authID Inc.: Form 10-Q for the period ended Sep 30, 2023

Overview

authID Inc. is a leading provider of secure, authentication solutions delivered by our easy to integrate Verified platform. Our Verified platform binds strong passwordless authentication with biometric identity, which offers our customers a streamlined path to zero trust architecture. Verified FIDO2 passwordless authentication is certified by the FIDO Alliance to be compliant and interoperable with FIDO specifications.

The explosive growth in online and mobile commerce, telemedicine, remote working and digital activities of all descriptions is self-evident to everyone who lived through the Covid 19 pandemic since 2020. Identity theft, phishing attacks, spear-phishing, password vulnerabilities, account takeovers, benefits fraud - it seems like these words have entered our daily lexicon overnight. These are significant impediments to the operations and growth of any business or organization, and dealing with the risks and consequences of these criminal activities has created significant friction in both time, cost and lost opportunity. Consider all the outdated methods that organizations have implemented in order to prevent fraud. The requests to receive and enter one-time passwords, that can be easily hijacked. The vulnerable security questions you get asked – whether on-line or when reaching out to a call center – what was your first pet’s name? who was your best friend in high school? These steps all add up to friction, making it difficult for consumers to login, transact and execute daily tasks, with little added protection from fraud. Surely there is a better way to address these challenges? authID believes there is.

authID provides secure, facial biometric, identity verification, and strong customer authentication. We maintain a global, cloud-based Verified platform for our enterprise customers or employees to enable their users to easily verify and authenticate their identity through a mobile device or desktop (with camera) of their choosing (without requiring dedicated hardware, or authentication apps). We can help our customers establish a proven identity, creating a root of trust that ensures the highest level of assurance for our passwordless login and step-up verification products. Our system enables participants to consent to transactions using their biometric information with a digitally signed authentication response, embedding the underlying transaction data and each user’s identity attributes within every electronic transaction message processed through our platform.

Digital transformation across all market segments requires trusted identity. Our identity platform offers innovative solutions that are flexible, fast and easy to integrate and offer seamless user experiences. authID’s products help advance digital transformation efforts without the fear of identity fraud, while delivering frictionless user experiences. We believe that it is also essential that electronic transactions have an audit trail, proving that the identity of the individual was duly authenticated. Our platform provides biometric and multi-factor identity software, which are intended to establish, authenticate and verify identity across a wide range of use cases and electronic transactions.

authID’s products focus on the broad requirement for enabling frictionless commerce by allowing an entity to instantly “Know Who’s Behind the Device”, their customer, employee or their member. Organizations of all descriptions require cost-effective and secure means of growing their business while mitigating identity fraud. We aim to offer our enterprise customers products that can be integrated easily into each of their business and organizational operations, in order to facilitate their adoption and enhance the end user customer experience.

Our management believes that some of the advantages of our Verified Platform approach are the ability to leverage the platform to support a variety of vertical markets and the adaptability of the platform to the requirements of new markets and new products requiring cost-effective, secure, and configurable mobile solutions. Our target markets include cybersecurity, workforce, banking, fintech and other disrupters of traditional commerce, small and medium sized businesses, and system integrators working with government and Fortune 1000 enterprises. At its core, the Company’s offering, combining its proprietary and acquired biometric and artificial intelligence technologies (or AI), is intended to facilitate frictionless commerce, whether in the physical or digital world. The Company intends to increase its investment in developing, patenting and acquiring the various elements necessary to enhance the platform, which are intended to allow us to achieve our goals. One of the principal intended areas of investment is to enhance and expand our use of artificial intelligence in proprietary software, that we believe will increase our value to enterprise customers and stockholders alike.

authID is dedicated to developing advanced methods of protecting consumer privacy and deploying ethical and socially responsible AI.. We believe that a proactive commitment to ethical AI presents a strong business opportunity for authID and will enable us to bring more accurate products to market more quickly and with less risk to better serve our global user base. Our methods to achieve ethical AI include engaging the users of our products with informed consent, prioritizing the security of our user’s personal information, considering and avoiding potential bias in our algorithms, and monitoring of algorithm performance in our applications.

The Company also owns an entity in Colombia, MultiPay. On May 4, 2022, the Board approved a plan to exit from certain non-core activities comprising the MultiPay correspondent bank, payments services in Colombia and the Cards Plus cards manufacturing and printing business in South Africa. On August 29, 2022 the Company completed the sale of Cards Plus business. On June 30, 2023, the Company completed the exit of the MultiPay business. See Discontinued Operations.

The Company was incorporated in the State of Delaware on September 21, 2011 and changed our name to authID Inc. on July 18, 2022.

Our Common Stock is traded on the Nasdaq Capital Market under the trading symbol “AUID”. Our main address is 1580 North Logan Street, Suite 660, Unit 51767, Denver, CO 80203 and our main phone number is (516) 274-8700. We maintain a website at www.authID.ai (http://www.authID.ai). The information contained on, or that can be accessed through, our websites is not incorporated by reference into this prospectus and is intended for informational purposes only.

Going Concern

The Company’s unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements included in this Quarterly Report have been prepared in accordance with United States GAAP assuming the Company will continue on a going concern basis, which implies the Company will continue to meet its obligations and continue its operations for the next year following the issuance date of these financial statements.

As of September 30, 2023, the Company had an accumulated deficit of approximately $156.3 million. For the nine months ended September 30, 2023, the Company earned revenue of approximately $0.12 million, used $6.2 million to fund its operations, and incurred a net loss from continuing operations of approximately $16.4 million. The continuation of the Company as a going concern is dependent upon financial support from the Company’s stockholders and noteholders, the ability of the Company to obtain additional debt or equity financing to continue operations, the Company’s ability to generate sufficient cash flows from operations, successfully locating and negotiating with other business entities for potential acquisition and /or acquiring new clients to generate revenues and cash flows.

During the nine months ended September 30, 2023, the Company has secured additional financing of approximately $6.4 million net, which provides funding for its current operations as it continues to invest in its product, people, and technology. Although there is no guarantee, the Company projects that the investments will lead to revenue expansion thereby reducing liquidity needs. However, in order to further implement its business plan and satisfy its working capital requirements, the Company will need to raise additional capital. There is no guarantee that the Company will be able to raise additional equity or debt financing at acceptable terms, if at all.

There is no assurance that the Company will ever be profitable. These consolidated financial statements do not include any adjustments to reflect the possible future effects on the recoverability and classification of assets or the amounts and classifications of liabilities that may result should the Company be unable to continue as a going concern. As there can be no assurance that the Company will be able to achieve positive cash flows (become cash flow profitable) and raise sufficient capital to maintain operations, there is substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern.

Adjusted EBITDA

This discussion includes information about Adjusted EBITDA that is not prepared in accordance with GAAP. Adjusted EBITDA is not based on any standardized methodology prescribed by GAAP and is not necessarily comparable to similar measures presented by other companies. A reconciliation of this non-GAAP measure is included below. Adjusted EBITDA is a non-GAAP financial measure that represents GAAP net income (loss) adjusted to exclude (1) interest expense and debt discount and debt issuance costs amortization expense, (2) interest income, (3) provision for income taxes, (4) depreciation and amortization, (5) stock-based compensation expense (stock options) and (6) loss on debt extinguishment, and conversion expense on exchange of Convertible Notes and certain other items management believes affect the comparability of operating results. Management believes that Adjusted EBITDA, when viewed with our results under GAAP and the accompanying reconciliations, provides useful information about our period-over-period results. Adjusted EBITDA is presented because management believes it provides additional information with respect to the performance of our fundamental business activities and is also frequently used by securities analysts, investors and other interested parties in the evaluation of comparable companies. We also rely on Adjusted EBITDA as a primary measure to review and assess the operating performance of our company and our management, and it will be a focus as we invest in and grow the business. Adjusted EBITDA has limitations as an analytical tool, and you should not consider it in isolation from, or as a substitute for, analysis of our results as reported under GAAP. Some of these limitations are:

• Adjusted EBITDA does not reflect our cash expenditures or future requirements for capital expenditures or contractual commitments;
• Adjusted EBITDA does not reflect changes in, or cash requirements for, our working capital needs;
• Although depreciation and amortization are non-cash charges, the assets being depreciated and amortized will often have to be replaced in the future, and Adjusted EBITDA does not reflect any cash requirements for such replacements;
• Adjusted EBITDA does not include the impact of certain charges or gains resulting from matters we consider not to be indicative of our ongoing operations.

Because of these limitations, Adjusted EBITDA should not be considered as a measure of discretionary cash available to us to invest in the growth of our business. We compensate for these limitations by relying primarily on our GAAP results and using Adjusted EBITDA only as a supplement to our GAAP results.

Reconciliation of Loss from Continuing Operations to Adjusted EBITDA Continuing Operations:

26

Three and Nine Months Ended September 30, 2023 and September 30, 2022 – Continuing Operations

Revenues, net

During the three and nine months ended September 30, 2023, the Company’s revenues from Verified software licenses were approximately $42,000 and $114,000 compared to approximately $30,000 and $117,000 in the three and nine months ended September 30, 2022.

Legacy authentication services revenues were approximately $1,000 and $4,000, respectively during the three months and nine months ended September 30, 2023 compared to approximately $0 and $145,000, respectively for the three months and nine months ended September 30, 2022. Revenue from Legacy authentication services dropped significantly as the Company phased out older product offerings in 2022.

General and administrative expenses

During the three and nine months ended September 30, 2023 compared to the three and nine months ended September 30, 2022, general and administrative expense decreased by approximately $0.9 million and $5.9 million principally due to the Company’s Labor Reduction Plan, other cost saving measures resulting in lower headcount costs and lower third party vendors costs.

Research and development expenses

During the three-month and nine-month periods ended September 30, 2023 compared to September 30, 2022, research and development expenses decreased by approximately $0.9 million and $3.0 million as the Company implemented the Labor Reduction Plan, decreased staffing and third party resources.

Depreciation and amortization expense

During the three and nine months ended September 30, 2023 compared to September 30, 2022, depreciation and amortization expense was approximately $0.15 and $0.5 million less as the Company reduced the value of certain legacy business asset values.

Interest expense, net

Interest expense, net includes interest expense, debt issuance and discount amortization expense. Interest expense decreased by approximately $0.4 million during the three-month period ended September 30, 2023 compared to September 30, 2022 principally due to the exchange of Convertible Notes for common stock in May 2023. Interest expense increased by approximately $0.2 million during the nine months ended September 30, 2023 due to the issuance of $9.2 million of Convertible Notes in late March 2022, the majority of which was exchanged for common stock in May 2023.

Loss on debt extinguishment

During the nine months ended September 30, 2023, loss on debt extinguishment increased by approximately $0.4 million due to the write-off of unamortized debt issuance costs related to the Initial Promissory Note as the note balance was capitalized and extinguished in the periods. See Note 5 to the unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements “Working Capital Facility”.

Conversion expense

During the nine months ended September 30, 2023, conversion expense was approximately $7.5 million as a result of the additional shares issued by the Company in exchange for the Convertible Notes, above the number of shares that the Holders would have received upon conversion at the original conversion price under the Convertible Notes. See Note 6 to the unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements “Convertible Notes Payable”.

Three and Nine Months Ended September 30, 2023 and September 30, 2022 – Discontinued Operations

On May 4, 2022, the Board approved a plan to exit from certain non-core activities comprising the MultiPay correspondent bank, payments services in Colombia and the Card Plus cards manufacturing and printing business in South Africa.

Cards Plus business in South Africa

On August 29, 2022, the Company completed the sale of Cards Plus business for a price of $300,000, less $3,272 in costs to sell, and recognized a loss of $188,247 from the transaction. Of the $300,000 gross proceeds, $150,000 was paid on closing and the remaining balance of $150,000 was recorded in other current assets as of September 30, 2023. While the Company and Cards Plus continue to actively pursue payment of the remaining balance, which is subject to regulatory approval, management re-evaluated the likelihood of recovery and recorded an allowance for doubtful account in September 30, 2023 related to this receivable.

MultiPay business in Colombia

On June 30, 2023, the Company completed the sale of MultiPay business software for a price of approximately $96,000 including VAT, less $20,000 in fixed assets write-off, and recognized approximately $216,000 net gain from the transaction. The gross proceeds have been collected as of September 30, 2023.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

The Company has approximately $3.8 million of cash on hand and approximately $3.3 million of working capital as of September 30, 2023.

Cash used in operating activities was approximately $6.2 million and $9.6 million in the nine months ended September 30, 2023 and 2022, respectively.

Cash flows from investing activities for the nine months ended September 30, 2023 was approximately $17,000 for purchases of intangible assets and net cash used in investing activities for the nine months ended September 30, 2022 was approximately $183,000 for from cash disposed from sale of a continued operation, net of proceeds received from sale of discontinued operations.

Cash provided by financing activities in the nine months ended September 30, 2023 consisted of approximately $6.3 million in proceeds from the sale of common stock, net of offering costs, and $0.5 million initial drawdown net of debt issuance costs under the Company’s A&R Facility Agreement.

Cash provided by financing activities in the nine months ended September 30, 2022 consisted of approximately $3.1 million net proceeds from sale of common stock, net of offering costs and approximately $8 million net proceeds from issuance of Convertible Notes.

In 2023 and 2024, the Company will need to raise additional funds to support its operations and investments as it seeks to create a sustainable organization. There is no guarantee that such financing will be available, or available on acceptable terms. Our growth-oriented business plan to offer products to our customers will require continued capital investment. Research and development activities and technology deployment will require continued investment. We have raised approximately $6.4 million in 2023 (net of offering costs), through equity and debt financing at varying terms, which provides funding for our current operations as the Company continues to invest in its product, people, and technology. In order to further implement its business plan and satisfy its working capital requirements, the Company will need to raise additional capital. There is no guarantee that the Company will be able to raise additional equity or debt financing at acceptable terms, if at all.

There is no guarantee that our current business plan will not change, and as a result of such change, we will need additional capital to implement such business plan. Further, assuming we achieve our expected growth plan, of which there is no guarantee, we will need additional capital to implement growth beyond our current business plan.

Covid 19

Covid-19 emerged globally in December 2019, and it has been declared a pandemic. Covid-19 is still impacting customers, business, results and financial condition throughout the world. The Company’s day-to-day operations have been impacted differently depending on geographic location and services that are being performed. The Company cannot predict the potential impact of any future pandemics.

Ukraine and the Middle East

The ongoing war in Ukraine and the war recently commenced in the Middle East following the terrorist attack by Hamas, may impact the Company and its operations in a number of different ways, which are yet to be fully assessed and are therefore causing uncertainty. The Company works with third party sub-contractors for outsourced services, including software engineering and development, some of whom are based in Eastern Europe, including Ukraine. The Company also works with outsourced engineers and developers and third-party providers in other parts of the world, including the United States, Eastern Europe and Pakistan. While the continuing impact of these conflicts and the response of the United States and other countries to them by means of trade and economic sanctions, or other actions is still unknown, any disruption of our ability to work with such contractors caused by these conflicts could require the Company to seek alternative sub-contractors at short notice, which may give rise to additional costs and delays in delivering software and product upgrades.

The uncertainty impacting and potential interruption in energy and other supply chains resulting from military hostilities in Europe and the Middle East and the response of the United States and other countries to them by means of trade and economic sanctions, or other actions, may give rise to increases in costs of goods and services generally and may impact the market for our products as prospective customers reconsider additional capital expenditure, or other investment plans until the situation becomes clearer. On the other hand, the threat of increased cyber-attacks from Russia or other countries may prompt enterprises to adopt additional security measures such as those offered by the Company.

For so long as the hostilities continue and perhaps even thereafter as the situations in Europe and the Middle East unfold, we may see increased volatility in financial markets which may make it more difficult for the Company to raise additional capital at the time when it needs to do so, or for financing to be available on acceptable terms. All or any of these risks separately, or in combination, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows.

Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements

The Company has no off-balance sheet arrangements that are reasonably likely to have a current or future effect on our financial condition, changes in financial condition, revenues or expenses, results of operations, liquidity, capital expenditures or capital resources that is deemed by our management to be material to investors.

Recent Accounting Policies

The recent material accounting policies that may be the most critical to understanding of the financial results and conditions are discussed in Note 1 of the unaudited financial statements.

Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures

As of the end of the period covered by this Quarterly Report, our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer performed an evaluation of the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures as defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) of the Exchange Act. Based on the evaluation, the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer concluded that, as of September 30, 2023, as a result of a material weakness discussed below, the Company’s disclosure controls and procedures were not effective to ensure that the information required to be disclosed by the Company in the report that it files or submits under the Exchange Act is recorded, processed, summarized, and reported within the time periods specified in SEC rules and forms.

Material Weakness in Internal Control Over Financial Reporting

During the quarter ended June 30, 2023, the Company identified a material weakness in its internal control over financial reporting related to the review of accounting treatment for the Convertible Notes conversion transaction, which occurred during the period. The Convertible Note conversion transaction which gave rise to this issue (See Note 6 “Convertible Notes Payable”) was a complex and infrequent transaction, which requires particular accounting treatment. The correct accounting treatment was not immediately identified by the Company, due to the Company’s limited resources available for advanced technical analysis and advice, similar to other companies of our size. The correct accounting treatment was identified and reflected prior to filing of the quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2023 and no previously published financial statements were impacted by this issue.

Our plan to remediate this material weakness is to undertake a review of the Company’s activities during each quarter in order to identify any potential complex accounting matters and then to engage a CPA advisory firm to review the proposed accounting treatment on any complex accounting matters that may arise in the future.

A material weakness is a deficiency, or combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting, such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of the company’s annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis.

Changes in Internal Control over Financial Reporting

There were no changes in our internal control over financial reporting (as that term is defined in Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f) under the Exchange Act) that occurred during the nine months ended September 30, 2023 that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.

Risk factors describing the major risks to our business can be found under Item 1A, “Risk Factors”, in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2022. Except as set forth below, which discusses a material weakness in our control over financial reporting as of September 30, 2023, and the recent outbreak of war in the Middle East following the terrorist attack by Hamas, there has been no material change in our risk factors from those previously discussed in the Annual Report on Form 10-K. We operate in a business environment that is sensitive to political, economic and regulatory uncertainty, including with respect to cybersecurity and infrastructure investment, all of which may also be compounded by any future global impact from the COVID-19 pandemic, the continuing wars in Ukraine and the Middle East and inflationary pressures, rising energy prices and increases in interest rates (see “Covid 19” and “Ukraine and the Middle East” above).

Our business is subject to changing regulations regarding corporate governance, disclosure controls, internal control over financial reporting and other compliance areas that will increase both our costs and the risk of noncompliance. If we fail to comply with these regulations, we could face difficulties in preparing and filing timely and accurate financial reports.

We are subject to the reporting requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the Dodd-Frank Act. We are also subject to the corporate governance and other listing rules of the Nasdaq Stock Market. Maintaining compliance with these rules and regulations, particularly after we cease to be an emerging growth company, will increase our legal, accounting and financial compliance costs, will make some activities more difficult, time-consuming and costly and may also place increased strain on our personnel, systems and resources.

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires, among other things, that we maintain effective disclosure controls and procedures and at the time we cease to be an emerging growth company and a smaller reporting company, we will be required to provide attestation that we maintain effective disclosure controls and procedures by our registered public accounting firm. Any failure to develop or maintain effective controls, or any difficulties encountered in their implementation or improvement, could harm our operating results or cause us to fail to meet our reporting obligations. Any failure to implement and maintain effective internal control also could adversely affect the results of periodic management evaluations regarding the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting that are required to include in our periodic reports filed with the SEC, under Section 404(a) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act or the annual auditor attestation reports regarding effectiveness of our internal controls over financial reporting that we will be required to include in our periodic reports filed with the SEC upon our ceasing to be an emerging growth company and a smaller reporting company, unless, under the JOBS Act, we meet certain criteria that would require such reports to be included prior to then, under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Ineffective disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting could also cause investors to lose confidence in our reported financial and other information, which would likely have a negative effect on the trading price of shares of our Common Stock.

In order to maintain the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting going forward, we will need to expend significant resources and provide significant management oversight. There is a substantial effort involved in continuing to implement appropriate processes, document our system of internal control over relevant processes, assess their design, remediate any deficiencies identified and test their operation. As a result, management’s attention may be diverted from other business concerns, which could harm our business, operating results and financial condition. These efforts will also involve substantial accounting-related costs. We may experience difficulty in meeting these reporting requirements in a timely manner.

As disclosed in Item 4 of this Quarterly Report, we had a material weakness in our control over financial reporting as of September 30, 2023. Management has taken action to implement a plan to remediate the various elements of this material weakness, with immediate effect in relation to the financial statements for the quarter and nine months ending September 30, 2023. The remediation plan is to undertake a review of the Company’s activities during each quarter in order to identify any potential complex accounting matters and then to engage a CPA advisory firm to review the proposed accounting treatment on any complex accounting matters that may arise in the future. The Company engaged a CPA advisory firm to advise on certain complex accounting matters with respect to the financial statements for the three and nine month periods ending and as of September 30, 2023.

If we are unable to appropriately implement and maintain this remediation plan and maintain any other necessary controls currently in place or that we implement in the future and pending such implementation, or if any difficulties are encountered in their implementation or improvement, (1) our management might not be able to certify, and our independent registered public accounting firm might not be able to report on, the adequacy of our internal control over financial reporting, which would cause us to fail to meet our reporting obligations, (2) misstatements in our financial statements may occur that may not be prevented or detected on a timely basis and (3) we may be deemed to have significant deficiencies or material weaknesses, any of which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Implementing any appropriate changes to our internal controls may require specific compliance training of our directors, officers and employees, entail substantial costs in order to modify our existing accounting systems, and take a significant period of time to complete. Such changes may not, however, be effective in maintaining the adequacy of our internal controls, and any failure to maintain that adequacy, or consequent inability to produce accurate financial statements on a timely basis, could increase our operating costs and could materially impair our ability to operate our business. In the event that we are not able to demonstrate compliance with Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in a timely manner, our internal controls are perceived as inadequate or that we are unable to produce timely or accurate financial statements, our stock price could decline and we could be subject to sanctions or investigations by the SEC or other regulatory authorities, which would require additional financial and management resources.