SOBR Safe, Inc.: Form 10-K for the period ended Dec 31, 2021
Filed with the SEC on Mar 11, 2022 and accepted by EDGAR at Mar 11, 2022, 14:22 ET.
Business
As filed, 17,930 characters, with its headings, lists and tables. Extracted from the main document; charts and exhibits are in the original on sec.gov.
Corporate History
We were incorporated under the name Imagine Media, Ltd. in August 2007 to publish and distribute Image Magazine, a monthly guide and entertainment source for the Denver, Colorado area. We generated only limited revenue and essentially abandoned the business plan in January 2009. On September 19, 2011, we, Imagine Media, Ltd., a Delaware corporation, acquired approximately 52% of the outstanding shares of TransBiotec, Inc. ( “TBT”), a California corporation, from TBT’s directors in exchange for 12,416,462 shares of our common stock.
On January 17, 2012, our Board of Directors amended our Certificate of Incorporation changing our name from Imagine Media, Ltd. to TransBiotec, Inc.
On January 31, 2012, we acquired approximately 45% of the remaining outstanding shares of TBT in exchange for 10,973,678 shares of our common stock.
With the acquisitions in September 2011 and January 2012 of TBT common stock, we own approximately 99% of the outstanding shares of TBT.
As a result of the acquisitions, TBT’s business is our business, and, unless otherwise indicated, any references to the “Company,” “we” or “us” include the business and operations of TBT.
On March 9, 2020, in connection with our transaction with IDTEC, LLC (as detailed herein) our Board of Directors approved the amendment to our Certificate of Incorporation on March 9, 2020 and stockholders holding 52.24% of our then outstanding voting stock approved the amendment to our Articles of Incorporation. The Certificate of Amendment to our Certificate of Incorporation was for the purpose of, among other things, (i) changing our name from “TransBiotec, Inc.” to “SOBR Safe, Inc.”, (ii) effecting a 1-for-33.26 reverse stock split of our common stock, and (iii) decreasing our authorized common stock from 800,000,000 shares to 100,000,000 shares, and became effective with the State of Delaware on April 24, 2020.
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As a result of the reverse stock split effected by our Certificate of Amendment to our Certificate of Incorporation, every 33.26 shares of our outstanding common stock prior to the effect of that amendment were combined and reclassified into one share of our common stock, and the number of outstanding shares of our common stock at the time was reduced from 266,097,657 (pre-split) to approximately 8,000,000 (post-split). No fractional shares were issued in connection with the reverse stock split, and any of our stockholders that would have been entitled to receive a fractional share as a result of the reverse stock split will instead receive one additional share of our common stock in lieu of the fractional share. The reverse stock split did not in itself affect any stockholder’s ownership percentage of our common stock, except to the extent that any fractional share were rounded up to the nearest whole share.
At the open of trading on June 8, 2020, our new name and reverse stock split went effective with OTC Markets, and we began trading on the “OTC Pink Current Information” tier of OTC Markets on a post reverse stock split basis. Our ticker symbol for the quotation of our common stock is now “SOBR”. On November 16, 2020, we began trading on the “OTCQB” tier of OTC Markets.
Our common stock is currently quoted on the “OTCQB” tier of OTC Markets under the ticker symbol “SOBR”. We have engaged Alexander Capital LP regarding conducting a firm underwritten offering of the Units in connection with an uplist to Nasdaq. We are planning to complete an uplist to Nasdaq within the three months.
Our corporate offices are located at 6400 S. Fiddlers Green Circle, Suite 525, Greenwood Village, Colorado 80111, telephone number (844) 762-7723.
Business Overview
General
We intend to provide companies with non-invasive technology to identify potential alcohol issues quickly and safely with its employees or contractors, that if left undetected could cause injury or death. These technologies will be integrated within our robust and scalable data platform, producing statistical and measurable user and business data. Our mission is to save lives, increase productivity, create significant economic benefit for our customers, and positively impact behavior. To that end, we developed the scalable, patent-pending SOBRSafe™ software platform for non-invasive alcohol detection and identity verification, a solution that has anticipated applications in commercial vehicle fleets, manufacturing and warehousing, construction, and for commercial fleet and youth drivers in a wearable form. We believe that uniform daily use of our device could result in material insurance savings across Workers’ Comp, general liability and fleet policies.
We have successfully completed several pilot testing programs involving our SOBRcheck™ device, which is our first device that has our scalable, patent-pending SOBRSafe™ software platform for non-invasive alcohol detection and identity verification. These pilot programs have provided validation of both our SOBRSafe™ software platform and our SOBRcheck™ device. As a result, we have now progressed to commercial production of our first SOBRcheck™ devices which we began using for our initial customers. At the end of 2021, we had several customers in the sales cycle, but our SOBRcheck™ devices were not delivered to them until January 2022. As a result, we will not invoice these customers or receive any revenue from the customers until the first quarter of 2022. The timing of our commercial launch of our SOBRcheck™ device has been delayed several times in 2021 primarily as a result of our pursuit of adequate financing (since obtained), signing up pilot customers to test our device (which was more difficult over the summer due to travel schedules, etc. of some of our target customers), and some supply chain issues largely caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, during the pilot testing of our SOBRcheck™ device we discovered that alcohol-based hand sanitizer caused false readings by the device. In response to this discovery, we have made adjustments to the analytics in our SOBRSafe™ technology and added a required protocol of not utilizing alcohol-based sanitizers to our protocols for using the SOBRcheck™ device.
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Our second device, a wearable wristband (SOBRsure™), utilizes the same SOBRsafe™ sensor technology, which proved out during the SOBRcheck™ pilot tests. The primary intended application for this band is for young individual drivers and commercial fleet management, with an additional potential application in alcohol rehabilitation. We plan for the wearable band to be commercially available in August 2022.
Manufacturing and assembly of our SOBRcheck™ device will take place in the United States. We currently utilize two companies for manufacturing of the SOBRcheck device. We utilize Alfred Manufacturing for the injection molding of the SOBRcheck device, and Nova Engineering for the assembly, packaging, and shipping of the device. We do not have agreements in place with these companies and we operate with them on a purchase order/payment basis. We supply a purchase order, which they fulfill, and then they send us an invoice.
Our SOBRsafe™ technology can also be deployed across numerous additional devices for various uses; among those we are currently exploring include possible integrations with existing telematics systems, and it could be licensed by non-competitive third parties. Currently, our plan is to deploy our SOBRSafe™ technology in two initial devices: the SOBRcheck™ system and the wearable band (SOBRsure™).
SOBRcheck™
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SOBRcheck™ is our stationary identification and alcohol monitoring product. When installed, SOBRcheck™ enables a rapid, hygienic biometric finger scan to authenticate ID and determine the presence or absence of alcohol. The SOBRcheck™ product will provide the employer with real-time results, delivered securely, to more efficiently manage their existing substance abuse policy. Our device is meant to be a specific point in time, quick test for the presence of alcohol, with the results to be used as a complementary data source in support of the employer’s alcohol policies. If alcohol is detected by the device, then our customers follow up in accordance with its own policies, which could include additional tests via a blood test or breathalyzer (we will not provide these devices). We will gather de-identified information regarding Pass/Fail tests for use in determining trends in a company and/or industry, etc. but such information does not include any specific data about the individual user, only whether a pass or fail result occurred. We initiated a structured approach to gathering market intelligence in the first quarter of 2021, and launched our direct sales program in October 2021.
Wearable Band
The transdermal, alcohol-detecting wearable band contains our SOBRsafe™ technology for ongoing, real-time alcohol monitoring. We intend to make the band commercially available by August 2022.
Once commercialized, our SOBRcheck™ revenue model consists of a recurring monthly SaaS fee per user. Upon commercial launch of the wearable band SOBRsure™, we plan to employ a one-time device purchase price and a monthly per user subscription fee.
We believe our device portfolio approach could yield a substantial repository of results based data. This de-identified data can be leveraged for future product improvements and trending analysis – a potentially monetizable asset for additional analytics. The opportunity to collect a substantial volume of data points over time could enable the development of business and insurance liability benchmarking, and through AI, powerful guidance for perpetual safety improvement (and associated cost savings capture). By demonstrating alcohol-free environments, employers could deliver a data-driven argument for lowering insurance premiums. We could potentially partner with insurance providers to mandate use of the SOBRsafe™ devices and/or technology.
In addition to focusing on the development, marketing and commercialization of the SOBRcheck™ and SOBRsure™, we are also constantly reviewing emerging and/or synergistic technologies and businesses for potential acquisitions and/or partnerships, primarily technologies that detect, or may detect, the presence of substances in the human body.
The Substance Abuse Problem
Our management believes the key to developing a successful product is to find a potential solution to a need not being adequately addressed with current technologies. When that need also involves a potential solution for a societal crisis – like the impact of substance abuse on the workplace and individual lives – then the motivation is even stronger, and the potential results that much more impactful.
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Through criminal-justice related costs, lost work productivity and healthcare expenses, the annual cost of alcohol abuse in the U.S. is estimated to be $249 billion. Half of all industrial accidents involve alcohol, and commercial fleets suffer from over 11,000 alcohol-related accidents each year. We believe our technology provides a solution that addresses this problem.
Competitive Advantages
Once commercialized, SOBRsafe™ will be a leading provider of preventative transdermal (touch-based) alcohol detection systems in the U.S. market – we seek to eliminate the possibility of alcohol-related accidents and not simply punish the offender post-fact. Companies like SCRAM, BACTRACK, BI TAD, Soberlink, Smart Start, Intoxalock and others are primarily focused on the judicially-mandated market, i.e. breathalyzers for blood alcohol content (BAC) measurement, or court-ordered ankle monitors.
Our SOBRcheck™ device is a patent-pending, touch-based identity verification and alcohol detection solution. A user places two fingers on the device’s sensors: one compares biometric data points from the finger to confirm identity, while the other senses alcohol released through the pores of the fingertip.
Marketing
We have developed a marketing plan that includes 1) outsourced multi-channel appointment setting, 2) direct sales, 3) popular and trade media public relations, 4) advocacy group alignment, 5) dynamic social media brand development and 5) continuous pursuit of cutting-edge detection technologies for future integration.
We have recently concluded pilot programs with a global employer, a major commercial insurer and Michigan’s largest food management company. The pilot programs were successful, and we have moved into the revenue generation phase.
Research and Development
Our SOBRsafe™ system for non-invasive alcohol detection and identity verification has been completed and tested. Based on the results of testing, including in a live pilot program with Michigan’s largest food management company, we believe the system is ready for broad commercial use and our direct sales efforts are underway.
SOBRcheckTM, the patent-pending, multiuser, touch-based alcohol detection platform with identity detection, evidenced outstanding performance in pilot testing and is now available for broad commercial installation.
Intellectual Property
We currently have the following patent and patent applications related to our SOBRsafe™ system and related devices:
1) U.S. Patent No. 9,296,298, titled “Alcohol detection system for vehicle driver testing with integral temperature compensation”, which expires in 2032.
2) Provisional Patent Application No. 63,014,776, titled “Non-invasive Transdermal Alcohol Screening System”
3) Provisional Patent Application No. 63,109,134, titled “Wearable Data Collection Device w/Non-Invasive Sensing”
We are applying for trademarks related to the SOBRsafe™ system, SOBRcheck™ and SOBRsure™. We have also applied for trademark registration for “SOBR” as standard characters with no specific formatting.
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Government Regulation
At the present time, only the judicially mandated market is regulated. Devices sold into this market must be approved by state government agencies. Since we utilize a unique “Pass/Fail” methodology that simply alerts to the presence of alcohol (as opposed to measuring a discrete BAC) – information that may be used at the discretion of the employer (or counselor, parent, etc.) – we do not believe we will be subject to any government regulation.
Employees
As of March 11, 2022, there are a total of 9 full time employees, including Chairman/CEO/Secretary David Gandini, CFO Jerry Wenzel, EVP and Chief Revenue Officer Michael Watson, and EVP of Operations Scott Bennett.
Human Capital Resources
The remainder of our workforce is consultants due to the nature of our business. As it relates to our employees and the consultants that work with us:
Oversight and Management
Our executive officers are tasked with leading our organization in managing employment-related matters, including recruiting and hiring, onboarding and training, compensation planning and talent management and development. We are committed to providing team members with the training and resources necessary to continually strengthen their skills. Our executive team is responsible for periodically reviewing team member programs and initiatives, including healthcare and other benefits, as well as our management development and succession planning practices. Management periodically reports to the Board regarding our human capital measures and results that guide how we attract, retain and develop a workforce to enable our business strategies.
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
We believe that a diverse workforce is critical to our success, and we continue to monitor and improve the application of our hiring, retention, compensation and advancement processes for women and underrepresented populations across our workforce, including persons of color, veterans and LGBTQ+ to enhance our inclusive and diverse culture. We continue to invest in recruiting diverse talent.
Workplace Safety and Health
A vital part of our business is providing our workforce with a safe, healthy and sustainable working environment. We focus on implementing change through workforce observation and feedback channels to recognize risk and continuously improve our processes.
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Importantly during 2021, our focus on providing a positive work environment on workplace safety have enabled us to preserve business continuity without sacrificing our commitment to keeping our colleagues and workplace visitors safe during the COVID-19 pandemic. We took immediate action at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic to enact rigorous safety protocols in our facilities by improving sanitation measures, implementing mandatory social distancing, use of facing coverings, reducing on-site workforce through staggered shifts and schedules, remote working where possible, and restricting visitor access to our locations. We believe these actions helped minimize the impact of COVID-19 on our workforce.
Corporate Information
Our corporate offices are located at 6400 S. Fiddlers Green Circle, Suite 525, Greenwood Village, Colorado 80111, telephone number (844) 762-7723.
Available Information
We are a fully reporting issuer, subject to the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Our Quarterly Reports, Annual Reports, and other filings can be obtained from the SEC’s Public Reference Room at 100 F Street, NE., Washington, DC 20549, on official business days during the hours of 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. You may also obtain information on the operation of the Public Reference Room by calling the Commission at 1-800-SEC-0330. The Commission maintains an Internet site that contains reports, proxy and information statements, and other information regarding issuers that file electronically with the Commission at http://www.sec.gov.
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Risk factors
As filed, 57,068 characters, with its headings, lists and tables. Extracted from the main document; charts and exhibits are in the original on sec.gov.
As a smaller reporting company, we are not required to provide a statement of risk factors. However, we believe this information may be valuable to our shareholders for this filing. We reserve the right to not provide risk factors in our future filings. Our primary risk factors and other considerations include:
We have a limited operating history and historical financial information upon which you may evaluate our performance.
You should consider, among other factors, our prospects for success in light of the risks and uncertainties encountered by companies that, like us, are in their early stages of development. We may not successfully address these risks and uncertainties or successfully implement our existing and new products. If we fail to do so, it could materially harm our business and impair the value of our common stock. Even if we accomplish these objectives, we may not generate positive cash flows or profits . We were incorporated in Delaware on August 10, 2007. Our business to date focused on developing and improving our technologies, potential products, filing patents, and hiring management and staff personnel. Unanticipated problems, expenses and delays are frequently encountered in establishing a new business and developing new products. These include, but are not limited to, inadequate funding, lack of consumer acceptance, competition, product development, and inadequate sales and marketing. The failure by us to meet any of these conditions would have a materially adverse effect upon us and may force us to reduce or curtail operations. No assurance can be given that we can or will ever operate profitably.
We may not be able to meet our future capital needs.
To date, we have not generated any revenue and we have limited cash liquidity and capital resources. Our future capital requirements will depend on many factors, including our ability to develop our products, generate cash flow from operations, and competing market developments. We will need additional capital in the near future. Any equity financings will result in dilution to our then-existing stockholders. Sources of debt financing may result in high interest expense. Any financing, if available, may be on unfavorable terms. If adequate funds are not obtained, we will be required to reduce or curtail operations.
If we cannot obtain additional funding, our technology and product development and commercialization efforts may be reduced or discontinued and we may not be able to continue operations.
We have experienced recurring net losses since inception, and as of December 31, 2021, had an accumulated deficit of $57,471,492. We believe that we will continue to incur substantial operating expenses in the foreseeable future as we continue to invest to develop and expand and technology and product offerings and attract new customers. These efforts may prove more expensive than we anticipate, and we may not succeed in obtaining the net revenue and operating margins necessary to offset these expenses. Accordingly, we may not be able to achieve profitability, and we may incur significant losses for the foreseeable future.
Development of our technology and our product development efforts are highly dependent on the amount of cash and cash equivalents on hand combined with our ability to raise additional capital to support our future operations through one or more methods, including but not limited to, issuing additional equity or debt.
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In addition, we may also raise additional capital through additional equity offerings and licensing our future products in development. While we will continue to explore these potential opportunities, there can be no assurances that we will be successful in raising sufficient capital on terms acceptable to us, or at all, or that we will be successful in licensing our future products.
Our recurring operating losses have raised substantial doubt regarding our ability to continue as a going concern.
Our recurring operating losses raise substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern. As a result, our independent registered public accounting firm included an explanatory paragraph in its report on our financial statements as and for the years ended December 31, 2021, and 2020 with respect to this uncertainty. As reflected in the financial statements, we had a stockholders’ deficit of $483,593 on December 31, 2021, incurred a net loss of $7,870,378 and used net cash in operating activities of $3,688,302 during the year ended December 31, 2021. The perception of our ability to continue as a going concern may make it more difficult for us to obtain financing for the continuation of our operations and could result in the loss of confidence by investors, suppliers and employees.
Our business plan, which is focused on the development and commercialization of alcohol detection devices, is dependent upon our SOBR® Safe™ technology. If that technology proves to be ineffective at detecting alcohol in person’s system through secretions from their skin it would significantly impact our business.
Our business is dependent upon our SOBR® Safe™ technology. Our business plan calls for us to develop and commercialize alcohol detection devices based on our SOBR® Safe™ technology. In the event that technology proves to be ineffective at detecting alcohol in person’s system through secretions from their skin, it would significantly impact our business.
Our quarterly and annual operating results may fluctuate significantly and may not fully reflect the underlying performance of our business. This makes our future operating results difficult to predict and could cause our operating results to fall below expectations or any guidance we may provide.
Our quarterly and annual results of operations, including our revenue, profitability and cash flow, may vary significantly in the future, and period-to-period comparisons of our operating results may not be meaningful. Accordingly, the results of any one quarter or period should not be relied upon as an indication of future performance. Our quarterly and annual operating results may fluctuate significantly as a result of a variety of factors, many of which are outside our control and, as a result, may not fully reflect the underlying performance of our business. Such fluctuations in quarterly and annual operating results may decrease the value of our common stock. Because our quarterly operating results may fluctuate, period-to-period comparisons may not be the best indication of the underlying results of our business and should only be relied upon as one factor in determining how our business is performing. These fluctuations may occur due to a variety of factors, many of which are outside of our control, including, but not limited to:
- the level of adoption and demand for our products in our key industries like insurance companies, fleet companies, manufacturing facilities, etc.
- positive or negative coverage in the media, or changes in commercial perception, of our products or competing products, including our brand reputation;
- the degree of competition in our industry and any change in the competitive landscape, including consolidation among competitors or future partners;
- any safety, reliability or effectiveness concerns that arise regarding our products;
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- unanticipated pricing pressures in connection with the sale of our products;
- the effectiveness of our sales and marketing efforts, including our ability to deploy a sufficient number of qualified representatives to sell and market our products;
- the timing of customer orders for our products and the number of available selling days in any quarterly period, which can be impacted by holidays, the mix of products sold and the geographic mix of where products are sold;
- unanticipated delays in product development or product launches;
- the cost of manufacturing our products, which may vary depending on the quantity of production and the terms of our agreements with third-party suppliers;
- our ability to raise additional capital on acceptable terms, or at all, if needed to support the commercialization of our products;
- our ability to achieve and maintain compliance with all regulatory requirements applicable to our products and services;
- our ability to obtain, maintain and enforce our intellectual property rights;
- our ability and our third-party suppliers’ ability to supply the components of our products in a timely manner, in accordance with our specifications, and in compliance with applicable regulatory requirements; and
- introduction of new products or technologies that compete with our products.
The cumulative effects of these factors could result in large fluctuations and unpredictability in our quarterly and annual operating results. If our assumptions regarding the risks and uncertainties we face, which we use to plan our business, are incorrect or change due to circumstances in our business or our markets, or if we do not address these risks successfully, our operating and financial results could deviate materially from our expectations and our business could suffer.
This variability and unpredictability could also result in our failure to meet the expectations of industry or financial analysts or investors for any period. If our revenue or operating results fall below the expectations of analysts or investors or below any forecasts we may provide to the market, it will negatively affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
The coronavirus pandemic is causing disruptions in the workplace, which will have negative repercussions on our business if they continue for an extended period time.
We are closely monitoring the coronavirus pandemic and the directives from federal and local authorities regarding not only our workforce, but how it impacts companies we work with for the development of our SOBRSafe™ technology and the devices that deploy that technology. Currently states and localities are fluctuating and inconsistent in their implementation of social distancing and “work from home” regulations. If those regulations increase then the chances increase that more and more companies will be forced to either shut down, slow down or alter their work routines. Since the development and testing of our SOBR technologies and the potential platform devices is a “hands on” process, these alternative work arrangements could significantly slow down our anticipated schedules for the development, marketing and leasing/sale of our SOBR devices, which could have a negative impact our business.
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Because we face intense competition, we may not be able to operate profitably in our markets.
The market for our products is highly competitive and is becoming more so, which could hinder our ability to successfully market our products. We may not have the resources, expertise or other competitive factors to compete successfully in the future. We expect to face additional competition from existing competitors and new market entrants in the future. Many of our competitors have greater name recognition and more established relationships in the industry than we do. As a result, these competitors may be able to:
| ☐ | develop and expand their product offerings more rapidly; |
| ☐ | adapt to new or emerging changes in customer requirements more quickly; |
| ☐ | take advantage of acquisition and other opportunities more readily; and |
| ☐ | devote greater resources to the marketing and sale of their products and adopt more aggressive pricing policies than we can. |
If our products do not gain expected market acceptance, prospects for our sales revenue may be affected.
We intend to use the SOBR Safe™ technology in various platforms in the preventative, B2B market, as opposed to the judicially-mandated individual user market. Currently, most alcohol sensing devices are breath analyzers and ankle bracelets employed in the judicially-mandated market where the use is usually required by law as a punishment for committing a crime. We will be asking companies and institutions that have an interest in monitoring whether their employees or contractors have alcohol in their systems due to their job responsibilities (such as fleet and school bus drivers, factory machinists, forklift operators, etc.), to adopt a new requirement that their employees or contractors must abide in order to remain employed. While we believe this will be attractive to many companies and industries, we must achieve some level of market acceptance to be successful. If we are unable to achieve market acceptance, our investors could lose their entire investment.
If critical components become unavailable or contract manufacturers delay their production, our business will be negatively impacted.
Currently, we manufacture the limited number of SOBRCheck™ prototype devices we have developed by applying our proprietary know-how to “off the shelf” parts and components. However, if we are successful in our growth plan, eventually we will have to contract out our manufacturing of the devices. At that time, the stability of component supply will be crucial to determining our manufacturing process. Due to the fact we currently manufacture the device from “off the shelf” parts and components, all of our critical devices and components are supplied by certain third-party manufacturers, and we may be unable to acquire necessary amounts of key components at competitive prices.
If we are successful in our growth, outsourcing the production of certain parts and components would be one way to reduce manufacturing costs. We plan to select these particular manufacturers based on their ability to consistently produce these products according to our requirements in an effort to obtain the best quality product at the most cost effective price. However, the loss of all or one of these suppliers or delays in obtaining shipments would have an adverse effect on our operations until an alternative supplier could be found, if one may be located at all. If we get to that stage of growth, such loss of manufacturers could cause us to breach any contracts we have in place at that time and would likely cause us to lose sales.
If our contract manufacturers fail to meet our requirements for quality, quantity and timeliness, our business growth could be harmed.
We eventually plan to outsource the manufacturing of devices utilizing the SOBR® Safe™ alcohol detection system to contract manufacturers. These manufacturers will procure most of the raw materials for us and provide all necessary facilities and labor to manufacture our products. If these companies were to terminate their agreements with us without adequate notice, or fail to provide the required capacity and quality on a timely basis, we would be delayed in our ability or unable to process and deliver our products to our customers.
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Our products could contain defects or they may be installed or operated incorrectly, which could reduce sales of those products or result in claims against us.
Although we have quality assurance practices in place to ensure good product quality, defects still may be found in the future in our future products.
End-users could lose their confidence in our products and/or our company if they unexpectedly use defective products or use our products improperly. This could result in loss of revenue, loss of profit margin, or loss of market share.
We have limited experience manufacturing our products in large-scale commercial quantities, and we face a number of manufacturing risks that may adversely affect our manufacturing abilities which could delay, prevent or impair our growth.
Our growth strategy depends on our ability to manufacture our current and future products in sufficient quantities and on a timely basis to meet customer demand, while adhering to product quality standards, complying with regulatory quality system requirements, and managing manufacturing costs. We do not own our own manufacturing facility but plan to outsource with third party manufacturing companies for our manufacturing. We currently utilize two companies for manufacturing, which has not begun on a large scale yet. We utilize Alfred Manufacturing for the injection molding of the SOBRcheck™ device, and Nova Engineering for the assembly, packaging, and shipping of the device. If this facility, or any of our future manufacturing facilities, suffers damage, or a force majeure event, such damage or event could materially impact our ability to operate, which could materially and adversely affect our business and financial performance.
We are also subject to numerous other risks relating to our manufacturing capabilities, including:
- quality and reliability of components, sub-assemblies and materials that we source from third- party suppliers, who are required to meet our quality specifications, almost all of whom are single source suppliers for the items and materials that they supply;
- our inability to secure components, sub-assemblies and materials in a timely manner, in sufficient quantities or on commercially reasonable terms;
- our inability to maintain compliance with quality system requirements or pass regulatory quality inspections;
- our failure to increase production capacity or volumes to meet demand;
- potential risks associated with disruptions in our supply chain, such as on account of the COVID- 19 pandemic or other macroeconomic events;
- lead times associated with securing key components;
- our inability to design or modify production processes to enable us to produce future products efficiently or implement changes in current products in response to design or regulatory requirements; and
- difficulty identifying and qualifying, and obtaining new regulatory approvals, for alternative suppliers for components in a timely manner.
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These risks are likely to be exacerbated by our limited experience with our current products and manufacturing processes. As demand for our products increases, we will have to invest additional resources to purchase components, sub-assemblies and materials, hire and train employees and enhance our manufacturing processes. If we fail to increase our production capacity efficiently, we may not be able to fill customer orders on a timely basis, our sales may not increase in line with our expectations and our operating margins could fluctuate or decline. In addition, although some future products may share product features, components, sub-assemblies and materials with our existing products, the manufacture of these products may require modification of our current production processes or unique production processes, the hiring of specialized employees, the identification of new suppliers for specific components, sub-assemblies and materials or the development of new manufacturing technologies. It may not be possible for us to manufacture these products at a cost or in quantities sufficient to make these products commercially viable or to maintain current operating margins, all of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Because our technology is innovative and disruptive, we may require additional time to enter the market due to the need to further discover the profile companies within our target markets.
Our products are new to the marketplace. As a result, we will need time to penetrate our target markets by furthering developing the profile companies that could benefit the most from our products and technology. If we are not successful in discovering these companies it could greatly slow our growth and adversely impact our financial condition.
We are currently only selling our products through direct sales and will need time to develop relationships with distributors in order to properly grow the market for our products.
We currently rely on our direct sales force to sell our products to targeted industries. This limits our ability to grow. We are working on developing relationships with targeted distributors in our target companies’ industries, but this will take time. Any failure to maintain and grow our direct sales force and distributor relationships could harm our business. The members of our direct sales force are adequately trained and possess technical expertise, which we believe is critical in driving the awareness and adoption of our products. The members of our U.S. sales force are at-will employees. The loss of these personnel to competitors, or otherwise, could materially harm our business. If we are unable to retain our direct sales force personnel or replace them with individuals of comparable expertise and qualifications, or if we are unable to successfully instill such expertise in replacement personnel, our product sales, revenues and results of operations could be materially harmed.
In order to generate future growth, we plan to continue to significantly expand and leverage our commercial infrastructure to increase our customer base and increase adoption by existing customers to drive our growth. Identifying and recruiting qualified sales and marketing professionals and training them on our products and on our internal policies and procedures requires significant time, expense, and attention. It can take several months or more before a sales representative is fully trained and productive. Our sales force may subject us to higher fixed costs than those of companies with competing products or treatments that can utilize independent third parties, placing us at a competitive disadvantage. Our business may be harmed if our efforts to expand and train our sales force do not generate a corresponding increase in product sales and revenue, and our higher fixed costs may slow our ability to reduce costs in the face of a sudden decline in demand for our products. Any failure to hire, develop and retain talented sales personnel, to achieve desired productivity levels in a reasonable period of time or timely reduce fixed costs, could have material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Our ability to increase our customer base and achieve broader market acceptance of our products will depend, to a significant extent, on our ability to expand our sales and marketing and educational efforts. We plan to dedicate significant resources to our sales and marketing and educational programs. Our business may be harmed if these efforts and expenditures do not generate a corresponding increase in revenue. If we fail to successfully promote our products in a cost-effective manner, we may fail to attract or retain the market acceptance necessary to realize a sufficient return on our promotional and educational efforts, or to achieve broad adoption of our products.
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We need to ensure strong product performance and reliability to maintain and grow our business.
We need to maintain and, if needed, improve the performance and reliability of our products to achieve our profitability objectives. Poor product performance and reliability could lead to customer dissatisfaction, adversely affect our reputation and revenues, and increase our service and distribution costs and working capital requirements. In addition, our SOBRsafe™ technology, and the software and hardware incorporated into our SOBRcheck™ and SOBRsure™ devices may contain errors or defects, especially when first introduced and while we have made efforts to test this software and hardware extensively, we cannot assure that the software and hardware, or software and hardware developed in the future, will not experience errors or performance problems.
Our internal computer systems, or those used by our contractors or consultants, may fail or suffer security breaches, and such failure could negatively affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We depend on our information technology systems for the efficient functioning of our business, including the manufacture, distribution and maintenance of our products, as well as for accounting, data storage, compliance, purchasing, inventory management and other related functions. We do not have redundant information technology in all aspects of our systems at this time. Despite the implementation of security and back-up measures, our internal computer, server, and other information technology systems as well as those of our third-party consultants, contractors, suppliers, and service providers, may be vulnerable to damage from physical or electronic break-ins, accidental or intentional exposure of our data by employees or others with authorized access to our networks, computer viruses, malware, ransomware, supply chain attacks, natural disasters, terrorism, war, telecommunication and electrical failure, denial of service, and other cyberattacks or disruptive incidents that could result in unauthorized access to, use or disclosure of, corruption of, or loss of sensitive, and/or proprietary data, including personal information, including health-related information, and could subject us to significant liabilities and regulatory and enforcement actions, and reputational damage. Additionally, theft of our intellectual property or proprietary business information could require substantial expenditures to remedy. Such theft could also lead to loss of intellectual property rights through disclosure of our proprietary business information, and such loss may not be capable of remedying. If we or our third-party consultants, contractors, suppliers, or service providers were to suffer an attack or breach, for example, that resulted in the unauthorized access to or use or disclosure of personal information, we may have to notify consumers, partners, collaborators, government authorities, and the media, and may be subject to investigations, civil penalties, administrative and enforcement actions, and litigation, any of which could harm our business and reputation. The COVID-19 pandemic has generally increased the risk of cybersecurity intrusions. Our reliance on internet technology and the number of our employees who are working remotely may create additional opportunities for cybercriminals to exploit vulnerabilities. For example, there has been an increase in phishing and spam emails as well as social engineering attempts from “hackers” hoping to use the recent COVID-19 pandemic to their advantage. Furthermore, because the techniques used to obtain unauthorized access to, or to sabotage, systems change frequently and often are not recognized until launched against a target, we may be unable to anticipate these techniques or implement adequate preventative measures. We may also experience security breaches that may remain undetected for an extended period. To the extent that any disruption or security breach were to result in a loss of, or damage to, our data or systems or data or systems of our commercial partners, or inappropriate or unauthorized access to or disclosure or use of confidential, proprietary, or other sensitive, personal, or health information, we could incur liability and suffer reputational harm. Failure to maintain or protect our information technology systems effectively could negatively affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
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If we are unable to recruit and retain qualified personnel, our business could be harmed.
Our growth and success highly depend on qualified personnel. Competition in the industry could cause us difficulty in recruiting or retaining a sufficient number of qualified technical personnel, which could harm our ability to develop new products. If we are unable to attract and retain necessary key talents, it would harm our ability to develop competitive product and retain good customers and could adversely affect our business and operating results.
We may be unable to adequately protect our proprietary rights.
We currently have one “use” patent covering the SOBRSafe™ alcohol detection system and/or the SOBR devices and two provisional patents pending with the USPTO. These are not patents over the components of the device, but instead covering the use of those components in the SOBR device. Our ability to compete partly depends on the superiority, uniqueness and value of our intellectual property. To protect our proprietary rights, we will rely on a combination of patent, copyright and trade secret laws, confidentiality agreements with our employees and third parties, and protective contractual provisions. Despite these efforts, any of the following occurrences may reduce the value of our intellectual property:
| ☐ | Our applications for patents relating to our business may not be granted and, if granted, may be challenged or invalidated; |
| ☐ | Issued patents may not provide us with any competitive advantages; |
| ☐ | Our efforts to protect our intellectual property rights may not be effective in preventing misappropriation of our technology; |
| ☐ | Our efforts may not prevent the development and design by others of products or technologies similar to or competitive with, or superior to those we develop; or |
| ☐ | Another party may obtain a blocking patent and we would need to either obtain a license or design around the patent in order to continue to offer the contested feature or service in our products. |
We may become involved in lawsuits to protect or enforce our patents that would be expensive and time consuming.
In order to protect or enforce our patent rights, we may initiate patent litigation against third parties. In addition, we may become subject to interference or opposition proceedings conducted in patent and trademark offices to determine the priority and patentability of inventions. The defense of intellectual property rights, including patent rights through lawsuits, interference or opposition proceedings, and other legal and administrative proceedings, would be costly and divert our technical and management personnel from their normal responsibilities. An adverse determination of any litigation or defense proceedings could put our pending patent applications at risk of not being issued.
Furthermore, because of the substantial amount of discovery required in connection with intellectual property litigation, there is a risk that some of our confidential information could be compromised by disclosure during this type of litigation. For example, during the course of this kind of litigation, confidential information may be inadvertently disclosed in the form of documents or testimony in connection with discovery requests, depositions or trial testimony. This disclosure could have a material adverse effect on our business and our financial results.
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The internal controls we utilize to produce reliable financial reports have material weaknesses. If we continue to have material weaknesses in our internal controls, we may not be able to report our financial results accurately or timely or to detect fraud, which could have a material adverse effect on our business.
An effective internal control environment is necessary for us to produce reliable financial reports and is an important part of our effort to prevent financial fraud. We are required to periodically evaluate the effectiveness of the design and operation of our internal controls over financial reporting. Based on these evaluations, we concluded in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021, as well as in all of our quarterly and annual reports since evaluations and disclosure regarding our internal controls became required disclosure, that we have material weaknesses in our internal controls. Enhancements, modifications, and changes to our internal controls are necessary in order to eliminate these weaknesses. As of December 31, 2021, the specific weaknesses our management has identified include: (i) we do not have sufficient segregation of duties within our accounting functions, (ii) we have not documented our internal controls, and (iii) effective controls over the control environment were not maintained. See “Internal Control Over Financial Reporting”, herein. There are inherent limitations on the effectiveness of internal controls, including collusion, management override, and failure of human judgment. In addition, control procedures are designed to reduce rather than eliminate business risks. If we continue to fail to maintain an effective system of internal controls we may be unable to produce reliable, timely financial reports or prevent fraud, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, including subjecting us to sanctions or investigation by regulatory authorities, such as the Securities and Exchange Commission. Any such actions could result in an adverse reaction in the financial markets due to a loss of confidence in the reliability of our financial statements, which could cause the market price of our common stock to decline or limit our access to capital.
Our common stock has been thinly traded and we cannot predict the extent to which a trading market will develop.
Our common stock is quoted on the OTBQB-tier of OTC Markets. Our common stock is thinly-traded compared to larger more widely known companies. Thinly traded common stock can be more volatile than common stock trading in an active public market. We cannot predict the extent to which an active public market for our common stock will develop or be sustained.
We may not be able to identify, negotiate, finance or close future acquisitions.
One component of our growth strategy focuses on acquiring additional technologies, companies and/or assets. We may not, however, be able to identify, audit, or acquire technologies, companies and/or assets on acceptable terms, if at all. Additionally, we may need to finance all or a portion of the purchase price for an acquisition by incurring indebtedness. There can be no assurance that we will be able to obtain financing on terms that are favorable, if at all, which will limit our ability to acquire additional companies or assets in the future. Failure to acquire additional companies or assets on acceptable terms, if at all, would have a material adverse effect on our ability to increase assets, revenues and net income and on the trading price of our common Stock.
We may acquire businesses without any apparent synergies with our current operations of alcohol detection devices.
In an effort to diversify our sources of revenue and profits, we may decide to acquire businesses without any apparent synergies with our current alcohol detection device operations. For example, we believe that the acquisition of technologies unrelated to alcohol detection devices may be an important way for us to enhance our stockholder value. Notwithstanding the critical importance of diversification, some members of the investment community and research analysts would prefer that micro-cap or small-cap companies restrict the scope of their activity to a single line of business, and may not be willing to make an investment in, or recommend an investment in, a micro-cap or small-cap company that undertakes multiple lines of business. This situation could materially adversely impact our company and the trading price of our stock.
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We may not be able to properly manage multiple businesses.
We may not be able to properly manage multiple businesses. Managing multiple businesses would be more complicated than managing a single line of business, and would require that we hire and manage executives with experience and expertise in different fields. We can provide no assurance that we will be able to do so successfully. A failure to properly manage multiple businesses could materially adversely affect our company and the trading price of our stock.
We may not be able to successfully integrate new acquisitions.
Even if we are able to acquire additional technologies, companies and/or assets, we may not be able to successfully integrate those companies or assets. For example, we may need to integrate widely dispersed operations with different corporate cultures, operating margins, competitive environments, computer systems, compensation schemes, business plans and growth potential requiring significant management time and attention. In addition, the successful integration of any companies we acquire will depend in large part on the retention of personnel critical to our combined business operations due to, for example, unique technical skills or management expertise. We may be unable to retain existing management, finance, engineering, sales, customer support, and operations personnel that are critical to the success of the integrated company, resulting in disruption of operations, loss of key information, expertise or know-how, unanticipated additional recruitment and training costs, and otherwise diminishing anticipated benefits of these acquisitions, including loss of revenue and profitability. Failure to successfully integrate acquired businesses could have a material adverse effect on our company and the trading price of our stock.
Our acquisitions of businesses may be extremely risky and we could lose all of our investments.
We may invest in other technology businesses or other risky industries. An investment in these companies may be extremely risky because, among other things, the companies we are likely to focus on: (1) typically have limited operating histories, narrower product lines and smaller market shares than larger businesses, which tend to render them more vulnerable to competitors’ actions and market conditions, as well as general economic downturns; (2) tend to be privately-owned and generally have little publicly available information and, as a result, we may not learn all of the material information we need to know regarding these businesses; (3) are more likely to depend on the management talents and efforts of a small group of people; and, as a result, the death, disability, resignation or termination of one or more of these people could have an adverse impact on the operations of any business that we may acquire; (4) may have less predictable operating results; (5) may from time to time be parties to litigation; (6) may be engaged in rapidly changing businesses with products subject to a substantial risk of obsolescence; and (7) may require substantial additional capital to support their operations, finance expansion or maintain their competitive position. Our failure to make acquisitions efficiently and profitably could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and the trading price of our stock.
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Future acquisitions may fail to perform as expected.
Future acquisitions may fail to perform as expected. We may overestimate cash flow, underestimate costs, or fail to understand risks. This could materially adversely affect our company and the trading price of our Stock.
Competition may result in overpaying for acquisitions.
Other investors with significant capital may compete with us for attractive investment opportunities. These competitors may include publicly-traded companies, private equity firms, privately held buyers, individual investors, and other types of investors. Such competition may increase the price of acquisitions, or otherwise adversely affect the terms and conditions of acquisitions. This could materially adversely affect our company and the trading price of our stock.
We may have insufficient resources to cover our operating expenses and the expenses of raising money and consummating acquisitions.
We have limited cash to cover our operating expenses and to cover the expenses incurred in connection with money raising and a business combination. It is possible that we could incur substantial costs in connection with money raising or a business combination. If we do not have sufficient proceeds available to cover our expenses, we may be forced to obtain additional financing, either from our management or third parties. We may not be able to obtain additional financing on acceptable terms, if at all, and neither our management nor any third party is obligated to provide any financing. This could have a negative impact on our company and our stock price.
The nature of our proposed future operations is speculative and will depend to a great extent on the businesses which we acquire.
While management may seek a merger or acquisition of privately held entities with established operating histories, there can be no assurance that we will be successful in locating an acquisition candidate meeting such criteria. In the event we complete a merger or acquisition transaction, of which there can be no assurance, our success, if any, will be dependent upon the operations, financial condition and management of the acquired company, and upon numerous other factors beyond our control. If the operations, financial condition or management of the acquired company were to be disrupted or otherwise negatively impacted following an acquisition, our company and our stock price would be negatively impacted.
We may take actions that will not require our stockholders’ approval.
The terms and conditions of any acquisition could require us to take actions that would not require stockholder approval. In order to acquire certain companies or assets, we may issue additional shares of common or preferred stock, borrow money or issue debt instruments including debt convertible into capital stock. Not all of these actions would require our stockholders’ approval even if these actions dilute our shareholders’ economic or voting interest.
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Our investigation of potential acquisitions will be limited.
Our analysis of new business opportunities will be undertaken by or under the supervision of our executive officers and directors. Inasmuch as we will have limited funds available to search for business opportunities and ventures, we will not be able to expend significant funds on a complete and exhaustive investigation of such business or opportunity. We will, however, investigate, to the extent believed reasonable by our management, such potential business opportunities or ventures by conducting a so-called “due diligence investigation”. In a so-called “due diligence investigation”, we intend to obtain and review materials regarding the business opportunity. Typically, such materials will include information regarding a target business’ products, services, contracts, management, ownership, and financial information. In addition, we intend to cause our officers or agents to meet personally with management and key personnel of target businesses, ask questions regarding the company’s prospects, tour facilities, and conduct other reasonable investigation of the target business to the extent of our limited financial resources and management and technical expertise. Any failure of such “due diligence investigation” to uncover issues and problems relating to potential acquisition candidates could materially adversely affect our company and the trading price of our stock.
We will have only a limited ability to evaluate the directors and management of potential acquisitions.
We may make a determination that our current directors and officers should not remain, or should reduce their roles, following money raising or a business combination, based on an assessment of the experience and skill sets of new directors and officers and the management of target businesses. We cannot assure you that our assessment of these individuals will prove to be correct. This could have a negative impact on our company and our stock price.
We may be dependent on outside advisors to assist us.
In order to supplement the business experience of management, we may employ accountants, technical experts, appraisers, attorneys or other consultants or advisors. The selection of any such advisors will be made by management and without any control from shareholders. Additionally, it is anticipated that such persons may be engaged by us on an independent basis without a continuing fiduciary or other obligation to us.
We may be unable to protect or enforce the intellectual property rights of any target business that we acquire or the target business may become subject to claims of intellectual property infringement.
After completing a business combination, the procurement and protection of trademarks, copyrights, patents, domain names, and trade secrets may be critical to our success. We will likely rely on a combination of copyright, trademark, trade secret laws and contractual restrictions to protect any proprietary technology and rights that we may acquire. Despite our efforts to protect those proprietary technology and rights, we may not be able to prevent misappropriation of those proprietary rights or deter independent development of technologies that compete with the business we acquire. Litigation may be necessary in the future to enforce our intellectual property rights, to protect our trade secrets, or to determine the validity and scope of the proprietary rights of others. It is also possible that third parties may claim we have infringed their patent, trademark, copyright or other proprietary rights. Claims or litigation, with or without merit, could result in substantial costs and diversions of resources, either of which could have an adverse effect on our competitive position and business. Further, depending on the target business or businesses that we acquire, it is likely that we will have to protect trademarks, patents, and domain names in an increasing number of jurisdictions, a process that is expensive and may not be successful in every location. These factors could negatively impact our company and the trading price of our stock.
Integrating acquired businesses may divert our management’s attention away from our day-to-day operations and harm our business.
Acquisitions generally involve significant risks, including the risk of overvaluation of potential acquisitions and risks in regard to the assimilation of personnel, operations, products, services, technologies, and corporate culture of acquired companies. Dealing with these risks may place a significant burden on our management and other internal resources. This could materially adversely affect our business and the trading price of our stock.
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We may fail to manage our growth effectively.
Future growth through acquisitions and organic expansion would place a significant strain on our managerial, operational, technical, training, systems and financial resources. We can give you no assurance that we will be able to manage our expanding operations properly or cost effectively. A failure to properly and cost-effectively manage our expansion could materially adversely affect our company and the trading price of our stock.
The management of companies we acquire may lose their enthusiasm or entrepreneurship after the sale of their businesses.
We can give no assurance that the management of future companies we acquire will have the same level of enthusiasm for the operation of their businesses following their acquisition by us, or if they cease performing services for the acquired businesses that we will be able to install replacement management with the same skill sets and determination. There also is always a risk that management will attempt to reenter the market and possibly seek to recruit some of the former employees of the business, who may continue to be key employees of ours. This could materially adversely affect our business and the trading price of our Stock.
We are subject to the significant influence of one of our current stockholders, and their interests may not always coincide with those of our other stockholders.
Gary Graham, currently beneficially owns approximately 43% of our outstanding common stock. As a result, Mr. Graham is able to significantly influence all matters requiring approval by our stockholders, including the election of directors and the approval of mergers or other business combination transactions. Because the interests of Mr. Graham may not always coincide with those of our other stockholders, such stockholder may influence or cause us to take actions with which our other stockholders disagree.
Our management has discretion as to how to use any proceeds from the sale of securities.
We reserve the right to use the funds obtained from the sale of our securities for purposes our management deems to be in the best interests of the company and our stockholders in order to address changed circumstances or opportunities. As a result of the foregoing, our success will be substantially dependent upon the discretion and judgment of management with respect to application and allocation of the net proceeds from the sale of our securities.
The issuance of additional common stock and/or the resale of our issued and outstanding common stock could cause substantial dilution to investors.
Our Articles of Incorporation authorize the issuance of up to 100,000,000 shares of common stock and 25,000,000 shares of preferred stock. Our Board of Directors has the authority to issue additional shares of common stock and to issue options and warrants to purchase shares of our common stock without shareholder approval. Future issuances of common stock could represent further substantial dilution to investors. In addition, the Board of Directors could issue large blocks of voting stock to fend off unwanted tender offers or hostile takeovers without further stockholder approval.
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Our common stock has been thinly traded and we cannot predict the extent to which a trading market will develop.
Our common stock is quoted on the OTBQB-tier of OTC Markets. Our common stock is thinly-traded compared to larger more widely known companies. Thinly traded common stock can be more volatile than common stock trading in an active public market. We cannot predict the extent to which an active public market for our common stock will develop or be sustained.
Our common stock has a limited trading market, which could affect your ability to sell shares of our common stock and the price you may receive for our common stock.
Our common stock is currently traded in the over-the-counter market and “bid” and “asked” quotations regularly appear on OTC Markets under the symbol “SOBR”. There is only limited trading activity in our securities. We have a relatively small public float compared to the number of our shares outstanding. Accordingly, we cannot predict the extent to which investors’ interest in our common stock will provide an active and liquid trading market. Due to our limited public float, we may be vulnerable to investors taking a “short position” in our common stock, which would likely have a depressing effect on the price of our common stock and add increased volatility to our trading market. The volatility of the market for our common stock could have a materially adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition. There cannot be any guarantee that an active trading market for our securities will develop or, if such a market does develop, will be sustained. Accordingly, investors must be able to bear the financial risk of losing their entire investment in our common stock.
Our common stock is quoted only on OTC Markets, which may have an unfavorable impact on our stock price and liquidity. In addition, our shareholders may experience substantial difficulty in locating a brokerage firm to deposit shares of our Company for sale into the public marketplace.
Our common stock is quoted on OTC Markets under the ticker symbol “SOBR”. OTC Markets is a significantly more limited market than the New York Stock Exchange or the NASDAQ Stock Market. The quotation of our shares on OTC Markets may result in a less liquid market available for existing and potential stockholders to trade shares of our common stock, could depress the trading price of our common stock, and could have a long-term adverse impact on our ability to raise capital in the future. Additionally, since we are a “penny stock” quoted over-the-counter and not on a national exchange, our shareholders may experience substantial difficulty in finding a brokerage firm willing to deposit our common stock into a brokerage account for sale into the public marketplace and/or the fees may be substantially higher for transactions involving our common stock compared to companies that are traded on a national exchange like the New York Stock Exchange or the NASDAQ Stock Market.
Future sales of our common stock in the public market could lower the price of our common stock and impair our ability to raise funds in future securities offerings.
Future sales of a substantial number of shares of our common stock in the public market, or the perception that such sales may occur, could adversely affect the then prevailing market price of our common stock and could make it more difficult for us to raise funds in the future through a public offering of its securities.
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The market price of our common stock may be volatile and may be affected by market conditions beyond our control.
The market price of our common stock is subject to significant fluctuations in response to, among other factors:
- variations in our operating results and market conditions specific to Biomedical Industry companies;
- changes in financial estimates or recommendations by securities analysts;
- announcements of innovations or new products or services by us or our competitors;
- the emergence of new competitors;
- operating and market price performance of other companies that investors deem comparable;
- changes in our board or management;
- sales or purchases of our common stock by insiders;
- commencement of, or involvement in, litigation;
- changes in governmental regulations; and
- general economic conditions and slow or negative growth of related markets.
In addition, if the market for stocks in our industry, or the stock market in general, experience a loss of investor confidence, the market price of our common stock could decline for reasons unrelated to our business, financial condition or results of operations. If any of the foregoing occurs, it could cause the price of our common stock to fall and may expose us to lawsuits that, even if unsuccessful, could be costly to defend and a distraction to the board of directors and management.
Because we are subject to the “penny stock” rules, the level of trading activity in our stock may be reduced.
Our common stock is traded on the OTC Markets. Broker-dealer practices in connection with transactions in “penny stocks” are regulated by certain penny stock rules adopted by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Penny stocks, like shares of our common stock, generally are equity securities with a price of less than $5.00, other than securities registered on certain national securities exchanges or quoted on NASDAQ. The penny stock rules require a broker-dealer, prior to a transaction in a penny stock not otherwise exempt from the rules, to deliver a standardized risk disclosure document that provides information about penny stocks and the nature and level of risks in the penny stock market. The broker-dealer also must provide the customer with current bid and offer quotations for the penny stock, the compensation of the broker-dealer and its salesperson in the transaction, and, if the broker-dealer is the sole market maker, the broker-dealer must disclose this fact and the broker-dealer's presumed control over the market, and monthly account statements showing the market value of each penny stock held in the customer's account. In addition, broker-dealers who sell these securities to persons other than established customers and “accredited investors” must make 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. Consequently, these requirements may have the effect of reducing the level of trading activity, if any, in the secondary market for a security subject to the penny stock rules, and investors in our common stock may find it difficult to sell their shares.
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Properties
As filed, 377 characters, with its headings, lists and tables. Extracted from the main document; charts and exhibits are in the original on sec.gov.
Our executive offices, consisting of approximately 2,500 square feet, are located at 6400 S. Fiddlers Green Circle, Suite 525, Greenwood Village, Colorado 80111. We lease this space under a month-to-month lease for approximately $7,000 per month. We do not own our own manufacturing facility but plan to outsource with third party manufacturing companies for our manufacturing.
Legal proceedings
As filed, 2,012 characters, with its headings, lists and tables. Extracted from the main document; charts and exhibits are in the original on sec.gov.
On December 6, 2006, Orange County Valet and Security Patrol, Inc. filed a lawsuit against us in Orange County California State Superior Court for Breach of Contract in the amount of $11,164. A default judgment was taken against us in this matter. In mid-2013 we learned the Plaintiff’s perfected the judgment against us, but we have not heard from the Plaintiffs as of December 31, 2021. In the event we pay any money related to this lawsuit, IDTEC, LLC agreed, in connection with us closing the asset purchase transaction with IDTEC, to pay the amount for us in exchange for shares of our common stock.
We had one outstanding judgment against us involving a past employee of the Company. The matter was under the purview of the State of California, Franchise Tax Board, Industrial Health and Safety Collections. We owed approximately $28,786 plus accrued interest of approximately $53,000 to our ex-employee for unpaid wages under these Orders. On March 8, 2021, we received an Acknowledgement of Satisfaction of Judgement-Full by the California Court notifying us that the judgement has been settled with a payment of approximately $85,000 including the accrued interest owed through settlement date and legal fees of approximately $3,000. IDTEC, LLC agreed, in connection with us closing the asset purchase transaction with IDTEC, to pay the amount for us in exchange for shares of our common stock acquired through the exercise of a warrant held by IDTEC, LLC.
In the ordinary course of business, we are from time to time involved in various pending or threatened legal actions. The litigation process is inherently uncertain and it is possible that the resolution of such matters might have a material adverse effect upon our financial condition and/or results of operations. However, in the opinion of our management, other than as set forth herein, matters currently pending or threatened against us are not expected to have a material adverse effect on our financial position or results of operations.
Management's discussion and analysis
As filed, 39,867 characters, with its headings, lists and tables. Extracted from the main document; charts and exhibits are in the original on sec.gov.
Disclaimer Regarding Forward Looking Statements
Our Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations contains not only statements that are historical facts, but also statements that are forward-looking. Forward-looking statements are, by their very nature, uncertain and risky. These risks and uncertainties include international, national and local general economic and market conditions; demographic changes; our ability to sustain, manage, or forecast growth; our ability to successfully make and integrate acquisitions; raw material costs and availability; new product development and introduction; existing government regulations and changes in, or the failure to comply with, government regulations; adverse publicity; competition; the loss of significant customers or suppliers; fluctuations and difficulty in forecasting operating results; changes in business strategy or development plans; business disruptions; the ability to attract and retain qualified personnel; the ability to protect technology; and other risks that might be detailed from time to time in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Although the forward-looking statements in this Annual Report reflect the good faith judgment of our management, such statements can only be based on facts and factors currently known by them. Consequently, and because forward-looking statements are inherently subject to risks and uncertainties, the actual results and outcomes may differ materially from the results and outcomes discussed in the forward-looking statements. You are urged to carefully review and consider the various disclosures made by us in this report and in our other reports as we attempt to advise interested parties of the risks and factors that may affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations and prospects.
Reverse Stock Splits
At the open of market on June 8, 2020, our 1-for-33.26 reverse split of our common stock went effective with OTC Markets. As a result, all common stock share amounts, as well as share amounts and exercise and conversion prices in derivative security instruments have been adjusted to reflect the reverse stock split.
On January 7, 2022, our stockholders approved an amendment to our Articles of Incorporation to effect a reverse stock split of our outstanding common stock at a ratio between of 1-for-2 and 1-for-3 in connection with our planned listing on NASDAQ, with the exact ratio to be determined by our Board of Directors at the appropriate time. Our discussion and analysis have not been adjusted for the planned reverse stock split since the included financial statements have not been adjusted for the planned reverse stock split.
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Overview
We intend to provide companies with non-invasive technology to identify potential alcohol issues quickly and safely with its employees or contractors, that if left undetected could cause injury or death. These technologies will be integrated within our robust and scalable data platform, producing statistical and measurable user and business data. Our mission is to save lives, increase productivity, create significant economic benefit for our customers, and positively impact behavior. To that end, we developed the scalable, patent-pending SOBRSafe™ software platform for non-invasive alcohol detection and identity verification, a solution that has anticipated applications in commercial vehicle fleets, manufacturing and warehousing, construction, school buses, and for youth drivers in a wearable form. We believe that uniform daily use of our device could result in material insurance savings across Workers’ Comp, general liability and fleet policies.
We have successfully completed several pilot testing programs involving our SOBRcheck™ device, which is our first device that has our scalable, patent-pending SOBRSafe™ software platform for non-invasive alcohol detection and identity verification. These pilot programs have provided validation of both our SOBRSafe™ software platform and our SOBRcheck™ device. As a result, we have now progressed to commercial production of our first SOBRcheck™ devices which we began using for our initial customers. At the end of 2021, we had several customers in the sales cycle, but our SOBRcheck™ devices were not delivered to them until January 2022. As a result, we will not invoice these customers or receive any revenue from the customers until the first quarter of 2022. The timing of our commercial launch of our SOBRcheck™ device has been delayed several times in 2021 primarily as a result of our pursuit of adequate financing (since obtained), signing up pilot customers to test our device (which was more difficult over the summer due to travel schedules, etc. of some of our target customers), and some supply chain issues largely caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, during the pilot testing of our SOBRcheck™ device we discovered that alcohol-based hand sanitizer caused false readings by the device. In response to this discovery, we have made adjustments to the analytics in our SOBRSafe™ technology and added a required protocol of not utilizing alcohol-based sanitizers to our protocols for using the SOBRcheck™ device.
Our second device, a wearable wristband (SOBRsure™), utilizes the same SOBRsafe™ sensor technology, which proved out during the SOBRcheck™ pilot tests. The primary intended application for this band is for young individual drivers and commercial fleet management, with an additional potential application in managed care/alcohol rehabilitation. We plan for the wearable band to be commercially available in August 2022.
Manufacturing and assembly of our SOBRcheck™ device will take place in the United States. We currently utilize two companies for manufacturing of the SOBRcheck™ device. We do not have agreements in place with these companies and we operate with them on a purchase order/payment basis. We supply a purchase order, which they fulfill, and then they send us an invoice.
Our SOBRsafe™ technology can also be deployed across numerous additional devices for various uses; among those we are currently exploring include possible integrations with existing telematics systems, and it could be licensed by non-competitive third parties. Currently, our plan is to deploy our SOBRSafe™ technology in two initial devices: the SOBRcheck™ system and the wearable band (SOBRsure™).
On January 15, 2021, we initiated a Private Offering (the “Offering”) of up to 40 Units ($2,000,000) with each Unit consisting of one $50,000 principal amount secured convertible debenture, convertible at $3 per share, and a Warrant to purchase 25,000 shares of the Company’s common stock at $3 per share. The Secured Debentures carry interest at 12% and mature 24 months after issuance. The Warrants are exercisable six months after issuance and expire 24 months after issuance. The Offering closed on May 31, 2021 and raised $2,005,000.
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On September 28, 2021 we closed the sale of a convertible debenture and issued warrants that raised $2,225,000 of net proceeds after debt issuance costs. The debenture is for a face amount $3,048,781 with an Original Issue Discount of 18% and due March 27, 2022, if not converted.
We deployed the net funding we received from the 2021 financing ($4.2M) to develop the business for a national rollout of our devices. The funds are being deployed to bolster and expedite product development (SOBRcheck™ and SOBRsure™ ), deploy sales and marketing initiatives to develop the SOBR brand and grow the business and expand the employee base in correlation with customer and technology development. We believe the remaining funds from the 2021 financing will be sufficient to fund our 2022 operations for approximately four (4) months. We will need additional financing to fund our operations in 2022 after approximately four (4) months.
Additional capital may be required under the following circumstances, 1) accelerated customer acquisition increasing capital outlay, 2) advanced purchasing of materials due to COVID backlog, 3) acquisition of new technology, 4) potential acquisition of a key asset, and 5) global expansion.
Corporate Overview
We were incorporated under the name Imagine Media, Ltd. in August 2007 to publish and distribute Image Magazine, a monthly guide and entertainment source for the Denver, Colorado area. We generated only limited revenue and essentially abandoned the business plan in January 2009. On September 19, 2011, we, Imagine Media, Ltd., a Delaware corporation, acquired approximately 52% of the outstanding shares of TransBiotec, Inc. (“TBT”), a California corporation, from TBT’s directors in exchange for 124,439 shares of our common stock.
On January 17, 2012, our Board of Directors amended our Certificate of Incorporation changing our name from Imagine Media, Ltd. to TransBiotec, Inc.
On January 31, 2012, we acquired approximately 45% of the remaining outstanding shares of TBT in exchange for 109,979 shares of our common stock.
With the acquisitions in September 2011 and January 2012 of TBT common stock, we own approximately 99% of the outstanding shares of TBT.
As a result of the acquisitions, TBT’s business is our business, and, unless otherwise indicated, any references to the “Company,” “we” or “us” include the business and operations of TBT.
On March 9, 2020, in connection with our transaction with IDTEC, LLC (as detailed herein) our Board of Directors approved the amendment to our Certificate of Incorporation on March 9, 2020 and stockholders holding 52.24% of our then outstanding voting stock approved the amendment to our Articles of Incorporation. The Certificate of Amendment to our Certificate of Incorporation was for the purpose of, among other things, (i) changing our name from “TransBiotec, Inc.” to “SOBR Safe, Inc.”, (ii) effecting a 1-for-33.26 reverse stock split of our common stock, and (iii) decreasing our authorized common stock from 800,000,000 shares to 100,000,000 shares, and became effective with the State of Delaware on April 24, 2020.
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As a result of the reverse stock split effected by our Certificate of Amendment to our Certificate of Incorporation, every 33.26 shares of our outstanding common stock prior to the effect of that amendment were combined and reclassified into one share of our common stock, and the number of outstanding shares of our common stock at the time was reduced from 266,097,657 (pre-split) to approximately 8,000,000 (post-split). No fractional shares were issued in connection with the reverse stock split, and any of our stockholders that would have been entitled to receive a fractional share as a result of the reverse stock split will instead receive one additional share of our common stock in lieu of the fractional share. The reverse stock split will not in itself affect any stockholder’s ownership percentage of our common stock, except to the extent that any fractional share is rounded up to the nearest whole share.
At the open of trading on June 8, 2020, our new name and reverse stock split went effective with OTC Markets, and we began trading on the “OTC Pink Current Information” tier of OTC Markets on a post reverse stock split basis. Our ticker symbol for the quotation of our common stock is now “SOBR”. On November 16, 2020, we began trading on the “OTCQB” tier of OTC Markets.
Our corporate offices are located at 6400 S. Fiddlers Green Circle, Suite 525, Greenwood Village, CO 80111, telephone number (844) 762-7723.
The following discussion:
- summarizes our results of operations; and
- analyzes our financial condition and the results of our operations for the year ended December 31, 2021 and year ended December 31, 2020.
Results of Operations for the Year Ended December 31, 2021 Compared to the Year Ended December 31, 2020
Summary of Results of Operations
| Year Ended December 31, 2021 | 2020 | |
|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $- | $- |
| Operating expenses: | ||
| General and administrative | 3,882,706 | 2,003,107 |
| Stock-based compensation expense | 473,748 | 273,443 |
| Research and development | 1,198,780 | 633,050 |
| Loss on disposal of property and equipment | - | 39,434 |
| Asset impairment adjustment | - | 25,320,555 |
| Total operating expenses | 5,555,234 | 28,269,589 |
| Operating loss | (5,555,234) | (28,269,589) |
| Other income (expense): | ||
| Loss on extinguishment of debt, net | - | (224,166) |
| Gain (loss) on fair value adjustment – derivatives | (60,000) | 60,650 |
| Interest expense | (1,420,063) | (141,512) |
| Amortization of interest – conversion feature | (835,081) | (1,407,675) |
| Total other expense, net | (2,315,144) | (1,712,703) |
| Net loss | $(7,870,378) | $(29,982,292) |
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The asset impairment adjustment classified as an operating expense herein was previously reported as other expense, net. As a result, the operating loss previously reported for the year ended December 31, 2020 was understated by $25,320,555 and total other expenses, net was overstated by the same amount. The error had no effect on the net loss for the year ended December 31, 2020.
Operating Loss; Net Loss
Our net loss decreased by $22,111,914 from $29,982,292 to $7,870,378 from the year ended December 31, 2020 compared to the year ended December 31, 2021. The change in our net loss and operating loss for the year ended December 31, 2021, compared to the prior year, is primarily a result of an asset impairment expense recognized in 2020 related to the assets acquired from IDTEC. No similar asset impairment expense occurred during the year ended December 31, 2021. This decrease in expense attributed the asset impairment adjustment from 2020 has been offset by increases in our general and administrative expense, stock-based compensation expense, research and development expense and net increases in other expense items including interest expense and fair value adjustments, offset by decreases in extinguishment of debt and amortization of interest. The changes are detailed below.
Revenue
We have not had any revenues since our inception. Since September 2011, we have been involved in the development of our patented SOBR® Safe™ system, including, but not limited to, the developing, testing and marketing of SOBR®check™, our unique alcohol sensor technology. Although we have not had any sales through 2021, at the end of 2021, we had several customers in the sales cycle, but our SOBRcheck™ devices were not delivered to them until January 2022. As a result, we will not invoice these customers or receive any revenue until the first quarter of 2022.
General and Administrative Expenses
General and administrative expenses increased by $1,879,599, from $2,003,107 for the year ended December 31, 2020 to $3,882,706 for the year ended December 31, 2021, primarily due to increases in payroll expense, insurance, travel, facilities rents, marketing and promotion, and legal, accounting, registration rights damages and other professional fees.
Stock-Based Compensation Expense
We had stock-based compensation expense of $473,748 for the year ended December 31, 2021, compared to $273,443 for the year ended December 31, 2020. The stock-based compensation expense in 2021 was related to the issuance of our common stock and restricted stock units as compensation to certain consultants and employees.
Research and Development
Research and development increased by $565,730, to $1,198,780 for the year ended December 31, 2021, compared to $633,050 for the year ended December 31, 2020. The increase in research and development was due to the continued develop of our SOBRsafe™ technology , including, but not limited to, the developing and testing of our SOBRcheck™ and SOBRsure ™ devices.
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Asset Impairment Adjustment
We had an asset impairment adjustment of $25,320,555 in the year ended December 31, 2020. We did not have an asset impairment adjustment in the year ended December 31, 2021. The asset impairment adjustment in 2020 was related to the value of the stock we issued to IDTEC that was attributed to the robotic assets we acquired from IDTEC versus the value of the assets. When we negotiated the transaction with IDTEC in early-to-mid-2019, we agreed to issue IDTEC 12,000,000 shares of our common stock (post-split) in exchange for the assets they were transferring to us at the close of the transaction. At the time we negotiated the transaction and signed the Asset Purchase Agreement, our common stock was trading at a lower price than what it was trading at when we closed the transaction and issued the shares. As a result, during the year ended December 31, 2020, we impaired the value of the robotic assets we received in the transaction.
Loss on Extinguishment of Debt, Net
Loss on extinguishment of debt, net was $0 for the year ended December 31, 2021, compared to $224,166 for the year ended December 31, 2020. This decrease was due to a conversion of several notes payable into shares of our common stock during the year ended December 31, 2020, and none during the year ended December 31, 2021.
Fair Value Adjustment – Derivatives
Fair value adjustment – derivatives was a loss of ($60,000) for the year ended December 31, 2021, compared to a gain of $60,650 for the year ended December 31, 2020. The amounts are related to having outstanding financial instruments that contain an embedded derivative liability. The gain or loss related to the instruments are affected by the price of our common stock.
Interest Expense
Interest expense increased by $1,278,551, from $141,512 for the year ended December 31, 2020 to $1,420,063 for the year ended December 31, 2021. For both years, these amounts are largely due to the interest on outstanding debt. The increase between the years is primarily related to approximately $5,000,000 of debt obligations incurred in 2021 to fund operations.
Amortization of Interest – Conversion Features
During the year ended December 31, 2021, we had amortization of interest – conversion features expense of $835,081 compared to $1,407,675 during the year ended December 31, 2020. The expense for both periods were related to the amortized discount on convertible notes payable.
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Liquidity and Capital Resources for the Year Ended December 31, 2021 Compared to the Year Ended December 31, 2020
Introduction
During the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, because of our operating losses, we did not generate positive operating cash flows. Our cash on hand as of December 31, 2021 is $882,268 and our current monthly operating cash flow burn rate is approximately $230,000. As a result, we do not have short term cash needs, but need to raise additional funds to finance our long-term business plans. Our cash needs are being satisfied through proceeds from the sales of our securities and loans from both related parties and third parties. We currently do not believe we will be able to satisfy our cash needs from our revenues for some time, and there is no guarantee we will be successful in the future satisfying these needs through the proceeds generated from the sales of our securities.
As a result, the Company is in the process of preparing an offering for the sale of its common stock in 2022 and has entered into an agreement with an underwriter planned to raise a minimum of $15,000,000 gross proceeds to finance our long-term business plans.
Our cash, current assets, total assets, current liabilities, and total liabilities as of December 31, 2021 and as of December 31, 2020, respectively, are as follows:
| December 31, 2021 | December 31, 2020 | Change | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cash | $882,268 | $232,842 | $649,426 |
| Total Current Assets | $934,282 | $348,072 | $586,210 |
| Total Assets | $4,209,215 | $3,986,573 | $222,642 |
| Total Current Liabilities | $3,981,935 | $922,089 | $3,059,846 |
| Total Liabilities | $4,692,808 | $947,089 | $3,745,719 |
Our current assets and total assets increased as of December 31, 2021, as compared to December 31, 2020, primarily due to us having more cash on hand at December 31, 2021, as a result of debt issued during the year ended December 31, 2021.
Our current liabilities increased as of December 31, 2021, as compared to December 31, 2020. This increase was primarily due to increases in accounts payable, accrued expenses, accrued interest payable, derivative liability and convertible debenture payable, partially offset by a decrease in common stock subscriptions payable.
In order to repay our obligations in full or in part when due, we will be required to raise significant capital from other sources. There is no assurance, however, that we will be successful in these efforts.
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Sources and Uses of Cash
Operations
We had net cash used in operating activities of $3,688,302 for the year ended December 31, 2021, as compared to net cash used in operating activities of $2,191,533 for the year ended December 31, 2020. For the year ended December 31, 2021, the net cash used in operating activities consisted primarily of our net loss of $7,870,378 offset by depreciation and amortization of $385,464, change in fair value of derivative liability of $60,000, amortization of interest – conversion feature of $835,081, amortization of interest of $1,231,661, stock options expense of $723,262, and stock-based compensation expense of $473,748, and changes in our assets and liabilities of inventory of ($39,461), prepaid expenses of $42,585, other assets of ($21,896), accounts payable of $168,842, accrued expenses of $150,865, accrued interest payable of $117,666, and related party payables of $54,259. For the year ended December 31, 2020, the net cash used in operating activities consisted primarily of our net loss of $29,982,292 and change in fair value of derivative liability of $60,650, offset by a loss on debt extinguishment, net of $224,166, depreciation and amortization of $232,194, amortization of interest – beneficial conversion feature of $1,407,675, loss on disposal of property and equipment of $39,434, stock warrants expense of $219,670, stock options expense of $239,478, stock-based compensation expense of $54,283, amortization of interest of $8,656 and asset impairment adjustment of $25,320,555, and changes in our assets and liabilities of prepaid expenses of $3,515, other assets of ($8,680), accounts payable of $113,158, accrued expenses of ($4,666), accrued interest payable of $26,677, and related party payables of ($24,706).
Investments
We had no cash provided by or used for investing activities during the year ended December 31, 2021. During the year ended December 31, 2020 cash was provided by the disposal of property and equipment of $951.
Financing
Our net cash provided by financing activities for the year ended December 31, 2021 was $4,337,728, compared to $1,741,665 for the year ended December 31, 2020. For the year ended December 31, 2021, our net cash from financing activities consisted of proceeds from notes payable – non-related parties of $1,005,000, proceeds from notes payable – related parties of $1,030,000, repayments of notes payable-related parties of ($30,000), proceeds from convertible debenture payable of $2,500,000, debt issuance costs of ($275,000), proceeds from the exercise of stock warrants $88,470, and proceeds from the exercise of stock options of $19,258. For the year ended December 31, 2020, our net cash from financing activities consisted of proceeds from offering of preferred stock – related parties of $1,700,000, and proceeds from notes payable – non-related parties of $41,665.
On January 30, 2020, the World Health Organization (“WHO”) announced a global health emergency because of a new strain of coronavirus originating in Wuhan, China (the “COVID-19 outbreak”) and the risks to the international community as the virus spreads globally beyond its point of origin. In March 2020, the WHO classified the COVID-19 outbreak as a pandemic, based on the rapid increase in exposure globally. The full impact of the COVID-19 outbreak continues to evolve as of the date of this filing. Management is actively monitoring the global situation on our financial condition, liquidity, operations, suppliers, industry, and workforce. Given the daily evolution of the COVID-19 outbreak and the global responses to curb its spread, we are not able to estimate the effects of the COVID-19 outbreak on our results of operations, financial condition, or liquidity for fiscal year 2022. However, if the pandemic continues, it could have an adverse effect on our results of future operations, financial position, and liquidity in fiscal year 2022.
Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates
Our consolidated financial statements are prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles. The preparation of our audited consolidated financial statements and related disclosures require our management to make estimates and judgments that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the audited consolidated financial statements, and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reported period. We base such estimates on historical experience, known trends and events and various other factors that are believed to be reasonable under the circumstances, the results of which form the basis for making judgments about the carrying value of assets and liabilities that are not readily apparent from other sources. We evaluate our estimates and assumptions on an ongoing basis. Our actual results may differ from these estimates under different assumptions and conditions.
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While our significant accounting policies are described in more detail in the notes to our audited consolidated financial statements appearing elsewhere in this annual report on Form 10-K, we believe that the following accounting policies are those most critical to the judgments and estimates used in the preparation of our consolidated financial statements.
Use of Estimates
The preparation of audited consolidated financial statements in conformity with generally accepted accounting principles requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period. Specifically, such estimates were made by the Company for the valuation of derivative liability, stock compensation and beneficial conversion feature expenses. Actual results could differ from those estimates.
Concentration of Credit Risk
Financial instruments that potentially subject the Company to concentration of credit risk consisted primarily of cash. The Company maintains its cash at one domestic financial institution. The Company is exposed to credit risk in the event of a default by the financial institution to the extent that cash is in excess of the amount insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. The Company places its cash with high-credit quality financial institutions and are managed within established guidelines to mitigate risk. To date, the Company has not experienced any loss on its cash.
Financial Instruments
Pursuant to ASC Topic 820, Fair Value Measurements and Disclosures and ASC 825, Financial Instruments, an entity is required to maximize the use of observable inputs and minimize the use of unobservable inputs when measuring fair value. ASC 820 and 825 establishes a fair value hierarchy based on the level of independent, objective evidence surrounding the inputs used to measure fair value. A financial instrument’s categorization within the fair value hierarchy is based upon the lowest level of input that is significant to the fair value measurement. ASC 820 and 825 prioritizes the inputs into three levels that may be used to measure fair value:
Level 1
Level 1 applies to assets or liabilities for which there are quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities.
Level 2
Level 2 applies to assets or liabilities for which there are inputs other than quoted prices that are observable for the asset or liability such as quoted prices for similar assets or liabilities in active markets: quoted prices for identical assets or liabilities in markets with insufficient volume or infrequent transactions (less active markets); or model-derived valuations in which significant inputs are observable or can be derived principally from, or corroborated by, observable market data.
Level 3
Level 3 applies to assets or liabilities for which there are unobservable inputs to the valuation methodology that are significant to the measurement of the fair value of the assets or liabilities.
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The Company’s financial instruments consist primarily of cash, accounts payable, accrued expenses, accrued interest payable, notes payable, related party payables, convertible debentures, and other payables. Pursuant to ASC 820 and 825, the fair value of our derivative liabilities is determined based on “Level 3” inputs. We believe that the recorded values of all of our other financial instruments approximate their current fair values because of their nature and respective maturity dates or durations.
Beneficial Conversion Features
From time to time, the Company may issue convertible notes that may contain an embedded beneficial conversion feature. A beneficial conversion feature exists on the date a convertible note is issued when the fair value of the underlying common stock to which the note is convertible into is in excess of the remaining unallocated proceeds of the note after first considering the allocation of a portion of the note proceeds to the fair value of the warrants, if related warrants have been granted. The intrinsic value of the beneficial conversion feature is recorded as a debt discount with a corresponding amount to additional paid-in capital. The debt discount is amortized to interest expense over the life of the note using the effective interest method.
Derivative Instruments
The fair value of derivative instruments is recorded and shown separately under current liabilities. Changes in fair value are recorded in the consolidated statement of operations under other income (expense).
The accounting treatment of derivative financial instruments requires that the Company record the embedded conversion option at its fair value as of the inception date of the agreement and at fair value as of each subsequent balance sheet date. Any change in fair value is recorded as non-operating, non-cash income or expense for each reporting period at each balance sheet date. If the classification changes as a result of events during the period, the contract is reclassified as of the date of the event that caused the reclassification. As a result of entering into warrant agreements, for which such instruments contained a variable conversion feature with no floor, the Company has adopted a sequencing policy in accordance with ASC 815-40-35-12 whereby all future instruments may be classified as a derivative liability with the exception of instruments related to share-based compensation issued to employees or directors. For stock-based derivative financial instruments, the Company uses a Monte Carlo Simulation model to value the derivative instruments at inception and on subsequent valuation dates. The classification of derivative instruments, including whether such instruments should be recorded as liabilities or as equity, is evaluated at the end of each reporting period. Derivative instrument liabilities are classified in the balance sheet as current or non-current based on whether or not net-cash settlement of the derivative instrument could be required within 12 months of the balance sheet date.
The Company evaluates all of its financial instruments to determine if such instruments are derivatives or contain features that qualify as embedded derivatives. For derivative financial instruments that are accounted for as liabilities, the derivative instruments are initially recorded at their fair values and are then re-valued at each reporting date, with changes in the fair value reported in the consolidated statements of operations.
Impairment of Long-Lived Assets
Long-lived assets and identifiable intangibles held for use are reviewed for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount may not be recoverable. If the sum of undiscounted expected future cash flows is less than the carrying amount of the asset or if changes in facts and circumstances indicate, an impairment loss is recognized and measured using the asset’s fair value.
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Stock-based Compensation
The Company follows the guidance of the accounting provisions of ASC 718 Share-based Compensation (“ASC 718”), which requires the use of the fair-value based method to determine compensation for all arrangements under which employees and others receive shares of stock or equity instruments (warrants, options and restricted stock units). The fair value of each warrant and option is estimated on the date of grant using the Black-Scholes options-pricing model that uses assumptions for expected volatility, expected dividends, expected term, and the risk-free interest rate. The Company has not paid dividends historically and does not expect to pay them in the future. Expected volatilities are based on weighted averages of the historical volatility of the Company’s common stock estimated over the expected term of the awards. The expected term of awards granted is derived using the “simplified method” which computes expected term as the average of the sum of the vesting term plus the contract term as historically the Company had limited activity surrounding its awards. The risk-free rate is based on the U.S. Treasury yield curve in effect at the time of grant for the period of the expected term. The grant date fair value of a restricted stock unit equals the closing price of our common stock on the trading day of the grant date.
Recent Issued Accounting Guidance
In December 2019, the FASB issued ASU No. 2019-12, *Simplifying the Accounting for Income Taxes (“*ASU 2019-12”), which simplifies the accounting for income taxes, eliminates certain exceptions within ASC 740, Income Taxes, and clarifies certain aspects of the current guidance to promote consistency among reporting entities. ASU 2019-12 is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2021. Most amendments within the standard are required to be applied on a prospective basis, while certain amendments must be applied on a retrospective or modified retrospective basis. The Company is evaluating the effects, if any, of the adoption of ASU 2019-12 guidance on the Company's financial position, results of operations and cash flows.
In August 2020, the FASB issued ASU No. 2020-06, Debt—Debt with Conversion and Other Options (Subtopic 470-20) and Derivatives and Hedging—Contracts in Entity’s Own Equity (Subtopic 815-40): Accounting for Convertible Instruments and Contracts in an Entity’s Own Equity, which address issues identified as a result of the complexity associated with applying generally accepted accounting principles for certain financial instruments with characteristics of liabilities and equity. This amendment is effective for public business entities that meet the definition of a SEC filer, excluding entities eligible to be smaller reporting companies as defined by the SEC, for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2021, including interim periods within those fiscal years. For all other entities, the amendments are effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2023, including interim periods within those fiscal years. Early adoption is permitted, but no earlier than fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2020, including interim periods within those fiscal years. The Company is evaluating the effects, if any, of the adoption of ASU 2020-06 guidance on the Company's financial position, results of operations and cash flows.
The Company has reviewed other recently issued, but not yet effective, accounting pronouncements and does not believe the future adoptions of any such pronouncements will be expected to cause a material impact on its financial condition or the results of operations.
Penny Stock Rules / Section 15(g) of the Exchange Act
Our shares may be considered penny stock covered by Section 15(g) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and Rules 15g-1 through 15g-6 promulgated thereunder. They impose additional sales practice requirements on broker/dealers who sell our securities to persons other than established customers and accredited investors who are generally institutions with assets in excess of $5,000,000 or individuals with net worth in excess of $1,000,000 (including spouse's net worth and may include the fair market value of home furnishings and automobiles, but excluding from the calculation the value any primary residence and the related amount of any indebtedness on primary residence up to the fair market value of the primary residence (any indebtedness that exceeds the fair market value of the primary residence must be deducted from net worth calculation)) or annual income exceeding $200,000 or $300,000 jointly with their spouses.
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Rule 15g-1 exempts a number of specific transactions from the scope of the penny stock rules. Rule 15g-2 declares unlawful broker/dealer transactions in penny stocks unless the broker/dealer has first provided to the customer a standardized disclosure document.
Rule 15g-3 provides that it is unlawful for a broker/dealer to engage in a penny stock transaction unless the broker/dealer first discloses and subsequently confirms to the customer current quotation prices or similar market information concerning the penny stock in question.
Rule 15g-4 prohibits broker/dealers from completing penny stock transactions for a customer unless the broker/dealer first discloses to the customer the amount of compensation or other remuneration received as a result of the penny stock transaction.
Rule 15g-5 requires that a broker/dealer executing a penny stock transaction, other than one exempt under Rule 15g-1, disclose to its customer, at the time of or prior to the transaction, information about the sales person’s compensation.
Rule 15g-6 requires broker/dealers selling penny stocks to provide their customers with monthly account statements.
Rule 15g-9 requires broker/dealers to approved the transaction for the customer’s account; obtain a written agreement from the customer setting forth the identity and quantity of the stock being purchased; obtain from the customer information regarding his investment experience; make a determination that the investment is suitable for the investor; deliver to the customer a written statement for the basis for the suitability determination and that it is unlawful to effect the transaction without written authorization for the transaction from the customer.
The application of the penny stock rules may affect your ability to resell your shares due to broker-dealer reluctance to undertake the above-described regulatory burdens.
Off Balance Sheet Arrangements
We have no off balance sheet arrangements as of December 31, 2021 and 2020.
Controls and procedures
As filed, 7,132 characters, with its headings, lists and tables. Extracted from the main document; charts and exhibits are in the original on sec.gov.
(a) Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures
Our management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting. Internal control over financial reporting is defined in Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f) promulgated under the Exchange Act, as amended, as a process designed by, or under the supervision of, our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer (our Principal Financial Officer), and effected by our board of directors, management and other personnel, to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States and includes those policies and procedures that:
- Pertain to the maintenance of records that in reasonable detail accurately and fairly reflect our transactions and any disposition of our assets;
- Provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, and that our receipts and expenditures are being made only in accordance with authorizations of our management and directors; and
- Provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use or disposition of our assets that could have a material effect on the financial statements.
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 on a timely basis. Our management assesses the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting on a quarterly basis, with the most recent assessment being conducted as of December 31, 2021. In making these assessments, our management used the criteria set forth by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO) in Internal Control-Integrated Framework. Based on this assessment, Management has identified the following three material weaknesses that have caused management to conclude that, as of December 31, 2021, our disclosure controls and procedures, and our internal control over financial reporting, were not effective at the reasonable assurance level:
1. We do not have sufficient segregation of duties within accounting functions, which is a basic internal control. Due to our size and nature, segregation of all conflicting duties may not always be possible and may not be economically feasible. While we have recently hired a Chief Financial Officer to support our Chief Executive Officer who previously served as our Chief Financial Officer, and have recently appointed a member to our Board of Directors with significant accounting experience, we realize there is an inherent weakness with only 1-2 individuals being responsible for our accounting and the preparation of our financial statements. To the extent possible, the initiation of transactions, the custody of assets and the recording of transactions should be performed by separate individuals. Management evaluated the impact of our failure to have segregation of duties on our assessment of our disclosure controls and procedures and has concluded that the control deficiency that resulted represented a material weakness.
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2. We have not documented our internal controls. We have limited policies and procedures that cover the recording and reporting of financial transactions and accounting provisions. As a result, we may be delayed in our ability to calculate certain accounting provisions. While we believe these provisions are accounted for correctly in the attached audited financial statements, our lack of internal controls could lead to a delay in our reporting obligations. We are required to provide written documentation of key internal controls over financial reporting. Management evaluated the impact of our failure to have written documentation of our internal controls and procedures on our assessment of our disclosure controls and procedures and has concluded that the control deficiency that resulted represented a material weakness.
3. Effective controls over the control environment were not maintained. Specifically, a formally adopted written code of business conduct and ethics that governs our employees, officers, and directors was not in place. Additionally, management has not developed and effectively communicated to our employees its accounting policies and procedures. This has resulted in inconsistent practices. Further, our Board of Directors only recently appointed a director that qualifies as an audit committee financial expert as defined in Item 407(d)(5)(ii) of Regulation S-K. Until these issues are rectified our management believes these deficiencies have a pervasive effect across the organization, management has determined that these circumstances constitute a material weakness.
To address these material weaknesses, management performed additional analyses and other procedures to ensure that the financial statements included herein fairly present, in all material respects, our financial position, results of operations and cash flows for the periods presented. Accordingly, we believe that the consolidated financial statements included in this Annual Report fairly present, in all material respects, our financial condition, results of operations and cash flows for the periods presented.
(c) Remediation of Material Weaknesses
In order to remediate the material weakness in our documentation, evaluation and testing of internal controls, we hired a new Chief Financial Officer in January 2022, a Vice President of Finance and Accounting in February 2022, and appointed an independent member to our Board of Directors with significant accounting experience in December 2021 who is the chairperson of the audit committee of our Board of Directors. These new hires and appointment will significantly decrease the risk associated with the identified material weaknesses including segregation of duties, design and documentation of internal controls. However, we need to hire additional qualified and experienced personnel to assist us in further remedying these material weaknesses, especially with our transactional accounting and the preparation of our financial statements. To that end, if we are successful in raising additional financing, we plan to hire additional qualified individuals whose primary job responsibilities will be performing our accounting functions and preparing our financial statements, as well as performing other accounting-related functions, such as oversight.
(d) Changes in Internal Control over Financial Reporting
There have been no changes in our internal controls over financial reporting during the quarter ended December 31, 2021 that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, such internal control over financial reporting.
Figures reported in this filing
Standardized line items from the XBRL in this filing, for the period ended 2021-12-31. Comparative periods it repeats are left out.
| Line item | Period | Value | XBRL concept |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | 12 months2021-01-01 to 2021-12-31 | $0 | us-gaap:Revenues |
| Research and development | 3 months2021-10-01 to 2021-12-31 | $566.7k | us-gaap:ResearchAndDevelopmentExpense |
| Research and development | 12 months2021-01-01 to 2021-12-31 | $1.2m | us-gaap:ResearchAndDevelopmentExpense |
| Operating income | 12 months2021-01-01 to 2021-12-31 | −$5.6m | us-gaap:OperatingIncomeLoss |
| Interest expense | 3 months2021-10-01 to 2021-12-31 | $227.5k | us-gaap:InterestExpense |
| Interest expense | 12 months2021-01-01 to 2021-12-31 | $1.4m | us-gaap:InterestExpense |
| Net income | 12 months2021-01-01 to 2021-12-31 | −$7.9m | us-gaap:NetIncomeLoss |
| Diluted EPS | 12 months2021-01-01 to 2021-12-31 | −$0.30 | us-gaap:EarningsPerShareBasicAndDiluted |
| Diluted shares (weighted) | 12 months2021-01-01 to 2021-12-31 | 25,975,847 shares | us-gaap:WeightedAverageNumberOfDilutedSharesOutstanding |
| Operating cash flow | 12 months2021-01-01 to 2021-12-31 | −$3.7m | us-gaap:NetCashProvidedByUsedInOperatingActivities |
| Cash and equivalents | At period end2021-12-31 | $882.3k | us-gaap:CashAndCashEquivalentsAtCarryingValue |
| Current assets | At period end2021-12-31 | $934.3k | us-gaap:AssetsCurrent |
| Total assets | At period end2021-12-31 | $4.2m | us-gaap:Assets |
| Current liabilities | At period end2021-12-31 | $4.0m | us-gaap:LiabilitiesCurrent |
| Total liabilities | At period end2021-12-31 | $4.7m | us-gaap:Liabilities |
| Shareholders' equity | At period end2021-12-31 | −$483.6k | us-gaap:StockholdersEquity |
Source: SEC EDGAR, the filing index for accession 0001477932-22-001338. Last ingested by Listed: Nov 5, 2026, 13:37 ET. Listed shows no prices and gives no investment advice.