TON Strategy Co: Form 10-K for the period ended Dec 31, 2022

Overview

We are a Software-as-a-Service (“SaaS”) applications platform developer. We offer three platforms, each designed for a specific target customer. Our SaaS platform for the direct sales industry is comprised of a suite of interactive video-based sales enablement business software products marketed on a subscription basis. Available in both mobile and desktop versions, our base SaaS product is verbCRM, our Customer Relationship Management (“CRM”) application, to which our clients can add a choice of enhanced, fully integrated application modules that include , verbLEARN, our gamified Learning Management System application; verbLIVE, our Live Stream interactive eCommerce application; and verbPULSE, our business/augmented intelligence notification and sales coach application. verbTEAMS is our standalone, self-onboarding, video-based CRM and content management application for life sciences companies, professional sports teams, small businesses, and solopreneurs, with seamless one-button synchronization with Salesforce, that also comes bundled with verbLIVE. MARKET.live is our multi-vendor, multi-presenter, livestream social shopping platform, that combines ecommerce and entertainment.

We use the term “client” and “customer” interchangeably throughout this Annual Report.

Our SaaS Technology

Our suite of SaaS applications can be distinguished from other sales enablement applications because our applications utilize our proprietary interactive video technology as the primary means of communication between sales and marketing professionals and their customers and prospects. Moreover, the proprietary data collection and analytics capabilities of our applications inform our users on their devices in real time, when and for how long their prospects have watched a video, how many times such prospects watched it, and what they clicked on, which allows our users to focus their time and efforts on ‘hot leads’ or interested prospects rather than on those that have not seen such video or otherwise expressed interest in such content. Users can create their hot lead lists by using familiar, intuitive ‘swipe left/swipe right’ on-screen navigation. Our clients report that these capabilities provide for a much more efficient and effective sales process, resulting in increased sales conversion rates. We developed the proprietary patent-pending interactive video technology, as well as several other patent-issued and patent-pending technologies that serve as the unique foundation for all our platform applications.

Our Products

verbCRM is our baseline white-labelled product designed specifically for direct sales professionals that combines the capabilities of CRM lead-generation, content management, and in-video ecommerce capabilities in an intuitive, yet powerful tool for both inexperienced as well as highly skilled sales professionals. verbCRM allows users to quickly and easily create, distribute, and post videos to which they can add a choice of on-screen clickable icons that, when clicked, allow viewers to respond to the user’s call-to-action in real-time, in the video, while the video is playing, without leaving or stopping the video. For example, our technology allows a prospect or customer to click on a product they see featured in a video and impulse buy it, or to click on a calendar icon in the video to make an appointment with a salesperson, among many other features and functionalities designed to eliminate or reduce friction from the sales process for our users. The verbCRM app is designed to be easy to use and navigate and takes little time and training for a user to begin using the app effectively. It usually takes less than four minutes for a novice user to create an interactive video from our app. Users can add interactive icons to pre-existing videos, as well as to newly created videos shot with practically any mobile device. verbCRM interactive videos can be distributed via email, text messaging, chat app, or posted to popular social media directly and easily from our app. No software download is required to view Verb interactive videos on virtually any mobile or desktop device, including smart TVs. VerbCRM is designed to accommodate a suite of applications as add-on modules that integrate fully and seamlessly into the platform. These include verbLEARN, verbLIVE, and verbPULSE, each of which is described below.

verbLEARN is an interactive, video-based learning management system that incorporates all of the clickable in-video technology featured in our verbCRM application and adapts them for use by educators for video-based education. verbLEARN is used by enterprises seeking to educate a large sales team or a customer base about new products, or elicit feedback about existing products. It also incorporates Verb’s proprietary data collection and analytics capabilities that inform users in real time when and for how long the viewers watched the video, how many times they watched it, and what they clicked on, in addition to adding gamification features that enhance the learning aspects of the application.

verbLIVE is a next-generation interactive live-stream platform with in-video ecommerce capabilities for sales reps that allows them to utilize a variety of novel sales-driving features, including placing interactive icons on-screen that appear on the screens of all viewers, providing in-video click-to-purchase capabilities for products or services featured in the live video broadcast, in real-time, driving friction-free selling. verbLIVE also provides the sales reps with real-time viewer engagement data and interaction analytics. verbLIVE is entirely browser-based, allowing it to function easily and effectively on all devices without requiring the host or the viewers to download software, and is secured through end-to-end encryption.

verbPULSE is a business/augmented intelligence notification-based sales enablement platform feature set that tracks users’ interactions with current and prospective customers and then helps coach users by telling them what to do next in order to close the sale, virtually eliminating the lack of skill, training and experience among sales reps from the selling process.

verbTEAMS is our standalone interactive, video-based CRM for professional sports teams, small-and medium-sized businesses and solopreneurs. verbTEAMS also incorporates verbLIVE as a bundled application. verbTEAMS features self-sign-up, self-onboarding, self-configuring, content management system capabilities, user level administrative capabilities, and high-quality analytics capabilities in both mobile and desktop platforms that sync with one another. It also has a built-in one-click sync capability with Salesforce.

MARKET.live is akin to a virtual shopping mall, a centralized online destination where shoppers could explore hundreds, and over time thousands, of shoppable stores for their favorite brands, influencers, creators and celebrities, all of whom can host livestream shopping events from their virtual stores that can be seen by all shoppers at the virtual mall. Every store operator can host livestream events, even simultaneously, and over time we expect there will be thousands of such events, across numerous product and service categories, being hosted by people from all over the world, always on – 24/7 - where shoppers could communicate with the hosts and ask questions about products directly to the host in real-time through an on-screen chat visible to all shoppers. Shoppers can invite their friends and family to join them at any of the live shopping events to share the experience - to communicate directly with each other in real time, and then simply click on a non-intrusive - in-video overlay to place items in an on-screen shopping cart for purchase – all without interrupting the video. Shoppers can visit any number of other shoppable events to meet up and chat with friends, old and new, and together watch, shop and chat with the hosts, discover new products and services, and become part of an immersive entertaining social shopping experience. Throughout the experience, the shopping cart follows shoppers seamlessly from event to event, shoppable video to shoppable video, host to host, product to product.

The MARKET.live business model is a simple but next-level B to B play. It is a multi-vendor platform, with a single follow-me style unified shopping cart, and robust ecommerce capabilities with the tools for consumer brands, big box brick and mortar stores, boutiques, influencers and celebrities to connect with their clients, customers, fans, followers, and prospects by providing a unique, interactive social shopping experience that we believe could keep them coming back and engaged for hours.

A big differentiator for MARKET.live is that it also provides an online meeting place for friends and family to meet, chat, shop and enjoy a fun, immersive shopping experience in real time together from anywhere and everywhere in the world. MARKET.live will provide vendors with extensive business building analytics capabilities not available on, and not shared by many operators of other social media sites who regard that information as valuable proprietary property. All vendors on MARKET.live will retain this valuable intelligence for their own, unlimited use.

MARKET.live allows vendors an opportunity to reach not only the shoppers they invite to the site from their own client and contact lists, but also those shoppers who came to the site independently who will discover these vendors as they browse through the many other shoppable events hosted simultaneously on MARKET.live 24/7, from around the world. We believe our revenue model will be attractive to vendors and will consist of SaaS recurring revenue as well as a share of revenue generated through sales on the platform.

MARKET.live is simply a platform; we hold no inventory, we take no inventory risk, and each vendor manages their own packing and fulfillment, as well as returns. Only vendors that have a demonstrated ability to manage inventory and fulfillment are selected to participate on MARKET.live.

As we continue onboarding vendors to the platform, we are seeing increased interest from product manufacturers seeking to embrace MARKET.live’s direct-to-consumer selling capabilities, cutting-out distribution channel partners in order to reduce costs and increase profitability. As the economy tightens, we expect that trend to accelerate.

MARKET.live will also incorporate a modified version of our verbLIVE Attribution technology, allowing vendors who so choose, to leverage extremely powerful, built-in affiliate marketing capabilities. Non-vendor visitors to the site can search for those vendors that have activated the built-in affiliate marketing feature for their events and be compensated when people they referred to that vendor, purchase products or services during that vendor’s shopping event. We expect that this feature, unique to MARKET.live, will drive many more shoppers who will be referred from all over the world, producing a cross-pollination effect enhancing the revenue opportunities for all MARKET.live vendors, while also creating an attractive income generating opportunity for non-vendor MARKET.live patrons.

MARKET.live is an entirely new platform, built wholly independently and separate from our verbLIVE sales platform, representing what we believe is the state of the art of shoppable video technology. Whereas verbLIVE is a sales tool for sales reps that subscribe either directly or through their principal to verbCRM or verbTEAMS, MARKET.live is a multivendor social shopping platform for retailers, brands, manufacturers, creators and influencers who seek to participate in an open market-style eco-system environment.

Last fall we launched our “Creators on MARKET,” a new program that allows creators to monetize their content through livestream shopping and personalized storefronts on MARKET.live. The program is being marketed to video content creators across multiple social media channels. Through this new program, creators and influencers can choose the products they love from hundreds of brands and retailers on MARKET.live and offer their fans and followers those products through livestream shopping events broadcast live on MARKET.live and simulcast on the creators’ existing social platforms. They can also offer their favorite products through the Creators’ personally branded storefronts they can establish quickly and easily on MARKET.live. Depending on the products chosen, Creators can earn between 5% and 20% of their gross sales at no cost and no risk to the Creators selected to participate in the program.

With more than 12 million products from brands like Athleta, Best Buy, Target, Container Store, Banana Republic, GAP, Saks Off 5th, SSENSE, LOFT, DERMSTORE, INTERMIX, UNCOMMON GOODS, and many more, Creators can choose to feature their favorite products and promote and sell them to their fans and followers. All MARKET.live events are interactive so followers and fans can chat with the Creators in real time, as well as with one another, creating a more entertaining and engaging social shopping experience. When their interest level peaks, Creators’ fans and followers can click on the screen to buy the products. Creators accepted into the program are not required to make any investment in inventory, nor do they have the burden of managing fulfillment or shipping. The only requirement for them to remain in the program is for them to continue to create and promote the same videos they’re already doing on YouTube and elsewhere online. Livestream events are recorded and available to watch in the Creators’ personally branded stores on MARKET.live for those fans and followers to return 24/7 after the livestream events to browse and purchase the Creators’ featured products, as the recorded livestream videos remain shoppable.

verbTV will launch as a feature of our MARKET.live platform, serving to draw an audience of people seeking to consume video content that is also interactive and shoppable. We expect this additional audience will also be exposed to and enhance the eco-system of shoppers and retailers on MARKET.live. Over time it is anticipated that verbTV will feature concerts, game shows, sports, including e-sports, sitcoms, podcasts, special events, news, including live events, and other forms of video entertainment that is all interactive and shoppable. verbTV represents an entirely new distribution channel for all forms of content by a new generation of content creators looking for greater freedom to explore the creative possibilities that a native interactive video platform can provide for their audience. We believe content creators may also enjoy greater revenue opportunities through the native ecommerce capabilities the platform provides to sponsors and advertisers who will enjoy real-time monetization, data collection and analytics. Through verbTV, sponsors and advertisers will be able to accurately measure the ROI from their marketing spend, instead of relying on imprecise viewership information traditionally offered to television sponsors and advertisers.

Verb Partnerships and Integrations

verbMAIL for Microsoft Outlook and Salesforce Integration of verbLIVE and verbTEAMS. verbMAIL is a product of our partnership with Microsoft and is available as an add-in to Microsoft Outlook for Outlook and Office 365 subscribers. verbMAIL allows users to create interactive videos seamlessly within Outlook by clicking the verbMAIL icon in the Outlook toolbar. The videos are automatically added to an email and can be sent easily through Outlook using the user’s contacts they already have in Outlook. The application allows users to easily track viewer engagement and together with other features represents an effective sales tool available for all Outlook users worldwide. We have completed and deployed the integration of verbLIVE into Salesforce and have a verbTEAMS sync application for Salesforce users. To date, adoption of these products has been low due in large part to management’s decision to reduce and deploy development and marketing resources to other areas of the Company’s business that it believes can generate a greater return on investment.

Popular Enterprise Back-Office System Integrations. We have integrated verbCRM into systems offered by 19 of the most popular direct sales back-office system providers, such as Direct Scale, Exigo, By Design, Thatcher, Multisoft, Xennsoft, Ziplingo, and Party Plan. Direct sales back-office systems provide many of the support functions required for direct sales operations, including payroll, customer genealogy management, statistics, rankings, and earnings, among other direct sales financial tracking capabilities. The integration into these back-office providers, facilitated through our own API development, allows single sign-on convenience for users, as well as enhanced data analytics and reporting capabilities for all users. Our experience confirms that our integration into these back-end platforms accelerates the adoption of verbCRM by large direct sales enterprises that rely on these systems and as such, we believe this represents a competitive advantage.

Non-Digital Products and Services

Historically, we have provided certain non-digital services to some of our enterprise clients such as printing and fulfillment services. Due to declining sales associated with reduced or eliminated client in-person conferences and other events stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, and consistent with management’s strategy to exit this area of our business due to the low margins, high costs, and limited scalability, we entered into a customer referral agreement with a third party for our cart site and printing business. Under this agreement, we earn a 10% commission for customer referrals and 8% on merchandise sales and certain cart site design fees, all of which are recognized as non-digital revenue on a net basis.

For these reasons, management has suggested that a more accurate measure of our performance is the historical growth of our SaaS and digital business and associated revenue, which has been the focus of our initiatives, while we have continued to exit the low margin, non-digital business. While the SaaS and digital business has grown year over year, that growth is not readily apparent when analyzing our top-line revenue because the total revenue represents the growing SaaS and digital business upon which we are focused, off-set by the non-digital business we are intentionally exiting.

Our Market

Historically, our client base consisted primarily of multi-national direct sales enterprises to whom we provide white-labeled, client-branded versions of our products. Our client base has expanded to include large enterprises in the life sciences sector, professional sports franchises, among other business sectors. During the year ended December 31, 2022, we provided subscription-based application services to approximately 180 enterprise clients for use in over 100 countries and in over 48 languages. Since inception, we have had more than 3.5 million downloads of our verbCRM applications across all of the white-labelled versions created for clients on our platform.

Revenue Generation

A description of our principal revenue generating activities is as follows:

1. Digital Revenue which is divided into two main categories:

a. SaaS recurring digital revenue based on contract-based subscriptions to our Verb app products and platform services which include verbCRM, verbLEARN, verbLIVE, verbPULSE, and verbTEAMs. The revenue is recognized over the subscription period.

b. Non-SaaS, non-recurring digital revenue, which is revenue generated by the use of our app products and in-app purchases, such as sampling and other services obtained through the app. The revenue for samples is recognized upon completion and shipment, while the design fees are recognized when the service has been rendered, collectability is reasonably assured, and the app is delivered to the customer.

2. Non-digital revenue, which is revenue we generate from non-app, non-digital sources through ancillary services we provide as an accommodation to our clients and customers. These services include design, printing, fulfillment and shipping services. The revenue is recognized upon completion and shipment of products or fulfillment to customers. In April 2022, we entered into a customer referral agreement with a third party for our cart site and printing business. Under the agreement, we earn a 10% commission for customer referrals and 8% on merchandise sales and certain cart site design fees, all of which are recognized as non-digital revenue on a net basis.

3. MARKET.live, launched at the end of July 2022, generates revenue through several sources as follows:

a. All sales run through our ecommerce facility on MARKET.live from which we deduct a platform fee that ranges from 10% to 20% of gross sales, with an average of approximately 15%, depending upon the pricing package the vendors select as well as the product category and profit margins associated with such categories. The revenue is derived from sales generated during livestream events, from sales realized through views of previously recorded live events available in each vendor’s store, as well as from sales of product and merchandise displayed in the vendors’ online stores, all of which are shoppable 24/7.

b. Produced events. MARKET.live offers fee-based services that range from full production of livestream events, to providing professional hosts and event consulting.

c. The MARKET.live site is designed to incorporate sponsorships and other advertising based on typical industry rates.

Distribution Methods

We distribute our services through the following methods:

• Prospective customers and clients can subscribe to our applications on a monthly or annual contract through a simple, web-based sign-up form accessible on our website (https://www.verb.tech), as well as through interactive sign-up links that we distribute via email, text messaging and through social media.
• Enterprise users that subscribe to our verbCRM software service can distribute custom-branded sign-up links to their internal and external staff via email or other electronic means.

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• We have entered into partnership agreements with other CRM providers to incorporate our interactive video technology into such other CRM providers’ software platforms to be offered to their existing and prospective client base for an additional monthly recurring fee, which fee is shared with us.
• We have entered into license and partnership agreements with digital marketing companies and advertising agencies to resell our Verb interactive video technology to their existing and prospective client bases for monthly fees which fees are shared with us.
• We expect to enter into partnership agreements with large cloud services providers, to bundle our application with such providers’ other applications offered to their existing and prospective global customer base in order to generate greater utilization fees from such customers’ need for more data storage and bandwidth required by video-based applications.
• We employ a direct sales team, as well as outside non-employee sales consultants.

Marketing

We utilize our own proprietary interactive video platform as the foundation of our ongoing marketing initiatives. Historically, our initiatives have included, among other things, daily, broad-based social media engagement by a dedicated team of full-time employees and outside consultants; management of our interactive video-based website; and interactive video-based email campaigns and television commercials. In addition, the 19 direct sales back-office systems providers with whom we have integrated verbCRM, market our applications to their customers and prospects in exchange for finders’ fees.

Competition

We compete in the CRM applications industry, as well as in the video conferencing/webinar industry. We believe that CRM applications that incorporate our proprietary Verb interactive video technology provide significant competitive advantages over the CRM applications that do not. Salesforce, Microsoft, Oracle, SAP, and Adobe, the long-term leaders in the CRM sector, collectively account for over 40% of industry sales. These companies, as well as many others, have numerous differences in feature sets and functionality, but all share certain basic attributes. Most of them were designed before the advent and proliferation of mobile phones, social media, and the technology behind the current ubiquity of video over the internet and more recently on mobile devices. While many of them have attempted to incorporate video capabilities into their respective CRM platforms, sometimes in ‘‘bolt-on’’ fashion, we do not believe any of them has done so in a manner that is as effective as our interactive in-video ecommerce platform that allows users to place clickable calls-to-action right in the video, including into users’ pre-existing sales and product videos. In addition, Verb’s interactive videos are viewable on both mobile and desktop devices regardless of operating system and without the need to download a proprietary player or program.

We also compete in the video webinar and ecommerce solution provider sectors. The webinar sector is dominated by Zoom, WebEx, and Go2Meeting, among others. The ecommerce solution provider sector is dominated by Shopify, among others. However, we believe our verbLIVE application provides a superior solution for users seeking to use video webinars as a sales tool because our in-video clickable icons provide seamless in-video ecommerce capabilities that are not offered by either Zoom (or other large webinar providers) or Shopify. We believe verbLIVE represents a unique solution that combines the best features of Zoom and Shopify in a single application, offering users a more friction-free and effective selling experience. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the market share, marketing strength, and established positions in the marketplace of our competitors may prevent us from obtaining a large share of these markets.

Intellectual Property

Our policy is to protect our technology through, among other things, a combination of patents, trade secrets and copyrights. We primarily rely upon trade secrets and copyrighted proprietary software, code, and know-how to protect our interactive video technology platform and associated applications. We have taken security measures to protect our trade secrets and proprietary know-how, to the extent possible. Our means of protecting our proprietary rights may not prove to be adequate and our competitors may independently develop technology or products that are similar to ours or that compete with ours. Trade secret and copyright laws afford only limited protection for our technology and products. The laws of many countries do not protect our proprietary rights to as great an extent as do the laws of the United States. Despite our efforts to protect our proprietary rights, unauthorized parties may attempt to obtain and use information that we regard as proprietary. Third parties may also design around our proprietary rights, which may render our protected technology and products less valuable, if the design around is favorably received in the marketplace.

We filed a provisional patent application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (“PTO”) with respect to providing interactive video streams involving interactive buttons which we utilize in our video products. However, our provisional patent application may not result in the issuance of a patent, or may result in narrow claims, which may limit the protection we are attempting to obtain. We also hold a number of granted patents in two families with pending continuations. A first family relates to systems and methods for enhanced networking, conversion tracking, and conversion attribution. This family contains two issued patents (U.S. Pat. No. 9,792,380, issued October 17, 2017; and U.S. Pat. No. 10,467,317, issued Nov. 5, 2019) and a pending continuation. A second family relates to systems and methods for generating a custom campaign. This family contains one issued patent (U.S. Pat. No. 10,643,247, issued May 5, 2020) and a pending continuation. These existing patents and any future patents that may be issued to us, may not protect commercially important aspects of our technology. Furthermore, the validity and enforceability of such patents may be challenged by third parties, which may result in our patents being invalidated or modified by the PTO, various legal actions against us, the need to develop or obtain alternative technology or appropriate licenses under third-party patents, which may not be available on acceptable terms or at all.

We control access to our proprietary technology by entering into confidentiality and invention assignment agreements with our employees and contractors, and confidentiality agreements with third parties. Despite our precautions, we cannot assure you that our technology platform and products do not infringe patents held by others or that they will not in the future. Litigation may be necessary to enforce our intellectual property rights, to protect our trade secrets, to determine the validity and scope of the proprietary rights of others, or to defend against claims of infringement, invalidity, misappropriation, or other claims.

Research and Development

We incurred $5.2 million and $12.3 million of research and development expenses during the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, respectively. In addition to the amounts expensed in 2022 and 2021, we capitalized $2.8 million and $4.3 million, respectively, of costs associated with the development of MARKET.live. These costs consist of expenditures for the research and development of new products and technology. They are primarily expenses to vendors contracted to perform research projects and development of our interactive video-based sales enablement platform and associated applications.

Suppliers

While many of our design, development, and engineering team is U.S.-based, we currently utilize a group of dedicated full-time and part-time off-shore experienced professionals for some of the coding and maintenance of our software. We believe we have mitigated the risks associated with managing an external team of software development professionals by incorporating experienced internal management and oversight, as well as appropriate systems, protocols, controls, and procedures to ensure the protection and integrity of all our applications. We have also ensured access to additional qualified professionals to provide like or complementary services on an as-needed basis.

Dependence on Key Customers

Based on our current business and anticipated future activities as described in this Annual Report, we do not have any customers that represent more than 10% of our 2022 revenue.

Government Regulation

Our software and services are subject to certain legal, regulatory and other requirements. These laws are complex and evolving. Various U.S. federal and state laws govern many of our business activities, including, without limitation, the processing of payments and handling of consumer information. Despite our significant efforts to comply with all applicable requirements, there can be no guarantee that our efforts will be sufficient or that existing laws, rules or other requirements will not be interpreted, revised, augmented or rewritten in a way that adversely affects our regulated business activities, which comprise a significant majority of our overall business. For additional information related to these risk-related issues, refer to the section entitled “Risk Factors” within this Annual Report.

Human Capital Management

As of April 12, 2023, we had 76 full-time statutory employees, one part-time employee, and 33 independent contractors. We engage independent contractors on an as-needed basis to provide specific expertise in areas of software design, development and coding, content creation, audio and video editing, video production services, and other business functions, including marketing and accounting. None of our employees are covered by a collective bargaining agreement. We have had no labor-related work stoppages and believe our relationship with our employees, both full-time and part-time, consultants, and independent contractors, is satisfactory.

We believe our people are at the heart of our success and our customers’ success. We endeavor to not only attract and retain talented employees, but also to provide a challenging and rewarding environment to motivate and develop our valuable human capital. We look to our talented employees to lead and foster various initiatives that support our company culture including those related to diversity, equity and inclusion. In addition, we rely heavily on our talented team to execute our growth plans and achieve our long-term strategic objectives.

We provide competitive compensation and benefits for our employees. Our compensation packages may include base salary, commission or annual performance-based bonuses, and share-based compensation. We also offer general employee medical, dental, and vision insurance, health savings and flexible spending accounts, mental health resources, paid time off, paid family leave, life and disability insurance, and a 401(k) plan. These programs and our overall compensation packages seek to attract and retain talented employees.

We take the health and welfare of our employees very seriously and have encouraged safe practices designed to stem the infection and spread of COVID-19 within our workforce and beyond and to maintain the mental health and well-being of our employees. Beginning in March 2020, in an effort to protect our employees and comply with applicable government orders, we restricted non-essential employee travel and transitioned our employees to a remote work environment. We currently expect the majority of our employees will continue working remotely at least through the end of 2023. We are committed to our employees returning to the workplace in the long-term.

Our Historical Background

Verb Technology Company, Inc. is a SaaS application platform developer, incorporated in 2012 in the state of Nevada.

On April 12, 2019, we acquired Sound Concepts Inc. pursuant to an agreement and plan of merger. As a result of the merger, Sound Concepts merged with and into our wholly owned subsidiary, NF Acquisition Company, LLC. Upon completion of the merger, NF Acquisition Company, LLC changed its name to Verb Direct, LLC (“Verb Direct”).

On September 4, 2020, Verb Acquisition Co., LLC (“Verb Acquisition”), a subsidiary of Verb Technology, entered into a membership interest purchase agreement with Ascend Certification, LLC, dba SoloFire.

On October 18, 2021, we established verbMarketplace, LLC (“Market LLC”), a Nevada limited liability company. Market LLC is a wholly owned subsidiary established for our MARKET.live platform.

Our common stock and common stock purchase warrants trade on The Nasdaq Capital Market under the symbols “VERB” and “VERBW,” respectively. Our Internet website address is https://www.verb.tech.

Recent Developments

At a special meeting of stockholders on April 10, 2023 (the “Special Meeting of Stockholders”), our stockholders approved a Certificate of Amendment to our Articles of Incorporation to increase our authorized common stock from 200,000,000 shares to 400,000,000 shares and approved the grant of discretionary authority to our board of directors to effect a reverse stock split of our outstanding shares of common stock at a specific ratio within a range of one-for-five (1-for-5) to a maximum of a one-for-forty (1-for-40) split.

In addition, at the Special Meeting of Stockholders, our stockholders approved an amendment to the Company’s 2019 Incentive Compensation Plan to increase the number of shares authorized under the plan by 15,000,000 shares of common stock to be authorized for awards granted under the plan.

Our short and long-term success is subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, many of which involve factors that are difficult to predict or beyond our control. As a result, investing in the Company’s common stock involves substantial risk. The Company’s stockholders should carefully consider the risks and uncertainties described below, in addition to the other information contained in or incorporated by reference into this Annual Report, as well as the other information we file with the SEC from time to time. The risks described below are not the only ones we face. Additional risks not presently known to us or that we currently believe are immaterial may also impair our business operations and financial results. If any of the following risks actually occurs, our business, financial condition or results of operations could be adversely affected. In such case, the trading price of our common stock could decline and you could lose all or part of your investment. Our filings with the SEC also contain forward-looking statements that involve risks or uncertainties. Our actual results could differ materially from those anticipated or contemplated by these forward-looking statements as a result of a number of factors, including the risks we face described below, as well as other variables that could affect our operating results. Past financial performance should not be considered to be a reliable indicator of future performance, and investors should not use historical trends to anticipate results or trends in future periods.

Risks Related to Our Business

We have incurred significant net losses and cannot assure you that we will achieve or maintain profitable operations.

We have incurred recurring losses since our inception in 2012. Our net loss was $37.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2022, of which $19.0 million was non-cash; and $34.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2021, of which $7.3 million was non-cash. To date, we have funded our operations through cash collected from sales of our products and services, offerings of our equity securities, and debt financing. We have devoted substantially all of our resources to the design, development and commercialization of our products, the scaling of our technology and infrastructure, and our marketing and sales efforts. We may continue to incur significant losses in the future for a number of reasons, including unforeseen expenses, difficulties, complications, delays, and other unknown events.

To implement our business strategy and achieve consistent profitability, we need to, among other things, continue to reduce operating expenses, increase sales of our products and the gross profit associated with those sales, continue to reduce research and development expenses, and increase our marketing and sales efforts to drive an increase in the number of customers and clients utilizing our services. These expenditures may make it more difficult to achieve and maintain profitability. In addition, our efforts to grow our business may be more expensive than we expect, and we may not be able to generate sufficient revenue to offset operating expenses. If we are forced to reduce our expenses beyond our planned cost reduction initiatives, our growth strategy could be compromised. To offset our anticipated operating expenses, we will need to generate and sustain significant revenue levels in future periods in order to become profitable, and even if we do, we may not be able to maintain or increase our level of profitability.

Accordingly, we cannot assure you that we will achieve sustainable operating profits as we continue to reduce operating expenses, restructure our balance sheet, further develop our marketing efforts, and otherwise implement our growth initiatives. Any failure to achieve and maintain profitability would have a materially adverse effect on our ability to implement our business plan, our results and operations, and our financial condition, and could cause the value of our common stock, to decline, resulting in a significant or complete loss of your investment.

Our independent registered public accounting firm’s report for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022 has raised substantial doubt as to our ability to continue as a going concern.

Our independent registered public accounting firm indicated in its report on our audited consolidated financial statements as of and for the year ended December 31, 2022 that there is substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern. A “going concern” opinion indicates that the financial statements have been prepared assuming we will continue as a going concern and do not include any adjustments to reflect the possible future effects on the recoverability and classification of assets, or the amounts and classification of liabilities that may result if we do not continue as a going concern. Therefore, you should not rely on our consolidated balance sheet as an indication of the amount of proceeds that would be available to satisfy claims of creditors, and potentially be available for distribution to stockholders, in the event of liquidation. The presence of the going concern note to our financial statements may have an adverse impact on the relationships we are developing and plan to develop with third parties as we continue the commercialization of our products and could make it challenging and difficult for us to raise additional financing, all of which could have a material adverse impact on our business and prospects and result in a significant or complete loss of your investment.

If we are unable to generate sufficient cash flow from operations to operate our business and pay our debt obligations as they become due, we may need to seek to borrow additional funds, dispose of our assets, or reduce or delay capital expenditures. There can be no assurance that we will ever be profitable or that debt or equity financing will be available to us in the amounts, on terms, and at times deemed acceptable to us, if at all. The issuance of additional equity securities by us would result in a significant dilution in the equity interests of our current stockholders. Obtaining commercial loans, assuming those loans would be available, would increase our liabilities and future cash commitments. If we are unable to obtain financing in the amounts and on terms deemed acceptable to us, we may be unable to continue our business, as planned, and as a result may be required to scale back or cease operations for our business, the results of which would be that our stockholders would lose some or all of their investment. Our audited consolidated financial statements do not include any adjustments to reflect the possible future effects on the recoverability and classification of assets or the amounts and classifications of liabilities that may result should we be unable to continue as a going concern. For additional information, please refer to the section entitled “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations – Liquidity and Capital Resources – Going Concern,” as well as Note 1 to our consolidated financial statements included within this Annual Report.

Public health threats, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, natural disasters and other events beyond our control, have had and may continue to have a significant negative impact on our business, sales, results of operations and financial condition.

Public health threats and other highly communicable diseases and outbreaks could adversely impact our operations, the operations of our customers, suppliers, distributors and other business partners, as well as the healthcare system in general. For example, the COVID-19 pandemic has led to severe disruptions in general economic activities, as businesses and federal, state, and local governments take increasingly broad actions to mitigate this public health crisis. We have experienced disruption to our business, both in terms of disruption of our operations and the adverse effect on overall economic conditions. These conditions have had significant negative impacts on all aspects of our business. Our business is dependent on the continued health and productivity of our employees, including our software engineers, sales staff and corporate management team. Individually and collectively, the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic have had, and may continue to have, a material adverse effect on our business, sales, results of operations and financial condition. In addition, our business operations are subject to interruption by natural disasters, fire, power shortages, pandemics and other events beyond our control. Although we maintain crisis management and disaster response plans, such events could make it difficult or impossible for us to deliver our services to our customers and could decrease demand for our services.

Additionally, our liquidity could be negatively impacted if these conditions continue for a significant period of time and we may be required to pursue additional sources of financing to obtain working capital, maintain appropriate inventory levels, and meet our financial obligations. Capital and credit markets have been disrupted by the crisis and our ability to obtain any required financing is not guaranteed and largely dependent upon evolving market conditions and other factors. Depending on the continued impact of the crisis, further actions may be required to improve our cash position and capital structure.

The extent to which the COVID-19 pandemic, or other public health threats, natural disasters or catastrophic events, ultimately impacts our business, sales, results of operations and financial condition will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted, including, but not limited to, the duration and spread of the outbreak, its severity, the actions to contain the virus or treat its impact, and how quickly and to what extent normal economic and operating conditions can resume. Even after the COVID-19 pandemic has subsided, we may continue to experience significant impacts to our business as a result of its global economic impact, including any economic downturn or recession that has occurred or may occur in the future.

Our ability to grow and compete in the future will be adversely affected if adequate capital is not available to us or not available on terms favorable to us.

We have limited capital resources. We have financed our operations entirely through equity investments by founders and other investors and the incurrence of debt, and we expect to continue to finance our operations in the same manner in the foreseeable future. Our ability to continue our normal and planned operations, to grow our business, and to compete in our industry will depend on the availability of adequate capital. We cannot assure you that we will be able to obtain additional funding from those or other sources when or in the amounts needed, on acceptable terms, or at all. If we raise capital through the sale of equity, or securities convertible into equity, it would result in dilution to our then-existing stockholders, which could be significant depending on the price at which we may be able to sell our securities. If we raise additional capital through the incurrence of additional indebtedness, we would likely become subject to further covenants restricting our business activities, and holders of debt instruments may have rights and privileges senior to those of our then-existing stockholders. In addition, servicing the interest and principal repayment obligations under debt facilities could divert funds that would otherwise be available to support development of new programs and marketing to current and potential new clients. If we are unable to raise capital when needed or on attractive terms, we could be forced to delay, reduce, or eliminate development of new programs or future marketing efforts, or reduce or discontinue our operations. Any of these events could significantly harm our business, financial condition, and prospects.

Our indebtedness, and the agreements governing such indebtedness, subject us to required debt service payments, as well as financial restrictions and operating covenants, any of which may reduce our financial flexibility and affect our ability to operate our business.

From time to time, we have financed our liquidity needs in part from borrowings made under various credit agreements. As of December 31, 2022, the aggregate outstanding principal balance of our notes payable was $9.7 million.

The agreements underlying these transactions contain certain financial restrictions, operating covenants, and debt service requirements. Our failure to comply with obligations under these agreements, or inability to make required debt service payments, could result in an event of default under the agreements. A default, if not cured or waived, could permit a lender to accelerate payment of the loan, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, operations, financial condition, and liquidity. Further, if our debt is accelerated, we cannot be certain that funds will be available to pay the debt or that we will have the ability to refinance the debt on terms satisfactory to us or at all. If we are unable to repay or refinance the accelerated debt, we could become insolvent and seek to file for bankruptcy protection, which would have a material adverse impact on our financial condition.

In addition, the covenants in our credit agreements could limit our ability to engage in transactions that would be in our best interest, or otherwise respond to changing business and economic conditions, and may therefore have a material impact on our business. For example, our borrowings will require debt service payments, which could require us to divert funds identified for other purposes to such debt service payments. Further, if we cannot generate sufficient cash flow from operations to service our debt, we may need to refinance the debt, dispose of its assets, or reduce or delay expenditures. Alternatively, we may be required to issue equity to obtain necessary funds, which would be dilutive to our stockholders. We do not know whether we would be able to take any of these actions on a timely basis or at all.

Our current or future level of indebtedness could affect our operations in several ways, including the following:

• the covenants contained in current or future agreements governing outstanding indebtedness may limit our ability to borrow additional funds, refinance debt, dispose of assets, and make certain investments;
• debt covenants may also affect our flexibility in planning for, and reacting to, changes in the economy and in our industry;

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• a high level of debt would increase our vulnerability to general adverse economic and industry conditions;
• a significant level of debt may place us at a competitive disadvantage compared to our competitors that are less leveraged and, therefore, may be able to take advantage of opportunities that our indebtedness would prevent us from pursuing; and
• a high level of debt may impair our ability to obtain additional financing in the future for working capital, debt service requirements, acquisitions, or other purposes.

For additional information refer to the section entitled “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Liquidity and Capital Resources,” as well as Note 1 to our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report.

The success of our business is dependent upon our ability to maintain and expand our customer base and our ability to convince our customers to increase the use of our services and/or platform. If we are unable to expand our customer base and/or the use of our services and/or platform by our customers declines, our business will be harmed.

Our ability to expand and generate revenue depends, in part, on our ability to maintain and expand our relationships with existing customers and convince them to increase their use of our platform. If our customers do not increase their use of our platform, then our revenue may not grow and our results of operations may be harmed. It is difficult to predict customers’ usage levels accurately and the loss of customers or reductions in their usage levels may have a negative impact on our business, results of operations, and financial condition. If a significant number of customers cease using, or reduce their usage of, our platform, then we may be required to spend significantly more on sales and marketing than we currently plan to spend in order to maintain or increase revenue. These additional expenditures could adversely affect our business, results of operations, and financial condition. Most of our customers do not have long-term contractual financial commitments to us and, therefore, most of our customers could reduce or cease their use of our platform at any time without penalty or termination charges.

The market in which we operate is intensely competitive and, if we do not compete effectively, our operating results could be harmed.

The market for CRM applications is intensely competitive and rapidly changing, barriers to entry are relatively low, and many of our competitors, including Salesforce.com, Microsoft, Oracle, SAP SE, and Adobe, which collectively accounted for over 40% of industry sales in 2021, have greater name recognition, longer operating histories, and larger marketing budgets, as well as substantially greater financial, technical, and other resources, than we do. In addition, many of our potential competitors have established marketing relationships and access to larger customer bases, and have major distribution agreements with consultants, system integrators, and resellers. As a result, our competitors may be able to respond more effectively than we can to new or changing opportunities, technologies, standards, customer requirements, competitive pressures, or challenges within the financial markets. Furthermore, because of these advantages, even if our products and services are more effective than the products and services that our competitors offer, potential customers might accept competitive products and services in lieu of purchasing our products and services. If we do not compete effectively against our current and future competitors, our operating results could be harmed.

We may not be able to increase the number of our strategic relationships or grow the revenues received from our current strategic relationships.

We have entered into certain strategic relationships with other individuals and enterprises and are actively seeking additional strategic relationships. There can be no assurance, however, that these strategic relationships will result in material revenues for us or that we will be able to generate any other meaningful strategic relationships. If we are not able to increase the number of our strategic relationships or grow the revenues received from our current strategic relationships, our operating results could be harmed.

We may not be able to develop enhancements and new features to our existing service or acceptable new services that keep pace with technological developments.

If we are unable to develop enhancements to, and new features for, our sales enablement applications that keep pace with rapid technological developments, such as verbLIVE, our business will be harmed. The success of enhancements, new features, and services depends on several factors, including the timely completion, introduction, and market acceptance of the feature or edition. Failure in this regard may significantly impair our revenue growth or harm our reputation. We may not be successful in either developing these modifications and enhancements or in timely bringing them to market at a competitive price or at all. Furthermore, uncertainties about the timing and nature of new network platforms or technologies, or modifications to existing platforms or technologies, could increase our research and development expenses. Any failure of our service to operate effectively with future network platforms and technologies could reduce the demand for our service, result in customer dissatisfaction, and harm our business.

Our ability to deliver our services is dependent on third party Internet providers.

The Internet’s infrastructure is comprised of many different networks and services that, by design, are highly fragmented and distributed. This infrastructure is run by a series of independent, third-party organizations that work together to provide the infrastructure and supporting services of the Internet under the governance of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Numbers and Names (“ICANN”) and the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (“IANA”), which is now related to ICANN.

The Internet has experienced, and will continue to experience, a variety of outages and other delays due to damages to portions of its infrastructure, denial-of-service attacks, or related cyber incidents. These scenarios are not under our control and could reduce the availability of the Internet to us or our customers for delivery of our services. Any resulting interruptions in our services or the ability of our customers to access our services could result in a loss of potential or existing customers and harm our business.

Security breaches and other disruptions could compromise our information and expose us to liability, which would cause our business and reputation to suffer.

In the ordinary course of our business, we collect and store sensitive data, including intellectual property, our proprietary business information, proprietary business information of our customers, including, credit card and payment information, and personally identifiable information of our customers and employees. The secure processing, maintenance, and transmission of this information is critical to our operations and business strategy.

In addition, we are subject to numerous federal, state, provincial and foreign laws regarding privacy and protection of data. Some jurisdictions have enacted laws requiring companies to notify individuals of data security breaches involving certain types of personal data and our agreements with certain customers require us to notify them in the event of a security incident. Evolving regulations regarding personal data and personal information, including the General Data Protection Regulation, the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (“CCPA”), and the recently passed California Privacy Rights Act, which amends the CCPA and has many provisions that became effective on January 1, 2023, especially relating to classification of IP addresses, machine identification, location data and other information, may limit or inhibit our ability to operate or expand our business. Such laws and regulations require or may require us or our customers to implement privacy and security policies, permit consumers to access, correct or delete personal information stored or maintained by us or our customers, inform individuals of security incidents that affect their personal information, and, in some cases, obtain consent to use personal information for specified purposes.

We believe that we take reasonable steps to protect the security, integrity and confidentiality of the information we collect, use, store, and disclose, and we take steps to strengthen our security protocols and infrastructure, however, our information technology and infrastructure may be vulnerable to attacks by hackers or breached due to employee error, malfeasance, or other disruptions. We also could be negatively impacted by software bugs or other technical malfunctions, as well as employee error or malfeasance. Advanced cyber-attacks can be multi-staged, unfold over time, and utilize a range of attack vectors with military-grade cyber weapons and proven techniques, such as spear phishing and social engineering, leaving organizations and users at high risk of being compromised. Any such access, disclosure, or other loss of information could result in legal claims or proceedings, liability under laws that protect the privacy of personal information, regulatory penalties, a disruption of our operations, damage to our reputation, a loss of confidence in our business, early termination of our contracts and other business losses, indemnification of our customers, liability for stolen assets or information, increased cybersecurity protection and insurance costs, financial penalties, litigation, regulatory investigations and other significant liabilities, any of which could materially harm our business any of which could adversely affect our business, revenues, and competitive position.

Our success depends, in part, on the capacity, reliability, and security of our information technology hardware and software infrastructure, as well as our ability to adapt and expand our infrastructure.

The capacity, reliability, and security of our information technology hardware and software infrastructure are important to the operation of our current business, which would suffer in the event of system failures. Likewise, our ability to expand and update our information technology infrastructure in response to our growth and changing needs is important to the continued implementation of our new service offering initiatives. Our inability to expand or upgrade our technology infrastructure could have adverse consequences, including the delayed provision of services or implementation of new service offerings, and the diversion of development resources. We rely on third parties for various aspects of our hardware and software infrastructure. Third parties may experience errors or disruptions that could adversely impact us and over which we may have limited control. Interruption and/or failure of any of these systems could disrupt our operations and damage our reputation, thus adversely impacting our ability to provide our products and services, retain our current users, and attract new users. In addition, our information technology hardware and software infrastructure may be vulnerable to unauthorized access, misuse, computer viruses, or other events that could have a security impact. If one or more of such events occur, our customer and other information processed and stored in, and transmitted through, our information technology hardware and software infrastructure, or otherwise, could be compromised, which could result in significant losses or reputational damage. We may be required to expend significant additional resources to modify our protective measures or to investigate and remediate vulnerabilities or other exposures, and we may be subject to litigation and financial losses, any of which could substantially harm our business and our results of operations.

We are dependent on third parties to, among other things, maintain our servers, provide the bandwidth necessary to transmit content, and utilize the content derived therefrom for the potential generation of revenues.

We depend on third-party service providers, suppliers, and licensors to supply some of the services, hardware, software, and operational support necessary to provide some of our products and services. Some of these third parties do not have a long operating history or may not be able to continue to supply the equipment and services we desire in the future. If demand exceeds these vendors’ capacity, or if these vendors experience operating or financial difficulties or are otherwise unable to provide the equipment or services we need in a timely manner, at our specifications and at reasonable prices, our ability to provide some products and services might be materially adversely affected, or the need to procure or develop alternative sources of the affected materials or services might delay our ability to serve our users. These events could materially and adversely affect our ability to retain and attract users, and have a material negative impact on our operations, business, financial results, and financial condition.

We may not be able to find suitable software developers at an acceptable cost or at all.

We currently rely on certain key suppliers and vendors in the coding and maintenance of our software. We will continue to require such expertise in the future. Due to the current demand for skilled software developers, we run the risk of not being able to find or retain suitable and qualified personnel at an acceptable price, or at all. These risks may be greater now than in the past due to current general labor shortages in the United States. Without these developers, we may not be able to further develop and maintain our software, which is the most important aspect of our business development.

The success of our business is highly correlated to general economic conditions.

Demand for our products and services is highly correlated with general economic conditions, as a substantial portion of our revenue is derived from discretionary spending by individuals, which typically declines during times of economic instability. Declines in economic conditions in the United States or in other countries in which we operate, including declines as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, and may operate in the future may adversely impact our financial results. Because such declines in demand are difficult to predict, we or our industry may have increased excess capacity as a result. An increase in excess capacity may result in declines in prices for our products and services. Our ability to grow or maintain our business may be adversely affected by sustained economic weakness and uncertainty, including the effect of wavering consumer confidence, high unemployment, and other factors. The inability to grow or maintain our business would adversely affect our business, financial conditions, and results of operations, and thereby an investment in our common stock.

Our failure to adequately protect our intellectual property rights could diminish the value of our products, weaken our competitive position and reduce our revenue, and infringement claims asserted against us or by us, could have a material adverse effect.

We regard the protection of our intellectual property, which includes patents, trade secrets, copyrights, trademarks and domain names, as critical to our success. We strive to protect our intellectual property rights by relying on federal, state and common law rights, as well as contractual restrictions. We enter into confidentiality and invention assignment agreements with our employees and contractors, and confidentiality agreements with parties with whom we conduct business in order to limit access to, and disclosure and use of, our proprietary information. However, these contractual arrangements and the other steps we have taken to protect our intellectual property may not prevent the misappropriation of our proprietary information or deter independent development of similar technologies by others.

We have two patents related to our system for providing access to, storing and distributing content, and we filed a provisional patent application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (“PTO”), with respect to our interactive video technology. We have one patent related to methods for generating a custom campaign, and one continuation with respect to the same. Our provisional patent application may not result in the issuance of a patent, or certain claims may be rejected or may need to be narrowed, which may limit the protection we are attempting to obtain. In addition, our existing patents and any future patents that may be issued to us, may not protect commercially important aspects of our technology. Furthermore, the validity and enforceability of our patents may be opposed, challenged, or circumvented by third parties, including our competitors, which may result in our patents being invalidated or modified by the PTO, various legal actions against us, the need to develop or obtain alternative technology, or obtain appropriate licenses under third-party patents, which may not be available on acceptable terms or at all.

We have registered domain names and trademarks in the United States and have pursued additional registrations both in and outside the United States. Effective trade secret, copyright, trademark, domain name and patent protection is expensive to develop and maintain, both in terms of initial and ongoing registration requirements and the costs of defending our rights. Notwithstanding our efforts, third parties may independently develop technology that is not covered by our patents, or that is similar to, or competes with, our technology. In addition, our intellectual property may be infringed or misappropriated by third parties, particularly in foreign countries where the laws and governmental authorities may not protect our proprietary rights as effectively as those in the United States. We may be required to protect our intellectual property in an increasing number of jurisdictions, a process that is expensive and may not be successful or which we may not pursue in every location.

Monitoring unauthorized use of our intellectual property is difficult and costly. Our efforts to protect our proprietary rights may not be adequate to prevent misappropriation of our intellectual property. Further, we may not be able to detect unauthorized use of, or take appropriate steps to enforce, our intellectual property rights. In addition, our competitors may independently develop similar technology. The laws in the United States and elsewhere change rapidly, and any future changes could adversely affect us and our intellectual property. Our failure to meaningfully protect our intellectual property could result in competitors offering services that incorporate our most technologically advanced features, which could seriously reduce demand for our products. In addition, we may in the future need to initiate infringement claims or litigation. Litigation, whether we are a plaintiff or a defendant, can be expensive, time-consuming and may divert the efforts of our technical staff and managerial personnel, which could harm our business, whether or not such litigation results in a determination that is unfavorable to us. In addition, litigation is inherently uncertain, and thus we may not be able to stop its competitors from infringing upon our intellectual property rights.

Natural disasters and other events beyond our control could materially adversely affect us.

Natural disasters or other catastrophic events may cause damage or disruption to our operations, international commerce and the global economy, and thus could have a strong negative effect on us. Our business operations are subject to interruption by natural disasters, fire, power shortages, pandemics and other events beyond our control. Although we maintain crisis management and disaster response plans, such events could make it difficult or impossible for us to deliver our services to our customers and could decrease demand for our services.

Our future success depends on our key executive officers and our ability to attract, retain, and motivate qualified personnel.

Our future success largely depends upon the continued services of our executive officers and management team, especially our Chief Executive Officer, Chairman of our board of directors, and President, Mr. Rory J. Cutaia. If one or more of our executive officers are unable or unwilling to continue in their present positions, we may not be able to replace them readily, if at all. Additionally, we may incur additional expenses to recruit and retain new executive officers. If any of our executive officers joins a competitor or forms a competing company, we may lose some or all of our customers. Finally, we do not maintain “key person” life insurance on any of our executive officers. Because of these factors, the loss of the services of any of these key persons could adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations, and thereby an investment in our stock.

Our continuing ability to attract and retain highly qualified personnel will also be critical to our success because we will need to hire and retain additional personnel as our business grows. There can be no assurance that we will be able to attract or retain highly qualified personnel. We face significant competition for skilled personnel in our industries. This competition may make it more difficult and expensive to attract, hire, and retain qualified managers and employees. Because of these factors, we may not be able to effectively manage or grow our business, which could adversely affect our financial condition or business. As a result, the value of your investment could be significantly reduced or completely lost.

Risks Related to an Investment in Our Securities

We are not in compliance with The NASDAQ Capital Market $1.00 minimum bid price requirement and failure to maintain compliance with this standard could result in delisting and adversely affect the market price and liquidity of our common stock.

Our common stock is currently traded on The NASDAQ Capital Market under the symbol “VERB”. If we fail to meet any of the continued listing standards of The NASDAQ Capital Market, our common stock will be delisted from The NASDAQ Capital Market. These continued listing standards include specifically enumerated criteria, such as a $1.00 minimum closing bid price.

On May 12, 2022, we received a letter from The NASDAQ Stock Market advising that the Company did not meet the minimum $1.00 per share bid price requirement for continued inclusion on The NASDAQ Capital Market pursuant to NASDAQ Marketplace Listing Rule 5550(a)(2). The Company initially had a period of 180 calendar days, or until November 8, 2022, to regain compliance. On November 9, 2022, we were granted an additional 180-day period from the Nasdaq Stock Market Listing Qualifications Staff, through May 8, 2023, to regain compliance with the $1.00 minimum bid price requirement for continued listing on the Nasdaq Capital Market. To demonstrate compliance with this requirement, the closing bid price of our common stock needs to be at least $1.00 per share for a minimum of 10 consecutive business days before May 8, 2023. In order to satisfy this requirement, the Company intends to continue actively monitoring the bid price for its common stock between now and May 8, 2023 and will consider available options to resolve the deficiency and regain compliance with the minimum bid price requirement.

While we intend to regain compliance with the minimum bid price rule, there can be no assurance that we will be able to maintain continued compliance with this rule or the other listing requirements of The NASDAQ Capital Market. If we were unable to meet these requirements, we would receive another delisting notice from the Nasdaq Capital Market for failure to comply with one or more of the continued listing requirements. If our common stock were to be delisted from The NASDAQ Capital Market, trading of our common stock most likely will be conducted in the over-the-counter market on an electronic bulletin board established for unlisted securities such as the OTC Markets or in the “pink sheets.” Such a downgrading in our listing market may limit our ability to make a market in our common stock and which may impact purchases or sales of our securities.

Raising additional capital, including through future sales and issuances of our common stock, warrants or the exercise of rights to purchase common stock pursuant to our equity incentive plan could result in additional dilution of the percentage ownership of our stockholders, could cause our share price to fall and could restrict our operations.

We expect we will need significant additional capital in the future to continue our planned operations, including any potential acquisitions, hiring new personnel and continuing activities as an operating public company. To the extent we seek additional capital through a combination of public and private equity offerings and debt financings, our stockholders may experience substantial dilution. To the extent that we raise additional capital through the sale of equity or convertible debt securities, the ownership interest of our existing stockholders may be diluted, and the terms may include liquidation or other preferences that adversely affect the rights of our stockholders. Debt and receivables financings may be coupled with an equity component, such as warrants to purchase shares of our common stock, which could also result in dilution of our existing stockholders’ ownership. The incurrence of indebtedness would result in increased fixed payment obligations and could also result in certain restrictive covenants, such as limitations on our ability to incur additional debt and other operating restrictions that could adversely impact our ability to conduct our business. A failure to obtain adequate funds may cause us to curtail certain operational activities, including sales and marketing, in order to reduce costs and sustain the business, and would have a material adverse effect on our business and financial condition.

In addition, we have granted options to purchase shares of our common stock pursuant to our equity incentive plans and have registered 16,000,000 shares of common stock underlying options and shares granted pursuant to our equity incentive plans. Sales of shares issued upon exercise of options granted under our equity compensation plans may result in material dilution to our existing stockholders, which could cause our price of our common stock to fall.

Our issuance of additional shares of preferred stock could adversely affect the market value of our common stock, dilute the voting power of common stockholders and delay or prevent a change of control.

Our board of directors have the authority to cause us to issue, without any further vote or action by the stockholders, shares of preferred stock in one or more series, to designate the number of shares constituting any series, and to fix the rights, preferences, privileges and restrictions thereof, including dividend rights, voting rights, rights and terms of redemption, redemption price or prices and liquidation preferences of such series.

The issuance of shares of preferred stock with dividend or conversion rights, liquidation preferences or other economic terms favorable to the holders of preferred stock could adversely affect the market price for our common stock by making an investment in the common stock less attractive. For example, investors in the common stock may not wish to purchase common stock at a price above the conversion price of a series of convertible preferred stock because the holders of the preferred stock would effectively be entitled to purchase common stock at the lower conversion price causing economic dilution to the holders of common stock.

Further, the issuance of shares of preferred stock with voting rights may adversely affect the voting power of the holders of our other classes of voting stock either by diluting the voting power of our other classes of voting stock if they vote together as a single class, or by giving the holders of any such preferred stock the right to block an action on which they have a separate class vote even if the action were approved by the holders of our other classes of voting stock. The issuance of shares of preferred stock may also have the effect of delaying, deferring or preventing a change in control of our company without further action by the stockholders, even where stockholders are offered a premium for their shares.

The market price of our common stock has been, and may continue to be, subject to substantial volatility.

The market price of our common stock may fluctuate significantly in response to numerous factors, many of which are beyond our control, including;

• volatility in the trading markets generally and in our particular market segment;
• limited trading of our common stock;

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• actual or anticipated fluctuations in our results of operations;
• the financial projections we may provide to the public, any changes in those projections, or our failure to meet those projections;
• announcements regarding our business or the business of our customers or competitors;
• changes in accounting standards, policies, guidelines, interpretations, or principles;
• actual or anticipated developments in our business or our competitors’ businesses or the competitive landscape generally;
• developments or disputes concerning our intellectual property or our offerings, or third-party proprietary rights;
• announced or completed acquisitions of businesses or technologies by us or our competitors;
• new laws or regulations or new interpretations of existing laws or regulations applicable to our business;
• any major change in our board of directors or management;
• sales of shares of our common stock by us or by our stockholders;
• lawsuits threatened or filed against us; and
• other events or factors, including those resulting from war, incidents of terrorism, pandemics (such as the COVID-19 pandemic) or responses to these events.

Statements of, or changes in, opinions, ratings, or earnings estimates made by brokerage firms or industry analysts relating to the markets in which we operate or expect to operate could have an adverse effect on the market price of our common stock. In addition, the stock market as a whole, as well as our particular market segment, has from time-to-time experienced extreme price and volume fluctuations, which may affect the market price for the securities of many companies, and which often have appeared unrelated to the operating performance of such companies. Any of these factors could negatively affect our stockholders’ ability to sell their shares of common stock at the time and price they desire.

A decline in the price of our common stock could affect our ability to raise further working capital, which could adversely impact our ability to continue operations.

A prolonged decline in the price of our common stock could result in a reduction in the liquidity of our common stock and a reduction in our ability to raise capital. We may attempt to acquire a significant portion of the funds we need in order to conduct our planned operations through the sale of equity securities; thus, a decline in the price of our common stock could be detrimental to our liquidity and our operations because the decline may adversely affect investors’ desire to invest in our securities. If we are unable to raise the funds we require for all of our planned operations, we may be forced to reallocate funds from other planned uses and may suffer a significant negative effect on our business plan and operations, including our ability to develop new products or services and continue our current operations. As a result, our business may suffer, and we may be forced to reduce or discontinue operations. We also might not be able to meet our financial obligations if we cannot raise enough funds through the sale of our common stock and we may be forced to reduce or discontinue operations.

Because we do not intend to pay any cash dividends on our shares of common stock in the near future, our stockholders will not be able to receive a return on their shares unless and until they sell them.

We intend to retain a significant portion of any future earnings to finance the development, operation and expansion of our business. We do not anticipate paying any cash dividends on our common stock in the near future. The declaration, payment, and amount of any future dividends will be made at the discretion of our board of directors, and will depend upon, among other things, the results of operations, cash flows, and financial condition, operating and capital requirements, and other factors as our board of directors considers relevant. There is no assurance that future dividends will be paid, and, if dividends are paid, there is no assurance with respect to the amount of any such dividend. Unless our board of directors determines to pay dividends, our stockholders will be required to look to appreciation of our common stock to realize a gain on their investment. There can be no assurance that this appreciation will occur.

Our common stock has been categorized as “penny stock,” which may make it more difficult for investors to sell their shares of common stock due to suitability requirements.

The SEC has adopted regulations which generally define a “penny stock” to be any equity security that has a market price (as defined) less than $5.00 per share or an exercise price of less than $5.00 per share, subject to certain exceptions. Our securities are covered by the penny stock rules, which impose additional sales practice requirements on broker-dealers who sell to persons other than established customers and “accredited investors”. The term “accredited investor” refers generally to institutions with assets in excess of $5,000,000 or individuals with a net worth in excess of $1,000,000 or annual income exceeding $200,000 or $300,000 jointly with their spouse. 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 in a form prepared by the SEC 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 monthly account statements showing the market value of each penny stock held in the customer’s account. The bid and offer quotations, and the broker-dealer and salesperson compensation information, must be given to the customer orally or in writing prior to effecting the transaction and must be given to the customer in writing before or with the customer’s confirmation. In addition, the penny stock rules require that prior to a transaction in a penny stock not otherwise exempt from these rules, the broker-dealer 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. These disclosure requirements may have the effect of reducing the level of trading activity in the secondary market for the stock that is subject to these penny stock rules. Consequently, these penny stock rules may affect the ability of broker-dealers to trade our securities. We believe that the penny stock rules discourage investor interest in and limit the marketability of our common stock.

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. has adopted sales practice requirements that historically may have limited a stockholder’s ability to buy and sell our common stock, which could depress the price of our common stock.

In addition to the “penny stock” rules described above, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) has adopted rules that require that, in recommending an investment to a customer, a broker-dealer must have reasonable grounds for believing that the investment is suitable for that customer. Prior to recommending speculative low-priced securities to their non-institutional customers, broker-dealers must make reasonable efforts to obtain information about the customer’s financial status, tax status, investment objectives, and other information. Under interpretations of these rules, FINRA believes that there is a high probability that speculative low-priced securities will not be suitable for at least some customers. Thus, the FINRA requirements historically has made it more difficult for broker-dealers to recommend that their customers buy our common stock, which could limit your ability to buy and sell our common stock, have an adverse effect on the market for our shares, and thereby depress our price per share of common stock.

The elimination of monetary liability against our directors, officers, and employees under Nevada law and the existence of indemnification rights for our obligations to our directors, officers, and employees may result in substantial expenditures by us and may discourage lawsuits against our directors, officers, and employees.

Our articles of incorporation and bylaws contain provisions permitting us to eliminate the personal liability of our directors and officers to us and our stockholders for damages for the breach of a fiduciary duty as a director or officer to the extent provided by Nevada law. In addition, we have entered into indemnification agreements with our directors and officers to provide such indemnification rights. We may also have contractual indemnification obligations under any future employment agreements with our officers. The foregoing indemnification obligations could result in us incurring substantial expenditures to cover the cost of settlement or damage awards against directors and officers, which we may be unable to recoup. These provisions and the resulting costs may also discourage us from bringing a lawsuit against directors and officers for breaches of their fiduciary duties and may similarly discourage the filing of derivative litigation by our stockholders against our directors and officers even though such actions, if successful, might otherwise benefit us and our stockholders.

Anti-takeover effects of certain provisions of Nevada state law hinder a potential takeover of us.

Nevada has a business combination law that prohibits certain business combinations between Nevada corporations and “interested stockholders” for three years after an “interested stockholder” first becomes an “interested stockholder,” unless the corporation’s board of directors approves the combination in advance. For purposes of Nevada law, an “interested stockholder” is any person who is (i) the beneficial owner, directly or indirectly, of ten percent or more of the voting power of the outstanding voting shares of the corporation or (ii) an affiliate or associate of the corporation and at any time within the three previous years was the beneficial owner, directly or indirectly, of ten percent or more of the voting power of the then-outstanding shares of the corporation. The definition of the term “business combination” is sufficiently broad to cover virtually any kind of transaction that would allow a potential acquirer to use the corporation’s assets to finance the acquisition or otherwise to benefit its own interests rather than the interests of the corporation and its other stockholders.

The potential effect of Nevada’s business combination law is to discourage parties interested in taking control of us from doing so if these parties cannot obtain the approval of our board of directors. Both of these provisions could limit the price investors would be willing to pay in the future for shares of our common stock.

Our bylaws contain an exclusive forum provision, which could limit our stockholders’ ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with us or our directors, officers, employees or agents.

Our bylaws provide that, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the state and federal courts in the State of Nevada shall be the exclusive forum for any litigation relating to our internal affairs, including, without limitation: (a) any derivative action brought on behalf of us, (b) any action asserting a claim for breach of fiduciary duty to us or our stockholders by any current or former officer, director, employee, or agent of us, or (c) any action against us or any current or former officer, director, employee, or agent of us arising pursuant to any provision of the Nevada Revised Statutes, the articles of incorporation, or the bylaws.

For the avoidance of doubt, the exclusive forum provision described above does not apply to any claims arising under the Securities Act or Exchange Act. Section 27 of the Exchange Act creates exclusive federal jurisdiction over all suits brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Exchange Act or the rules and regulations thereunder, and Section 22 of the Securities Act creates concurrent jurisdiction for federal and state courts over all suits brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Securities Act or the rules and regulations thereunder.

The choice of forum provision in our bylaws may limit our stockholders’ ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that they find favorable for disputes with us or our directors, officers, employees or agents, which may discourage such lawsuits against us and our directors, officers, employees and agents even though an action, if successful, might benefit our stockholders. The applicable courts may also reach different judgments or results than would other courts, including courts where a stockholder considering an action may be located or would otherwise choose to bring the action, and such judgments or results may be more favorable to us than to our stockholders. With respect to the provision making the state and federal courts in the State of Nevada the sole and exclusive forum for certain types of actions, stockholders who do bring a claim in the state and federal courts in the State of Nevada could face additional litigation costs in pursuing any such claim, particularly if they do not reside in or near Nevada. Finally, if a court were to find this provision of our bylaws inapplicable to, or unenforceable in respect of, one or more of the specified types of actions or proceedings, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such matters in other jurisdictions, which could have a material adverse effect on us.

Our California office is approximately 6,700 square feet and is located at 2210 Newport Blvd., Suite 200, Newport Beach, California 92663. Our office houses our executive and administrative operations under an operating lease that expires on May 31, 2027 for monthly rent of approximately $35,000. We believe that our facility is sufficient to meet our current needs and that suitable additional space will be available as and when needed.

On April 12, 2019, we acquired four office and warehouse leases in American Fork, Utah related to the operation of Verb Direct with an aggregate lease payment of $31,000 per month. The lessor of the office and warehouse area is JMCC Properties, which is an entity owned and controlled by the former shareholders and certain current officers of Verb Direct. On January 3, 2022, we entered into a termination agreement for such offices and warehouse leases. Under the terms of the agreement, two of the building leases terminated on January 15, 2022 and the other two terminated on April 30, 2022.

On April 26, 2022, we entered into an office space sub-lease agreement in Lehi, Utah. The agreement requires us to pay $12,000 per month for an initial term of eighteen months, which increases by 3% per annum after twelve months.

For a discussion of our legal proceedings, refer to Note 16 “Commitments and Contingencies,” in the notes to our audited consolidated financial statements of this Annual Report.

The following discussion and analysis of our results of operations and financial condition for the fiscal years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021, should be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and the related notes and the other financial information that are included elsewhere in this Annual Report. This discussion includes forward-looking statements based upon current expectations that involve risks and uncertainties, such as our plans, objectives, expectations, and intentions. The following discussion contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties such as our plans, estimates, and beliefs. Our actual results could differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements below. Factors that could cause or contribute to those differences in our actual results include, but are not limited to, those discussed below and those discussed elsewhere within this Annual Report, particularly in the section entitled “Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” and the Item entitled “Risk Factors.”

Overview

We are a Software-as-a-Service (“SaaS”) applications platform developer. We offer three platforms, each designed for a specific target customer. Our SaaS platform for the direct sales industry is comprised of a suite of interactive video-based sales enablement business software products marketed on a subscription basis. Available in both mobile and desktop versions, our base SaaS product is verbCRM, our Customer Relationship Management (“CRM”) application, to which our clients can add a choice of enhanced, fully integrated application modules that include verbLEARN, our gamified Learning Management System application; verbLIVE, our Live Stream interactive eCommerce application; and verbPULSE, our business/augmented intelligence notification and sales coach application; verbTEAMS is our standalone, self-onboarding video-based CRM and content management application for life sciences companies, professional sports teams, small businesses and solopreneurs, with seamless one-button synchronization with Salesforce, that also comes bundled with verbLIVE. MARKET.live is our multi-vendor, multi-presenter, livestream social shopping platform, that combines ecommerce and entertainment.

We use the term “client” and “customer” interchangeably throughout this Annual Report.

Our SaaS Technology

Our suite of applications can be distinguished from other sales enablement applications because our applications utilize our proprietary interactive video technology as the primary means of communication between sales and marketing professionals and their customers and prospects. Moreover, the proprietary data collection and analytics capabilities of our applications inform our users on their devices in real time, when and for how long their prospects have watched a video, how many times such prospects watched it, and what they clicked on, which allows our users to focus their time and efforts on ‘hot leads’ or interested prospects rather than on those that have not seen such video or otherwise expressed interest in such content. Users can create their hot lead lists by using familiar, intuitive ‘swipe left/swipe right’ on-screen navigation. Our clients report that these capabilities provide for a much more efficient and effective sales process, resulting in increased sales conversion rates. We developed the proprietary patent-pending interactive video technology, as well as several other patent-issued and patent-pending technologies that serve as the unique foundation for all our platform applications.

Our Products

verbCRM is our baseline white-labelled product designed specifically for direct sales professionals that combines the capabilities of CRM lead-generation, content management, and in-video ecommerce capabilities in an intuitive, yet powerful tool for both inexperienced as well as highly skilled sales professionals. verbCRM allows users to quickly and easily create, distribute, and post videos to which they can add a choice of on-screen clickable icons which, when clicked, allow viewers to respond to the user’s call-to-action in real-time, in the video, while the video is playing, without leaving or stopping the video. For example, our technology allows a prospect or customer to click on a product they see featured in a video and impulse buy it, or to click on a calendar icon in the video to make an appointment with a salesperson, among many other features and functionalities designed to eliminate or reduce friction from the sales process for our users. The verbCRM app is designed to be easy to use and navigate and takes little time and training for a user to begin using the app effectively. It usually takes less than four minutes for a novice user to create an interactive video from our app. Users can add interactive icons to pre-existing videos, as well as to newly created videos shot with practically any mobile device. verbCRM interactive videos can be distributed via email, text messaging, chat app, or posted to popular social media directly and easily from our app. No software download is required to view Verb interactive videos on virtually any mobile or desktop device, including smart TVs. verbCRM is designed to accommodate a suite of applications as add-on modules that integrate fully and seamlessly into the platform. These include verbLEARN, verbLIVE, and verbPULSE, each of which is described below.

verbLEARN is an interactive, video-based learning management system that incorporates all of the clickable in-video technology featured in our verbCRM application and adapts them for use by educators for video-based education. verbLEARN is used by enterprises seeking to educate a large sales team or a customer base about new products, or elicit feedback about existing products. It also incorporates Verb’s proprietary data collection and analytics capabilities that inform users in real time when and for how long the viewers watched the video, how many times they watched it, and what they clicked on, in addition to adding gamification features that enhance the learning aspects of the application.

verbLIVE is a next-generation interactive live-stream platform with in-video ecommerce capabilities for sales reps that allows them to utilize a variety of novel sales-driving features, including placing interactive icons on-screen that appear on the screens of all viewers, providing in-video click-to-purchase capabilities for products or services featured in the live video broadcast, in real-time, driving friction-free selling. verbLIVE also provides the sales reps with real-time viewer engagement data and interaction analytics. verbLIVE is entirely browser-based, allowing it to function easily and effectively on all devices without requiring the host or the viewers to download software, and is secured through end-to-end encryption.

verbPULSE is a business/augmented intelligence notification-based sales enablement platform feature set that tracks users’ interactions with current and prospective customers and then helps coach users by informing them what to do next in order to close the sale, virtually eliminating the lack of skill, training and experience among sales reps from the selling process.

verbTEAMS is our standalone interactive, video-based CRM for life sciences companies, professional sports teams, small-and medium-sized businesses and solopreneurs. verbTEAMS also incorporates verbLIVE as a bundled application. verbTEAMS features self-sign-up, self-onboarding, self-configuring, content management system capabilities, user level administrative capabilities, and high-quality analytics capabilities in both mobile and desktop platforms that sync with one another. It also has a built-in one-click sync capability with Salesforce.

MARKET.live is akin to a virtual shopping mall, a centralized online destination where shoppers could explore hundreds, and over time thousands, of shoppable stores for their favorite brands, influencers, creators and celebrities, all of whom can host livestream shopping events from their virtual stores that can be seen by all shoppers at the virtual mall. Every store operator can host livestream events, even simultaneously, and over time we expect there will be thousands of such events, across numerous product and service categories, being hosted by people from all over the world, always on – 24/7 - where shoppers could communicate with the hosts and ask questions about products directly to the host in real-time through an on-screen chat visible to all shoppers. Shoppers can invite their friends and family to join them at any of the live shopping events to share the experience - to communicate directly with each other in real time, and then simply click on a non-intrusive - in-video overlay to place items in an on-screen shopping cart for purchase – all without interrupting the video. Shoppers can visit any number of other shoppable events to meet up and chat with friends, old and new, and together watch, shop and chat with the hosts, discover new products and services, and become part of an immersive entertaining social shopping experience. Throughout the experience, the shopping cart follows shoppers seamlessly from event to event, shoppable video to shoppable video, host to host, product to product.

The MARKET.live business model is a simple but next-level B to B play. It is a multi-vendor platform, with a single follow-me style unified shopping cart, and robust ecommerce capabilities with the tools for consumer brands, big box brick and mortar stores, boutiques, influencers and celebrities to connect with their clients, customers, fans, followers, and prospects by providing a unique, interactive social shopping experience that we believe could keep them coming back and engaged for hours.

A big differentiator for MARKET.live is that it also provides an online meeting place for friends and family to meet, chat, shop and enjoy a fun, immersive shopping experience in real time together from anywhere and everywhere in the world. MARKET.live will provide vendors with extensive business building analytics capabilities not available on, and not shared by many operators of other social media sites who regard that information as valuable proprietary property. All vendors on MARKET.live will retain this valuable intelligence for their own, unlimited use.

MARKET.live allows vendors an opportunity to reach not only the shoppers they invite to the site from their own client and contact lists, but also those shoppers who came to the site independently who will discover these vendors as they browse through the many other shoppable events hosted simultaneously on MARKET.live 24/7, from around the world. We believe our revenue model will be attractive to vendors and will consist of SaaS recurring revenue as well as a share of revenue generated through sales on the platform.

MARKET.live is simply a platform; we hold no inventory, we take no inventory risk, and each vendor manages their own packing and fulfillment, as well as returns. Only vendors that have a demonstrated ability to manage inventory and fulfillment are selected to participate on MARKET.live.

As we continue onboarding vendors to the platform, we are seeing increased interest from product manufacturers seeking to embrace MARKET.live’s direct-to-consumer selling capabilities, cutting-out distribution channel partners in order to reduce costs and increase profitability. As the economy tightens, we expect that trend to accelerate.

MARKET.live will also incorporate a modified version of our verbLIVE Attribution technology, allowing vendors who so choose, to leverage extremely powerful, built-in affiliate marketing capabilities. Non-vendor visitors to the site can search for those vendors that have activated the built-in affiliate marketing feature for their events and be compensated when people they referred to that vendor, purchase products or services during that vendor’s shopping event. We expect that this feature, unique to MARKET.live, will drive many more shoppers who will be referred from all over the world, producing a cross-pollination effect enhancing the revenue opportunities for all MARKET.live vendors, while also creating an attractive income generating opportunity for non-vendor MARKET.live patrons.

MARKET.live is an entirely new platform, built wholly independently and separate from our verbLIVE sales platform, representing what we believe is the state of the art of shoppable video technology. Whereas verbLIVE is a sales tool for sales reps that subscribe either directly or through their principal to verbCRM or verbTEAMS, MARKET.live is a multivendor social shopping platform for retailers, brands, manufacturers, creators and influencers who seek to participate in an open market-style eco-system environment. More recently, we are beginning to see interest from existing verbLIVE clients who see the value of MARKET.live as a corporate communications tool for use in sales, marketing, lead-generation, training and recruitment initiatives.

Last fall we launched our “Creators on MARKET.live,” a new program that allows creators to monetize their content through livestream shopping and personalized storefronts on MARKET.live. The program is being marketed to video content creators across multiple social media channels. Through this new program, creators and influencers can choose the products they love from hundreds of brands and retailers on MARKET.live and offer their fans and followers those products through livestream shopping events broadcast live on MARKET.live and simulcast on the creators’ existing social platforms. They can also offer their favorite products through the Creators’ personally branded storefronts they can establish quickly and easily on MARKET.live. Depending on the products chosen, Creators can earn between 5% and 20% of their gross sales at no cost and no risk to the Creators selected to participate in the program.

With more than 12 million products from brands like Athleta, Best Buy, Target, Container Store, Banana Republic, GAP, Saks Off 5th, SSENSE, LOFT, DERMSTORE, INTERMIX, UNCOMMON GOODS, and many more, Creators can choose to feature their favorite products and promote and sell them to their fans and followers. All MARKET.live events are interactive so followers and fans can chat with the Creators in real time, as well as with one another, creating a more entertaining and engaging social shopping experience. When their interest level peaks, Creators’ fans and followers can click on the screen to buy the products. Creators accepted into the program are not required to make any investment in inventory, nor do they have the burden of managing fulfillment or shipping. The only requirement for them to remain in the program is for them to continue to create and promote the same videos they’re already doing on YouTube and elsewhere online. Livestream events are recorded and available to watch in the Creators’ personally branded stores on MARKET.live for those fans and followers to return 24/7 after the livestream events to browse and purchase the Creators’ featured products, as the recorded livestream videos remain shoppable.

verbTV will launch as a feature of our MARKET.live platform, serving to draw an audience of people seeking to consume video content that is also interactive and shoppable. We expect this additional audience will also be exposed to and enhance the eco-system of shoppers and retailers on MARKET.live. Over time it is anticipated that verbTV will feature concerts, game shows, sports, including e-sports, sitcoms, podcasts, special events, news, including live events, and other forms of video entertainment that is all interactive and shoppable. verbTV represents an entirely new distribution channel for all forms of content by a new generation of content creators looking for greater freedom to explore the creative possibilities that a native interactive video platform can provide for their audience. We believe content creators may also enjoy greater revenue opportunities through the native ecommerce capabilities the platform provides to sponsors and advertisers who will enjoy real-time monetization, data collection and analytics. Through verbTV, sponsors and advertisers will be able to accurately measure the ROI from their marketing spend, instead of relying on imprecise viewership information traditionally offered to television sponsors and advertisers.

Verb Partnerships and Integrations

verbMAIL for Microsoft Outlook and Salesforce Integration of verbLIVE and verbTEAMS. verbMAIL is a product of our partnership with Microsoft and is available as an add-in to Microsoft Outlook for Outlook and Office 365 subscribers. verbMAIL allows users to create interactive videos seamlessly within Outlook by clicking the verbMAIL icon in the Outlook toolbar. The videos are automatically added to an email and can be sent easily through Outlook using the user’s contacts they already have in Outlook. The application allows users to easily track viewer engagement and together with other features represents an effective sales tool available for all Outlook users worldwide. We have completed and deployed the integration of verbLIVE into Salesforce and have a verbTEAMS sync application for Salesforce users. To date, adoption of these products has been low due in large part to management’s decision to reduce and deploy development and marketing resources to other areas of the Company’s business that it believes can generate a greater return on investment.

Popular Enterprise Back-Office System Integrations. We have integrated verbCRM into systems offered by 19 of the most popular direct sales back-office system providers, such as Direct Scale, Exigo, By Design, Thatcher, Multisoft, Xennsoft, Ziplingo, and Party Plan. Direct sales back-office systems provide many of the support functions required for direct sales operations, including payroll, customer genealogy management, statistics, rankings, and earnings, among other direct sales financial tracking capabilities. The integration into these back-office providers, facilitated through our own API development, allows single sign-on convenience for users, as well as enhanced data analytics and reporting capabilities for all users. Our experience confirms that our integration into these back-end platforms accelerates the adoption of verbCRM by large direct sales enterprises that rely on these systems and as such, we believe this represents a competitive advantage.

Non-Digital Products and Services

Historically, we have provided certain non-digital services to some of our enterprise clients such as printing and fulfillment services. Due to declining sales associated with reduced or eliminated client in-person conferences and other events stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, and consistent with management’s strategy to exit this area of our business due to the low margins, high costs, and limited scalability, we entered into a customer referral agreement with a third party for our cart site and printing business. Under this agreement, we earn a 10% commission for customer referrals and 8% on merchandise sales and certain cart site design fees, all of which are recognized as non-digital revenue on a net basis.

For these reasons, management has suggested that a more accurate measure of our performance is the historical growth of our SaaS and digital business and associated revenue, which has been the focus of our initiatives, while we have continued to exit the low margin, non-digital business. While the SaaS and digital business has grown year over year, that growth is not readily apparent when analyzing our top-line revenue because the total revenue represents the growing SaaS and digital business upon which we are focused, off-set by the non-digital business we are intentionally exiting.

Our Market

Historically, our client base consisted primarily of multi-national direct sales enterprises to whom we provide white-labeled, client-branded versions of our products. Over the past couple of years, our client base has expanded to include large enterprises in the life sciences sector, professional sports franchises, among other business sectors. During the year ended December 31, 2022, we provided subscription-based application services to approximately 180 enterprise clients for use in over 100 countries and in over 48 languages. Since inception, we have had more than 3.5 million downloads of our verbCRM applications across all of the white-labelled versions created for clients on our platform.

Revenue Generation

A description of our principal revenue generating activities is as follows:

1. Digital Revenue which is divided into two main categories:

a. SaaS recurring digital revenue based on contract-based subscriptions to our Verb app products and platform services which include verbCRM, verbLEARN, verbLIVE, verbPULSE, and verbTEAMs. The revenue is recognized over the subscription period.

b. Non-SaaS, non-recurring digital revenue, which is revenue generated by the use of our app products and in-app purchases, such as sampling and other services obtained through the app. The revenue for samples is recognized upon completion and shipment, while the design fees are recognized when the service has been rendered, collectability is reasonably assured, and the app is delivered to the customer.

2. Non-digital revenue, which is revenue we generate from non-app, non-digital sources through ancillary services we provide as an accommodation to our clients and customers. These services include design, printing, fulfillment and shipping services. The revenue is recognized upon completion and shipment of products or fulfillment to customers. In April 2022, we entered into a customer referral agreement with a third party for our cart site and printing business. Under the agreement, we earn a 10% commission for customer referrals and 8% on merchandise sales and certain cart site design fees, all of which are recognized as non-digital revenue on a net basis.

3. MARKET.live, launched at the end of July 2022, generates revenue through several sources as follows:

a. All sales run through our ecommerce facility on MARKET.live from which we deduct a platform fee that ranges from 10% to 20% of gross sales, with an average of approximately 15%, depending upon the pricing package the vendors select as well as the product category and profit margins associated with such categories. The revenue is derived from sales generated during livestream events, from sales realized through views of previously recorded live events available in each vendor’s store, as well as from sales of product and merchandise displayed in the vendors’ online stores, all of which are shoppable 24/7.

b. Produced events. MARKET.live offers fee-based services that range from full production of livestream events, to providing professional hosts and event consulting.

c. The MARKET.live site is designed to incorporate sponsorships and other advertising based on typical industry rates.

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Economic Disruption and the COVID-19 Pandemic

Our business is dependent in part on general economic conditions. Many jurisdictions in which our customers are located and our products are sold have experienced and could continue to experience unfavorable general economic conditions, such as inflation, increased interest rates and recessionary concerns, which could negatively affect demand for our products. Under difficult economic conditions, customers may seek to cease spending on our current products or fail to adopt our new products. We cannot predict the timing or impact of an economic slowdown, or the timing or strength of any economic recovery. These and other economic factors could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

Governments and businesses around the world continue to take actions to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 and its variants. Uncertainty with respect to the economic effects of the pandemic has introduced significant volatility in the financial markets.

Despite increased vaccine distribution programs and loosening of COVID-19 related restrictions in the regions in which we operate during the year ended December 31, 2022, both the pandemic and ongoing containment and mitigation measures have had, and are likely to continue to have, an adverse impact on the global and U.S. economies, the severity and duration of which are uncertain. As such, our business, operations and financial condition has been, and we anticipate will continue to be, adversely impacted by reduced demand for our applications and non-digital services, as well as reduced access to capital. To mitigate the adverse impact COVID-19 may have on our business and operations, we implemented a number of measures to strengthen our financial position, including eliminating, reducing, or deferring non-essential expenditures. However, the extent to which the COVID-19 pandemic will impact our business, financial conditions, and results of operations in the future remains uncertain and will be affected by a number of factors, including the duration and extent of the pandemic, the emergence of variants to COVID-19 the duration and extent of imposed or recommended containment and mitigation measures, the extent, duration, and effective execution of government stabilization and recovery efforts, including those from the successful distribution of effective vaccines.

The COVID-19 pandemic may have long-term effects on the nature of the office environment and remote working. This may present operational and workplace culture challenges that may adversely affect our business. Throughout the year ended December 31, 2022, we have encouraged safe practices designed to stem the infection and spread of COVID-19 within our workforce and beyond and to maintain the mental health and well-being of our employees.

We continue to actively communicate with and listen to our customers to ensure we are responding to their needs in the current environment with innovative solutions that will not only be beneficial now but also over the long-term. We monitor developments related to COVID-19 and remain flexible in our response to the challenges presented by the pandemic.

Recent Developments

At a special meeting of stockholders on April 10, 2023, our stockholders approved a Certificate of Amendment to our Articles of Incorporation to increase our authorized common stock from 200,000,000 shares to 400,000,000 shares and approved the grant of discretionary authority to our board of directors to effect a reverse stock split of our outstanding shares of common stock at a specific ratio within a range of one-for-five (1-for-5) to a maximum of a one-for-forty (1-for-40) split.

Results of Operations

Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2022 Compared to Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2021

The following is a comparison of the results of our operations for the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021 (in thousands):

Revenue

Our primary focus is on the growth of our SaaS business and its associated recurring subscription revenue. Over the past several years we have continued the exit and winding-down of our non-digital services business based on our determination that the non-digital services business (printing, fulfillment, and shipping) is a low margin legacy business and not scalable.

For the year ended December 31, 2022, our SaaS recurring subscription revenue was $7.7 million, a 12% increase of $832 thousand over the $6.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2021. The increase was driven primarily from the SaaS recurring subscription-based revenue associated with our verbCRM, verbLIVE, verbLEARN, and verbPULSE suite of applications, and our verbTEAMS platform.

For the year ended December 31, 2022, non-digital revenue was $1.0 million, representing a planned 51% decrease from the $2.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2021.

SaaS recurring revenue as a percentage of total revenue for the year ended December 31, 2022, was 81%, compared to 65% for the year ended December 31, 2021. Total digital revenue for the year ended December 31, 2022 increased to 88% of total revenue, compared with 78% for the year ended December 31, 2021.

Cost of Revenue

Total cost of revenue for the year ended December 31, 2022 was $3.3 million, representing almost a 27% improvement compared to $4.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2021. The improvement in cost of revenue is primarily attributed to a planned reduction in low-margin non-digital services, partially offset by a slight increase in digital costs to support additional enterprise customers on the platform and increased users within our existing customer base.

Gross Margin

Total gross margin of $6.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2022 increased to 65%, compared to $6.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2021 and a total gross margin of 57%. Gross margins improved as a result of our strategy to focus on higher margin digital revenue and systematic reduction in non-digital services.

Operating Expenses

We reduced research and development expenses by 58% to $5.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2022, as compared to $12.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2021. Research and development expenses primarily consisted of fees paid to employees and vendors contracted to perform research projects and develop technology. As our product development continues to move from research and development stage to deployment stage, we expect our research and development cost reductions to continue through Q1 2023 and beyond.

General and administrative expenses of $23.3 million for our SaaS business for the year ended December 31, 2022 represents an improvement of $2.4 million or 9% year over year, as compared to $25.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2021. General and administrative expenses for the year ended December 31, 2022 for our MARKET.live business was $1.9 million, which includes $0.7 million of labor costs, $0.5 million for professional services, and $0.7 million of other MARKET.live related expenses.

Our Statement of Operations for the year ended December 31, 2022 reflects a loss from operations of $38.8 million. However, this sum includes $19.0 million of non-cash expenses. These non-cash items include $2.5 million in depreciation and amortization expenses, $4.5 million in stock-based compensation, and a $12.0 million impairment charge to goodwill and intangible assets. The $2.5 million non-cash depreciation and amortization expenses for the year ended December 31, 2022, represent an increase over the $1.7 million amortization expenses for the year ended December 31, 2021. However, the $0.8 million increase in depreciation and amortization expense is attributed to amortization of our capitalized software development costs associated with our MARKET.live platform. The $12 million non-cash impairment charge recorded for the year ended December 31, 2022 was due to the results of the annual impairment testing of goodwill, intangible assets, and other long-lived assets. Refer to the section below, “Use of Non-GAAP Measures – Modified EBITDA” for more details on non-cash items discussed above.

Other Income, net

Other income, net, for the year ended December 31, 2022 was $1.4 million, which was primarily attributable to an Employee Retention Credit (“ERC”) receivable of $1.5 million. We, through our Professional Employer Organization, filed for federal government assistance for the second and third quarters of 2021 in the aggregate amount of approximately $1.5 million through ERC provisions of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021. The purpose of the ERC is to encourage employers to keep employees on the payroll, even if they are not working during the covered period due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. As of December 31, 2022, we have yet to receive the funds.

Use of Non-GAAP Measures – Modified EBITDA

In addition to our results under generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”), we present Modified EBITDA as a supplemental measure of our performance. However, Modified EBITDA is not a recognized measurement under GAAP and should not be considered as an alternative to net income, income from operations or any other performance measure derived in accordance with GAAP or as an alternative to cash flow from operating activities as a measure of liquidity. We define Modified EBITDA as net income (loss), plus depreciation and amortization expense, share-based compensation expense, interest expense, change in fair value of derivative liability, other (income) expense, debt extinguishment costs, net, MARKET.live startup costs, and other non-recurring charges.

Management considers our core operating performance to be that which our managers can affect in any particular period through their management of the resources that impact our underlying revenue and profit generating operations that period. Non-GAAP adjustments to our results prepared in accordance with GAAP are itemized below. You are encouraged to evaluate these adjustments and the reasons we consider them appropriate for supplemental analysis. In evaluating Modified EBITDA, you should be aware that in the future we may incur expenses that are the same as or similar to some of the adjustments in this presentation. Our presentation of Modified EBITDA should not be construed as an inference that our future results will be unaffected by unusual or non-recurring items.

* Includes general and administrative and R&D expenses that are directly related to the launch of our MARKET.live platform and are not expected to be recurring in future periods.

The $7.5 million or 28% increase in Modified EBITDA for the year ended December 31, 2022, compared to the same period in 2021, resulted from increased digital revenues, decreases in cost of revenue, research and development, and professional services, offset by an increase in labor related costs to support future growth.

We present Modified EBITDA because we believe it assists investors and analysts in comparing our performance across reporting periods on a consistent basis by excluding items that we do not believe are indicative of our core operating performance. In addition, we use Modified EBITDA in developing our internal budgets, forecasts and strategic plan; in analyzing the effectiveness of our business strategies in evaluating potential acquisitions; and in making compensation decisions and in communications with our board of directors concerning our financial performance. Modified EBITDA has limitations as an analytical tool, which includes, among others, the following:

• Modified EBITDA does not reflect our cash expenditures, or future requirements, for capital expenditures or contractual commitments;
• Modified EBITDA does not reflect changes in, or cash requirements for, our working capital needs;
• Modified EBITDA does not reflect future interest expense, or the cash requirements necessary to service interest or principal payments, on our debts; and
• Although depreciation and amortization are non-cash charges, the assets being depreciated and amortized will often have to be replaced in the future, and Modified EBITDA does not reflect any cash requirements for such replacements.

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Liquidity and Capital Resources

Going Concern

We have incurred operating losses and negative cash flows from operations since inception. During the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022, we incurred a net loss of $37.4 million and used cash in operations of $19.4 million. These factors raise substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern within one year after the date these financial statements were issued. As a result, our continuation as a going concern is dependent on our ability to obtain additional financing until we can generate sufficient cash flows from operations to meet our obligations. In addition, the Company’s independent registered public accounting firm, in their report on the Company’s consolidated financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2022, raised substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern. We intend to continue to seek additional debt or equity financing, as well as certain strategic opportunities to continue our operations.

Equity financing:

On January 12, 2022, we entered into a common stock purchase agreement (the “January Purchase Agreement”) with Tumim Stone Capital LLC (the “Investor”). Pursuant to the agreement, we have the right, but not the obligation, to sell to the Investor, and the Investor is obligated to purchase, up to $50.0 million of newly issued shares of our common stock, par value $0.0001 per share (the “common stock”) from time to time during the term of the agreement, subject to certain limitations and conditions. The Total Commitment is inclusive of 607,287 shares of common stock issued to the Investor as consideration for its commitment to purchase shares of common stock under the January Purchase Agreement. In connection with the January Purchase Agreement, we are restricted from entering into an agreement to effect any issuance of common stock involving a Variable Rate Transaction (as defined therein) during the term of the agreement, subject to certain exceptions set forth therein. On January 26, 2023, we terminated the January Purchase Agreement.

On April 20, 2022, we entered into a securities purchase agreement, which provides for the sale and issuance by us of an aggregate of (i) 14,666,667 shares of common stock, and (ii) warrants to purchase 14,666,667 shares of common stock at an exercise price of $0.75 per share, for aggregate gross proceeds of $11.0 million before deducting placement agent commissions and other offering expenses (the “April Registered Direct Offering”). As a result of this transaction, certain warrants which previously had exercise prices ranging from $1.10 to $2.10 per share had the exercise price reduced to $0.75 per share. We used a portion of the proceeds from the April Registered Direct Offering to repay $1.6 million in principal amount related to the January Note Purchase Agreement dated January 12, 2022.

On October 25, 2022, we entered into a securities purchase agreement (the “October Purchase Agreement”), which provides for the sale and issuance by us of an aggregate of (i) 12,500,000 shares of common stock at a purchase price of $0.32 per share, and (ii) warrants to purchase 12,500,000 shares of common stock at an exercise price of $0.34 per share, for aggregate gross proceeds of $4.0 million before deducting placement agent commissions and other offering expenses (the “October Registered Direct Offering”). As a result of this transaction, certain warrants which previously had an exercise price of $0.75 per share had the exercise price reduced to $0.34 per share. Further, in connection with the October Purchase Agreement, we are restricted from (i) issuing or filing any registration statement to offer the sale of any common stock or securities convertible into or exercisable for shares of common stock until 75 days after the date thereof; and (ii) entering into an agreement to effect any issuance of common stock involving a Variable Rate Transaction (as defined therein) during the term of the agreement, subject to certain exceptions set forth therein.

On January 24, 2023, we entered into an underwriting agreement (the “Underwriting Agreement”) with Aegis Capital Corp. (“Aegis”) as underwriter (the “Underwriter”), relating to the offering, issuance and sale of 36,051,000 shares of our common stock at a public offering price of $0.20 per share. The net proceeds to us were approximately $6.6 million, after deducting discounts, commissions and estimated offering expenses. Aegis acted as the sole underwriter for the offering and received 6% of the gross proceeds as commission for the offering. They were also reimbursed by us for certain expenses, in an amount of up to $75,000, including legal fees. As a result of this transaction, certain warrants which previously had an exercise price of $0.34 per share, had the exercise price reduced to $0.20 per share.

Debt financing:

On January 12, 2022, we entered into a securities purchase agreement (the “January Note Purchase Agreement”) with three institutional investors (collectively, the “January Note Holders”) providing for the sale and issuance of an aggregate original principal amount of $6.3 million in Convertible Notes Due 2023 (each, a “Note,” and, collectively, the “Notes,” and such financing, the “January Note Offering”). The Company and the January Note Holders also entered into a security agreement, dated January 12, 2022, in connection with the January Note Offering, pursuant to which the Company granted a security interest to the January Note Holders in substantially all of its assets. The January Note Purchase Agreement prohibits us from entering into an agreement to effect any issuance of common stock involving a Variable Rate Transaction (as defined therein) during the term of the agreement, subject to certain exceptions set forth therein. The January Note Purchase Agreement also gives the January Note Holders the right to require the Company to use up to 15% of the gross proceeds raised from future debt or equity financings to redeem the Notes, which redemptions have been elected by the January Note Holders. On January 26, 2023, we repaid in full all outstanding obligations under the January Note Offering dated January 12, 2022.

In September, 2022, the U.S. Small Business Administration (“SBA”) approved an additional loan of $0.35 million. As of April 12, 2023, we have not received these funds.

On November 7, 2022, we entered into a note purchase agreement (the “November Note Purchase Agreement”) and promissory note with an institutional investor providing for the sale and issuance of an unsecured, non-convertible promissory in the original principal amount of $5.5 million, which has an original issue discount of $0.5 million, resulting in gross proceeds to us of approximately $5.0 million (the “November Note,” and such financing, the “November Note Offering”). The November Note matures eighteen months following the date of issuance. Commencing six months from the date of issuance, we are required to make monthly cash redemption payments in an amount not to exceed $0.6 million. The November Note may be repaid in whole or in part prior to the maturity date for a 10% premium. The November Note requires us to use 20% of the gross proceeds raised from future equity or debt financings, or the sale of any subsidiary or material asset, to prepay the November Note, subject to a cap on the aggregate prepayment amount. Until all obligations under the November Note have been paid in full, we are not permitted to grant a security interest in any of its assets, or to issue securities convertible into shares of common stock, subject in each case to certain exceptions. Our wholly owned subsidiary verbMarketplace, LLC entered into a guaranty, dated November 7, 2022, in connection with the November Note Offering, pursuant to which it guaranteed the obligations on our behalf under the November Note in exchange for receiving a portion of the loan proceeds. At a special meeting of stockholders on April 10, 2023, our shareholders approved for purposes of Nasdaq Listing Rule 5635, the issuance of shares of common stock in partial or full satisfaction of the November Note. However, there is no current agreement or understanding with the November Note holder with respect to repayment of the November Note through the issuance of shares of common stock.

Other:

We, through our Professional Employer Organization, filed for federal government assistance for the second and third quarters of 2021 in the aggregate amount of approximately $1.5 million through ERC provisions of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021. As of December 31, 2022, we recorded a long-term receivable of $1.5 million.

In November 2022, a cost savings plan was approved and implemented to improve liquidity and preserve cash for operations (the “Cost Savings Plan”). This plan is expected to further reduce expenses moving forward through such actions as a reduction in force, elimination of certain services provided by various vendors, and a 25% reduction in cash compensation by senior management over a four-month period in exchange for shares of common stock.

If we are unable to generate sufficient cash flow from operations to operate our business and pay our debt obligations as they become due, we will need to seek to raise additional capital, borrow additional funds, dispose of subsidiaries or assets, reduce or delay capital expenditures, or change our business strategy. However, in light of the restrictive covenants imposed by certain of our prior financings and the recent decline in the price of common stock, we may be unable to raise additional capital when needed to operate our business or service our debt. Further, notwithstanding such restrictions, there can be no assurance that debt or equity financing will be available in the amounts, on terms, or at times deemed acceptable by us. The issuance of additional equity securities would result in significant dilution in the equity interests of our current stockholders and could include rights or preferences senior to those the current stockholders. Obtaining commercial loans would increase our liabilities and future cash commitments and potentially impose significant operational or financial restrictions. If we are unable to obtain financing in the amounts and on terms deemed acceptable, we may be unable to continue to operate our business or pay our obligations as they become due and as a result may be required to curtail or cease operations, which may result in stockholders or noteholders losing some or all of their investment.

For additional information, refer to Note 1, “Description of Business,” and Note 2, “Summary of Significant Accounting Policies and Supplemental Disclosures,” to the consolidated financial statements, and the section titled “Risk Factors,” within this Annual Report.

Overview

As of December 31, 2022, we had cash of $2.4 million. On January 24, 2023, we closed a public offering of our common stock for net proceeds of approximately $6.6 million. We estimate our operating expenses for the next twelve months will exceed any revenue we generate, and we will need to seek to raise additional capital, borrow additional funds, dispose of subsidiaries or assets, reduce or delay capital expenditures, or change our business strategy.

The following is a summary of our cash flows from operating, investing, and financing activities for the years ended December 31, 2022 and 2021 (in thousands):

Cash Flows – Operating

For the year ended December 31, 2022, our cash flows used in operating activities amounted to $19.4 million, compared to cash used for the year ended December 31, 2021 of $25.9 million. We generated $6.5 million additional cash from operations due to higher digital revenues combined with decreases in research and development expenses.

Cash Flows – Investing

For the year ended December 31, 2022, our cash flows used from investing activities amounted to $4.7 million, primarily due to our investment in capitalized software development costs related to MARKET.live.

Cash Flows – Financing

Our cash provided by financing activities for the year ended December 31, 2022 amounted to $25.6 million, which represented $24.0 million of net proceeds from the issuance of shares of our common stock, $11.0 million of gross proceeds from the issuance of notes payable, $2.7 million of gross proceeds from advances on future receipts and proceeds from option exercises of $0.4 million, all offset by $6.7 million of payments on advances on future receipts, $4.9 million of payments on notes payable and payments for debt issuance costs of $0.9 million.

Advances on Future Receipts

The Company has the following advances on future receipts as of December 31, 2022 (in thousands):

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On August 25, 2022 and October 25, 2022, we received secured advances from an unaffiliated third party totaling $2.5 million and $0.2 million, respectively, for the purchase of future receipts/ revenues of $3.4 million and $0.3 million, respectively. As of December 31, 2022, the outstanding balance of the notes was $2.0 million.

On February 16, 2023, we modified the advances on future receipts. Under the modification we agreed to extend the payment of the note over a period of 10 months. As a result, our monthly payments were reduced by approximately 50%.

Convertible Notes Payable and Note Payable

We have the following outstanding notes payable as of December 31, 2022 (in thousands):

(A) On December 1, 2015, we issued a convertible note payable to Mr. Cutaia, our Chief Executive Officer and a director, to consolidate all loans and advances made by Mr. Cutaia to us as of that date. On May 19, 2021, we amended the note to allow for conversion of the note at any time at the discretion of the holder at a fixed conversion price of $1.03, which was the closing price of the common stock on the amendment date. On May 12, 2022, the maturity date of the note was extended to April 1, 2023. As of December 31, 2022, the outstanding balance under the note was $0.7 million.

(B) On April 4, 2016, we issued a convertible note to Mr. Cutaia, in the amount of $0.3 million, to consolidate all advances made by Mr. Cutaia to us during the period December 2015 through March 2016. On May 19, 2021, we amended the note to allow for conversion of the note at any time at the discretion of the holder at a fixed conversion price of $1.03, which was the closing price of the common stock on the amendment date. As of December 31, 2022, the outstanding balance under the note was less than $0.1 million.

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(C) On May 15, 2020, we executed an unsecured loan with the SBA under the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program in the amount of $0.15 million. Installment payments, including principal and interest, began on October 26, 2022. In September 2022, the SBA approved an additional loan of $0.35 million. As of April 12, 2023, we have not received these funds. As of December 31, 2022, the outstanding balance of the note amounted to $0.15 million.

(D) On January 12, 2022, we entered into the January Note Offering, which provided for the sale and issuance of an aggregate original principal amount of $6.3 million of the Notes. We also entered into a security agreement, dated January 12, 2022, in connection with the January Note Offering, pursuant to which the Company granted a security interest to the January Note Holders in substantially all of its assets. There are no financial covenants related to these notes payable. We received $6.0 million in gross proceeds from the sale of the Notes. The Notes bear interest of 6.0% per annum, have an original issue discount of 5.0%, mature 12 months from the closing date, and have an initial conversion price of $3.00, subject to adjustment in certain circumstances as set forth in the Notes. In connection with the January Note Offering, we incurred $0.5 million of debt issuance costs. The debt issuance costs and the debt discount of $0.3 million are being amortized over the term of the Notes using the effective interest rate method. As of December 31, 2022, the amount of unamortized debt discount and debt issuance costs was $0.1 million and $0.1 million, respectively. As of December 31, 2022, the outstanding balance of the Notes amounted to $1.3 million. We have repaid $5.0 million in principal and $0.4 million of accrued interest. On January 26, 2023, we repaid in full all outstanding obligations under the January Note Offering date January 12, 2022.

(E) On November 7, 2022, we entered into the November Note Offering, which provided for the sale and issuance of an aggregate original principal amount of $5.5 million in November Notes. We received $5.0 million in gross proceeds from the sale of the November Notes. The November Notes bear interest of 9.0% per annum, have an original issue discount of 8.6%, and mature 18 months from the closing date. In connection with the November Note Offering, we incurred $0.3 million of debt issuance costs. The debt issuance costs and the debt discount of $0.5 million are being amortized over the term of the November Notes using the effective interest rate method. As of December 31, 2022, the amount of unamortized debt discount and debt issuance costs was $0.4 million and $0.3 million, respectively. As of December 31, 2022, the outstanding balance of the Notes amounted to $5.5 million.

Critical Accounting Policies

Our financial statements have been prepared in accordance with GAAP, which require that we make certain assumptions and estimates that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of net revenue and expenses during each reporting period.

Use of Estimates

The preparation of financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements, and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reported periods. Management bases these estimates and assumptions upon historical experience, existing and known circumstances, and other factors that management believes to be reasonable. In addition, the Company has considered the potential impact of the pandemic, as well as certain macroeconomic factors, including inflation, rising interest rates, and recessionary concerns, on its business and operations.

Significant estimates include assumptions made for reserves of uncollectible accounts receivable, assumptions made in valuing assets acquired in business combinations, impairment testing of goodwill and other long-lived assets, the valuation allowance for deferred tax assets, assumptions used in valuing derivative liabilities, assumptions used in valuing share-based compensation, and accruals for potential liabilities. Some of those assumptions can be subjective and complex, and therefore, actual results could differ materially from those estimates under different assumptions or conditions.

Revenue Recognition

The Company derives its revenue primarily from providing application services through the SaaS application, digital marketing and sales support services.

The Company recognizes revenue in accordance with Financial Accounting Standard Board’s (“FASB”) ASC 606, *Revenue from Contracts with Customers (“*ASC 606”). ASC 606 creates a five-step model that requires entities to exercise judgment when considering the terms of contract(s), which includes (1) identifying the contract(s) or agreement(s) with a customer, (2) identifying our performance obligations in the contract or agreement, (3) determining the transaction price, (4) allocating the transaction price to the separate performance obligations, and (5) recognizing revenue as each performance obligation is satisfied.

A description of our principal revenue generating activities is as follows:

1. Digital Revenue, which is divided into two main categories:

a. SaaS recurring digital revenue based on contract-based subscriptions to our Verb app products and platform services which include verbCRM, verbLEARN, verbLIVE, verbTEAMS, and verbPULSE. The revenue is recognized straight-line over the subscription period.

b. Non-SaaS, non-recurring digital revenue, which is revenue generated by the use of our app products and in-app purchases, such as sampling and other services obtained through the app. The revenue for samples is recognized upon completion and shipment, while the design fees are recognized when the service has been rendered, collectability is reasonably assured, and the app is delivered to the customer.

2. Non-digital revenue, which is revenue we generate from non-app, non-digital sources through ancillary services we provide as an accommodation to our clients and customers. These services include design, printing, fulfillment and shipping services. The revenue is recognized upon completion and shipment of products or fulfillment to customers. Effective April 1, 2022, we entered into a customer referral agreement with a third party for our cart site and printing business. Under the agreement, we earn a 10% commission for customer referrals and 8% on merchandise sales and certain cart site design fees, all of which are recognized as non-digital revenue on a net basis.

Derivative Financial Instruments

We evaluate our 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 instrument is initially recorded at its fair value and is then re-valued at each reporting date, with changes in the fair value reported in the consolidated statements of operations. 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 consolidated balance sheets 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.

We use Level 2 inputs for our valuation methodology for the derivative liabilities as their fair values were determined by using a Binomial pricing model. Our derivative liabilities are adjusted to reflect fair value at each period end, with any increase or decrease in the fair value being recorded in results of operations as adjustments to fair value of derivatives.

Share-Based Compensation

The Company issues stock options and warrants, shares of common stock and restricted stock units as share-based compensation to employees and non-employees. The Company accounts for its share-based compensation in accordance with FASB ASC 718, Compensation – Stock Compensation. Share-based compensation cost is measured at the grant date, based on the estimated fair value of the award, and is recognized as expense over the requisite service period. The fair value of restricted stock units is determined based on the number of shares granted and the quoted price of our common stock and is recognized as expense over the service period. Recognition of compensation expense for non-employees is in the same period and manner as if the Company had paid cash for services.

Goodwill

In accordance with FASB ASC 350, Intangibles-Goodwill and Other, we review goodwill and indefinite lived intangible assets for impairment at least annually or whenever events or circumstances indicate a potential impairment. Our impairment testing is performed annually at December 31 (our fiscal year end). Impairment of goodwill and indefinite lived intangible assets is determined by comparing the fair value of our reporting units to the carrying value of the underlying net assets in the reporting units. If the fair value of a reporting unit is determined to be less than the carrying value of its net assets, goodwill is deemed impaired and an impairment loss is recognized to the extent that the carrying value of goodwill exceeds the difference between the fair value of the reporting unit and the fair value of its other assets and liabilities.

Our annual impairment analysis includes a qualitative assessment to determine if it is necessary to perform the quantitative impairment test. In performing a qualitative assessment, we reviewed events and circumstances that could affect the significant inputs used to determine if the fair value is less than the carrying value of goodwill. As a result of this qualitative assessment, we determined that a triggering event had occurred to necessitate performing the quantitative impairment test. After performing the quantitative impairment test in accordance with ASC 350-20-35-3C, we determined that goodwill was impaired by $10.2 million. We did not record any impairment charges for the year ended December 31, 2021.

Intangible Assets

We have certain intangible assets that were initially recorded at their fair value at the time of acquisition. The finite-lived intangible assets consist of developed technology and customer contracts. Indefinite-lived intangible assets consist of domain names. Intangible assets with finite useful lives are amortized using the straight-line method over their estimated useful life of five years.

We review all finite lived intangible assets for impairment when circumstances indicate that their carrying values may not be recoverable. If the carrying value of an asset group is not recoverable, we recognize an impairment loss for the excess carrying value over the fair value in our consolidated statements of operations. In addition to the goodwill impairment loss, the Company recognized an additional impairment loss of $1.8 million on its intangible assets that is primarily attributable to the Sound Concepts acquisition in 2019.

Recently Issued Accounting Pronouncements

For a summary of our recent accounting policies, please refer to Note 2, Summary of Significant Accounting Policies and Supplemental Disclosures, of the Notes to Financial Statements.

Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures

We maintain disclosure controls and procedures as defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) under the Exchange Act, that are designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed in our reports under the Exchange Act, is recorded, processed, summarized, and reported within the time periods specified in the SEC’s rules and forms, and that such information is accumulated and communicated to our management, including our principal executive officer and our principal financial officer, as appropriate, to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.

We carried out an evaluation under the supervision and with the participation of our management, including our principal executive officer and principal financial officer, of the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Rule 13a-15(e) and 15d- 15(e) under the Exchange Act) as of December 31, 2022. Based on this evaluation, our principal executive officer and principal financial officer concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures were effective as of December 31, 2022.

Management’s Annual Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting

Our management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over our financial reporting (as defined in Rule 13a-15(f) under the Exchange Act). Internal control over financial reporting is a process, including policies and procedures, designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external reporting purposes in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles. Our management assessed our internal control over financial reporting using the criteria in Internal Control — Integrated Framework (2013), issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (“COSO”). Our system of internal control over financial reporting is designed 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. Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements.

Based on the results of our evaluation, our management has concluded that our internal control over financial reporting was effective as of December 31, 2022 to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external reporting purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles.

Changes in Internal Control over Financial Reporting

There was no change in our internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f) under the Exchange Act) during the three months ended December 31, 2022 that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.

Inherent Limitations on the Effectiveness of Controls

Management does not expect that our disclosure controls and procedures or our internal control over financial reporting will prevent or detect all errors and all fraud. A control system, no matter how well conceived and operated, can provide only reasonable, not absolute, assurance that the objectives of the control systems are met. Further, the design of a control system must reflect the fact that there are resource constraints, and the benefits of controls must be considered relative to their costs. Because of the inherent limitations in a cost-effective control system, no evaluation of internal control over financial reporting can provide absolute assurance that misstatements due to error or fraud will not occur or that all control issues and instances of fraud, if any, have been or will be detected.

These inherent limitations include the realities that judgments in decision-making can be faulty and that breakdowns can occur because of a simple error or mistake. Controls can also be circumvented by the individual acts of some persons, by collusion of two or more people, or by management override of the controls. The design of any system of controls is based in part on certain assumptions about the likelihood of future events, and there can be no assurance that any design will succeed in achieving its stated goals under all potential future conditions. Projections of any evaluation of controls effectiveness to future periods are subject to risks. Over time, controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions or deterioration in the degree of compliance with policies or procedures.