Aspen Aerogels (ASPN) S-8Registration of securities for employees

As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on June 1, 2023

Registration No. 333 -    

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549

FORM S-8

REGISTRATION STATEMENT

UNDER

THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933

ASPEN AEROGELS, INC.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

30 Forbes Road, Building B

Northborough, Massachusetts 01532

(508) 691-1111

(Address, including zip code, of principal executive offices)

ASPEN AEROGELS 2023 EQUITY INCENTIVE PLAN

(Full Title of the Plan)

Donald R. Young

President and Chief Executive Officer

Aspen Aerogels, Inc.

30 Forbes Road, Building B

Northborough, Massachusetts 01532

(508) 691-1111

(Name, address and telephone number, including area code, of agent for service)

Copies to:

Sahir Surmeli

John T. Rudy

Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.C.

One Financial Center

Boston, Massachusetts 02111

(617) 542-6000

Facsimile: (617) 542-2241

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

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act.  ☐

EXPLANATORY NOTE

This Registration Statement registers 3,596,618 shares of common stock, par value $0.00001 per share (the “Common Stock”) of Aspen Aerogels, Inc. (the “Registrant”), reserved for issuance under the Aspen Aerogels 2023 Equity Incentive Plan (the “2023 Plan”). In accordance with the instructional Note to Part I of Form S-8 as promulgated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “Commission”), the information specified by Part I of Form S-8 has been omitted from this Registration Statement on Form S-8 for offers of shares of Common Stock pursuant to the 2023 Plan. The documents containing the information specified in Part I will be delivered to the participants in the 2023 Plan covered by this Registration Statement as required by Rule 428(b)(1) under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”).

PART I

INFORMATION REQUIRED IN THE SECTION 10(A) PROSPECTUS

The document(s) containing the information specified in Part I will be sent or given to participants as specified by Rule 428(b)(1) under the Securities Act. Such documents are not being filed with the Commission either as part of this Registration Statement or as prospectuses or prospectus supplements pursuant to Rule 424 under the Securities Act. Such documents and the documents incorporated by reference in this Registration Statement pursuant to Item 3 of Part II hereof, taken together, constitute a prospectus that meets the requirements of Section 10(a) of the Securities Act.

PART II

INFORMATION REQUIRED IN THE REGISTRATION STATEMENT

Item 3. Incorporation of Documents by Reference.

The following documents filed by the Registrant with the Commission are incorporated herein by reference:

(a) The Registrant’s Annual Report on Form 10-K (File No. 001-36481) for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022, filed with the Commission on March 16, 2023;

(b) The portions of the Registrant’s definitive proxy statement on Schedule 14A (File No. 001-36481) filed with the Commission on April 18, 2023 that are deemed to “filed” with the Commission under the Exchange Act;

(c) The Registrant’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q (File No. 001-36481) for the fiscal quarter ended March 31, 2023, filed with the Commission on May 4, 2023;

(d) The Registrant’s Current Reports on Form 8-K (File No. 001-36481) filed with the Commission on January  5, 2023 and June 1, 2023; and

(e) The description of the Registrant’s common stock contained in the Registrant’s Registration Statement on Form 8-A (File No. 001-36481) filed with the Commission on June 6, 2014, including any amendments or reports filed for the purpose of updating such description.

All reports and other documents filed by the Registrant after the date hereof pursuant to Sections 13(a), 13(c), 14 and 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (other than Current Reports on Form 8-K furnished pursuant to Item 2.02 or Item 7.01 of Form 8-K, including any exhibits included with such information that are related to such items), prior to the filing of a post-effective amendment which indicates that all securities offered hereby have been sold or which deregisters all securities then remaining unsold, shall be deemed to be incorporated by reference herein and to be part hereof from the date of filing of such reports and documents; provided, however, that documents or information deemed to have been furnished and not filed in accordance with the rules of the Commission shall not be deemed incorporated by reference into this Registration Statement.

Any statement contained in a document incorporated or deemed to be incorporated by reference herein shall be deemed to be modified or superseded for the purposes of this Registration Statement to the extent that a statement contained herein or in any other subsequently filed document which also is or is deemed to be incorporated by reference herein modifies or supersedes such statement. Any statement so modified or superseded shall not be deemed, except as so modified or superseded, to constitute a part of this Registration Statement.

Item 4. Description of Securities.

Not applicable.

Item 5. Interests of Named Experts and Counsel.

None.

Item 6. Indemnification of Directors and Officers.

The Registrant’s restated certificate of incorporation, as amended, and restated by-laws provide that each person who was or is made a party or is threatened to be made a party to or is otherwise involved (including, without limitation, as a witness) in any action, suit or proceeding, whether civil, criminal, administrative or investigative, by reason of the fact that he or she is or was one of the Registrant’s directors or officers or is or was serving at the Registrant’s request as a director, officer or trustee of another corporation, or of a partnership, joint venture, trust or other enterprise, including service with respect to an employee benefit plan, whether the basis of such proceeding is alleged action in an official capacity as a director, officer or trustee or in any other capacity while serving as a director, officer or trustee, shall be indemnified and held harmless by the Registrant to the fullest extent authorized by the Delaware General Corporation Law against all expense, liability and loss (including attorneys’ fees, judgments, fines, ERISA excise taxes or penalties and amounts paid in settlement) reasonably incurred or suffered by such person.

Section 145 of the Delaware General Corporation Law permits a corporation to indemnify any director or officer of the corporation against expenses (including attorneys’ fees), judgments, fines and amounts paid in settlement actually and reasonably incurred in connection with any action, suit or proceeding brought by reason of the fact that such person is or was a director or officer of the corporation, if such person acted in good faith and in a manner that he or she reasonably believed to be in, or not opposed to, the best interests of the corporation, and, with respect to any criminal action or proceeding, if he or she had no reasonable cause to believe his or her conduct was unlawful. In a derivative action (i.e., one brought by or on behalf of the corporation), indemnification may be provided only for expenses actually and reasonably incurred by any director or officer in connection with the defense or settlement of such an action or suit if such person acted in good faith and in a manner that he or she reasonably believed to be in, or not opposed to, the best interests of the corporation, except that no indemnification shall be provided if such person shall have been adjudged to be liable to the corporation, unless and only to the extent that the Delaware Chancery Court or the court in which the action or suit was brought shall determine that such person is fairly and reasonably entitled to indemnity for such expenses despite such adjudication of liability.

Pursuant to Section 102(b)(7) of the Delaware General Corporation Law, Article NINTH and Article THIRTEENTH of the Registrant’s restated certificate of incorporation, as amended, eliminate the personal liability of directors and officers to the Registrant or its stockholders for monetary damages for such a breach of fiduciary duty as a director or an officer, as applicable, except for liabilities arising:

These provisions may be held not to be enforceable for certain violations of the federal securities laws of the United States.

The Registrant has entered into indemnification agreements with its non-employee directors and with certain officers, in addition to the indemnification provided for in the Registrant’s restated certificate of incorporation, as amended, and restated by-laws, and intends to enter into indemnification agreements with any new directors and executive officers in the future. The Registrant has purchased and intends to maintain insurance on behalf of any person who is or was a director or officer against any loss arising from any claim asserted against him or her and incurred by him or her in any such capacity, subject to certain exclusions.

The foregoing discussion of the Registrant’s restated certificate of incorporation, as amended, restated by-laws, indemnification agreements and Delaware law is not intended to be exhaustive and is qualified in its entirety by such restated certificate of incorporation, as amended, restated by-laws, indemnification agreements or law.

Item 7. Exemption from Registration Claimed.

Not applicable.

Item 8. Exhibits.

Item 9. Undertakings.

(a) The undersigned Registrant hereby undertakes:

Provided, however, that Paragraphs (a)(1)(i) and (a)(1)(ii) do not apply if the information required to be included in a post-effective amendment by those paragraphs is contained in reports filed with or furnished to the Commission by the registrant pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 that are incorporated by reference in the registration statement.

(b) The undersigned Registrant hereby undertakes that, for purposes of determining any liability under the Securities Act of 1933, each filing of the Registrant’s annual report pursuant to Section 13(a) or Section 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (and, if applicable each filing of any employee benefit plan’s annual report pursuant to Section 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934) that is incorporated by reference in this Registration Statement shall be deemed to be a new registration statement relating to the securities offered therein, and the offering of such securities at that time shall be deemed to be the initial bona fide offering thereof.

(c) Insofar as indemnification for liabilities arising under the Securities Act of 1933 may be permitted to directors, officers and controlling persons of the Registrant pursuant to the foregoing provisions, or otherwise, the Registrant has been advised that in the opinion of the Securities and Exchange Commission such indemnification is against public policy as expressed in the Act and is, therefore, unenforceable. In the event that a claim for indemnification against such liabilities (other than the payment by the Registrant of expenses incurred or paid by a director, officer or controlling person of the Registrant in the successful defense of any action, suit or proceeding) is asserted by such director, officer or controlling person in connection with the securities being registered, the Registrant will, unless in the opinion of its counsel the matter has been settled by controlling precedent, submit to a court of appropriate jurisdiction the question whether such indemnification by it is against public policy as expressed in the Act and will be governed by the final adjudication of such issue.

SIGNATURES

The Registrant. Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, the Registrant certifies that it has reasonable grounds to believe that it meets all of the requirements for filing on Form S-8 and has duly caused this Registration Statement to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized, in Northborough, Massachusetts on June 1, 2023.

Each person whose signature appears below constitutes and appoints Donald R. Young, Ricardo C. Rodriguez and Virginia H. Johnson, and each of them singly, his or her true and lawful attorneys-in-fact and agents, with full power of substitution and resubstitution in each of them singly, for him or her and in his or her name, place and stead, and in any and all capacities, to sign any and all amendments (including post-effective amendments) to this Registration Statement on Form S-8 of Aspen Aerogels, Inc., and to file the same, with all exhibits thereto and other documents in connection therewith, with the Securities and Exchange Commission, granting to the attorneys-in-fact and agents, and each of them, full power and authority to do and perform each and every act and thing requisite or necessary to be done in or about the premises, as full to all intents and purposes as he might or could do in person, hereby ratifying and confirming all that the attorneys-in-fact and agents or any of each of them or their substitute may lawfully do or cause to be done by virtue hereof.

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Act of 1933, this Registration Statement has been signed by the following persons in the capacities and on the dates indicated.