As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission
on
Registration Statement No. 333-
UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549
FORM
REGISTRATION STATEMENT
UNDER
THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)
7373 | ||
(State or other jurisdiction
of incorporation or organization) |
(Primary Standard Industrial Classification Code Number) |
(I.R.S.
Employer Identification Number) |
(Address and telephone number of registrant’s principal executive offices)
Dean L. Julia
Chief Executive Officer
Mobiquity Technologies, Inc.
35 Torrington Lane
Shoreham, NY 11786
(516) 246-9422
(Name, address, including zip code, and telephone number, including area code, of agent for service)
Copies to:
Gavin C. Grusd, Esq. David F. Durso, Esq. Ruskin Moscou Faltischek P.C. 1425 RXR Plaza East Tower, 15th Floor Uniondale, NY 11556 Tel: (516) 663-6514 |
Thomas J. Poletti, Esq. Costa Mesa, CA 92626 Tel: (714) 312-7500 |
Approximate date of commencement of proposed sale to the public:
As soon as practicable after the effective date of this registration statement becomes effective.
If any of the securities being registered on this Form are to be offered on a delayed or continuous basis pursuant to Rule 415 under the Securities Act of 1933 check the following box: ☒
If this Form is filed to register additional securities for an offering pursuant to Rule 462(b) under the Securities Act, please check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering. ☐
If this Form is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to Rule 462(c) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering. ☐
If this Form is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to Rule 462(d) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering. ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, 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 |
☒
|
|
|
|
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 to Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act. ☒
Under Rule 429 of the Securities Act, this Registration Statement also acts as a post-effective amendment to Registration Statement File Number 333-260364 covering 2,807,937 shares of common stock issuable upon the exercise of outstanding publicly held five-year warrants exercisable at $4.98 per share which warrants were issued in December 2021.
The registrant hereby amends this registration statement on such date or dates as may be necessary to delay its effective date until the registrant shall file a further amendment which specifically states that this registration statement shall thereafter become effective in accordance with Section 8(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or until the registration statement shall become effective on such date as the Securities and Exchange Commission acting pursuant to said Section 8(a), may determine.
Subject to completion | Preliminary Prospectus dated January 18, 2023 |
The information in this prospectus is not complete and may be changed. These securities may not be sold until the registration statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission is effective. This preliminary prospectus is not an offer to sell nor does it seek an offer to buy these securities in any jurisdiction where the offer or sale is not permitted.
Mobiquity Technologies, Inc.
________ Shares of Common Stock
and accompanying Series 2023 Warrants to Purchase ______Shares of Common Stock
________ Pre-funded Warrants to Purchase _______ Shares of Common Stock
and accompanying Series 2023 Warrants to Purchase _______ Shares of Common Stock
Representative Warrants to Purchase ________Shares of Common Stock
We are offering in a firm commitment offering _____shares of our common stock, par value $0.0001 per share, together with warrants to purchase ______ shares of common stock (the “Series 2023 Warrants”) at a combined public offering price of $_____per share and Warrant pursuant to this prospectus. The common stock and Series 2023 Warrants will be sold in a fixed combination, with each share of common stock accompanied by one Series 2023 Warrant to purchase one share of common stock The shares of common stock and Series 2023 Warrants are immediately separable and will be issued separately in this offering, but must be purchased together in this offering. Each Series 2023 Warrant has an exercise price of $_____ per share, will be exercisable upon issuance and will expire on ________. Additionally, in the event that the Nasdaq Capital Market (“Nasdaq CM”) closing price of our common stock equals or exceeds $___ per share (i.e. 400% of the combined public offering price per common share and 2023 Warrant) for a period of at least ten consecutive trading days, then, provided that a current registration statement covering the resale of the shares underlying the 2023 Warrants is in effect, we have the right to redeem the 2023 Warrants on ten days prior written notice at a redemption price of $.001 per 2023 Warrant, subject to the warrant holder’s right to convert at any time through the close of business on the trading date prior to the redemption date.
We are also offering to certain purchasers whose purchase of shares of common stock in this offering would otherwise result in the purchaser, together with its affiliates and certain related parties, beneficially owning more than 4.99% (or, at the election of the purchaser, 9.99%) of our outstanding common stock immediately following the consummation of this offering, the opportunity to purchase, if any such purchaser so chooses, pre-funded warrants, in lieu of shares of common stock that would otherwise result in such purchaser’s beneficial ownership exceeding 4.99% (or, at the election of the purchaser, 9.99%) of our outstanding common stock. The purchase price of each pre-funded warrant will be equal to the price at which a share of common stock is sold to the public in this offering, minus $0.0001, and the exercise price of each pre-funded warrant will be $0.0001 per share. The pre-funded warrants will be immediately exercisable and may be exercised at any time until all of the pre-funded warrants are exercised in full. The shares of common stock and pre-funded warrants can only be purchased together in this offering but will be issued separately and will be immediately separable upon issuance.
We are also seeking to register the issuance of warrants to purchase _______ shares of Common Stock to the underwriters, as a portion of the underwriting compensation payable in connection with this offering, as well as the ______ shares of Common Stock issuable upon exercise by the Underwriters of the Representative’s warrants at an exercise price of $___ per share (110% of public offering price). We will receive proceeds from the sale of the securities being registered in this offering which are sold on a firm commitment basis. See “Use of Proceeds” for information about how we will use the proceeds of this offering.
There is no established public trading market for the Series 2023 Warrants, pre-funded warrants and the Representative’s warrants and we do not expect a market to develop. Without an active trading market, the liquidity of these warrants will be limited. In addition, we do not intend to list the Series 2023 Warrants, pre- funded warrants or the Representative’s warrants on The Nasdaq Capital Market (“Nasdaq CM”), any other national securities exchange or any other trading system. On January 9, 2023, the last quoted price of our common stock as reported on the NasdaqCM was $0.62 per share. There is a limited public trading market for our common stock.
The final combined public offering price per will be determined through a negotiation between us and the underwriters in the offering and will take into account the recent market price of our common stock, the general condition of the securities market at the time of the offering, the history of, and the prospects for, the industry in which we compete, and our past and present operations and our prospects for future revenues. The final combined offering price for the securities may be at a discount to the trading price of our common stock on the NasdaqCM. This price will fluctuate based on the demand for our common stock. The assumed public offering price used throughout this prospectus may not be indicative of the actual final offering price.
This Prospectus also relates to the possible issuance of 2,807,937 shares upon exercise of five year warrants, exercisable at $4.98 per share, which we issued in a public offering December 2021 (the “2021 Warrants”) along with other securities. The registration statement, of which this prospectus is a part, acts as a post-effective amendment to Registration Statement which registered 2021 Warrants and underlying shares. Our common stock and 2021 Warrants are listed on The NasdaqCM under the symbols “MOBQ” and “MOBQW”, respectively.
Investing in our common stock involves a high degree of risk. See “Risk Factors” beginning on page 6 of this prospectus.
Neither the Securities and Exchange Commission nor any state securities commission has approved or disapproved of these securities or determined if this prospectus is truthful or complete. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.
Per Share and Series 2023 Warrants |
Per Pre-Funded Warrant and Series 2023 Warrants |
Total | |||
Public offering price | |||||
Underwriters discounts and commissions(1) | |||||
Proceeds to us, before expenses(2) |
(1) We have agreed to pay the underwriters a total cash fee equal to 8% of the gross proceeds raised in this offering. We have also agreed to reimburse the underwriters for certain of its offering-related expenses of up to $200,000 plus 1% of the gross proceeds of this offering. In addition, we have agreed to issue the Representative Warrants to purchase up to a number of shares of our common stock equal to 5% of the aggregate number of shares of common stock and pre-funded warrants being offered at an exercise price equal to 110% of the public offering price of the shares common stock. See “Plan of Distribution” for additional information and a description of the compensation payable to the underwriters.
(2) We estimate the total expenses of this offering payable by us, excluding the underwriters’ discount, will be approximately $500,000.
We have granted the underwriters an option for a period of 45 days from the date of this prospectus to purchase up to an additional _____ shares of common stock (or pre-funded warrants in lieu of shares) together with Series 2023 Warrants to purchase shares of common stock at a combined offering price of $___ per share and Series 2023 Warrant (110% of the combined public offering price per share and warrants), less the underwriting discount, solely to cover over-allotments, if any.
We anticipate that delivery of the securities against payment will be made on or about ________, 2023.
Prospectus dated , 2023
We and the underwriters have not authorized anyone to provide any information or to make any representations other than those contained in this prospectus or in any free writing prospectuses prepared by or on behalf of us or to which we have referred you. We take no responsibility for, and can provide no assurance as to the reliability of, any other information that others may give you. This prospectus is an offer to sell only the shares offered hereby, but only under circumstances and in jurisdictions where it is lawful to do so. The information contained in is accurate only as of its date regardless of the time of delivery of this prospectus or of any sale of common stock.
Neither we nor the underwriters have done anything that would permit this offering or possession or distribution of this prospectus in any jurisdiction where action for that purpose is required, other than in the United States. Persons who come into possession of this prospectus and any free writing prospectus in jurisdictions outside the United States are required to inform themselves about and to observe any restrictions as to this offering and the distribution of this prospectus and any free writing prospectus applicable to that jurisdiction.
This prospectus contains market data and industry statistics and forecasts that are based on independent industry publications and other publicly available information. Although we believe that these sources are reliable, we do not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of this information and we have not independently verified this information. Although we are not aware of any misstatements regarding the market and industry data presented, these estimates involve risks and uncertainties and are subject to change based on various factors, including those discussed under the heading “Risk Factors” and any related free writing prospectus. Accordingly, investors should not place undue reliance on this information.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
i |
PROSPECTUS SUMMARY
This summary highlights information contained elsewhere in this prospectus. Because this is only a summary, it does not contain all of the information that may be important to you. You should read this entire prospectus and should consider, among other things, the matters set forth under “Risk Factors,” “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and our consolidated financial statements and related notes thereto appearing elsewhere in this prospectus before making your investment decision. This prospectus contains forward-looking statements and information relating to Mobiquity Technologies, Inc. See “Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” on page 27.
Our Company
We are a next-generation advertising technology, data compliance and intelligence company which operates through our three proprietary software platforms in the programmatic advertising industry.
The Programmatic Advertising Industry
Programmatic advertising refers to the automated buying and selling of digital ad space. In contrast to manual advertising, which relies on human interaction and negotiation between publishers and marketers, programmatic ad buying harnesses technology to purchase digital display space. This use of software and algorithms helps streamline ad buying processes, which is why programmatic has become one of the most indispensable digital marketing tools worldwide. According to Statista, in 2021, global programmatic ad spend reached an estimated 418.4 billion U.S. dollars, with spending set to surpass 493 billion by 2022. The United States remains the leading programmatic advertising market worldwide.
Our Mission
Our mission is to help enterprises in the programmatic industry become more efficient and effective regarding the monetization of advertising, audience segments and data compliance. We do this by offering three proprietary solutions: Our ATOS platform for brands and agencies, our data intelligence platform for audience segments and targeting, and our publisher platform for privacy compliance and publisher monetization.
Our Opportunity
Due to the recent changes to Privacy Laws, such as GDPR and CCPA, along with Apple and Google’s removal of Identifiers, we believe Publishers are facing two significant issues: increasing costs due to privacy compliance laws and decreasing revenue, due to the lack of audience targeting. We believe there is a major paradigm shift occurring in the market, where user data and the targeting intelligence to use it must shift from middlemen directly to the content publishers. Publishers must own their first party data and manage their audiences segments in-house. We believe that irrespective of whether a publisher chooses to work with us or not, they need to find a solution that allows advertisers to buy directly from them.
Our Solutions
Programmatic Advertising Platform
Our advertising technology operating system (or ATOS) platform is a single-vendor end-to-end solution that blends artificial intelligence (or AI) and machine learning (or ML)-based optimization technology that automatically serves advertising and manages digital advertising campaigns. Our ATOS platform engages with approximately 10 billion advertisement opportunities per day.
1 |
As an automated programmatic ecosystem, ATOS increases speed and performance, by providing dynamic technology that scales in real-time. It is this proprietary cloud-based architecture that keeps costs down and allows us to pass along savings to our customers. Also, by offering more of the features inherent in a digital advertising campaign, and removing the need for third-party integration of those features, we believe that our ATOS platform can be substantially more time efficient and cost efficient than other Demand-Side Platforms (or DSPs). Our ATOS platform also decreases the effective cost basis for users by integrating all the necessary capabilities at no additional cost as compared to the costs to outsource these capabilities to one or more providers in a fragmented ecosystem. DSP and bidding technologies, AdCop™ Fraud Protection, rich media and ad serving, attribution, reporting dashboard and DMP are all included in our ATOS platform.
Data Intelligence Platform
Our data intelligence platform provides precise data and insights on consumer’s real-world behavior and trends for use in marketing and research. Our management believes, based our experience in the industry, that we provide one of the most accurate and scaled solution for data collection and analysis, utilizing multiple internally developed proprietary technologies.
We provide our data intelligence platform to our customers on a managed services basis, and also offer a self-service alternative through our MobiExchange product, which is a software-as-a-service (or SaaS) fee model. MobiExchange is a data-focused technology solution that enables users to rapidly build actionable data and insights for its own use. MobiExchange’s easy-to-use, self-service tools allow anyone to reduce the complex technical and financial barriers typically associated with turning offline data, and other business data, into actionable digital products and services. MobiExchange provides out-of-the box private labeling, flexible branding, content management, user management, user communications, subscriptions, payment, invoices, reporting, gateways to third party platforms, and help desk, among other things.
Publisher Platform for Monetization and Compliance
Our content publisher platform is a single-vendor ad tech operating system that allows publishers to better monetize their opt-in user data and advertising inventory. The platform includes tools for: consent management, audience building, a direct advertising interface and inventory enhancement. Our publisher platform provides content publishers the functionality to use its user identifier data to create inventories of profiled data segments and to target audiences with advertising using that data, in a data privacy compliant manner.
Our Revenue Sources
We target publishers, brands, advertising agencies and other advertising technology companies as our audience for our three platform products. Our sales and marketing strategy is focused on providing a de-fragmented operating system that facilitates a considerably more efficient and effective way for advertisers and publishers to transact with each other. Our goal is to become the programmatic display advertising industry standard for small and medium sized advertisers. We generate revenue from our platforms through two verticals:
· | The first is licensing one or more of our platforms as a white-label product for use by advertising agencies, demand-side platforms (or DSP’s), brands and publishers. Under the white-label scenario, the user licenses a platform from us and is responsible for running its own business operations and is billed a percentage of amounts spent on advertising run through the platform. | |
· | The second revenue stream is a managed services model, in which, the user is billed a higher percentage of revenue run through a platform, but all services are managed by us. |
2 |
Risk Factors
Investing in our securities involves risks. You should carefully consider the risks described in the “Risk Factors” section beginning on page 6 before making a decision to invest in our securities. If any of these risks actually occur, our business, financial condition and/or results of operations would likely be materially adversely affected. In each case, the trading price of our securities would likely decline, and you may lose all or part of your investment. We have engaged Spartan Securities Capital LLC, as Representative of the underwriters, to act as our underwriters in connection with this offering on a firm commitment basis. We will bear all costs associated with the offering. See “Plan of Distribution” on page __ of this prospectus for more information regarding these arrangements. The following is a summary of some of the additional principal risks we face:
· | We have a history of operating losses and our management has concluded that factors raise substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern and our auditor has included an explanatory paragraph relating to our ability to continue as a going concern in its audit report for the past several fiscal years. | |
· | We cannot predict our future capital needs and we may not be able to secure additional financing. | |
· | The Company’s financial condition and results of operations have been and may continue to be adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. | |
· | The reliability of our product solutions is dependent on data from third-parties and the integrity and quality of that data. | |
· | Our business practices with respect to data and consumer protection could give rise to liabilities or reputational harm as a result of governmental regulation, legal requirements or industry standards relating to consumer privacy, data protection and consumer protection. | |
· | We face intense and growing competition, which could result in reduced sales and reduced operating margins, and limit our market share. | |
· | The market for programmatic advertising campaigns is relatively new and evolving. If this market develops slower or differently than we expect, our business, growth prospects and financial condition would be adversely affected. | |
· | If we fail to innovate and make the right investment decisions in our offerings and platform, we may not attract and retain advertisers and publishers and our revenue and results of operations may decline. | |
· | We need to protect our intellectual property or our operating results may suffer. | |
· | Our business practices with respect to data and consumer protection could give rise to liabilities or reputational harm as a result of governmental regulation, legal requirements or industry standards relating to consumer privacy, data protection and consumer protection. | |
· | Our failure to recruit or the loss of management and highly trained and qualified personnel could adversely affect our operations. | |
· | Our substantial amount of indebtedness may adversely affect our cash flow and our ability to operate our business, and make payments on our indebtedness. | |
· | We currently have identified significant deficiencies in our internal control over financial reporting that, if not corrected, could result in material misstatements of our financial statements. | |
· |
There is a very limited public trading market for our common stock and 2021 Warrants; therefore, our investors may not be able to sell their shares and the price of our common stock may fluctuate substantially. Further, there is can be no assurances that an established trading market will develop. | |
· | We will likely need to seek additional equity or debt financing even following this offering to provide the capital required to maintain or expand our operations. If we are unable to raise additional capital in sufficient amounts or on terms acceptable to us, we could be substantially harmed, and it could lead to the termination of our business. |
Corporate Information
We are based in New York and were incorporated in New York on March 16, 1998.
Our principal executive offices are located at 35 Torrington Lane, Shoreham, NY 11786. Our telephone number is (516) 246-9422, and our website is www.mobiquitytechnologies.com.
Our website and the information contained therein, or connected thereto, are not intended to be incorporated into this Registration Statement on Form S-1.
3 |
THE OFFERING
Securities Offered by Us
_______ shares of common stock and accompanying Series 2023 Warrants to purchase _______ shares of common stock, and ________ pre-funded warrants to purchase shares of common stock and accompanying Series 2023 Warrants to purchase _______ shares of common stock. The shares of common stock or pre-funded warrants, respectively, and accompanying Series 2023 Warrants are immediately separable and will be issued separately in this offering, but must initially be purchased together in this offering. Each Series 2023 Warrant has an exercise price of $______ per share of common stock, is immediately exercisable and will expire five years from the date of the issuance. Additionally, in the event that the Nasdaq CM closing price of our common stock equals or exceeds $___ per share (i.e. 400% of the combined public offering price per common share and 2023 Warrant) for a period of at least ten consecutive trading days, then, provided that a current registration statement covering the resale of the shares underlying the 2023 Warrants is in effect, we have the right to redeem the 2023 Warrants on ten days prior written notice at a redemption price of $.001 per 2023 Warrant, subject to the warrant holder’s right to convert at any time through the close of business on the trading date prior to the redemption date. See “Description of Securities sold in the Offering”. We are also registering ______ shares of common stock issuable upon exercise of the pre-funded warrants and the Series 2023 Warrants. This Prospectus also registers the possible exercise of 2021 Warrants to purchase 2,807,937 shares exercisable at $4.98 per share which five year warrants were issued in December 2021.
Pre-Funded Warrants Offered
We are also offering to certain purchasers whose purchase of shares of common stock in this offering would otherwise result in the purchaser, together with its affiliates and certain related parties, beneficially owning more than 4.99% (or, at the election of the purchaser, 9.99%) of our outstanding common stock immediately following the closing of this offering, the opportunity to purchase, if such purchasers so choose, pre-funded warrants to purchase shares of common stock, in lieu of shares of common stock that would otherwise result in any such purchaser’s beneficial ownership exceeding 4.99% (or, at the election of the purchaser, 9.99%) of our outstanding common stock. Each pre-funded warrant will be exercisable for one share of our common stock. The purchase price of each pre-funded warrant and accompanying Series 2023 Warrants (as described below) will be equal to the price at which a share of common stock and accompanying Series 2023 Warrants is being sold to the public in this offering, minus $0.0001, and the exercise price of each pre-funded warrant will be $0.0001 per share. The pre-funded warrants will be exercisable immediately and may be exercised at any time until all of the pre-funded warrants are exercised in full. This offering also relates to the shares of common stock issuable upon exercise of any pre-funded warrants sold in this offering. For each pre-funded warrant we sell, the number of shares of common stock we are offering will be decreased on a one-for-one basis. See “Description of Securities sold in the Offering”.
Firm Commitment Basis
We are offering the shares of common stock (and pre-funded warrants to purchase shares of common stock in lieu of shares of common stock) and Series 2023 Warrants on a firm commitment basis at a combined public offering price of $__ per share and Series 2023 Warrant We have granted the underwriters an option for a period of 45 days from the date of this prospectus to purchase up to an additional _____ shares of common stock (or pre-funded warrants in lieu thereof) together with Series 2023 Warrants to purchase _______ shares of common stock at a combined offering price of $___ per share and Series 2023 Warrant (110% of the combined public offering price per share), less the underwriting discount, solely to cover over-allotments, if any.
Common Stock Outstanding Prior to this Offering
9,834,366 shares as of January 17, 2023
4 |
Common Stock to be Outstanding After this Offering
______ shares assuming full exercise or non-issuance of the pre-funded warrants, but no exercise of the Series 2023 Warrants issued in this offering or the Representative Warrants issued to the underwriters or the exercise of the 2021 Warrants. The foregoing number of shares of common stock do not include the possible exercise of other outstanding options and warrants or the conversion of outstanding preferred stock. Unless we indicate otherwise, all information in this prospectus:
· |
excludes 1,162,721 shares of our common stock issuable upon exercise of outstanding stock options by the members of our board of directors and third parties at a weighted average exercise price of $16.16 per share as of January 6, 2023; | |
· | excludes 2,613,636 shares of our common stock issuable upon exercise of warrants issued to our secured lender at an exercise price of $.44 per share; | |
· |
excludes 2,807,937 shares of our common stock issuable upon exercise of outstanding 2021 Warrants held by investors at an exercise price of $4.98 per share as of January 6, 2023; | |
· |
excludes 74,458 shares of common stock issuable upon the full exercise of the warrants at an exercise price of $5.1875 per share we granted to Spartan as an underwriter of our 2021 public offering; | |
· | excludes 26,136 shares of common stock issuable upon the full exercise of the warrants at an exercise price of $0.484 per share we granted to Spartan as a placement agent of our private offering in December 2022; | |
· |
excludes 1,800,155 shares of our common stock issuable upon the exercise of other warrants that are outstanding as of the date of this prospectus exercisable at an average exercise price of $25.86 per share; and | |
· | excludes 162,073 shares issuable upon conversion of outstanding Preferred Stock. |
Except as otherwise indicated herein, all information in this prospectus assumes, no exercise of the warrants or Representative Warrants issued in this offering, and no exercise of options issued under our Plans or of warrants described above.
Use of Proceeds
We estimate that our net proceeds from this offering, assuming all securities offered by means of this prospectus are sold, will be approximately $_____ million, after deducting the estimated underwriters’ fees and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us. We intend to use the net proceeds of this offering to make a cash payment of $1,437,500 to repay outstanding senior secured promissory notes and the remaining net proceeds will be used for continuing operating expenses and general working capital.
Risk Factors
See “Risk Factors” beginning on page 6 of this prospectus, as well as other information included in this prospectus, for a discussion of factors you should read and consider carefully before investing in our securities.
NasdaqCMs Symbols
Our common stock and 2021 Warrants are listed on The NasdaqCM under the symbols “MOBQ” and “MOBQW”, respectively. There is no established trading market for the Series 2023 Warrants or the pre-funded warrants, and we do not expect a trading market to develop. We do not intend to list the Series 2023 Warrants or the pre-funded warrants on any securities exchange or other trading market. Without a trading market, the liquidity of the Series 2023 Warrants and pre-funded warrants will be extremely limited.
5 |
RISK FACTORS
An investment in our securities is highly speculative, involves a high degree of risk and should be made only by investors who can afford a complete loss. If any of the following risks actually occurs, then our business, financial condition or results of operations could be materially adversely affected, the trading of our common stock and 2021 Warrants could decline, and you may lose all or part of your investment therein. In addition to the risks outlined below, risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or that we currently consider immaterial may also impair our business operations. Potential risks and uncertainties that could affect our operating results and financial condition include, without limitation, the following:
Risks Relating to our Business Operations
We have a history of operating losses, and our management has concluded that factors raise substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern and our auditor has included an explanatory paragraph relating to our ability to continue as a going concern in its audit report for the past several fiscal years.
To date, we have not been profitable and have incurred significant losses and cash flow deficits. For the nine months ended September 30, 2022 and the fiscal years ended December 31, 2021, and 2020, we reported net losses of $ 5,721,201, $18,333,383 and $11,745,835 (as restated), respectively, and net cash used in operating activities of $5,502,991, $6,717,324 and $3,286,764 (as restated), respectively. As of September 30,2022, we had an aggregate accumulated deficit of $208,236,095. Our operating losses for the past several years are primarily attributable to the transformation of our company into an advertising technology corporation. We can provide no assurances that our operations will generate consistent or predictable revenue or be profitable in the foreseeable future. Our management has concluded that our historical recurring losses from operations and negative cash flows from operations as well as our dependence on private equity and other financings raise substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern, and our auditor has included an explanatory paragraph relating to our ability to continue as a going concern in its audit report for the past several fiscal years.
Our consolidated financial statements do not include any adjustments that might result from the outcome of this uncertainty. These adjustments would likely include substantial impairment of the carrying amount of our assets and potential contingent liabilities that may arise if we are unable to fulfill various operational commitments. In addition, the value of our securities, including common stock issued in this offering, would be greatly impaired. Our ability to continue as a going concern is dependent upon generating sufficient cash flow from operations and obtaining additional capital and financing, including funds to be raised in this offering. If our ability to generate cash flow from operations is delayed or reduced and we are unable to raise additional funding from other sources, we may be unable to continue in business even if this offering is successful. For further discussion about our ability to continue as a going concern and our plan for future liquidity.
We cannot predict our future capital needs and we may not be able to secure additional financing.
From January 2013 through December 2022, we raised a total of over $60 million in private equity and debt financing to support our transformation from an integrated marketing company to a technology company. Since we might be unable to generate recurring or predictable revenue or cash flow to fund our operations, we will likely need to seek additional (perhaps substantial) equity or debt financing even following this offering to provide the capital required to maintain or expand our operations. We expect that we will also need additional funding for developing products and services, increasing our sales and marketing capabilities, and acquiring complementary companies, technologies and assets (there being no such acquisitions which we have identified or are pursuing as of the date of this prospectus), as well as for working capital requirements and other operating and general corporate purposes. We cannot predict our future capital needs with precision, and we may not be able to secure additional financing on terms satisfactory to us, if at all, which could lead to termination of our business.
If we elect to raise additional funds or additional funds are required, we may seek to raise funds from time to time through public or private equity offerings, debt financings or other financing alternatives. Additional equity or debt financing may not be available on acceptable terms, if at all. If we are unable to raise additional capital in sufficient amounts or on terms acceptable to us, we will be prevented from pursuing operational development and commercialization efforts and our ability to generate revenues and achieve or sustain profitability will be substantially harmed.
6 |
If we raise additional funds by issuing equity securities, our shareholders will experience dilution. Debt financing, if available, would result in increased fixed payment obligations and may involve agreements that include covenants limiting or restricting our ability to take specific actions, such as incurring additional debt, making capital expenditures or declaring dividends. Any debt financing or additional equity that we raise may contain terms, such as liquidation and other preferences, which are not favorable to us or our stockholders. If we raise additional funds through collaboration and licensing arrangements with third parties, it may be necessary to relinquish valuable rights to our technologies, future revenue streams or product candidates or to grant licenses on terms that may not be favorable to us. Should the financing we require to sustain our working capital needs be unavailable or prohibitively expensive when we require it, our business, operating results, financial condition and prospects could be materially and adversely affected, and we may be unable to continue our operations. Failure to secure additional financing on favorable terms could have severe adverse consequences to us.
Our previously issued December 31, 2021 consolidated financial statements and related disclosures as filed on Form 10-K/A and quarterly periods within fiscal years 2021 and 2020 as filed on Form 10-Q were restated in December 2022.
On December 1, 2022, we filed Amendment No. 2 to our Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021, and we reached a determination to restate our previously issued December 31, 2021 consolidated financial statements and related disclosures as filed on Form 10-K/A and quarterly periods within fiscal years 2021 and 2020 as filed on Form 10-Q. The restatement primarily related to the following:
· | The recording of expense for common stock and warrants issued in equity financings. The warrants were a direct offering cost and should have been recorded as a reduction in additional paid-in capital; | |
· | The recording of the sale of warrants for cash that should have increased additional paid-in capital and not other income; | |
· | The recording of a mark to market adjustment for stock sold to a third party. The Company recognized a gain as a part of other income and a decrease to additional paid-in capital, this entry was made in error as the Company was not a holder of an investment of its own stock; and | |
· | Various reclassifications throughout our balance sheets, statements of operations, stockholders’ equity and cash flows to better reflect the nature or classification of each transaction. |
The restatement of the consolidated financial statements does not affect the Company’s previously reported total assets, total liabilities or revenues. Additionally, there are no compliance matters with any lender or other third parties as a result of the restatement. In addition, management has concluded that the Company’s disclosure controls and procedures were not effective as of December 31, 2021 and that the Company’s internal control over financial reporting was not effective as of December 31, 2021 solely as a result of a material weakness in controls related to the aforementioned. As a result, we have incurred unanticipated costs for accounting and legal fees in connection with or related to the restatement and may become subject to additional risks and uncertainties related to the restatement, such as a negative impact on investor confidence in the accuracy of our financial disclosures and may raise reputational risks for our business.
We could become subject to shareholder litigation and other risks as a result of the restatement and material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting.
We may be come subject to shareholder litigation as a result of the Restatement if stockholders assert that the trading price of our common stock was adversely affected by the Restatement. In addition, as part of the Restatement, we identified material weaknesses in our internal controls over financial reporting. As a result of the Restatement and such material weakness, we face potential for litigation or other disputes which may include, among others, claims invoking the federal and state securities laws, contractual claims or other claims arising from the Restatement and the material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting and the preparation of our financial statements. As of the date of this prospectus, we have no knowledge of any such litigation or dispute. However, we can provide no assurance that such litigation or dispute will not arise in the future. Any such litigation or dispute, whether successful or not, could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.
7 |
In addition, the market for our securities may be characterized by significant price volatility when compared to seasoned issuers, and we expect that our share price may continue to be more volatile than a seasoned issuer for the indefinite future. In the past, plaintiffs have often initiated securities class action litigation against a company following periods of volatility in the market price of its securities. We may become the target of similar litigation. Securities litigation will result in substantial costs and liabilities and will divert management’s attention and resources.
The Company’s financial condition and results of operations have been and may continue to be adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Since March 2020, COVID -19 has caused a material and substantial adverse impact on our general economy and our business operations. It has caused there to be a substantial decrease in our sales, cancellations of purchase orders and has resulted in accounts receivables not being timely paid as anticipated. Further, it has caused us to have concerns about our ability to meet our obligations as they become due and payable. In this respect, our business is directly dependent upon and correlates closely to the marketing levels and ongoing business activities of our existing clients. If material adverse developments in domestic and global economic and market conditions adversely affect our clients’ businesses, such as COVID-19, our business and results of operations could (and in the case of COVID-19) equally suffer. Our results of operations are affected directly by the level of business activity of our clients, which in turn is affected by the level of economic activity in the industries and markets that they serve. COVID-19 future widespread economic slowdowns in any of these markets, particularly in the United States, may negatively affect the businesses, purchasing decisions and spending of our clients and prospective clients, and payment of accounts receivable due us, which could result in reductions in our existing business as well as our new business development and difficulties in meeting our cash obligations as they become due. In the event of continued widespread economic downturn caused by COVID-19, we will likely continue to experience a reduction in projects, longer sales and collection cycles, deferral or delay of purchase commitments for our data products, processing functionality, software systems and services, and increased price competition, all of which could substantially adversely affect revenue and our ability to remain a going concern.
In the event we remain a going concern, the impacts of the global emergence of Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) on our business, sources of revenues and the general economy, are currently not fully known. We are conducting business as usual with some modifications to employee work locations, and cancellation of certain marketing events, among other modifications. We lost a purchase order in excess of one million dollars with a major US sports organization. We have observed other companies taking precautionary and preemptive actions to address COVID-19 and companies may take further actions that alter their normal business operations. We will continue to actively monitor the situation and may take further actions that alter our business operations as may be required by federal, state or local authorities or that we determine are in the best interests of our employees, customers, partners, suppliers and stockholders. It is not clear what the potential effects any such alterations or modifications may have on our business, including the effects on our customers and prospects, although we do anticipate it to continue to negatively impact our financial results during fiscal years 2023.
Forecasts of our revenue are difficult.
When purchasing our products and services, our clients and prospects are often faced with a significant commitment of capital, the need to integrate new software and/or hardware platforms and other changes in company-wide operational procedures, all of which result in cautious deliberation and evaluation by prospective clients, longer sales cycles and delays in completing transactions. Additional delays result from the significant up-front expenses and substantial time, effort and other resources necessary for our clients to implement our solutions. For example, depending on the size of a prospective client’s business and its needs, a sales cycle can range from two weeks to 12 months. Because of these longer sales cycles, revenues and operating results may vary significantly from period to period. As a result, it is often difficult to accurately forecast our revenues for any fiscal period as it is not always possible for us to predict the fiscal period in which sales will actually be completed. This difficulty in predicting revenue, combined with the revenue fluctuations we may experience from period to period, can adversely affect and cause substantial fluctuations in our stock price.
8 |
The reliability of our product solutions is dependent on data from third parties and the integrity and quality of that data.
Much of the data that we use is licensed from third-party data suppliers, and we are dependent upon our ability to obtain necessary data licenses on commercially reasonable terms. We could suffer material adverse consequences if our data suppliers were to withhold their data from us. For example, data suppliers could withhold their data from us if there is a competitive reason to do so; if we breach our contract with a supplier; if they are acquired by one of our competitors; if legislation is passed restricting the use or dissemination of the data they provide; or if judicial interpretations are issued restricting use of such data. Additionally, we could terminate relationships with our data suppliers if they fail to adhere to our data quality standards. If a substantial number of data suppliers were to withdraw or withhold their data from us, or if we sever ties with our data suppliers based on their inability to meet our data standards, our ability to provide products and services to our clients could be materially adversely impacted, which could result in decreased revenues.
The reliability of our solutions depends upon the integrity and quality of the data in our database. A failure in the integrity or a reduction in the quality of our data could cause a loss of customer confidence in our solutions, resulting in harm to our brand, loss of revenue and exposure to legal claims. We may experience an increase in risks to the integrity of our database and quality of our data as we move toward real-time, non-identifiable, consumer-powered data through our products. We must continue to invest in our database to improve and maintain the quality, timeliness and coverage of the data if we are to maintain our competitive position. Failure to do so could result in a material adverse effect on our business, growth and revenue prospects.
Our business practices with respect to data and consumer protection could give rise to liabilities or reputational harm as a result of governmental regulation, legal requirements or industry standards relating to consumer privacy, data protection and consumer protection.
Federal, state and international laws and regulations govern the collection, use, retention, sharing and security of data that we collect. We strive to comply with all applicable laws, regulations, self-regulatory requirements and legal obligations relating to privacy, data protection and consumer protection, including those relating to the use of data for marketing purposes. It is possible, however, that these requirements may be interpreted and applied in a manner that is inconsistent from one jurisdiction to another and may conflict with other rules or our practices. We cannot assure you that our practices have complied, comply, or will comply fully with all such laws, regulations, requirements and obligations. Any failure, or perceived failure, by us to comply with federal, state or international laws or regulations, including laws and regulations regulating privacy, data security, marketing communications or consumer protection, or other policies, self-regulatory requirements or legal obligations could result in harm to our reputation, a loss in business, and proceedings or actions against us by governmental entities, consumers, retailers or others. We may also be contractually liable to indemnify and hold harmless performance marketing networks or other third parties from the costs or consequences of noncompliance with any laws, regulations, self-regulatory requirements or other legal obligations relating to privacy, data protection and consumer protection or any inadvertent or unauthorized use or disclosure of data that we store or handle as part of operating our business. Any such proceeding or action, and any related indemnification obligation, could hurt our reputation, force us to incur significant expenses in defense of these proceedings, distract our management, increase our costs of doing business and cause consumers and retailers to decrease their use of our marketplace, and may result in the imposition of monetary liability. Furthermore, the costs of compliance with, and other burdens imposed by, the data and privacy laws, regulations, standards and policies that are applicable to the businesses of our clients may limit the use and adoption of, and reduce the overall demand for, our products.
A significant breach of the confidentiality of the information we hold or of the security of our or our customers’, suppliers’, or other partners’ computer systems could be detrimental to our business, reputation and results of operations. Our business requires the storage, transmission and utilization of data. Although we have security and associated procedures, our databases may be subject to unauthorized access by third parties. Such third parties could attempt to gain entry to our systems for the purpose of stealing data or disrupting the systems. We believe we have taken appropriate measures to protect our systems from intrusion, but we cannot be certain that advances in criminal capabilities, discovery of new vulnerabilities in our systems and attempts to exploit those vulnerabilities, physical system or facility break-ins and data thefts or other developments will not compromise or breach the technology protecting our systems and the information we possess. Furthermore, we face increasing cyber security risks as we receive and collect data from new sources, and as we and our customers continue to develop and operate in cloud-based information technology environments. In the event that our protection efforts are unsuccessful, and we experience an unauthorized disclosure of confidential information or the security of such information or our systems are compromised, we could suffer substantial harm. Any breach could result in one or more third parties obtaining unauthorized access to our customers’ data or our data, including personally identifiable information, intellectual property and other confidential business information. Such a security breach could result in operational disruptions that impair our ability to meet our clients’ requirements, which could result in decreased revenues. Also, whether there is an actual or a perceived breach of our security, our reputation could suffer irreparable harm, causing our current and prospective clients to reject our products and services in the future and deterring data suppliers from supplying us data. Further, we could be forced to expend significant resources in response to a security breach, including repairing system damage, increasing cyber security protection costs by deploying additional personnel and protection technologies, and litigating and resolving legal claims, all of which could divert the attention of our management and key personnel away from our business operations. In any event, a significant security breach could materially harm our business, financial condition and operating results.
9 |
Significant system disruptions, loss of data center capacity or interruption of telecommunication links could adversely affect our business and results of operations.
Our product platforms are hosted and managed on Amazon Web Service (AWS) and takes full advantage of open standards for processing, storage, security and big data technology. Specifically, our data intelligence platform uses the following AWS services: EC2, Lambda, Kafka, Kinesis, S3, Storm, Spark, Machine Learning, RDS, Redshift, Elastic Map Reduction, CloudWatch, DataBricks, and Elastic Search Service with built-in Kibana integration. Significant system disruptions, loss of data center capacity or interruption of telecommunication links could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition. Our business is heavily dependent upon highly complex data processing capability. The ability of our platform hosts and managers to protect these data centers against damage or interruption from fire, flood, tornadoes, power loss, telecommunications or equipment failure or other disasters is beyond our control and is critical to our ability to succeed.
We rely on information technology to operate our business and maintain competitiveness, and any failure to adapt to technological developments or industry trends could harm our business.
We depend on the use of information technologies and systems. As our operations grow in size and scope, we will be required to continuously improve and upgrade our systems and infrastructure while maintaining or improving the reliability and integrity of our infrastructure. Our future success also depends on our ability to adapt our systems and infrastructure to meet rapidly evolving consumer trends and demands while continuing to improve the performance, features and reliability of our solutions in response to competitive services and product offerings. The emergence of alternative platforms will require new investment in technology. New developments in other areas, such as cloud computing, could also make it easier for competition to enter our markets due to lower up-front technology costs. In addition, we may not be able to maintain our existing systems or replace or introduce new technologies and systems as quickly as we would like or in a cost-effective manner.
Our technology and associated business processes may contain undetected errors, which could limit our ability to provide our services and diminish the attractiveness of our offerings.
Our technology may contain undetected errors, defects or bugs. As a result, our customers or end users may discover errors or defects in our technology or the systems incorporating our technology may not operate as expected. We may discover significant errors or defects in the future that we may not be able to fix. Our inability to fix any of those errors could limit our ability to provide our solution, impair the reputation of our brand and diminish the attractiveness of our product offerings to our customers. In addition, we may utilize third party technology or components in our products, and we rely on those third parties to provide support services to us. Failure of those third parties to provide necessary support services could materially adversely impact our business.
We need to protect our intellectual property, or our operating results may suffer.
Third parties may infringe our intellectual property and we may suffer competitive injury or expend significant resources enforcing our rights. As our business is focused on data-driven results and analytics, we rely heavily on proprietary information technology. Our proprietary portfolio consists of various intellectual property including source code, trade secrets, and know-how. The extent to which such rights can be protected is substantially based on federal, state and common law rights as well as contractual restrictions. The steps we have taken to protect our intellectual property may not prevent the misappropriation of our proprietary information or deter independent development of similar technologies by others. If we do not enforce our intellectual property rights vigorously and successfully, our competitive position may suffer which could harm our operating results.
10 |
We could incur substantial costs and disruption to our business as a result of any claim of infringement of another party’s intellectual property rights, which could harm our business and operating results.
From time to time, third parties may claim that one or more of our products or services infringe their intellectual property rights. We analyze and take action in response to such claims on a case-by-case basis. Any dispute or litigation regarding patents or other intellectual property could be costly and time-consuming due to the complexity of our technology and the uncertainty of intellectual property litigation, which could divert the attention of our management and key personnel away from our business operations. A claim of intellectual property infringement could force us to enter into a costly or restrictive license agreement, which might not be available under acceptable terms or at all, or could subject us to significant damages or to an injunction against development and sale of certain of our products or services.
We face intense and growing competition, which could result in reduced sales and reduced operating margins, and limit our market share.
We compete in the data, marketing and research business and in all other facets of our business against small, medium and large companies throughout the United States. Some examples include companies such as LiveRamp, The TradeDesk and OneTrust. If we are unable to successfully compete for new business our revenue growth and operating margins may decline. The market for our advertising and marketing technology operating system platform is competitive. We believe that our competitors’ product offerings do not provide the end-to-end solutions our product solutions do, and their minimum fees are substantially higher than ours for a comparative suite of solutions. However, barriers to entry in our markets are relatively low. With the introduction of new technologies and market entrants, we expect competition to intensify in the future. Some of these competitors may be in a better position to develop new products and strategies that more quickly and effectively respond to changes in customer requirements in our markets. The introduction of competent, competitive products, pricing strategies or other technologies by our competitors that are superior to or that achieve greater market acceptance than our products and services could adversely affect our business. Our failure to meet a client’s expectations in any type of contract may result in an unprofitable engagement, which could adversely affect our operating results and result in future rejection of our products and services by current and prospective clients. Some of our principal competitors offer their products at a lower price, which may result in pricing pressures. These pricing pressures and increased competition generally could result in reduced sales, reduced margins or the failure of our product and service offerings to achieve or maintain more widespread market acceptance.
Many of our competitors are substantially larger than we are and have significantly greater financial, technical and marketing resources, and established direct and indirect channels of distribution. As a result, they are able to devote greater resources to the development, promotion and sale of their products than we can.
We can provide no assurance that our business will be able to maintain a competitive technology advantage in the future.
Our ability to generate revenues is substantially based upon our proprietary intellectual property that we own and protect through trade secrets and agreements with our employees to maintain ownership of any improvements to our intellectual property. Our ability to generate revenues now and in the future is based upon maintaining a competitive technology advantage over our competition. We can provide no assurances that we will be able to maintain a competitive technology advantage in the future over our competitors, many of whom have significantly more experience, more extensive infrastructure and are better capitalized than us.
No assurances can be given that we will be able to keep up with a rapidly changing business information market.
Consumer needs and the business information industry as a whole are in a constant state of change. Our ability to continually improve our current processes and products in response to these changes and to develop new products and services to meet those needs are essential in maintaining our competitive position and meeting the increasingly sophisticated requirements of our customers. If we fail to enhance our current products and services or fail to develop new products in light of emerging industry standards and information requirements, we could lose customers to current or future competitors, which could result in impairment of our growth prospects and revenues.
11 |
The market for programmatic advertising campaigns is relatively new and evolving. If this market develops slower or differently than we expect, our business, growth prospects and financial condition would be adversely affected.
A substantial portion of our revenue has been derived from customers that programmatically purchase and sell advertising inventory through our platform. We expect that spending on programmatic ad buying and selling will continue to be a significant source of revenue for the foreseeable future, and that our revenue growth will largely depend on increasing spend through our platform. The market for programmatic ad buying is an emerging market, and our current and potential customers may not shift quickly enough to programmatic ad buying from other buying methods, reducing our growth potential. Because our industry is relatively new, we will encounter risks and difficulties frequently encountered by early-stage companies in similarly rapidly evolving industries, including the need to:
· | Maintain our reputation and build trust with advertisers and digital media property owners; | |
· | Offer competitive pricing to publishers, advertisers, and digital media agencies; | |
· | Maintain quality and expand quantity of our advertising inventory; | |
· | Continue to develop, launch and upgrade the technologies that enable us to provide our solutions; | |
· | Respond to evolving government regulations relating to the internet, telecommunications, mobile, privacy, marketing and advertising aspects of our business; | |
· | Identify, attract, retain and motivate qualified personnel; and | |
· | Cost-effectively manage our operations, including our international operations. |
If the market for programmatic ad buying deteriorates or develops more slowly than we expect, it could reduce demand for our platform, and our business, growth prospects and financial condition would be adversely affected.
Our failure to maintain and grow the customer base on our platform may negatively impact our revenue and business.
To sustain or increase our revenue, we must regularly add both new advertiser customers and publishers, while simultaneously keeping existing customers to maintain or increase the amount of advertising inventory purchased through our platform and adopt new features and functionalities that we add to our platform. If our competitors introduce lower cost or differentiated offerings that compete with or are perceived to compete with ours, our ability to sell access to our platform to new or existing customers could be impaired. Our agreements with our customers allow them to change the amount of spending on our platform or terminate our services with limited notice. Our customers typically have relationships with different providers and there is limited cost to moving budgets to our competitors. As a result, we may have limited visibility as to our future advertising revenue streams. We cannot assure you that our customers will continue to use our platform or that we will be able to replace, in a timely or effective manner, departing customers with new customers that generate comparable revenue. If a major customer representing a significant portion of our business decides to materially reduce its use of our platform or to cease using our platform altogether, it is possible that our revenue could be significantly reduced.
We rely substantially on a limited number of customers for a significant percentage of our sales.
For the year ended December 31,2021 and the nine months ended September 30, 2022, sales of our products to four customers generated approximately 31% and 52% of our revenues, respectively. Our contracts with our customers generally do not obligate them to a specified term and they can generally terminate their relationship with us at any time with a minimal amount of notice. If we lose any of our customers, or any of them decide to scale back on purchases of our products, it will have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and prospects. Therefore, we must engage in continual sales efforts to maintain revenue, sustain our customer relationships and expand our client base or our operating results will suffer. If a significant client fails to renew a contract or renews the contract on terms less favorable to us than before, our business could be negatively impacted if additional business is not obtained to replace or supplement that which was lost. We may require additional financial resources to expand our internal and external sales capabilities, although we plan to use a portion of the net proceeds of this offering for this purpose. We cannot assure that we will be able to sustain our customer relationships and expand our client base. The loss of any of our current customers or our inability to expand our customer base will have a material adverse effect on our business plans and prospects.
12 |
If we fail to innovate and make the right investment decisions in our offerings and platform, we may not attract and retain advertisers and publishers and our revenue and results of operations may decline.
Our industry is subject to rapid and frequent changes in technology, evolving customer needs and the frequent introduction by our competitors of new and enhanced offerings. We must constantly make investment decisions regarding our offerings and technology to meet customer demand and evolving industry standards. We may make wrong decisions regarding these investments. If new or existing competitors have more attractive offerings or functionalities, we may lose customers or customers may decrease their use of our platform. New customer demands, superior competitive offerings or new industry standards could require us to make unanticipated and costly changes to our platform or business model. If we fail to adapt to our rapidly changing industry or to evolving customer needs, demand for our platform could decrease and our business, financial condition and operating results may be adversely affected.
We may not be able to integrate, maintain and enhance our advertising solutions to keep pace with technological and market developments.
The market for digital video advertising solutions is characterized by rapid technological change, evolving industry standards and frequent introductions of new products and services. To keep pace with technological developments, satisfy increasing publisher and advertiser requirements, maintain the attractiveness and competitiveness of our advertising solutions and ensure compatibility with evolving industry standards and protocols, we will need to anticipate and respond to varying product lifecycles, regularly enhance our current advertising solutions and develop and introduce new solutions and functionality on a timely basis. This requires significant investment of financial and other resources. For example, we will need to invest significant resources into expanding and developing our platforms in order to maintain a comprehensive solution. Ad exchanges and other technological developments may displace us or introduce an additional intermediate layer between us and our customers and digital media properties that could impair our relationships with those customers.
If we fail to detect advertising fraud, we could harm our reputation and hurt our ability to execute our business plan.
As we are in the business of providing services to publishers, advertisers and agencies, we must deliver effective digital advertising campaigns. Despite our efforts to implement fraud protection techniques in our platforms, some of our advertising and agency campaigns may experience fraudulent and other invalid impressions, clicks or conversions that advertisers may perceive as undesirable, such as non-human traffic generated by computers designed to simulate human users and artificially inflate user traffic on websites. These activities could overstate the performance of any given digital advertising campaign and could harm our reputation. It may be difficult for us to detect fraudulent or malicious activity because we do not own content and rely in part on our digital media properties to control such activity. Industry self-regulatory bodies, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission and certain influential members of Congress have increased their scrutiny and awareness of, and have taken recent actions to address, advertising fraud and other malicious activity. If we fail to detect or prevent fraudulent or other malicious activity, the affected advertisers may experience or perceive a reduced return on their investment and our reputation may be harmed. High levels of fraudulent or malicious activity could lead to dissatisfaction with our solutions, refusals to pay, refund or future credit demands or withdrawal of future business.
The loss of advertisers and publishers as customers could significantly harm our business, operating results and financial condition.
Our customer base consists primarily of advertisers and publishers. We do not have exclusive relationships with advertising agencies, companies that are advertisers, or publishers, such that we largely depend on agencies to work with us as they embark on advertising campaigns for advertisers. The loss of agencies as customers and referral sources could significantly harm our business, operating results and financial condition. If we fail to maintain satisfactory relationships with an advertising agency, we risk losing business from the advertisers represented by that agency.
Furthermore, advertisers and publishers may change advertising agencies. If an advertiser switches from an agency that utilizes our platform to one that does not, we will lose revenue from that advertiser. In addition, some advertising agencies have their own relationships with publishers that are different than our relationships, such that they might directly connect advertisers with such publishers. Our business may suffer to the extent that advertising agencies and inventory suppliers purchase and sell advertising inventory directly from one another or through intermediaries other than us.
13 |
Our sales efforts with advertisers and publishers require significant time and expense.
Attracting new advertisers and publishers requires substantial time and expense, and we may not be successful in establishing new relationships or in maintaining or advancing our current relationships. Our solutions, including our programmatic solutions, and our business model often requires us to spend substantial time and effort educating our own sales force and potential advertisers, advertising agencies, supply side platforms and digital media properties about our offerings, including providing demonstrations and comparisons against other available solutions. This process is costly and time-consuming. If we are not successful in targeting, supporting and streamlining our sales processes, our ability to grow our business may be adversely affected.
Changes in consumer sentiment or laws, rules or regulations regarding tracking technologies and other privacy matters could have a material adverse effect on our ability to generate net revenues and could adversely affect our ability to collect data on consumer shopping behavior.
The collection and use of electronic information about users is an important element of our data intelligence technology and solutions. However, consumers may become increasingly resistant to the collection, use and sharing of information, including information used to deliver advertising and to attribute credit to publishers in performance marketing programs, and take steps to prevent such collection, use and sharing of information. For example, consumer complaints and/or lawsuits regarding advertising or other tracking technologies in general and our practices specifically could adversely impact our business. In addition to this change in consumer preferences, if retailers or brands perceive significant negative consumer reaction to targeted advertising or the tracking of consumers’ activities, they may determine that such advertising or tracking has the potential to negatively impact their brand. In that case, advertisers may limit or stop the use of our solutions, and our operating results and financial condition would be adversely affected.
Government regulation of the Internet, e-commerce and m-commerce is evolving, and unfavorable changes or failure by us to comply with these laws and regulations could substantially harm our business and results of operations.
We are subject to general business regulations and laws as well as regulations and laws specifically governing the Internet, e-commerce and m-commerce in a number of jurisdictions around the world. Existing and future regulations and laws could impede the growth of the Internet, e-commerce, m-commerce or other online services. These regulations and laws may involve taxation, tariffs, privacy and data security, anti-spam, data protection, content, copyrights, distribution, electronic contracts, electronic communications and consumer protection. It is not clear how existing laws and regulations governing issues such as property ownership, sales and other taxes, libel and personal privacy apply to the Internet as the vast majority of these laws and regulations were adopted prior to the advent of the Internet and do not contemplate or address the unique issues raised by the Internet, e-commerce or m-commerce. It is possible that general business regulations and laws, or those specifically governing the Internet, e-commerce or m-commerce may be interpreted and applied in a manner that is inconsistent from one jurisdiction to another and may conflict with other rules or our practices. We cannot assure you that our practices have complied, comply or will comply fully with all such laws and regulations. Any failure, or perceived failure, by us to comply with any of these laws or regulations could result in damage to our reputation, a loss in business, and proceedings or actions against us by governmental entities or others. Any such proceeding or action could hurt our reputation, force us to spend significant resources in defense of these proceedings, distract our management, increase our costs of doing business, and cause consumers and retailers to decrease their use of our marketplace, and may result in the imposition of monetary liability. We may also be contractually liable to indemnify and hold harmless third parties from the costs or consequences of noncompliance with any such laws or regulations. In addition, it is possible that governments of one or more countries may seek to censor content available on our websites and mobile applications or may even attempt to completely block access to our marketplace. Adverse legal or regulatory developments could substantially harm our business. In particular, in the event that we are restricted, in whole or in part, from operating in one or more countries, our ability to retain or increase our customer base may be adversely affected and we may not be able to maintain or grow our net revenues as anticipated.
14 |
We may be required to invest significant monies upfront in capital intensive project(s) which we may be unable to recover.
Failure to recover significant, up-front capital investments required by certain client contracts could be harmful to the Company’s financial condition and operating results. Certain of our client contracts require significant investment in the early stages, which we expect to recover through billings over the life of the contract. These contracts may involve the construction of new computer systems and communications networks or the development and deployment of new technologies. Substantial performance risk exists in each contract with these characteristics, and some or all elements of service delivery under these contracts are dependent upon successful completion of the development, construction and deployment phases. Failure to successfully meet our contractual requirements under these contracts over their life increases the possibility that we may not recover our capital investments in these contracts. Failure to recover our capital investments could be detrimental to the particular engagement as well as our operating results.
We are subject to payment-related risks and, if our customers do not pay or dispute their invoices, our business, financial condition and operating results may be adversely affected.
We may be involved in disputes with agencies and their advertisers over the operation of our platform, the terms of our agreements or our billings for purchases made by them through our platform. If we are unable to collect or make adjustments to bills to customers, we could incur write-offs for bad debt, which could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations for the periods in which the write-offs occur. In the future, bad debt may exceed reserves for such contingencies and our bad debt exposure may increase over time. Any increase in write-offs for bad debt could have a materially negative effect on our business, financial condition and operating results. Even if we are not paid by our customers on time or at all, we are still obligated to pay for the advertising inventory we have purchased for the advertising campaign, and as a consequence, our results of operations and financial condition would be adversely impacted.
If we default on our credit obligations, our operations may be interrupted, and our business and financial results could be adversely affected.
Publishers extend us credit terms for the purchase of advertising inventory. We currently have outstanding payables to existing publishers. If we are unable to pay our publishers in a timely fashion, they may elect to no longer sell us inventory to provide for sale to advertisers. Also, it may be necessary for us to incur additional indebtedness to maintain operations of the Company. If we default on our credit obligations, our lenders and debt financing holders may, among other things:
· | require repayment of any outstanding obligations or amounts drawn on our credit facilities; | |
· | terminate our credit; | |
· | stop delivery of ordered equipment; | |
· | discontinue our ability to acquire inventory that is sold to advertisers; | |
· | require us to accrue interest at higher rates; or | |
· | require us to pay significant damages. |
If some or all of these events were to occur, our operations may be interrupted and our ability to fund our operations or obligations, as well as our business, financial results, and financial condition, could be adversely affected.
15 |
Our failure to recruit or the loss of management and highly trained and qualified personnel could adversely affect our operations.
Our future success depends in large part on our current senior management team and our ability to attract and retain additional high-quality management and operating personnel. Our senior management team’s in-depth knowledge of and deep relationships with the participants in our industry are extremely valuable to us. Our business also requires skilled technical and marketing personnel, who are in high demand and are often subject to competing offers. Our failure to recruit and retain qualified personnel could hinder our ability to successfully develop and operate our business, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial position and operating results.
The complexity of our data products, processing functionality, software systems and services require highly trained professionals to operate, maintain, improve and repair them. While we presently have a sophisticated, dedicated and experienced team of associates who have a deep understanding of our business, some of whom have been with Mobiquity for years, the labor market for these individuals has historically been, and is currently, very competitive due to the limited number of people available with the necessary technical skills and understanding, compensation strategies, general economic conditions and various other factors. As the business information and marketing industries continue to become more technologically advanced, we anticipate increased competition for qualified personnel. The loss of the services of highly trained personnel like the Company’s current team of associates, or the inability to recruit and retain additional, qualified associates, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial position or operating results.
Our substantial amount of indebtedness may adversely affect our cash flow and our ability to operate our business, remain in compliance with debt covenants and make payments on our indebtedness.
Our substantial level of indebtedness increases the possibility that we may be unable to generate cash sufficient to pay, when due, the principal of, interest on or other amounts due with respect to our indebtedness. Our indebtedness could have other important consequences to you as a shareholder. For example, it could:
· | make it more difficult for us to satisfy our obligations with respect to our indebtedness and any failure to comply with the obligations of any of our debt instruments could result in an event of default under our debt financing agreements; | |
· | make us more vulnerable to adverse changes in general economic, industry and competitive conditions and adverse changes in government regulation; | |
· | require us to dedicate a substantial portion of our cash flow from operations to payments on our indebtedness, thereby reducing the availability of our cash flows to fund working capital, capital expenditures, acquisitions and other general corporate purposes; | |
· | limit our flexibility in planning for, or reacting to, changes in our business and the industry in which we operate; | |
· | place us at a competitive disadvantage compared to our competitors that have less debt; and | |
· | limit our ability to borrow additional amounts for working capital, capital expenditures, acquisitions, debt service requirements, execution of our business strategy or other purposes. |
Any of the above listed factors could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
16 |
Risks Relating to An Investment in Our Securities
If we are not able to comply with the applicable continued listing requirements or standards of NasdaqCM, NasdaqCM could delist our common stock.
Our common stock and 2021 Warrants are listed on the NasdaqCM. In order to maintain that listing, we must satisfy minimum financial and other continued listing requirements and standards, including those regarding director independence and independent committee requirements, minimum stockholders’ equity, minimum share price, and certain corporate governance requirements. There can be no assurances that we will be able to comply with the applicable listing standards.
On January 13, 2023, we received a letter from The Nasdaq Stock Market stating that the Company was not in compliance with Nasdaq Listing Rule 5550(a)(2) because the closing bid price of the Company’s common stock was below $1.00 per share for 30 consecutive business days.. Pursuant to Nasdaq’s Listing Rules, the Company has a 180 day grace period, until July 12, 2023, during which the Company may regain compliance if the bid price of its common stock closes at $1.00 per share or more for a minimum of ten consecutive business days.
If we do not regain compliance with the bid price requirement, we may be eligible for an additional 180-calendar day compliance period so long as we satisfy the criteria for initial listing on the NasdaqCM and the continued listing requirement for market value of publicly held shares and we provide written notice to Nasdaq of its intention to cure the deficiency during the second compliance period by effecting a reverse stock split, if necessary. A reverse stock split requires the approval of our shareholders and we cannot assure that we will receive the requisite shareholder vote to allow us to effectuate a stock split. In the event we are not eligible for the second grace period, the Nasdaq staff will provide written notice that our Common Stock is subject to delisting; however, we may request a hearing before the Nasdaq Hearings Panel, which request, if timely made, would stay any further suspension or delisting action by the Nasdaq pending the conclusion of the hearing process and expiration of any extension that may be granted by the Hearings Panel.
On January 4, 2023, we received a deficiency notification from the Listing Qualifications Department of The NasdaqCM notifying the Company of its noncompliance with the NasdaqCM Listing Rule 5620(a) to hold an annual meeting of shareholders within no later than one year after the end of the Company’s fiscal year end. Under NasdaqCM Rules the Company now has 45 calendar days to submit a plan to regain compliance and can grant up to 180 calendar days from the fiscal year end, or until June 29, 2023, to regain compliance.
On December 14, 2022, we received a deficiency letter from the Listing Qualifications Department of The NasdaqCM notifying the Company of its noncompliance with the NasdaqCM Listing Rule 5550(b)(1) for the NasdaqCM, which requires that a listed company’s stockholders’ equity be at least $2.5 million. In accordance with NasdaqCM rules, the Company has 45 calendar days from the date of the notification to submit a plan to regain compliance with NasdaqCM Listing Rule 5550(b)(1). The Company intends to submit a compliance plan within 45 days of the date of the notification and will evaluate available options to resolve the deficiency and regain compliance, in particular through the completion of this offering. If the Company’s compliance plan is accepted, the Company may be granted up to 180 calendar days from December 14, 2022 to evidence compliance.
In order to maintain the listing of its common stock on The NasdaqCM, the Company must demonstrate compliance with Listing Rule 5550(b)(1) which requires the Company to maintain: (1) Stockholders’ equity of at least $2.5 million; or (2) Market Value of Listed Securities of at least $35 million. The Company’s plan of compliance outlined a plan for compliance with the stockholders’ equity standard requirement by completing this Offering.
The Company intends to regain compliance with each of the applicable continued listing requirements of The NasdaqCM prior to the end of the compliance periods set forth in the Hearings Panel decision. However, until Nasdaq has reached a final determination that the Company has regained compliance with all of the applicable continued listing requirements, there can be no assurances regarding the continued listing of the Company’s common stock and 2021 Warrants on Nasdaq. If our common stock and 2021 Warrants cease to be listed for trading on the NasdaqCM, we would expect that our Common Stock and 2021 Warrants would be traded on one of the three tiered marketplaces of the OTC Markets Group. If Nasdaq were to delist our common stock and 2021 Warrants, it would be more difficult for our stockholders to dispose of our common stock or 2021 Warrants and more difficult to obtain accurate price quotations on our common stock or 2021 Warrants. The delisting of the Company’s common stock and 2021 Warrants from Nasdaq would have a material adverse effect on the Company’s access to capital markets, and any limitation on market liquidity or reduction in the price of its common stock as a result of that delisting would adversely affect the Company’s ability to raise capital on terms acceptable to the Company, if at all.
17 |
Even if a reverse stock split achieves the requisite increase in the market price of our common stock, we cannot assure you that we will be approved for listing on the NasdaqCM or able to comply with other continued listing standards of the NasdaqCM.
Even if a reverse stock split, if approved by our stockholders, achieves the requisite increase in the market price of our common stock to be in compliance with the minimum bid price of Nasdaq, there can be no assurance that the market price of our common stock following the reverse stock split will remain at the level required for continuing compliance with that requirement. It is not uncommon for the market price of a company’s common stock to decline in the period following a reverse stock split. If the market price of our common stock declines following the effectuation of the reverse stock split, the percentage decline may be greater than would occur in the absence of a reverse stock split. In any event, other factors unrelated to the number of shares of our common stock outstanding, such as negative financial or operational results, could adversely affect the market price of our common stock and jeopardize our ability to meet or maintain Nasdaq’s minimum bid price requirement.
The NasdaqCM requires that the trading price of its listed stocks remain above one dollar in order for the stock to remain listed. If a listed stock trades below one dollar for more than 30 consecutive trading days, then it is subject to delisting from Nasdaq. In addition, to maintain a listing on Nasdaq, we must satisfy minimum financial and other continued listing requirements and standards, including those regarding director independence and independent committee requirements, minimum stockholders’ equity, and certain corporate governance requirements. If we are unable to satisfy these requirements or standards, we could be subject to delisting, which would have a negative effect on the price of our common stock and would impair your ability to sell or purchase our common stock when you wish to do so. Although we are taking certain actions to regain compliance with Nasdaq listing standards, including the reverse stock split and this offering, we can provide no assurance that any such action taken by us would enable us to regain or remain in compliance, stabilize the market price or improve the liquidity of our common stock, prevent our common stock from dropping below the minimum bid price requirement, or prevent future non-compliance with the listing requirements.
A reverse stock split may decrease the liquidity of the shares of our common stock.
The liquidity of the shares of our common stock may be affected adversely by a reverse stock split given the reduced number of shares that will be outstanding following the reverse stock split, especially if the market price of our common stock does not increase as a result of the reverse stock split. In addition, a reverse stock split may increase the number of shareholders who own odd lots (less than 100 shares) of our common stock, creating the potential for such shareholders to experience an increase in the cost of selling their shares and greater difficulty effecting such sales.
Following a reverse stock split, the resulting market price of our common stock may not attract new investors, including institutional investors, and may not satisfy the investing requirements of those investors. Consequently, the trading liquidity of our common stock may not improve.
Although we believe that a higher market price of our common stock may help generate greater or broader investor interest, there can be no assurance that a reverse stock split will result in a share price that will attract new investors, including institutional investors. In addition, there can be no assurance that the market price of our common stock will satisfy the investing requirements of those investors. As a result, the trading liquidity of our common stock may not necessarily improve.
You will experience immediate dilution in the book value per share of the common stock purchased in the offering.
Since the public offering price of our common stock in this offering is substantially higher than the net tangible book value per share of our outstanding common stock outstanding prior to this offering, you will suffer dilution in the book value of the common stock you purchase in this offering. The exercise of outstanding stock options and warrants, including warrants sold in this offering and the underwriters warrants, may result in further dilution of your investment.
18 |
There is no public market for the Series 2023 Warrants or the pre-funded warrants being offered by us in this offering.
There is no established public trading market for the Series 2023 Warrants or the pre-funded warrants, and we do not expect a market to develop. In addition, we do not intend to apply to list Series 2023 Warrants or pre-funded warrants on any national securities exchange or other nationally recognized trading system. Without an active market, the liquidity of the Series 2023 Warrants and the pre-funded warrants will be limited.
The Series 2023 Warrants and pre-funded warrants are speculative in nature.
The Series 2023 Warrants and pre-funded warrants offered hereby do not confer any rights of share of common stock ownership on their holders, such as voting rights or the right to receive dividends, but rather merely represent the right to acquire shares of common stock at a fixed price. Specifically, commencing on the date of issuance, holders of the Series 2023 Warrants may acquire the shares of common stock issuable upon exercise of such warrants at an exercise price of $____ per share of common stock, and holders of the pre-funded warrants may acquire the shares of common stock issuable upon exercise of such warrants at an exercise price of $0.0001 per share of common stock. Moreover, following this offering, the market value of the Series 2023 Warrants and pre-funded warrants is uncertain and there can be no assurance that the market value of the Series 2023 Warrants or pre-funded warrants will equal or exceed their respective public offering prices. There can be no assurance that the market price of the shares of common stock will ever equal or exceed the exercise price of the Series 2023 Warrants or pre-funded warrants, and consequently, whether it will ever be profitable for holders of Series 2023 Warrants to exercise their Warrants or for holders of the pre-funded warrants to exercise the pre-funded warrants.
Holders of the warrants offered hereby will have no rights as common stockholders with respect to the shares our common stock underlying the warrants until such holders exercise their warrants and acquire our common stock, except as otherwise provided in the warrants.
Until holders of the Series 2023 Warrants and the pre-funded warrants acquire shares of our common stock upon exercise thereof, such holders will have no rights with respect to the shares of our common stock underlying such warrants, except to the extent that holders of such warrants will have certain rights to participate in distributions or dividends paid on our common stock as set forth in the warrants. Upon exercise of the Series 2023 Warrants and the pre-funded warrants, the holders will be entitled to exercise the rights of a common stockholder only as to matters for which the record date occurs after the exercise date.
Since the Series 2023 Warrants are executory contracts, they may have no value in a bankruptcy or reorganization proceeding.
In the event a bankruptcy or reorganization proceeding is commenced by or against us, a bankruptcy court may hold that any unexercised Series 2023 Warrants are executory contracts that are subject to rejection by us with the approval of the bankruptcy court. As a result, holders of the Series 2023 Warrants may, even if we have sufficient funds, not be entitled to receive any consideration for their Series 2023 Warrants or may receive an amount less than they would be entitled to if they had exercised their warrants prior to the commencement of any such bankruptcy or reorganization proceeding.
Provisions of the Series 2023 Warrants offered by this prospectus could discourage an acquisition of us by a third party, may have an adverse effect on the market price of our common stock, and make it more difficult to effect a business combination.
We will be issuing Series 2023 Warrants to purchase shares of our common stock as part of this offering. Certain provisions of the Series 2023 Warrants offered by this prospectus could make it more difficult or expensive for a third party to acquire us. The Series 2023 Warrants prohibit us from engaging in certain transactions constituting “fundamental transactions” unless, among other things, the surviving entity assumes our obligations under the warrants. These and other provisions of the Series 2023 Warrants offered by this prospectus could prevent or deter a third party from acquiring us even where the acquisition could be beneficial to you.
19 |
Additionally, to the extent we issue shares of common stock to effect a future business combination, the potential for the issuance of a substantial number of additional shares upon exercise of the Series 2023 Warrants could make us a less attractive acquisition vehicle in the eyes of a target business. Such Series 2023 Warrants, when exercised, will increase the number of issued and outstanding shares of common stock and reduce the value of the shares issued to complete the business combination. Accordingly, the Series 2023 Warrants may make it more difficult to effectuate a business combination or increase the cost of acquiring a target business. Additionally, the sale, or even the possibility of sale, of the shares of common stock underlying the Series 2023 Warrants could have an adverse effect on the market price for our securities or on our ability to obtain future financing. If and to the extent the Series 2023 Warrants are exercised, you may experience dilution to your holdings.
If we do not file and maintain a current and effective prospectus relating to the common stock issuable upon exercise of the Series 2023 Warrants, holders will only be able to exercise such Series 2023 Warrants on a “cashless basis.”
If we do not file and maintain a current and effective registration statement relating to the common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants at the time that holders wish to exercise such warrants, they will only be able to exercise them on a “cashless basis” provided that an exemption from registration is available. As a result, the number of shares of common stock that holders will receive upon exercise of the Series 2023 Warrants will be fewer than it would have been had such holder exercised his, her or its Series 2023 Warrants for cash. Further, if an exemption from registration is not available, holders would not be able to exercise on a cashless basis and would only be able to exercise their Series 2023 Warrants for cash if a current and effective registration statement relating to the common stock issuable upon exercise of the Series 2023 Warrants is available. Under the terms of the underwriting agreement, we have agreed to use our best efforts to meet these conditions and to file and maintain a current and effective registration statement relating to the common stock issuable upon exercise of the Series 2023 Warrants until the expiration of the Series 2023 Warrants. However, we cannot assure you that we will be able to do so. If we are unable to do so, the potential “upside” of the holder’s investment in our Company may be reduced or the Series 2023 Warrants may expire worthless.
The market price of our common stock is likely to be highly volatile because of several factors, including a limited public float.
The market price of our common stock has been volatile in the past and the market price of our common stock and our warrants is likely to be highly volatile in the future. You may not be able to resell shares of our common stock following periods of volatility because of the market’s adverse reaction to volatility.
Other factors that could cause such volatility may include, among other things:
· | actual or anticipated fluctuations in our operating results; | |
· | the absence of securities analysts covering us and distributing research and recommendations about us; | |
· | we may have a low trading volume for a number of reasons, including that a large portion of our stock is closely held; | |
· | overall stock market fluctuations; | |
· | announcements concerning our business or those of our competitors; | |
· | actual or perceived limitations on our ability to raise capital when we require it, and to raise such capital on favorable terms; | |
· | conditions or trends in the industry; | |
· | litigation; | |
· | changes in market valuations of other similar companies; | |
· | future sales of common stock; | |
· | departure of key personnel or failure to hire key personnel; and | |
· | general market conditions. |
20 |
Any of these factors could have a significant and adverse impact on the market price of our common stock and/or warrants. In addition, the stock market in general has at times experienced extreme volatility and rapid decline that has often been unrelated or disproportionate to the operating performance of particular companies. These broad market fluctuations may adversely affect the trading price of our common stock and/or warrants, regardless of our actual operating performance.
Our future sales of common stock by management and other stockholders may have an adverse effect on the then prevailing market price of our common stock.
In the event a public market for our common stock is sustained in the future, sales of our common stock may be made by holders of our public float or by holders of restricted securities in compliance with the provisions of Rule 144 of the Securities Act of 1933. In general, under Rule 144, a non-affiliated person who has satisfied a six-month holding period in a fully reporting company under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, may, sell their restricted common stock without volume limitation, so long as the issuer is current with all reports under the Exchange Act in order for there to be adequate common public information. Affiliated persons may also sell their common shares held for at least six months, but affiliated persons will be required to meet certain other requirements, including manner of sale, notice requirements and volume limitations. Non-affiliated persons who hold their common shares for at least one year will be able to sell their common stock without the need for there to be current public information in the hands of the public. Future sales of shares of our public float or by restricted common stock made in compliance with Rule 144 may have an adverse effect on the then prevailing market price, if any, of our common stock.
A significant portion of our total outstanding shares are eligible to be sold into the market in the near future, which could cause the market price of our common shares to drop significantly, even if our business is doing well.
We currently have approximately 4.2 million shares of common stock free trading out of a total of approximately 9.8 million outstanding common shares. Any increase in freely trading shares or the perception that such securities will or could come onto the market could have an adverse effect on the trading price of the securities. No prediction can be made as to the effect, if any, that sales of these securities, or the availability of such securities for sale, will have on the market prices prevailing from time to time. Nevertheless, the possibility that substantial amounts of common stock and warrants may be sold in the public market may adversely affect prevailing market prices for our common stock and could impair our ability to raise capital through the sale of our equity securities or impair our shareholders’ ability to sell on the open market. Additionally, any substantial increase of our shares that are eligible to be sold into the market in the near future could cause the market price of our common shares to drop significantly, even if our business is doing well.
We have had to restate our previously issued consolidated financial statements and as part of that process have identified a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2021. If we are unable to develop and maintain an effective system of internal control over financial reporting, we may not be able to accurately report our financial results in a timely manner, which may adversely affect investor confidence in us and materially and adversely affect our business and operating results.
In May 2022 and again in November 2022, our Audit Committee concluded, after discussion with the Company’s management and independent registered public accounting firm BF Borgers, CPA PC, that the previously issued financial statements during the Affected Period should no longer be relied upon due to:
· | The recording of compensation expense for warrants issued in an equity financing. The warrants were a direct offering cost and should have been recorded as a reduction in additional paid-in capital, | |
· | The recording of the sale of warrants for cash that should have increased additional paid-in capital and not other income, | |
· | The recording of a mark to market adjustment for stock sold to third parties. The Company recognized a gain as a part of other income and a decrease to additional paid-in capital, this entry was made in error as the Company was not a holder of an investment of its own stock, | |
· | The reduction of our net operating loss carryforward and related deferred tax assets; and | |
· | Various reclassifications throughout our balance sheet, statement of operations, stockholders’ equity and cash flows to better reflect the nature or classification of each transaction. |
21 |
As part of the restatement process, we have identified a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting.
A material weakness is a deficiency, or a combination of deficiencies, 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 and corrected on a timely basis. Effective internal controls are necessary for us to provide reliable financial reports and prevent fraud. We continue to evaluate steps to remediate the material weakness. These remediation measures may be time consuming and costly and there is no assurance that these initiatives will ultimately have the intended effects.
Any failure to maintain effective internal controls could adversely impact our ability to report our financial position and results from operations on a timely and accurate basis. If our financial statements are not accurate, investors may not have a complete understanding of our operations. Likewise, if our financial statements are not filed on a timely basis, we could be subject to sanctions or investigations by the stock exchange on which our ordinary shares and other securities are listed, the SEC or other regulatory authorities. In either case, there could result a material adverse effect on our business. Ineffective internal controls could also cause investors to lose confidence in our reported financial information which could have a negative effect on the trading price of our stock.
We can give no assurance that the measures we have taken and plan to take in the future will remediate the material weakness identified or that any additional material weaknesses or restatements of financial results will not arise in the future due to a failure to implement and maintain adequate internal control over financial reporting or circumvention of these controls. In addition, even if we are successful in strengthening our controls and procedures, in the future those controls and procedures may not be adequate to prevent or identify irregularities or errors or to facilitate the fair presentation of our consolidated financial statements.
We in the past identified significant deficiencies in our internal control over financial reporting that, if not corrected, could result in material misstatements of our financial statements.
We have concluded that we have not maintained effective internal control over financial reporting through the past three years ended December 31, 2022. The Company determined that it has deficiencies over financial statements recording in areas of recording revenue and expenses in proper cut off as well as proper classification of accounts. Significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in our internal control could have a material adverse effect on us. Due to these deficiencies, 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. We are working to remediate these deficiencies and material weaknesses. We are taking steps to enhance our internal control environment to establish and maintain effective disclosure and financial controls and procedures, internal control over financial reporting and changes in corporate governance. In this regard, the Company in December 2021 adopted several corporate governance policies, and it has established various committees of the Board of Directors, including an Audit Committee comprised of three independent directors in accordance with Nasdaq Rule 5605(c)(2). One of the Audit Committee’s priorities will be to begin the process of segregating tasks and processes to ensure proper internal controls. In connection with this process, the Company has implemented and/or intends to implement with the proceeds of this offering the following initiatives under the oversight of the Audit committee.
· | Hire additional staff both internally and externally to the Finance department with sufficient GAAP and public company financial reporting experience. | |
· | Implement ongoing training in U.S. GAAP requirements for our CFO and accounting and other finance personnel. | |
· | Hire a consultant to assist in internal control review, testing of procedures and processes, and analysis as described herein. | |
· | Initiate a preliminary assessment of management’s internal controls over financial reporting. | |
· | Improve documentation of existing internal controls and procedures and train personnel to help ensure they are properly followed. |
22 |
We have hired Refidential One - SOX Consultants who have reviewed testing procedures and analysis as follows:
· | Phase 1, which was completed on or about the Company filing its form 10-K for December 31, 2021, to identify the gaps and suggested remediations in 2021. | |
· | Phase 2, which was completed on or about June 30, 2022 to update all the narratives and create risk control matrixes (“RCM”) for testing when a remediation plan is implemented. | |
· | Phase 3, which was completed on or about September 30, 2022, tested the key controls identified and implemented in Phases 1 and 2 above. | |
· | Phase 4, to be completed in the first quarter of 2023 will be to retest the failures in Phase 3. Phase 4 testing will enable the Company to rectify any failiures in Phase 3 testing, thus reducing the likelihood of significant deficiencies. |
Although we plan to undertake and complete this remediation process as quickly as possible, we are unable, at this time to estimate how long it will take; and our efforts may not be successful in remediating the deficiencies or material weaknesses.
A material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting could adversely impact our ability to provide timely and accurate financial information, and to timely or accurately report our financial condition, results of operations or cash flows or maintain effective disclosure controls and procedures. If we are unable to report financial information timely and accurately or to maintain effective disclosure controls and procedures, we could be subject to, among other things, regulatory or enforcement actions by the SEC, any one of which could adversely affect our business prospects.
Our common stock (and our warrants) may be subject to the “penny stock” rules in the future. It may be more difficult to resell securities classified as “penny stock.”
Our common stock and warrants may be subject to “penny stock” rules (generally defined as non-exchange traded stock with a per-share price below $5.00) in the future. While our common stock and warrants are currently not considered “penny stock” since they are listed on the NasdaqCM, if we are unable to maintain that listing and our common stock and warrants are no longer listed on the NasdaqCM, unless we maintain a per-share price above $5.00, our common stock and warrants will become “penny stock.” These rules impose additional sales practice requirements on broker-dealers that recommend the purchase or sale of penny stocks to persons other than those who qualify as “established customers” or “accredited investors.” For example, broker-dealers must determine the appropriateness for non-qualifying persons of investments in penny stocks. Broker-dealers must also provide, prior to a transaction in a penny stock not otherwise exempt from the rules, a standardized risk disclosure document that provides information about penny stocks and the risks in the penny stock market. The broker-dealer also must provide the customer with current bid and offer quotations for the penny stock, disclose the compensation of the broker-dealer and its salesperson in the transaction, furnish monthly account statements showing the market value of each penny stock held in the customer’s account, provide a special written determination that the penny stock is a suitable investment for the purchaser, and receive the purchaser’s written agreement to the transaction.
Legal remedies available to an investor in “penny stocks” may include the following:
· | If a “penny stock” is sold to the investor in violation of the requirements listed above, or other federal or states securities laws, the investor may be able to cancel the purchase and receive a refund of the investment. | |
· | If a “penny stock” is sold to the investor in a fraudulent manner, the investor may be able to sue the persons and firms that committed the fraud for damages. |
23 |
These requirements may have the effect of reducing the level of trading activity, if any, in the secondary market for a security that becomes subject to the penny stock rules. The additional burdens imposed upon broker-dealers by such requirements may discourage broker-dealers from effecting transactions in our securities, which could severely limit the market price and liquidity of our securities. These requirements may restrict the ability of broker-dealers to sell our common stock or our warrants and may affect your ability to resell our common stock and our warrants.
Many brokerage firms will discourage or refrain from recommending investments in penny stocks. Most institutional investors will not invest in penny stocks. In addition, many individual investors will not invest in penny stocks due, among other reasons, to the increased financial risk generally associated with these investments.
For these reasons, penny stocks may have a limited market and, consequently, limited liquidity. We can give no assurance at what time, if ever, our common stock or our warrants will not be classified as a “penny stock” in the future.
We do not intend to pay dividends for the foreseeable future and thus you must rely on stock appreciation for any return on your investment.
We do not anticipate paying cash dividends on our common stock in the foreseeable future. We may not have sufficient funds to legally pay dividends. Even if funds are legally available to pay dividends, we may nevertheless decide in our sole discretion not to pay dividends. The declaration, payment and amount of any future dividends will be made at the discretion of our board of directors, and will depend upon, among other things, the results of our operations, cash flows and financial condition, operating and capital requirements, and other factors our board of directors may consider relevant. There is no assurance that we will pay any dividends in the future, and, if dividends are paid, there is no assurance with respect to the amount of any such dividend. As a result, you must rely on stock appreciation and a liquid trading market for any return on your investment. If an active and liquid trading market does not develop, you may be unable to sell your shares of common stock at or above the price in this offering at the time you would like to sell.
Our principal stockholders, directors and executive officers have a material level of control over us, which could delay or prevent a change in our corporate control favored by our other stockholders.
Currently, our principal stockholders, directors and executive officers beneficially own, in the aggregate, approximately 44% of our outstanding common stock. The interests of our current directors and executive officers may differ from the interests of other stockholders. As a result, these current directors and officers could have the ability to exercise material influence over all corporate actions requiring stockholder approval, irrespective of how our other stockholders may vote, including the following actions:
· | approval of certain mergers and other significant corporate transactions, including a sale of substantially all of our assets and material financing transactions; | |
· | election of directors; | |
· | adoption of or amendments to stock option plans; or | |
· | amendment of charter documents. |
24 |
Our certificate of incorporation grants our board of directors the authority to issue a new series of preferred stock without further approval by our shareholders, which could adversely affect the rights of the holders of our common shares.
Our board of directors has the power to fix and determine the relative rights and preferences of preferred stock. Our board of directors also has the power to issue preferred stock without further shareholder approval, subject to applicable listing regulations. As a result, our board of directors could authorize the issuance of new series of preferred stock that would grant to holders thereof certain rights in preference to the rights of our common stockholders to:
· | our assets upon liquidation; | |
· | receive dividend payments ahead of holders of common shares; | |
· | the redemption of the shares, together with a premium, prior to the redemption of our common shares; | |
· | vote to approve matters as a separate class or have more votes per share relative to shares of common stock. |
In addition, our board of directors could authorize the issuance of new series of preferred stock that is convertible into our common shares, or may also authorize the sale of additional shares of authorized common stock, which could decrease the relative voting power of our common shares or result in dilution to our existing shareholders.
As a public company, we are subject to complex legal and accounting requirements that will require us to incur significant expenses and will expose us to risk of non-compliance.
As a public company, we are subject to numerous legal and accounting requirements, and the Nasdaq maintenance listing requirements, that do not apply to private companies. The cost of compliance with many of these requirements is material, not only in absolute terms but, more importantly, in relation to the overall scope of the operations of a small company. Our management team is relatively inexperienced in complying with these requirements, and our management resources are limited, which may lead to errors in our accounting and financial statements, and which may impair our operations. This inexperience and lack of resources may also increase the cost of compliance and may also increase the risk that we will fail to comply. Failure to comply with these requirements can have numerous adverse consequences including, but not limited to, our inability to file required periodic reports on a timely basis or comply with NasdaqCM listing requirements, resulting in loss of market confidence and/or governmental or private actions against us, or delisting from NasdaqCM. We cannot assure you that we will be able to comply with all of these requirements or that the cost of such compliance will not prove to be a substantial competitive disadvantage vis-à-vis our privately held and larger public competitors.
General Risk Factors
Certain provisions of our certificate of incorporation, bylaws and New York law make it more difficult for a third party to acquire us and make a takeover more difficult to complete, even if such a transaction were in the stockholders’ interest.
Our restated certificate of incorporation, as amended, and by-laws and New York law contain provisions that are intended to deter coercive takeover practices and inadequate takeover bids by making such practices or bids unacceptably expensive to the raider and to encourage prospective acquirers to negotiate with our board of directors rather than to attempt a hostile takeover. In addition, provisions of our restated certificate of incorporation, as amended, by-laws and New York law impose various procedural and other requirements, which could make it more difficult for shareholders to effect certain corporate actions. These provisions include, among others:
· | the inability of our shareholders to call a special meeting; | |
· | rules regarding how shareholders may present proposals or nominate directors for election at shareholder meetings; | |
· | the right of our Board to issue preferred stock without shareholder approval; and | |
· | the ability of our directors, and not shareholders, to fill vacancies on our Board. |
25 |
We believe these provisions may help protect our shareholders from coercive or otherwise unfair takeover tactics by requiring potential acquirers to negotiate with our Board and by providing our Board with more time to assess any acquisition proposal. These provisions are not intended to make our Company immune from takeovers. In addition, although we believe these provisions collectively provide for an opportunity to receive higher bids by requiring potential acquirers to negotiate with our Board, they would apply even if the offer may be considered beneficial by some shareholders. These provisions may also frustrate or prevent any attempts by our shareholders to replace or remove our current management team by making it more difficult for shareholders to replace members of our Board, which is responsible for appointing the members of our management.
Our bylaws provide for limitations of director liability and indemnification of directors and officers and employees.
Our bylaws provide that we will indemnify our directors, officers and employees to the fullest extent permitted by law. Our bylaws also provide that we are obligated to advance expenses incurred by a director or officer in advance of the final disposition of any action or proceeding. We believe that these provisions are necessary to attract and retain qualified persons as directors and officers.
Section 402(b) of the BCL permits a New York corporation to include in its certificate of incorporation a provision eliminating the potential monetary liability of a director to the corporation or its shareholders for breach of fiduciary duty as a director; provided that this provision may not eliminate the liability of a director (i) for acts or omissions in bad faith or which involve intentional misconduct or a knowing violation of law, (ii) for any transaction from which the director receives an improper personal benefit or (iii) for any acts in violation of Section 719 of the BCL. Section 719 provides that a director who votes or concurs in a corporate action will be liable to the corporation for the benefit of its creditors and shareholders for any damages suffered as a result of an action approving (i) an improper payment of a dividend, (ii) an improper redemption or purchase by the corporation of shares of the corporation, (iii) an improper distribution of assets to shareholders after dissolution of the corporation without adequately providing for all known liabilities of the corporation or (iv) the making of an improper loan to a director of the corporation.
The limitation of liability in our bylaws may discourage stockholders from bringing a lawsuit against directors for breach of their fiduciary duties. They may also reduce the likelihood of derivative litigation against directors and officers, even though an action, if successful, might provide a benefit to us and our stockholders. Our results of operations and financial condition may be harmed to the extent we pay the costs of settlement and damage awards against directors and officers pursuant to these indemnification provisions.
26 |
CAUTIONARY STATEMENT REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This prospectus contains forward-looking statements, which reflect the views of our management with respect to future events and financial performance. These forward-looking statements are subject to a number of uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from such statements. Forward-looking statements are identified by words such as “anticipates,” “believes,” “estimates,” “expects,” “intends,” “plans,” “projects,” “targets,” and similar expressions. Such forward-looking statements may be contained in the sections “Risk Factors,” and “Business,” among other places in this prospectus. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which are based on the information available to management at this time and which speak only as of this date. We undertake no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. For a discussion of some of the factors that may cause actual results to differ materially from those suggested by the forward-looking statements, please read carefully the information under “Risk Factors.”
The identification in this document of factors that may affect future performance and the accuracy of forward-looking statements is meant to be illustrative and by no means exhaustive. All forward-looking statements should be evaluated with the understanding of their inherent uncertainty. You may rely only on the information contained in this prospectus.
We have not authorized anyone to provide information different from that contained in this prospectus. Neither the delivery of this prospectus nor the sale of our common stock means that information contained in this prospectus is correct after the date of this prospectus. This prospectus is not an offer to sell or solicitation of an offer to buy these securities in any circumstances under which the offer or solicitation is unlawful.
27 |
USE OF PROCEEDS
We estimate that our net proceeds from this offering will be approximately $________ based on the sale of ______ shares of Common Stock, pre-funded warrants to purchase _____ shares of Common Stock and accompanying Series 2023 Warrants and Class C Warrants at a public combined offering price of $____ per share of Common Stock (less $0.0001 per pre-funded warrant), Series 2023 Warrants after deducting the underwriters fees and estimated offering expenses payable by us, and assuming no exercise of the Series 2023 Warrants being issued in this offering. We intend to use the net proceeds from this offering as follows: a cash payment of $1,437,500 to repay an outstanding senior secured 20% original issue discount promissory note, and the remaining balance of $____ will be available for general working capital purposes. The senior secured promissory note being repaid has a September 30, 2023 maturity date, and is subject to mandatory prepayment upon the consummation of a trigger financing of $3,000,000 or more, including the financing in this offering.
As of the date of this prospectus, we cannot specify with certainty all of the particular uses for the net proceeds to be received upon the completion of this offering. The amounts and timing of our actual expenditures will depend on numerous factors, including the status of our sales and marketing activities, amount of cash generated or used in operations, and competition. Accordingly, our management will have broad discretion in the application of the net proceeds and investors will be relying on the judgment of our management regarding the application of the proceeds of this offering.
28 |
MARKET INFORMATION
Common Stock
In the past, our Common Stock traded on the OTCQB under the symbol “MOBQ” on a limited basis. In October 2021, our Board of Directors approved the filing, and we submitted an application in compliance with the NASDAQ rules and regulations to list and trade our Company’s securities on the NasdaqCM. Trading commenced for our common stock and warrants on December 9, 2021. The following table sets forth the range of high and low closing sales prices of our Common Stock for the last two fiscal years.
Quarters Ended | High | Low | |||||
March 31, 2021 | $ | 10.95 | $ | 6.15 | |||
June 30, 2021 | 9.50 | 5.50 | |||||
September 30, 2021 | 10.25 | 6.45 | |||||
December 31, 2021 | 9.50 | 2.01 | |||||
March 31, 2022 | 2.68 | 1.20 | |||||
June 30, 2022 | 2.21 | 0.71 | |||||
September 30, 2022 | 1.93 | 1.07 | |||||
December 31, 2022 | 1.55 | 0.42 |
The closing sales price on January 13, 2023, was $0.57 per share. All quotations provided herein reflect inter-dealer prices, without retail mark-up, markdown or commissions.
In the event a public market for our common stock is sustained in the future, sales of our common stock may be made by holders of our public float or by holders of restricted securities in compliance with the provisions of Rule 144 of the Securities Act of 1933. In general, under Rule 144, a non-affiliated person who has satisfied a six-month holding period in a fully reporting company under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 may, sell their restricted Common Stock without volume limitation, so long as the issuer is current with all reports under the Exchange Act in order for there to be adequate public information disclosed. Affiliated persons may also sell their common shares held for at least six months, but affiliated persons will be required to meet certain other requirements, including manner of sale, notice requirements and volume limitations. Non-affiliated persons who hold their common shares for at least one year will be able to sell their shares without the need for there to be current public information in the hands of the public. Future sales of shares of our public float or by restricted common stock made in compliance with Rule 144 may have an adverse effect on the then prevailing market price, if any, of our common stock.
2021 Warrants
Our 2021 Warrants commenced trading on the NASDAQ Capital Market on December 9, 2021, under the symbol “MOBQW.” The high and low sales price of our warrants was $.8093 and $.028, respectively, for the period December 14, 2021, through January 9, 2023. The closing sales price of on January 9, 2023, was $.096 per warrant. All quotations provided herein reflect inter-dealer prices, without retail mark-up, markdown or commissions.
Holders of Record
As of January 3, 2023, there were 273 active holders of record of our common stock. The number of record holders was determined from the records of our transfer agent and does not include beneficial owners of common stock whose shares are held in the names of various security brokers, dealers, and registered clearing agencies. As of January 3, 2023, the Company has a list consisting of 1,559 beneficial (“NOBO”) holders who do not object to having their names provided to the Company. The transfer agent of our common stock is Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, New York NY.
29 |
DIVIDEND POLICY
The Company has not paid any cash dividends to date and does not anticipate or contemplate paying cash dividends on our capital stock in the foreseeable future. It is the present intention of management to utilize all available funds and future earnings for the development of the Company’s business. Any future determination to declare cash dividends will be made at the discretion of our Board of Directors, subject to applicable laws, and will depend on our financial condition, results of operations, capital requirements, general business conditions and other factors that our Board of Directors may deem relevant. Our future ability to pay cash dividends on our capital stock may be limited by any future debt instruments or preferred securities.
30 |
MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION
The following discussion should be read in conjunction with our financial statements and the notes thereto appearing elsewhere in this Prospectus. All statements contained herein that are not historical facts, including, but not limited to, statements regarding anticipated future capital requirements, our future plan of operations, our ability to obtain debt, equity or other financing, and our ability to generate cash from operations, are based on current expectations. These statements are forward-looking in nature and involve a number of risks and uncertainties that may cause the Company's actual results in future periods to differ materially from forecasted results. This “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” has been amended and restated to give effect to the restatement of our financial statements, as more fully described in our Notes to our consolidated financial statements entitled “Restatement of Financial Statement.”
Critical Accounting Policies
Our discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations are based upon our financial statements, which have been prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States. The preparation of financial statements requires management to make estimates and disclosures on the date of the financial statements. On an on-going basis, we evaluate our estimates including, but not limited to, those related to revenue recognition. We use authoritative pronouncements, historical experience and other assumptions as the basis for making judgments. We believe that the following critical accounting policies affect our more significant judgments and estimates in the preparation of our financial statements.
Use of Estimates
Preparing financial statements in conformity with U.S. GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and the disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and revenues and expenses during the reported period. Actual results could differ from those estimates, and those estimates may be material.
Risks and Uncertainties
The Company operates in an industry that is subject to intense competition and change in consumer demand. The Company’s operations are subject to significant risk and uncertainties including financial and operational risks including the potential risk of business failure.
The Company has experienced, and in the future expects to continue to experience, variability in sales and earnings. The factors expected to contribute to this variability include, among others, (i) the cyclical nature of the industry, (ii) general economic conditions in the various local markets in which the Company competes, including a potential general downturn in the economy, and (iii) the volatility of prices in connection with the Company’s distribution of the product. These factors, among others, make it difficult to project the Company’s operating results on a consistent basis.
Fair Value of Financial Instruments
The Company accounts for financial instruments under Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) ASC 820, Fair Value Measurements. ASC 820 provides a framework for measuring fair value and requires disclosures regarding fair value measurements. Fair value is defined as the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date, based on the Company’s principal or, in absence of a principal, most advantageous market for the specific asset or liability.
The Company uses a three-tier fair value hierarchy to classify and disclose all assets and liabilities measured at fair value on a recurring basis, as well as assets and liabilities measured at fair value on a non-recurring basis, in periods subsequent to their initial measurement. The hierarchy requires the Company to use observable inputs when available, and to minimize the use of unobservable inputs, when determining fair value.
31 |
The three tiers are defined as follows:
· | Level 1—Observable inputs that reflect quoted market prices (unadjusted) for identical assets or liabilities in active markets; | |
· | Level 2—Observable inputs other than quoted prices in active markets that are observable either directly or indirectly in the marketplace for identical or similar assets and liabilities; and | |
· | Level 3—Unobservable inputs that are supported by little or no market data, which require the Company to develop its own assumptions. |
The determination of fair value and the assessment of a measurement’s placement within the hierarchy requires judgment. Level 3 valuations often involve a higher degree of judgment and complexity. Level 3 valuations may require the use of various cost, market, or income valuation methodologies applied to unobservable management estimates and assumptions. Management’s assumptions could vary depending on the asset or liability valued and the valuation method used. Such assumptions could include estimates of prices, earnings, costs, actions of market participants, market factors, or the weighting of various valuation methods. The Company may also engage external advisors to assist us in determining fair value, as appropriate.
As of September 30, 2022 and December 31, 2021, the Company does not have any financial instruments measured on a recurring or nonrecurring basis at fair value.
The Company’s financial instruments, including cash, accounts receivable, accounts payable and accrued expenses, and accounts payable and accrued expenses, are carried at historical cost. At September 30, 2022 and December 31, 2021, respectively, the carrying amounts of these instruments approximated their fair values because of the short-term nature of these instruments.
ASC 825-10 “Financial Instruments” allows entities to voluntarily choose to measure certain financial assets and liabilities at fair value (“fair value option”). The fair value option may be elected on an instrument-by-instrument basis and is irrevocable unless a new election date occurs. If the fair value option is elected for an instrument, unrealized gains and losses for that instrument should be reported in earnings at each subsequent reporting date. The Company did not elect to apply the fair value option to any outstanding financial instruments.
Accounts Receivable
Accounts receivable are stated at the amount management expects to collect from outstanding customer balances. Credit is extended to customers based on an evaluation of their financial condition and other factors. Interest is not accrued on overdue accounts receivable. The Company does not require collateral.
Management periodically assesses the Company’s accounts receivable and, if necessary, establishes an allowance for estimated uncollectible amounts. The Company provides an allowance for doubtful accounts based upon a review of the outstanding accounts receivable, historical collection information and existing economic conditions. Accounts determined to be uncollectible are charged to operations when that determination is made.
Allowance for doubtful accounts was $820,990 at September 30, 2022 and December 31, 2021.
Bad debt expense (recovery) is recorded as a component of general and administrative expenses in the accompanying condensed consolidated statements of operations.
32 |
Revenue Recognition
The Company recognizes revenue in accordance with ASC 606 to align revenue recognition more closely with the delivery of the Company’s services and will provide financial statement readers with enhanced disclosures. In accordance with ASC 606, revenue is recognized when a customer obtains control of promised services. The amount of revenue recognized reflects the consideration to which the Company expects to be entitled to receive in exchange for these services. To achieve this core principle, the Company applies the following five steps:
Identify the contract with a customer
A contract with a customer exists when (i) the Company enters into an enforceable contract with a customer that defines each party’s rights regarding the services to be transferred and identifies the payment terms related to these services, (ii) the contract has commercial substance and, (iii) the Company determines that collection of substantially all consideration for services that are transferred is probable based on the customer’s intent and ability to pay the promised consideration. The Company applies judgment in determining the customer’s ability and intention to pay, which is based on a variety of factors including the customer’s historical payment experience or, in the case of a new customer, published credit and financial information pertaining to the customer.
Identify the performance obligations in the contract
Performance obligations promised in a contract are identified based on the services that will be transferred to the customer that are both capable of being distinct, whereby the customer can benefit from the service either on its own or together with other resources that are readily available from third parties or from the Company, and are distinct in the context of the contract, whereby the transfer of the services is separately identifiable from other promises in the contract. To the extent a contract includes multiple promised services, the Company must apply judgment to determine whether promised services are capable of being distinct and distinct in the context of the contract. If these criteria are not met the promised services are accounted for as a combined performance obligation.
Determine the transaction price
The transaction price is determined based on the consideration to which the Company will be entitled in exchange for transferring services to the customer. To the extent the transaction price includes variable consideration, the Company estimates the amount of variable consideration that should be included in the transaction price utilizing either the expected value method or the most likely amount method depending on the nature of the variable consideration. Variable consideration is included in the transaction price if, in the Company’s judgment, it is probable that a significant future reversal of cumulative revenue under the contract will not occur. None of the Company’s contracts as of September 30, 2022, and 2021, respectively, contained a significant financing component.
Allocate the transaction price to performance obligations in the contract
If the contract contains a single performance obligation, the entire transaction price is allocated to the single performance obligation. However, if a series of distinct services that are substantially the same qualifies as a single performance obligation in a contract with variable consideration, the Company must determine if the variable consideration is attributable to the entire contract or to a specific part of the contract. For example, a bonus or penalty may be associated with one or more, but not all, distinct services promised in a series of distinct services that forms part of a single performance obligation. Contracts that contain multiple performance obligations require an allocation of the transaction price to each performance obligation based on a relative standalone selling price basis unless the transaction price is variable and meets the criteria to be allocated entirely to a performance obligation or to a distinct service that forms part of a single performance obligation. The Company determines standalone selling price based on the price at which the performance obligation is sold separately. If the standalone selling price is not observable through past transactions, the Company estimates the standalone selling price taking into account available information such as market conditions and internally approved pricing guidelines related to the performance obligations.
33 |
Recognize revenue when or as the Company satisfies a performance obligation.
The Company satisfies performance obligations either over time or at a point in time. Revenue is recognized at the time the related performance obligation is satisfied by transferring a promised service to a customer.
For each revenue stream we only have a single performance obligation.
Payment terms and conditions vary by contract, although terms generally include a requirement of payment within 30 to 90 days.
Stock-Based Compensation
The Company accounts for our stock-based compensation under ASC 718 “Compensation – Stock Compensation” using the fair value-based method. Under this method, compensation cost is measured at the grant date based on the value of the award and is recognized over the service period, which is usually the vesting period. This guidance establishes standards for the accounting for transactions in which an entity exchanges it equity instruments for goods or services. It also addresses transactions in which an entity incurs liabilities in exchange for goods or services that are based on the fair value of the entity’s equity instruments or that may be settled by the issuance of those equity instruments.
The Company uses the fair value method for equity instruments granted to non-employees and uses the Black-Scholes model for measuring the fair value of options.
The fair value of stock-based compensation is determined as of the date of the grant or the date at which the performance of the services is completed (measurement date) and is recognized over the vesting periods.
When determining fair value of stock-based compensation, the Company considers the following assumptions in the Black-Scholes models:
· | Exercise price, | |
· | Expected dividends, | |
· | Expected volatility, | |
· | Risk-free interest rate; and | |
· | Expected life of option |
Recent Accounting Standards
Changes to accounting principles are established by the FASB in the form of ASU’s to the FASB’s Codification. We consider the applicability and impact of all ASU’s on our consolidated financial position, results of operations, stockholders’ deficit, cash flows, or presentation thereof. Management has evaluated all recent accounting pronouncements as issued by the FASB in the form of Accounting Standards Updates (“ASU”) through the date these financial statements were available to be issued and found no recent accounting pronouncements issued, but not yet effective accounting pronouncements, when adopted, will have a material impact on the consolidated financial statements of the Company.
In August 2020, FASB issued ASU 2020-06, Accounting for Convertible Instruments and Contracts in an Entity; Own Equity (“ASU 2020-06”), as part of its overall simplification initiative to reduce costs and complexity of applying accounting standards while maintaining or improving the usefulness of the information provided to users of financial statements. Among other changes, the new guidance removes from GAAP separation models for convertible debt that require the convertible debt to be separated into a debt and equity component, unless the conversion feature is required to be bifurcated and accounted for as a derivative or the debt is issued at a substantial premium. As a result, after adopting the guidance, entities will no longer separately present such embedded conversion features in equity and will instead account for the convertible debt wholly as debt. The new guidance also requires use of the “if-converted” method when calculating the dilutive impact of convertible debt on earnings per share, which is consistent with the Company’s current accounting treatment under the current guidance. The guidance is effective for financial statements issued for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2021, and interim periods within those fiscal years, with early adoption permitted, but only at the beginning of the fiscal year.
34 |
We adopted this pronouncement on January 1, 2022; however, the adoption of this standard did not have a material effect on the Company’s consolidated financial statements.
Plan of Operation
Mobiquity intends to hire several new sales and sales support individuals to help generate additional revenue using the Advangelists platform and the Mobiquity Networks MobiExchange. Mobiquity’s sales team will focus on Advertising Agencies, Brands, and publishers to help increase both supply and demand across the Advangelists platform while providing unique data segments utilizing MobiExchange. Together the Advangelists platform and MobiExchange platform creates multiple revenue streams for Mobiquity. The first is licensing the Advangelists platform as a white-label product for use by Advertising Agencies, DSP’s, Publishers, and Brands. Under the White-Label scenario, the user licenses the technology and is responsible for running its own business operations and is billed a percentage of volume run through the platform. The second revenue stream is a managed services model in which the user is billed a higher percentage of revenue run through the platform, but all services are managed by the Mobiquity/Advangelists team. The third revenue model is a seat model, where the user is billed a percentage of revenue run through the platform and business operations are shared between the user and the Mobiquity/Advangelists team. Additional revenue can be generated by offering data segments and digital audiences through MobiExchange for use in omnichannel marketing programs that include but not limited to programmatic advertising email marketing and SMS. The goal of the sales team is to inform potential users of the benefits in efficiency and effectiveness of utilizing the end-to-end, fully integrated ATOS created by Advangelists and Mobiquity Networks.
Results of Operations
Nine Months Ended September 30, 2022, versus Nine Months Ended September 30, 2021
The following table sets forth certain selected condensed statement of operations data for the periods indicated in dollars. In addition, we note that the period-to-period comparison may not be indicative of future performance.
Nine Months Ended | ||||||||
September 30, 2022 |
September
30, (as restated) |
|||||||
Revenues | $ | 3,367,346 | $ | 1,797,052 | ||||
Cost of revenues | 1,916,720 | 2,439,501 | ||||||
Gross profit (loss) | 1,450,626 | (642,449 | ) | |||||
General and administrative expenses | 6,524,042 | 5,804,791 | ||||||
Loss from operations | $ | (5,073,416 | ) | $ | (6,447,240 | ) |
We generated revenues of $3,367,346 in the first nine months of 2022 as compared to $1,797,052 in the same period for 2021, an increase of $1,570,294. The nationwide economic impact of COVID-19 during the past twenty-four months severely reduced operations and we are now seeing a turnaround starting in the third quarter of 2022 with a decreasing impact from COVID-19, although we have concerns regarding the overall US economy and a potential recession. The Company has developed several new features which we believe will help grow revenue in 2023 and beyond. We anticipate releasing one or more new products and services in 2023 that will address many of the changes that have affected the AdTech industry over the last year.
Cost of revenues was $1,916,720 or 56.9% of revenues in the first nine months of 2022 as compared to $2,439,501 or 135.7% of revenues in the same fiscal period of fiscal 2021. Costs of revenues include audience building, targeting features and web services for storage of our data and web engineers who are building and maintaining our platforms. Our ability to capture and store data for sales does not translate to increased cost of sales. During the first nine months of 2021, the Company incurred certain costs associated with populating the MobiExchange platform with “targeting data” and “audiences.” Such costs were not repeated or as substantial during 2022 thus resulting in higher overall margins associated with revenue for the MobiExchange services for the nine months ended September 30, 2022.
35 |
Gross profit (loss) was $1,450,626 or 43.1% of revenues for the first nine months of 2022 as compared to $(642,449) in the same fiscal period of 2021 or (35.7%) of revenues. The increased sales have resulted from increased efforts from our sales force and the recovery from COVID-19.
General and administrative expenses were $6,524,042 for the first nine months of fiscal 2022 compared to $5,804,791 in the comparable period of the prior year, an increase of $719,251. Increased operating costs primarily related to salaries of $292,192, computer support of $951,131, and license and fees of $199,341, offset by reduced stock-based compensation expense of $855,094.
The net loss from operations for the first nine months of fiscal 2022 was $5,073,416 as compared to $6,447,240 for the comparable period of the prior year. While our loss from operations decreased by approximately $1,373,824 due to improved revenues over the comparable nine months of 2021, the continuing operating loss is attributable to the focused effort in creating the products and services required to move forward with our business.
Year Ended December 31, 2021, versus Year Ended December 31, 2020
The following table sets forth certain selected consolidated statement of operations data for the years indicated in dollars. In addition, we note that the year-to-year comparison may not be indicative of future performance.
Year Ended (As Restated) | ||||||||
December 31, 2021 |
December 31, 2020 | |||||||
Revenue | $ | 2,672,615 | $ | 6,184,010 | ||||
Cost of Revenues | 1,954,383 | 4,360,645 | ||||||
Gross Profit | 718,232 | 1,823,365 | ||||||
Operating Expenses | 13,607,759 | 8,850,929 | ||||||
Loss from operations | (12,889,527 | ) | (7,027,564 | ) |
We generated revenues of $2,672,615 in 2021 as compared to $6,184,010 in the same period for 2020, a change in revenues of $3,511,395. The nationwide economic shutdown due to COVID-19 during 2021 severely reduced current operations.
Cost of revenues was $1,954,383 or 71% of revenues in 2021 as compared to $4,360,645 or 71% of revenues in the same fiscal period of fiscal 2020. Cost of revenues include web services for storage of our data and web engineers who are building and maintaining our platforms. Our ability to capture and store data for sales does not translate to increased cost of sales.
Gross profit was $718,232 or 27% of revenues for 2021 as compared to $1,823,365 in the same fiscal period of 2020 or 29% of revenues. When the country comes out of COVID-19 and the economy begins to turn around we anticipate income to increase.
Restated operating expenses were $13,607,759 for 2021 compared to $8,850,929 in the comparable period of the prior year, an increase of $4,756,830. Increased operating costs include cash and non-cash expenses for professional fees of $1,141,848, non-cash operating costs also include stock and share-based compensation of $4,635,224, and amortization of debt discount and issue costs of $780,081.
The restated net loss from operations for 2021 was $12,889,527 as compared to $7,027,564 for the comparable period of the prior year, an increase of $5,861,963. The loss from operations primarily includes stock-based compensation of $4,635,224, stock issued for services of $1,158,025, bad debt expense of $434,390, amortization of intangible assets of $800,735, and amortization of debt discount/issue costs of $780,081. The continuing operating loss is attributable to the focused effort in creating the infrastructure required to move forward with our Mobiquity and Advangelists network business.
No benefit for income taxes is provided for in the reported periods due to the full valuation allowance on the net deferred tax assets. Our ability to be profitable in the future is dependent upon the successful introduction and usage of our data collection and analysis including Advertising, Data Licensing, Footfall Reporting, Attribution Reporting, Real Estate Planning, Financial Forecasting and Custom Research services.
36 |
Liquidity and Capital Resources
We have a history of operating losses and our management has concluded that factors raise substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern and our auditor has included an explanatory paragraph relating to our ability to continue as a going concern in its audit report for the fiscal years ended December 31, 2021, and 2020.
The Company had cash of $855,246 at September 30, 2022. Cash used in operating activities for the nine months ended September 30, 2022, was $5,502,991. This resulted primarily from a net loss of $5,791,201 offset by stock-based compensation of $72,411, amortization of $450,551, common stock issued for services of $84,500, increase in accounts receivable of $592,362 and $384,284 decrease in accounts payable and accrued expenses, non-cash gain on settlement of liability $389,495, loss on debt extinguishment of $55,296 and inducement expense of $101,000. Cash used in investing activities results from the purchase of property and equipment of $8,004. Cash flows provided by financing activities of $980,996 resulted from cash paid on debt of $156,504 offset by net proceeds received from the sale of common stock of $1,137,500.
We had cash and cash equivalents of $5,385,245 at December 31, 2021. Restated cash used in operating activities for the year ended December 31, 2021, was $6,717,324. This resulted from a restated net loss of $18,333,383, partially offset by non-cash expenses, including depreciation and amortization of $808,300, stock-based compensation of $4,635,224, stock issued for service of $1,158,025, and impairment expense of $3,600,000.
For the year ended December 31, 2021, cash used in investing activities was $6,472 related to the purchase of property and equipment.
Restated cash provided by financing activities of $11,506,860 was the result of issuance of notes totaling $4,143,000 and repayments of notes totaling $2,840,337, as well as stock and warrants issued for cash net of direct offering costs of $10,204,197.
We had cash and cash equivalents of $602,182 at December 31, 2020. Cash used in operating activities for the year ended December 31, 2020 was $3,286,764 (as restated). This primarily resulted from a net loss of $11,745,835 (as restated), partially offset by non-cash expenses, including depreciation and amortization of $1,807,007, stock-based compensation of $993,512 (as restated), and impairment expense of $4,000,000. Cash provided by financing activities of $2,655,481 (as restated) was the result of issuance of notes payable and common stock, net, offset by cash payments on notes outstanding.
Our company commenced operations in 1998 and was initially funded by our three founders, each of whom has made demand loans to our company that have been repaid. Since 1999, we have relied on equity financing and borrowings from outside investors to supplement our cash flow from operations and expect this to continue in 2022 and beyond until cash flow from our proximity marketing operations become substantial.
Recent Financings
On October 19, 2021, the Company filed a Form S-1 Registration Statement (File no. 333-260364) with the Securities and Exchange Commission to raise over $10 million dollars in an underwritten public offering. The next day the Company filed an application to list our common stock on the NasdaqCM under the symbol “MOBQ.” This offering was completed on December 13, 2021, and the Company retired the loans of Talos Victory Fund, LLC and Blue Lake Partners LLC out of the gross proceeds it received of approximately $10.3 million. Also, Talos Victory Fund, LLC and Blue Lake Partners, LLC converted all of their warrants on a cashless basis into 24,692 common shares and 24,692 common shares, respectively.
37 |
On December 30, 2022, we and Walleye Opportunities Master Fund Ltd, a Cayman Islands company (the “Investor”), entered into a Securities Purchase Agreement (the “Agreement”) for the Investor to purchase from the Company (i) a senior secured 20% OID nine-month promissory note in an aggregate original principal amount of $1,437,500 (the “Investor Note”), and (ii) a five year warrant to purchase 2,613,636 shares of the Company’s common stock at an exercise price of $.44 per share which is not exercisable until July 1, 2023 (the “Investor Warrant”). A total of 522,727 shares of Common Stock, or approximately 5.3% of the Company’s outstanding shares of Common Stock, were issued to the Investor as an incentive on the transaction, excluding the above referenced Investor Warrant, the shares of Common Stock exercisable pursuant to such Investor Warrant not being considered beneficially owned by the Investor until the Investor Warrant is exercisable within 60 days. A fee of $103,500 plus warrants to purchase 26,136 shares of Common Stock exercisable at $0.484 per share were issued to Spartan Capital Securities LLC. Approximately $163,000 of the loan proceeds were utilized to retire a small business loan originally in the principal amount of $150,000. The Investor Note will only become convertible into Common Stock upon the occurrence of an Event of Default under and as defined in the Investor Note on terms set forth in the Investor Note. The Company granted a security interest in all of its assets to the Investor as collateral for its obligations under the Investor Note pursuant to a Security Agreement. In addition, the Company’s subsidiaries guaranteed the obligations of the Company under the Investor Note pursuant to a Subsidiary Guarantee and granted a first lien security interest in all of their assets to the Investor as additional collateral pursuant to the Security Agreement. All securities sold in the above described transaction contain certain piggy-back registration rights after the completion of the offering contemplated by this prospectus. See “Use of Proceeds” where we disclosed our intention to retire the Note utilizing the proceeds of this offering. We have completed various other financings as described under the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements.
Controls and Procedures
As required by Rules 13a-15 and 15d-15 under the Exchange Act, our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer evaluated the effectiveness of the disclosure controls and procedures as of December 31, 2021 and quarterly since this date. Based upon this evaluation, the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer have concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures were not effective as of December 31, 2021 and quarterly since this date, due solely to the material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting primarily related to the accounting for direct offering costs paid in an equity financing, the sale of warrants and the mark to market of our common stock sold to third parties as described below in “Management’s Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting.”
In light of this material weakness, we performed additional analysis as deemed necessary to ensure that our financial statements were prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles. Accordingly, management believes that the financial statements included in this prospectus present fairly in all material respects our financial position, results of operations and cash flows for the period presented.
Report of Management on Internal Control over Financial Reporting
Our management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting for the Company. Internal control over financial reporting is a process to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of our financial reporting for external purposes in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America. Internal control over financial reporting includes maintaining records that in reasonable detail accurately and fairly reflect our transactions; providing reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary for preparation of our financial statements; providing reasonable assurance that receipts and expenditures of company assets are made in accordance with management authorization; and providing reasonable assurance that unauthorized acquisition, use or disposition of company assets that could have a material effect on our financial statements would be prevented or detected on a timely basis. Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting is not intended to provide absolute assurance that a misstatement of our financial statements would be prevented or detected.
Management conducted an evaluation of the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting based on the framework in Internal Control – Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission. Based on this evaluation, management concluded that the company’s internal control over financial reporting was not effective as of December 31, 2021 and quarterly since this date. There were no significant changes in our internal control over financial reporting during the year ended December 31, 2021 and quarterly since this date, that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting. Our independent auditors have not audited and are not required to audit this assessment of our internal control over financial reporting for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021 and quarterly since this date.
38 |
Internal Controls Remediation Efforts
Since December 2021, we are working to remediate the deficiencies and material weaknesses in our internal controls. We are taking steps to enhance our internal control environment establish and maintain effective disclosure and financial controls and procedures, internal control over financial reporting and changes in corporate governance., In this regard, the Company will be adopting several corporate governance policies and it has established various committees of the Board of Directors, including an Audit Committee comprised of three independent directors in accordance with Nasdaq Rule 5605(c)(2), which will take effect at the time that our registration statement of which this prospectus is a part becomes effective. One of the Audit Committee’s priorities will be to begin the process of segregating tasks and processes to ensure proper internal controls. In connection with this process, the Company plans to implement the following initiatives under the oversight of the Audit committee.
· | Hire additional staff both internally and externally to the Finance department with sufficient GAAP and public company financial reporting experience. | |
· | Implement ongoing training in U.S. GAAP requirements for our CFO and accounting and other finance personnel. | |
· | Hire a consultant to assist in internal control review, testing of procedures and processes, and analysis as described below. | |
· | Initiate a preliminary assessment of management’s internal controls over financial reporting. | |
· | Improve documentation of existing internal controls and procedures and train personnel to help ensure they are properly followed. |
We have hired Refidential One - SOX Consultants who have reviewed testing procedures and analysis as follows:
· | Phase 1, which was completed on or about the Company filing its form 10-K for December 31, 2021, to identify the gaps and suggested remediations in 2021. | |
· | Phase 2, which was completed on or about June 30, 2022 to update all the narratives and create risk control matrixes (“RCM”) for testing when a remediation plan is implemented. | |
· | Phase 3, which was completed on or about September 30, 2022, tested the key controls identified and implemented in Phases 1 and 2 above. | |
· | Phase 4, to be completed in the first quarter of 2023 will be to retest the failures in Phase 3. Phase 4 testing will enable the Company to rectify any failures in Phase 3 testing, thus reducing the likelihood of significant deficiencies. |
Although we plan to undertake and complete this remediation process as quickly as possible, we are unable, at this time to estimate how long it will take; and our efforts may not be successful in remediating the deficiencies or material weaknesses.
39 |
BUSINESS
Company Background
Mobiquity Technologies, Inc. is a next-generation advertising technology, data compliance and intelligence company which operates through our various proprietary software platforms. Our product solutions are comprised of three proprietary software platforms:
· | Advertising Technology Operating System (ATOS Platform) | |
· | Data Intelligence Platform | |
· | Publisher Platform for Monetization and Compliance |
Our Products
The ATOS Platform
Our ATOS platform blends artificial intelligence (or AI) and machine learning (ML) based optimization technology for automatic ad serving that manages digital advertising inventory and campaigns. The ATOS platform:
· | creates an automated marketplace of advertisers and publishers on digital media outlets to host online auctions to facilitate the sale of digital advertising (known as digital real estate) targeted at users while engaged on their internet-connected TV, laptop, tablet, desktop computer, mobile, and over-the-top (or OTT) streaming media devices; and | |
· | gives advertisers the capability to understand and interact with their audiences and engage them in a meaningful way by using ads in both image and video formats (known as rich media) to increase their awareness, customer base and traffic to their e-commerce site, voting site or physical locations. |
(Screenshot of ATOS Platform Campaign Management landing page.)
40 |
Our ATOS platform engages with an average of approximately 10 billion advertisement opportunities per day, based on our daily logs. Our sales and marketing strategy for our ATOS platform is focused on providing a de-fragmented operating system that facilitates a considerably more efficient and effective way for advertisers and publishers to transact with each other. Our goal is to become the programmatic display advertising industry standard for brands directly and small and medium sized advertisers.
Our ATOS technology is proprietary and primarily consists of know-how and trade secrets developed internally, as well as certain open-source software.
Users of the ATOS platform get access to benefits including among other things:
· | ease of set up; | |
· | targeting features based on audience profiles and location and context through an in-house data management platform (or DMP); | |
· | Inventory management and yield optimization; | |
· | support for all rich media creators’ ad tags; | |
· | machine learning and AI powered optimization which aids in delivering a higher click through rate on ad links; | |
· | support for third-party trackers and custom scripts for make-the-most-of-your media (or MOAT) analytics, Integral Ad Science (or IAS), and forensics to enable independent verification by advertisers for transparency; | |
· | detailed campaign wrap-up reporting that gives a breakdown on publishers, categories, demonstrations, and devices to better understand advertisement campaign performance; | |
· | access to business intelligence via an analytics dashboard; | |
· | advanced ad targeting; | |
· | easy campaign uploading; | |
· | automated performance optimization; | |
· | real time reporting; | |
· | fraud prevention tools; and | |
· | 24x7 support, along with guided managed services to enable users to rapidly harness and operate all the features of the ATOS platform. |
41 |
Our ATOS platform includes:
· | Adserver; | |
· | Demand Side Platform; | |
· | Advertisement quality tools; | |
· | Analytics dashboard; | |
· | Avails Engine; | |
· | Advertisement prediction and delivery tools; | |
· | Supply quality tools; | |
· | Private marketplace tools; | |
· | Audience and location targeting; | |
· | Wrap up reports; | |
· | An Advertisement software development kit (or SDK); | |
· | Prebid adaptor; | |
· | contextual targeting; | |
· | identity graph capabilities; | |
· | cookie syncing; and | |
· | the updated version of our quality and security tools, among other things for our ATOS platform. |
Data Intelligence Platform
Our data intelligence platform provides precise data and insights on consumer’s real-world behavior and trends for use in marketing and research. Our data intelligence platform technology allows for the ingestion and normalization of various data sources, such as location data, transactional data, contextual data, and search data to reach the right target audience with the right message. Utilizing massively parallel cluster computing and machine learning algorithms and technology, our data intelligence solutions make available actionable data for marketers, researchers and application publishers through an automated platform. We are seeking to generate several revenue streams from our data collection and analysis, including, among other things; advertising, data licensing, and custom research.
42 |
(Screenshot of Data Intelligence HomeGraph landing page.)
We also offer a self-service alternative through our MobiExchange product, which is a SaaS fee model. MobiExchange is a data focused technology solution that enables individuals and companies to rapidly build actionable data and insights for their own use. MobiExchange’s easy-to-use, self-service tools allow users to reduce the complex technical and financial barriers typically associated with turning offline data, and other business data, into actionable digital products and services. MobiExchange provides out-of-the-box private labeling, flexible branding, content management, user management, user communications, subscriptions, payment, invoices, reporting, gateways to third party platforms, and help desk among other things.
Our data intelligence platform is hosted and managed on Amazon Web Service (AWS) and takes full advantage of open standards for processing, storage, security and big data technology. Specifically, our data intelligence platform uses the following AWS services: EC2, Lambda, Kafka, Kinesis, S3, Storm, Spark, Machine Learning, RDS, Redshift, Elastic Map Reduction, CloudWatch, DataBricks, and Elastic Search Service with built-in Kibana integration.
Publisher Platform for Monetization and Compliance
Our Content publisher platform is a single-vendor ad tech operating system that allows publishers to better monetize their opt-in user data and advertising inventory. The platform includes tools for: consent management, audience building, a direct advertising interface and inventory enhancement. Due to the much publicized developments in privacy and data security laws and regulations (such as the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation or GDPR and the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 or CCPA by way of example) along with Apple and Google’s removal of identifiers, we believe that content publishers are facing two material issues: increased costs due to privacy compliance rules, and decreased revenue due to the restrictions selling user identifier data to third parties. We believe this is causing a paradigm shift in the publishing market. Previously content publishers could provide user identifier information to demand-side platforms (or DSP’s) to create user profiles for audience targeting. Now both the user identifier data and the functionality to create profiled data segments from that identifier data (known as first party data) must be owned by the content publisher. Additionally publishers must also manage the targeting of their audiences in-house utilizing these identifier and targeting data. We recently launched our SaaS publisher platform in response to these needs.
43 |
All Publisher data is siloed and secured, using the highest industry standards, optimizing compliance with privacy and data laws that may be applicable. Our platform helps publishers worry less about the integrity of their first party data and allows them to focus on effectively monetizing their inventory.
Users of the publisher platform get access to benefits of our publisher platform, including among other things:
· | A Consent Manager for publishers to meet all privacy requirements in connection with their collection of an audience’s data. | |
· | An Audience Builder to build detailed databases of targeted audiences from the user identifier data. | |
· | A Direct Purchase Interface to increase revenue from direct advertising sales to target audiences; and | |
· | An Inventory Enhancer to enhance the publisher’s supply of audience data with compliant meta-tags. |
(Screenshot of Publisher Platform Audience Management landing page.)
44 |
We believe that irrespective of whether a publisher chooses to engage with us to use our publisher platform or not, they will need to find a solution that allows advertisers to advertise to the publisher’s audience directly through the publisher.
Our Strategy
Our strategy in the advertising technology space is to provide enterprises with three proprietary solutions that are highly efficient and effective for monetization of data and advertising with privacy and data regulatory compliance. We believe that our platforms gives users in these markets the capability of running programmatic campaigns without the need for an extensive marketing team, which enables them to better compete with their larger competitors who have greater marketing financial and human capital resources. Our sales and marketing approach is focused on providing a de-fragmented operating system that facilitates a considerably more efficient and effective way for advertisers and publishers to transact with each other. Mobiquity plans to hire several new sales and sales support individuals to help generate additional revenue through the use of our three platforms.
Our strategy is based on problems we perceived in the advertising technology industry as it has rapidly grown over the last few years and the evolving privacy and data laws and regulations that make it more difficult to achieve desired results. Our goal is to help our clients increase revenue, decrease cost and add transparency while complying with privacy and data laws.
Our Revenue Sources
We target publishers, brands, advertising agencies and other advertising technology companies as our audience for our three platform products. We generate revenue from our platforms through two verticals:
· | The first is licensing one or more of our platforms as a white-label product for use by advertising agencies, demand-side platforms (or DSP’s), brands and publishers. Under the white-label scenario, the user licenses a platform from us and is responsible for running its own business operations and is billed a percentage of amounts spent on advertising run through the platform. | |
· | The second revenue stream is a managed services model, in which, the user is billed a higher percentage of revenue run through a platform, but all services are managed by us. |
Our Intellectual Property
Our portfolio of technology consists of various intellectual property including proprietary source code, trade secrets and know-how that we have developed internally. We own our technology, although we use open source software for certain aspects, and we protect it though trade secrets and confidentiality requirements set out in our employee handbook which each employee acknowledges, and assigning any technology creations and improvements to us. We also have two patents that relate to our location-based mobile advertising technology business which we are not operating. These patents and patents pending are not material to, or used in, our platform related technology that we use in our current operations.
Governmental Regulations
Federal, state and international laws and regulations govern the collection, use, retention, sharing and security of data that we collect. We strive to comply with all applicable laws, regulations, self-regulatory requirements and legal obligations relating to privacy, data protection and consumer protection, including those relating to the use of data for marketing purposes. As we develop and provide solutions that address new market segments, we may become subject to additional laws and regulations, which could create unexpected liabilities for us, cause us to incur additional costs or restrict our operations. From time to time, we may be notified of or otherwise become aware of additional laws and regulations that governmental organizations or others may claim should be applicable to our business. Our failure to anticipate the application of these laws and regulations accurately, or other failure to comply, could create liability for us, result in adverse publicity or cause us to alter our business practices, which could cause our net revenues to decrease, our costs to increase or our business otherwise to be harmed. See “Item 1A.”
45 |
We are subject to general business regulations and laws as well as regulations and laws specifically governing the internet, e-commerce and m-commerce in a number of jurisdictions around the world. Existing and future regulations and laws could impede the growth of the Internet, e-commerce, m-commerce or other online services. These regulations and laws may involve taxation, tariffs, privacy and data security, anti-spam, data protection, content, copyrights, distribution, electronic contracts, electronic communications and consumer protection. It is not clear how existing laws and regulations governing issues such as property ownership, sales and other taxes, libel and personal privacy apply to the Internet as the vast majority of these laws and regulations were adopted prior to the advent of the Internet and do not contemplate or address the unique issues raised by the Internet, e-commerce or m-commerce. It is possible that general business regulations and laws, or those specifically governing the Internet, e-commerce or m-commerce may be interpreted and applied in a manner that is inconsistent from one jurisdiction to another and may conflict with other rules or our practices. See “Risk Factors—Our business practices with respect to data and consumer protection could give rise to liabilities or reputational harm as a result of governmental regulation, legal requirements or industry standards relating to consumer privacy, data protection and consumer protection”; and “Risk Factors-- Changes in consumer sentiment or laws, rules or regulations regarding tracking technologies and other privacy matters could have a material adverse effect on our ability to generate net revenues and could adversely affect our ability to collect data on consumer shopping behavior.”
Competition
We compete in the programmatic advertising, data management, and user compliance management industries and in all other facets of our business against small, medium and large companies throughout the United States. Some examples include companies such as Liveramp, The TradeDesk and OneTrust. Although we can give no assurance that our business will be able to compete against other companies with greater experience and resources, we believe we have a competitive advantage with our proprietary software and technology platform based on our view that our competitor’s products do not provide the end-to-end solutions that our product solutions do, and their minimum fees are substantially higher than ours for a comparative suite of solutions. See “Risk Factors — We face intense and growing competition, which could result in reduced sales and reduced operating margins, and limit our market share.”
Employees and Contractors
As of December 31, 2022, we have 14 employees, including executive management, technical personnel, salespeople, and support staff employees. We also utilize several additional firms/persons who provide services to us on a non-exclusive basis as independent consultants.
Customers
For the year ended December 31,2021 and the nine months ended September 30, 2022, sales of our products to four customers generated approximately 31% and 52% of our revenues, respectively.. Our contracts with our customers generally do not obligate them to a specified term and they can generally terminate their relationship with us at any time with a minimal amount of notice.
46 |
Corporate Structure
We operate our business through two wholly owned subsidiaries, Advangelists, LLC and Mobiquity Networks, Inc. Our corporate structure is as follows:
Properties
The Company is presently utilizing the office space of its Chief Financial Officer as its principal executive office located at 35 Torrington Lane, Shoreham, NY 11786. All employees of the Company are working remotely.
Legal Proceedings
We are not a party to any pending material legal proceedings.
47 |
MANAGEMENT
The following table sets forth the name, age, position and tenure of our directors
Name | Age | Position(s) | Served as a Director Since | |||
Dean L. Julia | 55 | Chief Executive Officer, President, Treasurer, Director, Co-Founder, Secretary | 1998 | |||
Dr. Gene Salkind, M.D. | 70 | Chairman of the Board | 2019 | |||
Peter L. Zurkow | 69 | Director | 2021 | |||
Michael A. Wright | 60 | Director | 2021 | |||
Anne S. Provost | 58 | Director | 2022 |
Directors
Our Board currently consists of five members.. Our directors hold office until their successors have been elected and qualified or until the earlier of their resignation or removal.
The following biographical descriptions set forth certain information with respect to each director:
Dean L. Julia. Mr. Julia works at Mobiquity Technologies, Inc. where he has served as its Chief Executive Officer since December 2000. Mr. Julia co-founded Mobiquity in 1998. Mr. Julia is responsible for establishing our overall strategy and fostering key relationships with technology partners and developers. Mr. Julia also works at Mobiquity Networks, Inc., Mobiquity’s wholly owned subsidiary, since its formation in 2011. Mr. Julia is responsible for the integration of the sales and intellectual property departments of Mobiquity. From September 1996 through February 1998, Mr. Julia served as President and Chief Executive Officer of DLJ Consulting, a financial intermediary consultant for public and private companies. Mr. Julia has served on the board since its inception. Mr. Julia is a graduate of Hofstra University with a Bachelor of Business Administration in 1990. Except for Mobiquity Technologies, Inc., Mr. Julia does not hold, and has not previously held, any directorships in any publicly traded reporting companies.
Gene Salkind, M.D. Dr. Salkind has served as a director of Mobiquity since January 2019 and Chairman of our board of directors since October 2019. Dr. Salkind is a prominent practicing neurosurgeon, and he has been a shareholder and has worked as President of Bruno & Salkind M.D. P.C. since 1985. He has also worked at Holy Redeemer Hospital where he is the Chief of Neurosurgery, a position he has held since 2001. Dr. Salkind is board certified in neurological surgery by the American Board of Neurological Surgery. He served as Chief of Neurosurgery of Albert Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia from 1997 to 2002, and of Jeanes Hospital in Philadelphia from 1990 to 2000. In addition to Dr. Salkind’s medical career, he is a tech-company investor, with experience guiding small and micro-cap companies in their development and growth, including up-listings to national securities exchanges. His experience will help the Company with its business growth and corporate finance strategies. Dr. Salkind is a graduate of Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University with a Doctor of Medicine in 1979. Dr. Salkind is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania with a B.A. in Biology, cum laude in 1974. From 2021 to present, Dr. Salkind has served as a director at Grove Holdings, Inc., which expects to be a publicly traded company in sixty to ninety days. From 2018 to present, Dr. Salkind has served as a director at CURE Pharmaceutical Holding Corp., a publicly traded company. From 2014 to 2020, Dr. Salkind served as a director at Dermtech Intl., a publicly traded company.
Peter L. Zurkow. Mr. Zurkow serves as a consultant to Sustainability Industries since 2019. From 2014 to 2019, he worked at Perpetual Recycling Solutions LLC where he served as the Chief Executive Officer and the head of sales and raw materials procurement. From 2011 to 2013, Mr. Zurkow worked at Britton Hill Capital where he served as Managing Director and Head of Corporate Finance. From 2010 to 2012, Mr. Zurkow worked at Advanced Brain Technologies where he served as Acting EVP and Director of Finance and Business Development. Prior to that Mr. Zurkow worked in management positions in investment banking, fixed income and asset management as various securities firms and funds. Mr. Zurkow brings knowledge and experience in corporate finance, financial matters, and investments, with a background in law. His experience will help the Company with its corporate financing strategies and financial matters. Mr. Zurkow is a graduate of Harvard College, with an A.B., cum laude, in 1975 and a graduate of Syracuse University College of Law, with a J.D., magna cum laude, in 1978. From 2012 to 2014, Mr. Zurkow served as a director and member of the audit committee for National Holdings Corporation, a public company until it was acquired by Fortress Biotech. From 1992 through 2005 Mr. Zurkow served as director (and Chairman of the Board from 1999 to 2002) of Penn Traffic, a public company until it acquired by Giant Eagle and Tops Markets. From 1996 to 1998 he served as a Director of Streamline, Inc., a former public company. From 1994 through 1996 Mr. Zurkow served as a director and representative of majority investor for Kash n’ Karry Supermarkets, then a public company.
48 |
Michael A. Wright. Mr. Wright works at Seiden Krieger Associates, where he has served as an Executive Vice President and the head of Human Resources and Diversity Practice since 2021. From 2009 to 2019, Mr. Wright worked at Covanta Holding Corporation where he served as Chief Human Resources Officer. From 1984 to 2008, Mr. Wright worked at the Atria family of companies (Kraft and Philip Morris) where he served in various roles including Vice President of Human Resources and HR Technology. Mr. Wright brings knowledge and experience in human resources, human resources technology and diversity. Mr. Wright is a graduate of North Carolina State University, with a B.S. in 1984, and a graduate of Columbia University with an MBA in 1996. Mr. Wright currently serves as the Chair of the HR/Legal committee and Vice Chair of the Board of Directors of the YMCA of Greater Monmouth County. He is also a member of the Board of Trustees and President of the Advisory Council for Lunch Break.
Anne S. Provost has been employed full-time with TNR Technical, Inc. in various capacities since 1996. She has served as its Chief Financial Officer since 2008 and was recently elected as Acting President. Prior to TNR, she worked as a Business Manager with the Orlando Business Journal. She graduated from the University of Central Florida in 1991 with a BSBA, Accounting. She completed her undergraduate degree while working full-time in the accounting departments of various Orlando law firms. In 2008, she obtained an Executive MBA from the University of Central Florida.
Board Committees
Audit Committee
The Board has established an Audit Committee currently consisting of Ms. Provost (Chairman) and Messrs. Zurkow and Wright. The Audit Committee’s primary functions are to oversee and review: the integrity of the Company’s consolidated financial statements and other financial information furnished by the Company, the Company’s compliance with legal and regulatory requirements, the Company’s systems of internal accounting and financial controls, the independent auditor’s engagement, qualifications, performance, compensation and independence, related party transactions, and compliance with the Company’s Code of Business Conduct and Ethics.
Each member of the Audit Committee is “independent” as that term is defined under the applicable rules of the SEC and the applicable rules of Nasdaq. The Board has determined that each Audit Committee member has sufficient knowledge in financial and auditing matters to serve on the Committee. The Board determined that Ms. Provost and Mr. Zurkow is an “audit committee financial expert,” as defined under the applicable rules of the SEC and the applicable rules of The Nasdaq Stock Market.
Compensation Committee
The Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors is currently composed of the following three non-employee directors: Mr. Wright (Chairman) and Mr. Zurkow and Ms. Provost. None of these Compensation Committee members was an officer or employee of the Company during the year. Each member of the Compensation Committee is “independent” as that term is defined under the applicable rules of the SEC and the applicable rules of Nasdaq. The responsibilities of the Compensation Committee include overseeing the evaluation of executive officers (including the Chief Executive Officer) of the Company, determining the compensation of executive officers of the Company, and overseeing the management of risks associated therewith. The Compensation Committee determines and approves the Chief Executive Officer’s compensation. The Compensation Committee also administers the Company’s equity-based plans and makes recommendations to the board with respect to actions that are subject to approval of the board regarding such plans. The Compensation Committee also reviews and makes recommendations to the board with respect to the compensation of directors. The Compensation Committee monitors the risks associated with the Company’s compensation policies and practices as contemplated by Item 402(s) of Regulation S-K.
49 |
Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee
The Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee of the Board of Directors is currently composed of Messrs. Zurkow (Chairman) and Wright and Ms. Provost. None of these members was an officer or employee of the Company during the year. Each member of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee is “independent” as that term is defined under the applicable rules of the SEC and the applicable rules of NasdaqCM. The Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee nominates individuals to be elected to the board of directors by our stockholders. The Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee considers recommendations from stockholders if submitted in a timely manner in accordance with the procedures set forth in our bylaws and will apply the same criteria to all persons being considered.
Executive Officers
The following table sets forth certain information regarding our current executive officers:
NAME | AGE | POSITION | ||
Dean L. Julia | 55 | Chief Executive Officer/President/Treasurer/Director/Co-Founder/Secretary | ||
Paul Bauersfeld | 59 | Chief Technology Officer | ||
Sean J. McDonnell, CPA | 62 | Chief Financial Officer | ||
Sean Trepeta | 55 | President of Mobiquity Networks /Secretary of the Company | ||
Deepanker Katyal | 37 | Chief Executive Officer of Advangelists |
Our executive officers are elected by, and serve at the discretion of, our Board. The business experience for the past five years, and in some instances, for prior years, of each of our executive officers is as follows:
Dean L. Julia. For Mr. Julia’s biography, please see the section entitled “Directors.”
Paul Bauersfeld. Mr. Bauersfeld works at Mobiquity Technologies, Inc. where he has served as the Chief Technology Officer since June 2013. From 2003 to 2013, he worked at Varsity Networks, an online media and services company dedicated to serving the local sports market through technology, which he founded and where he served as its Chief Executive Officer. From 2000 to 2001, he worked at MessageOne, where he served as its Chief Executive Officer. From 1999 to 2000, he worked at Ziff-Davies where he served as its Vice President of eCommerce. From 1997 to 1999, he worked at Viacom’s Nickelodeon Online, where he served as its Technology Director. From 1996 to 1997, he worked at GiftOne, where he served as its President. From 1988 to 1993, he worked at Apple Computer where he served in various engineering positions. From 1986 to 1988 he worked at Xerox Corporation. Mr. Bauersfeld brings over 20 years of knowledge and experience as an executive, engineer and entrepreneur in the technology, and software product development industries. His experience in these industries will help the company develop its products and technologies. Mr. Bauersfeld is a graduate of the Rochester Institute of Technology with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering in 1986. Mr. Bauersfeld does not hold, and has not previously held, any directorships in any publicly traded reporting companies.
Sean J. McDonnell, CPA. Mr. McDonnell works at Mobiquity Technologies, Inc. where he has served as the Chief Financial Officer since January 2005. From January 1990 to present, he has owned and operated Sean J. McDonnell CPA, P.C., a private accounting and tax practice. From 1985 to 1990, he worked at Breiner & Bodian CPAs where he served as a senior staff member. Mr. McDonnell brings knowledge and experience in the accounting, finance and tax industries. Mr. McDonnell is a graduate of Dowling College with a Bachelor of Business Administration in 1984. Mr. McDonnell does not hold, and has not previously held, any directorships in any reporting companies.
50 |
Sean Trepeta. Mr. Trepeta works at our wholly owned subsidiary, Mobiquity Networks, Inc. where he has served as President since January 2011. He is also the Secretary of the Company since November 2021. From 2007 to 2011, he worked at Varsity Networks where he served as its President. From 1998 to 2007, Mr. Trepeta worked at OPEX Communications, Inc., a telecommunication service provider specializing in traditional long-distance, wireless, and dedicated services, where he served as its President. From 1996 to 1998 he worked at U.S. Buying Group, Inc., where he served as Vice President of Sales and Marketing and was responsible for developing a small business-buying program, which included value added services such as overnight shipping, office supplies, and computer software products, as well as a full line of telecommunications services. Mr. Trepeta also developed and implemented the agent and carrier divisions of U.S. Buying Group. Mr. Trepeta brings 25 years of knowledge and experience in sales and marketing to our Company to help us grow sales and develop marketing strategies. Mr. Trepeta is a graduate of the State University of New York at Cortland with a B.S. in Education in 1990. Except for Mobiquity Technologies, Inc., Mr. Trepeta does not hold, and has not previously held, any directorships in any publicly traded reporting companies. We plan to have a board of directors comprised of five members, including three independent directors if and when we are approved to have our common stock listed on the NASDAQ Capital Market. Mr. Trepeta is expected to resign from the board if this occurs, on the listing date of our common stock on the Nasdaq Capital Market to accommodate this board restructure.
Deepanker Katyal. Mr. Katyal works at the Company’s wholly owned subsidiary, Advangelists, LLC where he has served as the Chief Executive Officer since the 2017 (prior to the Company’s acquisition of an interest in Advangelists by merger in November 2018). From January 2017 to present, he has also served as an advisor providing business and product advice to Q1media, a digital media services company. Additionally, from 2016 to present, he has served as a strategic advisor to Silicon Valley Stealth Mode Products, a private company. From May 2016 to April 2017, he served as a strategic advisor to Airupt Inc., a mobile marketing platform for brands. From May 2016 to March 2017, he was head of Partnership and Strategy for Adtile Technologies, a mobile publishing and advertising solution company. From November 2015 to 2016, he served as a strategic advisor to Moonraft Innovation Labs, a company that creates customer experiences to differentiate the entities’ clients in the market by creating and designing interactive experiences across physical and digital customer touch points. From April 2014 to May 2016, he also served as a member of the innovation team at Opera Mediaworks, a mobile advertising platform company. Mr. Katyal brings knowledge and experience in software engineering, leading business development efforts, strategic partnerships, and product development and strategy. His experience will help the Company grow and develop its technology and product strategies. Mr. Katyal was a director of our Company from December 2018 following our merger transaction with Advangelists until May 2020, when he stepped down from that position to attend to family matters and focus his working-time commitment on running the day-to-day operations of Advangelists. He does not hold any directorships in any publicly traded reporting companies.
51 |
EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION
The following table sets forth the overall compensation earned over the fiscal years ended December 31, 2022, and 2021 by:
· | each person who served as the principal executive officer of the company during fiscal year 2022 and 2021; | |
· | the Company’s most highly compensated (up to a maximum of two) executive officers as of December 31, 2022, and 2021 with compensation during fiscal years 2022 and 2021 of $100,000 or more; and | |
· | those two individuals, if any, who would have otherwise been in included in bullet point above but for the fact that they were not serving as an executive of the company as of December 31, 2022. |
Name and Principal | Salary | Bonus | Stock | Option Awards | All Other Compensation | Total | ||||||||||||||||||||
Position | Year | ($) | ($) | Awards | ($)(1) | ($)(2)(3) | ($) | |||||||||||||||||||
Dean L. Julia | 2022 | $ | 346,154 | $ | – | – | $ | – | $ | 59,605 | $ | 405,759 | ||||||||||||||
CEO of the company | 2021 | $ | 286,615 | $ | – | – | $ | 925,200 | $ | 58,590 | $ | 1,270,405 | ||||||||||||||
Deepanker Katyal | 2022 | $ | 387,666 | $ | – | – | $ | – | $ | 40,086 | $ | 427,752 | ||||||||||||||
CEO of Advangelists | 2021 | $ | 324,616 | $ | – | – | $ | – | $ | 39,702 | $ | 364,318 | ||||||||||||||
Paul Bauersfeld | 2022 | $ | 288,462 | $ | – | – | $ | – | $ | 31,800 | $ | 320,262 | ||||||||||||||
Chief Technology Officer | 2021 | $ | 238,846 | $ | – | – | $ | 514,000 | $ | 27,365 | $ | 780,211 |
(1) The options and restricted stock awards presented in this table for fiscal years 2021 and 2021 reflect the full grant date fair value, as if the total dollar amount were earned in the year of grant. The stock awards are valued based on the fair market value of such shares on the date of grant and are charged to compensation expense over the related vesting period. The options are valued at the date of grant based upon the Black-Scholes method of valuation, which is expensed over the service period over which the options become vested. As a general rule, for time-in-service-based options, the company will immediately expense any option or portion thereof which is vested upon grant, while expensing the balance on a pro rata basis over the remaining vesting term of the option.
(2) Includes all other compensation not reported in the preceding columns, including (i) perquisites and other personal benefits, or property, unless the aggregate amount of such compensation is less than $10,000; (ii) any “gross-ups” or other amounts reimbursed during the fiscal year for the payment of taxes; (iii) discounts from market price with respect to securities purchased from the company except to the extent available generally to all security holders or to all salaried employees; (iv) any amounts paid or accrued in connection with any termination (including without limitation through retirement, resignation, severance or constructive termination, including change of responsibilities) or change in control; (v) contributions to vested and unvested defined contribution plans; (vi) any insurance premiums paid by, or on behalf of, the company relating to life insurance for the benefit of the named executive officer; and (vii) any dividends or other earnings paid on stock or option awards that are not factored into the grant date fair value required to be reported in a preceding column.
(3) Includes compensation for service as a director described under Director Compensation, below.
No outstanding common share purchase option or other equity-based award granted to or held by any named executive officer in the past two years were re-priced or otherwise materially modified, including extension of exercise periods, the change of vesting or forfeiture conditions, the change or elimination of applicable performance criteria, or the change of the bases upon which returns are determined, nor was there any waiver or modification of any specified performance target, goal or condition to payout, except as follows:
52 |
Executive Officer Outstanding Equity Awards at Fiscal Year-End
The following table provides certain information concerning any common share purchase options, stock awards or equity incentive plan awards held by each of our named executive officers that were outstanding as of December 31, 2022. The number of shares of common stock referred to in this “Executive Compensation” section gives effect to the one-for 400 share reverse stock split that we effectuated on September 9, 2020, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.
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
or
Units of
Stock That
Have
Not
Vested | Equity
Incentive
Plan
Awards:
Number
of
Unearned
Shares,
Units or
Other
Rights
That
Have
Not
Vested | Equity
Incentive Plan
Awards:
Market or
Payout Value
of
Unearned
Shares, Units or
Other Rights
That Have Not
Vested | |||||||||||
Dean L. Julia | 12,250 | – | – | $ | 20.00 | 01/24/23 | – | – | – | – | ||||||||||
(1) | 12,500 | – | – | $ | 28.00 | 11/20/23 | – | – | – | – | ||||||||||
62,500 | – | – | $ | 60.00 | 4/2/29 | – | – | – | – | |||||||||||
12,500 | – | – | $ | 60.00 | 4/1/2030 | – | – | – | – | |||||||||||
12,500 | – | – | $ | 60.00 | 4/1/2031 | – | – | – | – | |||||||||||
225,000 | – | – | $ | 4.565 | 12/08/31 | – | – | – | – | |||||||||||
25,000 | – | – | $ | 4.565 | 12/8/2031 | – | – | – | – | |||||||||||
12,500 | – | – | $ | 1.55 | 4/1/2031 | – | – | – | – | |||||||||||
Deepanker Katyal | 128,517 | – | – | $ | 56.00 | 12/6/28 | – | – | – | – | ||||||||||
(1) | 25,000 | – | – | $ | 36.00 | 09/13/24 | – | – | – | – | ||||||||||
12,500 | – | – | $ | 36.00 | 09/13/25 | – | – | – | – | |||||||||||
Paul Bauersfeld | 10,000 | – | – | $ | 20.00 | 01/24/23 | – | – | – | – | ||||||||||
(1) | 7,500 | – | – | $ | 28.00 | 11/20/23 | – | – | – | – | ||||||||||
25,000 | – | – | $ | 60.00 | 04/2/29 | – | – | – | – | |||||||||||
125,000 | – | – | $ | 4.565 | 12/08/31 | – | – | – | – |
(1) | All options contain cashless exercise provisions. |
53 |
Employment Agreements
In April of 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic all employees’ salaries were reduced by 40% and we terminated one employee. In October of 2020 the employees pay reduction was reduced to a 20% reduction where it stands through December 17, 2021, employees’ salaries were returned to full pay.
Dean Julia
Dean Julia is employed as the Company’s Chief Executive Officer under an employment agreement with an initial term of three years which commenced on April 2, 2019. In January 2022, his employment agreement automatically was renewed for a period of an additional two years. Mr. Julia’s annual base salary is $360,000. In addition to his base salary, Mr. Julia is entitled to a quarterly bonus of at least 1% of gross revenue for each completed fiscal quarter, so long as the Company’s gross revenue meets or exceeds 75% of management’s stated goal. The quarterly bonus may be paid either in cash, common stock or stock options, at Mr. Julia’s election. Should his employment agreement be terminated prior to the end of any fiscal year for any reason, other than for cause by the Company, a pro rata portion of the quarterly bonus shall be paid within 30 days of termination. The Company's board of directors will determine a revenue target each year for the purpose of calculating the quarterly bonus in that year. Mr. Julia also received a signing bonus of vested 10-year options to purchase 62,500 shares, exercisable at $60 per share. Additionally, he is also entitled to 10-year options to purchase an additional 12,500 shares of common stock, exercisable at $60 per share, annually on April 1st of each year which commenced on April 1, 2020. Additionally, if the Company is acquired through a board of directors-approved change in control of at least 50% of the Company’s outstanding voting stock, or the sale of all or substantially all of the Company’s assets, Mr. Julia shall be entitled to receive a payment in-kind equal to 3% of the consideration paid in connection with that transaction. He is also entitled to paid disability insurance and term life insurance at an annual cost of not more than $15,000. Additionally, he is also entitled to receive health, dental and 401(k) benefits as is made available by the Company for its other senior officers, as well as indemnification by the Company to the fullest extent permitted by law, and the Company’s certificate of incorporation and bylaws. Mr. Julia also has the use of a Company-leased or -owned automobile. Mr. Julia’s employment agreement contains customary non-competition and non-solicitation of Company customers or employees provisions during the term of the agreement. The Company may terminate Mr. Julia’s employment for cause, and Mr. Julia may terminate his employment at any time on three-months’ notice. Also, the Company may terminate Mr. Julia’s employment agreement on Mr. Julia’s death or disability – disability being unable to perform his essential functions for four consecutive months due to physical, mental of emotional incapacity resulting from sickness, disease, or injury. In each of these termination cases, the Company is obligated only to pay Mr. Julia amounts that were due or accrued prior to termination, plus, other than in a for-cause-termination, any pro-rata quarterly bonus described above.
Paul Bauersfeld
Paul Bauersfeld is employed as the Company’s Chief Technology Officer under an at-will employment agreement which commenced on April 2, 2019. Mr. Bauersfeld’s monthly salary is $25,000. Mr. Bauersfeld is entitled to a quarterly bonus of at least 1% of gross revenue for each completed fiscal quarter, so long as the Company’s gross revenue meets or exceeds management’s stated goal. The quarterly bonus may be paid either in cash, common stock or stock options, at Mr. Bauersfeld’s election. Should his employment agreement be terminated prior to the end of any fiscal year for any reason, other than for cause by the Company, a pro rata portion of the quarterly bonus shall be paid within 30 days of termination. The Company's board of directors will determine a revenue target each year for the purpose of calculating the quarterly bonus in that year. Mr. Bauersfeld also received a signing bonus of 10-year options to purchase 25,000 shares, exercisable at $60 per share; 35% of which vested immediately, 35% of which vested on April 2, 2020 and 30% of which vested on April 2, 2021. Mr. Bauersfeld is entitled to participate in the Company’s health plans as well as indemnification by the Company to the fullest extent permitted by law, and the Company’s certificate of incorporation and bylaws. Mr. Bauersfeld’s employment agreement contains customary non-competition and non-solicitation of Company customers or employees’ provisions during the term of the agreement. Although Mr. Bauersfeld’s employment agreement is at-will, the Company may terminate Mr. Bauersfeld’s employment for cause. In the event Mr. Bauersfeld’s employment agreement is terminated other than for cause by the Company, the Company will pay Mr. Bauersfeld severance pay equal to three months of his salary.
54 |
Sean Trepeta
Sean Trepeta is employed as President of our wholly owned subsidiary, Mobiquity Networks, Inc. under an at-will employment agreement which commenced on April 2, 2019. Mr. Trepeta’s monthly salary is $20,000. Mr. Trepeta is entitled to a quarterly bonus of at least 1% of gross revenue for each completed fiscal quarter, so long as the Company’s gross revenue meets or exceeds management’s stated goal. The quarterly bonus may be paid either in cash, common stock or stock options, at Mr. Trepeta’s election. Should his employment agreement be terminated prior to the end of any fiscal year for any reason, other than for cause by the Company, a pro rata portion of the quarterly bonus shall be paid within 30 days of termination. The Company's board of directors will determine a revenue target each year for the purpose of calculating the quarterly bonus in that year. Mr. Trepeta also received a signing bonus of 10-year options to purchase 25,000 shares, exercisable at $60 per share; 35% of which vested immediately, 35% of which vested on April 2, 2020, and 30% of which vested on April 2, 2021. Mr. Trepeta is entitled to participate in the Company’s health plans as well as indemnification by the Company to the fullest extent permitted by law, and the Company’s certificate of incorporation and bylaws. Mr. Trepeta’s employment agreement contains customary non-competition and non-solicitation of Company customers or employees’ provisions during the term of the agreement. Although Mr. Trepeta’s employment agreement is at-will, the Company may terminate Mr. Trepeta’s employment for cause. In the event Mr. Trepeta’s employment agreement is terminated other than for cause by the Company, the Company will pay Mr. Trepeta severance pay equal to three months of his salary.
Deepanker Katyal
Deepanker Katyal is employed as Chief Executive Officer of our wholly owned subsidiary, Advangelists, LLC under employment agreement with Advangelists with a term of three years which commenced on December 7, 2018. The agreement was amended on September 13, 2019. Mr. Katyal’s annual base salary is $400,000. Mr. Katyal’s employment agreement, as amended, also provides the following compensation:
· | a bonus, payable in cash or common stock of the Company, equal to 1% of the Company’s gross revenue for each month during the 2019 fiscal year, subject to certain revenue thresholds as set forth in the agreement. Those revenue thresholds were not attained, and this bonus was not earned; | |
· | commissions equal to 10% of the net revenues derived from all New Katyal Managed Accounts (as defined in the agreement – being accounts directly introduced by Mr. Katyal or assigned to Employee in writing by the Manager of the Company); | |
· | options to purchase 37,500 shares of the Company’s common stock at an exercise price of $36.00 per share, of which 25,000 vested on September 13, 2019, the date Mr. Katyal’s employment agreement was amended, and 12,500 vested on September 13, 2020; and | |
· | one share of Company Series B Preferred Stock which was issued to Mr. Katyal. The Series B Preferred Stock, as a class, provided cash dividend rights, payable in cash, to the holders thereof in an aggregate amount equivalent to 10% of the annual gross revenue of Advangelists or the Company, whichever is higher, up to a maximum aggregate annual amount of $1,200,000, for each of its 2019 and 2020 fiscal years. As a holder of 50% of the Series B Preferred Stock, the maximum amount of annual dividends that Mr. Katyal would be entitled to $600,000. The Series B Preferred Stock rights, privileges, preferences, and restrictions was to terminate by its terms as of December 31, 2020; and, immediately upon declaration and payment of the dividend in respect of Mobiquity's 2020 fiscal year, Mobiquity was to withdraw such class from its authorized capital. The Series B Preferred Stock was subject to cancellation if Mr. Katyal terminated his employment without good reason or the Company terminated his employment for cause. Mr. Katyal did not receive any Series B Preferred Stock dividends and the Series B Preferred Stock was redeemed by the Company from Mr. Katyal in consideration for entering into the amendment of his employment agreement on September 13, 2019, and for no other consideration. |
55 |
During the term of the employment agreement, Mr. Katyal is entitled to a monthly allowance of up to $550 per month to cover lease or purchase finance costs of an automobile. Mr. Katyal’s employment agreement provides for indemnification by the Company to the fullest extent permitted by the Company’s certificate of incorporation and bylaws, as well as participation in all benefit plans, programs and perquisites as are generally provided by Advangelists to its employees, including medical, dental, life insurance, disability and 401(k) participation. Mr. Katyal’s employment agreement contains customary non-solicitation of Company customers or employees provisions during the term of the agreement and for one year after termination. The agreement provides for termination by Advangelists for cause upon 30 days’ prior written notice; and without cause after 60 days’ prior written notice. The employment agreement terminates automatically upon Mr. Katyal’s death, and it may also be terminated by Advangelists if Mr. Katyal is disabled for more than six consecutive months in any 12-month period—disability being the inability to substantially perform Mr. Katyal's duties and responsibilities by reason of mental or physical illness or injury. Mr. Katyal is entitled to terminate the agreement for “good reason”. If Mr. Katyal is terminated by Advangelists for cause, Advangelists is obligated only to pay Mr. Katyal amounts of base salary and expense reimbursements that were due or accrued prior to the termination date. If Mr. Katyal is terminated by Advangelists without cause, and provided Mr. Katyal is not in breach under the agreement, Advangelists is obligated to pay Mr. Katyal his compensation and expense reimbursements that would payable to Mr. Katyal for the remainder of the contractual employment term had Mr. Katyal remained an employee. If Mr. Katyal’s employment is terminated as a result of his death, Advangelists is obligated to pay Mr. Katyal his salary though the date of termination, and his other compensation for the remainder of the contractual employment term had Mr. Katyal remained an employee. If Mr. Katyal’s employment is terminated as a result of his disability, provided Mr. Katyal provides a general release, Advangelists is obligated to pay Mr. Katyal his salary though the date of termination, and his other compensation for the remainder of the contractual employment term had Mr. Katyal remained an employee. If Mr. Katyal terminates his employment for good reason, and provided Mr. Katyal provides a general release, Advangelists is obligated to pay Mr. Katyal his compensation and expense reimbursements that would payable to Mr. Katyal for the remainder of the contractual employment term had Mr. Katyal remained an employee. Mr. Kaytal’s employment agreement provides for assignment of ownership rights regarding intellectual property created by Mr. Katyal relating to the Company’s business.
On January 4, 2022, the Company entered into a new one-year employment agreement with Deepankar Katyal. His compensation and benefits under the new contract have not changed from the Agreement summarized above.
Sean McDonnell
Sean McDonnell is employed as the Company’s Chief Executive Officer on a non-full-time basis as an employee at-will with no employment agreement. He has a monthly base salary of $11,000 and he is eligible to receive options and other bonuses at the discretion of the board.
Director Compensation
Currently, one director of the Company is an executive officer of the Company. He receives compensation as an officer as described above under the heading “Executive Compensation” and as a Director. All Board members received Options under our 2021 Compensation Plan as described elsewhere in the Annual Report on Form 10-K/A No.2. On March 18, 2022, the board of directors approved the payment of $1,000 per month to be paid to each member of the board of directors for serving on the board and any committees thereof. Future compensation of board members/committee members are at the discretion of the board.
Employee Benefit and Consulting Services Compensation Plans
On January 3, 2005, our company established the 2005 Employee Benefit and Consulting Services Compensation Plan covering 5,000 shares, which 2005 Plan was ratified by our shareholders in February 2005. On August 12, 2005, the company’s stockholders approved a 5,000-share increase in the 2005 Plan to 10,000 shares. On August 28, 2009, the Board adopted the 2009 Employee Benefit and Consulting Services Compensation Plan identical to the 2005 Plan covering 10,000 shares. In September 2013, the Company’s stockholders ratified a board amendment to increase the number of shares covered by the 2009 Plan to 25,000 shares. As the 2005 and 2009 Plans are identical other than the number of shares covered by each Plan, it is the Company’s intention to first utilize the shares issuable (available) under the 2005 Plan prior to issuing shares under the 2009 Plan. In February 2015, the Board approved an increase in the number of shares covered by the 2009 Plan from 25,000 shares to 50,000 shares, subject to shareholder approval within one year. However, shareholder approval was not obtained within the requisite time period, and the Board established the 2016 Employee Benefit and Consulting Services Compensation Plan covering 25,000 shares which is otherwise identical to the 2005 and 2009 Plans. All options granted under the 2009 Plan, which exceed the Plan limits, have been moved to the 2016 Plan. In December 2018, the Company approved the 2018 Employee Benefit and Consulting Services Compensation Plan identical to the other Plans described above, except for the number of shares covered by the Plan is 75,000. The 2018 Plan was ratified by shareholders in February 2019. On April 2, 2019, the Board approved the 2019 Employee Benefit and Consulting Services Compensation Plan identical to the other Plans described above, except for the number of shares covered by the Plan is 150,000. Approval of the 2019 Plan was not approved by the shareholders within one year in order to grant incentive stock options under said Plan, and it remains unratified by our shareholders. On October 13, 2021, the Board approved the Employee Benefit and Consulting Services Compensation Plan identical to the 2019 Plan except that the number of shares underlying the Plan is 1,100,000. The 2021 Plan was not approved by the shareholders within one year in order to grant incentive stock options under said Plan. We refer to the 2005, 2009, 2016, 2018, 2019 and 2021 Plans as the “Plans”.
56 |
Administration
Our board of directors administers the Plans, has the authority to determine and designate officers, employees, directors and consultants to whom awards shall be made; and the terms, conditions and restrictions applicable to each award (including, among other things, the option price, any restriction or limitation, any vesting schedule or acceleration of vesting, and any forfeiture restrictions).
Types of Awards
The Plans are designed to enable us to offer certain officers, employees, directors and consultants of us and our subsidiaries equity interests in us and other incentive awards in order to attract, retain and reward such individuals and to strengthen the mutuality of interests between such individuals and our stockholders. In furtherance of this purpose, the Plans contain provisions for granting non-statutory stock options and incentive stock options and common stock awards.
Stock Options
A “stock option” is a contractual right to purchase a number of shares of common stock at a price determined on the date the option is granted. An incentive stock option is an option granted under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to our employees with certain tax advantages to the grantee over non-statutory stock options. The option price per share of common stock purchasable upon exercise of a stock option and the time or times at which such options shall be exercisable shall be determined by the Board at the time of grant. Such option price in the case of incentive stock options shall not be less than 100% of the fair market value of the common stock on the date of grant and may be granted below fair market value in the case of non-statutory stock options. Incentive stock options granted to owners of 10% or more of our common stock must be granted at an exercise price of at least 110% of the fair market value of our common stock and may not have a term greater than five years. Also, the value of incentive options vesting to any employee cannot exceed $100,000 in any calendar year. The option price of our options must be paid in cash, money order, check or common stock of the company. The non-statutory stock options may also contain at the time of grant, at the discretion of the board, certain other cashless exercise provisions. These cashless exercise provisions are included in the currently outstanding non-statutory stock options granted by the board.
Options shall be exercisable at the times and subject to the conditions determined by the Board at the date of grant, but no option may be exercisable more than ten years after the date it is granted. If the optionee ceases to be an employee of our company for any reason other than death, any incentive stock option exercisable on the date of the termination of employment may be exercised for a period of thirty days or until the expiration of the stated term of the option, whichever period is shorter. In the event of the optionee’s death, any incentive stock option exercisable at the date of death may be exercised by the legal heirs of the optionee from the date of death until the expiration of the stated term of the option or six months from the date of death, whichever event first occurs. In the event of disability of the optionee, any incentive stock options shall expire on the stated date that the Option would otherwise have expired or 12 months from the date of disability, whichever event first occurs. The termination and other provisions of a non-statutory stock option shall be fixed by the board of directors at the date of grant of each respective option.
Common Stock Award
Common stock awards are shares of common stock that will be issued to a recipient at the end of a restriction period, if any, specified by the board if he or she continues to be an employee, director or consultant of us. If the recipient remains an employee, director or consultant at the end of the restriction period, the applicable restrictions will lapse and we will issue a stock certificate representing such shares of common stock to the participant. If the recipient ceases to be an employee, director or consultant of us for any reason (including death, disability or retirement) before the end of the restriction period unless otherwise determined by the board, the restricted stock award will be terminated.
57 |
Awards
As of December 31, 2022, the Company has granted a total of 1,136,597 options under the Plans and a total of 26,124 options outside the Plans, or a total of options to purchase 1,162,721 shares of the Company’s Common Stock with a weighted average exercise price of $16.16 per share. The board has granted options with varying terms. The Company has also granted to various officers, directors and employees of Advangelists, warrants to purchase an aggregate of 166,017 shares at varying terms.
It is not possible to predict the individuals who will receive future awards under the Plans or outside the Plans or the number of shares of Common Stock covered by any future award because such awards are wholly within the discretion of the Board. The table below contains information as of December 31, 2022, on the known benefits provided to certain persons and group of persons who own options under or outside the Plans.
Number of Shares Subject to Options/Warrants | Average Exercise Price ($) per Share | Value of Unexercised Options/ Warrants at Dec. 31, 2022 (1) | ||||||||||
Dean L. Julia | 374,750 | 18.69 | $ | – | ||||||||
Sean McDonnell | 28,000 | 6.58 | $ | – | ||||||||
Sean Trepeta | 166,750 | 14.79 | $ | – | ||||||||
Paul Bauersfeld | 167,500 | 14.81 | $ | – | ||||||||
Deepanker Katyal | 166,017 | 51.48 | $ | – | ||||||||
Executive Officers as a group | 903,017 | 22.90 | $ | – | ||||||||
Gene Salkind | 1,321,604 | 17.28 | $ | – | ||||||||
Three Independent Directors as a group | 75,000 | 4.57 | $ | – |
(1) Value is normally calculated by multiplying (a) the difference between the market value per share at period end (i.e. $0.54 based upon a last sale on December 30, 2022 and the option exercise price by (b) the number of shares of Common Stock underlying the option.
Eligibility
Our officers, employees, directors and consultants of Mobiquity and our subsidiaries are eligible to be granted stock options, and common stock awards.
Termination or Amendment of the Plans
The board may at any time amend, discontinue, or terminate all or any part of the Plans, provided, however, that unless otherwise required by law, the rights of a participant may not be impaired without his or her consent, and provided that we will seek the approval of our stockholders for any amendment if such approval is necessary to comply with any applicable federal or state securities laws or rules or regulations.
58 |
SECURITY OWNERSHIP OF CERTAIN BENEFICIAL OWNERS AND MANAGEMENT
The following table sets forth certain information regarding beneficial ownership of our voting stock as of January 13, 2023 based upon 9,834,366 common shares outstanding and by:
· | each person or group of affiliated persons known by us to be the beneficial owner of more than 5% of any class of our voting stock; | |
· | each “named executive officer” of the Company; | |
· | each of our directors; and | |
· | all executive officers and directors as a group. |
Unless otherwise noted below, the address of each person listed on the table is c/o Mobiquity Technologies, Inc. at the address set forth herein. To our knowledge, each person listed below has sole voting and investment power over the shares shown as beneficially owned except to the extent jointly owned with spouses or otherwise noted below. Beneficial ownership is determined in accordance with the rules of the SEC. The information does not necessarily indicate ownership for any other purpose. Under these rules, shares of stock which a person has the right to acquire (i.e., by the exercise of any option or the conversion of such person’s outstanding Preferred Stock) within 60 days after January 6, 2023 are deemed to be beneficially owned and outstanding for purposes of calculating the number of shares and the percentage beneficially owned by that person. However, these shares are not deemed to be beneficially owned and outstanding for purposes of computing the percentage beneficially owned by any other person. The percentage of shares owned as of January 6, 2023 is based upon 9,834,366 shares of Common Stock outstanding on that date.
Name and Address of Beneficial Owner | Shares of Common Stock |
Number of Shares Underlying Convertible Preferred Stock, Notes Options and Warrants |
Total Shares Beneficially Owned |
Percentage Prior to Offering |
Percentage After Offering |
||||||||||||||
Directors and Executive Officers | |||||||||||||||||||
Paul Bauersfeld | 250 | 167,500 | 167,750 | 1.7 | |||||||||||||||
Dean L. Julia | 4,884 | 374,750 | 379,634 | 3.4 | |||||||||||||||
Sean Trepeta | 2,525 | 166,750 | 169,275 | 1.7 | |||||||||||||||
Sean McDonnell | 417 | 28,000 | 28,417 | * | |||||||||||||||
Deepanker Katyal | 0 | 166,017 | 166,017 | 1.7 | |||||||||||||||
Michael Wright | 0 | 25,000 | 25,000 | * | |||||||||||||||
Gene Salkind | 2,992,354 | 1,321,604 | 4,313,958 | 39.3 | |||||||||||||||
Anne S. Provost | 0 | 25,000 | 25,000 | * | |||||||||||||||
Peter Zurkow | 0 | 25,000 | 25,000 | * | |||||||||||||||
All Officers and directors as a group (nine persons) | 3,000,430 | 2,299,621 | 5,300,051 | 43.7 |
* Less than one percent.
59 |
CERTAIN TRANSACTIONS
We describe below all transactions and series of similar transactions, other than compensation arrangements, during our last three fiscal years, to which we were a party or will be a party in which:
· | the amounts exceeded or will exceed $120,000; and | |
· | any of our directors, executive officers or holders of more than 5% of our capital stock, or any member of the immediate family of the foregoing persons, had or will have a direct or indirect material interest. |
Compensation arrangements for our directors and named executive officers are described herein under “Executive Compensation.”
Employment Agreements and Executive Compensation
We have entered into various employment agreements as described under the heading “Executive Compensation”. These agreements also provide for us to indemnify such officers and/or directors to the maximum extent permitted by law. We also carry directors’ and officers’ liability insurance which protects each of our officers and directors up to the policy maximum of $1.5 million, subject to a $1.5 million deductible for securities claims and $75,000 for other claims. For more information regarding our employment agreements and indemnification provisions, see “Executive Compensation.”
Related Party Debt Financing
On September 13, 2019, Dr. Gene Salkind, who is a director of the Company, and an affiliate of Dr. Salkind subscribed for 15% Senior Secured Convertible Promissory Notes and loaned the Company an aggregate of $2,300,000. These notes were amended and restated on December 31, 2019, by Amended and Restated 15% Senior Secured Convertible Promissory Notes which deferred interest payments from the date of the original notes to December 31, 2020, and added an aggregate interim payment of $250,000 payable on December 31, 2020, that covered the deferred interest payments. These notes were again amended and restated on April 1, 2021, by the Second Amended and Restated 15% Senior Secured Convertible Promissory Notes which reflected an additional principal amount of $150,000 loaned by Dr. Salkind, and also amended the interim payment date to December 31, 2021, and the conversion price from $32 to $4 per share. The notes are secured by the assets of the Company and its subsidiaries. The total amount loaned under the notes, as amended and restated, including the principal amount and the interim payment amount was $2,700,000.
The notes, as amended and restated, bore annual interest at 15% which was payable monthly in cash or, at the Salkind lenders’ option, in shares of the Company’s common stock. The principal amount under the Notes was due on September 30, 2029, and the interim payment is payable on December 31, 2021, unless, in either case, earlier converted into shares of our common stock under the terms of the notes, as described below.
The outstanding principal plus any accrued and unpaid interest, and the interim payment under the notes, were convertible into shares of Company common stock at a conversion price of $4 per share at any time, until the notes are fully converted, on the following terms:
· | The Salkind lenders may convert the notes at any time. | |
· | The Company may convert the notes at any time that the trailing thirty (30) day volume weighted average price per share (as more particularly described in the Notes) of the Company’s common stock is above $400 per share. |
The notes contain customary events of default, which, if uncured, entitle the holders to accelerate payment of the principal and all accrued and unpaid interest under their notes.
In connection with the subscription of the notes and upon conversion thereof (if at all), the Company will issue to each Salkind lender a warrant to purchase one share of the Company’s common stock for every two shares of common stock issuable upon conversion of the Notes, at an exercise price of $48 per share. The warrant exercise price was amended to $4.00 per share.
60 |
In the second quarter of 2020, we halted required interest payments under the September 2019 and June 30, 2021, Notes to Dr. Salkind and his affiliate due to economic hardships stemming from a downturn in our business and the related decline of our revenue resulting from the COVID 19 pandemic. Dr. Salkind and his affiliate had not declared a default under the Notes due to the non-payment of interest. They had the right to declare the Notes in default at any time if we do not cure the non-payment. On December 17, 2021, the Company paid Dr. Salkind and his affiliate an aggregate of $400,000 in accrued interest and the Company paid down principal of $137,500 to reduce the outstanding principal to $2,562,500 and unpaid interest to $256,850.
Shares issued upon conversion of debt:
During the nine months ended September 30, 2022, Dr. Gene Salkind, his wife, and a trust converted an aggregate of $2,562,500 of secured debt in exchange for 1,776,333 shares of common stock (at reduced exercise prices between $1.25 and $1.50 per share) as well as warrants to purchase 888,166 shares of common stock at an exercise price of $4.00 per share through September 2029.
During the nine months ended September 30, 2022, a lender also converted $150,000 of debt into 75,000 shares of common stock at a reduced exercise price. The Company recorded an inducement expense of $101,000.
During the nine months ended September 30, 2022, the three remaining convertible notes automatically converted $100,000 of outstanding debt and accrued interest of $8,425 into 27,107 shares of common stock at a conversion price of $4.00 per share.
Notes to the Financial Statements and Other Disclosures
The disclosures contained in this prospectus, in particular in the notes to our consolidated financial statements describe various other transactions between the Company’s and its officers, directors and principal shareholders.
61 |
DESCRIPTION OF SECURITIES SOLD IN OFFERING
Securities Offered in this Offering
We are offering _______ shares of common stock (or pre-funded warrants in lieu thereof) and accompanying Series 2023 Warrants to purchase _______ shares of common stock. The share of common stock and accompanying Series 2023 Warrants will be issued separately. We are also registering the shares of common stock issuable from time to time upon exercise of the Series 2023 Warrants offered hereby. The description of our common stock is set forth above in this section. The following is a summary of certain terms and provisions of the Series 2023 Warrants offered hereby. Prospective investors should carefully review the terms and provisions set forth in the form of Series 2023 Warrant, which are attached as exhibits to the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part.
Series 2023 Warrants
General
The following is a brief summary of certain terms and conditions of the Series 2023 Warrants being offered by us. The following description is subject in all respects to the provisions contained in the form of Series 2023 Warrant, the form of which will be filed as an exhibit to the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part.
Duration and Exercise Price
The Series 2023 Warrants offered hereby have an exercise price of $___ per share. The Series 2023 Warrants will be immediately exercisable and may be exercised at any time on or after the initial exercise date and on or before the five-year anniversary of the date of issuance. The exercise prices and numbers of shares of common stock issuable upon exercise are subject to appropriate adjustment in the event of stock dividends, stock splits, reorganizations or similar events affecting our common stock. Series 2023 Warrants will be issued in certificated form only.
Exercisability
The Series 2023 Warrants will be exercisable, at the option of each holder, in whole or in part, by delivering to us a duly executed exercise notice accompanied by payment in full for the number of shares of our common stock purchased upon such exercise (except in the case of a cashless exercise as discussed below). A holder (together with its affiliates) may not exercise any portion of such holder’s Series 2023 Warrants to the extent that the holder would own more than 4.99% (or 9.99%, at the holder’s election) of our outstanding common stock immediately after exercise, except that upon notice from the holder to us, the holder may decrease or increase the limitation of ownership of outstanding stock after exercising the holder’s Series 2023 Warrants up to 9.99% of the number of shares of our common stock outstanding immediately after giving effect to the exercise, as such percentage ownership is determined in accordance with the terms of the Series 2023 Warrants, provided that any increase in such limitation shall not be effective until 61 days following notice to us.
Cashless Exercise
If, at the time a holder exercises its Series 2023 Warrants, a registration statement registering the issuance of the shares of common stock underlying the Series 2023 Warrants under the Securities Act, is not then effective or available for the issuance of such shares, then in lieu of making the cash payment otherwise contemplated to be made to us upon such exercise in payment of the aggregate exercise price, the holder may elect instead to receive upon such exercise (either in whole or in part) the net number of shares of common stock determined according to a formula set forth in the Series 2023 Warrant.
Redemption
In the event that the Nasdaq CM closing price of our common stock equals or exceeds $___ per share (i.e. 400% of the combined public offering price per common share and 2023 Warrant) for a period of at least ten consecutive trading days, then, provided that a current registration statement covering the resale of the shares underlying the 2023 Warrants is in effect, the Company has the right to redeem the 2023 Warrants on ten days prior written notice at a redemption price of $.001 per 2023 Warrant, subject to the warrant holder’s right to convert at any time through the close of business on the trading date prior to the redemption date.
Transferability
A Series 2023 Warrant may be transferred at the option of the holder upon surrender of the Series 2023 Warrant to us together with the appropriate instruments of transfer.
62 |
Fractional Shares
No fractional shares of common stock will be issued upon the exercise of the Series 2023 Warrants. Rather, the number of shares of common stock to be issued will, at our election, either be rounded up to the nearest whole number or we will pay a cash adjustment in respect of such final fraction in an amount equal to such fraction multiplied by the exercise price.
Trading Market
There is no established trading market for any of the Series 2023 Warrants, and we do not expect a market to develop. We do not intend to apply for a listing for any of the Series 2023 Warrants on any securities exchange or other nationally recognized trading system. Without an active trading market, the liquidity of the Series 2023 Warrants will be limited.
Rights as a Shareholder
Except as otherwise provided in the warrants or by virtue of the holders’ ownership of shares of our common stock, the holders of Series 2023 Warrants do not have the rights or privileges of holders of our common stock, including any voting rights, until such Series 2023 Warrant holders exercise their Series 2023 Warrants.
Fundamental Transaction
In the event of a fundamental transaction, as described in the Series 2023 Warrants and generally including any reorganization, recapitalization or reclassification of our common stock, the sale, transfer or other disposition of all or substantially all of our properties or assets, our consolidation or merger with or into another person, the acquisition of more than 50% of our outstanding common stock, or any person or group becoming the beneficial owner of 50% of the voting power represented by our outstanding common stock, the holders of the Series 2023 Warrants will be entitled to receive upon exercise of the warrants the kind and amount of securities, cash or other property that the holders would have received had they exercised the Series 2023 Warrants immediately prior to such fundamental transaction.
Waivers and Amendments
No term of the Series 2023 Warrants may be amended or waived without the written consent of the holders of such Series 2023 Warrants.
Pre-Funded Warrants
General
The term “pre-funded” refers to the fact that the purchase price of the pre-funded warrants in this offering includes almost the entire exercise price that will be paid under the pre-funded warrants, except for a nominal remaining exercise price of $0.0001. The purpose of the pre-funded warrants is to enable investors that may have restrictions on their ability to beneficially own more than 4.99% (or, at the election of such purchaser, 9.99%) of our outstanding common stock following the consummation of this offering the opportunity to invest capital into the Company without triggering their ownership restrictions, by receiving pre-funded warrants in lieu of shares of our common stock which would result in such ownership of more than 4.99% or 9.99%, as applicable, and receiving the ability to exercise their option to purchase the shares underlying the pre-funded warrants at a nominal price at a later date.
The following is a brief summary of certain terms and conditions of the pre-funded warrants being offered by us. The following description is subject in all respects to the provisions contained in the form of pre-funded warrant, the form of which will be filed as an exhibit to the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part.
63 |
Exercise Price
Pre-funded warrants have an exercise price of $0.0001 per share. The exercise price is subject to appropriate adjustment in the event of certain stock dividends and distributions, stock splits, stock combinations, reclassifications or similar events affecting our common stock and also upon any distributions of assets, including cash, stock or other property to our stockholders.
Exercisability
The pre-funded warrants are exercisable at any time after their original issuance and until exercised in full. The pre-funded warrants will be exercisable, at the option of each holder, in whole or in part by delivering to us a duly executed exercise notice and by payment in full of the exercise price in immediately available funds for the number of shares of common stock purchased upon such exercise. As an alternative to payment in immediately available funds, the holder may elect to exercise the pre-funded warrant through a cashless exercise, in which the holder would receive upon such exercise the net number of shares of common stock determined according to the formula set forth in the pre-funded warrant. No fractional shares of common stock will be issued in connection with the exercise of a pre-funded warrant.
Exercise limitations
The pre-funded warrants may not be exercised by the holder to the extent that the holder, together with its affiliates, would beneficially own, after such exercise more than 4.99% of the shares of our common stock then outstanding (including for such purpose the shares of our common stock issuable upon such exercise). However, any holder may increase or decrease such beneficial ownership limitation upon notice to us, provided that such limitation cannot exceed 9.99%, and provided that any increase in the beneficial ownership limitation shall not be effective until 61 days after such notice is delivered. Purchasers of pre-funded warrants in this offering may also elect prior to the issuance of the pre-funded warrants to have the initial exercise limitation set at 9.99% of our outstanding shares of common stock.
Transferability
Subject to applicable laws, the pre-funded warrants may be offered for sale, sold, transferred or assigned without our consent.
Exchange listing
There is no established trading market for the pre-funded warrants and we do not expect a market to develop. In addition, we do not intend to apply for the listing of the pre-funded warrants on any national securities exchange or other trading market. Without an active trading market, the liquidity of the pre-funded warrants will be limited.
Fundamental transactions
In the event of a fundamental transaction, as described in the pre-funded warrants and generally including any reorganization, recapitalization or reclassification of our common stock, the sale, transfer or other disposition of all or substantially all of our properties or assets, our consolidation or merger with or into another person, the acquisition of more than 50% of our outstanding common stock, or any person or group becoming the beneficial owner of 50% of the voting power represented by our outstanding common stock, upon consummation of such a fundamental transaction, the holders of the pre-funded warrants will be entitled to receive upon exercise of the pre-funded warrants the kind and amount of securities, cash or other property that the holders would have received had they exercised the pre-funded warrants immediately prior to such fundamental transaction without regard to any limitations on exercise contained in the pre-funded warrants.
No rights as a stockholder
Except as otherwise provided in the pre-funded warrant or by virtue of such holder’s ownership of shares of our common stock, the holder of a pre-funded warrant does not have the rights or privileges of a holder of our common stock, including any voting rights, until the holder exercises the pre-funded warrant. The pre-funded warrants will provide that holders have the right to participate in distributions or dividends paid on our common stock.
64 |
DESCRIPTION OF CAPITAL STOCK
Our authorized capital stock consists of 100,000,000 shares of common stock, par value $0.0001 per share, and 5,000,000 shares of preferred stock, par value $0.0001 per share.
Common Stock
As of January 6, 2023, 9,834,366 shares of our common stock were outstanding. The outstanding shares of our common stock are validly issued, fully paid, and non-assessable.
Dividends
Each share of our common stock is entitled to receive an equal dividend, if one is declared. We cannot provide any assurance that we will declare or pay cash dividends on our common stock in the future. Any future determination to declare cash dividends will be made at the discretion of our Board of Directors, subject to applicable laws, and will depend on our financial condition, results of operations, capital requirements, general business conditions and other factors that our Board of Directors may deem relevant. Our Board of Directors may determine it to be necessary to retain future earnings (if any) to finance our growth. See “Risk Factors” and “Dividend Policy.”
Liquidation
If our Company is liquidated, then assets that remain (if any) after the creditors are paid and the owners of preferred stock receive liquidation preferences (as applicable) will be distributed to the owners of our common stock pro rata. At the date of this prospectus, none of the Company’s series of preferred stock have liquidation preferences and they are treated the same as common shares on an as-converted basis for the purposes of distribution of assets upon liquidation.
Voting Rights
Each share of our common stock entitles the owner to one vote. There is no cumulative voting. A simple majority can elect all of the directors at a given meeting, and the minority would not be able to elect any director at that meeting.
Preemptive Rights
Owners of our common stock have no preemptive rights. We may sell shares of our common stock to third parties without first offering such shares to current stockholders.
Redemption Rights
We do not have the right to buy back shares of our common stock except in extraordinary transactions, such as mergers and court approved bankruptcy reorganizations. Owners of our common stock do not ordinarily have the right to require us to buy their common stock. We do not have a sinking fund to provide assets for any buy back.
Conversion Rights
Shares of our common stock cannot be converted into any other kind of stock except in extraordinary transactions, such as mergers and court approved bankruptcy reorganizations.
65 |
Non-assessability
All outstanding shares of our common stock are fully paid and non-assessable.
2021 Warrants
The following summary of certain terms and provisions of the warrants offered by this prospectus is not complete and is subject to, and qualified in its entirety by, the provisions of the warrant, the form of which has been filed as an exhibit to the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part. Prospective investors should carefully review the terms and provisions of the form of warrant for a complete description of the terms and conditions of the warrants.
Exercisability
The warrants are exercisable on the original issuance date and expire on the date that is five years after their original issuance. The warrants are exercisable, at the option of each holder, in whole or in part by delivering to us a duly executed exercise notice. In no event may the warrants be net cash settled or through a cashless exercise.
Exercise Limitation
A holder does not have the right to exercise any portion of the warrant if the holder (together with its affiliates) would beneficially own in excess of either 4.99% (or at the election of the holder, 9.99%) of the number of shares of our common stock outstanding immediately after giving effect to the exercise, as such percentage ownership is determined in accordance with the terms of the warrants. However, any increase in the beneficial ownership percentage will not be effective until the 61st day after the election is made.
Exercise Price
The warrants have an exercise price of $4.98 per share. The exercise price is subject to appropriate adjustment in the event of certain stock dividends and distributions, stock splits, stock combinations, reclassifications or similar events affecting our common stock and also upon any distributions of assets, including cash, stock or other property to our stockholders.
Adjustments
The exercise price of the warrants and the number of shares of common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants are subject to adjustment and in the case of stock splits, stock dividends, combinations, reclassifications and the like.
Cashless Exercise
If, at the time a holder exercises its warrant, there is no effective registration statement registering, or the prospectus contained therein is not available for an issuance to the holder of, the shares underlying the warrant, then in lieu of making the cash payment otherwise contemplated to be made to us upon such exercise in payment of the aggregate exercise price, the holder may elect instead to receive upon such exercise (either in whole or in part) the net number of shares of common stock determined according to a formula set forth in the warrant.
Transferability
Subject to applicable laws, the warrants may be offered for sale, sold, transferred or assigned without our consent.
66 |
Exchange Listing
The warrants are listed on the Nasdaq Capital Market under the symbol “MOBQW”. There is no established trading market for the warrants being offered and we cannot assure that a market for the warrants to develop. Without an active trading market, the liquidity of the warrants will be limited.
Fundamental Transactions
In the event of a “Fundamental Transaction” by the Company, such as a merger or consolidation of it with another company, the sale or other disposition of all or substantially all of the Company’s assets in one or a series of related transactions, a purchase offer, tender offer or exchange offer, or any reclassification, reorganization or recapitalization of the Company’s common stock, then the warrant holder will have the right to receive, for each share of common stock issuable upon the exercise of the warrant, at the option of the holder, the number of shares of common stock of the successor or acquiring corporation or of the Company, if it is the surviving corporation, and any additional consideration payable as a result of the Fundamental Transaction, that would have been issued or conveyed to the warrant holder had the holder exercised the warrant immediately preceding the closing of the Fundamental Transaction. In lieu of receiving such common stock and additional consideration in the Fundamental Transaction, the warrant holder may elect to have the Company or the successor entity purchase the warrant holder’s warrant for its fair market value.
Rights as a Stockholder
Except as otherwise provided in the warrants or by virtue of such holder’s ownership of shares of our common stock, the holder of a warrant does not have the rights or privileges of a holder of our common stock, including any voting rights, until the holder exercises the warrant.
Outstanding Derivative Securities
Unless we indicate otherwise, all information in this prospectus does not include the following outstanding securities:
· |
excludes 1,162,721 shares of our common stock issuable upon exercise of outstanding stock options by the members of our board of directors and third parties at a weighted average exercise price of $16.16 per share as of January 6, 2023; | |
· |
excludes 2,613,636 shares of our common stock issuable upon exercise of warrants issued to our secured lender at an exercise price of $.44 per share; | |
· |
excludes 2,807,937 shares of our common stock issuable upon exercise of outstanding 2021 Warrants held by investors at an exercise price of $4.98 per share as of January 6, 2023; | |
· |
excludes 74,458 shares of common stock issuable upon the full exercise of the warrants at an exercise price of $5.1875 per share we granted to Spartan as an underwriter of our 2021 public offering; | |
· |
excludes 26,136 shares of common stock issuable upon the full exercise of the warrants at an exercise price of $0.484 per share we granted to Spartan as a placement agent of our private offering in December 2022; | |
· |
excludes 1,800,155 shares of our common stock issuable upon the exercise of other warrants that are outstanding as of the date of this prospectus exercisable at an average exercise price of $25.86 per share; and | |
· | excludes 162,073 shares issuable upon conversion of outstanding Preferred Stock. |
67 |
Authorized and Issued Preferred Stock
The Company has 5,000,000 shares of Preferred Stock, par value $.0001 per share authorized. The Board has the right in its sole discretion to designate the rights and preferences of various series of Preferred Stock. It has designated the rights and preferences of the following outstanding preferred shares:
Number of shares at January 6, 2023 | ||||||||
Title of Class | Authorized | Issued and Outstanding | ||||||
Series AAA Preferred Stock | 4,930,000 | 31,413 | ||||||
Series E Preferred Stock | 70,000 | 61,688 |
Series AAA Preferred Stock
The rights, preferences and limitations of the Series AAA Preferred Stock (the “Series AAA Shares”), are as follows:
· | Par Value. The par value of the Series AAA Shares is $.0001 per share. | |
· | Optional Conversion into Common Stock. Each Preferred Share shall be, at the Option of the holder, convertible into .25 shares of Common Stock. | |
· | Voting. Each Series AAA Share shall have no voting rights until converted into Common Shares, except as required by state law. | |
· | Dividends. The Preferred Shares shall have no dividend rights until converted into Common Shares, except as required by state law. | |
· | Liquidation Preference. The Preferred Shares shall have no liquidation preference and shall be treated the same as a holder of Common Shares. | |
· | Anti-dilution/Adjustment. The Preferred Shares conversion price shall be appropriately adjusted by the Board for certain corporate events. |
Series E Preferred Stock
The rights, preferences and limitations of the Series E Preferred Stock (the “Series E Shares”), are as follows:
· | Par Value; Stated Value. The par value of the Series E Shares is $.0001 per share. The stated value of the Series E Shares shall be $80.00 per share (the “Stated Value”). |
68 |
Redemption Rights
· | Redemption. The Corporation may redeem all of the Series E Shares at any time on 30 days’ notice, and a majority-in-interest of the holders of the Series E Shares may cause the Corporation to redeem all the Series E Shares at any time on 30 days’ notice for cash in the amount of 100% of the Stated Value (the “Redemption Amount”). The date which is thirty (30) days following the date notice is given pursuant to this Section 6(b)(i) is referred to as the “Redemption Date”. Notice shall be given by certified mail return receipt requested, and shall be deemed given three (3) days after mailing. Notice given by a majority-in-interest of the holders of the Series E Shares shall be determined from the latest date that any holder constituted in a majority-in-interest of the holders of the Series E Shares mails such notice. | |
· | Redemption Date. As of the Redemption Date, the Series E Shares shall be deemed redeemed and the certificates of the Series E Shares shall thereafter represent only the right to receive the Redemption Amount for the shares of Series E Shares represented by such certificates and no other rights, and the shares of Series E Shares represented by such certificates shall be cancelled in the Corporation’s stock books. | |
· | Payment. The Corporation shall pay each holder of the Series E Shares the Redemption Amount within ten (10) Business Days (as defined herein) after the Corporation receives the certificate(s) for the Series E Shares being redeemed from such holder. The Corporation shall hold the Redemption Amount in trust for any holder of Series E Shares until such holder delivers such holder’s certificate(s) for the redeemed Series E Shares to the Corporation. |
Conversion Rights
· | Optional Conversion. Unless the Series E Shares are forfeited under certain circumstances in accordance with the Series E Shares terms, each Series E Share is convertible at the holder’s option into 2.5 shares of common stock (giving effect to the 1-for-400 share reverse split on September 9, 2020 (the “Conversion Rate”). | |
· | Voting. The Series E Shares shall have no voting rights, except as otherwise required by applicable state law. | |
· | Dividends. The Series E Shares shall have no dividend rights, except as otherwise required by applicable state law. | |
· | Liquidation Preference. The Series E Shares shall have no liquidation preference and shall be treated pari-passu with the Common Stock. | |
· | Adjustments. The number of shares of Common Stock into which each share of Series E Preferred Stock is convertible) shall be subject to adjustment from time to time, for dividends, splits, reclassifications and the like, consolidations and mergers. |
New York Anti-Takeover Law
Section 912 of the New York Business Corporation Law (the “BCL”), prohibits a New York corporation from engaging in certain business combinations with an interested shareholders and prevents certain persons from making a takeover bid for a New York corporation unless certain prescribed requirements are satisfied, or there is an exception. We are excepted from the provisions of Section 912 of the BCL because our shares of common stock are registered under Section 12 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934.
Limitation on Liability and Indemnification Matters
The Company indemnifies directors, officers, employees and agents, and the heirs of personal representatives of such persons, against all costs, charges and expenses, including an amount paid to settle an action or satisfy a judgement, actually and reasonably incurred by such person arising out of their function as a director, officer, employee or agent to the Company.
69 |
Limitation of Liability of Directors
Section 402(b) of the BCL permits a New York corporation to include in its certificate of incorporation a provision eliminating the potential monetary liability of a director to the corporation or its shareholders for breach of fiduciary duty as a director; provided that this provision may not eliminate the liability of a director (i) for acts or omissions in bad faith or which involve intentional misconduct or a knowing violation of law, (ii) for any transaction from which the director receives an improper personal benefit or (iii) for any acts in violation of Section 719 of the BCL. Section 719 provides that a director who votes or concurs in a corporate action will be liable to the corporation for the benefit of its creditors and shareholders for any damages suffered as a result of an action approving (i) an improper payment of a dividend, (ii) an improper redemption or purchase by the corporation of shares of the corporation, (iii) an improper distribution of assets to shareholders after dissolution of the corporation without adequately providing for all known liabilities of the corporation or (iv) the making of an improper loan to a director of the corporation. Our restated certificate of incorporation, as amended, provides that our directors shall not be liable to us or our shareholders for a breach of their duties to the fullest extent in which elimination or limitation of the liability of directors is permitted by the BCL.
Indemnification of Officers and Directors
Our restated certificate of incorporation, as amended, provides that we shall indemnify and hold harmless, to the fullest extent permitted by the BCL, each person (and their heirs, executors, or administrators) who was or is a party or is threatened to be made a party to, or is involved in, any civil, criminal, administrative or investigative action, suit or proceeding, by reason of the fact that such person is or was a director or officer of our Company or is or was serving at our request as a director or officer of another corporation, partnership, joint venture, trust or other enterprise. We are also obligated to pay the cost of the expenses incurred by our officers and directors (including attorney’s fees) in defending themselves in such proceedings in advance of final disposition if the officer or director agrees to repay the amount advanced in the event it is ultimately determined that the officer or director was not entitled to be indemnified by us as authorized by our restated certificate of incorporation, as amended. We are not obligated to indemnify any director or officer (or his or her heirs, executors or administrators) in connection with a proceeding initiated by such person unless the proceeding was authorized or consented to by our Board. We have entered into indemnification agreements with each of our current directors to effectuate the indemnification provisions of our restated certificate of incorporation, as amended.
SEC Position on Indemnification for Securities Act Liabilities
Insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising under the Securities Act of 1933 may be permitted to our directors, officers and controlling persons pursuant to the foregoing provisions, or otherwise, we have been advised that in the opinion of the SEC such indemnification is against public policy as expressed in the Act and is, therefore, unenforceable.
Listing
Our common stock and warrants are traded on the NasdaqCM under the symbols “MOBQ” and “MOBQW,” respectively.
Our Transfer Agent and Warrant Agent
The transfer agent for our Common Stock and warrant agent for our Warrants is Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company. Their address is 1 State Street, 30th floor, New York, NY 10004. We have agreed to indemnify Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company in its roles as transfer agent and warrant agent, its agents and each of its stockholders, directors, officers and employees against all liabilities, including judgments, costs and reasonable counsel fees that may arise out of acts performed or omitted for its activities in that capacity, except for any liability due to any gross negligence, willful misconduct or bad faith of the indemnified person or entity.
70 |
UNDERWRITING
Subject to the terms and conditions set forth in the underwriting agreement between us and the underwriters named below, for which Spartan Capital Securities, LLC, is acting as the representative (the “Representative”), we have agreed to sell to the underwriters, and each underwriter has severally agreed to purchase, the number of Combined Securities listed next to its name in the following table:
Underwriter | Number of Combined Securities |
Spartan Capital Securities, LLC | |
Total |
Under the terms of the underwriting agreement, the underwriters are committed to purchase all of the combined securities offered by this prospectus if the underwriters buy any of such combined securities. The underwriters’ obligation to purchase the units is subject to satisfaction of certain conditions, including, among others, the continued accuracy of representations and warranties made by us in the underwriting agreement, delivery of legal opinions and the absence of any material changes in our assets, business or prospects after the date of this prospectus.
The underwriters initially propose to offer our combined securities directly to the public at the public offering price set forth on the front cover page of this prospectus and to certain dealers at such offering price less a concession not to exceed $0.166 per combined securities. After the initial public offering of the combined securities, the offering price and other selling terms may be changed by the underwriters. Sales of combined securities made outside the United States may be made by affiliates of certain of the underwriters.
Over-Allotment Option
We have granted to the underwriters an option, exercisable one or more times in whole or in part, not later than 45 days after the date of this prospectus, to purchase from us up to an additional 15% of the total number of combined securities at a price of $______ per share, less the underwriting discounts and commissions set forth on the cover of this prospectus in any combination thereof to cover over-allotments, if any. To the extent that the Representative exercises this option, each of the underwriters will become obligated, subject to conditions, to purchase approximately the same percentage of these additional combined securities as the number of combined securities to be purchased by it in the above table bears to the total number of combined securities offered by this prospectus. We will be obligated, pursuant to the option, to sell these combined securities to the underwriters to the extent the option is exercised. If any additional combined securities are purchased, the underwriters will offer the additional combined securities on the same terms as those on which the other combined securities are being offered hereunder. If this option is exercised in full, the total offering price to the public will be $______and the total net proceeds, before expenses and after the credit to the underwriting commissions described below, to us will be $_____.
Discounts and Commissions
Per Share and Series 2023 Warrants | Per Pre-Funded Warrant and Series 2023 Warrants | Total | ||||||||||
Public offering price | $ | $ | $ | |||||||||
Underwriters discounts and commissions(1) | $ | $ | $ | |||||||||
Proceeds to us, before expenses(2) | $ | $ | $ |
(1) We have agreed to pay the underwriters a total cash fee equal to 8% of the gross proceeds raised in this offering. We have also agreed to reimburse the underwriters for certain of its offering-related expenses of up to $200,000 plus 1% of the gross proceeds of this offering. In addition, we have agreed to issue Representative Warrants to purchase up to a number of shares of our common stock equal to 5% of the aggregate number of shares of common stock and pre-funded warrants being offered at an exercise price equal to 110% of the public offering price of the shares common stock. See “Plan of Distribution” for additional information and a description of the compensation payable to the underwriters.
71 |
Expense Reimbursement
We have also agreed to reimburse the Representative for certain fees and expenses incurred by the Representative in connection with the offering, and any amounts not actually incurred will be reimbursed to us. We have paid an expense deposit of $5,000 to the Representative, which will be applied against the actual accountable expenses that will be payable by us to the Representative in connection with this offering. We will pay a maximum of $200,000 for fees and expenses including “road show,” diligence, and legal fees, cost of background checks, and disbursements incurred by the Representative in connection with the offering, and other out-of-pocket expenses, plus the costs associated with the use of a third-party electronic road show service.
We estimate that the total expenses of the offering payable by us, excluding underwriting discounts and commissions, will be approximately $500,000.
Non-accountable Expense Allowance
In connection with and upon closing of this offering, we shall pay to the Representative a non-accountable expense allowance equal to 1% of the gross proceeds received by us from the sale of the securities in this offering.
Representative Warrants
We have agreed to issue to Spartan Capital Securities, LLC warrants (the “Representative Warrants”) to purchase up to a total of ___________of the combined securities equal to a total of 5% of the shares of common stock sold in this offering ( including the exercise of the over-allotment option by the underwriters). The Representative Warrants are exercisable for a five (5) year period following the commencement of sales in this offering at an exercise price equal to 110% of the public offering price of the common stock sold in this offering. The Representative Warrants may not be transferred at any time prior to the date which is 180 days beginning on the date of commencement of sales of securities in connection with this offering in compliance with FINRA Rule 5110(e)(1)(A). The Representative Warrants have been deemed compensation by FINRA and are therefore subject to a 180-day lock-up pursuant to FINRA Rule 5110(e)(1). Spartan Capital Securities, LLC (or its respective permitted assignees under Rule 5110(e)(2)(B)) will not sell, transfer, assign, pledge, or hypothecate the Representative Warrants or the securities underlying such warrants, nor will they engage in any hedging, short sale, derivative, put, or call transaction that would result in the effective economic disposition of such warrants or the underlying securities for a period of 180 days following the date of commencement of sales pursuant to the offering. In addition, the Representative Warrants will provide for one-time demand registration right for five years following the commencement of sales in this offering in compliance with FINRA Rule 5110(g)(8)(B)-(C), unlimited “piggyback” registration rights for a period of seven years following the commencement of sales pursuant to the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part in compliance with FINRA Rule 5110(g)(8)(D), cashless exercise provisions, and customary anti-dilution provisions (for stock dividends and splits and recapitalizations) and anti-dilution protection (adjustment in the number and price of such warrants and the shares underlying such warrants) resulting from corporate events (which would include dividends, extraordinary cash dividend, recapitalization reorganizations, mergers, consolidation etc.). However, the exercise price of the Representative Warrants or the underlying securities of such warrants will not be adjusted for issuances of shares of common stock at a price below such warrants’ exercise price. We will bear all fees and expenses attendant to registering the securities issuable on exercise of the Representative Warrants other than underwriting commissions incurred and payable by the holders thereof.
72 |
Stabilization
In accordance with Regulation M under the Exchange Act, the underwriters may engage in activities that stabilize, maintain or otherwise affect the price of our common stock, including short sales and purchases to cover positions created by short positions, stabilizing transactions, syndicate covering transactions, penalty bids and passive market making.
· | Short positions involve sales by the underwriters of shares in excess of the number of shares the underwriters are obligated to purchase, which creates a syndicate short position. The short position may be either a covered short position or a naked short position. In a covered short position, the number of shares involved in the sales made by the underwriters in excess of the number of shares they are obligated to purchase is not greater than the number of shares that they may purchase by exercising their option to purchase additional shares. In a naked short position, the number of shares involved is greater than the number of shares in their option to purchase additional shares. The underwriters may close out any short position by either exercising their option to purchase additional shares or purchasing shares in the open market. | |
· | Stabilizing transactions permit bids to purchase the underlying security as long as the stabilizing bids do not exceed a specific maximum price. | |
· | Syndicate covering transactions involve purchases of our common stock in the open market after the distribution has been completed to cover syndicate short positions. In determining the source of shares to close out the short position, the underwriters will consider, among other things, the price of shares available for purchase in the open market as compared to the price at which they may purchase shares through the underwriters’ option to purchase additional shares. If the underwriters sell more shares than could be covered by the underwriters’ option to purchase additional shares, thereby creating a naked short position, the position can only be closed out by buying shares in the open market. A naked short position is more likely to be created if the underwriters are concerned that there could be downward pressure on the price of the shares in the open market after pricing that could adversely affect investors who purchase in the offering. | |
· | Penalty bids permit the representative to reclaim a selling concession from a syndicate member when the common stock originally sold by the syndicate member is purchased in a stabilizing or syndicate covering transaction to cover syndicate short positions. | |
· | In passive market making, market makers in our common stock who are underwriters or prospective underwriters may, subject to limitations, make bids for or purchase shares of our common stock until the time, if any, at which a stabilizing bid is made. |
These activities may have the effect of raising or maintaining the market price of our common stock or preventing or retarding a decline in the market price of our common stock. As a result of these activities, the price of our common stock and warrants may be higher than the price that might otherwise exist in the open market. These transactions may be effected on The Nasdaq Capital Market or otherwise and, if commenced, may be discontinued at any time.
Neither we nor any of the underwriters make any representation or prediction as to the direction or magnitude of any effect that the transactions described above may have on the price of our common stock and warrants. In addition, neither we nor any of the underwriters make any representation that the representative will engage in these stabilizing transactions or that any transaction, once commenced, will not be discontinued without notice.
Indemnification
We and the underwriters have agreed to indemnify each other against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act, or to contribute to payments the underwriters may be required to make in respect of such liabilities.
73 |
Discretionary Accounts
The underwriters have informed us that they do not expect to make sales to accounts over which they exercise discretionary authority in excess of 5% of the combined securities being offered in this offering.
Determination of the Public Offering Price
Prior to this offering, there has been a limited public market for our common stock and 2021 Warrants. The public offering price of the combined securities will be as determined through negotiations between us and the representative. In addition to prevailing market conditions, the factors considered in determining the public offering price included the following:
· | the information included in this prospectus and otherwise available to the Representative; | |
· | the valuation multiples of publicly traded companies that the representative believes to be comparable to us; | |
· | our financial and operating information; | |
· | our prospects and the history and the prospectus of the industry in which we compete; | |
· | an assessment of our management, its past and present operations, and the prospects for, and timing of, our future revenues; | |
· | the present state of our development; and | |
· | the above factors in relation to market values and various valuation measures of other companies engaged in activities similar to ours. |
Lock-Up Agreements and Right of First Refusal
Our executive officers and directors, other than our Chairman and independent directors, have agreed with the Representative to follow the lock-up restrictions as described below for 180 days following the effective date of the registration statement for this offering. In addition, the Company has agreed that for a period of 180 days after the closing of this offering, we and any of our successors will not, without the prior written consent of the representative, which may be withheld or delayed in the representative’s sole discretion:
· | offer, issue, pledge, sell, contract to sell, sell any option or contract to purchase, purchase any option or contract to sell, grant any option, right or warrant to purchase, lend, or otherwise transfer or dispose of, directly or indirectly; | |
· | enter into any swap or other arrangement that transfers to another entity, in whole or in part, any of the economic consequences of ownership of any of our common stock or such other securities, whether any such transaction described above is to be settled by delivery of shares of our capital stock or such other securities, in cash or otherwise; | |
· | complete any offering of debt securities of the Company, other than entering into a line of credit with a traditional bank; or | |
· | file with the SEC a registration statement under the Securities Act relating to, any shares of our common stock or any securities convertible into or exercisable or exchangeable for common stock. |
The Representative has agreed that if an offering of at least 5 million is not completed before March 1, 2023, and the Company needs to raise cash as working capital, then the lock-up restrictions on the Company as described above shall not apply to securities issued and sold between March 1, 2023 and the date that an offering of at least 5 million is successfully completed.
74 |
The foregoing restrictions will not apply to (1) the shares of common stock to be sold under this Prospectus, (2) the issuance of common stock upon the exercise of options or warrants or the conversion of outstanding preferred stock or other outstanding convertible securities disclosed as outstanding in the Registration Statement of which this Prospectus is a part, (3) the issuance of employee stock options not exercisable during the lock-up period and the grant of restricted stock awards or restricted stock combined securities or shares of Common Stock pursuant to equity incentive plans described in the prospectus, (4) the filing of a Registration Statement on Form S-8 or any successor form thereto, and (5) the issuance of unregistered securities issued pursuant to acquisitions or strategic transactions approved by a majority of the disinterested directors of the Company provided that none of those securities are registered for resale during the lock-up period, but shall not include a transaction in which the Company is issuing securities primarily for the purpose of raising more than $500,000 in capital or to an entity whose primary business is investing in securities.
Following the consummation of this offering of at least $5 million, until December 31, 2023, if we or any of its subsidiaries (a)) decides to finance or refinance any indebtedness using a manager or agent, Spartan Capital Securities, LLC (or any affiliate designated by Spartan Capital Securities, LLC) shall have the right to act as sole book-runner, sole manager, sole placement agent or sole agent with respect to such financing or refinancing; or (b) decides to raise funds by means of a public offering (including through an at-the-market facility) or a private placement or any other capital-raising financing of equity, equity-linked or debt securities using an underwriter or placement agent, Spartan (or any affiliate designated by Spartan) shall have the right to act as sole book-running manager, sole underwriter or sole placement agent for such financing. If Spartan or one of its affiliates decides to accept any such engagement, the agreement governing such engagement will contain, among other things, provisions for customary fees for transactions of similar size and nature and the provisions of this Agreement, including indemnification, which are appropriate to such a transaction.
Other Relationships
The representative and its affiliates may provide various advisory, investment and commercial banking and other services to us in the ordinary course of business, for which they may receive customary fees and commissions. The Representative has acted as our placement agent in connection with our bridge financing private placement in September 2021 and December 2022, for which it received compensation. We sold a $1,437,500 senior secured 20% OID nine-month promissory note plus 522,727 incentive shares of our common stock in the December 2022 private placement further to which we paid the Representative $103,500 as commissions and issued the Representative five year warrants to purchase 26,136 shares of our common stock at a per share exercise price of $0.484.
The Representative may in the future provide us and our affiliates with investment banking and financial advisory services for which it may in the future receive customary fees. The Representative may release, or authorize us to release, as the case may be, the Lock-Up Securities subject to the lock-up agreements described above in whole or in part at any time with or without notice.
Electronic Distribution
A prospectus in electronic format may be made available on the websites maintained by one or more of the underwriters or selling group members, if any, participating in the offering. The representative may allocate a number of shares to the underwriters and selling group members, if any, for sale to their online brokerage account holders. Any such allocations for online distributions will be made by the representative on the same basis as other allocations.
Selling Restrictions
Canada
The securities may be sold in Canada only to purchasers purchasing, or deemed to be purchasing, as principal that are accredited investors, as defined in National Instrument 45 106 Prospectus Exemptions or subsection 73.3(1) of the Securities Act (Ontario), and are permitted clients, as defined in National Instrument 31 103 Registration Requirements, Exemptions and Ongoing Registrant Obligations. Any resale of the securities must be made in accordance with an exemption from, or in a transaction not subject to, the prospectus requirements of applicable securities laws.
Securities legislation in certain provinces or territories of Canada may provide a purchaser with remedies for rescission or damages if this prospectus supplement (including any amendment thereto) contains a misrepresentation, provided that the remedies for rescission or damages are exercised by the purchaser within the time limit prescribed by the securities legislation of the purchaser’s province or territory.
75 |
The purchaser should refer to any applicable provisions of the securities legislation of the purchaser’s province or territory for particulars of these rights or consult with a legal advisor.
Pursuant to section 3A.3 of National Instrument 33 105 Underwriting Conflicts (NI 33 105), the underwriters are not required to comply with the disclosure requirements of NI 33 105 regarding underwriter conflicts of interest in connection with this offering.
European Economic Area
In relation to each Member State of the European Economic Area which has implemented the Prospectus Directive, each, a Relevant Member State, an offer to the public of any shares of our common stock may not be made in that Relevant Member State, except that an offer to the public in that Relevant Member State of any shares of our common stock may be made at any time under the following exemptions under the Prospectus Directive, if they have been implemented in that Relevant Member State:
· | to any legal entity which is a qualified investor as defined in the Prospectus Directive; | |
· | to fewer than 100 or, if the Relevant Member State has implemented the relevant provision of the 2010 PD Amending Directive, 150, natural or legal persons (other than qualified investors as defined in the Prospectus Directive), as permitted under the Prospectus Directive, subject to obtaining the prior consent of the representative for any such offer; or | |
· | in any other circumstances falling within Article 3(2) of the Prospectus Directive, provided that no such offer of shares of our common stock shall result in a requirement for the publication by us or any underwriter of a prospectus pursuant to Article 3 of the Prospectus Directive. |
For the purposes of this provision, the expression an “offer to the public” in relation to any shares of our common stock in any Relevant Member State means the communication in any form and by any means of sufficient information on the terms of the offer and any shares of our common stock to be offered so as to enable an investor to decide to purchase any shares of our common stock, as the same may be varied in that Member State by any measure implementing the Prospectus Directive in that Member State, the expression “Prospectus Directive” means Directive 2003/71/EC (and amendments thereto, including the 2010 PD Amending Directive, to the extent implemented in the Relevant Member State), and includes any relevant implementing measure in the Relevant Member State, and the expression “2010 PD Amending Directive” means Directive 2010/73/EU.
United Kingdom
Each underwriter has represented and agreed that:
· | it has only communicated or caused to be communicated and will only communicate or cause to be communicated an invitation or inducement to engage in investment activity (within the meaning of Section 21 of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000, or FSMA) received by it in connection with the issue or sale of the shares of our common stock in circumstances in which Section 21(1) of the FSMA does not apply to us; and | |
· | it has complied and will comply with all applicable provisions of the FSMA with respect to anything done by it in relation to the shares of our common stock in, from or otherwise involving the United Kingdom. |
76 |
Switzerland
The shares may not be publicly offered in Switzerland and will not be listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange, or the SIX, or on any other stock exchange or regulated trading facility in Switzerland. This document has been prepared without regard to the disclosure standards for issuance prospectuses under art. 652a or art. 1156 of the Swiss Code of Obligations or the disclosure standards for listing prospectuses under art. 27 ff. of the SIX Listing Rules or the listing rules of any other stock exchange or regulated trading facility in Switzerland. Neither this document nor any other offering or marketing material relating to the shares or the offering may be publicly distributed or otherwise made publicly available in Switzerland.
Neither this document nor any other offering or marketing material relating to the offering, or the shares have been or will be filed with or approved by any Swiss regulatory authority. In particular, this document will not be filed with, and the offer of shares will not be supervised by, the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority FINMA, and the offer of shares has not been and will not be authorized under the Swiss Federal Act on Collective Investment Schemes, or CISA. Accordingly, no public distribution, offering or advertising, as defined in CISA, its implementing ordinances and notices, and no distribution to any non-qualified investor, as defined in CISA, its implementing ordinances and notices, shall be undertaken in or from Switzerland, and the investor protection afforded to acquirers of interests in collective investment schemes under CISA does not extend to acquirers of shares.
Australia
No placement document, prospectus, product disclosure statement or other disclosure document has been lodged with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, or the ASIC, in relation to the offering.
This prospectus does not constitute a prospectus, product disclosure statement or other disclosure document under the Corporations Act 2001, or the Corporations Act, and does not purport to include the information required for a prospectus, product disclosure statement or other disclosure document under the Corporations Act.
Any offer in Australia of the shares may only be made to persons, the Exempt Investors, who are “sophisticated investors” (within the meaning of section 708(8) of the Corporations Act), “professional investors” (within the meaning of section 708(11) of the Corporations Act) or otherwise pursuant to one or more exemptions contained in section 708 of the Corporations Act so that it is lawful to offer the shares without disclosure to investors under Chapter 6D of the Corporations Act.
The shares applied for by Exempt Investors in Australia must not be offered for sale in Australia in the period of 12 months after the date of allotment under the offering, except in circumstances where disclosure to investors under Chapter 6D of the Corporations Act would not be required pursuant to an exemption under section 708 of the Corporations Act or otherwise or where the offer is pursuant to a disclosure document which complies with Chapter 6D of the Corporations Act. Any person acquiring shares must observe such Australian on-sale restrictions.
This prospectus contains general information only and does not take account of the investment objectives, financial situation or particular needs of any particular person. It does not contain any securities recommendations or financial product advice. Before making an investment decision, investors need to consider whether the information in this prospectus is appropriate to their needs, objectives and circumstances, and, if necessary, seek expert advice on those matters.
77 |
LEGAL MATTERS
The validity of the securities covered by the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part has been passed upon for us by Ruskin Moscou Faltischek P.C., Uniondale, New York. Certain legal matters relating to this offering will be passed upon for the representative by Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP, Costa Mesa, California.
EXPERTS
The financial statements included in this prospectus as of years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020 have been audited by BF Borgers CPA PC, an independent registered public accounting firm, to the extent and for the periods set forth in their report appearing elsewhere herein and are included in reliance upon such report given upon the authority of said firm as experts in auditing and accounting. No named experts under this section or under Legal Matters own any shares of our common stock.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
We are subject to the reporting requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and file reports, proxy statements and other information with the SEC. These reports, proxy statements and other information may be inspected and copied at the public reference facilities maintained by the SEC at 100 F Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20549 and at the SEC’s regional offices located at the Northwestern Atrium Center, 500 West Madison Street, Suite 1400, Chicago, Illinois 60661 and 233 Broadway, New York, New York 10279. You can obtain copies of these materials from the Public Reference Section of the SEC upon payment of fees prescribed by the SEC. You may obtain information on the operation of the Public Reference Room by calling the SEC at 1-800-SEC-0330. The SEC’s website contains reports, proxy and information statements and other information regarding registrants that file electronically with the SEC. The address of that site is http://www.sec.gov.
We have filed a registration statement on Form S-1 with the SEC under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, with respect to the securities offered in this prospectus. This prospectus, which is filed as part of a registration statement, does not contain all of the information set forth in the registration statement, some portions of which have been omitted in accordance with the SEC’s rules and regulations. Statements made in this prospectus as to the contents of any contract, agreement or other document referred to in this prospectus are not necessarily complete and are qualified in their entirety by reference to each such contract, agreement or other document that is filed as an exhibit to the registration statement. The registration statement may be inspected without charge at the public reference facilities maintained by the SEC, and copies of such materials can be obtained from the Public Reference Section of the SEC at prescribed rates. You may obtain additional information regarding our Company on our website, located at www.mobiquitytechnologies.com.
78 |
MOBIQUITY TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
Index to Financial Statements
CONTENTS | |
PAGES | |
NINE MONTHS ENDED SEPTEMBER 30, 2022 AND 2021 |
|
CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS | |
Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets | F-2 |
Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations | F-3 |
Condensed Consolidated Statement of Stockholders' Equity | F-4 |
Condensed Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows | F-5 |
F-7 | |
YEARS ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2021 AND 2020 | |
CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS | |
Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm | F-22 |
Consolidated Balance Sheets | F-24 |
Consolidated Statements of Operations | F-25 |
Consolidated Statement of Stockholders' Equity | F-26 |
Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows | F-28 |
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements | F-29 |
F-1 |
Mobiquity Technology, Inc.
Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets (Unaudited)
Assets | September 30, | December 31, | ||||||
2022 | 2021 (restated) | |||||||
Current Assets | ||||||||
Cash | $ | $ | ||||||
Accounts receivable, net | ||||||||
Prepaid and other current assets | ||||||||
Total Current Assets | ||||||||
Property and equipment (net of accumulated depreciation of $ | ||||||||
Goodwill | ||||||||
Intangible assets (net of accumulated amortization of $ | ||||||||
Total Assets | $ | $ | ||||||
Liabilities and Stockholders' Equity | ||||||||
Current Liabilities | ||||||||
Accounts payable and accrued expenses | $ | $ | ||||||
Notes payable | ||||||||
Total Current Liabilities | ||||||||
Long Term Liabilities | ||||||||
Notes payable | ||||||||
Total Long-Term Liabilities | ||||||||
Total Liabilities | ||||||||
Stockholders' Equity | ||||||||
AAA Preferred stock; $ | par value, shares authorized; shares issued and outstanding, respectively |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Series C, Preferred stock, $ | par value, shares authorized, shares issued and outstanding||||||||
Series E, Preferred stock, $ | par value, shares authorized, shares issued and outstanding||||||||
Common stock, $ | par value, shares authorized and shares issued, respectively and and shares outstanding, respectively |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Treasury stock $ | par value shares at cost( | ) | ( | ) | ||||
Additional paid in capital | ||||||||
Accumulated deficit | ( | ) | ( | ) | ||||
Total Stockholders' Equity | ||||||||
Total Liabilities and Stockholders' Equity | $ | $ |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements.
F-2 |
Mobiquity Technology, Inc.
Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations (Unaudited)
Three Months Ended | Nine Months Ended | |||||||||||||||
September 30, | September 30, | |||||||||||||||
2022 | 2021 (restated) | 2022 | 2021 (restated) | |||||||||||||
Revenues | $ | $ | $ | $ | ||||||||||||
Cost of revenues | ||||||||||||||||
Gross profit (loss) | ( | ) | ( | ) | ( | ) | ||||||||||
General and administrative expenses | ||||||||||||||||
Loss from operations | ( | ) | ( | ) | ( | ) | ( | ) | ||||||||
Other income (expenses) | ||||||||||||||||
Interest expense | ( | ) | ( | ) | ( | ) | ( | ) | ||||||||
Loss on extinguishment of debt - related party | ( | ) | ||||||||||||||
Inducement expense | ( | ) | ||||||||||||||
Interest income | ||||||||||||||||
Loss on disposal of fixed assets | ( | ) | ( | ) | ||||||||||||
Gain on settlement of liability | ||||||||||||||||
Gain on forgiveness of debt | ||||||||||||||||
Total other income (expense) - net | ( | ) | ( | ) | ( | ) | ( | ) | ||||||||
Net loss | $ | ( | ) | $ | ( | ) | $ | ( | ) | $ | ( | ) | ||||
Loss per share - basic and diluted | $ | ) | $ | ) | $ | ) | $ | ) | ||||||||
Weighted average number of shares outstanding - basic and diluted |
The accompanying notes are an integral part of these unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements.
F-3 |
Mobiquity Technology, Inc.
Condensed Consolidated Statements of Stockholders' Equity (Unaudited)
September 30, 2022
AAA | Series E | Series C | Additional | Total | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Preferred Stock | Preferred Stock | Preferred Stock | Common Stock | Paid-in | Treasury Shares | Accumulated | Stockholders' | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Shares | Amount | Shares | Amount | Shares | Amount | Shares | Amount | Capital | Shares | Amount | Deficit | Equity | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Balance, at January 1, 2022 | $ | $ | $ | $ | $ | $ | ( | ) | $ | ( | ) | $ | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Common stock issued for services | – | – | – | – | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Stock based compensation | – | – | – | – | – | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Warrants issued for services | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 2,162 | – | – | – | 2,162 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Note conversion | – | – | – | – | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Net Loss | – | – | – | – | – | ( | ) | ( | ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Balance, at March 31, 2022 | $ | $ | $ | $ | $ | $ | ( | ) | $ | ( | ) | $ | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Stock based compensation | – | – | – | – | – | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Warrants issued for services | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | 7,359 | – | – | – | 7,359 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Note and warrant conversion | – | – | – | – | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Net Loss | – | – | – | – | – | ( | ) | ( | ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Balance, at June 30, 2022 |