieving its stated goals under all potential future conditions. Over time, a control may become inadequate because of changes in conditions or the degree of compliance with policies or procedures may deteriorate. Because of the inherent limitations in a cost-effective control system, misstatements due to error or fraud may occur and not be detected.

 

As required by the SEC Rules 13a-15(b) and 15d-15(b), we carried out an evaluation under the supervision and with the participation of our management, including our principal executive officer and principal financial officer, of the effectiveness of the design and operation of our disclosure controls and procedures as of the end of the period covered by this report. Based on the foregoing, our principal executive officer and principal financial officer concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures were not effective at the reasonable assurance level due to the material weaknesses described below.

 

To address these material weaknesses, management engaged financial consultants, performed additional analyses and other procedures to ensure that the financial statements included herein fairly present, in all material respects, our financial position, results of operations and cash flows for the periods presented.

 

Management’s Annual Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting.

 

The management of the Company is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting (“ICFR”) for the Company. Our internal control system was designed to, in general, provide reasonable assurance to the Company’s management and board regarding the preparation and fair presentation of published financial statements, but because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements. Also, projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risk that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate.

 

Our management assessed the effectiveness of the Company’s internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2017. The framework used by management in making that assessment was the criteria set forth in the document entitled “2013 Internal Control – Integrated Framework” issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission. Based on that assessment, management concluded that, during the period covered by this report, such internal controls and procedures were not effective as of December 31, 2017 and that material weaknesses in ICFR existed as more fully described below.

 

During July 2017, we appointed Robert Schweitzer to our audit committee, who we have determined meets the requirements of a financial expert as defined under the applicable rules and regulations of the SEC and who has the requisite financial sophistication as defined under the applicable rules and regulations of NASDAQ. Our Board has considered the independence and other characteristics of each of the three members of our audit committee, and our Board believes that each member meets the independence and other requirements of NASDAQ and the SEC. As part of its duties, the audit committee will assist our management in the establishment and monitoring of our internal controls and procedures.

 

In November 2017, the audit committee, as currently comprised, conducted its first review of the interim financial statements for the period ended September 30, 2017. Our management believes that the controls implemented in relation to the audit committee are sufficient to address the material weakness related to the audit committee on a go forward basis and, accordingly, they concluded that, as of December 31, 2017, the material weakness that had existed at December 31, 2016 had been remediated.

 

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A material weakness is a deficiency, or a combination of deficiencies, within the meaning of Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (“PCAOB”) Auditing Standard AS 2201, in internal control over financial reporting, such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of the Company’s annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis. Management has identified the following material weaknesses which have caused management to conclude that as of December 31, 2017 our internal controls over financial reporting were not effective at the reasonable assurance level:

 

  1. We do not have written documentation of our internal control policies and procedures. Written documentation of key internal controls over financial reporting is a requirement of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act which is applicable to us for the year ended December 31, 2017. Management evaluated the impact of our failure to have written documentation of our internal controls and procedures on our assessment of our disclosure controls and procedures and has concluded that the control deficiency that resulted represented a material weakness.
     
  2. We do not have sufficient resources in our accounting function, which restricts the Company’s ability to gather, analyze and properly review information related to financial reporting in a timely manner. As a result, as of the date of filing, we have not completed our ASC 606 implementation process and, thus, cannot disclose the quantitative impact of adoption on our financial statements. In addition, due to our size and nature, segregation of all conflicting duties may not always be possible and may not be economically feasible. However, to the extent possible, the initiation of transactions, the custody of assets and the recording of transactions should be performed by separate individuals. Management evaluated the impact of our failure to have segregation of duties on our assessment of our disclosure controls and procedures and has concluded that the control deficiency that resulted represented a material weakness.
     
  3.   We have inadequate controls to ensure that information necessary to properly record transactions is adequately communicated on a timely basis from non-financial personnel to those responsible for financial reporting. Management evaluated the impact of the lack of timely communication between non–financial personnel and financial personnel on our assessment of our reporting controls and procedures and has concluded that the control deficiency represented a material weakness.
     
  4.  Certain control procedures were unable to be verified due to performance not being sufficiently documented. As an example, some procedures requiring review of certain reports could not be verified due to there being no written documentation of such review. Management evaluated the impact of its failure to maintain proper documentation of the review process on its assessment of its reporting controls and procedures and has concluded deficiencies represented a material weakness.

 

We intend to continue to address these weaknesses as resources permit.

 

Notwithstanding the assessment that our ICFR was not effective and that there are material weaknesses as identified herein, we believe that our consolidated financial statements contained in this Annual Report fairly present our financial position, results of operations and cash flows for the years covered thereby in all material respects.

 

This annual report does not include an attestation report of the Company’s registered public accounting firm regarding internal control over financial reporting. Management’s report was not subject to attestation by the Company’s registered public accounting firm as we are a smaller reporting company and are not required to provide the report.

 

Changes in Internal Control Over Financial Reporting

 

There has been no change in our internal control over financial reporting identified in connection with the evaluation required by Rule 13a-15(d) of the Exchange Act that occurred during the quarter ended December 31, 2017 that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting, except the implementation of the controls identified above.

 

ITEM 9B. OTHER INFORMATION

 

None.

 

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PART III

 

ITEM 10. DIRECTORS, EXECUTIVE OFFICERS AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE.

 

Our current directors and executive officers and their ages as of April 10, 2018 are listed below. The number of directors is determined by the Board. All directors hold office until the next annual meeting of the board or until their successors have been duly elected and qualified. Officers are elected by the Board and their terms of office are, except to the extent governed by employment contract, at the discretion of the Board.

 

Name   Age   Principal Positions With Us
Michael D. Farkas   46   Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors (Principal Executive Officer)
         
Michael J. Calise   57   Chief Executive Officer (Interim Principal Financial Officer and Interim Principal Accounting Officer) and Director
         
Ira Feintuch   46   Chief Operating Officer
         
Andrew Shapiro   49   Director
         
Donald Engel   85   Director
         
Robert C. Schweitzer   71   Director

 

Set forth below is a brief description of the background and business experience of our directors and executive officers for the past five years.

 

Michael D. Farkas, Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors (Principal Executive Officer)

 

Mr. Farkas served as our Chief Executive Officer from 2010 through July 24, 2015. Mr. Farkas has served as a member of the Board since 2010 and has been the Executive Chairman of the Board since January 1, 2015. Mr. Farkas is the founder and manager of FGI, a privately held investment firm. Mr. Farkas is the founder and CEO of Balance Labs, Inc., a consulting firm that provides business development and consulting services to startup development stage business. Mr. Farkas is a director at Balance Labs Inc. Mr. Farkas also currently holds the position of Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Atlas Group, where its subsidiary, Atlas Capital Services, was a broker-dealer that had successfully raised capital for a number of public and private clients until it withdrew its FINRA registration in 2007. Over the last 20 years, Mr. Farkas has established a successful track record as a principal investor across a variety of industries, including telecommunications, technology, aerospace and defense, agriculture, and automotive retail. Mr. Farkas attended Brooklyn College where he studied Finance.

 

Based on his work experience and education, we have deemed Mr. Farkas fit to serve on the Board and as our principal executive officer.

 

Michael J. Calise, Chief Executive Officer (Interim Principal Financial Officer and Interim Principal Accounting Officer) and Director

 

Mr. Calise has served as our Chief Executive Officer since July 29, 2015 and as a member of the Board since March 9, 2016. From June 2011 to February 2015, Mr. Calise was the Head of North America Electric Vehicle Solutions at Schneider Electric, a world leader in energy management and energy efficiency. While at Schneider, Mr. Calise was responsible for the North American electric vehicle strategy, product, and services, and took the business from its infancy to its position as one of the top contenders in the electric vehicle solutions industry. Prior to Schneider Electric, from March 2010 to May 2011, Mr. Calise was the founder and principal of EVadvise, an independent advisory firm focused on mass scale electric vehicle infrastructure. While at EVadvise, he helped develop the EV Charging infrastructure technology plan for Marin Transportation Authority’s (MTA) county-wide charger deployment. Mr. Calise received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Buffalo in New York, and has been a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, California Clean Cars, Cleantech.org, Plug In America and the Electric Auto Association (EAA), and was a former board member of the Electric Drive Transportation Association (EDTA) and the BACC EV Strategic Council and the former chairman of the Los Gatos Transportation and Parking Commissions.

 

Based on his work experience in the EV industry and his education, we have deemed Mr. Calise fit to serve on the Board and as our Chief Executive Officer.

 

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Ira Feintuch, Chief Operating Officer

 

Mr. Feintuch commenced employment with our Company in 2009 and was appointed Chief Operating Officer on March 24, 2015. Mr. Feintuch served as Vice President of Operations from September 2009 to March 2015. In this capacity, Mr. Feintuch has been responsible for the purchasing, installation, and maintenance of EV charging equipment, the selection and management of third-party electricians and service professionals for our Company and its subsidiaries, as well as developing strategic partnerships and collaborative relationships for our Company. Mr. Feintuch currently sits on the board of the ROEV Association, an EV industry trade association. Mr. Feintuch commenced personal bankruptcy proceedings in January 2016. Mr. Feintuch holds a B.S. in Management from Touro College.

 

Andrew Shapiro, Director

 

Mr. Shapiro has served on our Board since April 17, 2014. Mr. Shapiro founded Broadscale Group in 2012 and serves as its leader. Broadscale is a new model of investment firm working with leading energy corporations to invest in and commercialize the industry’s most promising market-ready innovations. Prior to Broadscale, Mr. Shapiro founded GreenOrder in 2000. GreenOrder was a strategic advisory firm that worked with more than 100 enterprises to create energy and environmental innovation as a competitive advantage. In this capacity, Mr. Shapiro and his team worked with General Electric’s leadership on the creation and execution of its multi-billion dollar “ecomagination” initiative, provided strategic counsel to General Motors on the launch of the Chevrolet Volt, and served as the green advisor for 7 World Trade Center, New York City’s first LEED-certified (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) office tower. GreenOrder’s client list included Alcan, Allianz, Bloomberg, BP, Bunge, Citi, Coca-Cola, Dell, Disney, Duke Energy, DuPont, eBay, Hines, HP, JPMorgan Chase, KKR, McDonald’s, Morgan Stanley, NASDAQ OMX, National Grid, NBC Universal, NRG, Office Depot, Pfizer, Polo Ralph Lauren, Simon Property Group, Staples, Target, Tishman Speyer, TXU, and Waste Management. Mr. Shapiro and GreenOrder also co-founded the US Partnership for Renewable Energy Finance (US PREF). Mr. Shapiro holds an A.B. in Anthropology from Brown University and a J.D. from Yale Law School.

 

Based on his experience with environmental innovation and his education, we have deemed Mr. Shapiro fit to serve on the Board.

 

Donald Engel, Director

 

Mr. Engel has served on our Board since July 30, 2014. Mr. Engel is currently a consultant to Palisades Capital Management LLC. Mr. Engel served as Managing Director and consultant at Drexel Burnham Lambert for 15 years. Mr. Engel managed and developed new business relationships and represented clients such as Warner Communications and KKR & Co., L.P. Mr. Engel also served as a consultant to Bear Stearns and as a Director of such companies as Revlon, Uniroyal Chemical, Levitz, Banner Industries, Savannah Pulp & Paper, and APL Corp. In the last decade, Mr. Engel consulted to Morgan Joseph TriArtisan. Mr. Engel attended the University of Richmond.

 

Based on his work experience, previous directorships and education, we have deemed Mr. Engel fit to serve on the Board.

 

Robert Schweitzer, Director

 

Mr. Schweitzer has served on our Board since July 17, 2017. Mr. Schweitzer is currently the chief executive officer of RCS Mediation & Consulting LLC, which he founded in 2012. Mr. Schweitzer’s areas of expertise include: financial management, portfolio management, credit review and approval, large project financing, sales management and corporate/civil leadership. Mr. Schweitzer has served as a Board Director for eight companies – both publicly and privately held. He currently serves as chairman of 1-800-PetMeds (NASDAQ:PETS) and as lead independent director of OmniComm (OTCQX: OMCM).

 

Throughout his career in banking and finance, Mr. Schweitzer has served in roles ranging from Head of Central North America Commercial Lending at a major national bank, Director and Head of Real Estate, Construction and Environmental Consulting for Coopers & Lybrand, and Regional President for Union Planters Bank (now Regions Bank). Most recently, Mr. Schweitzer was the President and COO of Shay Investment Services, Inc., a bank investment advisory firm and broker-dealer.

 

Prior to his career in finance, Mr. Schweitzer served in the U.S. Navy nuclear submarine force and retired with a rank of Captain. He holds an M.B.A. from the University of North Carolina and a B.S. Degree from the United States Naval Academy. Mr. Schweitzer also serves as a Florida Supreme Court Certified Circuit Civil Mediator, a Florida Office of Financial Regulation Certified Insurance Mediator, a FINRA Certified Arbitrator, and as a council member of the American Arbitration Association.

 

Based on his work experience, positions held within the financial services industry and his education, we have deemed Mr. Schweitzer fit to serve on the Board.

 

Family Relationships

 

There are no family relationships between any of our officers or directors.

 

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Director Independence

 

Our Common Stock and warrants are listed on the NASDAQ. Under the rules of NASDAQ, “independent” directors must make up a majority of a listed company’s board of directors. In addition, applicable NASDAQ rules require that, subject to specified exceptions, each member of a listed company’s audit and compensation committees be independent within the meaning of the applicable NASDAQ rules. Audit committee members must also satisfy the independence criteria set forth in Rule 10A-3 under the Exchange Act.

 

Our Board has undertaken a review of the independence of each director and considered whether any director has a material relationship with us that could compromise his ability to exercise independent judgment in carryout out his responsibilities. As a result of this review, our Board determined that Messrs. Shapiro, Schweitzer, and Engel qualify as “independent” directors within the meaning of the NASDAQ rules. As a result, a majority of our directors are independent, as required under applicable NASDAQ rules. As required under applicable NASDAQ rules, we anticipate that our independent directors will meet in regularly scheduled executive sessions at which only independent directors are present.

 

Board Composition

 

Our Board is currently composed of five members. Mr. Schweitzer has been designated lead independent director. Our articles of incorporation and our bylaws permit our stockholders to establish by resolution the authorized number of directors, and six are currently authorized. Our directors hold office until their successors have been elected and qualified, or the earlier of their death, resignation or removal.

 

Board Committees

 

Our Board has established an audit committee, a compensation committee, and a nominating and corporate governance committee. The composition and responsibilities of each of the committees of our Board are described below. Members serve on such committees until their resignation or until otherwise determined by our Board.

 

Audit Committee

 

Our audit committee was established on December 3, 2013 to oversee our corporate accounting and financial reporting processes. Our audit committee, among other things, is responsible for:

 

  selecting and hiring the independent registered public accounting firm to audit our financial statements;
     
  helping to ensure the independence and performance of the independent registered public accounting firm;
     
  approving audit and non-audit services and fees;
     
  reviewing financial statements and discussing with management and the independent registered public accounting firm our annual audited and quarterly financial statements, the results of the independent audit and the quarterly reviews, and the reports and certifications regarding internal controls over financial reporting and disclosure controls;
     
  preparing the audit committee report that the SEC requires to be included in our annual proxy statement;
     
  reviewing reports and communications from the independent registered public accounting firm;
     
  reviewing earnings press releases and earnings guidance;
     
  reviewing the adequacy and effectiveness of our internal controls and disclosure controls and procedures;
     
  reviewing our policies on risk assessment and risk management;
     
  reviewing related party transactions;
     
  establishing and overseeing procedures for the receipt, retention and treatment of accounting related complaints and the confidential submission by our employees of concerns regarding questionable accounting or auditing matters; and
     
  reviewing and monitoring actual and potential conflicts of interest.

 

Our audit committee is comprised of Messrs. Schweitzer, Shapiro, and Engel. Mr. Schweitzer is the chairman of our audit committee. Our Board has determined that each of the directors serving on the audit committee meets the requirements for financial literacy under applicable rules and regulations of the SEC and NASDAQ. In addition, our Board has determined that Mr. Schweitzer meets the requirements of a financial expert as defined under the applicable rules and regulations of the SEC and who has the requisite financial sophistication as defined under the applicable rules and regulations of NASDAQ. Our Board has considered the independence and other characteristics of each member of our audit committee, and our Board believes that each member meets the independence and other requirements of NASDAQ and the SEC.

 

36
 

 

Our audit committee operates under a written charter that satisfies the applicable standards of the SEC and NASDAQ.

  

Compensation Committee

 

Our compensation committee was established on December 3, 2013 to oversee our corporate compensation policies, plans and benefit programs. Our compensation committee is, among other things, responsible for:

 

  reviewing, approving and determining, or making recommendations to our Board regarding, the compensation of our executive officers, including our Chief Executive Officer and other executive officers;
     
  administering our equity compensation plans and programs;
     
  reviewing and discussing with our management our SEC disclosures; and
     
  overseeing our submissions to stockholders on executive compensation matters.

 

Our compensation committee is comprised of Messrs. Schweitzer, Shapiro, and Engel. Mr. Schweitzer is the chairman of our compensation committee. Our Board has considered the independence and other characteristics of each member of our compensation committee. Our Board believes that each member of our compensation committee meets the requirements for independence under the current requirements of NASDAQ, is a nonemployee director as defined by Rule 16b-3 promulgated under the Exchange Act and is an outside director as defined pursuant to Section 162(m) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (the “Code”).

 

Our compensation committee operates under a written charter that satisfies the applicable rules and regulations of the SEC and the listing standards of NASDAQ.

 

Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee

 

Our nominating and corporate governance committee was established on December 3, 2013. Our nominating and corporate governance committee is comprised of Messrs. Shapiro, Schweitzer, and Engel. Mr. Shapiro is chairman of our nominating and corporate governance committee. Our nominating and corporate governance committee operates under a written charter. Under our policy, the independent directors of our Board nominate our directors. When evaluating director nominees, our directors consider the following factors:

 

  the current size and composition of the Board and the needs of the Board and the respective committees of the Board;
     
  such factors as character, integrity, judgment, diversity of experience, independence, area of expertise, corporate experience, length of service, potential conflicts of interest, other commitments and the like; and
     
  other factors that the directors may consider appropriate.

 

Our goal is to assemble a Board that brings together a variety of skills derived from high quality business and professional experience.

 

Code of Business Conduct and Ethics

 

The Company adopted a Code of Business Conduct and Ethics as of December 3, 2013. Our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics applies to all of our employees, officers and directors, including our principal executive and senior financial officers. A copy of our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics is posted on our website at www.blinkcharging.com . Our website and the information contained in, or accessible through, our website will not be deemed to be incorporated by reference into this Report and does not constitute part of this Report. A copy of our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics will be provided without charge to any person submitting a written request to the attention of the Chief Executive Officer at our principal executive office.

 

37
 

 

Involvement in Certain Legal Proceedings

 

To the best of our knowledge, none of our directors or executive officers has, during the past ten years:

 

  been convicted in a criminal proceeding or been subject to a pending criminal proceeding (excluding traffic violations and other minor offenses);
     
  had any bankruptcy petition filed by or against the business or property of the person, or of any partnership, corporation or business association of which he was a general partner or executive officer, either at the time of the bankruptcy filing or within two years prior to that time;
     
  been subject to any order, judgment, or decree, not subsequently reversed, suspended or vacated, of any court of competent jurisdiction or federal or state authority, permanently or temporarily enjoining, barring, suspending or otherwise limiting, his involvement in any type of business, securities, futures, commodities, investment, banking, savings and loan, or insurance activities, or to be associated with persons engaged in any such activity;
     
  been found by a court of competent jurisdiction in a civil action or by the SEC or the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to have violated a federal or state securities or commodities law, and the judgment has not been reversed, suspended, or vacated;
     
  been the subject of, or a party to, any federal or state judicial or administrative order, judgment, decree, or finding, not subsequently reversed, suspended or vacated (not including any settlement of a civil proceeding among private litigants), relating to an alleged violation of any federal or state securities or commodities law or regulation, any law or regulation respecting financial institutions or insurance companies including, but not limited to, a temporary or permanent injunction, order of disgorgement or restitution, civil money penalty or temporary or permanent cease-and-desist order, or removal or prohibition order, or any law or regulation prohibiting mail or wire fraud or fraud in connection with any business entity; or
     
  been the subject of, or a party to, any sanction or order, not subsequently reversed, suspended or vacated, of any self-regulatory organization (as defined in Section 3(a)(26) of the Exchange Act), any registered entity (as defined in Section 1(a)(29) of the Commodity Exchange Act), or any equivalent exchange, association, entity or organization that has disciplinary authority over its members or persons associated with a member.

 

Except as set forth in our discussion below in “Certain Relationships and Related Transactions,” none of our directors or executive officers has been involved in any transactions with us or any of our directors, executive officers, affiliates or associates which are required to be disclosed pursuant to the rules and regulations of the SEC.

 

Term of Office

 

Our directors are appointed at the annual meeting of shareholders and hold office until the annual meeting of the shareholders next succeeding his or her election, or until his or her prior death, resignation or removal in accordance with our bylaws. Our officers are appointed by the Board and hold office until the annual meeting of the Board next succeeding his or her election, and until his or her successor shall have been duly elected and qualified, subject to earlier termination by his or her death, resignation or removal.

 

Section 16(a) Beneficial Ownership Reporting Compliance

 

As of December 31, 2017 and through February 12, 2018, we did not have a class of securities registered under the Exchange Act and therefore our directors, executive officers, and any persons holding more than ten percent of our Common Stock were not required to comply with Section 16 of the Exchange Act. Such persons became obligated to comply with such rules upon the February 13, 2018 filing of our Form 8-A12B registering our class of Common Stock.

 

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ITEM 11. EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION.

 

Summary Compensation Table

 

The following summary compensation table sets forth all compensation awarded to, earned by, or paid to the named executive officers paid by us during the years ended December 31, 2017 and 2016. In 2016 and 2017, the named executive officers of the Company were Michael Farkas (Executive Chairman); Michael Calise (Chief Executive Officer); and Ira Feintuch (Chief Operating Officer).

 

Andy Kinard served as a member of our Board from November 2009 through July 17, 2017. Mr. Kinard served as our President from November 2009 through March 19, 2018. His compensation is disclosed below since he was an employee member of the Board for all of 2016 and through July 17, 2017.

 

On July 17, 2017, Mr. Kinard resigned as a Board member. This was done so that a majority of the members of the Board would be independent. Mr. Kinard’s resignation was not a result of any disagreements with the Company.

 

On March 19, 2018, Mr. Kinard resigned as the Company’s President, effective immediately. Mr. Kinard’s resignation was not a result of any disagreements with the Company. Mr. Kinard remains a non-executive employee of the Company. The Company has not yet appointed a new President.

 

Name and                     Stock
Awards
    Option
Awards
    All Other        
Principal Position   Year     Salary     Bonus     (1)     (1)     Compensation     Total  
Andy Kinard,     2017     $ 60,000     $ -     $ -     $ -     $ 47,513 (2)   $ 107,513  
President     2016     $ 60,266     $ -     $ 3,000     $ 930     $ 64,491 (2)   $ 128,686  
                                                         
Michael D. Farkas,     2017     $ 981,563 (3)   $ -     $ -     $ 74,336 (3)   $ 1,178,780 (3)   $ 2,234,679  
Executive Chairman     2016     $ -     $ -     $ 15,000     $ 3,226     $ 362,792 (3)   $ 381,018  
                                                         
Michael J. Calise     2017     $ 286,450     $ -     $ 769,047 (4)   $ -     $ 97,887 (4)   $ 1,153,384  
Chief Executive Officer     2016     $ 275,000     $ 25,000 (4)   $ 3,000     $ 930     $ 82,098 (4)   $ 386,028  
                                                         
Ira Feintuch     2017     $ 250,000     $ -     $ -     $ 26,402 (5)   $ 46,725 (5)   $ 323,127  
Chief Operating Officer     2016     $ 250,000     $ -     $ -     $ -     $ 249,428 (5)   $ 499,428  

 

(1) The amounts reported in these columns represent the grant date fair value of the stock and options awards granted during the years ended December 31, 2017 and 2016 calculated in accordance with FASB ASC Topic 718.
   
(2)

Mr. Kinard received $14,391 and $12,966 of Company paid health insurance benefits in calendar years 2017 and 2016, respectively.

 

Mr. Kinard received $3,000 of Company paid electric vehicle expenses in calendar year 2017.

 

Mr. Kinard earned the right to various options and Common Stock for each Board Meeting and each committee meeting of the Board attended during the year ended December 31, 2016. The Company accrued $51,525 of compensation expense related to the contractual obligation to issue options which is included within accrued expenses as accrued professional, board and other fees as of December 31, 2016.

 

On July 17, 2017, Mr. Kinard resigned as a Board member. This was done so that a majority of the members of the Board would be independent. Mr. Kinard’s resignation was not a result of any disagreements with the Company. The Company accrued $7,327 in cash fees owed to Mr. Kinard for the year ended December 31, 2017.

 

In settlement and consideration of Board services rendered during the period of April 1, 2016 through March 31, 2017, we issued to Mr. Kinard 9,440 units of unregistered shares of Common Stock and warrants (with each unit consisting of one share of Common Stock and two warrants each to purchase one share of Common Stock for a total of 9,440 shares and 18,880 warrants) issuable as payment of $32,095.

   

(3)

 

 

Mr. Farkas received $60,000 of salary in the form of cash in calendar year 2017. Pursuant to the Third Amendment and the Conversion Agreement between the Company and Mr. Farkas, dated August 23, 2017, the Company has accrued $921,563 ($397,500 for 2017; $483,750 for 2016; and $40,313 for 2015) in salary to be paid in the form of shares of Common Stock.

 

On November 27, 2017, Mr. Farkas received 114,767 shares of Common Stock in exchange for: (i) warrants to purchase 100 shares with an exercise price of $7.50 per share; and (ii) unissued warrants that were owed to Mr. Farkas to purchase (a) 2,000 shares with an exercise price of $9.50 per share; (b) 68,667 shares with an exercise price of $21.50 per share; and (c) 44,000 shares with an exercise price of $37.00 per share. These 114,767 shares are valued at that day’s last reported sales price of $5.90 for a total of $677,125.

 

The 15,240 shares of Common Stock issuable to Mr. Farkas upon exercise of options to be issued pursuant to the Compensation Agreement with the options having a weighted average exercise price of $34.06 are valued at $24,336 as of December 31, 2017 (as calculated in accordance with FASB ASC Topic 718).

 

The 15,000 shares of Common Stock issuable to Mr. Farkas upon exercise of options to be issued as replacements of expired options with the options having a weighted average exercise price of $5.30 are valued at $55,047 as of December 31, 2017 (as calculated in accordance with FASB ASC Topic 718).

 

Mr. Farkas received $18,142 and $17,160 of Company paid health insurance benefits in calendar years 2017 and 2016, respectively.

 

FGI also earned commissions in the years ended December 31, 2017 and 2016 of $351,795 and $222,500 (the Company accrued $138,500 of cash that was due and $84,000 of compensation expense related to the contractual obligation to issue options and warrants as of December 31, 2016), respectively, in commissions relating to the installation of chargers and FGI also earned a placement fee commission of $52,500 that the Company accrued for as of December 31, 2016. Pursuant to his amended Employment Agreement, Mr. Farkas also earned the right to various options and Common Stock for each Board Meeting and each committee meeting of the Board attended during the year ended December 31, 2016. The Company accrued $70,107 of compensation expense related to the contractual obligation to issue options which is included within accrued expenses as accrued professional, board and other fees as of December 31, 2016.

 

The Company accrued $351,795 in 2017 commissions to be paid in the form of shares of Common Stock.

 

Mr. Farkas received $7,266 of Company paid car lease payment and car insurance expenses in calendar year 2017. The Company accrued $4,844 of car lease payment and car insurance expenses in calendar year 2017 owed.

 

The Company accrued $7,313 in director fees owed to Mr. Farkas for the year ended December 31, 2017.

 

In settlement and consideration of Board services rendered during the period of April 1, 2016 through March 31, 2017, we issued to Mr. Farkas 13,721 units of unregistered shares of Common Stock and warrants (with each unit consisting of one share of Common Stock and two warrants each to purchase one share of Common Stock for a total of 13,721 shares and 27,442 warrants) issuable as payment of $46,651.

 

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(4)

The Company had cumulatively accrued since Mr. Calise’s employment began in 2015 $150,000 in bonuses pursuant to his employment agreement ($50,000 in 2015 and $100,000 in 2016). In 2017, the Compensation Committee of the Board determined that the Company would pay a $25,000 bonus to Mr. Calise for 2016 at the closing of the offering rather than the $150,000 previously accrued. This determination resulted in a reversal of previously accumulated bonuses in the amount of $125,000.

 

Mr. Calise received $30,437 and $26,928 of Company paid health insurance benefits in calendar years 2017 and 2016, respectively.

 

Mr. Calise received $7,200 of Company paid car lease payment and phone allowance expenses in calendar year 2017.

 

The following warrants to purchase shares of Common Stock issued by the Company to Mr. Calise in 2017 are valued at $132,210 as of December 31, 2017 (as calculated in accordance with FASB ASC Topic 718): 31,364 warrants at an exercise price of $35.00; 13,895 warrants at an exercise price of $50.00; 231 warrants at an exercise price of $75.00; 2,520 warrants at an exercise price of $100.00; and 13 warrants at an exercise price of $150.

 

Pursuant to his Employment Agreement, Mr. Calise also earned the right to various options and Common Stock for each Board Meeting and each committee meeting of the Board attended during the year ended December 31, 2016. The Company accrued $55,171 of compensation expense related to the contractual obligation to issue options which is included within accrued expenses as accrued professional, board and other fees as of December 31, 2016.

 

The Company accrued $7,327 in director fees owed to Mr. Calise for the year ended December 31, 2017.

 

In settlement and consideration of Board services rendered during the period of April 1, 2016 through March 31, 2017, we issued to Mr. Calise 10,269 units of unregistered shares of Common Stock and warrants (with each unit consisting of one share of Common Stock and two warrants each to purchase one share of Common Stock for a total of 10,269 shares and 20,538 warrants) issuable as payment of $34,913.

 

(5)

Mr. Feintuch received $30,437 and $26,928 of Company paid health insurance benefits in calendar years 2017 and 2016, respectively.

 

The 16,600 shares of Common Stock issuable to Mr. Feintuch upon exercise of options to be issued pursuant to the Compensation Agreement with the options having a weighted average exercise price of $34.34 are valued at $26,402 as of December 31, 2017 (as calculated in accordance with FASB ASC Topic 718)

 

Pursuant to a Fee/Commission Agreement, Mr. Feintuch earned commissions of $15,330, $222,500, and $66,450 in the calendar years 2017, 2016, and 2015, respectively. Pursuant to Mr. Feintuch agreeing, in the Compensation Agreement, to accept $174,219 in the aggregate in commissions for November 2015 through March 2017 (composed of commissions of: $4,646 (November and December 2015), $121,847 (2016), and $47,726 (the first quarter of 2017), Mr. Feintuch has agreed to forgive $100,653 in commissions owed to him for calendar year 2016.

 

The $15,330 the Company accrued in 2017 commissions is comprised of: (i) $4,790 accrued to be paid in the form of shares of Common Stock; and (ii) $11,498 accrued to be paid in the form of cash.

 

Stock Awards

 

Messrs. Kinard, Farkas, and Calise were awarded 40, 761, and 40 shares of the Company’s Common Stock valued at $3,000, $15,000 and $3,000, respectively, during 2016.

 

Messrs. Kinard, Farkas, and Calise were awarded 845, 1,551 and 4,412 shares of the Company’s Common Stock valued at $12,000, $18,000 and $75,000, respectively, during 2015. Pursuant to a March 24, 2015 employment agreement, Mr. Feintuch was issued 1,000,000 Series A Preferred Shares, 1,500 Series C Preferred Shares and 30,000 shares of Common Stock valued at $1,000,000, $150,000 and $600,000, respectively. The stock awards were paid 50% upon the signing of the employment agreement and 50% upon the one-year anniversary of the employment agreement.

 

Option Grants

 

During the year ended December 31, 2016, Mr. Farkas, Mr. Kinard and Mr. Calise were awarded an aggregate of 500, 100 and 100 options, respectively, under the Company’s 2015 Plan, which had an aggregate value on the dates of grant at $3,266, $980 and $980, respectively. Pursuant to Mr. Calise’s employment agreement, Mr. Calise was entitled to receive 109,766 options which have not been issued as of December 31, 2016. The estimated grant date fair value was $152,376. On June 14, 2017, the Board approved the issuance of warrants instead of the options owed to Mr. Calise under his employment agreement in the following amounts and exercise prices: 31,364 warrant shares at an exercise price of $35.00; 13,895 warrant shares at an exercise price of $50.00; 231 warrant shares at an exercise price of $75.00; 2,520 warrant shares at an exercise price of $100.00; and 13 warrant shares at an exercise price of $150.

 

Employment Agreements

 

Mr. Farkas’ Employment Agreement

 

We entered into an employment agreement with Michael D. Farkas, our CEO at the time, on October 15, 2010 (the “Original Farkas Employment Agreement”). The agreement was for three years and stipulated a base salary of $120,000 in year one, $240,000 in year two and $360,000 in year three. The agreement also included a signing bonus of $60,000. At a Board meeting on April 17, 2014, the Board resolved to enter into a three-year contract with Mr. Farkas, whereby Mr. Farkas was due to receive a monthly salary of $40,000 with an increase to $50,000 per month in the event we became listed on a national securities exchange.

 

On December 23, 2014, in connection with the closing and as a condition to the closing of the securities purchase agreement executed simultaneously therewith, we entered into an amendment to the employment agreement with Mr. Farkas (who was still CEO at that time) (the “First Amendment”). The First Amendment provided that Mr. Farkas was to have a salary of Forty Thousand Dollars ($40,000) per month. However, for such time as any of the aggregate subscription amount from the December 2014 securities purchase agreement was still held in escrow, Mr. Farkas was to receive Twenty Thousand Dollars ($20,000) in cash and the remaining amount of his compensation: (i) was to be deferred; and (ii) was to be determined by the compensation committee of the Board to be fair and equitable. Additionally, beginning on the date that the aggregate subscription amount was released from escrow and continuing for so long as the Series C Preferred Shares remained issued and outstanding, Mr. Farkas’ salary was only to be paid in cash if doing so would not have put us in a negative operating cash flow position.

 

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Effective July 24, 2015, we again amended our employment agreement with Mr. Farkas, such that Mr. Farkas was appointed our Chief Visionary Officer and was no longer our CEO (the “Second Amendment”). Mr. Farkas continued to serve as our Executive Chairman of the Board. The Second Amendment called for Mr. Farkas to serve as Chief Visionary Officer for only four months. The Second Amendment specified the following: (i) in the event of a sale of the Company within one year of July 24, 2015, Mr. Farkas was to be entitled to receive an incentive payment equal to 1% of the gross sale price; and (ii) in satisfaction of amounts previously owed to Mr. Farkas, we were to issue Series C Preferred Shares valued at $400,000. The one year elapsed without a sale of our Company and the 4,444 Series C Preferred Shares were issued 4,000 on July 24, 2015 and 444 on March 31, 2016. All options and warrants that had been previously awarded to Mr. Farkas vested as of July 24, 2015.

 

Effective June 15, 2017, we and Mr. Farkas entered into the Third Amendment. This Third Amendment was approved by the Compensation Committee and the Board as a whole (with Mr. Farkas recusing himself from the vote regarding the Third Amendment). The Third Amendment declared the First Amendment and Second Amendment null and void.

 

The Third Amendment clarified that, on a going-forward basis, the Executive Chairman position held by Mr. Farkas is the principal executive officer of the Company. Mr. Farkas will hold this position for a term of three (3) years, with an automatic one (1) year renewal unless either party terminates Mr. Farkas’ employment with the Company at least sixty (60) days prior to the expiration of the term. We agreed that Mr. Farkas was paid $20,000 per month from July 24, 2015 to November 24, 2015 and we agreed to pay Mr. Farkas the equivalent of $15,000 per month in cash compensation for the past eighteen (18) months (from December 1, 2015 through May 31, 2017), or $270,000. Prior to entering into the Original Farkas Employment Agreement, the Company and an entity controlled by Mr. Farkas entered into: (i) that certain Consulting Agreement dated October 20, 2009 (the “Consulting Agreement”); and (ii) that certain Car Charging Group, Inc. Fee/Commission Agreement dated November 17, 2009 (the “Fee Agreement”) and, after entering into the Original Farkas Employment Agreement, the parties entered into that certain Patent License Agreement dated March 29, 2012 among the Company, Mr. Farkas and Balance Holdings, LLC and the March 11, 2016 Agreement regarding the Patent License Agreement (collectively with the Fee Agreement and the Consulting Agreement, the “Affiliate Agreements”).

 

The Original Farkas Employment Agreement included a provision whereby any options or warrants awarded to Mr. Farkas (or FGI) by the Company that were exercised by Mr. Farkas or that expired would be replaced by the Company. Such replacement options and warrants would have a new exercise price that is one percent (1%) percent above the market price on the new issue date. This provision was not amended by the Third Amendment.

 

Pursuant to the December 6, 2017 letter agreement between the Company and Mr. Farkas, Mr. Farkas’ monthly salary, as of the closing of the Public Offering, is $40,000 of cash compensation.

 

From February 16, 2018 through April 16, 2018, in connection with the closing of the Public Offering, the Company: (i) paid $80,000 to Mr. Farkas in repayment of accrued cash compensation for the period of July 2015 through November 2015; (ii) issued to Mr. Farkas 223,456 units of unregistered shares of Common Stock and warrants (with each unit consisting of one share of Common Stock and two warrants each to purchase one share of Common Stock for a total of 223,456 shares and 446,912 warrants) issuable as payment of $712,500 in shares of Common Stock owed to Mr. Farkas for the period of December 1, 2015 through May 31, 2017 pursuant to the Third Amendment and pursuant to a Conversion Agreement between the Company and Mr. Farkas, dated August 23, 2017 divided by the public offering price of $4.25 multiplied by 80%; (iii) issued to Mr. Farkas 153,039 units of unregistered shares of Common Stock and warrants (for a total of 153,039 shares and 306,078 warrants) issuable as payment of (a) $375,000 in shares of Common Stock owed to Mr. Farkas for accrued commissions on hardware sales and revenue from charging stations for the period of November 2015 through March 2017 pursuant to the Third Amendment divided by the public offering price of $4.25 multiplied by 80%; (b) $145,334 in shares of Common Stock owed to Mr. Farkas for accrued commissions on hardware sales and revenue from charging stations for the period of April 2017 through February 13, 2018 pursuant to an oral agreement between the Company and Mr. Farkas divided by the public offering price of $4.25 multiplied by 80%. This oral agreement was reached pursuant to Section 7(B) of the Third Amendment; (iv) issued to Mr. Farkas 74,753 shares of Common Stock issuable as payment of $221,009 owed to BLNK Holdings, LLC, an entity for which Mr. Farkas had voting power and investment power with regard to this entity’s holdings, in principal and interest pursuant to a Conversion Agreement between the Company and BLNK Holdings, dated August 23, 2017.

 

In March 2018, Mr. Farkas also received 886,119 shares of Common Stock issuable pursuant to the December 6, 2017 letter agreement.

 

Mr. Farkas is owed options for 7,000 shares of our Common Stock at an exercise price of $30.00 per share and options for 8,240 shares of our Common Stock at an exercise price of $37.50 per share in connection with amounts owed pursuant to the Third Amendment. With the exception of the Farkas additional amounts for the period of April 2017 through February 13, 2018 pursuant to an oral agreement between the Company and Mr. Farkas (which oral agreement was reached pursuant to Section 7(B) of the Third Amendment), the Third Amendment resolved all claims Mr. Farkas had with regard to the Affiliate Agreements. Following the closing of the Public Offering and the issuance of all securities owed to Mr. Farkas pursuant to the oral agreement, Mr. Farkas no longer has any claims with regard to the Affiliate Agreements. The Affiliate Agreements are not currently in effect and will retain that status while Mr. Farkas is employed by the Company with a monthly salary of at least $30,000.

 

Pursuant to the Third Amendment, Mr. Farkas will be entitled to salary and benefits for eighteen (18) months if he is terminated for a reason other than for cause (defined in the Original Farkas Employment Agreement as a conviction for committing or participating in an injurious act that constitutes fraud, gross negligence, misrepresentation, or embezzlement with regard to the Company).

 

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Mr. Feintuch’s Employment Agreement

 

On March 24, 2015, we entered into an employment agreement with Mr. Ira Feintuch to serve as our Chief Operating Officer for an initial three-year term renewable annually unless written notice is provided 60 days prior to the renewal term. Mr. Feintuch is to receive an annual salary of $250,000 and will participate in all of our benefit programs. Mr. Feintuch may receive a performance-based bonus in the form of cash or securities, at the discretion of our Executive Committee or pursuant to any written incentive plans adopted by the Board. In addition, Mr. Feintuch was due to receive (and received) 1,000,000 Series A Preferred Shares, 1,500 Series C Preferred Shares and 30,000 shares of Common Stock. The stock awards are payable 50% upon the signing of the employment agreement and 50% upon the one-year anniversary of the employment agreement. In addition, options to purchase an aggregate of 29,913 shares of Common Stock held by Mr. Feintuch with exercise prices ranging from $50.00 to $73.00 per share had their expiration dates extended to March 24, 2018. If, at any time prior to the one (1) year anniversary of the employment agreement we experienced a Fundamental Transaction (as defined in the employment agreement), the unvested equity compensation granted pursuant to the employment agreement was entitled to acceleration of vesting. Mr. Feintuch is entitled to paid -time -off of twenty-five (25) days per annum. If Mr. Feintuch is terminated without “cause” (as defined in the employment agreement), we shall continue to be obligated to pay Mr. Feintuch for nine (9) months after written notice of termination. If Mr. Feintuch is terminated for cause, he shall only continue to receive accrued salary for the period ending with the date of such termination, and he shall immediately forfeit any rights and benefits that he may have in respect to any other compensation. Mr. Feintuch is also subject to a covenant not to compete.

 

In accordance with the Compensation Agreement with Mr. Feintuch, from February 16, 2018 through March 31, 2018, in connection with the closing of the Public Offering, the Company (i) paid Mr. Feintuch $130,664 in cash which represents 75% of the accrued commissions on hardware sales and revenue from charging stations for the period of November 2015 through March 2017 owed to Mr. Feintuch pursuant to the Compensation Agreement; (ii) paid Mr. Feintuch $47,668 in cash which represents 75% of the accrued commissions on hardware sales and revenue from charging stations for the period of April 2017 through February 13, 2018 owed to Mr. Feintuch pursuant to an oral agreement between the Company and Mr. Feintuch. This oral agreement was reached pursuant to Section 3(B) of the Compensation Agreement; (iii) issued to Mr. Feintuch 17,487 units of unregistered shares of Common Stock and warrants (with each unit consisting of one share of Common Stock and two warrants each to purchase one share of Common Stock for a total of 17,487 shares and 34,974 warrants) issuable as payment of (a) $43,555 in shares of Common Stock owed to Mr. Feintuch which represents 25% of the accrued commissions on hardware sales and revenue from charging stations for the period of November 2015 through March 2017 owed to Mr. Feintuch pursuant to the Compensation Agreement divided by the public offering price of $4.25 multiplied by 80% and (b) $15,902 in shares of Common Stock owed to Mr. Feintuch which represents 25% of the accrued commissions on hardware sales and revenue from charging stations for the period of April 2017 through February 13, 2018 owed to Mr. Feintuch pursuant to an oral agreement between the Company and Mr. Feintuch divided by the public offering price of $4.25 multiplied by 80%. This oral agreement was reached pursuant to Section 3(B) of the Compensation Agreement.

 

Mr. Feintuch is owed options for 7,000 shares of our Common Stock at an exercise price of $30.00 per share and options for 9,600 shares of our Common Stock at an exercise price of $37.50 per share pursuant to his Compensation Agreement.

 

Mr. Feintuch agreed that his fee agreement is suspended and no payments are due thereunder (other than the payments specified in the Compensation Agreement) for as long as he is a full-time employee of the Company and is due to be paid a monthly salary of at least $20,000.

 

In March 2018, Mr. Feintuch also received 26,500 shares of Common Stock issuable pursuant to a letter agreement, dated December 7, 2017.

 

Mr. Calise’s Employment Agreement

 

On July 16, 2015 (the “Effective Date”), we entered into an at will employment agreement with Mr. Michael J. Calise to serve as our Chief Executive Officer, pursuant to which Mr. Calise will be compensated at the rate of $275,000 per annum and will participate in all of our benefit programs. Mr. Calise will serve as a member of our Operations and Finance Committee (the “OPFIN Committee”) and Executive Committee and we agreed we will nominate Mr. Calise to serve of the Board for as long as Mr. Calise is our Chief Executive Officer. As of August 10, 2018, the OPFIN Committee is not currently in place.

 

Mr. Calise has received 4,612 shares of Common Stock to which he was entitled pursuant to his employment agreement. In August 2017 Mr. Calise received 48,023 warrants, in lieu of options, owed to him pursuant to his employment agreement at prices ranging from $35.00 to $150.00, with a weighted average price of $36.44.

 

In addition, Mr. Calise received a signing bonus consisting of (i) $75,000 worth of our Common Stock based on the closing price on the Effective Date and (ii) a $25,000 cash payment. Within thirty (30) days of Mr. Calise’s acceptance of this position, Mr. Calise and the Board mutually set the Key Performance Indicators (“KPIs”) for Mr. Calise’s annual performance bonus.

 

Mr. Calise was initially eligible to receive an annual performance bonus in the amount of $100,000. Any entitled annual performance bonus shall be payable in January after the end of each year, and awarded for meeting the KPIs mutually set by Mr. Calise and the Board for the prior calendar year. Mr. Calise and the Board will meet at the beginning of each calendar year to set the KPIs and the annual bonus amount for that calendar year. Mr. Calise may receive an additional bonus in the form of cash and/or stock, at the discretion of the Board, or pursuant to one or more written plans adopted by the Board. Mr. Calise is entitled to paid -time -off of twenty (20) days per annum.

 

In February 2018, in connection with the closing of the Public Offering, the Company paid Mr. Calise a $25,000 bonus for 2016 owed to him pursuant to his employment agreement, as determined by the Compensation Committee of the Board in 2017.

 

Upon termination of employment by us for “cause” (as defined in the employment agreement) or due to Executive’s death or disability, or if Mr. Calise resigns for “good reason” (as defined in the employment agreement), then (i) all vesting will terminate immediately with respect to Mr. Calise’s outstanding equity awards, (ii) all payments of compensation by the us to Mr. Calise will terminate immediately (except as to amounts already earned), and (iii) Mr. Calise will only be eligible for severance benefits in accordance with the our established policies, if any, as then in effect. Upon termination by us other than for “cause”, death, disability, or if Mr. Calise resigns for “good reason,” Mr. Calise will be entitled to: (i) a lump sum payment equal to nine (9) months of salary, then in effect, (ii) up to 100% of Mr. Calise annual performance bonus prorated, (iii) reimbursement of COBRA premiums for a period of twelve (12) months, if applicable, and (iv) nine (9) months of accelerated vesting with respect to Mr. Calise’s then-outstanding equity awards prorated based on the number of days in the relevant quarter. In addition to the preceding termination benefits, if Mr. Calise is terminated three months or less prior to, or upon, or within twelve months following a “change of control” (as defined in the employment agreement), Mr. Calise will be entitled to accelerated vesting of then-outstanding equity awards as follows: (i) if termination occurs in the second year of Mr. Calise’s employment, an additional three (3) months prorated based on the number of days in the relevant quarter, (ii) if termination occurs in the third year of Mr. Calise’s employment, an additional six (6) months prorated based on the number of days in the relevant quarter, (iii) if termination occurs in the fourth year of Mr. Calise’s employment, 100% accelerated vesting. If Mr. Calise’s employment with us terminates voluntarily by Mr. Calise (except upon resignation for “good reason” (as defined in the employment agreement)), for cause by us or due to Mr. Calise’s death or disability, then (i) all vesting will terminate immediately with respect to Mr. Calise’s outstanding equity awards, (ii) all payments of compensation by us to Mr. Calise under the employment agreement will terminate immediately, and (iii) Mr. Calise will only be eligible for severance benefits in accordance with our established policies, if any, as then in effect.

 

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Omnibus Incentive Plans

 

We have adopted four omnibus incentive plans. On November 30, 2012, the Board, as well as a majority of our stockholders, approved our 2012 Omnibus Incentive Plan (the “2012 Plan”). On January 11, 2013, the Board approved our 2013 Omnibus Incentive Plan (the “2013 Plan”) and a majority of our stockholders approved the 2013 Plan on February 13, 2013. On March 31, 2014, the Board approved our 2014 Omnibus Incentive Plan (the “2014 Plan”) and a majority of our stockholders approved the 2014 Plan on April 17, 2014. On February 10, 2015, the Board approved our 2015 Omnibus Incentive Plan (the “2015 Plan,” and together with the 2012 Plan, the 2013 Plan and the 2014 Plan, the “Plans,” and each a “Plan”) and a majority of our stockholders approved the 2015 Plan on April 21, 2015. The Plans are substantially similar. The Plans enable us to grant options, stock appreciation rights (SARs), restricted stock, restricted stock units, phantom stock and dividend equivalent rights to our employees, directors, consultants, and advisors or any affiliate (as defined in applicable Plan), and to improve our ability or an affiliate to attract, retain, and motivate individuals upon whom our sustained growth and financial success depend, by providing such persons with an opportunity to acquire or increase their proprietary interest in us. Any of these awards may be made as performance incentives to reward attainment of annual or long-term performance goals, which awards are anticipated to result in “performance-based” compensation (as that term is used for purpose of Section 162(m) of the Internal Revenue Code).

 

The 2012 Plan expired on December 1, 2014. The 2013 Plan expired on December 1, 2015. The 2014 Plan expired on March 11, 2016. The 2015 Plan expired on March 11, 2017.

 

As of December 31, 2017, options to purchase 12,000 shares of common stock were outstanding to employees and consultants under the 2012 Plan. As of December 31, 2017, options to purchase 44,700 shares of common stock were outstanding to employees and options to purchase 27,472 shares of common stock were outstanding to consultants under the 2013 Plan. As of December 31, 2017, options to purchase 32,601 shares of common stock were outstanding to employees and options to purchase 43,166 shares of common stock were outstanding to consultants under the 2014 Plan. As of December 31, 2017, options to purchase 3,700 shares of common stock were outstanding to employees and options to purchase 9,788 shares of common stock were outstanding to consultants under the 2015 Plan.

 

The Company plans to seek shareholder approval to implement a new omnibus incentive plan.

 

Outstanding Equity Awards at Fiscal Year-End

 

The following table provides information on outstanding equity awards as of December 31, 2017 to the named executive officers. Mr. Calise was not issued any equity awards during this period.

 

    Option Awards     Stock Awards  
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     Option  exercise price     Option  expiration date     Number  of shares or units of stock that  have not vested     Market  value of shares of units that have not vested     Equity  incentive plan awards: Number of unearned shares, units or other rights vested     Equity  incentive plan awards: Market or payout value of unearned shares, units or other not vested  
                                                       
Ira Feintuch     12,000       -       -     $ 73.00       3/24/2018         -     $ -       -     $ -  
Ira Feintuch     13,733       -       -     $ 73.00       3/24/2018         -     $ -       -     $ -  
Ira Feintuch     2,800       -       1400 (1)   $ 50.00       3/24/2018         -     $ -       -     $ -  
                                                                         
Michael D. Farkas     -       -       15,000     $ 80.50       12/27/2017       -     $ -       -     $ -  
                                                                         
Michael D. Farkas     -       -       100     $ 65.50       6/28/2018       -     $ -       -     $ -  
Michael D. Farkas     -       -       100     $ 61.00       8/27/2018         -     $ -       -     $ -  
Michael D. Farkas     -       -       100     $ 59.50       9/26/2018         -     $ -       -     $ -  
Michael D. Farkas     -       -       200     $ 53.00       10/4/2018         -     $ -       -     $ -  
Michael D. Farkas     -       -       100     $ 45.00       10/10/2018       -     $ -       -     $ -  
Michael D. Farkas     -       -       100     $ 78.00       11/14/2018       -     $ -       -     $ -  
Michael D. Farkas     -       -       4,200     $ 55.00       5/14/2019         -     $ -       -     $ -  
Michael D. Farkas     -       -       100     $ 50.50       4/17/2019         -     $ -       -     $ -  
Michael D. Farkas     -       -       100     $ 47.50       6/6/2021         -     $ -       -     $ -  
Michael D. Farkas     -       -       100     $ 27.00       8/21/2019         -     $ -       -     $ -  
Michael D. Farkas     -       -       100     $ 26.50       10/21/2019       -     $ -       -     $ -  
Michael D. Farkas     -       -       100     $ 16.50       12/17/2019       -     $ -       -     $ -  
Michael D. Farkas     -       -       100     $ 9.00       2/10/2021       -     $ -       -     $ -  
Michael D. Farkas     -       -       100     $ 7.50       2/12/2021       -     $ -       -     $ -  
Michael D. Farkas     -       -       100     $ 8.50       2/23/2021       -     $ -       -     $ -  
Michael D. Farkas     -       -       100     $ 16.50       3/29/2021       -     $ -       -     $ -  
Michael D. Farkas     -       -       100     $ 18.50       3/31/2021         -     $ -       -     $ -  

 

(1) Option is exercisable to the extent of 1,400 shares effective as of May 14, 2017.

 

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Securities Authorized for Issuance Under Equity Compensation Plans

 

The following table sets forth, as of December 31, 2017, our securities authorized for issuance under any equity compensation plans approved by our stockholders as well as any equity compensation plans not approved by our stockholders.

 

    Number of           Number of securities
    securities           remaining available for
    to be issued upon     Weighted-average     future issuance under
   

exercise of

outstanding

   

exercise

price of

   

equity

compensation plans

    options,     outstanding options,     (excluding securities
   

warrants and

rights

   

warrants

and rights

   

reflected in

 column (a))

Plan Category   (a)     (b)     (c)
                   
Equity compensation plans approved by security holders     93,001     $ 49.14     $ -
Equity compensation plans not approved by security holders     -     $ -     $ -
                       
Total     93,001     $

49.14

      -

 

Pension Benefits and Nonqualified Deferred Compensation

 

We do not provide a pension plan for our employees, and none of our named executive officers participated in a nonqualified deferred compensation plan in 2016 and 2017.

 

401(k) Plan

 

We maintain a tax qualified retirement plan (the “401(k) Plan”), that provide eligible employees with an opportunity to save for retirement on a tax advantaged basis. Eligible employees may participate in the 401(k) Plan on the entry date coincident with or following the date they meet the 401(k) Plan’s age and service eligibility requirements. The entry date is either January 1 or July 1. In order to meet the age and service eligibility requirements, otherwise eligible employees must be age 21 or older and complete 3 consecutive months of employment. Participants are able to defer up to 100% of their eligible compensation subject to applicable annual Code limits. All participants’ interest in their deferrals are 100% vested when contributed. Currently, the 401(k) Plan does not provide for any matching contributions on employee deferrals.

 

Compensation of Directors

 

The following table provides information for 2017 regarding all compensation awarded to, earned by or paid to each person who served as a director for some portion or all of 2017.

 

    Fees Earned or     Stock     Option     All Other        
Name   Paid in Cash     Awards     Awards     Compensation (1)     Total  
Andrew Shapiro   $ 111,911 (2)   $ -     $ -     $ 37,297     $ 149,208  
                                         
Donald Engel   $ 27,744 (3)   $ -     $ -     $ 25,395     $ 53,139  
                                         
Robert Schweitzer (4)   $ 22,500 (4)   $ 90,000 (4)   $ -     $ 14,475     $ 126,975  
                                         
Total   $ 162,155     $ 90,000     $ -     $ 77,167     $ 329,322  

 

  (1) The Company accrued compensation expense related to the contractual obligation to issue options and shares of Common Stock which is included within accrued expenses as accrued professional, board and other fees as of December 31, 2017.
     
  (2) The Company accrued $111,911 in cash fees owed to Mr. Shapiro for the year ended December 31, 2017.
     
  (3) The Company accrued $22,500 in cash fees owed to Mr. Engel for the year ended December 31, 2017.
     
  (4) Mr. Robert Schweitzer was appointed to our Board on since July 17, 2017. The Company accrued $22,500 in cash fees owed to Mr. Schweitzer for the year ended December 31, 2017. The Company issued Mr. Schweitzer 10,000 shares of Common Stock in connection with his appointment to the Board.

 

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We entered into a director agreement (the “Shapiro Agreement”) with Mr. Shapiro on April 28, 2014. In connection with compensation owed to Mr. Shapiro pursuant to the Shapiro Agreement, in February 2018, upon the closing of the Public Offering, the Company paid $223,286 to Mr. Shapiro. In connection with compensation owed to Mr. Shapiro pursuant to the Shapiro Agreement, the Company issued 107,143 warrants to Mr. Shapiro on April 9, 2018 with the warrants having a weighted average exercise price of $4.25.

 

We entered into a director agreement (the “Engel Agreement”) with Mr. Engel on July 30, 2014. In connection with compensation owed to Mr. Engel pursuant to the Engel Agreement, in February 2018, upon the closing of the Public Offering, the Company paid $84,243 to Mr. Engel. In connection with compensation owed to Mr. Engel pursuant to the Engel Agreement, the Company issued 68,150 warrants to Mr. Engel on April 9, 2018 with the warrants having a weighted average exercise price of $4.25.

 

In connection with accrued Board service fees owed to Mr. Schweitzer, in February 2018, upon the closing of the Public Offering, we paid $22,500 to Mr. Schweitzer.

 

Mr. Kevin Evans was a member of our Board from October 19, 2016 to December 8, 2016. In connection with accrued Board service fees owed to Mr. Evans, in February 2018, upon the closing of the Public Offering, we paid $11,122 to Mr. Evans.

 

On December 11, 2017, the Board approved a new Board compensation plan (the “2017 Board Plan”). The 2017 Board Plan had an effective date of November 1, 2017. The 2017 Board Plan applied to the entire Board from November 1, 2017 through February 16, 2018. Since that date, the 2017 Board Plan only applies to the non-employee members of the Board. The employee members of the Board are no longer paid separate compensation for serving on the Board. The 2017 Board Plan supersedes all prior compensation arrangements with the Board members.

 

Pursuant to the 2017 Board Plan, each non-employee member of the Board receives an annual cash retainer of $60,000. The lead independent director of the Board (currently Mr. Schweitzer) receives a supplemental annual cash retainer in an amount $30,000. Each non-employee member of the Board that serves in a chairperson role or as a member of a committee receives a supplemental annual cash retainer in an amount equal to the corresponding role: (i) Chair of the Audit Committee—$15,000; Member of the Audit Committee—$7,500; (ii) Chair of the Compensation Committee—$10,000; Member of the Compensation Committee—$5,000; and (iii) Chair of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee—$10,000; Member of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee—$5,000. Each non-employee member of the Board receives $1,500 for each in-person Board meeting and $500 for each telephone Board meeting. The annual and supplemental cash retainers are payable quarterly during the last month of each quarter. We also reimburse our non-employee directors for reasonable travel and other expenses incurred in connection with attending Board and Company meetings or events.

 

In addition, each year on the date of the annual meeting of stockholders, each non-employee director will receive an annual award for the number of shares of our common stock that have a market value of $50,000 based on the closing price of the common stock on the last business day preceding the grant date. The lead independent director will receive an additional annual award for the number of shares of our common stock that have a market value of $15,000. The stock award will fully vest the sooner of: (i) twelve (12) months from grant; or (ii) one day before the following year’s annual meeting. All stock awards will include a cash payment upon vesting to cover expected ordinary income tax charges and will be calculated at the highest individual personal income tax rate.

 

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ITEM 12. SECURITY OWNERSHIP OF CERTAIN BENEFICIAL OWNERS AND MANAGEMENT AND RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS.

 

The following tables set forth certain information regarding our shares of Common Stock beneficially owned as of April 16, 2018, for (i) each stockholder known to be the beneficial owner of 5% or more of our outstanding shares of Common Stock, (ii) each named executive officer and director, and (iii) all executive officers and directors as a group. A person is considered to beneficially own any shares: (i) over which such person, directly or indirectly, exercises sole or shared voting or investment power, or (ii) of which such person has the right to acquire beneficial ownership at any time within 60 days through an exercise of stock options or warrants. Unless otherwise indicated, voting and investment power relating to the shares shown in the tables for our directors and executive officers is exercised solely by the beneficial owner or shared by the owner and the owner’s spouse or children.

 

For purposes of these tables, a person or group of persons is deemed to have “beneficial ownership” of any shares of Common Stock that such person has the right to acquire within 60 days of April 16, 2018. For purposes of computing the percentage of outstanding shares of our Common Stock held by each person or group of persons, any shares that such person or persons has the right to acquire within 60 days of April 16, 2018 is deemed to be outstanding, but is not deemed to be outstanding for the purpose of computing the percentage ownership of any other person. The inclusion herein of any shares listed as beneficially owned does not constitute an admission of beneficial ownership.

 

Unless otherwise indicated, the address of each beneficial owner listed in the table below is c/o Blink Charging Co., 3284 N 29th Court, Hollywood, Florida 33020.

 

    Shares of Common Stock
Beneficially owned
 
Name of Beneficial Owner   Number     Percent (1)  
5% Shareholders:                
                 
Nathan Low     1,136,081 (2)     5.67 %
                 
Justin Keener
3960 Howard Hughes Parkway Suite 500
Las Vegas, NV 89169
    2,134,169 (3)     9.16 %
                 
Mark Hershkowitz     1,327,110 (4)     6.85 %
                 
Directors and Executive Officers:                
                 
Michael D. Farkas     7,978,770 (5)       39.74 %
                 
Ira Feintuch     246,109 (6)