Auddia (AUUD) S-1IPO registration

Table of Contents

As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on January 26, 2024

Registration No. 333-                   

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM S-1

REGISTRATION STATEMENT

UNDER

THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933

Auddia Inc.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

2100 Central Ave., Suite 200

Boulder, Colorado 80301

(303) 219-9771

(Address, including zip code, and telephone number, including area code, of registrant’s principal executive offices)

Michael Lawless

Chief Executive Officer

Auddia Inc.

2100 Central Ave., Suite 200

Boulder, Colorado 80301

(303) 219-9771

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

Copies to:

Approximate date of commencement of the proposed sale to the public: As soon as practicable after the effective date of this Registration Statement.

If any of the securities being registered on this Form are to be offered on a delayed or continuous basis pursuant to Rule 415 under the Securities Act, check the following box.  ☒

If this Form is filed to register additional securities for an offering pursuant to Rule 462(b) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering.  ☐

If this Form is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to Rule 462(c) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering.  ☐

If this Form is a post-effective amendment filed pursuant to Rule 462(d) under the Securities Act, check the following box and list the Securities Act registration statement number of the earlier effective registration statement for the same offering. ☐

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

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.  ☐

The Registrant hereby amends this Registration Statement on such date or dates as may be necessary to delay its effective date until the Registrant shall file a further amendment which specifically states that this Registration Statement shall thereafter become effective in accordance with Section 8(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or until the Registration Statement shall become effective on such date as the Securities and Exchange Commission, acting pursuant to said Section 8(a), may determine.

The information contained in this preliminary prospectus is not complete and may be changed. Neither we nor the selling securityholder may sell these securities until the registration statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission is effective. This preliminary prospectus is not an offer to sell these securities and is not soliciting offers to buy these securities in any jurisdiction where the offer or sale is not permitted.

AUDDIA INC.

Up to [40,000,000] Shares of Common Stock

Up to [40,000,000] Pre-Funded Warrants to Purchase Shares of Common Stock
Up to [40,000,000] Common Warrants to Purchase Shares of Common Stock
Up to [80,000,000] Shares of Common Stock Underlying such
Pre-Funded Warrants and Common Warrants

We are offering up to $10.0 million in units (“Units”) of Auddia Inc. at an assumed offering price of $[●] per Unit. Each Unit consists of one share of common stock, $0.001 par value per share (“common stock”) or one pre-funded warrant (“Pre-Funded Warrant”) in lieu thereof, and one Common Warrant (as defined below). The shares of common stock and Common Warrants are immediately separable and will be issued separately. Our shares of common stock are listed on the Nasdaq Capital Market (“Nasdaq”) under the symbol “AUUD.” On [●], 2024, the last reported sale price of our shares of common stock on Nasdaq was $[●] per share.

We are offering to certain purchasers whose purchase of common stock in this offering would otherwise result in the purchaser, together with its affiliates and certain related parties, beneficially owning more than 4.99% of our outstanding shares of common stock immediately following the consummation of this offering, the opportunity to purchase, if any such purchaser so chooses, Pre-Funded Warrants in lieu of Units that otherwise would result in such purchaser’s beneficial ownership exceeding 4.99% (or, at the election of the purchaser, 9.99%) of our outstanding shares of common stock. The Pre-Funded Warrants and accompanying Common Warrants are identical to the Units, except that each Pre-Funded Warrant is exercisable for one share of common stock at an exercise price of $[0.0001], the assumed purchase price for a Pre-Funded Warrant and accompanying Common Warrants is $[●]  and the Pre-Funded Warrants do not expire until exercised. The Pre-Funded Warrants are immediately exercisable and may be exercised at any time until all of the Pre-Funded Warrants are exercised in full. For each Pre-Funded Warrant we sell, the number of shares of common stock we are offering will be decreased on a one-for-one basis.

Our shares of common stock and Pre-Funded Warrants are being offered together with warrants, or “Common Warrants,” to purchase up to [●] shares of our common stock. Each share of common stock and Pre-Funded Warrant will be sold together with one Common Warrant. Each Common Warrant has an assumed exercise price of $[●] per share (representing 100% of the assumed public offering price per Unit to be sold in this offering) and will expire on the [fifth] anniversary of the original issuance date. Because we will issue one Common Warrant for each share of common stock and for each Pre-Funded Warrant sold in this offering, the number of Common Warrants sold in this offering will not change as a result of a change in the mix of shares of common stock and Pre-Funded Warrants sold.

Our Units can only be purchased together in this offering, but are immediately separable and will be issued separately. Shares of common stock issuable from time to time upon exercise of the Pre-Funded Warrants and Common Warrants are also being offered by this prospectus. These securities are being sold in this offering to certain purchasers under a Securities Purchase Agreement between us and the purchasers.

The public offering price for our securities in this offering will be determined at the time of pricing and may be at a discount to the then-current market price. The recent market price used throughout this prospectus may not be indicative of the final offering price. The final public offering price will be determined through negotiation between us and investors based upon a number of factors, including our history and our prospects, the industry in which we operate, our past and present operating results, the previous experience of our executive officers and the general condition of the securities markets at the time of this offering. There is no established public trading market for the Pre-Funded Warrants or the Common Warrants, and we do not expect markets to develop. Without an active trading market, the liquidity of the Pre-Funded Warrants and the Common Warrants will be limited. In addition, we do not intend to list the Pre-Funded Warrants or the Common Warrants on the Nasdaq, any other national securities exchange or any other trading system.

We have received deficiency letters from Nasdaq that we are not in compliance with Nasdaq’s (i) minimum bid price requirement of at least $1.00 per share (the “Bid Price Requirement”) and (ii) the requirement to have at least $2,500,000 in stockholders’ equity. On October 24, 2023, the Nasdaq staff notified us that we had not met the terms required to be granted an additional 180-day period to regain compliance with the Bid Price Requirement. Accordingly, the Nasdaq staff had determined to delist the Company’s common stock from Nasdaq. The Company requested a hearing before a hearings panel (the “Panel”) to appeal the delisting notice from the staff. The Company’s hearing with the Panel occurred on January 18, 2024. A decision from the Panel is expected within 30 days or less from the hearing date. While the appeal process is pending, the suspension of trading of the Company’s common stock will be stayed. Our common stock will continue to trade on Nasdaq until the hearing process concludes and the Panel issues a written decision. See “Risk Factors — “We are not currently in compliance with the minimum bid price rule or the minimum stockholders’ equity rule of the Nasdaq Capital Market and a delisting could limit the liquidity of our stock, increase its volatility and hinder our ability to raise capital.”

You should read this prospectus, together with additional information described under the headings “Where You Can Find More Information” carefully before you invest in any of our securities.

INVESTING IN OUR SECURITIES INVOLVES RISKS. SEE THE “RISK FACTORS” ON PAGE 11 OF THIS PROSPECTUS AND ANY SIMILAR SECTION CONTAINED IN ANY DOCUMENT INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE HEREIN CONCERNING FACTORS YOU SHOULD CONSIDER BEFORE INVESTING IN OUR SECURITIES.

Neither the Securities and Exchange Commission nor any state securities commission has approved or disapproved of these securities or determined if this prospectus is truthful or complete. Any representation to the contrary is a criminal offense.

There is no minimum number of securities or minimum aggregate amount of proceeds for this offering to close. We have engaged                     , or the placement agent, as our exclusive placement agent in connection with this offering. The placement agent is not purchasing or selling the securities offered by us, and is not required to arrange for the purchase or sale of any specific number or dollar amount of our securities, but will use its reasonable best efforts to solicit offers to purchase the securities offered by this prospectus. We have agreed to pay the placement agent a cash fee equal to [●]% of the aggregate gross proceeds raised in this offering as set forth in the table below. See “Plan of Distribution” beginning on page 97 of this prospectus for more information.

Delivery of the securities is expected to be made on or about                           , 2024.

Sole Placement Agent

The date of this prospectus is             , 2024.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABOUT THIS PROSPECTUS

The registration statement we filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) includes exhibits that provide more detail of the matters discussed in this prospectus. You should read this prospectus, the related exhibits filed with the SEC, and the documents incorporated by reference herein before making your investment decision. You should rely only on the information provided in this prospectus and the documents incorporated by reference herein or any amendment thereto. You should not assume that the information contained in this prospectus or any related free writing prospectus is accurate on any date subsequent to the date set forth on the front of the document or that any information we have incorporated by reference herein is correct on any date subsequent to the date of the document incorporated by reference, even though this prospectus or any related free writing prospectus is delivered, or securities are sold, on a later date. This prospectus contains or incorporates by reference summaries of certain provisions contained in some of the documents described herein, but reference is made to the actual documents for complete information. All of the summaries are qualified in their entirety by the actual documents. Copies of some of the documents referred to herein have been filed or have been incorporated by reference as exhibits to the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part, and you may obtain copies of those documents as described in this prospectus under the heading “Where You Can Find More Information.”

You should rely only on the information that we have included or incorporated by reference in this prospectus and any related free writing prospectus that we may authorize to be provided to you. Neither we, nor the Selling Securityholder, have authorized any dealer, salesman or other person to give any information or to make any representation other than those contained or incorporated by reference in this prospectus or any related free writing prospectus that we may authorize to be provided to you. You must not rely upon any information or representation not contained or incorporated by reference in this prospectus or any related free writing prospectus. This prospectus and any related free writing prospectus do not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities other than the registered securities to which they relate, nor does this prospectus or any related free writing prospectus constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy securities in any jurisdiction to any person to whom it is unlawful to make such offer or solicitation in such jurisdiction.

PROSPECTUS SUMMARY

The following summary highlights information contained elsewhere in this prospectus. This summary is not complete and may not contain all the information you should consider before investing in our common stock. You should read this entire prospectus carefully, especially the risks of investing in our common stock discussed under the heading “Risk Factors,” and our financial statements and related notes before making an investment decision. Except as otherwise indicated herein or as the context otherwise requires, references in this prospectus and the documents incorporated by reference in this prospectus to “Auddia,” “the Company,” “we,” “us” and “our” refer to Auddia Inc. This prospectus includes forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. See “Information Regarding Forward-Looking Statements.”

This prospectus includes trademarks, service marks and trade names owned by us or other companies. All trademarks, service marks and trade names included in this prospectus are the property of their respective owners.

Overview

Auddia is a technology company headquartered in Boulder, CO that is reinventing how consumers engage with audio through the development of a proprietary AI platform for audio and innovative technologies for podcasts. Auddia is leveraging these technologies within its industry-first audio Superapp, faidr (previously known as the Auddia App).

faidr gives consumers the opportunity to listen to any AM/FM radio station with commercial breaks replaced with personalized audio content, including popular and new music, news, and weather. The faidr app represents the first time consumers can combine the local content uniquely provided by AM/FM radio with commercial-free and personalized listening many consumers demand from digital-media consumption. In addition to commercial-free AM/FM, faidr includes podcasts – also with ads removed or easily skipped by listeners – as well as exclusive content, branded faidrRadio, which includes new artist discovery, curated music stations, and Music Casts. Music Casts are unique to faidr. Hosts and DJs can combine on-demand talk segments with dynamic music streaming, which allows users to hear podcasts with full music track plays embedded in the episodes.

Auddia has also developed a differentiated podcasting capability with ad-skipping features and also provides a unique suite of tools that helps podcasters create additional digital content for their podcast episodes as well as plan their episodes, build their brand, and monetize their content with new content distribution channels. This podcasting feature also gives users the ability to go deeper into the stories through supplemental, digital content, and eventually comment and contribute their own content to episode feeds.

The combination of AM/FM streaming and podcasting, with Auddia’s unique, technology-driven differentiators, addresses large and rapidly growing audiences.

The Company has developed its AI platform on top of Google’s TensorFlow open-source library that is being “taught” to know the difference between all types of audio content on the radio. For instance, the platform recognizes the difference between a commercial and a song and is learning the differences between all other content to include weather reports, traffic, news, sports, DJ conversation, etc. Not only does the technology learn the differences between the various types of audio segments, but it also identifies the beginning and end of each piece of content.

The Company is leveraging this technology platform within its premium AM/FM radio listening experience through the faidr App. The faidr App is intended to be downloaded by consumers who will pay a subscription fee in order to listen to any streaming AM/FM radio station and podcasts, all with commercial interruptions removed from the listening experience, in addition to the faidrRadio exclusive content offerings. Advanced features will allow consumers to skip any content heard on the station and request audio content on-demand. We believe the faidr App represents a significant differentiated audio streaming product, or Superapp, that will be the first to come to market since the emergence of popular streaming music apps such as Pandora, Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, etc.   We believe that the most significant point of differentiation is that in addition to ad-free AM/FM streaming and ad-free podcasts, the faidr App is intended to deliver non-music content that includes local sports, news, weather, traffic and the discovery of new music alongside exclusive programming. No other audio streaming app available today, including category leaders like TuneIn, iHeart, and Audacy, can compete with faidr’s full product offerings.

The Company launched an MVP version of faidr through several consumer trials in 2021 to measure consumer interest and engagement with the App. The full app launched on February 15, 2022, and included all major U.S. radio stations in the US. In February 2023, the Company added faidrRadio, Auddia’s exclusive content offerings, to the app. Podcasts (standard) were added to the app for the iOS version before the end of Q1 2023 as planned and added to the Android app in May of 2023. Podcast functionality will continue to be enhanced through 2024, including an ad-free feature in early Q1.

The Company also developed a testbed differentiated podcasting capability called Vodacast, which leveraged technologies and proven product concepts to differentiate its podcasts offering from other competitors in the radio-streaming product category.

With podcasting growing and predicted to grow at a rapid rate, the Vodacast podcast platform was conceptualized to fill a void in the emerging audio media space. The platform was built to become the preferred podcasting solution for podcasters by enabling them to deliver digital content feeds that match the audio of their podcast episodes, and by enabling podcasters to make additional revenue from new digital advertising channels, subscription channels, on-demand fees for exclusive content, and through direct donations from their listeners. Throughout 2023, Auddia has been migrating their podcasting capabilities into the flagship faidr app with the intention to sunset the Vodacast platform and instead bring the advanced podcasting functionality that was found on Vodacast into faidr as part of the overall strategy to build a single audio Superapp. This includes Auddia’s new podcast ad-skipping technology which will be made available in faidr in Q1 2024 (iOS and Android).

Today, podcasters do not have a preference as to where their listeners access their episodes, as virtually all listening options (mobile apps and web players) deliver only their podcast audio. By creating significant differentiation on which they can make net new and higher margin revenue, we believe that podcasters will promote faidr to their listeners, thus creating a powerful, organic marketing dynamic.

One innovative and proprietary part of Auddia’s podcast capabilities, originally presented on their Vodacast differentiated podcasting capability, is the availability of tools to create and distribute an interactive digital feed, which supplements podcast episode audio with additional digital. These content feeds allow podcasters to tell deeper stories to their listeners while giving podcasters access to digital revenue for the first time. Podcasters will be able to build these interactive feeds using The Podcast Hub, a content management system that was originally developed and trialed as part of Auddia’s Vodacast platform, which also serves as a tool to plan and manage podcast episodes. The digital feed activates a new digital ad channel that turns every audio ad into a direct-response, relevant-to-the-story, digital ad, increasing the effectiveness and value of their established audio ad model. The feed also presents a richer listening experience, as any element of a podcast episode can be supplemented with images, videos, text and web links. This feed will appear fully synchronized in the faidr mobile App, and it also can be hosted and accessed independently (e.g., through any browser), making the content feed universally distributable.

Over time, users will be able to comment, and podcasters will be able to grant some users publishing rights to add content directly into the feed on their behalf. This will create another first for podcasting, a dialog between creator and fan, synchronized to the episode content. The interactive feed for podcasts has been developed and tested on Vodacast and is expected to be another differentiator added into faidr for podcast listeners later in 2024.

The podcast capabilities within faidr will also introduce a unique and industry first multi-channel, highly flexible set of revenue channels that podcasters can activate in combination to allow listeners to choose how they want to consume and pay for content. “Flex Revenue” allows podcasters to continue to run their standard audio ad model and complement those ads with direct response enabled digital ads in each episode content feed, increasing the value of advertising on any podcast. “Flex Revenue” will also activate subscriptions, on-demand fees for content (e.g., listen without audio ads for a micro payment fee) and direct donations from listeners. Using these channels in combination, podcasters can maximize revenue generation and exercise higher margin monetization models, beyond basic audio advertising. “Flex Revenue” and the initial inclusion of the new revenue channels that come with it will be added to podcasting in the faidr app, and the first elements of this new monetization capability is expected to be commercially available in Q1 2024, beginning with subscription plans to access ad-skipping in podcasts.

The faidr mobile App is available today through the iOS and Android App stores.

Software Products and Services

The faidr App

The faidr App is our flagship product and is expected to generate the majority of the Company’s future revenue.

How the faidr App Works

A faidr subscriber will select a specific streaming radio station to record and be able to listen to the recording of that station in a customized manner. The faidr App will record the station in real time, and its AI algorithm will identify the beginning and end of audio content segments including music and commercials. When the recorded station is played back by the App subscriber, faidr will identify the audio content segments the user chooses not to consume and automatically switch the audio playback of the recording to a different piece of audio content. For example, if a consumer chooses not to listen to commercials during the playback of their recording of a station, the faidr App will automatically cover the commercial segments with other content such as additional music.

The Company is developing strategies and content relationships to access additional content sources to cover commercials and respond to skips across many content segments in addition to music and commercials, such as sports, news, talk and weather. As the audio content ecosystem continues to expand, the Company believes faidr will represent an attractive distribution platform for content providers. There is no guarantee the audio content ecosystem will continue to expand along its current trajectory or that the Company will be able to secure access to content in an economically advantageous manner, both of which would negatively impact the user experience within faidr. The Company has not yet secured the rights from content providers to place any audio content into the platform in an on-demand use case.

Users of faidr can also access any podcast that’s publicly available as well as exclusive programming, music stations and Music Casts, through faidrRadio.

The faidr App is built on a proprietary artificial intelligence platform developed and owned by the Company and subject to one issued patent and additional patent applications that are pending.

Copyright Law

To secure the rights to stream music and other content through the faidr app, the Company may enter into license agreements with copyright owners of sound recordings and musical works or their authorized agents. In June 2021, the Company filed a Notice of Use of Sound Recordings Under Statutory License in accordance with 37 CFR § 370.2, which authorized the Company to make noninteractive digital audio transmissions and reproductions of certain sound recordings pursuant to the statutory licenses set forth in 17 U.S.C. §§ 112 and 114. The Company is also in the process of obtaining licenses with the performing rights organizations (“PROs”) in the United States, which negotiate blanket licenses with copyright users for the public performance of compositions in their repertory, collect royalties under such licenses, and distribute those royalties to copyright owners. 

The faidr App’s architecture presents a built-in digital audio recorder (“DAR”) that will allow consumers to record third-party transmissions made available through the faidr App. The Company believes such consumer-initiated recordings are authorized as non-infringing, fair use time shifting by consumers pursuant to the Supreme Court’s decision in Sony Corp. of America v. Universal City Studios, Inc., 464 U.S. 417 (1984). The Supreme Court also ruled that the manufacturers of home video recording devices were not liable for reproductions made by consumers where the devices had substantial non-infringing uses. faidr’s DAR is analogous to the Betamax television recorders found non-infringing in the Universal City Studios decision. With the faidr’s DAR, users can select radio stations to record. Users can also control their listening experience by deciding whether they will listen to commercials or other programming categories selected by the user. The Company believes giving users the ability to avoid commercials is protected, non-infringing activity.

If a court were to hold that one or more functionalities offered by the faidr App resulted in the violation of protected rights of third parties, the Company could be subject to liability for infringement, the damages for which could be material.

Podcast Platform

Auddia’s Podcast Platform, which includes the previously developed and commercially trialed Vodacast mobile app, is an interactive differentiated podcasting capability the Company has built that allows podcasters to give their audiences an interactive audio experience. Podcast listeners are able to see video and other digital content that correlates with the podcast audio and is presented to the listener as a digital feed. All content presented in the digital feed can be synched to the podcast audio content. This allows podcast listeners to visually experience, interact with, and eventually comment on audio content in podcasts.

Much of the technology we use in this platform to create the feed of digital content synchronized to the audio content of the podcast is based on the core functionality and product concepts the Company has used historically to provide synchronized digital feeds to over 580 radio stations.

The digital feed introduces a new revenue stream to podcasters, such as synchronized digital advertising while providing end users a new digital content channel that compliments the core audio of the podcast.

All of the content and functionality that is made available within the Podcast Platform, through the Vodacast mobile app, is currently being added to the faidr app, diversifying the podcast offering of faidr and bringing that app up to parity with the major, competing apps like iHeart Radio, TuneIn and Audacy. In addition, new ad-skipping features are also being added to faidr (Q1 2024) which demonstrates the company’s differentiation in the podcasting arena, for both podcasters and consumers.

Business Model and Customer Acquisition Strategy for faidr

The Company has an eight-year plus history of working closely with the broadcast radio industry in the United States to help the industry adapt to both digital advertising and digital media technologies.

The Company announced several broadcast radio partnerships during 2021 in which we performed commercial trials within these markets. Based on the initial results from our commercial trials, the Company believes consumers are drawn to an interruption-free radio experience. We executed a full launch in February 2022 that initially included approximately 4,000 radio stations on the faidr App. The Company has continued to add stations to the faidr App which now presents more than 6,200 AM/FM streams.

Radio stations owned by broadcasters will be economically incentivized to promote faidr to their listeners. We intend to leverage subscription revenue to compensate participating radio broadcasters for promotional support and their increased music streaming fees. We believe that if participating broadcasters can generate increased revenue from their content, they can decrease their on-air advertising load while increasing the price paid for each commercial, as the commercial is more likely to be heard by consumers in a less cluttered advertising environment. In addition, we intend to offer tiered subscriptions to the faidr App where lower priced subscriptions allow a lower level of functionality and control. We believe that our history and existing relationships with broadcast radio will drive customer acquisition for the faidr App.

Our business model is based on creating a pool of subscription revenue across all streaming stations and other content providers utilizing the faidr platform. This subscription pool, excluding direct subscriber acquisition costs and increased music streaming fees, is expected to be shared with radio stations and other content providers, such as podcasters whose episodes are available ad-free, based either on the time each listener spends listening or the amount of plays on faidr. We believe this business model will result in broadcasters and podcasters promoting the listening of their content within faidr, similar to how radio stations are currently using airtime to promote the listening of their stations on Alexa and other smart speaker systems.

Our major podcast differentiators once implemented in faidr, will be marketed to podcasters and podcasting companies with business-to-business strategies that focus on communicating the value proposition and monetization opportunity. The potential to earn new, incremental revenue on the faidr platform, in addition to the other key value propositions of the platform, is expected to organically drive podcasters to promote the platform directly to their listeners. Direct-to-consumer marketing will be done independently by the Company and, in some cases, in partnership with podcasters who leverage their audio content programs to promote to their established audiences. As is the case with other proven marketing strategies, we intend to have our partners benefit from a participative revenue share through faidr podcasting.

Recent Developments

Mergers and Acquisitions Strategy

We are exploring various merger and acquisition options as part of a broader strategy which aims to scale the business more rapidly; accelerate user adoption and subscriber growth; enter new markets (international); and open new pathways toward raising capital. The overall strategy focuses on three areas: (1) acquiring retained users of a radio-streaming app, (2) bringing our proprietary ad-free products to that userbase to generate significant subscription revenue, and (3) bringing together other differentiated features into the larger audio Superapp platform.

We have performed due diligence on three potential acquisition targets thus far, including a business referred to as RadioFM, and two other targets that are identified as Target #2 and Target #3. Neither the acquisition of Target #2 nor Target #3 are probable of occurring at this time. The following anticipated synergies are based on good faith estimates and are subject to a multitude of risks as set forth under the heading “Risk Factors,” in this Prospectus. There can be no assurance that the potential acquisitions noted below will occur, or if the acquisitions occur, whether the noted synergies will be realized.

RadioFM: This target represents more than 4.6 million global monthly mobile users, being monetized through in-app advertising at a rate of $2.4 million per year. We would acquire the RadioFM asset (the application, though not the company), which operates at a gross margin of approximately 81%. We forecast that if this acquisition is completed, we would integrate our ad-free technology into RadioFM, and we could begin rolling out subscription to 641,100 users and expand the subscription product to the majority of its 4+ million users within 18 months of acquisition. If the acquisition is completed, we estimate the Year one revenue, post-acquisition, could be over $5 million, $3.3 million of that due to the added synergies of our proprietary ad-free technology.

Target #2: This target represents more than 4.8 million global monthly users, distributed across its mobile and desktop products, being monetized through in-app advertising at a rate of approximately $1.4 million per year. We would acquire both Target #2’s assets (the application and desktop website, though not the company), both of which operate at a gross margin of approximately 83%. We forecast that if an acquisition of Target #2’s assets is completed, we would integrate our ad-free technology into the mobile product of this target company, and we could begin rolling out subscription to 887,882 users and expand the subscription product to the majority of its 1+ million users within 18 months of acquisition. If the acquisition is completed, we estimate the Year one revenue, post-acquisition, could be over $2.8 million, with approximately $1.3 million of that due to the added synergies of our proprietary ad-free technology.

Target #3: This target represents superior radio-streaming and music-recording technology that allows our Superapp to accelerate the development of its roadmap while also adding significant engineering resources and valuable infrastructure, including an advanced database of stations and real-time monitoring as well as multi-year search engine optimization efforts to result in a very low cost-per-install of the target’s mobile app. The target company’s flagship product is a suite of audio and video recording software, which generates close to $3 million per year. In addition to differentiated and valuable technology and infrastructure, the target company also boasts an impressive mobile application with more than 200K monthly active users. The Company forecasts that if an acquisition of Target #3 is completed, the mobile app could be monetized with both advertising and a subscription tier in addition to our differentiated ad-free technology which could be integrated 6 months post-acquisition, resulting in an estimated net new revenue of $452,522 in year one, growing to $7.5 million in year two.

RFM Acquisition

On January 26, 2024, we entered into a Purchase Agreement (the “RFM Purchase Agreement”), pursuant to which we agreed to acquire RadioFM (the “RFM Acquisition”), which is currently a component of both AppSmartz and RadioFM (Partnerships under common control). The aggregate consideration for the RFM Acquisition is $13,000,000 (plus $2,000,000 in contingent consideration if certain post-close milestones are reached), in addition to the assumption of certain liabilities, as may be adjusted pursuant to the terms of the RFM Purchase Agreement.

The consummation of the RFM Acquisition is subject to the proceeds received from this offering, the Company’s ability to acquire additional financing and satisfaction or waiver of customary closing conditions. The RFM Purchase Agreement may be terminated under certain customary and limited circumstances at any time prior to the closing of the RFM Acquisition, including if the proceeds from this offering are insufficient to fund the acquisition.

The RFM Purchase Agreement contains customary representations, warranties, covenants, and post-closing indemnification obligations of the parties thereto.

The foregoing description of the RFM Purchase Agreement is not complete and is qualified in its entirety by reference to the copy of the RFM Purchase Agreement filed as Exhibit 2.1 to the registration statement of which this prospectus forms a part.

Risks Associated with Our Business

Investing in our securities involves a high degree of risk. You should carefully consider the risks described in “Risk Factors” beginning on page 11 of this prospectus before making a decision to invest in our common stock. If any of these risks actually occurs, our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects would likely be materially, adversely affected. In that event, the trading price of our common stock could decline, and you could lose part or all of your investment.

Going Concern Opinion

Our working capital deficiency, stockholders’ deficit, and recurring losses from operations raise substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern. As a result, our former independent registered public accounting firm included an explanatory paragraph in its report on our financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2022 with respect to this uncertainty. Our ability to continue as a going concern will require us to obtain additional funding.

Implications of Being an Emerging Growth Company and a Smaller Reporting Company

We qualify as an “emerging growth company” as defined in the Jumpstart our Business Startups Act of 2012 (the “JOBS Act”). An emerging growth company may take advantage of specified reduced reporting and other burdens that are otherwise applicable generally to public companies. These provisions include:

We may take advantage of these provisions until we are no longer an emerging growth company. We will remain an emerging growth company until the earliest of (1) the last day of the fiscal year (a) following the fifth anniversary of the completion of our February 2021 IPO, (b) in which we have total annual gross revenue of at least $1.07 billion or (c) in which we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer, which means the market value of our common stock that is held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of the prior December 31st, and (2) the date on which we have issued more than $1.0 billion in non-convertible debt during the prior three-year period.

We have taken advantage of the reduced reporting requirements in this prospectus and in the documents incorporated by reference into this prospectus. Accordingly, the information contained herein may be different from the information you receive from other public companies that are not emerging growth companies.

The JOBS Act permits an emerging growth company such as us to take advantage of an extended transition period to comply with new or revised accounting standards applicable to public companies until those standards would otherwise apply to private companies.

We are also a “smaller reporting company” meaning that the market value of our stock held by non-affiliates is less than $700 million and our annual revenue was less than $100 million during the most recently completed fiscal year. We may continue to be a smaller reporting company if either (i) the market value of our stock held by non-affiliates is less than $250 million or (ii) our annual revenue was less than $100 million during the most recently completed fiscal year and the market value of our stock held by non-affiliates is less than $700 million. If we are a smaller reporting company at the time we cease to be an emerging growth company, we may continue to rely on exemptions from certain disclosure requirements that are available to smaller reporting companies. Specifically, as a smaller reporting company we may choose to present only the two most recent fiscal years of audited financial statements in our Annual Report on Form 10-K and, similar to emerging growth companies, smaller reporting companies have reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation.

Our Corporate Information

We were originally formed as Clip Interactive, LLC in January 2012, as a limited liability company under the laws of the State of Colorado. Immediately prior to our initial public offering in February 2021, we converted into a Delaware corporation pursuant to a statutory conversion and were renamed Auddia Inc.

Our principal executive offices are located at 2100 Central Ave., Suite 200, Boulder, CO 80301. Our main telephone number is (303) 219-9771. Our internet website is www.auddia.com. The information contained in, or that can be accessed through, our website is not incorporated by reference and is not a part of this prospectus.

Trademarks

The Company also holds the trademark for “AUDDIA” which is used as the corporate brand name, as well as “FAIDR” which is used as the name of the consumer-facing mobile application that delivers the Company’s commercial free radio service. The Company also holds trademarks and is in the process of applying for trademarks for key products and brands. The Company holds the trademark for our product named “PLAZE”, which is a potential commercial-free music streaming product that is a potential future, strategic opportunity of our business.

We have omitted the ^® and ™ designations, as applicable, for the trademarks used in this prospectus.

INFORMATION REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This prospectus and the documents incorporated by reference in this prospectus include forward-looking statements, which involve risks and uncertainties. These forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology, including the terms “believe,” “estimate,” “project,” “anticipate,” “expect,” “seek,” “predict,” “continue,” “possible,” “intend,” “may,” “might,” “will,” “could,” would” or “should” or, in each case, their negative, or other variations or comparable terminology. These forward-looking statements include all matters that are not historical facts. They appear in a number of places throughout this prospectus and the documents incorporated by reference in this prospectus, and include statements regarding our intentions, beliefs or current expectations concerning, among other things, our product candidates, research and development, commercialization objectives, prospects, strategies, the industry in which we operate and potential collaborations. We derive many of our forward-looking statements from our operating budgets and forecasts, which are based upon many detailed assumptions. While we believe that our assumptions are reasonable, we caution that it is very difficult to predict the impact of known factors, and, of course, it is impossible for us to anticipate all factors that could affect our actual results. Forward-looking statements should not be read as a guarantee of future performance or results and may not be accurate indications of when such performance or results will be achieved. In light of these risks and uncertainties, the forward-looking events and circumstances discussed in this prospectus may not occur and actual results could differ materially from those anticipated or implied in the forward-looking statements.

Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this prospectus. You should not put undue reliance on any forward-looking statements. We assume no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect actual results, changes in assumptions or changes in other factors affecting forward-looking information, except to the extent required by applicable laws. If we update one or more forward-looking statements, no inference should be drawn that we will make additional updates with respect to those or other forward-looking statements.

You should read this prospectus, the documents incorporated by reference in this prospectus, and the documents that we reference in this prospectus and have filed with the SEC as exhibits to the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part with the understanding that our actual future results, levels of activity, performance and events and circumstances may be materially different from what we expect. All forward-looking statements are based upon information available to us on the date of this prospectus.

By their nature, forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties because they relate to events and depend on circumstances that may or may not occur in the future. We caution you that forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and that our actual results of operations, financial condition, business and prospects may differ materially from those made in or suggested by the forward-looking statements contained in this prospectus. In addition, even if our results of operations, financial condition, business and prospects are consistent with the forward-looking statements contained in this prospectus, those results may not be indicative of results in subsequent periods.

Forward-looking statements necessarily involve risks and uncertainties, and our actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements due to a number of factors, including those set forth below under “Risk Factors” and elsewhere in this prospectus. The factors set forth below under “Risk Factors” and other cautionary statements made in this prospectus should be read and understood as being applicable to all related forward-looking statements wherever they appear in this prospectus. The forward-looking statements contained in this prospectus represent our judgment as of the date of this prospectus. We caution readers not to place undue reliance on such statements. Except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements for any reason, even if new information becomes available or other events occur in the future. All subsequent written and oral forward-looking statements attributable to us or persons acting on our behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements contained above and throughout this prospectus.

You should read this prospectus and the documents that we reference in this prospectus and have filed as exhibits to the registration statement of which this prospectus is a part completely and with the understanding that our actual future results may be materially different from what we expect. We qualify all of our forward-looking statements by these cautionary statements.

THE OFFERING

The number of shares outstanding after this offering is based on 19,946,296 shares of our common stock outstanding as of January 15, 2024, and excludes:

RISK FACTORS

Investing in our securities involves a high degree of risk. You should carefully consider the risks and uncertainties described below, together with all of the other information contained in this prospectus, including our financial statements and the related notes, before deciding to invest in our securities. The risks and uncertainties described below are not the only ones we face. Other sections of this prospectus may include additional factors which could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial performance. Additional risks and uncertainties that we are unaware of, or that we currently believe are not material, may also become important factors that affect us. If any of the following risks actually occurs, our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects could be materially and adversely affected, the trading price of our common stock could decline and you could lose all or part of your investment.

Risks Relating to this Offering

This is a reasonable best efforts offering, in which no minimum number or dollar amount of securities is required to be sold, and we may not raise the amount of capital we believe is required for our business plans.

The placement agent has agreed to use its reasonable best efforts to solicit offers to purchase the securities in this offering. The placement agent has no obligation to buy any of the securities from us or to arrange for the purchase or sale of any specific number or dollar amount of the securities. There is no required minimum number of securities that must be sold as a condition to completion of this offering, and there can be no assurance that the offering contemplated hereby will ultimately be consummated. Even if we sell securities offered hereby, because there is no minimum offering amount required as a condition to the closing of this offering, the actual offering amount is not presently determinable and may be substantially less than the maximum amount set forth above. We may sell fewer than all of the securities offered hereby, which may significantly reduce the amount of proceeds received by us. Thus, we may not raise the amount of capital we believe is required for our operations in the short-term and may need to raise additional funds, which may not be available or available on terms acceptable to us.

Future offerings of debt or equity securities, which could rank senior to our common stock, may materially and adversely affect the market price of our common stock.

If we decide to issue debt or equity securities in the future, which could rank senior to our common stock, it is likely that such securities will be governed by an indenture or other instrument containing covenants restricting our operating flexibility. Additionally, any convertible or exchangeable securities that we issue in the future may have rights, preferences and privileges more favorable than those of our common stock and may result in dilution to owners of our common stock.

Future issuances and sales of debt or equity securities, or the perception that such issuances and sales could occur, may cause prevailing market prices for our common stock to decline and may adversely affect our ability to raise additional capital in the financial markets at times and prices favorable to us. We and, indirectly, our stockholders will bear the cost of issuing and servicing such securities. Because our decision to issue debt or equity securities in any future offering will depend on market conditions and other factors beyond our control, we cannot predict or estimate the amount, timing or nature of our future offerings. Therefore, holders of our common stock will bear the risk of our future offerings reducing the market price of our common stock and diluting the value of their stock holdings in us.

You may experience future dilution as a result of future equity offerings.

In order to raise additional capital, we may in the future offer additional shares of common stock or other securities convertible into or exchangeable for our shares of common stock that could result in further dilution to investors purchasing our shares in this offering or result in downward pressure on the price of our shares of common stock. We may sell shares of common stock or other securities in any other offering at prices that are higher or lower than the prices paid by investors in this offering, and investors purchasing shares or other securities in the future could have rights superior to existing shareholders.

Resales of our common stock in the public market by our stockholders as a result of this offering may cause the market price of our common stock to fall.

Sales of a significant number of shares of our common stock could occur at any time. The issuance of new shares of our common stock could result in resales of our common stock by our current stockholders concerned about the potential dilution of their holdings. In turn, these resales could have the effect of depressing the market price for our common stock and the value of the pre-funded warrants and warrants.

This offering may cause the trading price of our common stock to decrease.

The price per Unit, together with the number of shares of common stock we propose to issue and ultimately will issue if this offering is completed, may result in an immediate decrease in the market price of our common stock. This decrease may continue after the completion of this offering.

There is no public market for the Pre-Funded Warrants or Common Warrants being offered in this offering.

There is no established public trading market for the Pre-Funded Warrants or Common Warrants being offered in this offering, and we do not expect a market to develop. In addition, we do not intend to apply to list the Pre-Funded Warrants or Common Warrants on the Nasdaq or any national securities exchange or other nationally recognized trading system. Without an active market, the liquidity of the Pre-Funded Warrants and Common Warrants will be limited.

The Pre-Funded Warrants and Common Warrants are speculative in nature.

The Pre-Funded Warrants and Common Warrants do not confer any rights of common stock ownership on their holders, such as voting rights or the right to receive dividends, but rather merely represent the right to acquire shares of common stock at a fixed price for a limited period of time. Specifically, commencing on the date of issuance, holders of the Common Warrants may exercise their right to acquire common stock and pay an exercise price of $[●]  per share, subject to certain adjustments, prior to five years from the date on which such warrants were issued, after which date any unexercised Common Warrants will expire and have no further value. Holders of Pre-Funded Warrants have identical rights, except that the Pre-Funded Warrants have an exercise price of $0.0001 and do not expire until exercised in full. Moreover, following this offering, the market value of the Pre-Funded Warrants and Common Warrants, if any, is uncertain and there can be no assurance that the market value of the Pre-Funded Warrants and Common Warrants will equal or exceed their imputed offering price. The Pre-Funded Warrants and Common Warrants will not be listed or quoted for trading on any market or exchange. There can be no assurance that the market price of the common stock will ever equal or exceed the exercise price of the Common Warrants and consequently, whether it will ever be profitable for holders of the Common Warrants to exercise the warrants.

We may not receive any additional funds upon the exercise of the Pre-Funded Warrants or Common Warrants.

Each Pre-Funded Warrant and Common Warrant may be exercised by way of a cashless exercise, meaning that the holder may not pay a cash purchase price upon exercise, but instead would receive upon such exercise the net number of shares of our common stock determined according to the formula set forth in the Pre-Funded Warrant or Common Warrant. Accordingly, we may not receive any additional funds upon the exercise of the Pre-Funded Warrants or Common Warrants.

We have broad discretion in the use of the net proceeds from this offering and may not use them effectively.

Our management will have broad discretion as to the use of the net proceeds from this offering and could use them for purposes other than those contemplated at the time of this offering. For example, if the net proceeds from this offering are not sufficient to complete the RFM Acquisition, no assurance can be given that the RFM Acquisition will occur, or if the acquisition occurs, that the terms of the acquisition will not be materially different from those described in this prospectus. Accordingly, you will be relying on the judgment of our management with regard to the use of these net proceeds, and you will not have the opportunity, as part of your investment decision, to assess whether the proceeds are being used appropriately. It is possible that the proceeds will be invested in a way that does not yield a favorable, or any, return for us.

Risks related to the acquisition

While we have entered into a purchase agreement with RadioFM for its acquisition, we cannot assure you that the acquisition will be consummated or, that if such acquisition is consummated, it will be accretive to stockholder value.

On January 26, 2024, we entered into a purchase agreement with RadioFM pursuant to which we agreed to acquire RadioFM, which is currently a component of both AppSmartz and RadioFM (Partnerships under common control). However, the purchase agreement is subject to us obtaining the acquisition financing necessary to consummate the acquisition. Therefore, there is no guarantee that the transaction will be completed, or that if the transaction is completed it will result in additional value to our stockholders.

The announcement and pendency of our acquisition of RadioFM may have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, operating results and cash flows.

In January 26, 2024, we entered into a purchase agreement with RadioFM pursuant to which we agreed to acquire RadioFM, which is currently a component of both AppSmartz and RadioFM (Partnerships under common control), subject to the conditions set forth therein (the “RFM Acquisition”). We have devoted, and will continue to devote, significant management and other internal resources towards the execution of the RFM Acquisition and planning for integration. Execution of the RFM Acquisition is subject to conditions beyond our control that may prevent, delay or otherwise adversely affect its execution in a material way. The failure to execute the RFM Acquisition in a timely manner or at all could negatively impact the market price of our common stock. Furthermore, if the RFM Acquisition is significantly delayed or not completed, we may suffer other consequences that could adversely affect our business, results of operations and stock price, including the following:

There can be no assurance that our business, financial condition, operating results and cash flows will not be adversely affected, as compared to prior to the announcement of the RFM Acquisition, if the RFM Acquisition is not consummated.

Our ability to realize the benefits from the acquisition of RadioFM is substantially dependent on the cost savings resulting from the timely and effective integration of the operations of Auddia and RadioFM.

Our ability to realize the benefits from the acquisition of RadioFM is substantially dependent on the cost savings resulting from the timely and effective integration of the operations Auddia and RadioFM. The process of integrating the operations of Auddia and RadioFM could encounter unexpected costs and delays, which include: the loss of key personnel; the loss of key customers; the loss of key suppliers; and unanticipated issues in integrating sales, marketing and administrative functions. If we are unable to timely and effectively integrate the operations of Auddia and RadioFM, our costs could be adversely affected, and our business could suffer. Further, even if the integration is timely and effective, we may never realize the cost savings expected from the integration of the operations of our two companies.

We may be unable to obtain additional financing to complete the RFM Acquisition, which could compel us to abandon the RFM Acquisition.

The net proceeds from the offering are expected to be [●], which is insufficient to consummate the RFM Acquisition. The Company intends to raise at least an additional $3.0 million through a debt financing to consummate the RFM Acquisition. We cannot assure you that such financing will be available on acceptable terms, if at all. The current economic environment may make it difficult for companies to obtain acquisition financing. To the extent that additional financing proves to be unavailable when needed to complete the RFM Acquisition, we would be compelled to abandon the RFM Acquisition. The failure to secure additional financing and abandoning the RFM Acquisition could have an adverse effect on the continued development or growth of our business.

Risks related to the COVID-19 pandemic

Public health officials have recommended and mandated precautions to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. Our research and development and our entire business may be adversely impacted by actions taken to contain or treat the impact of COVID-19, and the extent of such impact will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted. The COVID-19 pandemic has adversely impacted economic activity and conditions worldwide. Although our business has not been adversely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic to date, the Company cannot predict with certainty the full extent the COVID-19 pandemic will have on our business including macroeconomic conditions and customer demand for our products in the future.

Risks related to our financial position and need for additional capital

Our auditors of our December 31, 2022 financial statements have expressed substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern, which may hinder our ability to obtain further financing.

Our past working capital deficiency, stockholders’ deficit and recurring losses from operations raised substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern. As a result, our independent registered public accounting firm has included an explanatory paragraph in its report on our financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2022 with respect to this uncertainty. Our existing cash of $2.2 million at September 30, 2023 will only be sufficient to fund our current operating plans into February 2024. The Company has based these estimates, however, on assumptions that may prove to be wrong. We will need additional funding to complete the development of our full product line and scale products with a demonstrated market fit. Management has plans to secure such additional funding. If we are unable to raise capital when needed or on acceptable terms, we would be forced to delay, reduce, or eliminate our technology development and commercialization efforts.

We have incurred significant net losses since inception and anticipate that we will continue to incur net losses for the foreseeable future and may never achieve or maintain profitability.

Since inception, we have incurred significant net losses. We expect to continue to incur net losses in the near term. Our net losses were $6,897,446 and $13,478,069 for the years ended December 31, 2022, and 2021, respectively. For the year ended December 31, 2022, our cash used in operations was $4,752,750. At December 31, 2022, we had cash and equivalents on hand of $1,661,434. To date, we have devoted our efforts towards securing financing, building, and evolving our technology platform, marketing our mobile app product for radio stations as well as initiating our marketing efforts for our music player. We expect to continue to incur significant expenses and operating losses for the foreseeable future. We anticipate that our expenses will increase substantially if, and as, we:

To become profitable, we must develop and eventually commercialize the faidr product or the Vodacast platform, with significant market potential. This will require us to be successful in a range of challenging activities, and our expenses will increase substantially as we acquire and retain users. We may never succeed in any or all of these activities and, even if we do, we may never generate revenue that is significant or large enough to achieve profitability. If we do achieve profitability, we may not be able to sustain or increase profitability on a quarterly or annual basis. Our failure to become and remain profitable would decrease the value of our company and could impair our ability to raise capital, develop new products, expand our business or continue our operations. A decline in the value of our Company also could cause stockholders to lose all or part of their investment.

We will need additional funding, which may not be available on acceptable terms, or at all. Failure to obtain this capital when needed may force us to delay, limit or terminate our product development efforts or other operations.

We expect our expenses to increase in connection with our ongoing activities, particularly as we continue to invest in sales, marketing and engineering resources and bring our products to market. Furthermore, we continue to incur additional costs associated with operating as a public company. Our existing cash of $2.2 million at September 30, 2023 will only be sufficient to fund our current operating plans into February 2024. The Company has based these estimates, however, on assumptions that may prove to be wrong. We will need additional funding to complete the development of our full product line and scale products with a demonstrated market fit. Management has plans to secure such additional funding. If we are unable to raise capital when needed or on acceptable terms, we would be forced to delay, reduce, or eliminate our technology development and commercialization efforts.

Building and scaling technology products is a time-consuming, expensive and uncertain process that takes years to complete, and we may never generate the necessary user experience required to obtain market acceptance and achieve meaningful product sales. In addition, our product candidates, once developed, may not achieve commercial success. The majority of revenue will be derived from or based on sales of software products that may not be commercially available for many years, if at all. Accordingly, we will need to continue to rely on additional financing to achieve our business objectives. Adequate additional financing may not be available to us on acceptable terms, or at all.

Raising additional capital may cause dilution to our existing stockholders, restrict our operations or require us to relinquish rights to our technologies and product candidates.

We may seek additional capital through a combination of public and private equity offerings, debt financings, strategic partnerships and alliances and licensing arrangements. To the extent that we raise additional capital through the sale of equity or convertible debt securities, the ownership interest of stockholders will be diluted, and the terms may include liquidation or other preferences that adversely affect the rights of existing stockholders. The incurrence of indebtedness would result in increased fixed payment obligations and could involve restrictive covenants, such as limitations on our ability to incur additional debt, limitations on our ability to acquire or license intellectual property rights and other operating restrictions that could adversely impact our ability to conduct our business. If we raise additional funds through strategic partnerships and alliances and licensing arrangements with third parties, we may have to relinquish valuable rights to our technologies, or our other product candidates, or grant licenses on terms unfavorable to us.

We have generated historical revenue from our mobile app platform for radio stations, but future revenue growth is dependent on new software services.

Our ability to generate revenue from product sales and achieve profitability depends on our ability to successfully complete the development and commercialization of future software products. Our ability to generate meaningful revenue from product sales depends heavily on our success in:

Our limited operating history of our current business plan may make it difficult for investors to evaluate the success of our business to date and to assess our future viability.

We are an early-stage company founded in 2012, with a limited operating history that has recently changed its business plan to develop and sell our new and potential products. There can be no assurance that any of our future products and services will be successfully developed, protected from competition by others, or marketed successfully. Accordingly, there can be no assurance that we will ever have positive net earnings.

We have identified material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting. Failure to achieve and maintain effective internal control over financial reporting could result in our failure to accurately or timely report our financial condition or results of operations, which could have a material adverse effect on our business and securities prices.

A material weakness is a deficiency, or a combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting, such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of our financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis. Management is working to remediate our current material weaknesses and prevent potential future material weaknesses by hiring additional qualified accounting and financial reporting personnel, and further reviewing and enhancing our accounting processes. We may not be able to fully remediate any future material weaknesses until these steps have been completed and have been operating effectively for a sufficient period of time. If we are not able to maintain effective internal control over financial reporting, our financial statements and related disclosures may be inaccurate, which could have a material adverse effect on our business and our securities prices.

We are required to comply with the SEC’s rules implementing Sections 302 and 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which requires management to certify financial and other information in our quarterly and annual reports and provide an annual management report on the effectiveness of our controls over financial reporting. This assessment includes disclosure of any material weaknesses identified by our management in our internal control over financial reporting, as well as a statement that our independent registered public accounting firm has issued an opinion on the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting, provided that our independent registered public accounting firm will not be required to attest to the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting until our first annual report required to be filed with the SEC following the later of the date we are deemed to be an “accelerated filer” or a “large accelerated filer,” each as defined in the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), or the date we are no longer an emerging growth company, as defined in the JOBS Act. We could be an emerging growth company for up to five years.

If we fail to maintain proper and effective internal controls, our ability to produce accurate financial statements on a timely basis could be impaired, which would adversely affect our business.

Ensuring that we have adequate internal financial and accounting controls and procedures in place to produce accurate financial statements on a timely basis is a costly and time-consuming effort that needs to be re-evaluated frequently. The rapid growth of our operations and the completed IPO has created a need for additional resources within the accounting and finance functions due to the increasing need to produce timely financial information and to ensure the level of segregation of duties customary for a U.S. public company. We continue to reassess the sufficiency of finance personnel in response to these increasing demands and expectations.

Our management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of our financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. Our management does not expect that our internal control over financial reporting will prevent or detect all errors and all fraud. A control system, no matter how well designed and operated, can provide only reasonable, not absolute, assurance that the control system’s objectives will be met. Because of the inherent limitations in all control systems, no evaluation of controls 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, within our company will have been detected.

We expect to expend significant resources in developing the necessary documentation and testing procedures required by Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. We cannot be certain that the actions we will be taking to improve our internal controls over financial reporting will be sufficient, or that we will be able to implement our planned processes and procedures in a timely manner. In addition, if we are unable to produce accurate financial statements on a timely basis, investors could lose confidence in the reliability of our financial statements, which could cause the market price of our common stock to decline and make it more difficult for us to finance our operations and growth.

Risks related to the development of our products

Our subscription revenue margins and our freedom to operate our faidr radio platform rely on continuity of the established music licensing framework.

Present music licensing costs and general rights to play music are determined by an established statutory rate framework which could change in the future. Changes in licensing costs and general rights to play music content could impact our direct costs for content or even prohibit access to content that is fundamental to the platform. Changes could adversely impact our cost to operate the platform and/or our rights to deliver content to end users.

Our faidr platform will rely on the established “personal use exemption” which allows individuals to record content for time-shifting purposes.

The faidr platform will allow consumers to access broadcast audio content “live,” in real-time with a slight delay, and also enables consumers to buffer audio content on the user’s device for delayed playback, that can take advantage of the App’s intelligent listening capabilities. We believe that the limited buffering provided for within the faidr App is lawful and falls within the United States Supreme Court’s ruling allowing consumers the right to time shift programming for later consumption. The faidr App only permits buffering on the user’s mobile device in a manner that does not permit librarying of content by the consumer and no right to offload content from the faidr App to another device, other than through the exploitation of the “analog hole” (e.g., allowing another device to record audio while it is playing through the faidr App). While we believe that the functionality of the faidr App is protected under current law, there is a risk that one or more aspects of the faidr App may be found to violate the rights of third parties. If it is determined that we are not permitted to give consumers the right to buffer content locally and also control their listener experience by receiving alternative programming to what is included in an AM/FM station’s transmission, certain features of the faidr App may have to be disabled or discontinued, the costs to the Company for access to content could increase significantly, and result in an increase in the consumer price of the App, thus making the faidr App less desirable in the marketplace.

If we are unable to obtain and maintain patent protection for our products and product candidates, or if the scope of the patent protection obtained is not sufficiently broad, our competitors could develop and commercialize products and product candidates similar or identical to ours, and our ability to successfully commercialize our products and product candidates may be adversely affected.

Our commercial success will depend, in part, on our ability to obtain and maintain patent protection in the United States and other countries with respect to our products and product candidates. We seek to protect our proprietary position by filing patent applications in the United States and abroad related to our products and product candidates that are important to our business.

We cannot be certain that additional patents will be issued or granted with respect to applications that are currently pending or that we may apply for in the future with respect to one or more of our products and product candidates, or that issued or granted patents will not later be found to be invalid and/or unenforceable.

The patent prosecution process is expensive and time-consuming. We may not be able to file and prosecute all necessary or desirable patent applications at a reasonable cost or in a timely manner. It is also possible that we will fail to identify patentable aspects of our research and development output before it is too late to obtain patent protection. Although we enter into non-disclosure and confidentiality agreements with parties who have access to patentable aspects of our research and development output, such as our employees, collaboration partners, consultants, advisors and other third parties, any of these parties may breach the agreements and disclose such output before a patent application is filed, thereby jeopardizing our ability to seek patent protection.

Real or perceived errors, failures or bugs in our platform or products could materially and adversely affect our operating results and growth prospects.

The software underlying our platform and products is highly technical and complex. Our software has previously contained, and may now or in the future contain, undetected errors, bugs or vulnerabilities. In addition, errors, failures and bugs may be contained in open source software utilized in building and operating our products or may result from errors in the deployment or configuration of open source software. Some errors in our software may only be discovered after the software has been deployed or may never be generally known. Any errors, bugs or vulnerabilities discovered in our software after it has been deployed, or never generally discovered, could result in interruptions in platform availability, product malfunctioning or data breaches, and thereby result in damage to our reputation, adverse effects upon customers and users, loss of customers and relationships with third parties, including social media networks, loss of revenue or liability for damages. In some instances, we may not be able to identify the cause or causes of these problems or risks within an acceptable period of time.

Risks related to our business operations

Our recently announced growth strategy includes seeking acquisitions of other companies or assets in our industry sector. We may not be successful in identifying, making and integrating business or asset acquisitions, if any, in the future. 

As announced in April 2023, we anticipate that a component of our growth strategy may be to make strategically focused acquisitions of businesses or assets. Pursuit of this strategy may be restricted by the on-going volatility and uncertainty within the capital markets which may significantly limit the availability of funds for such acquisitions. Our ability to use shares of our common stock in an acquisition transaction may be adversely affected by the volatility in the price of our common stock and by the potential requirement of shareholder approval under applicable Nasdaq listing rules.

In addition to restricted funding availability, the success of our recently announced strategy will depend on our ability to identify suitable acquisition candidates and to negotiate acceptable financial and other terms. There is no assurance that we will be able to do so. The success of an acquisition also depends on our ability to perform adequate due diligence before the acquisition and on our ability to integrate the acquisition after it is completed. While we intend to commit significant resources to ensure that we conduct comprehensive due diligence, there can be no assurance that all potential risks and liabilities will be identified in connection with an acquisition. Similarly, while we expect to commit substantial resources, including management time and effort, to integrating acquired businesses into ours, there is no assurance that we will be successful in integrating these businesses. If we fail in performing adequate due diligence or in successfully integrating acquired businesses, our future operations would be negatively impacted. The potential difficulties or risks of integrating an acquired company’s business include the following, among others, which risks can be magnified when one or more integrations are occurring simultaneously or within a small period of time:

As described above under the section of this prospectus entitled “Prospectus Summary — Recent Developments — Non-Binding Letter of Intent,” we are currently pursuing the RFM Acquisition. The RFM Acquisition is subject to ongoing negotiation and the satisfaction of various conditions, some of which are outside of our control, and, as a result, we may not be able to complete the acquisition on the timeframe we expect or at all. In addition, the integration of the RFM Acquisition (if completed) could be more costly or time-consuming than we anticipate, and we may not realize the anticipated benefits from the acquisition.

Our future success depends on our ability to retain key employees, consultants and advisors and to attract, retain and motivate qualified personnel.

We are highly dependent on members of our executive team; the loss of whose services may adversely impact the achievement of our objectives. While we have entered into employment agreements with certain of our executive officers, any of them could leave our employment at any time. We currently do not have “key person” insurance on any of our employees. The loss of the services of one or more of our current employees might impede the achievement of our research, development and commercialization objectives.

Recruiting and retaining other qualified employees, consultants and advisors for our business, including scientific and technical personnel, will also be critical to our success. Competition for skilled personnel is intense and the turnover rate can be high. We may not be able to attract and retain personnel on acceptable terms given the competition among numerous technology companies for individuals with similar skill sets. The inability to recruit, or loss of services of certain executives, key employees, consultants or advisors, may impede the progress of our product development and commercialization objectives.

If we are unable to manage expected growth in the scale and complexity of our operations, our performance may suffer.

If we are successful in executing our business strategy, we will need to expand our managerial, operational, financial and other systems and resources to manage our operations, continue our technology development activities and, in the longer term, scale a commercial infrastructure to support our product roll out and end user projections. Future growth would impose significant added responsibilities on members of management. It is likely that our management, finance, sales, marketing and engineering systems and facilities currently in place may not be adequate to support this future growth. Our need to effectively manage our operations, growth and future product commercialization requires that we continue to develop more robust business processes and improve our systems and procedures in each of these areas and to attract and retain sufficient numbers of talented employees. We may be unable to successfully implement these tasks on a larger scale and, accordingly, may not achieve our product development and growth goals.

Any cybersecurity-related attack, significant data breach or disruption of the information technology systems or networks on which we rely could negatively affect our business.

Our operations rely on information technology systems for the use, storage and transmission of sensitive and confidential information with respect to our customers, our customers’ consumers or other social media audiences, the third-party technology platforms of other parties and our employees. A malicious cybersecurity-related attack, intrusion or disruption by either an internal or external source or other breach of the systems on which our platform and products operate, and on which our employees conduct business, could lead to unauthorized access to, use of, loss of or unauthorized disclosure of sensitive and confidential information, disruption of our services, and resulting regulatory enforcement actions, litigation, indemnity obligations and other possible liabilities, as well as negative publicity, which could damage our reputation, impair sales and harm our business. Cyberattacks and other malicious internet-based activity continue to increase, and cloud-based platform providers of products and services have been and are expected to continue to be targeted. In addition to traditional computer “hackers,” malicious code (such as viruses and worms), phishing, employee theft or misuse and denial-of-service attacks, sophisticated nation-state and nation-state supported actors now engage in attacks (including advanced persistent threat intrusions). Despite efforts to create security barriers to such threats, it is not feasible, as a practical matter, for us to entirely mitigate these risks. If our security measures are compromised as a result of third-party action, employee, customer, or user error, malfeasance, stolen or fraudulently obtained log-in credentials or otherwise, our reputation would be damaged, our data, information or intellectual property, or those of our customers, may be destroyed, stolen or otherwise compromised, our business may be harmed and we could incur significant liability. We have not always been able in the past and may be unable in the future to anticipate or prevent techniques used to obtain unauthorized access to or compromise of our systems because they change frequently and are generally not detected until after an incident has occurred. We also cannot be certain that we will be able to prevent vulnerabilities in our software or address vulnerabilities that we may become aware of in the future. Further, as we rely on third-party cloud infrastructure, we depend in part on third party security measures to protect against unauthorized access, cyberattacks and the mishandling of data and information. Any cybersecurity event, including any vulnerability in our software, cyberattack, intrusion or disruption, could result in significant increases in costs, including costs for remediating the effects of such an event, lost revenue due to network downtime, and a decrease in customer and user trust, increases in insurance premiums due to cybersecurity incidents, increased costs to address cybersecurity issues and attempts to prevent future incidents, and harm to our business and our reputation because of any such incident.

There can be no assurance that any limitation of liability provisions in our technical and/or subscription agreements would be enforceable or adequate or would otherwise protect us from any such liabilities or damages with respect to any claim related to a cybersecurity incident. We also cannot be sure that our existing general liability insurance coverage and coverage for cyber liability or errors or omissions will continue to be available on acceptable terms or will be available in sufficient amounts to cover one or more large claims or that the insurer will not deny coverage as to any future claim. The successful assertion of one or more large claims against us that exceed available insurance coverage, or the occurrence of changes in our insurance policies, including premium increases or the imposition of large deductible or co-insurance requirements, would harm our business.

Many governments have enacted laws requiring companies to provide notice of data security incidents involving certain types of personal data. In addition, some of our customers require us to notify them of data security breaches. Security compromises experienced by our competitors, by our customers or by us may lead to public disclosures, which may lead to widespread negative publicity. Any security compromise in our industry, whether actual or perceived, could harm our reputation, erode confidence in the effectiveness of our security measures, negatively affect our ability to attract new customers, encourage consumers to restrict the sharing of their personal data with our customers or the social media networks, cause existing customers to elect not to renew their subscriptions or subject us to third-party lawsuits, regulatory fines or other action or liability, which could harm our business.

Changing regulations and increased awareness relating to privacy, information security and data protection could increase our costs, affect or limit how we collect and use personal information and harm our brand.

We receive, store and otherwise process personal information and other data from and about our customers and our employees. We also receive personal information and other data about our customers’ consumers or other social media audiences. There are numerous federal, state, local and international laws and regulations regarding privacy, data protection, information security and the storing, sharing, use, processing, transfer, disclosure, retention and protection of personal information and other content, the scope of which is rapidly changing, subject to differing interpretations and may be inconsistent among countries and states, or conflict with other rules. We are also subject to the terms of our privacy policies and contractual obligations to third parties related to privacy, data protection and information security. We strive to comply with applicable laws, regulations, policies and other legal obligations relating to privacy, data protection and information security. However, the regulatory framework for privacy, data protection and information security worldwide is, and is likely to remain, uncertain for the foreseeable future, and it is possible that these or other actual or alleged obligations may be interpreted and applied in a manner that is inconsistent from one jurisdiction to another and may conflict with other rules or our practices.

We also expect that there will continue to be new laws, regulations and industry standards concerning privacy, data protection and information security proposed and enacted in various jurisdictions. The United States, the European Union (“EU”), and other countries in which we currently or may operate are increasingly adopting or revising privacy, copyright, information security and data protection laws and regulations that could have a significant impact on our current and planned privacy, data protection and information security-related practices, our collection, use, sharing, retention and safeguarding of customer, consumer and/or employee information, as well as any other third-party information we receive, and some of our current or planned business activities. New and changing laws, regulations, and industry standards concerning privacy, data protection and information security may also impact the social media platforms and data providers we utilize, and thereby indirectly impact our business. In the United States, this includes increased privacy-related regulations and enforcement activity at both the federal level and state levels that impose requirements on the personal information we collect in the course of our business activities. In the EU, this includes the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”), which came into effect in May 2018. While we have taken measures to comply with applicable requirements contained in the GDPR, we may need to continue to make adjustments as more clarification and guidance on the requirements of the GDPR and how to comply with such requirements becomes available. Further, following a referendum in June 2016 in which voters in the United Kingdom approved an exit from the EU, the United Kingdom government has initiated a process to leave the EU, known as Brexit. Brexit has created uncertainty with regard to the regulation of data protection in the United Kingdom. In particular, although the United Kingdom enacted a Data Protection Act in May 2018 that is designed to be consistent with the GDPR, uncertainty remains regarding how data transfers to and from the United Kingdom will be regulated. Additionally, although we have self-certified under the U.S.-EU and U.S.-Swiss Privacy Shield Frameworks with regard to our transfer of certain personal data from the EU and Switzerland to the United States, some regulatory uncertainty remains surrounding the future of data transfers from the EU and Switzerland to the United States, and we are monitoring regulatory developments in this area. California also recently enacted legislation, the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018, (the “CCPA”), that will afford consumers expanded privacy protections and control over the collection, use and sharing of their personal information when it goes into effect on January 1, 2020. The CCPA was recently amended, and it is possible that it will be amended again before it goes into effect. The potential effects of this legislation are far-reaching and may require us to modify our data processing practices and policies and to incur substantial costs and expenses in an effort to comply. For example, the CCPA gives California residents expanded rights to access and require deletion of their personal information, opt out of certain personal information sharing and receive detailed information about how their personal information is used. The CCPA also provides for civil penalties for violations, as well as a private right of action for data breaches that may increase data breach litigation.

With laws and regulations such as the GDPR in the EU and the CCPA in the United States imposing new and relatively burdensome obligations, and with substantial uncertainty over the interpretation and application of these and other laws and regulations, we may face challenges in addressing their requirements and making necessary changes to our policies and practices, and may incur significant costs and expenses in an effort to do so. For example, the increased consumer control over the sharing of their personal information afforded by CCPA may affect our customers’ ability to share such personal information with us or may require us to delete or remove consumer information from our records or data sets, which may create considerable costs for our organization. In addition, any failure or perceived failure by us to comply with our privacy policies, our privacy-, data protection- or information security-related obligations to customers, users or other third parties or any of our other legal obligations relating to privacy, data protection or information security may result in governmental investigations or enforcement actions, litigation, claims or public statements against us by consumer advocacy groups or others, and could result in significant liability, loss of relationships with key third parties including social media networks and other data providers, or cause our users to lose trust in us, which could have an adverse effect on our reputation and business. Furthermore, the costs of compliance with, and other burdens imposed by, the laws, regulations and policies that are applicable to the businesses of our users may limit the adoption and use of, and reduce the overall demand for, our platform.

Additionally, if the third parties we work with, such as vendors or developers, violate applicable laws or regulations or our policies, such violations may also put our customers’ and their users’ and consumers’ or other social media audiences’ content at risk and could in turn have an adverse effect on our business. Any significant change to applicable laws, regulations or industry practices regarding the collection, use, retention, security or disclosure of such content, or regarding the manner in which the express or implied consent of such persons for the collection, use, retention or disclosure of such content is obtained, could increase our costs and require us to modify our services and features, possibly in a material manner, which we may be unable to complete and may limit our ability to store and process user data or develop new services and features. All of these implications could adversely affect our revenue, results of operations, business and financial condition.

We may also face different obligations in foreign jurisdictions when providing access to AM/FM radio station simulcasts through the faidr App. In the United States, we will generally not be liable for monetary damages for copyright infringement arising from a radio station’s transmissions made accessible through the faidr App even if the owner of the station has failed to obtain all necessary licenses to simulcast music over the Internet. In the UK and the EU, the laws differ from those in the United States for companies that operate directory services and we may either have to disable access to stations that have failed to obtain the necessary licenses for accessibility through the faidr App in different jurisdictions or obtain licenses to cover the communications to the public made by such stations and accessed through the faidr App. The costs for such licenses could be excessive and negatively impact our business, operations and financial condition.

Our business depends on a strong brand, and if we are not able to develop, maintain and enhance our brand, our business and operating results may be harmed. Moreover, our brand and reputation could be harmed if we were to experience significant negative publicity.

We believe that developing, maintaining and enhancing our brand is critical to achieving widespread acceptance of our platform and products, attracting new customers, retaining existing customers, persuading existing customers to adopt additional products and use-cases, and hiring and retaining our employees. We believe that the importance of our brand will increase as competition in our market further intensifies. Successful promotion of our brand will depend on a number of factors, including the effectiveness of our marketing efforts, including thought leadership, our ability to provide a high-quality, reliable and cost-effective platform, the perceived value of our platform and products and our ability to provide quality customer success and support experience. Brand promotion activities require us to make substantial expenditures. To date, we have made significant investments in the promotion of our brand. The promotion of our brand, however, may not generate customer awareness or increase revenue, and any increase in revenue may not offset the expenses we incur in building and maintaining our brand.

We operate in a public-facing industry in which every aspect of our business is impacted by social media. Negative publicity, whether or not justified, can spread rapidly through social media. To the extent that we are unable to respond timely and appropriately to negative publicity, our reputation and brand could be harmed. Moreover, even if we are able to respond in a timely and appropriate manner, we cannot predict how negative publicity may affect our reputation and business. We and our employees also use social media to communicate externally. There is risk that the use of social media by us or our employees to communicate about our business may give rise to liability or result in public exposure of personal information of our employees or customers, each of which could affect our revenue, business, results of operations and financial condition.

Enacted and future legislation may increase the difficulty and cost for us to commercialize our product candidates and may affect the prices we may set.

Our business and financial prospects could be affected by changes in laws, regulations, and policies in the United States and abroad. We operate in a highly regulated industry and new laws or judicial decisions, or new interpretations of existing laws or decisions, including those related to copyright, and the amount of payment for content rights could negatively impact our business, operations and financial condition.

We may be subject to litigation, disputes or regulatory inquiries for a variety of claims, which could adversely affect our results of operations, harm our reputation or otherwise negatively affect our business.

From time to time, we may be involved in litigation, disputes or regulatory inquiries that arise in the ordinary course of business. These may include claims, lawsuits and proceedings involving labor, and employment, wage and hour, commercial, alleged securities law violations or other investor claims, claims for trademark or copyright infringement and other matters. We expect that the number and significance of these potential disputes may increase as our business expands, our company grows larger and more users listen to streaming audio through our faidr App. While our agreements with customers limit our liability for damages arising from our platform, we cannot assure you that these contractual provisions will protect us from liability for damages in the event we are sued or protect us from claims against third parties with whom we do not have agreements. Radio station owners may object to our providing access to their simulcast streams through the faidr App in a manner that gives the consumer the ability to control whether the consumer listens to audio advertisements included in the station’s transmissions. The copyright owners of musical works and sound recordings may object to our providing users with the ability to buffer audio content for time shifting purposes. Although we carry general liability insurance coverage, our insurance may not cover all potential claims to which we are exposed or may not be adequate to indemnify us for all liability that may be imposed. Any claims against us, whether meritorious or not, could be time consuming, result in costly litigation, require significant amounts of management time, adversely affect our reputation and result in the diversion of significant operational resources. Because litigation is inherently unpredictable, we cannot assure you that the results of any of these actions will not have a material adverse effect on our revenue, business, brand, results of operations and financial condition.

Risks related to our intellectual property

Our business is subject to the risks of earthquakes, fire, floods and other natural catastrophic events, and to interruption by man-made problems such as power disruptions, computer viruses, cyberattack, data security breaches or terrorism.

A significant natural disaster, such as an earthquake, fire or a flood, occurring where a business partner is located could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition. Further, if a natural disaster or man-made problem were to affect our network service providers or Internet service providers, this could adversely affect the ability of our customers to use our products and platform. In addition, natural disasters and acts of terrorism could cause disruptions in our or our customers’ businesses, national economies, or the world economy. We also rely on our network and third-party infrastructure and enterprise applications and internal technology systems for our engineering, sales and marketing and operations activities. If a major disruption is caused by a natural disaster or man-made problem, we may be unable to continue our operations and may endure system interruptions, reputational harm, delays in our development activities, lengthy interruptions in service, breaches of data security and loss of critical data, any of which could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Any failure to protect our intellectual property rights could impair our business.

Our success and ability to compete depend in part upon our intellectual property. We attempt to protect our intellectual property rights, both in the United States and in foreign countries, through a combination of patent, trademark, copyright and trade secret laws, as well as licensing agreements and third-party nondisclosure and assignment agreements. However, the steps we take to protect our intellectual property rights may be inadequate. Because of the differences in foreign trademark, patent and other laws concerning proprietary rights, our intellectual property rights may not receive the same degree of protection in foreign countries as they would in the United States. Our failure to obtain or maintain adequate protection of our intellectual property rights for any reason could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

We have applied for patent protection in the United States relating to certain existing and proposed systems, methods and processes. We cannot assure that any of our patent applications will result in an issued patent. Any patent(s) we own could be challenged, invalidated or circumvented by others and may not be of sufficient scope or strength to provide us with any meaningful protection or commercial advantage. Further, we cannot assure you that competitors will not infringe our patent(s), or that we will have adequate resources to enforce our patent(s).

We also rely on unpatented proprietary technology. It is possible that others will independently develop the same or similar technology or otherwise obtain access to our unpatented technology. To protect our trade secrets and other proprietary information, we have entered into confidentiality agreements with most of our employees and consultants. We cannot assure you that these agreements will provide meaningful protection for our trade secrets, know-how or other proprietary information in the event of any unauthorized use, misappropriation or disclosure of such trade secrets, know-how or other proprietary information. If we are unable to maintain the proprietary nature of our technologies, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be harmed.

We rely on our trademarks, service marks, trade names, and brand names to distinguish our products and services from the products and services of our competitors and have registered or applied to register many of these trademarks in the United States and other jurisdictions. We cannot assure you that our trademark applications will be approved. Third parties may also oppose our trademark applications, or otherwise challenge our use of the trademarks, or use and register confusingly similar trademarks in these or other jurisdictions. In the event that our trademarks are successfully challenged, we could be forced to rebrand our products and services, which could result in loss of brand recognition, and could require us to devote resources advertising and marketing new brands. Further, we cannot assure you that third parties will not infringe our trademarks, or that we will have adequate resources to enforce our trademarks.

Although we rely on copyright laws to protect the works of authorship (including software) created by us, we do not register the copyrights in any of our copyrightable works. Copyrights of U.S. origin must be registered before the copyright owner may bring an infringement suit in the United States. Furthermore, if a copyright of U.S. origin is not registered within three months of publication of the underlying work, the copyright owner is precluded from seeking statutory damages or attorney’s fees in any United States enforcement action and is limited to seeking actual damages and lost profits. Accordingly, if one of our unregistered copyrights of U.S. origin is infringed by a third party, we will need to register the copyright before we can file an infringement suit in the United States, and our remedies in any such infringement suit may be limited.

In order to protect our intellectual property, we may be required to spend significant resources to monitor and protect our rights. Litigation brought to protect and enforce our intellectual property rights could be costly, time-consuming and distracting to management, and could result in the impairment or loss of portions of our intellectual property. Furthermore, our efforts to enforce our intellectual property rights may be met with defenses, counterclaims and countersuits attacking the validity and enforceability of our intellectual property rights. Our failure to secure, protect and enforce our intellectual property rights could adversely affect our brand and adversely affect our business.

If third parties claim that we infringe upon or otherwise violate their intellectual property rights, our business could be adversely affected.

We face the risk of claims that we have infringed or otherwise violated third parties’ intellectual property rights. There is considerable patent and other intellectual property development activity in our industry. Our future success depends in part on not infringing upon or otherwise violating the intellectual property rights of others. From time to time, our competitors or other third parties may claim that we are infringing upon or otherwise violating their intellectual property rights, and we may be found to be infringing upon or otherwise violating such rights. We may be unaware of the intellectual property rights of others that may cover some or all of our technology or conflict with our trademark rights. Any claims of intellectual property infringement or other intellectual property violations, even those without merit, could: 

Any royalty or licensing agreements, if required, may not be available to us on acceptable terms or at all. A successful claim of infringement against us could result in our being required to pay significant damages, enter into costly settlement agreements, or prevent us from offering our platform or products, any of which could have a negative impact on our operating profits and harm our future prospects. We may also be obligated to indemnify our customers or business partners in connection with any such litigation and to obtain licenses, modify our platform or products, or refund subscription fees, which could further exhaust our resources. Such disputes could also disrupt our platform or products, adversely affecting our customer satisfaction and ability to attract customers.

Our use of “open source” software could negatively affect our ability to offer and sell access to our platform and products and subject us to possible litigation.

We use open source software in our platform and products and expect to continue to use open source software in the future. There are uncertainties regarding the proper interpretation of and compliance with open source licenses, and there is a risk that such licenses could be construed in a manner that imposes unanticipated conditions or restrictions on our ability to use such open source software, and consequently to provide or distribute our platform and products. Although use of open source software has historically been free, recently several open source providers have begun to charge license fees for use of their software. If our current open source providers were to begin to charge for these licenses or increase their license fees significantly, this would increase our research and development costs and have a negative impact on our results of operations and financial condition.

Additionally, we may from time-to-time face claims from third parties claiming ownership of, or seeking to enforce the terms of, an open source license, including by demanding release of source code for the open source software, derivative works or our proprietary source code that was developed using or that is distributed with such open source software. These claims could also result in litigation and could require us to make our proprietary software source code freely available or require us to devote additional research and development resources to change our platform or incur additional costs and expenses, any of which could result in reputational harm and would have a negative effect on our business and operating results. In addition, if the license terms for the open source software we utilize change, we may be forced to reengineer our platform or incur additional costs to comply with the changed license terms or to replace the affected open source software. Further, use of certain open source software can lead to greater risks than use of third-party commercial software, as open source licensors generally do not provide warranties or controls on the origin of software or indemnification for third party infringement claims. Although we have implemented policies to regulate the use and incorporation of open source software into our platform and products, we cannot be certain that we have not incorporated open source software in our platform and products in a manner that is inconsistent with such policies.

In addition, any intellectual property litigation to which we become a party may require us to do one or more of the following:

Intellectual property litigation is typically complex, time consuming, and expensive to resolve and would divert the time and attention of our management and technical personnel. It may also result in adverse publicity, which could harm our reputation and ability to attract or retain customers. As we grow, we may experience a heightened risk of allegations of intellectual property infringement. An adverse result in any litigation claims against us could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

Indemnity provisions in various agreements potentially expose us to substantial liability for intellectual property infringement and other losses.

Our agreements with customers and other third parties may include indemnification or other provisions under which we agree to indemnify or otherwise be liable to them for losses suffered or incurred as a result of claims of intellectual property infringement, damages caused by us to property or persons, or other liabilities relating to or arising from our platform, products or other acts or omissions. The term of these contractual provisions often survives termination or expiration of the applicable agreement. Large indemnity payments or damage claims from contractual breach could harm our business, operating results and financial condition.

From time to time, customers may require us to indemnify or otherwise be liable to them for breach of confidentiality or failure to implement adequate security measures with respect to their data stored, transmitted or processed by our employees, platform or products. Although we normally contractually limit our liability with respect to such obligations, we may still incur substantial liability related to them. Any dispute with a customer with respect to such obligations could have adverse effects on our relationship with that customer and other current and prospective customers, reduce demand for our platform or products, and harm our revenue, business and operating results.

Risks related to ownership of our common stock

We are not currently in compliance with the minimum bid price rule or the minimum stockholders’ equity rule of the Nasdaq Capital Market and a delisting could limit the liquidity of our stock, increase its volatility and hinder our ability to raise capital.

On April 24, 2023, we received a written notice (the “Bid Price Notice”) from Nasdaq indicating that we are not in compliance with the $1.00 Minimum Bid Price requirement set forth in Nasdaq Listing Rule 5550(a)(2) for continued listing on the Nasdaq Capital Market (the “Bid Price Requirement”). The Bid Price Notice does not result in the immediate delisting of our common stock from the Nasdaq Capital Market.

The Nasdaq Listing Rules require listed securities to maintain a minimum bid price of $1.00 per share and, based upon the closing bid price of our common stock for the 30 consecutive business days for the period ended April 24, 2023, we no longer meet this requirement.

The Bid Price Notice indicated that we will be provided 180 calendar days in which to regain compliance. If at any time during this 180 calendar day period the bid price of our common stock closes at or above $1.00 per share for a minimum of ten consecutive business days, the Nasdaq staff (the “Staff”) will provide us with a written confirmation of compliance and the matter will be closed.

On October 24, 2023, we received a written notice from the Nasdaq staff indicating that we had not regained compliance with the Bid Price Requirement and was not eligible for the additional 180 calendar day compliance period. As a result, the Nasdaq staff determined to delist our common stock from Nasdaq, unless we timely request an appeal of the staff’s determination to the Panel, pursuant to the procedures set forth in the Nasdaq Listing Rule 5800 Series.

We requested a hearing before the Panel to appeal the delisting notice from the staff. The Company’s hearing with the Panel occurred on January 18, 2024. A decision from the Panel is expected within 30 days or less from the hearing date. While the appeal process is pending, the suspension of trading of our common stock will be stayed. Our common stock will continue to trade on Nasdaq until the hearing process concludes and the Panel issues a written decision.

On November 21, 2023, we received a written notice (the “Stockholder Equity Notice”) from Nasdaq indicating that we are not in compliance with Nasdaq Listing Rule 5550(b)(1), which requires companies listed on The Nasdaq Stock Market to maintain a minimum of $2,500,000 in stockholders’ equity for continued listing. In our quarterly report on Form 10-Q filed November 14, 203 for the period ended September 30, 2023, we reported stockholders’ equity of $2,415,012, and, as a result, do not currently satisfy Listing Rule 5550(b)(1)(the “Stockholders’ Equity Requirement”).

The Company addressed its plans to regain compliance with the Stockholder’s Equity Requirement at the hearing on January 18, 2024.

We intend to consider all options to regain and maintain compliance with all Nasdaq continued listing requirements. There can be no assurance that a favorable decision will be obtained from the Panel.

If our common stock is delisted by Nasdaq, our common stock may be eligible for quotation on an over-the-counter quotation system or on the pink sheets. Upon any such delisting, our common stock would become subject to the regulations of the SEC relating to the market for penny stocks. A penny stock is any equity security not traded on a national securities exchange that has a market price of less than $5.00 per share. The regulations applicable to penny stocks may severely affect the market liquidity for our common stock and could limit the ability of shareholders to sell securities in the secondary market. In such a case, an investor may find it more difficult to dispose of or obtain accurate quotations as to the market value of our common stock, and there can be no assurance that our common stock will be eligible for trading or quotation on any alternative exchanges or markets.

Delisting from Nasdaq could adversely affect our ability to raise additional financing through public or private sales of equity securities, would significantly affect the ability of investors to trade our securities and would negatively affect the value and liquidity of our common stock. Delisting could also have other negative results, including the potential loss of confidence by employees, the loss of institutional investor interest and fewer business development opportunities.

Our executive officers, directors, and principal stockholders will maintain the ability to control all matters submitted to our stockholders for approval.

Our executive officers, directors and stockholders who owned more than 5% of our outstanding common stock will, in the aggregate, beneficially own common shares representing approximately 25.8% of our outstanding common stock as of September 30, 2023. As a result, if these stockholders were to act together, they would most likely be able to control most or all matters submitted to our stockholders for approval, as well as our management and affairs. For example, these persons, if they act together, they would likely control the election of directors and approval of any merger, consolidation, or sale of all or substantially all of our assets. This concentration of voting power could delay or prevent an acquisition of our company on terms that other stockholders may desire or result in management of our company with which our public stockholders disagree.

A significant portion of our total outstanding shares are eligible for sale into the public market. Substantial sales of our shares into the public market could cause the market price of our common stock to drop significantly, even if our business is performing well.

Sales of a substantial number of shares of our common stock in the public market could occur at any time, subject to certain restrictions described below. These sales, or the perception in the market that holders of a large number of shares intend to sell shares, could reduce the market price of our common stock. We have 19,946,296 shares of common stock issued and outstanding as of January 15, 2024. Substantially all of these shares, unless held by our affiliates, may be resold in the public market immediately without restriction. Shares held by our affiliates may be resold into the public market subject to compliance with the requirements of the SEC’s Rule 144.

The issuance of warrants in the IPO will cause existing stockholders to experience additional dilution if those warrants are exercised.

In addition to the shares of common stock we issued in the IPO, we also issued 4,590,590 Series A Warrants. The Series A Warrants issued in the IPO are exercisable for an equal number of shares of our common stock. If the holders of the Series A Warrants exercise their warrants, existing stockholders will experience dilution at the time they exercise their warrants.

In July 2021, certain holders of our publicly traded Series A Warrants exercised 3,498,898 warrants. As of September 30, 2023, we currently have 5,422,009 Series A Warrants that remain outstanding.

We also offered a warrant to the representative of the IPO underwriters that is exercisable for 319,345 shares (the “Representative’s Warrant”). If the representative of the underwriters exercises these warrants in the future, existing stockholders will experience additional dilution.

The price of our common stock may be volatile and fluctuate substantially, which could result in substantial losses for investors in our securities.

Our common stock price is likely to be volatile. The stock market in general and the market for technology companies has experienced extreme volatility that has often been unrelated to the operating performance of particular companies. As a result of this volatility, you may not be able to sell your common stock at or above your investment price. The market price for our common stock may be influenced by many factors, including:

If our quarterly operating results fall below the expectations of investors or securities analysts, the price of our common stock could decline substantially. Furthermore, any quarterly fluctuations in our operating results may, in turn, cause the price of our stock to fluctuate substantially. We believe that quarterly comparisons of our financial results are not necessarily meaningful and should not be relied upon as an indication of our future performance.

In the past, following periods of volatility in the market price of a company’s securities, securities class-action litigation often has been instituted against that company. Such litigation, if instituted against us, could cause us to incur substantial costs to defend such claims and divert management’s attention and resources.

If securities analysts do not publish research or reports about our business or if they publish negative evaluations of our stock, the price of our stock could decline.

The trading market for our common stock will rely, in part, on the research and reports that industry or financial analysts publish about us or our business. We do not currently have, and may never obtain, research coverage by industry or financial analysts. If no, or few, analysts commence coverage of us, the trading price of our stock would likely decrease. Even if we do obtain analyst coverage, if one or more of the analysts covering our business downgrade their evaluations of our stock, the price of our stock could decline. If one or more of these analysts cease to cover our stock, we could lose visibility in the market for our stock, which in turn could cause our stock price to decline.

We are an “emerging growth company,” and the reduced disclosure requirements applicable to emerging growth companies may make our common stock less attractive to investors.

We are an “emerging growth company” (“EGC”), as defined in the JOBS Act. We will remain an EGC until the earliest of: (i) the last day of the fiscal year in which we have total annual gross revenues of $1.07 billion or more; (ii) the last day of the fiscal year following the fifth anniversary of the date of the completion of our IPO; (iii) the date on which we have issued more than $1 billion in nonconvertible debt during the previous three years; and (iv) the date on which we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer under the rules of the SEC. For so long as we remain an EGC, we are permitted and intend to rely on exemptions from certain disclosure requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies. These exemptions include:

We may choose to take advantage of some, but not all, of the available exemptions. We have taken advantage of reduced reporting burdens in this Annual Report. In particular, we have not included all of the executive compensation information that would be required if we were not an EGC. We cannot predict whether investors will find our common stock less attractive if we rely on certain or all of these exemptions. If some investors find our common stock less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our common stock and our stock price may be more volatile. 

We continue to incur increased costs as a result of operating as a public company, and our management will be required to devote substantial time to new compliance initiatives.

As a public company, and particularly after we are no longer an EGC, we will incur significant legal, accounting and other expenses that we did not incur as a private company.

In addition, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and rules subsequently implemented by the SEC and Nasdaq have imposed various requirements on public companies, including establishment and maintenance of effective disclosure and financial controls and corporate governance practices. Our management and other personnel will need to devote a substantial amount of time to these compliance initiatives. Moreover, these rules and regulations will increase our legal and financial compliance costs and will make some activities more time-consuming and costly. For example, we expect that these rules and regulations may make it more difficult and more expensive for us to obtain director and officer liability insurance.

Failure to establish and maintain effective internal controls in accordance with Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act could have a material adverse effect on our business and stock price.

We are not currently required to comply with the rules of the SEC implementing Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and therefore are not required to make a formal assessment of the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting for that purpose. Upon becoming a publicly traded company, we will be required to comply with the SEC’s rules implementing Sections 302 and 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which will require management to certify financial and other information in our quarterly and annual reports and provide an annual management report on the effectiveness of controls over financial reporting. Though we will be required to disclose changes made in our internal controls and procedures on a quarterly basis, we will not be required to make our first annual assessment of our internal control over financial reporting pursuant to Section 404 until the year following our first annual report required to be filed with the SEC. Our independent registered public accounting firm will not be required to attest to the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting until the later of the year following our first annual report required to be filed with the SEC or the date we are no longer an emerging growth company and are an accelerated or large accelerated filer.

To comply with the requirements of being a public company, we may need to undertake various actions, such as implementing new internal controls and procedures and hiring additional accounting or internal audit staff. In this regard, we will need to continue to dedicate internal resources, engage outside consultants and adopt a detailed work plan to assess and document the adequacy of internal control over financial reporting, continue steps to improve control processes, validate through testing that controls are functioning as documented and implement a continuous reporting and improvement process for internal control over financial reporting. In addition, we have identified material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting and may identify further such material weaknesses, either of which we may not be able to remediate in time to meet the applicable deadline imposed upon us for compliance with the requirements of Section 404.

If unable to comply with the requirements of Section 404 to address and remediate in a timely manner material weaknesses identified in our internal control over financial reporting, or to assert that our internal control over financial reporting is effective, or if our independent registered public accounting firm is unable to express an opinion as to the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting, investors may lose confidence in the accuracy and completeness of our financial reports and the market price of our common stock could be negatively affected, and we could become subject to investigations by the Nasdaq Capital Market on which our securities are listed, the SEC or other regulatory authorities, which could require additional financial and management resources.

Pursuant to Section 404, we will be required to furnish a report by our management on our internal control over financial reporting, including, once we are no longer an EGC, an attestation report on internal control over financial reporting issued by our independent registered public accounting firm. To achieve compliance with Section 404 within the prescribed period, we will be engaged in a process to document and evaluate our internal control over financial reporting, which is both costly and challenging. Despite our efforts, there is a risk that neither we nor our independent registered public accounting firm will be able to conclude within the prescribed timeframe that our internal control over financial reporting is effective as required by Section 404. This could result in an adverse reaction in the financial markets due to a loss of confidence in the reliability of our financial statements.

Provisions in our corporate charter and our bylaws and under Delaware law could make an acquisition of us, which may be beneficial to our stockholders, more difficult and may prevent attempts by our stockholders to replace or remove our current management.

We are a Delaware corporation. The anti-takeover provisions of the Delaware General Corporation Law (the “DGCL”) may discourage, delay or prevent a change in control by prohibiting us from engaging in a business combination with an interested stockholder for a period of three years after the person becomes an interested stockholder, even if a change in control would be beneficial to our existing stockholders.

Provisions in our corporate charter and our bylaws may discourage, delay or prevent a merger, acquisition or other change in control of us that stockholders may consider favorable, including transactions in which you might otherwise receive a premium for your shares. These provisions also could limit the price that investors might be willing to pay in the future for shares of our common stock, thereby depressing the market price of our common stock. In addition, because our board of directors is responsible for appointing the members of our management team, these provisions may frustrate or prevent any attempts by our stockholders to replace or remove our current management by making it more difficult for stockholders to replace members of our board of directors. Among other things, these provisions:

Moreover, because we are incorporated in Delaware, we are governed by the provisions of Section 203 of the DGCL, which prohibits a person who owns in excess of 15% of our outstanding voting stock from merging or combining with us for a period of three years after the date of the transaction in which the person acquired in excess of 15% of our outstanding voting stock, unless the merger or combination is approved in a prescribed manner.

Because we do not anticipate paying any cash dividends on our capital stock in the foreseeable future, capital appreciation, if any, will be your sole source of gain.

We have never declared or paid cash dividends on our capital stock. We currently intend to retain all of our future earnings, if any, to finance the growth and development of our business. In addition, the terms of any future debt agreements may preclude us from paying dividends. As a result, capital appreciation, if any, of our common stock will be your sole source of gain for the foreseeable future.

Our charter provides that the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware is the exclusive forum for certain litigation that may be initiated by our stockholders, which could limit our stockholders’ ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for such disputes with us or our directors, officers or employees.

Our certificate of incorporation provides that the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware is the exclusive forum for the following types of actions or proceedings: any derivative action or proceeding brought on behalf of the Company, any action asserting a claim of breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any director, officer or other employee of the Company to the Company or the Company’s stockholders, any action asserting a claim against the Company arising pursuant to any provision of the DGCL or the Company’s certificate of incorporation or bylaws, or any action asserting a claim against the Company governed by the internal affairs doctrine. Our certificate of incorporation also provides that unless the Company consents in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the federal district courts of the United States of America shall be the exclusive forum for the resolution of any complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), as amended. Despite the fact that the certificate of incorporation provides for these exclusive forum provisions to be applicable to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, 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. As a result, this provision of the Company’s certificate of incorporation would not apply to claims brought to enforce a duty or liability created by the Exchange Act, or any other claim for which the federal courts have exclusive jurisdiction. However, there is uncertainty as to whether a Delaware court would enforce the exclusive Federal forum provisions for Securities Act claims and that investors cannot waive compliance with the federal securities laws and rules and regulations thereunder.

The choice of forum provisions may limit a stockholder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that it finds favorable for disputes with us or our directors, officers or other employees, which may discourage such lawsuits against us and our directors, officers and other employees. Alternatively, if a court were to find the choice of forum provisions contained in our charter to be inapplicable or unenforceable in an action, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such action in other jurisdictions.

Risks Related to Our Financial Condition and Capital Requirements

Our continuing operations will require additional capital which we may not be able to obtain on favorable terms, if at all.

We currently have limited committed sources of capital and we have limited liquidity. Our cash and cash equivalents as of September 30, 2023, was $2.2 million. We expect our current cash and cash equivalents will be sufficient to fund our operations through February 2024. Therefore, we will require substantial future capital in order to continue to operations.

We believe our cash resources would be sufficient to fund our current operating plans into February 2024. We have based these estimates, however, on assumptions that may prove to be wrong, and we could spend our available financial resources much faster than we currently expect and need to raise additional funds sooner than we anticipate. If we are unable to raise additional capital when needed or on acceptable terms, we would be forced to delay, reduce, or eliminate our technology development and commercialization efforts.

MARKET AND INDUSTRY DATA

Unless otherwise indicated, information contained (or incorporated by reference) in this prospectus concerning our industry and the markets in which we operate is based on information from independent industry and research organizations, other third-party sources and management estimates. Management estimates are derived from publicly available information released by independent industry analysts and third-party sources, as well as data from our internal research, and are based on assumptions made by us upon reviewing such data and our knowledge of such industry and markets which we believe to be reasonable. Although we believe the data from these third-party sources is reliable, we have not independently verified any third-party information. In addition, projections, assumptions and estimates of the future performance of the industry in which we operate and our future performance are necessarily subject to uncertainty and risk due to a variety of factors, including those described in "Risk Factors" and "Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements." These and other factors could cause results to differ materially from those expressed in the estimates made by the independent parties and by us.

USE OF PROCEEDS

We estimate that the net proceeds from this offering will be approximately $9.3 million, assuming the sale of all securities being offered hereby, after deducting the placement agent fee and estimated offering expenses payable by us and excluding the proceeds, if any, from the subsequent exercise of the Pre-Funded Warrants or the Common Warrants. However, because this offering is being conducted on a reasonable best efforts basis we may sell fewer than all of the securities offered hereby, which may significantly reduce the amount of proceeds received by us.

On January 26, 2024, we entered into an agreement to acquire RadioFM, which is a component of both AppSmartz and RadioFM (partnerships under common control), for an aggregate purchase price of $13,000,000 (plus $2,000,000 in contingent consideration if certain post-close milestones are reached), in addition to the assumption of certain liabilities, as may be adjusted pursuant to the terms of the RFM Purchase Agreement, and subject to the receipt of the proceeds raised from this offering. See “Prospectus Summary—Recent Developments—RFM Acquisition” and “Business—Recent Developments—RFM Acquisition” for more information. We will need to raise additional capital to finance the remainder of the RFM Acquisition, which we plan to raise from our equity line of credit, a debt financing, or a combination of the two, in each case depending on a terms and prevailing market conditions. This offering is conditioned upon the consummation of the RFM Acquisition.

We intend to use the net proceeds from this offering to fund the acquisition of RadioFM, related acquisition fees and expenses, working capital and general corporate purposes.

Our expected use of net proceeds from this offering and our existing cash and cash equivalents represents our intentions based upon our current plans and business conditions, which could change in the future as our plans and business conditions evolve. As a result, we cannot predict with any certainty our use of the net proceeds from this offering or the amounts that we will actually spend on each area of use set forth above. Our management will retain broad discretion over the allocation of the net proceeds from this offering. Accordingly, we will have discretion in the application of the net proceeds, and investors will be relying on our judgment regarding the application of the proceeds of this offering.

DIVIDEND POLICY

We have not declared or paid any cash dividends on our capital stock since our inception. We intend to retain future earnings, if any, to finance the operation and expansion of our business and do not anticipate paying any cash dividends in the foreseeable future.

MARKET FOR REGISTRANT’S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS

Our common stock has been traded on the Nasdaq Stock Market under the symbol “AUUD” since our IPO on February 17, 2021. Our Series A Warrants have been traded on the Nasdaq Stock Market under the symbol “AUUDW” since our IPO on February 17, 2021. As of January 15, 2024, there were approximately 138 holders of record of our common stock and 1 holder of record of our Series A warrants. These numbers are based on the actual number of holders registered at such date and does not include holders whose shares are held in “street name” by brokers and other nominees.

Dividends

We have never paid any cash dividends on our common stock. We currently intend to retain all available funds and any future earnings for use in the operation of our business and do not anticipate paying any cash dividends on our common stock in the foreseeable future. Any future determination to declare dividends will be made at the discretion of our board of directors and will depend on our financial condition, operating results, capital requirements, general business conditions and other factors that our board of directors may deem relevant.

UNAUDITED PRO FORMA CONDENSED COMBINED FINANCIAL INFORMATION

Introductory Paragraph

In accordance with both Rule 11-01(a)(2) and Rule 11-01(a)(3) of Regulation S-X the following Unaudited Pro Forma Condensed Combined Balance Sheet as of September 30, 2023, and the Unaudited Pro Forma Condensed Combined Statement of Operations for the nine months ended September 30, 2023 and for the year ended December 31, 2022 present 1) the combination of the financial information of Auddia and RadioFM (the “carve-out” entity) after giving effect to the proposed Business Combination (which is subject to obtaining the appropriate financing) and related adjustments described in the accompanying notes to the Unaudited Pro Forma Condensed Combined Financial Information and 2) the proceeds from securities being registered in this offering which will be applied directly to the purchase of RadioFM and 3) the proceeds from a proposed debt financing that will be applied directly to the purchase of RadioFM. The pro forma financial statements have been prepared in accordance with Article 11 of Regulation S-X. It is important to note that if the company fails to successfully complete the proposed (equity and debt) financings as planned they will be unable to move forward with the planned acquisition of RadioFM at this time.

The Unaudited Pro Forma Condensed Combined Balance Sheet as of September 30, 2023 combines 1) the historical balance sheet of Auddia and the historical balance sheet of RadioFM (the “carve-out” entity) on a pro forma basis as if the proposed Business Combination had been consummated on September 30, 2023 2) reflects the proceeds from this offering as if the transaction closed on September 30, 2023 and 3) reflects the proceeds from a debt financing as if the transaction closed on September 30, 2023. The Unaudited Pro Forma Condensed Combined Statement of Operations for the nine months ended September 30, 2023 and the year ended December 31, 2022 combine the historical statement of operations of Auddia and RadioFM for such period on a pro forma basis as if the transaction, the acquisition of RadioFM by Auddia, had been consummated on January 1, 2022, the beginning of the earliest period presented. In addition, the Unaudited Pro Forma Condensed Combined Statement of Operations present the proceeds from both the proposed offering and future debt financing as if they occurred on January 1, 2022.

The unaudited pro forma condensed combined financial information is based on and should be read in conjunction with the audited historical financial statements of each of Auddia and RadioFM and the notes thereto.

Accounting Treatment for the Business Combination

The transaction will be accounted for as a Business Combination as RadioFM has been determined to be a business (as that term has been defined in Rule 11-01(d) of Regulation S-X) and Auddia has been determined to be the accounting acquirer under Financial Accounting Standards Board’s Accounting Standards Codification Topic 805, Business Combinations (“ASC 805”). Accordingly, RadioFM’s assets, liabilities and results of operations will be consolidated with Auddia beginning on the acquisition date.

The Unaudited Pro Forma Condensed Combined Statement of Operations does not include the effects of the costs associated with any integration or restructuring activities resulting from the Business Combination. However, the Unaudited Pro Forma Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheet includes a pro forma adjustment to recognize both a liability and increased operating expenses reflecting all transaction costs incurred subsequent to September 30, 2023 (i.e. that are not already included in Auddia’s historical financial statements).

The unaudited pro forma condensed combined financial information was derived from and should be read in conjunction with the following historical financial statements and the accompanying notes, which are included elsewhere in this filing:

¹ The S-X Rule 3-05 interim financial statements for RadioFM have been provided as of June 30, 2023 in accordance with Item 8.A.5 of Form 20-F (due to their status as a foreign issuer as that term is defined by Rule 405 of Regulation C). However, the proforma financial statements have been provided for the interim period ended September 30, 2023 in accordance with Article 11 of Regulation S-X.

Management has made significant estimates and assumptions in its determination of the transaction accounting adjustments. As the unaudited pro forma condensed combined financial information has been prepared based on these preliminary estimates, the final amounts recorded may differ materially from the information presented.

The transaction accounting adjustments reflecting the consummation of the Business Combination are based on certain currently available information and certain assumptions and methodologies that Auddia believes are reasonable under the circumstances. The unaudited condensed combined transaction accounting adjustments, which are described in the accompanying notes, may be revised as additional information becomes available and is evaluated. Therefore, it is likely that the actual adjustments will differ from the transaction accounting adjustments, and it is possible the difference may be material. Auddia believes that its assumptions and methodologies provide a reasonable basis for presenting all the significant effects of the Business Combination based on information available to management at this time and that the pro forma adjustments give appropriate effect to those assumptions and are properly applied in the unaudited pro forma condensed combined financial information.

The unaudited pro forma condensed combined financial information is not necessarily indicative of what the actual results of operations and financial position would have been had the Business Combination taken place on the dates indicated, nor are they indicative of the future consolidated results of operations or financial position of the Combined Company. The unaudited pro forma condensed combined financial information should be read in conjunction with the historical financial statements and notes thereto of Auddia and RadioFM.

Auddia, Inc. and RadioFM
Unaudited Pro Forma Condensed Combined Balance Sheet
(Whole Dollars)
As of September 30, 2023

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these unaudited combined condensed financial statements.

Auddia, Inc. and RadioFM
Unaudited Pro Forma Condensed Combined Statement of Operations
(Whole Dollars)
For the Nine Months Ended September 30, 2023

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these unaudited combined condensed financial statements.

Auddia, Inc. and RadioFM
Unaudited Pro Forma Condensed Combined Statement of Operations
(Whole Dollars)
For the Year Ended December 31, 2022

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these unaudited combined condensed financial statements.

NOTES TO UNAUDITED PRO FORMA CONDENSED COMBINED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

1.      Basis of Presentation and Accounting Policies

Probable Business Combination

The proposed business combination, which is subject to obtaining the appropriate financing, is expected to be accounted for as a Business Combination in accordance with US GAAP with Auddia as the accounting acquirer under ASC 805. Under this method of accounting, RadioFM (i.e. the “carve-out” entity) will be treated as the “acquired” company for financial reporting purposes. Accordingly, RadioFM’s assets, liabilities and results of operations will be consolidated with Auddia beginning on the acquisition date. The net assets of RadioFM will be recognized at fair value in Auddia’s consolidated financial statements.

Upon consummation of the Business Combination, the Combined Company will perform a comprehensive review of the two entities’ accounting policies. As a result of the review, management may identify differences between the accounting policies of the two entities. However, it is not expected that the accounting policy harmonization will have a material impact compared to what has been provided in the pro forma financial statements.

In addition to the proposed business combination, the pro forma financial statements also include the $9.3 million in net proceeds from the proposed offering (included in this Form S-1) and the $3 million in proceeds from a future debt financing. Both the proceeds from the offering and the proposed debt financing will be applied directly to the purchase of RadioFM.

2.      Preliminary Purchase Price

The accompanying unaudited pro forma condensed financial information reflects an estimated purchase price of approximately $14.6 million, which consists of the following:

The preliminary purchase price allocation is based on a total cash purchase price of $15 million, which is comprised of a $13 million upfront cash payment (upon consummation of the deal) and $2 million of contingent cash consideration. In accordance with the guidance in ASC 805 and ASC 820, the $2 million in contingent consideration was determined to have a fair value of $1.6 million resulting in a total fair value acquisition price of $14.6 million. The $2 million of contingent cash consideration will be paid to the sellers “upon the six month anniversary of the closing if 90 days post-closing worldwide monthly active users, and revenue remain greater than or equal to 90% of these same metrics in the 90-day period pre-closing”.

The breakdown of the acquired intangible assets (excluding goodwill), including estimated useful life, was as follows:

The allocation of the estimated purchase price is preliminary because the Business Combination has not yet been completed. The final determination of the purchase price allocation is anticipated to be completed as soon as practicable after closing of the Business Combination and will be based on the fair values of the assets acquired and liabilities assumed as of the Business Combination closing date.

3.      Adjustments to Unaudited Pro Forma Condensed Combined Financial Information

The unaudited pro forma condensed combined financial information has been prepared in accordance with Article 11 of Regulation S-X. The adjustments in the unaudited pro forma condensed combined financial information have been identified and presented to provide relevant information necessary for an illustrative understanding of Auddia, Inc. upon consummation of the Business Combination in accordance with US GAAP and how the proceeds from both this offering and the proposed debt financing will be applied directly to the purchase of RadioFM. Assumptions and estimates underlying the unaudited pro forma adjustments set forth in the unaudited pro forma condensed combined financial information are described in the accompanying notes.

The unaudited pro forma condensed combined financial information has been presented for illustrative purposes only and is not necessarily indicative of the operating results and financial position that would have been achieved had the Business Combination occurred on the dates indicated, and does not reflect adjustments for any anticipated synergies, operating efficiencies, tax savings or cost savings. The unaudited pro forma condensed combined financial information does not purport to project the future operating results or financial position of Auddia, Inc. following the completion of the Business Combination. The unaudited transaction accounting adjustments represent management’s estimates based on information available as of the date of these unaudited pro forma condensed combined financial information and are subject to change as additional information becomes available and analyses are performed. Auddia and RadioFM have not had any historical relationship prior to the transactions. Accordingly, no transaction accounting adjustments were required to eliminate activities between the companies.

Assumptions and estimates underlying the unaudited pro forma adjustments set forth in the unaudited pro forma condensed combined financial statements are described in the accompanying notes. The unaudited pro forma condensed combined financial statements have been presented for illustrative purposes only and are not necessarily indicative of the operating results and financial position that would have been achieved had the Business Combination occurred on the dates indicated. Further, the unaudited pro forma condensed combined financial statements do not purport to project the future operating results or financial position of Auddia, Inc. following the completion of the Business Combination. The transaction accounting adjustments represent Auddia, Inc. management’s estimates based on information available as of the dates of these unaudited pro forma condensed combined financial statements and are subject to change as additional information becomes available and analyses are performed.

The pro forma basic and diluted income per share amounts presented in the Unaudited Pro Forma Condensed Combined Statement of Operations are based upon the number of the Combined Company’s shares outstanding, including shares to be issued in the proposed offering, assuming the Business Combination occurred on January 1, 2022.

The transaction accounting adjustments included in the unaudited pro forma condensed combined balance sheets as of September 30, 2023 are as following:

(A) Represents the $3 million in cash proceeds and offsetting note payable stemming from a proposed debt financing of which the entire amount will be applied to the acquisition of RadioFM. The proposed debt financing is expected to include a i) five year borrowing term and ii) 12% interest borrowing rate. Thus, approximately $0.5 million is being presented in the proforma balance sheet as the current portion of the note payable with the remaining $2.5 million being presented as the non-current portion of the note payable. The Company plans to close the debt financing if they are successful raising the full $10 million in gross proceeds from this offering.

(B) Represents the $10 million in proceeds from this offering less the approximate $670 thousand in costs incurred related to the offering. The amount is fully offset through both common stock (based on the number of common shares and pre-funded warrants) and additional paid-in capital. Pursuant to ASC 805-10-25-23 and SAB Topic 5.A, all costs incurred related to the offering will be charged against the gross proceeds of the offering.

(C) Represents the initial cash payment made to the sellers of RadioFM upon consummation of the business combination. The remaining $2 million in contingent consideration ($1.6 million fair value) will be made when certain milestones are reached. Refer to Note 2-Preliminary Purchase Price for additional information.

(D) Represents the fair value of assets acquired from the seller based on the preliminary purchase price adjustment report. Refer to Note 2-Preliminary Purchase Price for additional information.

(E) Represents transaction costs related to the acquisition of RadioFM incurred by the Company subsequent to September 30, 2023. Pursuant to ASC 805-10-25-23, the costs will be appropriately expensed in the period in which the costs are incurred and the services are received.

(F) Represents the fair value of the $2 million in contingent consideration to be paid to the sellers upon reaching certain milestones. Refer to Note 2-Preliminary Purchase Price for additional information.

The pro forma adjustments included in the unaudited pro forma condensed combined statements of operations for the nine months ended September 30, 2023 and for the year ended December 31, 2022 are as follows:

(AA) Represents interest expense incurred stemming from the $3 million proposed debt financing. The proposed borrowing is expected to include a five year borrowing term at 12% interest (based on current market rates).

(BB) Represents the recognized amortization stemming from the acquired intangible assets. The amortization for the nine months ended September 30, 2023 and annual period ended December 31, 2022 was calculated as follows:

(CC) Represents transaction costs related to the acquisition of RadioFM incurred by the Company subsequent to September 30, 2023. Pursuant to ASC 805-10-25-23, the costs will be appropriately expensed in the period in which the costs are incurred and the services are received.

4.      Loss Per Share

Loss per share represents the loss per share calculated using the historical weighted average shares outstanding, and the issuance of additional shares in connection with the proposed $10 million gross offering amount, assuming the shares were outstanding since January 1, 2022. As the Business Combination and related equity transactions are being reflected as if they had occurred at the beginning of the periods presented, the calculation of weighted average shares outstanding for basic and diluted net income per share assumes that the shares issuable relating to the Business Combination have been outstanding for the entirety of all periods presented.

______________

¹ Based on the 16,043,086 weighted average historical common shares outstanding during the period plus 40,000,000 shares issued as part of the proposed offering.

² Based on the 15,518,984 weighted average historical common shares outstanding during the period plus 40,000,000 shares issued as part of the proposed offering.

MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

You should read the following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations in conjunction with the audited and unaudited financial statements (prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States (“U.S. GAAP”) and related notes included elsewhere in this prospectus. The following discussion contains forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties. See “Information Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” for a discussion of the uncertainties, risks, and assumptions associated with those statements. Actual results could differ materially from those discussed in or implied by forward-looking statements as a result of various factors, including those discussed below and elsewhere in this prospectus, particularly in the section entitled “Risk Factors.” Unless we state otherwise or the context otherwise requires, the terms “we,” “us,” “our” and the “Company” refer Auddia Inc. and its subsidiaries. All amounts presented in tables, other than per share amounts, are in thousands unless otherwise noted.

Overview

Auddia is a technology company headquartered in Boulder, CO that is reinventing how consumers engage with audio through the development of a proprietary AI platform for audio and innovative technologies for podcasts. Auddia is leveraging these technologies within its industry-first audio Superapp, faidr (previously known as the Auddia App).

faidr gives consumers the opportunity to listen to any AM/FM radio station with commercial breaks replaced with personalized audio content, including popular and new music, news, and weather. The faidr app represents the first time consumers can combine the local content uniquely provided by AM/FM radio with commercial-free and personalized listening many consumers demand from digital-media consumption. In addition to commercial-free AM/FM, faidr includes podcasts – also with ads removed or easily skipped by listeners – as well as exclusive content, branded faidrRadio, which includes new artist discovery, curated music stations, and Music Casts. Music Casts are unique to faidr. Hosts and DJs can combine on-demand talk segments with dynamic music streaming, which allows users to hear podcasts with full music track plays embedded in the episodes.

Auddia has also developed a differentiated podcasting capability with ad-skipping features and also provides a unique suite of tools that helps podcasters create additional digital content for their podcast episodes as well as plan their episodes, build their brand, and monetize their content with new content distribution channels. This podcasting feature also gives users the ability to go deeper into the stories through supplemental, digital content, and eventually comment and contribute their own content to episode feeds.

The combination of AM/FM streaming and podcasting, with Auddia’s unique, technology-driven differentiators addresses large and rapidly growing audiences.

The Company has developed its AI platform on top of Google’s TensorFlow open-source library that is being “taught” to know the difference between all types of audio content on the radio. For instance, the platform recognizes the difference between a commercial and a song and is learning the differences between all other content to include weather reports, traffic, news, sports, DJ conversation, etc. Not only does the technology learn the differences between the various types of audio segments, but it also identifies the beginning and end of each piece of content.

The Company is leveraging this technology platform within its premium AM/FM radio listening experience through the faidr App. The faidr App is intended to be downloaded by consumers who will pay a subscription fee in order to listen to any streaming AM/FM radio station and podcasts, all with commercial interruptions removed from the listening experience, in addition to the faidrRadio exclusive content offerings. Advanced features will allow consumers to skip any content heard on the station and request audio content on-demand. We believe the faidr App represents a significant differentiated audio streaming product, or Superapp, that will be the first to come to market since the emergence of popular streaming music apps such as Pandora, Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, etc. We believe that the most significant point of differentiation is that in addition to ad-free AM/FM streaming and ad-free podcasts, the faidr App is intended to deliver non-music content that includes local sports, news, weather, traffic and the discovery of new music alongside exclusive programming. No other audio streaming app available today, including category leaders like TuneIn, iHeart, and Audacy, can compete with faidr’s full product offerings.

The Company launched an MVP version of faidr through several consumer trials in 2021 to measure consumer interest and engagement with the App. The full app launched on February 15, 2022, and included all major U.S. radio stations in the US. In February 2023, the Company added faidrRadio, Auddia’s exclusive content offerings, to the app. Podcasts (standard) were added to the app for the iOS version before the end of Q1 2023 as planned and added to the Android app in May of 2023. Podcast functionality will continue to be enhanced through an ad-free feature in early Q1.

The Company also developed a testbed differentiated podcasting capability called Vodacast, which leveraged technologies and proven product concepts to differentiate its podcasts offering from other competitors in the radio-streaming product category.

With podcasting growing and predicted to grow at a rapid rate, the Vodcast podcast platform was conceptualized to fill a void in the emerging audio media space. The platform was built to become the preferred podcasting solution for podcasters by enabling them to deliver digital content feeds that match the audio of their podcast episodes, and by enabling podcasters to make additional revenue from new digital advertising channels, subscription channels, on-demand fees for exclusive content, and through direct donations from their listeners. Throughout 2023, Auddia has been migrating their podcasting capabilities into the flagship faidr app with the intention to sunset the Vodacast platform and instead bring the advanced podcasting functionality that was found on Vodacast into faidr as part of the overall strategy to build a single audio Superapp. This includes Auddia’s new podcast ad-skipping technology which will be made available in faidr in Q1 2024 (iOS and Android).

Today, podcasters do not have a preference as to where their listeners access their episodes, as virtually all listening options (mobile apps and web players) deliver only their podcast audio. By creating significant differentiation on which they can make net new and higher margin revenue, we believe that podcasters will promote faidr to their listeners, thus creating a powerful, organic marketing dynamic.

One innovative and proprietary part of Auddia’s podcast platform capabilities, originally presented on their Vodacast differentiated podcasting capability is the availability of tools to create and distribute an interactive digital feed which supplements podcast episode audio with additional digital. These content feeds allow podcasters to tell deeper stories to their listeners while giving podcasters access to digital revenue for the first time. Podcasters will be able to build these interactive feeds using The Podcast Hub, a content management system that was originally developed and trialed as part of Auddia’s Vodacast platform, which also serves as a tool to plan and manage podcast episodes. The digital feed activates a new digital ad channel that turns every audio ad into a direct-response, relevant-to-the-story, digital ad, increasing the effectiveness and value of their established audio ad model. The feed also presents a richer listening experience, as any element of a podcast episode can be supplemented with images, videos, text and web links. This feed will appear fully synchronized in the faidr mobile App, and it also can be hosted and accessed independently (e.g., through any browser), making the content feed universally distributable.

Over time, users will be able to comment, and podcasters will be able to grant some users publishing rights to add content directly into the feed on their behalf. This will create another first for podcasting, a dialog between creator and fan, synchronized to the episode content. The interactive feed for podcasts has been developed and tested on Vodacast and is expected to be another differentiator added into faidr for podcast listeners later in 2024.

The podcast capabilities within faidr will also introduce a unique and industry first multi-channel, highly flexible set of revenue channels that podcasters can activate in combination to allow listeners to choose how they want to consume and pay for content. “Flex Revenue” allows podcasters to continue to run their standard audio ad model and complement those ads with direct response enabled digital ads in each episode content feed, increasing the value of advertising on any podcast. “Flex Revenue” will also activate subscriptions, on-demand fees for content (e.g., listen without audio ads for a micro payment fee) and direct donations from listeners. Using these channels in combination, podcasters can maximize revenue generation and exercise higher margin monetization models, beyond basic audio advertising. “Flex Revenue” and the initial inclusion of the new revenue channels that come with it will be added to podcasting in the faidr app, and the first elements of this new monetization capability is expected to be commercially available in Q1 2024, beginning with subscription plans to access ad-skipping in podcasts.

The faidr mobile App is available today through the iOS and Android App stores.

We have funded our operations with proceeds from the February 2021 IPO, Series A warrants exercised in July 2021 and common share issuance during June of 2023. We also obtained debt financing through a related party during November 2022 and April 2023. In addition, we sold common shares during April 2023 and June 2023. Since inception we have incurred significant operating losses. As of September 30, 2023, we had an accumulated deficit of $78.3 million. Our ability to generate product revenue sufficient to achieve profitability will depend heavily on the successful development and commercialization of one or more of our Apps. We expect that our expenses and capital requirements will increase substantially in connection with our ongoing activities, particularly if and as we carry out the following:

As a result, we will need substantial additional funding to support our continuing operations and pursue our growth strategy. Until such time as we can generate significant revenue from product sales, if ever, we expect to finance our operations through the sale of equity, debt financings or other capital sources, which may include collaborations with other companies or other strategic transactions. We may be unable to raise additional funds or enter into such other agreements or arrangements when needed on favorable terms, or at all. If we fail to raise capital or enter into such agreements as and when needed, we may have to significantly delay, scale back or discontinue the development and commercialization of one or more of our product candidates.

Because of the numerous risks and uncertainties associated with product development, we are unable to predict the timing or amount of increased expenses or when or if we will be able to achieve or maintain profitability. Even if we are able to generate product sales, we may not become profitable. If we fail to become profitable or are unable to sustain profitability on a continuing basis, then we may be unable to continue our operations at planned levels and be forced to reduce or terminate our operations.

As of September 30, 2023, we had cash of $2,199,678. We will need additional funding to complete the development of our full product line and scale products with a demonstrated market fit. Management has plans to secure such additional funding. However, if we are unable to raise capital when needed or on acceptable terms, we would be forced to delay, reduce, or eliminate our technology development and commercialization efforts.

To accelerate user acquisition, revenue, and cash flow, the Company has explored numerous potential acquisition targets of AM/FM streaming aggregators over the past year and a half and continues to explore new opportunities. At present, the Company is in advanced active discussions with three properties and is targeting to execute one or more agreements in the near term. These business development transactions would require additional funding.

Recent Developments

Nasdaq Deficiency Notices

On May 23, 2023, we received a letter (the “Initial Stockholder Equity Notice”) from the Listing Qualifications Staff of Nasdaq indicating that, based upon our reported stockholder’s equity of $2,095,247 at the end of March 31, 2023, we are not in compliance with the requirement to maintain a minimum stockholder’s equity of $2,500,000 for continued listing on the Nasdaq Capital Market, as set forth in Nasdaq Listing Rule 5550(b)(1) (the “Stockholders’ Equity Requirement”). We were provided a compliance period of 45 calendar days from the date of the Notice, or until July 7, 2023, to submit a plan to regain compliance with the Stockholder’s Equity Requirement, pursuant to Nasdaq Listing Rule 5810(c)(2)(A).

On July 10, 2023, we received a letter from Nasdaq advising that we had been granted an extension to file a Form 10-Q for the quarter-ended June 30, 2023 evidencing compliance with Stockholder’s Equity Requirement. The stockholder’s equity balance as of June 30, 2023 was $4,331,777, which is $1,831,778 over the $2.5 million Stockholders’ Equity Requirement. On August 25, 2023, Nasdaq confirmed that we had regained compliance with the Stockholders’ Equity Requirement and that this matter is now closed.

On November 21, 2023, we received another written notice (the “Stockholder Equity Notice”) from Nasdaq indicating that we are not in compliance with Nasdaq Listing Rule 5550(b)(1), which requires companies listed on The Nasdaq Stock Market to maintain a minimum of $2,500,000 in stockholders’ equity for continued listing. In our quarterly report on Form 10-Q filed November 14, 203 for the period ended September 30, 2023, we reported stockholders’ equity of $2,415,012, and, as a result, do not currently satisfy Listing Rule 5550(b)(1).

Separately, on April 24, 2023 we received a letter from Nasdaq indicating that we are not in compliance with the $1.00 Minimum Bid Price requirement set forth in Nasdaq Listing Rule 5550(a)(2) for continued listing on the Nasdaq Capital Market (the “Bid Price Requirement”).

The letter indicated that we will be provided 180 calendar days (or until October 23, 2023) in which to regain compliance. If at any time during this 180 calendar day period the bid price of our common stock closes at or above $1.00 per share for a minimum of ten consecutive business days, Nasdaq will provide us with a written confirmation of compliance and the matter will be closed.

On October 24, 2023, we received a written notice from the Nasdaq staff indicating that we had not regained compliance with the Bid Price Requirement and was not eligible for the additional 180 calendar day compliance period. As a result, the Nasdaq staff determined to delist our common stock from Nasdaq, unless we timely request an appeal of the staff’s determination to a hearings panel (the “Panel”), pursuant to the procedures set forth in the Nasdaq Listing Rule 5800 Series.

We requested a hearing before the Panel to appeal the delisting notice from the staff and to address compliance with the Bid Price Requirement and Stockholders’ Equity Requirement. The Company’s hearing with the Panel occurred on January 18, 2024. A decision from the Panel is expected within 30 days or less from the hearing date. While the appeal process is pending, the suspension of trading of our common stock will be stayed. Our common stock will continue to trade on Nasdaq until the hearing process concludes and the Panel issues a written decision.

We intend to consider all options to regain and maintain compliance with all Nasdaq continued listing requirements. There can be no assurance that a favorable decision will be obtained from the Panel.

Our receipt of these Nasdaq letters does not affect our business, operations or reporting requirements with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Impact of Inflation

We have recently experienced higher costs across our business as a result of inflation, including higher costs related to employee compensation and outside services. We expect inflation to continue to have a negative impact throughout 2024, and it is uncertain whether we will be able to offset the impact of inflationary pressures in the near term.

Components of Our Results of Operations

Operating Expenses

Direct Cost of Services

Direct cost of services consists primarily of costs incurred related to our technology and development of our Apps, including hosting and other technology related expenses. We expect our direct costs of services to increase in the future as we continue to develop and enhance our technology related to the faidr and podcasting Apps.

Sales and Marketing

Our sales and marketing expenses consist primarily of salaries, direct to consumer promotional spend and consulting services, all of which are related to the sales and promotion performed during the period. We expect our sales and marketing expenses to fluctuate period by period as we release new upgrades and enhancements within our Apps and look to generate revenue through customer acquisition, retention, and subscription conversion.

Research and Development

Since our inception, we have focused significant resources on our research and development activities related to the software development of our technology. We account for costs incurred in the development of computer software as software research and development costs until the preliminary project stage is completed, management has committed to funding the project, and completion and use of the software for its intended purpose is probable. We cease capitalization of development costs once the software has been substantially completed and is available for its intended use. Software development costs are amortized over a useful life estimated by our management of three years. Costs associated with significant upgrades and enhancements that result in additional functionality are capitalized. Capitalized costs are subject to an ongoing assessment of recoverability based on anticipated future revenues and changes in software technologies. Unamortized capitalized software development costs determined to be in excess of anticipated future net revenues are impaired and expensed during the period of such determination. We expect to continue to incur research and development expenses and capitalization in the future as we continue to develop and enhance our faidr and podcasting Apps.

General and Administrative

Our general and administrative expenses consist primarily of salaries and related costs, including payroll taxes, benefits, stock-based compensation, and professional fees related to auditing, tax, general legal services, and consulting services. We expect our general and administrative expenses to continue to increase in the future as we right-size our operating activities and prepare for commercialization of our products and support our operations as a public company, including increased expenses related to legal, accounting, insurance, regulatory and tax-related services associated with maintaining compliance with exchange listing and Securities and Exchange Commission requirements, directors and officers liability insurance premiums and investor relations activities.

Other Income and Expense

The other income and expense category primarily consists of interest expense attributed to the debt and conversion features of the Secured Bridge Note (aka the Prior Note). We expect our other expense to fluctuate period by period dependent upon either the payoff of the Prior Note or an extension of its term.

Results of Operations

Comparison of the Years ended December 31, 2022, and 2021

The following table summarizes our results of operations:

Revenue

Total revenues for the twelve months ended December 31, 2022, and 2021 were $0 as we continue to develop our faidr product and the Vodacast platform to establish new revenue streams.

Direct Cost of Services

Direct Cost of Services decreased by $9,497 or 5%, from $190,187 for the year ended December 31, 2021, to $180,690 for the year ended December 31, 2022. This decrease was primarily the result of a reduction in platform hosting costs which were partially offset by an increase in other music services. We continue to incur direct cost of services expense related to hosting and other music services related to faidr and Vodacast and expect these costs to increase in the future.

Sales and Marketing

Sales and marketing expenses increased by $933,040 or 126%, from $740,652 for the year ended December 31, 2021, to $1,673,692 for the year ended December 31, 2022, primarily attributed to the increased marketing and promotion costs associated with faidr and Vodacast.

Research and Development

Research and development expenses increased by $255,358 or 64%, from $399,521 for the year ended December 31, 2021, to $654,879 for the year ended December 31, 2022, primarily related to additional staffing on our development team as we continue to advance the faidr Superapp. Our research and development staffing costs were $2,408,737 and our software amortization expenses were $956,144 for the year ended December 31, 2022, as compared to staffing costs of $1,835,451 and software amortization expenses of $146,737 for the year ended December 31, 2021.

General and Administrative

General and administrative expenses decreased by $848,899 or 21%, from $4,072,419 for the year ended December 31, 2021, compared to $3,223,520 for the year ended December 31, 2022. The decrease resulted primarily from reduced stock compensation expense related to cancelled employee stock option grants. Stock compensation expense was $951,106 and $1,237,480 for the year ended December 31, 2022, and 2021, respectively. We also saw a reduction of approximately $522,000 in public company expenses related to legal and other professional fees associated with the IPO in 2021.

Other Expense, Net

Total other expense decreased by $7,735,608 or 98%, from $7,908,634 for the year ended December 31, 2021, to $173,026 for the year ended December 31, 2022. The decrease was due almost entirely to a finance charge of $8,141,424 to interest expense related to the conversion of outstanding debt into 6.8 million shares of common stock related to the February 2021 IPO. This was offset by our extinguishment of debt related to our PPP loans in 2021 in the amount of $536,144, which was approved in full under the loan forgiveness program.

Income Taxes

Since our inception in 2012, until the corporate conversion in February 2021, we were organized as a Colorado limited liability company for federal and state income tax purposes and treated as a partnership for U.S. income tax purposes. As such, we were not viewed as a taxpaying entity in any jurisdiction and do not require a provision for income taxes. Each member of our company was responsible for the tax liability, if any, related to its proportionate share of our taxable income.

Effective on February 16, 2021, we became treated as a corporation for U.S. income tax purposes and thus became subject to U.S. federal, state and local income taxes and are be taxed at the prevailing corporate tax rates. Among other things, we may begin to generate net operating losses at the corporate level.  We will account for income taxes using an asset and liability approach, which requires recognition of deferred tax assets and liabilities for the expected future tax consequences of events that have been recognized in the financial statements but have not been reflected in taxable income. A valuation allowance is established to reduce deferred tax assets to its estimated realizable value, which is zero based on our operating history.

Comparison of the Three Months ended September 30, 2023, and 2022

The following table summarizes our results of operations:

Revenue

Total revenues for the three months ended September 30, 2023, and 2022 were $0 as we continue to develop and enhance our faidr and podcasting Apps to establish new revenue streams.