KWESST Micro Systems (KWE) F-1Registration statement (foreign)

As filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on October 11, 2024.

Registration Statement No.          

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

____________________

FORM F-1

REGISTRATION STATEMENT UNDER THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933

____________________

KWESST MICRO SYSTEMS INC.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

155 Terence Matthews Crescent, Unit #1,
Ottawa, Ontario, K2M 2A8
(613) 241-1849
(Address, including zip code and telephone number, including area code, of registrant's principal executive offices)

C T Corporation System

1015 15th Street N.W., Suite 1000

Washington, DC 20005

(202) 572-3133

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

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

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 of 1933, 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, please 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 an emerging growth company as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act.

Emerging growth company ☒

If an emerging growth company that prepares its financial statements in accordance with U.S. GAAP, 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 term "new or revised financial accounting standard" refers to any update issued by the Financial Accounting Standards Board to its Accounting Standards Codification after April 5, 2012.

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 this Registration Statement shall become effective on such date as the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, acting pursuant to said Section 8(a), may determine.

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The information contained in this preliminary prospectus is not complete and may be changed. These securities may not be sold 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 it is not soliciting an offer to buy these securities in any state where the offer or sale is not permitted.

Up to 1,982,815 Common Shares

Up to 1,982,815 Pre-funded Warrants 

We are offering (the “Offering”) common shares, no par value per share (each, a “Common Share”) in a firm commitment underwritten offering. Each Common Share will be sold at an assumed public offering price of USD$1.513 per share, after giving effect to the Reverse Split (as defined below).

We are also offering to those purchasers, if any, whose purchase of Common Shares in this Offering would otherwise result in the purchaser, together with its affiliates and certain related parties, beneficially owning more than 4.99% (or, at the election of the purchaser, 9.99%) of our outstanding Common Shares immediately following the consummation of this Offering, the opportunity to purchase, if the purchaser so chooses, pre-funded warrants to purchase Common Shares at an exercise price of USD$0.001 per share (each a “Pre-funded Warrant”).  The purchase price of each Pre-funded Warrant is equal to the price per Common Share being sold to the public in this Offering, minus USD$0.001. The Pre-funded Warrants will be immediately exercisable and may be exercised at any time. For each Pre-funded Warrant we sell, the number of Common Shares we are offering will be decreased on a one-for-one basis.

We are also offering to those purchasers, if any, whose purchase of Common Shares in this Offering would otherwise result in the purchaser, together with its affiliates and certain related parties, beneficially owning more than 4.99% (or, at the election of the purchaser, 9.99%) of our outstanding Common Shares immediately following the consummation of this Offering, the opportunity to purchase, if the purchaser so chooses, pre-funded warrants to purchase Common Shares at an exercise price of USD$0.001 per share (each a "Pre-funded Warrant").  The purchase price of each Pre-funded Warrant is equal to the price per Common Share being sold to the public in this Offering, minus USD$0.001. The Pre-funded Warrants will be immediately exercisable and may be exercised at any time. For each Pre-funded Warrant we sell, the number of Common Shares we are offering will be decreased on a one-for-one basis.

This Offering also includes the Common Shares issuable from time to time upon exercise of the Pre-funded Warrants.

Our Common Shares are listed for trading the Nasdaq Capital Market (the "Nasdaq") under the stock symbol "KWE", listed for trading on the TSX Venture Exchange (the "TSXV") under the stock symbol "KWE.V", and listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange under the stock symbol of "62U". Certain of our outstanding warrants are listed for trading on Nasdaq under the trading symbol "KWESW" and on the TSXV under the trading symbol "KWE.WT.U". We do not intend to apply for the listing of the Pre-funded Warrants on any national securities exchange or other trading market. Without an active trading market, the liquidity of the Pre-funded Warrants will be limited.

Except as otherwise indicated, information in this Prospectus, other than as set forth in our financial statements and the notes thereto, reflects an assumed one for ten (1-for-10) reverse stock split of our Common Shares, which we refer to as the "Reverse Split," to be effective prior to the effective date of the registration statement of which this Prospectus forms a part. The Reverse Split is subject to TSXV regulatory approval.

On October 9, 2024, the closing price for our Common Shares on Nasdaq was USD$0.1513, or USD$0.1513 after giving effect to the Reverse Split. We have assumed a public offering price of USD$0.1513 per Common Share. The actual public offering price per Common Share will not be determined by any particular formula but will rather be determined through negotiations between us and the underwriters at the time of pricing. Therefore, the assumed public offering price used through this Prospectus may not be indicative of the final offering price.    

We are an "emerging growth company" and a "foreign private issuer" as defined under United States federal securities laws and elect to comply with reduced public company reporting requirements. Please read Implications of Being an Emerging Growth Company and Foreign Private Issuer Status beginning on page 9 of this Prospectus for more information.

Investing in our securities involves a high degree of risk, including the risk of losing your entire investment. See Risk Factors beginning on page 13 to read about factors you should consider before buying our securities.

Neither the United States Securities and Exchange Commission nor any state securities commission nor any other regulatory body 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.

⁽¹⁾ The underwriting discount does not include a non-accountable expense allowance equal to 0.5% of the public offering price payable to the underwriters. We refer you to “Underwriting” for additional information regarding underwriters’ compensation.

We have granted a 45-day option to the representative of the underwriters to purchase up to an additional 15% of Common Shares and/or Pre-funded Warrants or any combination thereof, solely to cover over-allotments, if any.

The underwriters expect to deliver the securities to the investors on or about      , 2024.

ThinkEquity

The date of this Prospectus is      , 2024

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ABOUT THIS PROSPECTUS

This Prospectus is part of a registration statement on Form F-1 that we filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"). You should read this Prospectus and the related registration statement carefully. This Prospectus and registration statement contain important information you should consider when making your investment decision.

You should rely only on the information that we have provided in this Prospectus and any applicable prospectus supplement. We have not authorized anyone to provide you with different information. No dealer, salesperson or other person is authorized to give any information or to represent anything not contained in this Prospectus and any applicable prospectus supplement. You must not rely on any unauthorized information or representation. This Prospectus is an offer to sell only the securities offered hereby, but only under circumstances and in jurisdictions where it is lawful to do so. You should assume that the information in this Prospectus and any applicable prospectus supplement is accurate only as of the date on the front of the document, regardless of the time of delivery of this Prospectus, any applicable prospectus supplement, or any sale of a security.

Except as otherwise indicated, references in this Prospectus to "KWESST," "Company," "we," "us" and "our"  refer to KWESST Micro Systems Inc. and its consolidated subsidiaries.

Enforceability of Civil Liabilities

We are incorporated under the laws of British Columbia. Some of our directors and officers, and the experts named in this Prospectus, are residents of Canada or otherwise reside outside of the United States, and all or a substantial portion of their assets, and all or a substantial portion of our assets, are located outside of the United States. We have appointed an agent for service of process in the United States, but it may be difficult for shareholders who reside in the United States to effect service within the United States upon those directors, officers and experts who are not residents of the United States. It may also be difficult for shareholders who reside in the United States to realize in the United States upon judgments of courts of the United States predicated upon our civil liability and the civil liability of our directors, officers and experts under the United States federal securities laws. Furthermore, because substantially all of our assets and substantially all of our directors and officers are located outside the United States, any judgment obtained in the United States against us or any of our directors and officers may not be collectible within the United States. There can be no assurance that United States investors will be able to enforce against us, members of our Board of Directors (the "Board") , officers or certain experts named herein who are residents of Canada or other countries outside the United States, any judgments in civil and commercial matters, including judgments under the federal securities laws.

Market, Industry and Other Data

This Prospectus contains estimates, projections and other information concerning our industry, our business, and the markets for our products. Information that is based on estimates, forecasts, projections, market research or similar methodologies is inherently subject to uncertainties, and actual events or circumstances may differ materially from events and circumstances that are assumed in this information. Unless otherwise expressly stated, we obtained this industry, business, market and other data from our own internal estimates and research as well as from reports, research surveys, studies and similar data prepared by market research firms and other third parties, industry, medical and general publications, government data, and similar sources.

In addition, assumptions and estimates of our and our industry's future performance are necessarily subject to a high degree of uncertainty and risk due to a variety of factors, including those described in Risk Factors. These and other factors could cause our future performance to differ materially from our assumptions and estimates. See Forward-Looking Statements.

Trademarks

We own or have rights to various trademarks, service marks and trade names that we use in connection with the operation of our business. This Prospectus also contains additional trademarks, trade names and service marks belonging to other companies. Solely for convenience, trademarks, trade names and service marks referred to in this Prospectus may appear without the ®, ™ or SM symbols, but such references are not intended to indicate, in any way, that we will not assert, to the fullest extent under applicable law, our rights or the right of the applicable licensor to these trademarks, trade names and service marks. We do not intend our use or display of other parties' trademarks, trade names or service marks to imply, and such use or display should not be construed to imply a relationship with, or endorsement or sponsorship of us by, these other parties.

Financial Information and Currency

Our financial statements appearing in this Prospectus are prepared in Canadian dollars and in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards ("IFRS") as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board ("IASB"), as described in Note 2 to the unaudited condensed consolidated interim financial statements for the three and nine months ended June 30, 2024 ("Q3 Fiscal 2024") and Note 2 to the audited condensed consolidated financial statements for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2023 ("Fiscal 2023"), the fiscal year ended September 30, 2022 ("Fiscal 2022"), and the fiscal year ended September 30, 2021  ("Fiscal 2021").

Unless otherwise indicated, all references in this Prospectus to "dollars" or "CAD" or "CAD$" or "$" are to Canadian dollars and all references to "USD" or "USD$" are to United States dollars.

Exchange Rates

The following tables set forth the annual average exchange rates for the year ended September 30, 2023, the year ended September 30, 2022, and the year ended September 30, 2021, and the monthly average exchange rates for each month during the previous twelve months, as supplied by the Bank of Canada. These exchange rates are expressed as one United States dollar converted into Canadian dollars.

The daily average exchange rate on October 7, 2024 as reported by the Bank of Canada for the conversion of USD into CAD was USD$1.00 equals CAD$1.3609.

RISK FACTORS

There are a number of risks that may have a material and adverse impact on our future operating and financial performance and could cause our operating and financial performance to differ materially from the estimates described in our forward-looking statements. These include widespread risks associated with any form of business and specific risks associated with our business and our involvement in the defense technology industry.

This section describes risk factors identified as being potentially significant to us. In addition, other risks and uncertainties not discussed to date or not known to management could have material and adverse effects on the valuation of our securities, existing business activities, financial condition, results of operations, plans and prospects.

Risks Relating to This Offering

You will experience immediate and substantial dilution as a result of this Offering.

You will incur immediate and substantial dilution as a result of this Offering. After giving effect to the August 2024 Offering and the assumed sale by us of 1,982,815 Common Shares at an assumed public offering price of USD$1.513 per Common Share (assuming no sale of any Pre-funded Warrants in lieu of Common Shares), excluding the exercise of the underwriters’ over-allotment option to purchase additional Common Shares and/or Pre-funded Warrants, and after deducting underwriting discounts and estimated offering expenses payable by us, investors in this Offering can expect an immediate dilution of USD$0.683 per Common Share (see Dilution).

In addition, you may experience further dilution (i) if the underwriters exercise their over-allotment option to purchase additional Common Shares, and/or Pre-funded Warrants, (ii) upon the exercise of the Underwriter Warrants issued to the underwriter, (iii) upon the exercise of the Pre-Funded Warrants, if applicable, and (iv) upon the exercise of outstanding warrants and options.

The liquidity of our Common Shares may be decreased as a result of the Reverse Split.

The liquidity of the shares of our Common Shares may be affected adversely by the Reverse Split given the reduced number of shares that are now outstanding, especially if the market price of our Common Shares does not increase as a result of the Reverse Split. In addition, the Reverse Split may increase the number of shareholders who own odd lots (less than 100 shares) of our Common Shares, creating the potential for such stockholders to experience an increase in the cost of selling their shares and greater difficulty effecting such sales.

Although we believe that a higher market price of our Common Shares may help generate greater or broader investor interest, there can be no assurance that our increased share price following the Reverse Split will actually attract new investors, including institutional investors. In addition, there can be no assurance that the market price of our Common Shares will satisfy the investing requirements of those investors. As a result, the trading liquidity of our Common Shares may not necessarily improve.

We are selling a substantial number of Common Shares in this Offering, which could cause the price of our Common Shares to decline.

In this Offering, we will sell up to 1,982,815 Common Shares (assuming no exercise of the underwriters’ over-allotment option and no purchase of Pre-funded Warrants). We will also sell up to 99,140 Underwriter Warrants (assuming no exercise of the underwriters’ over-allotment option), each of which is exercisable for one Common Share. The existence of the potential additional Common Shares in the public market, or the perception that such additional shares may be in the market, could adversely affect the price of our Common Shares. We cannot predict the effect, if any, that market sales of those Common Shares or the availability of those Common Shares for sale will have on the market price of our Common Shares.

There is no public market for the Pre-funded Warrants being sold in this Offering.

There is no established public trading market for the Pre-funded Warrants being sold in this Offering. We will not list Pre-funded Warrants on any securities exchange or nationally recognized trading system, including Nasdaq. Therefore, we do not expect a market to ever develop for the Pre-funded Warrants. Without an active market, the liquidity of Pre-funded Warrants will be limited.

The Pre-funded Warrants are speculative in nature.

The Pre-funded Warrants do not confer any rights of Common Share ownership on their respective holders, such as voting rights or the right to receive dividends, but rather merely represent the right to acquire Common Shares at a fixed price. Commencing on the date of issuance, holders of the Pre-funded Warrants may exercise their right to acquire the Common Shares and pay the stated exercise price per share until exercised in full.

Management will have broad discretion as to the use of the proceeds from this Offering and may not use the proceeds effectively.

Our management will have broad discretion as to the use of the net proceeds from any offering by us and could use them for purposes other than those contemplated at the time of this Offering. 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 our company.

We have limited operating experience as a publicly traded company in the United States.

We have limited operating experience as a publicly traded company in the United States. Although the individuals who now constitute our management team have experience managing a publicly traded company, there is no assurance that the past experience of our management team will be sufficient to operate our company as a publicly traded company in the United States, including timely compliance with the disclosure requirements of the SEC. As an SEC registrant, we are required to maintain internal control systems and procedures in order to satisfy the periodic and current reporting requirements under applicable SEC regulations and comply with the Nasdaq listing standards. These requirements place significant strain on our management team, infrastructure and other resources. In addition, our management team may not be able to successfully or efficiently manage our company as a United States public reporting company that is recently subject to significant regulatory oversight and reporting obligations.

We incur significantly increased costs and devote substantial management time as a result of operating as a United States public company.

As a United States public company, we incur significant legal, accounting and other expenses that we did not incur as a private company or as a Canadian public company. For example, we are subject to the reporting requirements of the Exchange Act and will be required to comply with the applicable requirements of Sarbanes-Oxley and the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, as well as rules and regulations subsequently implemented by the SEC and the including the establishment and maintenance of effective disclosure and financial controls and changes in corporate governance practices. Compliance with these requirements increases our legal and financial compliance costs and makes some activities more time-consuming and costly. In addition, management and other personnel need to divert attention from operational and other business matters to devote substantial time to these public company requirements. In particular, we incur significant expenses and devote substantial management effort toward ensuring compliance with the requirements of Section 404, which involves annual assessments of a company's internal controls over financial reporting. We plan to hire additional accounting and financial staff with appropriate public company experience and technical accounting knowledge and may need to establish an internal audit function.

As a foreign private issuer, we follow certain home country corporate governance practices instead of certain Nasdaq corporate governance requirements applicable to United States domestic companies.

As a foreign private issuer whose securities are listed on Nasdaq, we are permitted to follow certain home country corporate governance practices instead of certain corporate governance requirements of Nasdaq. We follow the TSXV listing rules in respect of private placements instead of Nasdaq requirements to obtain shareholder approval for certain dilutive events (such as issuances that will result in a change of control, certain transactions other than a public offering involving issuances of a 20% or greater interest in us and certain acquisitions of the stock or assets of another company) and the minimum quorum requirement for a shareholders meeting. Under Nasdaq listing rules, the required minimum quorum for a shareholders meeting is 33 1/3% of the outstanding Common Shares. Under Canadian law and pursuant to our notice of articles, a quorum shall be present at a shareholder meeting if two or more holders of Common Shares representing at least 5% of the total number of voting rights attaching to the said Common Shares entitled to be voted at the meeting are present or represented by proxy. Accordingly, our shareholders may not be afforded the same protection as provided under Nasdaq corporate governance rules for domestic issuers.

We may not meet the continued listing requirements of Nasdaq, which could cause our Common Shares to be delisted.

If we fail to satisfy the continued listing requirements of Nasdaq, such as minimum bid price requirements, Nasdaq may take steps to delist our Common Shares and/or U.S. IPO Warrants (as defined below). Such a delisting would have a materially adverse effect on the price of our outstanding securities, impair the ability to sell or purchase our Common Shares or securities convertible or exercisable into Common Shares when persons wish to do so, and materially adversely affect our ability to raise capital or pursue strategic restructuring, refinancing or other transactions on acceptable terms, or at all.

To maintain the listing of our Common Shares on Nasdaq, we must satisfy minimum financial and other continued listing requirements and standards, including those related to the price of our Common Shares. Pursuant to the requirements of Nasdaq, if the closing bid price of a company's stock falls below US$1.00 per share for 30 consecutive business days (the "Minimum Bid Requirement"), Nasdaq will notify the company that it is no longer in compliance with the Nasdaq listing qualifications. If a company is not in compliance with the Minimum Bid Requirement, the company will have 180 calendar days to regain compliance. On May 16, 2024, we received notice from Nasdaq that we were no longer in compliance with the Minimum Bid Requirement.

The Reverse Split was intended, among other reasons, to allow us to achieve the requisite increase in the market price of our Common Shares to be in compliance with the Minimum Bid Requirement. It is not uncommon for the market price of a company's common shares to decline in the period following a reverse stock split. If the market price of our Common Shares declines, the percentage decline may be greater than would have occurred in the absence of the Reverse Split. If the market price of our Common Shares were to experience such a decline, or if other factors unrelated to the number of shares of our Common Shares outstanding, such as negative financial or operational results, adversely affect the market price of our Common Shares, that may jeopardize our ability to meet or maintain the minimum bid price requirement of the exchange on which our Common Shares is listed.

In accordance with Nasdaq Listing Rule 5810(c)(3)(A), we were provided an initial period of 180 calendar days, or until November 12, 2024 (the "Compliance Date"), by which we are able to regain compliance with the Minimum Bid Requirement. To regain compliance, the closing bid price of our Common Shares must meet or exceed US$1.00 per share for a minimum of ten consecutive business days at any time prior to the Compliance Date, unless the Nasdaq staff exercises its discretion to extend this ten-day period pursuant to Nasdaq Listing Rule 5810(c)(3)(H).

If we do not regain compliance with the Minimum Bid Requirement by the Compliance Date, we may be eligible for an additional 180-calendar day compliance period. If we do not qualify for, or fail to regain compliance during the second compliance period, then the Nasdaq staff will provide us written notification that the common shares will be subject to delisting. At that time, we may appeal the Nasdaq staff's delisting determination to the Nasdaq Hearings Panel.

There can be no assurance that we will regain and maintain compliance with the Minimum Bid Requirement and the other listing requirements of the Nasdaq, or that we will not be delisted. If we are not able stay in compliance with the relevant Minimum Bid Requirement, there is a risk that our common shares may be delisted from Nasdaq, which would adversely impact liquidity of our Common Shares and potentially result in even lower bid prices for our Common Shares.

A delisting from Nasdaq could also have other negative results, including the potential loss of institutional investor interest and fewer business development opportunities, as well as a limited amount of news and analyst coverage. In the event of a delisting, we would attempt to take actions to restore our compliance with Nasdaq's listing requirements, but we can provide no assurance that any such action taken by us would allow our securities to become listed again, stabilize the market price or improve the liquidity of our securities, prevent our Common Shares from dropping below the Nasdaq minimum bid price requirement or prevent future non-compliance with Nasdaq's listing requirements.

The Form of Pre-funded Warrant Certificate designates the state and federal courts sitting in the City of New York, Borough of Manhattan as the sole and exclusive forum for certain types of actions and proceedings that may be initiated by holders of Pre-funded Warrants. The forum provisions could limit the ability of holders of Pre-funded Warrants to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with the Company.

The Form of Pre-funded Warrant Certificate provides that (i) all questions concerning the construction, validity, enforcement and interpretation of the Pre-funded Warrant shall be governed by and construed and enforced in accordance with the internal laws of the State of New York, without regard to the principles of conflict of laws thereof, (ii) all legal proceedings concerning the interpretation, enforcement and defense of the Pre-funded Warrant shall be commenced in the state and federal courts sitting in the City of New York, Borough of Manhattan (the “New York Courts”) and (iii) that each party to the Pre-funded Warrant irrevocably submits to the exclusive jurisdiction of the New York Courts for the adjudication of any dispute under the Pre-funded Warrant or in connection therewith or with any transaction contemplated thereby or discussed therein (including with respect to the enforcement of any provision under the Pre-funded Warrant), and irrevocably waives, and agrees not to assert in any suit, action or proceeding, any claim that it is not personally subject to the jurisdiction of such New York Courts, or such New York Courts are improper or inconvenient venue for such Proceeding.  

Notwithstanding the foregoing, this provision will not apply to suits brought to enforce any liability or duty created by the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act"), Exchange Act or any other claim for which the federal district courts of the United States are the sole and exclusive forum.

Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring any interest in the Pre-funded Warrants will be deemed to have notice of and to have consented to the forum provisions in the applicable agreement. If any action, the subject matter of which is within the scope the forum provisions of the applicable agreement, is filed in a court other than a court of the State of New York (a "foreign action") in the name of any holder of the Pre-funded Warrants, such holder shall be deemed to have consented to: (x) the personal jurisdiction of the New York Courts in connection with any action brought in any such court to enforce the forum provisions (an "enforcement action"), and (y) having service of process made upon such warrant holder in any such enforcement action by service upon such warrant holder's counsel in the foreign action as agent for such warrant holder.

These forum provisions may limit a warrant holder's ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that it finds favorable for disputes with the Company, which may discourage such lawsuits. Alternatively, if a court were to find these provisions inapplicable or unenforceable with respect to one or more actions or proceedings, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such matters in other jurisdictions, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. See "Description of our Securities" and "Market for our Common Shares."

Risks Relating to Our Business

We are an early-stage company.

We are an early-stage company and as such, we are subject to many risks including under-capitalization, cash shortages, and limitations with respect to personnel, financial and other resources and the lack of revenue. There is no assurance that we will be successful in achieving a return on shareholders' investment and the likelihood of success must be considered in light of our early stage of operations. Our prospects must be considered speculative in light of the risks, expenses, and difficulties frequently encountered by companies in their early stages of operations, particularly in the highly competitive and rapidly evolving markets in which we operate. To attempt to address these risks, we must, among other things, successfully implement our business plan, marketing, and commercialization strategies, respond to competitive developments, and attract, retain, and motivate qualified personnel. A substantial risk is involved in investing in us because, as a smaller commercial enterprise that has fewer resources than an established company, our management may be more likely to make mistakes, and we may be more vulnerable operationally and financially to any mistakes that may be made, as well as to external factors beyond our control.

We currently have negative operating cash flows.

Since inception, we have generated significant negative cash flow from operations, financed in great part through equity financing. There can be no certainty that we will ever achieve or sustain profitability or positive cash flow from our operating activities. In addition, our working capital and funding needs may vary significantly depending upon a number of factors including, but not limited to:

• progress of our manufacturing, licensing, and distribution activities;

• the commercialization of PARA OPS;

• collaborative license agreements with third parties;

• opportunities to license-in beneficial technologies or potential acquisitions;

• potential milestone or other payments that we may make to licensors or corporate partners;

• technological and market consumption and distribution models or alternative forms of proprietary technology for game-changing applications in the military and homeland security market that affect our potential revenue levels or competitive position in the marketplace;

• the level of sales and gross profit;

• costs associated with production, labor, and services costs, and our ability to realize operation and production efficiencies;

• fluctuations in certain working capital items, including product inventory, short-term loans, and accounts receivable, that may be necessary to support the growth of our business; and

• expenses associated with litigation.

There is no guarantee that we will ever become profitable. To date, we have generated limited revenues and a large portion of our expenses are fixed, including expenses related to facilities, equipment, contractual commitments and personnel. With the commercialization for certain of our product offerings during fiscal year ended September 30, 2024 ("Fiscal 2024"), we expect our net losses from operations will improve in the fiscal year ending September 30, 2025 ("Fiscal 2025"). Our ability to generate additional revenues and potential to become profitable will depend largely on the timely productization of our products, coupled with securing timely, cost-effective outsourced manufacturing arrangements and marketing our products. There can be no assurance that any such events will occur or that we will ever become profitable. Even if we achieve profitability, we cannot predict the level of such profitability. If we sustain losses over an extended period of time, we may be unable to continue our business.

Global inflationary pressure may have an adverse impact on our gross margins and our business.

Since December 31, 2021, we have experienced increases in global inflation, resulting in an increase in cost for some of the raw materials (batons / custom chemicals and casings) that we source to manufacture the ammunition for our ARWEN launchers. However, this increase in cost had a small negative impact to the overall gross margin earned from the sales of ARWEN ammunition.

As we are not yet in the production phase for digitization and counter-threat business lines, we do not currently procure large volume of raw materials and therefore the current inflation is negligible for these business lines except for labor costs relating to research and development ("R&D") activities. During Fiscal 2023, we incurred significant payroll cost increases for some of our employees in order to retain and hire engineers given the strong local demand for experienced software and hardware engineers.  While we believe we will be able to pass on this inflation cost to our prospect military customers, there is no assurance that we will succeed.  Accordingly, continued inflationary pressure may have an adverse impact on our gross margins and could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.

We may not be able to successfully execute our business plan.

The execution of our business plan poses many challenges and is based on a number of assumptions. We may not be able to successfully execute our business plan. If we experience significant cost overruns, or if our business plan is more costly than we anticipate, certain activities may be delayed or eliminated, resulting in changes or delays to our current plans. Also, we may be compelled to secure additional funding (which may or may not be available or available at conditions unfavorable to us) to execute our business plan. We cannot predict with certainty our future revenues or results from our operations. If the assumptions on which our revenues or expenditures forecasts are based change, the benefits of our business plan may change as well. In addition, we may consider expanding our business beyond what is currently contemplated in our business plan. Depending on the financing requirements of a potential business expansion, we may be required to raise additional capital through the issuance of equity or debt. If we are unable to raise additional capital on acceptable terms, we may be unable to pursue a potential business expansion.

A significant portion of our revenues are non-recurring.

A significant portion of our revenue for Fiscal 2023 is prior to commercialization of our significant projects and is considered to be non-recurring. We have significantly reduced our reliance on non-recurring revenues during Fiscal 2023 with the Arwen business line, the hiring of Directorate Land Command Systems Program Management Software Engineering Facility ("DSEF") resources, the ramp up of the Para Ops division and the monthly Ground Search And Rescue services. 

There is uncertainty with respect to our revenue growth.

There can be no assurance that we can generate substantial revenue growth, or that any revenue growth that is achieved can be sustained. Revenue growth that we have achieved or may achieve may not be indicative of future operating results. In addition, we may further increase our operating expenses in order to fund higher levels of research and development, increase our sales and marketing efforts and increase our administrative resources in anticipation of future growth. To the extent that increases in such expenses precede or are not subsequently followed by increased revenues, our business, operating results and financial condition will be materially adversely affected.

We may not be able to fully develop our products, which could prevent us from ever becoming profitable.

If we experience difficulties in the development process, such as capacity constraints, quality control problems or other disruptions, we may not be able to fully develop market-ready commercial products at acceptable costs, which would adversely affect our ability to effectively enter the market. A failure by us to achieve a low-cost structure through economies of scale or improvements in manufacturing processes would have a material adverse effect on our commercialization plans and our business, prospects, results of operations and financial condition.

We may experience delays in product sales due to marketing and distribution capabilities.

In order to successfully commercialize our products, we must continue to develop our internal marketing and sales force with technical expertise and with supporting distribution capabilities or arrange for third parties to perform these services. In order to successfully commercialize any of our products, we must have an experienced sales and distribution infrastructure. The continued development of our sales and distribution infrastructure will require substantial resources, which may divert the attention of our management and key personnel and defer our product development and commercialization efforts. To the extent that we enter into marketing and sales arrangements with other companies, our revenues will depend on the efforts of others.

Additionally, in marketing our products, we would likely compete with companies that currently have extensive and well-funded marketing and sales operations. Despite marketing and sales efforts, we may be unable to compete successfully against these companies. We may not be able to do so on favorable terms.

In the event we fail to develop substantial sales, marketing and distribution channels, or to enter into arrangements with third parties for those purposes, we will experience delays in product sales, which could have a material adverse effect on prospects, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.

There is no assurance that our products will be accepted in the marketplace or that we will turn a profit or generate immediate revenues.

There is no assurance as to whether our products will be accepted in the marketplace. While we believe our products address customer needs, the acceptance of our products may be delayed or not materialize. We have incurred and anticipate incurring substantial expenses relating to the development of our products, the marketing of our products and initial operations of our business. Our revenues and possible profits will depend upon, among other things, our ability to successfully market our products to customers. There is no assurance that revenues and profits will be generated.

Strategic alliances may not be achieved or achieve their goals.

To achieve a scalable operating model with minimal capital expenditures, we plan to rely upon strategic alliances with Original Equipment Manufacturers ("OEMs") for the manufacturing and distribution of our products. There can be no assurance that such strategic alliances can be achieved or will achieve their goals.

We are dependent on key suppliers for our ARWEN product line.

We are only able to purchase certain key components of our products from a limited number of suppliers for our ARWEN product line within our non-lethal business line. As of the date of this Prospectus, we do not have any commercial or financial contracts with any key suppliers who we have procured raw materials from.  Procurement is done in the form of individual, non-related standard purchase orders. As a result, there is no contract in place to ensure sufficient quantities are available timely on favorable terms and consequently this could result in possible lost sales or uncompetitive product pricing.

We may incur higher costs or unavailability of components, materials and accessories.

As we commercialized certain of our product lines in Fiscal 2024, we may depend on certain domestic and international suppliers for the delivery of components and materials used in the assembly of our products and certain accessories including ammunition, used with our products. Further, any reliance on third-party suppliers may create risks related to our potential inability to obtain an adequate supply of components or materials and reduced control over pricing and timing of delivery of components and materials. We currently have no long-term agreements with any of our suppliers and there is no guarantee the supply will not be interrupted.

In light of the current global supply chain challenges caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine, components used in the manufacture of our products may be delayed, become unavailable or discontinued. Any delays may take weeks or months to resolve. Further, parts obsolescence may require us to redesign our product to ensure quality replacement components. While we have not been impacted significantly from the above events to date, there is no assurance that we will not experience significant setback in operations if the global supply chain challenges worsen or continue to persist for a longer period of time.  Accordingly, supply chain delays could cause significant delays in manufacturing and loss of sales, leading to adverse effects significantly impacting our financial condition or results of operations.

Additionally, our shipping costs and the timely delivery of our products could be adversely impacted by a number of factors which could reduce the profitability of our operations, including: higher fuel costs, potential port closures, customs clearance issues, increased government regulation or changes for imports of foreign products into Canada, delays created by terrorist attacks or threats, public health issues and pandemics and epidemics, national disasters or work stoppages, and other matters. Any interruption of supply for any material components of our products could significantly delay the shipment of our products and have a material adverse effect on our revenues, profitability, and financial condition.

We rely upon a limited number of third parties for manufacturing, shipping, transportation, logistics, marketing and sales of our products.

We rely on third parties to ship, transport, and provide logistics for our products. Further, we plan on relying on third parties to manufacture, market and sell our PARA OPS system products. Our dependence on a limited number of third parties for these services leaves us vulnerable due to our need to secure these parties' services on favorable terms. Loss of, or an adverse effect on, any of these relationships or failure of any of these third parties to perform as expected could have a material and adverse effect on our business, sales, results of operations, financial condition, and reputation.

We may be subject to product liability proceedings or claims.

We may be subject to proceedings or claims that may arise in the ordinary conduct of the business, which could include product and service warranty claims, which could be substantial. Product liability for us is a major risk as some of our products will be used by military personnel in theaters-of-war (for the Tactical and Counter-Threat product offerings) and by consumers and law enforcement (for the non-lethal systems). The occurrence of product defects due to non-compliance of our manufacturing specifications and the inability to correct errors could result in the delay or loss of market acceptance of our products, material warranty expense, diversion of technological and other resources from our product development efforts, and the loss of credibility with customers, manufacturers' representatives, distributors, value-added resellers, systems integrators, OEMs and end-users, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results and financial conditions. To mitigate product liability risk, our products will be sold with a liability disclaimer for misuse of the product.

If we are unable to successfully design and develop or acquire new products, our business may be harmed.

To maintain and increase sales we must continue to introduce new products and improve or enhance our existing products or new products. The success of our new and enhanced products depends on many factors, including anticipating consumer preferences, finding innovative solutions to consumer problems or acquiring new solutions through mergers and acquisitions, differentiating our products from those of our competitors, and maintaining the strength of our brand. The design and development of our products as well as acquisitions of other businesses.

Our business could be harmed if we are unable to accurately forecast demand for our products or our results of operations.

To ensure adequate inventory supply, we forecast inventory needs and often place orders with our manufacturers before we receive firm orders from our retail partners or customers. If we fail to accurately forecast demand, we may experience excess inventory levels or a shortage of products.

If we underestimate the demand for our products, we or our suppliers may not be able to scale to meet our demand, and this could result in delays in the shipment of our products and our failure to satisfy demand, as well as damage to our reputation and retail partner relationships. If we overestimate the demand for our products, we could face inventory levels in excess of demand, which could result in inventory write-downs or write-offs and the sale of excess inventory at discounted prices, which would harm our gross margins. In addition, failures to accurately predict the level of demand for our products could cause a decline in sales and harm our results of operations and financial condition.

In addition, we may not be able to accurately forecast our results of operations and growth rate. Forecasts may be particularly challenging as we expand into new markets and geographies and develop and market new products for which we have no or limited historical data. Our historical sales, expense levels, and profitability may not be an appropriate basis for forecasting future results. Our lack of historical data related to new products makes it particularly difficult to make forecasts related to such products. These effects are expected to last through the remainder of the pandemic. Pandemic related variances require a very quick pivot and adjustments to the supply chain, production and marketing. If we are unable to make these changes quickly or at all our inventory, production and sales may be materially affected.

Failure to accurately forecast our results of operations and growth rate could cause us to make poor operating decisions that we may not be able to correct in a timely manner. Consequently, actual results could be materially different than anticipated. Even if the markets in which we compete expand, we cannot assure you that our business will grow at similar rates, if at all.

Undetected flaws may be discovered in our products.

There can be no assurance that, despite testing by us, flaws will not be found in our products and services, resulting in loss of, or delay in, market acceptance. We may be unable, for technological or other reasons, to introduce products and services in a timely manner or at all in response to changing customer requirements. In addition, there can be no assurance that while we are attempting to finish the development of our technologies, products and services, a competitor will not introduce similar or superior technologies, products and services, thus diminishing our advantage, rendering our technologies, products and services partially or wholly obsolete, or at least requiring substantial re-engineering in order to become commercially acceptable. Failure by us to maintain technology, product and service introduction schedules, avoid cost overruns and undetected errors, or introduce technologies, products and services that are superior to competing technologies, products and services would have a materially adverse effect on our business, prospects, financial condition, and results of operations.

We will be reliant on information technology systems and may be subject to damaging cyber-attacks.

We use third parties for certain hardware, software, telecommunications and other information technology ("IT") services in connection with our operations. Our operations depend, in part, on how well we and our suppliers protect networks, equipment, IT systems and software against damage from a number of threats, including, but not limited to, cable cuts, damage to physical plants, natural disasters, intentional damage and destruction, fire, power loss, hacking, computer viruses, vandalism and theft. Our operations also depend on the timely maintenance, upgrade and replacement of networks, equipment, IT systems and software, as well as pre-emptive expenses to mitigate the risks of failures. Any of these and other events could result in information system failures, delays and/or increase in capital expenses. The failure of information systems or a component of information systems could, depending on the nature of any such failure, adversely impact our reputation and results of operations. Moreover, failure to meet the minimum cybersecurity requirements for defense contracts may disqualify us from participating in the tendering process. To date, we have not experienced any losses relating to cyber-attacks or other information security breaches, but there can be no assurance that we will not incur such losses in the future. Our risk and exposure to these matters cannot be fully mitigated because of, among other things, the evolving nature of these threats. As a result, cybersecurity and the continued development and enhancement of controls, processes and practices designed to protect systems, computers, software, data and networks from attack, damage or unauthorized access is a priority. As cyber threats continue to evolve, we may be required to expend additional resources to continue to modify or enhance protective measures or to investigate and remediate any security vulnerabilities.

In certain circumstances, our reputation could be damaged.

Damage to our reputation can be the result of the actual or perceived occurrence of any number of events, and could include any negative publicity, whether true or not. Reputational risk for us is a major risk as some of our products will be used by military personnel in theaters-of-war or by law enforcement personnel. The increased usage of social media and other web-based tools used to generate, publish and discuss user-generated content and to connect with other users has made it increasingly easier for individuals and groups to communicate and share opinions and views regarding us and our activities, whether true or not. Although we believe that we operate in a manner that is respectful to all stakeholders and that we take care in protecting our image and reputation, we do not ultimately have direct control over how we are perceived by others. Reputational loss may result in decreased investor confidence, increased challenges in developing and maintaining community relations and an impediment to our overall ability to advance our projects, thereby having a material adverse impact on financial performance, financial condition, cash flows and growth prospects.

Our results of operations are difficult to predict and depend on a variety of factors.

There is no assurance that the production, technology acquisitions, and the commercialization of proprietary technology for game-changing applications in the military, security forces and personal defense markets will be managed successfully. Any inability to achieve such commercial success could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, operating results, liquidity, and prospects. In addition, the comparability of results may be affected by changes in accounting guidance or changes in our ownership of certain assets. Accordingly, the results of operations from year to year may not be directly comparable to prior reporting periods. As a result of the foregoing and other factors, the results of operations may fluctuate significantly from period to period, and the results of any one period may not be indicative of the results for any future period.

The success of our Digitization business line depends on the efficacy of our proprietary algorithms. Errors, failures, and/or flaws in our proprietary algorithms could have an adverse effect on our operating results, business and reputation.

The success of our Digitization business line depends on, among other things, our proprietary algorithms, which provide situational awareness solutions to clients who require information to be provided quickly due to the critical challenges at hand in industries such as law enforcement, fire, emergency response, search and rescue and natural disaster management. Accordingly, errors, failures, and/or flaws in such algorithms could result in the loss of current or prospective client contracts and could adversely effect our operating results, business, and reputation.

Protecting and defending against intellectual property claims may have a material adverse effect on our business.

Our ability to compete depends, in part, upon successful protection of our intellectual property. While we have some patents and trademarks, we also rely on trade secrets to protect our technology, including for our proprietary algorithms for the Digitization business line, which is inherently risky. Going forward, we will attempt to protect proprietary and intellectual property rights to our technologies through available copyright and trademark laws, patents and licensing and distribution arrangements with reputable international companies in specific territories and media for limited durations. Despite these precautions, existing copyright, trademark and patent laws afford only limited practical protection in certain countries where we distribute our products. As a result, it may be possible for unauthorized third parties to copy and distribute our products or certain portions or applications of our intended products, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, operating results, liquidity, and prospects.

Litigation may also be necessary to enforce our intellectual property rights, to protect our trade secrets, or to determine the validity and scope of the proprietary rights of others or to defend against claims of infringement or invalidity. Any such litigation, infringement or invalidity claims could result in substantial costs and the diversion of resources and could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, operating results, liquidity, and prospects.

We face risks from doing business internationally.

Our commercialization strategies for our products include sales efforts outside Canada and deriving revenues from international sources. As a result, our business is subject to certain risks inherent in international business, many of which are beyond our control.

These risks may include:

• laws and policies affecting trade, investment and taxes, including laws and policies relating to the repatriation of funds and withholding taxes, and changes in these laws;

• anti-corruption laws and regulations such as the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act that impose strict requirements on how we conduct our foreign operations and changes in these laws and regulations;

• changes in local regulatory requirements, including restrictions on content and differing cultural tastes and attitudes;

• international jurisdictions where laws are less protective of intellectual property and varying attitudes towards the piracy of intellectual property;

• financial instability and increased market concentration of buyers in foreign markets;

• the instability of foreign economies and governments;

• fluctuating foreign exchange rates;

• the spread of communicable diseases in such jurisdictions, which may impact business in such jurisdictions; and

• war and acts of terrorism.

Events or developments related to these and other risks associated with international trade could adversely affect our revenues from non-Canadian sources, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, operating results, liquidity, and prospects. Protection of electronically stored data is costly and if our data is compromised in spite of this protection, we may incur additional costs, lost opportunities, and damage to our reputation.

We maintain information in digital form as necessary to conduct our business, including confidential and proprietary information and personal information regarding our employees.

Data maintained in digital form is subject to the risk of intrusion, tampering, and theft. We develop and maintain systems to prevent this from occurring, but it is costly and requires ongoing monitoring and updating as technologies change and efforts to overcome security measures become more sophisticated. Moreover, despite our efforts, the possibility of intrusion, tampering, and theft cannot be eliminated entirely, and risks associated with each of these acts remain.

We have a policy of requiring our consultants, advisors, and collaborators to enter into confidentiality agreements and our employees to enter into non-disclosure and non-compete agreements. However, no assurance can be given that we have entered into appropriate agreements with all parties that have had access to our trade secrets, know-how or other proprietary information. There is also no assurance that such agreements will provide for a meaningful protection of our trade secrets, know-how or other proprietary information in the event of any unauthorized use or disclosure of information.

In addition, we provide confidential information, digital content and personal information to third parties when it is necessary to pursue business objectives. While we obtain assurances that these third parties will protect this information and, where appropriate, monitor the protections employed by these third parties, there is a risk that data systems of these third parties may be compromised. If our data systems or data systems of these third parties are compromised, our ability to conduct our business may be impaired, we may lose profitable opportunities or the value of those opportunities may be diminished and we may lose revenue as a result of unlicensed use of our intellectual property.

Furthermore, we cannot provide assurance that any of our employees, consultants, contract personnel or collaborators, or other third parties, either accidentally or through willful misconduct, will not cause serious damage to our programs and our strategy, for example by disclosing important trade secrets, know-how or proprietary information to our competitors.

Any disclosure of confidential data into the public domain or to other parties could allow our competitors to learn our trade secrets and use the information in competition against us. In addition, others may independently discover our trade secrets and proprietary information. Any action to enforce our rights is likely to be time consuming and expensive, and may ultimately be unsuccessful, or may result in a remedy that is not commercially valuable.

A breach of our network security or other theft or misuse of confidential and proprietary information, digital content or personal employee information could subject us to business, regulatory, litigation, and reputation risk, which could have a materially adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

Our success depends on management and key personnel.

Our success depends largely upon the continued services of our executive officers and other key employees. From time to time, there may be changes in our executive management team resulting from the hiring or departure of executives, which could disrupt our business. If we are unable to attract and retain top talent, our ability to compete may be harmed. Our success is also highly dependent on our continuing ability to identify, hire, train, retain and motivate highly qualified personnel. Competition for highly skilled executives and other employees is high in our industry, especially from larger and better capitalized defense and security companies. We may not be successful in attracting and retaining such personnel. Failure to attract and retain qualified executive officers and other key employees could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows.

Our directors, officers or members of management may have conflicts of interest.

Certain of our directors, officers, and other members of management serve (and may in the future serve) as directors, officers, and members of management of other companies and therefore, it is possible that a conflict may arise between their duties as one of our directors, officers or members of management and their duties as a director, officer or member of management of such other companies. Our directors and officers are aware of the existence of laws governing accountability of directors and officers for corporate opportunity and requiring disclosures by directors of conflicts of interest and we will rely upon such laws in respect of any directors' and officers' conflicts of interest or in respect of any breaches of duty by any of our directors or officers. All such conflicts will be disclosed by such directors or officers in accordance with the BCBCA and they will govern themselves in respect thereof to the best of their ability in accordance with the obligations imposed upon them by law.

It may not be possible for foreign investors to enforce actions against us, and our directors and officers.

We are a corporation organized under the laws of the Province of British Columbia and our Canadian subsidiaries are organized under the laws of the Province of Ontario and our United States subsidiaries are organized under the laws of Delaware. All of our directors and executive officers reside principally in Canada. Because all or a substantial portion of our assets and the assets of these persons are located in Canada, it may not be possible for foreign investors, including United States investors, to effect service of process from outside of Canada upon us or those persons, or to realize in the United States upon judgments of United States courts predicted upon civil liabilities under the Exchange Act or other United States laws. Furthermore, it may not be possible to enforce against us foreign judgments obtained in courts outside of Canada based upon the civil liability provisions of the securities laws or other laws in those jurisdictions.

The loss of services of members of our management team may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

Our success depends in large part upon the continued service of key members of our management team. Because we do not maintain "key person" life insurance on any of our executive officers, employees or consultants, any delay in replacing such persons, or an inability to replace them with persons of similar expertise, may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

Our internal computer systems are vulnerable to damage and failure.

Despite the implementation of security measures and backup storage, our internal computer systems are vulnerable to damage from computer viruses, unauthorized access, natural disasters, terrorism, war, and telecommunication and electrical failure. Any system failure, accident or security breach that causes interruption in our operations could result in a material disruption of our projects. To the extent that any disruption or security breach results in a loss or damage to our data or applications, or inappropriate disclosure of confidential or proprietary information, we may incur liability as a result. In addition, our technology program may be adversely affected and the further development of our technology may be delayed. We may also incur additional costs to remedy the damages caused by these disruptions or security breaches.

Business interruptions could adversely affect our operations.

Our operations are vulnerable to outages and interruptions due to fire, floods, power loss, telecommunications failures, and similar events beyond our control. Although we have developed certain plans to respond in the event of a disaster, there can be no assurance that they will be effective in the event of a specific disaster. Any losses or damages incurred by us could have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations.

We are subject to risks associated with possible acquisitions, licensing, business combinations, or joint ventures.

While to date we have mainly focused on developing our own products, from time to time, we could be engaged in discussions and activities with respect to possible business and/or technology acquisitions or licensing, sale of assets, business combinations, or joint ventures with the view of either complementing or expanding our internally developed products. These acquisitions and licensing activities are not crucial to our long-term business success. The anticipated benefit from any of the transactions we may pursue may not be realized as expected. Regardless of whether any such transaction is consummated, the negotiation of a potential transaction and the integration of the acquired business or technology, acquired or licensed, could incur significant costs and cause diversion of management's time and resources. Any such transaction could also result in impairment of goodwill and other intangibles, development write-offs, and other related expenses. Such transactions may pose challenges in the consolidation and integration of information technology, accounting systems, personnel, and operations. We may have difficulty managing the combined entity in the short term if we experience a significant loss of management personnel during the transition period after a significant acquisition. We may also have difficulty managing the product development and commercialization following a technology acquisition or licensing. No assurance can be given that expansion, licensing or acquisition opportunities will be successful, completed on time, or that we will realize expected operating efficiencies, cost savings, revenue enhancements, synergies or other benefits. Any of the foregoing could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, operating results, liquidity, and prospects.

Claims against us relating to any acquisition, licensing or business combination may necessitate seeking claims against the seller for which the seller may not indemnify us or that may exceed the seller's or licensor's indemnification obligations.

There may be liabilities assumed in any technology acquisition or licensing or business combination that we did not discover or that we underestimated in the course of performing our due diligence. Although a seller or licensor generally will have indemnification obligations to us under a licensing, acquisition or merger agreement, these obligations usually will be subject to financial limitations, such as general deductibles and maximum recovery amounts, as well as time limitations. There is no assurance that our right to indemnification from any seller or licensors will be enforceable, collectible or sufficient in amount, scope or duration to fully offset the amount of any undiscovered or underestimated liabilities that we may incur. Any such liabilities could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, operating results, liquidity, and prospects.

Growth may cause pressure on our management and systems.

Our future growth may cause significant pressure on our management, and our operational, financial, and other resources and systems. Our ability to manage our growth effectively will require that we implement and improve our operational, financial, manufacturing, and management information systems, hire new personnel and then train, manage, and motivate these new employees. These demands may require the hiring of additional management personnel and the development of additional expertise within the existing management team. Any increase in resources devoted to production, business development, and distribution efforts without a corresponding increase in our operational, financial, and management information systems could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

We may infringe intellectual property rights of third parties.

For certain of our product lines, we have elected to protect our technology and products as trade secrets as opposed to seeking patent protection. We may, in future, elect to seek patent protection for some of our future products. While we believe that our products and other intellectual property do not infringe upon the proprietary rights of third parties, our commercial success depends, in part, upon us not infringing the intellectual property rights of others. A number of our competitors and other third parties have been issued or may have filed patent applications or may obtain additional patents and proprietary rights for technologies similar to those utilized by us. Some of these patents may grant very broad protection to the owners of the patents. While we have engaged external intellectual property legal counsels to undertake an extensive review of existing third-party patents and prepare our patent applications for some of our products (see Business Overview), there is no assurance that their reviews and conclusion will not prevail if challenged by a third party of an alleged infringement of their intellectual properties. We may become subject to claims by third parties that our technology infringes their intellectual property rights due to the growth of products in our target markets, the overlap in functionality of those products and the prevalence of products. We may become subject to these claims either directly or through indemnities against these claims that we provide to end-users, manufacturer’s representatives, distributors, value-added resellers, system integrators and original equipment manufacturers. Litigation may be necessary to determine the scope, enforceability and validity of third-party proprietary rights or to establish our proprietary rights. Some of our competitors have, or are affiliated with companies having, substantially greater resources than we and these competitors may be able to sustain the costs of complex intellectual property litigation to a greater degree and for a longer period of time than us. Regardless of their merit, any such claims could be time consuming to evaluate and defend, result in costly litigation, cause product shipment delays or stoppages, divert management’s attention and focus away from the business, subject us to significant liabilities and equitable remedies, including injunctions, require that we enter into costly royalty or licensing agreements and require that we modify or stop using infringing technology.

We may be prohibited from developing or commercializing certain technologies and products unless we obtain a license from a third party. There can be no assurance that we will be able to obtain any such license on commercially favorable terms or at all. If we do not obtain such a license, we could be required to cease the sale of certain of our products.

Risks Relating to Our Industry

The following risks relate specifically to Digitization and Counter-Threat business lines:

We are subject to extensive government regulation in the United States for our products designed for the military market.

Our customers in the United States are global defense contractors and they are subject to various United States government regulations which some may be passed on to us in order for them to be compliant. The most significant regulations and regulatory authorities that may affect our future business include the following:

• the Federal Acquisition Regulations and supplemental agency regulations, which comprehensively regulate the formation and administration of, and performance under, United States government contracts;

• the Truth in Negotiations Act, which requires certification and disclosure of all factual cost and pricing data in connection with contract negotiations;

• the False Claims Act and the False Statements Act, which impose penalties for payments made on the basis of false facts provided to the government and on the basis of false statements made to the government, respectively;

• the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which prohibits United States companies from providing anything of value to a foreign official to help obtain, retain or direct business, or obtain any unfair advantage; and

• laws, regulations and executive orders restricting the use and dissemination of information classified for national security purposes or determined to be "controlled unclassified information" and the exportation of certain products and technical data.

Our failure to comply with applicable regulations, rules and approvals; changes in the United States government's interpretation of such regulations, rules and approvals as have been and are applied to our contracts, proposals or business or misconduct by any of our employees could result in the imposition of fines and penalties, the loss of security clearances, a decrease in profitability, or the loss of our subcontract contracts with United States defense contractors generally, any of which could harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.

A decline in the United States, Canadian and other government budgets, changes in spending or budgetary priorities, or delays in contract awards may significantly and adversely affect our future revenue.

Since inception, except for Fiscal 2022, most of our revenue was driven by contracts from the United States government, through United States prime defense contractors. Our results of operations could be adversely affected by government spending caps or changes in government budgetary priorities, as well by delays in the government budget process, program starts, or the award of contracts or orders under existing contracts. As a result, the market for our military solutions may be impacted due to shifts in the political environment and changes in the government and agency leadership positions under any new United States administration. If annual budget appropriations or continuing resolutions are not enacted in a timely fashion, we could face a continuing resolution in the United States or government shutdown, which could adversely impact our business and our ability to receive timely payment from United States government entities or partners on future contracts.

United States government contracts are generally not fully funded at inception and contain certain provisions that may be unfavorable to us.

We have entered into defense contracts with United States prime defense contractors, which it in turns transact directly with the United States government.

United States government contracts typically involve long lead times for design and development and are subject to significant changes in contract scheduling. Congress generally appropriates funds on a fiscal year basis even though a program may continue for several years. Consequently, programs are often only partially funded initially, and additional funds are committed only as Congress makes further appropriations. The termination or reduction of funding for a government program would result in a loss of anticipated future revenue attributable to that program. In addition, United States government contracts generally contain provisions permitting termination, in whole or in part, at the government's convenience or for contractor default.

The actual receipt of revenue on future awards subcontracted to us may never occur or may change because a program schedule could change or the program could be cancelled, or a contract could be reduced, modified or terminated early.

While we had no outstanding United States government contracts (directly or indirectly) as of the date of this Prospectus, we are exposed to the above risk for future United States government related contracts.

We may not be able to comply with changes in government policies and legislation.

The manufacture, sale, purchase, possession and use of weapons, ammunitions, firearms, and explosives are subject to federal, provincial and foreign laws. If such regulation becomes more expansive in the future, it could have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results, financial condition, and cash flows. New legislation, regulations, or changes to or new interpretations of existing regulation could impact our ability to manufacture or sell our products and our projectiles, or limit their market, which could impact our cost of sales and demand for our products. Similarly changes in laws related to the domestic or international use of chemical irritants by civilians or law enforcement could impact both our cost of sales and the size of our reachable market.

We may be subject, both directly and indirectly, to the adverse impact of existing and potential future government regulation of our products, technology, operations, and markets. For example, the development, production, exportation, importation, and transfer of our products and technology is subject to Canadian and provincial laws. Further, as we plan to conduct business in the United States, we will also be subject to United States and foreign export control, sanctions, customs, import and anti-boycott laws and regulations, including the Export Administration Regulations (the "EAR") (collectively, "Trade Control Laws"). If one or more of our products or technology, or the parts and components we buy from others, is or become subject to the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (the "ITAR") or national security controls under the EAR, this could significantly impact our operations, for example by severely limiting our ability to sell, export, or otherwise transfer our products or technology, or to release controlled technology to foreign person employees or others in the United States or abroad. We may not be able to retain licenses and other authorizations required under the applicable Trade Control Laws. The failure to satisfy the requirements under the Trade Control Laws, including the failure or inability to obtain necessary licenses or qualify for license exceptions, could delay or prevent the development, production, export, import, and/or in-country transfer of our products and technology, which could adversely affect our revenues and profitability.

Failure by us, our employees, or others working on our behalf to comply with the applicable government policies and regulations could result in administrative, civil, or criminal liabilities, including fines, suspension, debarment from bidding for or performing government contracts, or suspension of our export privileges, which could have a material adverse effect on us.

The following risk relates specifically to our ARWEN and PARA OPS business line of non-lethal products:

We will be subject to regulation in the United States for our non-lethal systems.

While our PARA OPS devices are designed to be non-lethal (based on the kinetic energy of the projectiles), we have elected to self-classify these as a form of a firearm under the United States Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms ("ATF") rules and regulations because we use pyrotechnic based primers in our proprietary ammunition cartridges. We have also self-classified our .67 caliber PARA OPS device as not only a firearm, but also as a "destructive device" in accordance with the ATF regulations. We intend to maintain this self-classification under ATF regulations until such time as we have found an alternative for primers (i.e., a non-pyrotechnic gas generator) to launch our projectiles, and thereby avoid being subject to ATF regulations. We are currently reviewing an alternative to replace the primer with actuator technology that is in the developmental phase and accordingly, there is no assurance that we will succeed and consequently the replacement of the primer may adversely affect our future revenues and related results of operations, business, prospects, and financial condition.  Further, in the event we have implemented an alternative to replace the primer and then self-classify our PARA OPS devices as "non-firearm", there is no assurance that the ATF may not contest our self-classification, which could result in discontinuing sales to consumers with no firearm license where required by state law. Accordingly, this could also adversely affect our future revenues and related results of operations, business, prospects, and financial condition.

Because our business model relies on outsourced production, we have no plans of becoming a firearm manufacturer in the United States but rather to continue to partner with an FFL manufacturer for the production and distribution of our PARA OPS products. Accordingly, post commercialization in the United States the burden to comply with ATF rules and regulations applicable to the manufacturing and distribution process will be with our FFL business partners.  Our primary risk of governmental interruption of manufacturing and distribution therefore lies within the operations and attendant internal control environment of our FFL business partners. 

Furthermore, with respect to transfers to end users (government, military, or consumer), the obligation to comply with ATF rules and regulations and any applicable state laws resides with the downstream FFL wholesaler/distributor/retailer and any penalties levied upon such parties do not flow up the distribution chain. 

See Business Overview - Government Regulation - Non-Lethal for a summary of relevant regulation in the United States for our non-lethal business line. 

The following risks apply to all business lines:

Rapid technological development could result in obsolescence or short product life cycles of our products.

The markets for our products are characterized by rapidly changing technology and evolving industry standards, which could result in product obsolescence or short product life cycles. Accordingly, our success is dependent upon our ability to anticipate technological changes in the industries we serve and to successfully identify, obtain, develop and market new products that satisfy evolving industry requirements. There can be no assurance that we will successfully develop new products or enhance and improve our existing products or that any new products and enhanced and improved existing products will achieve market acceptance. Further, there can be no assurance that competitors will not market products that have perceived advantages over our products, or which render the products currently sold by us obsolete or less marketable.

We must commit significant resources to developing, testing and demonstrating new products before knowing whether our investments will result in products the market will accept. To remain competitive, we may be required to invest significantly greater resources than currently anticipated in research and development and product enhancement efforts, and result in increased operating expenses.

Our industry is highly competitive.

The industry for military and security forces and personal defense is highly competitive and composed of many domestic and foreign companies. We have experienced and expect to continue to experience substantial competition from numerous competitors whom we expect to continue to improve their products and technologies. Competitors may announce and introduce new products, services or enhancements that better meet the needs of end-users or changing industry standards, or achieve greater market acceptance due to pricing, sales channels or other factors. With substantially greater financial resources and operating scale than we do currently, certain competitors may be able to respond more quickly than us to changes in end-user requirements and devote greater resources to the enhancement, promotion and sale of their products. Such competition could adversely affect our ability to win new contracts and sales.

Since we operate in evolving markets, our business and future prospects may be difficult to evaluate.

Our technological solutions are in new and rapidly evolving markets. The military, civilian public safety, professional and personal defense markets we target are in early stages of customer adoption. Accordingly, our business and future prospects may be difficult to evaluate. We cannot accurately predict the extent to which demand for our products and services will develop and/or increase, if at all. The challenges, risks and uncertainties frequently encountered by companies in rapidly evolving markets could impact our ability to do the following:

• generate sufficient revenue to obtain and/or maintain profitability;

• acquire and maintain market share;

• achieve or manage growth in operations;

• develop and renew contracts;

• attract and retain additional engineers and other highly-qualified personnel;

• successfully develop and commercially market products and services;

• adapt to new or changing policies and spending priorities of governments and government agencies; and

• access additional capital when required or on reasonable terms.

If we fail to address these and other challenges, risks and uncertainties successfully, our business, results of operations and financial condition would be materially harmed.

Uncertainty related to exportation could limit our operations in the future.

We must comply with Canadian federal and provincial laws regulating the export of our products. In some cases, explicit authorization from the Canadian government is needed to export certain products. The export regulations and the governing policies applicable to our business are subject to change. We cannot provide assurance that such export authorizations will be available for our products in the future. To date, compliance with these laws has not significantly limited our operations but could significantly limit them in the future. Noncompliance with applicable export regulations could potentially expose us to fines, penalties and sanctions. If we cannot obtain required government approvals under applicable regulations, we may not be able to sell our products in certain international jurisdictions, which could adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations.

Global economic turmoil and regional economic conditions in the United States could adversely affect our business.

Global economic turmoil may cause a general tightening in the credit markets, lower levels of liquidity, increases in the rates of default and bankruptcy, levels of intervention from the United States federal government and other foreign governments, decreased consumer confidence, overall slower economic activity, and extreme volatility in credit, equity, and fixed income markets. A decrease in economic activity in the United States or in other regions of the world in which we do business could adversely affect demand for our products, thus reducing our revenues and earnings. A decline in economic conditions could reduce sales of our products.

Risks Relating to Our Financial Condition

We face substantial capital requirements and financial risk.

To be successful, our business requires a substantial investment of capital. The production, acquisition, and distribution of proprietary technology for game-changing applications in the military and security forces and personal defense markets require substantial capital. A significant amount of time may elapse between our expenditure of funds and the receipt of revenues. This may require a significant portion of funds from equity, credit, and other financing sources to fund the business. There can be no assurance that these arrangements will continue to be successfully implemented or will not be subject to substantial financial risks relating to the production, acquisition, and distribution of proprietary technology for game-changing applications in the military and security forces and personal defense markets. In addition, if demand increases through internal growth or acquisition, there may be an increase to overhead and/or larger up-front payments for production and, consequently, these increases bear greater financial risks. Any of the foregoing could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, operating results, liquidity, and prospects.

We may require additional capital which may result in dilution to existing shareholders.

We may need to engage in additional equity or debt financings to secure additional funds to fund our working capital requirement and business growth. If we raise additional funds through further issuances of equity or convertible debt securities, our existing shareholders could suffer significant dilution, and any new equity securities we issue could have rights, preferences, and privileges superior to those of holders of the Common Shares. Any debt financing secured by us in the future could involve restrictive covenants relating to our capital-raising activities and other financial and operational matters, which might make it more difficult for us to obtain additional capital and to pursue business opportunities.

We can provide no assurance that sufficient debt or equity financing will be available on reasonable terms or at all to support our business growth and to respond to business challenges and failure to obtain sufficient debt or equity financing when required could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows.

Over the short-term, we expect to incur operating losses and generate negative cash flow until we can produce sufficient revenues to cover our costs. We may never become profitable. Even if we do achieve profitability, we may be unable to sustain or increase our profitability in the future. There are substantial uncertainties associated with our ability to achieve and sustaining profitability. We expect our current cash position will be reduced due to future operating losses and working capital requirements, and we cannot provide certainty as to how long our cash position will last or that we will be able to access additional capital if and when necessary.

Exercise of options or warrants or vesting of restricted share units ("RSUs")  will have a dilutive effect on your percentage ownership and will result in a dilution of your voting power and an increase in the number of Common Shares eligible for future resale in the public market, which may negatively impact the trading price of our Common Shares. 

We may need to divest assets if there is insufficient capital.

If sufficient capital is not available, we may be required to delay, reduce the scope of, eliminate or divest one or more of our assets or products, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, prospects, or results of operations.

We have broad discretion over the use of net proceeds from future capital raises.

We will have broad discretion over the use of the net proceeds from any future capital raises. Because of the number and variability of factors that will determine our use of such proceeds, the ultimate use might vary substantially from the planned use. Investors may not agree with how we allocate or spend the proceeds from future capital raises. We may pursue collaborations that ultimately do not result in an increase in the market value of the Common Shares and that instead increase our losses.

Currency fluctuations may have a material effect on us.

Fluctuations in the exchange rate between the United States dollar, other currencies and the Canadian dollar may have a material effect on our results of operations. To date, we have not engaged in currency hedging activities. To the extent that we may seek to implement hedging techniques in the future with respect to our foreign currency transactions, there can be no assurance that we will be successful in such hedging activities.

Unavailability of adequate director and officer insurance could make it difficult for us to retain and attract qualified directors and could also impact our liquidity.

We have directors and officers liability ("D&O") insurance we believe to be adequate to cover risk exposure for us and our directors and officers, who we indemnify to the full extent permitted by law, there is no guaranty that such coverage will be adequate in the event of litigation.

Our coverage needs for D&O insurance may change or increase in the future for various reasons including changes in our market capitalization, changes in trading volume or changes in the listing rules of exchanges or marketplaces on which our securities may trade from time to time. There is no guaranty that such coverage will be available or available at reasonable rates or at all, or in amounts adequate to cover expenses and liability should litigation occur. Without adequate D&O insurance, the costs of litigation including amounts we would pay to indemnify our officers and directors should they be subject to legal action based on their service to us could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition, results of operations and liquidity. Further, if we are unable to obtain adequate D&O insurance in the future for any reason, we may have difficulty retaining and attracting talented and skilled directors and officers, which could adversely affect our business.

Our insurance policies may be inadequate to fully protect us from material judgments and expenses.

We require insurance coverage for a number of risks, including business interruption, environmental matters and contamination, personal injury and property damage as well as general aviation liability coverage. Although we maintain insurance policies, we cannot provide assurance that this insurance will be adequate to protect us from all material judgments and expenses related to potential future claims or that these levels of insurance will be available in the future at economical prices or at all. A successful product liability claim could result in substantial costs to us. If insurance coverage is unavailable or insufficient to cover any such claims, our financial resources, results of operations and prospects could be adversely affected.

Even if we are fully insured as it relates to a claim, the claim could nevertheless diminish our brand and divert management's attention and resources, which could have a negative impact on our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations.

Risks Relating to the Ownership of our Securities

An investment in our securities involves significant risks.

Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or that we currently consider immaterial may also impair our business and operations and cause the trading price of our securities to decline. If any of the following or other risks occur, our business, prospects, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows could be materially adversely impacted. In that event, the trading price of our securities could decline, and security holders could lose all or part of their investment. There is no assurance that risk management steps taken will avoid future loss due to the occurrence of the risks described below or other unforeseen risks.

Our Common Shares may experience extreme stock price volatility unrelated to our actual or expected operating performance, financial condition or prospects, making it difficult for prospective investors to assess the rapidly changing value of our Common Shares.

Recently, there have been instances of extreme stock price run-ups followed by rapid price declines and strong stock price volatility with a number of recent initial public offerings, especially among companies with relatively smaller public floats. As a relatively small-capitalization company with relatively small public float, we may experience greater stock price volatility, extreme price run-ups, lower trading volume and less liquidity than large-capitalization companies. In particular, our Common Shares may be subject to rapid and substantial price volatility, low volumes of trades and large spreads in bid and ask prices. Such volatility, including any stock-run up, may be unrelated to our actual or expected operating performance, financial condition or prospects, making it difficult for prospective investors to assess the rapidly changing value of our Common Shares.

In addition, if the trading volumes of our Common Shares are low, persons buying or selling in relatively small quantities may easily influence prices of our Common Shares. This low volume of trades could also cause the price of our Common Shares to fluctuate greatly, with large percentage changes in price occurring in any trading day session. Holders of our Common Shares may also not be able to readily liquidate their investment or may be forced to sell at depressed prices due to low volume trading. If high spreads between the bid and ask prices of our Common Shares exist at the time of a purchase, the stock would have to appreciate substantially on a relative percentage basis for an investor to recoup their investment. Broad market fluctuations and general economic and political conditions may also adversely affect the market price of our Common Shares.

As a result of this volatility, investors may experience losses on their investment in our Common Shares. A volatile market price of our Common Shares also could adversely affect our ability to issue additional shares of Common Shares or other securities and our ability to obtain additional financing in the future.

The market price of our securities may be volatile.

The market price for our securities may be volatile and subject to wide fluctuations in response to numerous factors, many of which are beyond our control, including, but not limited to, the following: (i) actual or anticipated fluctuations in our quarterly results of operations; (ii) recommendations by securities research analysts; (iii) changes in the economic performance or market valuations of other issuers that investors deem comparable to us; (iv) departure of executive officers or other key personnel; (v) issuances or anticipated issuances of additional Common Shares; (vi) significant acquisitions or business combinations, strategic partnerships, joint ventures or capital commitments by or involving us or our competitors; and (vii) news reports relating to trends, concerns, technological or competitive developments, regulatory changes and other related issues in our industry or target markets.

Financial markets have historically experienced significant price and volume fluctuations that have particularly affected the market prices of equity securities of public entities and that have, in many cases, been unrelated to the operating performance, underlying asset values or prospects of such entities. Accordingly, the market price of our securities may decline even if our operating results, underlying asset values or prospects have not changed. Additionally, these factors, as well as other related factors, may cause decreases in asset values that are deemed to be other than temporary, which may result in impairment losses. There can be no assurance that continuing fluctuations in price and volume will not occur. If such increased levels of volatility and market turmoil continue for a protracted period of time, the trading price of the Common Shares may be materially adversely affected.

There can be no assurance of an active market for our Common Shares.

Our Common Shares are listed for trading on the TSXV since September 22, 2020, Nasdaq since December 7, 2022, and the Frankfurt Stock Exchange since March 29, 2022. Additionally, the U.S. IPO Warrants (as defined below) are listed on Nasdaq (KWESW) and the Canadian Warrants (as defined below) are listed on TSXV (KWE.WT.U). There can be no assurance an active and liquid market for the Common Shares will be maintained.

If an active public market is not maintained, our shareholders may have difficulty selling the Common Shares.

If we are unable to satisfy the requirements of Sarbanes-Oxley or our internal controls over financial reporting are not effective, the reliability of our financial statements may be questioned.

We are subject to the requirements of Section 404 which requires companies subject to the reporting requirements of United States securities laws to complete a comprehensive evaluation of their internal controls over financial reporting. To comply with this statute, we are required to document and test our internal control procedures and our management is required to assess and issue a report concerning our internal controls over financial reporting. Pursuant to the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012, as amended, we are classified as an "emerging growth company." Under the JOBS Act, emerging growth companies are exempt from certain reporting requirements, including the independent auditor attestation requirements of Section 404(b) of Sarbanes-Oxley. Under this exemption, our independent auditor is not required to attest to and report on management's assessment of our internal controls over financial reporting during a five-year transition period, except in the event this is accelerated if we lose our status as an "emerging growth company". The continuous process of strengthening our internal controls and complying with Section 404 is complicated and time-consuming. Furthermore, we believe that our business will grow both domestically and internationally, organically and through acquisitions, in which case our internal controls will become more complex and will require significantly more resources and attention to ensure our internal controls remain effective overall. During the course of our testing, management may identify material weaknesses or significant deficiencies, which may not be remedied in a timely manner to meet the deadline imposed by Sarbanes-Oxley. If management cannot favorably assess the effectiveness of our internal controls over financial reporting, or our independent registered public accounting firm identifies material weaknesses in our internal controls, investor confidence in our financial results may weaken, and the market price of our securities may suffer.

We have identified material weaknesses in our internal controls over financial reporting, which, if not corrected, could affect the reliability of our financial statements and have other adverse consequences.

In connection with the audit of our consolidated financial statements as of and for the year ended September 30, 2023, the related consolidated statements of financial position, net loss and comprehensive loss, changes in shareholders' equity and cash flows for the years ended September 30, 2023, we identified material weaknesses in our internal controls over financial reporting ("ICFR"), which we have begun to address and have a plan to further address. A material weakness is a deficiency, or a combination of deficiencies, in internal controls over financial reporting, such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of our annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis

The material weaknesses identified relate to (i) an ineffective control environment - we did not have an effective control environment due to the lack of a sufficient complement of fully trained personnel in financial reporting, accounting and IT with assigned responsibility and accountability related to ICFR, (ii) spreadsheet controls - we did not implement and maintain effective controls surrounding certain spreadsheets because controls related to complex spreadsheets did not address all identified risks associated with manual data entry, review of inputs into management assumptions and estimates, completeness of data entry, and the accuracy of mathematical formulas, impacting complex spreadsheets used in revenue, inventory, impairment and financial closing processes, (iii) IT general controls - we had an aggregation of deficiencies within our IT general controls across multiple systems, including deficiencies related to segregation of duties, user access and change management and (iv) management review controls - we did not consistently have documented evidence of management review controls and did not always maintain segregation of duties between preparing and reviewing analyses and reconciliations with respect to revenue, inventory, purchasing, and financial closing.

These material weaknesses could not be mitigated prior to the year ended September 30, 2023. We are in the process of remediating the identified control weaknesses and have engaged external advisors to support in that regard. The remediation efforts are largely dependent on attracting and retaining sufficiently qualified staff in necessary roles. While many of the associated staffing changes have been made, we expect the remediation efforts to continue into Fiscal 2025. The incremental costs associated with the remedial activities is expected to be under $250,000 per year.

We are an emerging growth company and rely on exemptions from certain disclosure requirements which may make our securities less attractive to investors.

We are an "emerging growth company" as defined in section 3(a) of the Exchange Act (as amended by the JOBS Act), and we will continue to qualify as an emerging growth company until the earliest to occur of: (a) the last day of the fiscal year during which we have total annual gross revenues of USD$1.235 billion (as such amount is indexed for inflation every five years by the SEC) or more; (b) the last day of our fiscal year following the fifth anniversary of the date of our first sale of common equity securities pursuant to an effective registration statement under the Securities Act; (c) the date on which we have, during the previous three year period, issued more than USD$1 billion in non-convertible debt; and (d) the date on which we are deemed to be a "large accelerated filer", as defined in Rule 12b-2 under the Exchange Act. We will qualify as a large accelerated filer (and would cease to be an emerging growth company) at such time when on the last business day of our second fiscal quarter of such year the aggregate worldwide market value of our common equity held by non-affiliates is USD$700 million or more.

For so long as we remain an emerging growth company, we are permitted to and intend to rely upon exemptions from certain disclosure requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies. These exemptions include not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of Sarbanes-Oxley. We cannot predict whether investors will find our securities less attractive because we rely upon certain of these exemptions. If some investors find our securities less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for such securities and the price of our Common Shares and other outstanding securities may be more volatile. On the other hand, if we no longer qualify as an emerging growth company, we would be required to divert additional management time and attention from our development and other business activities and incur increased legal and financial costs to comply with the additional associated reporting requirements, which could negatively impact our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We may lose foreign private issuer status in the future, which could result in significant additional costs and expenses.

We are a "foreign private issuer", under applicable United States federal securities laws, and are, therefore, not subject to the same requirements that are imposed upon United States domestic issuers by the SEC. Under the Exchange Act, we are subject to reporting obligations that, in certain respects, are less detailed and less frequent than those of United States domestic reporting companies. As a result, we do not file the same reports that a United States domestic issuer would file with the SEC, although we are required to file with or furnish to the SEC the continuous disclosure documents that we are required to file in Canada under Canadian securities laws. In addition, our officers, directors, and principal shareholders are exempt from the reporting and short-swing profit recovery provisions of Section 16 of the Exchange Act. Therefore, our shareholders may not know on as timely a basis when our officers, directors and principal shareholders purchase or sell Common Shares, as the reporting periods under the corresponding Canadian insider reporting requirements are longer.

As a foreign private issuer, we are exempt from the rules and regulations under the Exchange Act related to the furnishing and content of proxy statements. We are also exempt from Regulation FD, which prohibits issuers from making selective disclosures of material non-public information. While we comply with the corresponding requirements relating to proxy statements and disclosure of material non-public information under Canadian securities laws, these requirements differ from those under the Exchange Act and Regulation FD and shareholders should not expect to receive the same information at the same time as such information is provided by United States domestic companies. In addition, we may not be required under the Exchange Act to file annual and quarterly reports with the SEC as promptly as U.S. domestic companies whose securities are registered under the Exchange Act.

In order to maintain our status as a foreign private issuer, a majority of the Common Shares must be either directly or indirectly owned by non-residents of the United States unless we satisfy one of the additional requirements necessary to preserve this status. We may in the future lose our foreign private issuer status if a majority of our Common Shares are held in the United States and if we fail to meet the additional requirements necessary to avoid loss of our foreign private issuer status. The regulatory and compliance costs under United States federal securities laws as a United States domestic issuer may be significantly more than the costs incurred as a Canadian foreign private issuer using the standard foreign form. If we are not a foreign private issuer, we would not be eligible to use the foreign issuer forms and would be required to file periodic and current reports and registration statements on United States domestic issuer forms with the SEC, which are more detailed and extensive than the forms available to a foreign private issuer.

If the Company were to constitute a "passive foreign investment company" or "PFIC", adverse U.S. federal income tax consequences may result for U.S. investors.

The Company believes that it was not a PFIC for its most recently completed tax year. Based on current business plans and financial expectations, the Company expects that it likely will not be a PFIC for its current tax year. The Company’s PFIC classification for its current or future tax years may depend on, among other things, how quickly the Company may raise cash pursuant to this Offering, the manner in which, and how quickly, the Company utilizes its cash on hand and the cash proceeds received from this Offering, as well as on changes in the market value of its Common Shares. Whether the Company is a PFIC for any taxable year will also depend on the composition of its income and the composition, nature and value of its assets from time to time (including the value of its goodwill, which may be determined by reference to the value of the Common Shares, which could fluctuate).  Additionally, the analysis depends, in part, on the application of complex U.S. federal income tax rules, which are subject to differing interpretations. No opinion of legal counsel or ruling from the IRS concerning the status of the Company as a PFIC has been obtained or is currently planned to be requested.  PFIC classification is fundamentally factual in nature, generally cannot be determined until the close of the tax year in question and is determined annually.  Consequently, there can be no assurance that the Company has never been, is not, and will not become a PFIC for any tax year during which U.S. Holders hold Common Shares or Pre-funded Warrants. If the Company is a PFIC for any year during a U.S. taxpayer’s holding period of Common Shares or Pre-funded Warrants, then such U.S. taxpayer generally will be required to treat any gain realized upon a disposition of its Common Shares or Pre-funded Warrants, as applicable, or any so-called “excess distribution” received on its Common Shares or Pre-funded Warrants, as applicable, as ordinary income, and to pay an interest charge on a portion of such gain or distribution. In certain circumstances, the sum of the tax and the interest charge may exceed the total amount of proceeds realized on the disposition, or the amount of excess distribution received, by the U.S. taxpayer. Subject to certain limitations, these tax consequences may be mitigated if a U.S. taxpayer makes a timely and effective QEF Election (as defined below) or a Mark-to-Market Election (as defined below). U.S. taxpayers should be aware that, for each tax year, if any, that the Company is a PFIC, the Company can provide no assurances that it will satisfy the record-keeping requirements of a PFIC, or that it will make available to U.S. Holders the information such U.S. Holders require to make a QEF Election with respect to the Company or any subsidiary that also is classified as a PFIC. Accordingly, prospective investors should assume that a QEF Election will not be available. A U.S. taxpayer that makes the Mark-to-Market Election with respect to the Common Shares generally must include as ordinary income each year the excess of the fair market value of the Common Shares over the taxpayer’s basis therein. A Mark-to-Market Election will generally not be available with respect to the Pre-funded Warrants. This paragraph is qualified in its entirety by the discussion below under the heading “Certain U.S. Federal Income Tax Considerations — Passive Foreign Investment Company Rules.” Each potential investor who is a U.S. taxpayer should consult its own tax advisor regarding the tax consequences of the PFIC rules and the acquisition, ownership, and disposition of the Common Shares and Pre-funded Warrants.

Proposed legislation in the U.S. Congress, including changes in U.S. tax law, may adversely impact the Company and the value of the Common Shares and Pre-funded Warrants.

Changes to U.S. tax laws (which changes may have retroactive application) could adversely affect the Company or holders of Common Shares or Pre-funded Warrants. In recent years, many changes to U.S. federal income tax laws have been proposed and made, and additional changes to U.S. federal income tax laws are likely to continue to occur in the future.

The U.S. Congress is currently considering numerous items of legislation which may be enacted prospectively or with retroactive effect, which legislation could adversely impact the Company's financial performance and the value of the Common Shares or Pre-funded Warrants. Additionally, states in which the Company operates or owns assets may impose new or increased taxes. If enacted, most of the proposals would be effective for the current or later years. The proposed legislation remains subject to change, and its impact on the Company and purchasers of the Common Shares or Pre-funded Warrants is uncertain.

In addition, the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 includes provisions that impact the U.S. federal income taxation of corporations. Among other items, this legislation includes provisions that impose a minimum tax on the book income of certain large corporations and an excise tax on certain corporate stock repurchases that would be imposed on the corporation repurchasing such stock. It remains unclear in certain respects how this legislation will be implemented by the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Company cannot predict how this legislation or any future changes in tax laws might affect the Company or purchasers of the Common Shares or Pre-funded Warrants.

CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This Prospectus contains "forward-looking statements" and "forward-looking information" within the meaning of United States and Canadian securities laws (collectively, "forward-looking statements"). Such forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, information with respect to our objectives and our strategies to achieve these objectives, as well as statements with respect to our beliefs, plans, expectations, anticipations, estimates and intentions. These forward-looking statements may be identified by the use of terms and phrases such as "may", "would", "should", "could", "expect", "intend", "estimate", "anticipate", "plan", "foresee", "believe", or "continue", the negative of these terms and similar terminology, including references to assumptions, although not all forward-looking statements contain these terms and phrases. Forward-looking statements are provided for the purposes of assisting the reader in understanding us, our business, operations, prospects and risks at a point in time in the context of historical and possible future developments and therefore the reader is cautioned that such information may not be appropriate for other purposes.

Forward-looking statements relating to us include, among other things, statements relating to:

• our expectations regarding our business, financial condition, results of operations and future capital raises;
• the future state of the legislative and regulatory regimes, both domestic and foreign, in which we conduct business and may conduct business in the future;
• our expansion into domestic and international markets;
• our ability to attract customers and clients;
• our marketing and business plans and short-term objectives;
• our ability to obtain and retain the licenses and personnel we require to undertake our business;
• our ability to deliver under contracts with customers;
• anticipated revenue from professional service contracts with customers;
• our strategic relationships with third parties;
• our anticipated trends and challenges in the markets in which we operate;
• governance of us as a public company; and
• expectations regarding future developments of products and our ability to bring these products to market.

Forward-looking statements are based upon a number of assumptions and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond our control, which could cause actual results to differ materially from those that are disclosed in or implied by such forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the following risk factors:

• limited operating history;
• failure to realize growth strategy;
• failure to complete transactions or realize anticipated benefits;
• reliance on key personnel;
• regulatory compliance;
• competition;
• changes in laws, regulations and guidelines;
• demand for our products;
• fluctuating prices of raw materials;
• pricing for products;
• ability to supply sufficient product;
• potential cancellation or loss of customer contracts if we are unable to meet contract performance requirements;
• expansion to other jurisdictions;
• damage to our reputation;
• operating risk and insurance coverage;
• negative operating cash flow;
• management of growth;
• product liability;
• product recalls;
• environmental regulations and risks;
• ownership and protection of intellectual property;
• constraints on marketing products;
• reliance on management;
• fraudulent or illegal activity by our employees, contractors and consultants;

• breaches of security at our facilities or in respect of electronic documents and data storage and risks related to breaches of applicable privacy laws;
• government regulations regarding public or employee health and safety regulations, including public health measures in the event of pandemics or epidemics;
• regulatory or agency proceedings, investigations and audits;
• additional capital requirements to support our operations and growth plans, leading to further dilution to shareholders;
• the terms of additional capital raises;
• conflicts of interest;
• litigation;
• risks related to United States' and other international activities, including regional conflicts that may impact our operations;
• risks related to security clearances;
• risks relating to the ownership of our securities, such as potential extreme volatility in the price of our securities;
• risks related to our foreign private issuer status;
• risks related to our emerging growth company status; and
• risks related to our failure to meet the continued listing requirements of Nasdaq.

Although the forward-looking statements contained in this Prospectus are based upon what we believe are reasonable assumptions, investors are cautioned against placing undue reliance on this information since actual results may vary from the forward-looking statements. Certain assumptions were made in preparing the forward-looking statements concerning availability of capital resources, business performance, market conditions and customer demand.

Consequently, all of the forward-looking statements contained in this Prospectus are qualified by the foregoing cautionary statements, and there can be no guarantee that the results or developments that we anticipate will be realized or, even if substantially realized, that they will have the expected consequences or effects on our business, financial condition or results of operation. Unless otherwise noted or the context otherwise indicates, the forward-looking statements contained in this Prospectus are provided as of the date hereof and we do not undertake to update or amend such forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required by applicable law.

CAPITALIZATION AND INDEBTEDNESS

The following table presents (i) our unaudited capitalization and indebtedness as of June 30, 2024, in accordance with IFRS, (ii) the as adjusted capitalization and indebtedness as of June 30, 2024 after giving effect to the August 2024 Offering and (iii) the as adjusted capitalization and indebtedness as of June 30, 2024, reflecting the effect of the August 2024 Offering and the sale by us of 1,982,815 Common Shares (assuming no sale of any Pre-funded Warrants) offered by us in this Prospectus (excluding the underwriters’ over-allotment option) at the assumed public offering price of USD$1.513 per Common Share, after deducting the estimated underwriting discounts and other offering expenses. You should read this table in conjunction with the sections of this Prospectus entitled Operating and Financial Review and Prospects, Financial Statements and the related notes and other financial information contained elsewhere in this Prospectus.

Each USD$0.10 increase (decrease) in the assumed public offering price would increase (decrease) shareholder’s equity after this Offering by approximately USD$0.2 million, assuming the number of Common Shares we sell, as set forth on the cover page of this Prospectus, remains the same, after deducting underwriting discounts and the estimated offering expenses payable by us, and further assuming no sale of any Pre-funded Warrants. Similarly, each increase (decrease) of 100,000 Common Shares offered by us would increase (decrease) our shareholder’s equity by USD$0.2 million, assuming the assumed public offering price remains the same and after deducting underwriting discounts.

The foregoing calculations are as of October 7, 2024 and exclude as of such date (USD$ equivalent is based on a conversion rate of CAD$1.3609):

• 1,144,886 warrants to purchase 1,075,886 Common Shares at a weighted average exercise price of $32.13 (US$23.63) per share; 

• 15,173 pre-funded warrants to purchase 15,173 Common Shares at an exercise price of US$0.01 per share;

• 38,990 Common Shares issuable upon the exercise of outstanding but unexercised stock options to purchase Common Shares, under our LTIP at a weighted average exercise price of $28.00 (US$20.57) per share;

• 372 Common Shares issuable upon the conversion of 107 restricted stock units and 265 share appreciation rights  under our LTIP;

• up to 1,982,815 Common Shares issuable upon the exercise of the Pre-funded Warrants offered hereby; and

• up to 114,011 Common Shares issuable upon the exercise of Underwriter Warrants.

USE OF PROCEEDS

We estimate that the net proceeds from this Offering will be approximately USD$2.5 million, assuming we sell only Common Shares in this Offering, after deducting the estimated underwriting discounts and estimated offering expenses payable by us, based on as the assumed public offering price of USD$1.513 per Common Share. If the underwriters exercise their over-allotment option in full, we estimate that the net proceeds to us from this Offering will be approximately USD$2.9 million, after deducting the estimated underwriting discounts and estimated offering expenses payable by us.

We intend to use approximately one quarter of the net proceeds from this Offering for working capital and other general corporate purposes and approximately three quarters of the net proceeds for product development and business development relating to BLDS, KWESST Lightning™, ARWEN and PARA OPS^TM.

Each USD$0.10 increase (decrease) in the assumed public offering price of USD$1.513 per Common Share would increase (decrease) net proceeds to us by approximately USD$0.2 million or USD$0.4 million including if the underwriters exercise their over-allotment option in full), assuming the number of Common Shares we sell, as set forth on the cover page of this Prospectus, remains the same, after deducting underwriting discounts and the estimated offering expenses payable by us, and further assuming no sale of any Pre-funded Warrants. Similarly, each increase (decrease) of 100,000 Common Shares offered by us would increase (decrease) the net proceeds to us by USD$0.2 million, assuming the assumed public offering price remains the same and after deducting underwriting discounts.

INFORMATION ON THE COMPANY

Business Overview

KWESST Micro Systems Inc. is an early-stage technology company that develops and commercializes next-generation tactical systems for military and security forces and public safety markets.

Our product development has focused on three niche market segments as follows:

Our core mission is to protect and save lives. At Fiscal 2023 year-end we began to group our offerings for commercialization purposes into Military and Public Safety missions.

KWESST’s Public Safety offerings are comprised of:

• Non-Lethal: KWESST Lightning™:  leverages the Company’s military digitization technology to provide responders to any type of incident with instant onboarding to the mission and TAK-enabled real-time situational awareness SaaS. KWESST Lightning™ is not yet commercially available; PARA OPS, a next-generation non-lethal system just being introduced to market now; ARWEN 37mm system, plus a new 40mm munition.

KWESST's Military offerings are comprised of:

• Digitization: real-time data sharing at the tactical level, including integration with BMS including ATAK and TAK; Digital Fires or Joint Fires; Digitized Electro Magnetic Spectrum Operations.

• Counter-Threat: BLDS.

Strategy

Our strategy is to pursue and win large defense contracts for multi-year revenue visibility with prime defense contractors for next-generation situational awareness, with a particular focus on ATAK applications that can be leveraged to address similar requirements in the Public Safety Market complemented by our proprietary ARWEN and PARA OPS^TM  non-lethal products, where it is possible to drive sales and where the sales cycle is typically shorter than the more programmatic defense market.

Principal Products and Services

The following is a summary of our main product and service categories for each business line:

Non-Lethal Products

Non-reciprocating PARA OPS devices

We are in the low-rate initial production ("LRIP") phase for the .67 caliber single shot and multi-shot devices. We expect to complete our sales, marketing and distribution plan and will begin the higher volume production phase for these devices during Fiscal 2025. Both will be offered to the public safety market, including our proprietary projectiles for these devices.

(Single shot)	(Pro 5 Magnum)

(Proprietary cartridge and projectile)

We plan to offer three types of payload for projectiles based on customer needs:

• solid slug for practice or pain compliance,
• inert colored powder for practice or realistic close quarters combat simulation, and
• incapacitating irritant pepper powder for operational use.

Reciprocating PARA OPS devices

We have a plan to prototype PARA OPS as a high-capacity automatic pistol and carbine (referred as reciprocating devices) for non-lethal operations and force-on-force training, along with a reciprocating PARA OPS cartridge in the second quarter of Fiscal 2025.

See below for further details of our projected product development cycle and estimated additional investment to reach full commercialization for our PARA OPS devices.

ARWEN launchers

As a result of the Police Ordinance Acquisition, we are currently selling the following ARWEN products and related ammunition to law enforcement agencies:

(Multi-shot launcher)	(Single-shot launcher)

Digitization

For the Digitization business line, our products share the same core technology platforms and leverage our domain knowledge, proprietary sensor-software integration, proprietary algorithms and electronic circuity in order to develop and deliver integrated shared situational awareness solutions to our clients who operate in the primarily dismounted domain (i.e., away from supporting platforms such as vehicles, aircraft and armored vehicles):

• ATAK is a United States government owned situational awareness software application that is hosted on Android end user devices. Based on our observation, ATAK is becoming the de facto standard in the United States, Canada, and North Atlantic Treaty Organization ("NATO") for software based situational awareness and as a command and control battle management application in the dismounted domain. While the base software is United States Government owned and is available at no cost, being able to develop specific plug-ins and secure tactical networks is beyond the capacity of most user organizations. We have the experience and expertise to offer ATAK integration and networking services to prospective clients.

• After successfully developing digital technologies for tactical military applications which provide real-time exchange of situational awareness, navigation, imagery, and operational information for soldiers on the ground, we saw opportunities to apply these digitization solutions to the public safety market. These solutions solve critical challenges for law enforcement, fire, emergency response, search and rescue, and natural disaster management, all of whom require networked situational awareness in real time to understand, decide, and act faster and more effectively in response to a critical incident. When responders are facing a public emergency, they need information quickly. Whether it is a wildfire, active shooter scenario or a natural disaster, they need to know what they're walking into and where their resources are located. They also need to communicate and collaborate in real-time - across teams and information sources and often across departments.

• Based on experience gained from our work in the civilian public safety market with our CIMS concept for enhanced public safety, KWESST is working to bring its Lightning™ SaaS app announced in October 2023 to full market release late Calendar 2024. KWESST is currently working to contract with early adopters from a major Canadian police agency to refine the product as part of a pre-market release early adoption phase.

The following is a summary of our Digitization main products that are being commercialized through fiscal year 2024 and 2025, subject to customer orders.

Counter Threats

We offer the following proprietary next-generation counter-threat solution to protect against hostile enemy lasers, electronic detection, and drones.

The following table provides an update of our current product development cycle by product line and estimated timeline by quarter (fiscal year ended September 30^th) to reach production:

	Concept & Design	Prototype(1)	Market Testing(2)	LRIP Production(3)	Higher Volume Production(4)
PARA OPS– single shot device (5)	Completed	Completed	Q3 FY23 – Ongoing	Q4 FY23 – Q1 FY24	Q1-Q2 FY25
PARA OPS– Pro 5 Magnum (5)	Completed	Completed	Q3 FY23 – Ongoing	Q4 FY23 – Q2 FY24	Q1-Q2 FY25
PARA OPS – reciprocating	Q1 FY25	Q2 FY25	Q3FY25	Q4 FY25	Q1 FY26
devices
BLDS	Completed	Ongoing	Ongoing	Ongoing	TBD per market demand
ARWEN 37mm Ammunition	Completed	Completed	Completed	Completed	Completed
ARWEN 40mm Ammunition	Completed	Completed	Ongoing	Ongoing	Q1 FY25

Notes:

(1) Prototype Version 1 (V1) and Version 2 (V2), integration, and testing have been completed. Next Generation BLDS prototyping is ongoing.

(2) Includes field testing and prototype V2.

(3) "Low Rate Initial Production". Includes final product development, LRIP, and sales demonstration units. A product is not ready for pre-production until it reaches Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of 5 to 6. Version 2 has been delivered to the customer for integration under this phase.

(4) Awaiting customer validation and follow-on orders.

(5) Includes the cartridges for the devices.

We consider a product to have reached the commercialization phase when we have begun LRIP and we have a sales, marketing, and distribution plan for the product.

Principal Markets

Our total revenues by category of activity and geographic market for each of the last three financial years and the nine months ended June 30, 2024, were as follows:

Market Opportunities

Non-Lethal

According to Fact.MR: Non-Lethal Weapons Market, April 2023, the global non-lethal weapons market was approximately USD$4.95 billion in 2023 and is projected to reach USD$7.6 billion in 2028 (a 4.3% compound annual growth rate). We plan to target the following two markets, with an initial focus in the United States:

• Professional market:

Our main focus in the short-term is the professional market in the United States and overseas as these represent a major opportunity for our non-lethal security products. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, in the United States there are nearly 917,000 police officers, detectives and criminal investigators. Cases involving police shootings and deaths related to the use of conductive energy devices and less-lethal shotgun ammunition have increased in the United States. According to The Washington Post, there have been over 6,300 shootings in the United States since 2017 involving police.

A Reuters report estimates that at least 1,000 people have died as a result of being stunned by conductive energy devices in the United States. In over 150 of those deaths, the conductive energy device was determined to be a cause or a contributing factor.

There are several other security-related occupations which we believe are potential customers for our non-lethal products. These include 800,000 private security guards, 346,000 corrections officers and 90,000 private detectives, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. We believe that our PARA OPS products could play a meaningful role in addressing the tragic increase in school shooting events. According to the Naval Postgraduate School's Center for Homeland Defense and Security, there have been approximately 460 shooting events in K-12 schools during the last five years. We believe our non-lethal security products offer school personnel important options to create a tactical advantage in school shootings without using lethal firearms.

According to the U.S. Department of Education, there are over 132,000 elementary and secondary schools and nearly 6,000 colleges and universities in the United States. We believe there is an opportunity to utilize our products to enhance school safety.

Other public spaces such as grocery stores, houses of worship, bars and nightclubs, concert venues, sporting arenas and public transportation centers are also confronted with increased security challenges. Each of these locations represents an opportunity for us as they could improve security without introducing lethal firearms into crowded civilian environments by equipping their employees and security personnel with our non-lethal products.

Other market opportunities that we intend to further explore include the international professional market, realistic force-on-force training for military and police, realistic high-action gaming and animal control, both in the United States and internationally.

The principal market for the ARWEN product line of non-lethal systems is law enforcement, primarily in Canada and United States.

• Consumer market:

According to Gallup and the United States Census Bureau, as at January 2022, there are approximately 82 million gun owners in the United States. We believe our PARA OPS devices will offer gun owners and members of their households a safer, personal defense option, without the risk of loss of human life.

In addition to personal defense, we believe we have an opportunity to disrupt the recreational market - specifically for paintball guns, which are air-based devices rather than cartridge-based (see Business Overview - Competitive Conditions). According to market research by Statista, the paintball gun market size in the United States was $1.3 billion in 2020.

Digitization

The principal market for our digitization business lines is primarily among military and public safety agencies in countries that are members of NATO, as well as Australia and New Zealand. As the largest purchaser and user of military and public safety products, the United States is our primary focus, followed by the other NATO member countries, and to a lesser extent, the Middle East and Asia.

In addition to increased military spending in the United States and other members of NATO, another important trend that we have observed is an increase in funding within the military for projects related to precision munitions for weapons already in use by the military (legacy weapons) to further enhance survivability of soldiers and their operational effectiveness. Our TASCS Integrated Fires Module (IFM) products are expected to benefit from these trends by transforming "dumb" legacy weapons into "smart" weapons (with better accuracy) and integration into military "Joint Fires" systems.

For our CIMS offering, our principal market is public safety agencies, primarily in Canada and United States. Public safety agencies across the United States are seeking to implement digital solutions that can improve responder safety and incident management. According to Accenture, digital transformation presents one of the biggest challenges for public safety agencies. Globally, the public safety and security market was USD$435 billion in 2021 and is expected to reach USD$868 billion by 2028, growing at a CAGR of 10.4%, according to Fortune Business Insights. We have evolved a CIMS system under a SaaS model, branded "KWESST Lightning" to appeal to public safety agencies who may find it attractive to adopt this as a service rather than purchase hardware and software.

The major factors fueling the public safety market include rising instances of mass shooting, natural disasters, terrorist activities and security breaches as well as increasing law enforcement requirements for public safety and investments in public safety measures for smart cities.

Counter Threat

Our BLDS product was developed expressly to address the health and safety threats from weaponized and/or targeting laser devices utilized by adversaries in the field and to aid in the prevention of friendly fire incidents.

Our Phantom product was developed to provide additional protection to friendly forces by confusing adversaries' Electronic Warfare operators, preventing them from targeting our forces.

We also continue to explore potential application of our technologies to the counter unmanned aircraft system ("C-UAS") market. The rapid proliferation of small hostile drones continues to be a growing worldwide problem for military forces, sensitive facilities, and public security agencies. Most counter-drone systems are electronic, designed to detect, identify, track and, if possible, disrupt the communications protocols of drones to prevent completion of their mission. Increasingly, however, drones are being developed by adversaries that are difficult or impossible to disrupt electronically.  Military and Homeland Security agencies are therefore seeking alternatives for stopping drones kinetically but without collateral damage.  We have been conferring with various C-UAS vendors regarding a system for the domestic market that can be made interoperable with our digitization offerings to provide public safety agency a full solution.

Competitive Conditions

Non-lethal

We expect our competition for non-lethal PARA OPS products will primarily be manufacturers of:

• handheld CO2-powered or air powered launchers of chemical irritant projectiles, including Byrna Technologies Inc. (which sells products under the Byrna® HD brand), United Tactical Systems, LLC (which sells products under the PepperBall brand), and FN Herstal;
• conductive energy devices, including Axon Enterprises, Inc. (which sells the TASER device); and
• remote restraint devices, including Wrap Technologies Inc.

Our competitive advantage is principally our proprietary system consisting of:

• a low energy cartridge system with a cartridge casing that generates spin to a projectile, a far more reliable platform than air-based launchers;
• inexpensive firing platforms in any design that fire only our PARA OPS cartridges;
• different payloads in the projectile for various applications;
• velocities and muzzle energy far below the "lethal" threshold;
• simple internal mechanisms with few components simplifying the manufacturing process; and
• a patented system whereby the cartridge casing generates spin to a projectile to stabilize it for accuracy over distance.

Our Executive Chairman was the inventor of PARA OPS. He was previously the founder of Simunition^TM, a manufacturer of non-lethal training ammunition, since sold to General Dynamics. Further, he was also the Chief Executive Officer and Executive Chairman of United Tactical Systems, LLC, a company offering public-safety products for law enforcement, military and personal defense under the PepperBall^TM brand. Accordingly, he brings a wealth of market knowledge to us. Additionally, we have staff with many years of experience in firearms development and manufacturing. In August 2021, we also hired a senior Technical Manager with over 17 years of firearms manufacturing experience. He previously held senior roles at Colt Canada including most recently R&D Manager and Product Support Engineering. While we do not build lethal firearms, this experience is very relevant for building our PARA OPS business.

Many air-powered (CO2-powered) devices are complex and less reliable, specifically:

• ambient temperature causes performance to vary, especially in colder weather;
• synthetic seals and "O" rings dry out and can cause catastrophic failures; and
• such devices entail long logistics tails (for example, heavy air tanks, compressors and spare parts).

Our patent application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office ("USPO") for our proprietary cartridge-based firing system was approved and the patent issued effective October 31, 2023.

For the ARWEN's product line, our primary competitors are the following:

• DEFTEC / Safariland's 40 mm LTM launchers; and
• ALS (a Pacem Defense Company)'s single shot 37mm and 40mm launchers and 40mm multi-shot launchers.

A further market advantage is the access to the law enforcement market through our ownership of ARWEN, and the strength of its brand, which has been selling non-lethal systems to law enforcement agencies internationally for over 30 years. As a result of our acquisition of Police Ordnance, we believe there are synergies between our PARA OPS and ARWEN products such as access to law enforcement market for PARA OPS, providing a low-energy cartridge for ARWEN launchers and combining facilities and engineering.

We have developed a 40mm ARWEN baton cartridge which we believe has the superior performance of the 37 mm cartridge and is designed to work in most third-party 40mm launchers. We are currently in the process of introducing this to selected law enforcement tactical teams for test and evaluation, with plans for volume production and roll-out to the market in Q1 Fiscal 2025.

Digitization and Counter-Threat

Our competition for digitization and counter threat business lines is primarily:

• R&D labs funded by the U.S. Department of Defense for developing systems like TASCS;
• Fabrique Nationale Herstal S.A. for their remote weapon stations (although these do not offer high angular resolution like TASCS); and
• known developers of electronic decoy systems including Motorola (Tactical TV Decoys), Synchopated Engineering (Mockingbird RF Signal Emulator), and CACI Systemware (MAGPIE).

We are currently not aware of any major direct competitors for our BLDS technology apart from legacy detection systems that provide very basic detection.

Our competitive advantage is the significant experience that our team of engineers and technicians have in soldier systems (which we consider to be any device that a soldier carries onto the battlefield, ranging from a communications device to a sensor), weapons, and sensor fields. Our expertise in the field of networked weapons has been recognized by the United States military who requested that we participate in the NATO working group tasked with developing standards and requirements for these types of networked weapons.

We are also not aware of any major direct competitors for our CIMS (KWESST Lightning^TM as a service offering (SaaS)(.

Seasonality

We do not expect our non-lethal business line will be exposed to seasonality. While our Digitization and Counter-Threat business lines may be affected by national military budgetary cycles, as well as federal, state and local government spending, we expect the various customers having different spending cycles will mitigate our potential cyclicality exposure.

Manufacturing and Availability of Raw Materials

Non-lethal

We have currently outsourced the engineering work for the PARA OPS devices to a third party, with oversight by us. Additionally, we plan to rely upon strategic alliances with OEMs for the manufacturing and distribution of our PARA OPS products.

For the ARWEN launchers, components are outsourced to various suppliers and assembled by an outsourced manufacturer. 

Today, we are not aware of material sourcing issues or pricing volatility of raw materials, except for price volatility for certain components to manufacture ARWEN ammunition that will be required for our non-lethal business line (see Risk Factors - We Are Dependent on Key Suppliers for our ARWEN Product Line).

Digitization and Counter-Threat

Today we have assembled a team of engineers, technicians and advisors that have significant experience in soldier systems (which we consider to be any device that a soldier carries onto the battlefield, ranging from a communications device to a sensor), weapons, and sensor fields. It is this combination of disparate knowledge sets that enables us to integrate and develop innovative solutions. We leverage from this same pool of talent to deploy our Lightning™ SaaS product for the public safety market.

All current product development is done at our facility in Ottawa (see Property, Plants and Equipment). For as long as market demand justifies a low rate of production quantities, we will internally produce these products. Once demand reaches quantities necessitating commercial-level production quantities, we will outsource our production to companies specifically suited to producing each particular product. We are not aware of any material regulatory approvals that are required for us to outsource production.

Marketing Plans and Strategies

Non-lethal

Initially we plan to sell our PARA OPS to the professional market which includes law enforcement agencies and then to the consumer market through an e-commerce store and a network of distributors. We plan to hire sales and marketing resources during 1H Fiscal 2025 for the commercialization of PARA OPS.

For the ARWEN launchers, we plan to continue direct sales to law enforcement agencies, with marketing via tradeshows and social media/web-based.

As part of our marketing efforts, we are planning to attend the following tradeshows to promote all KWESST products and services:

Proprietary Protection

Public Safety

We have the following registered trademarks:

We have the following trademark and design mark pending applications:

Trademark	Country	File Date for Pending	Application # / Registration #	Status / Registration Date
EVERYONE GOES HOME ALIVE	Canada	August 10, 2022	2,203,009	Pending
EVERYONE GOES HOME ALIVE	United States	September 16, 2022	97/594,701	Pending
	Canada	November 5, 2021	2,145,500	Abandoned
GREY GHOST	Canada	8/10/2020	2,044,815	Pending
PARA SHOT	Canada	11/9/2023	2,292,216	Pending
PARA SHOT	United States	11/30/2023	98/292,215	Pending
KWESST LIGHTNING	Canada	11/17/2023	2,293,584	Pending
KWESST LIGHTNING	United States	11/30/2023	98/292,239	Pending

We have the following patent pending or issued applications:

Digitization

While we rely significantly on trade secrets to protect our internally developed technologies, we currently have the following patent pending applications regarding our digitization business lines:

Counter Threat

While we rely significantly on trade secrets to protect our internally developed technologies, we currently have the following patent and pending patent applications regarding our counter-threat business lines:

We have the following pending trademark applications:

We also have the following corporate pending trademark applications:

Government Regulations

Non-lethal

United States

In February 2022, we retained the services of Orchid Advisors to assist us with the classification and ATF compliance for our PARA OPS devices.  Orchid Advisors is an FFL compliance solutions firm headquartered in Hartford, Connecticut.

Based on Orchid Advisor's interpretation of the ATF rules and regulations, we have self-classified the .67 caliber version of the PARA OPS devices as a "destructive device," providing us with the ability to go to market much sooner than waiting for ATF classification ruling. Under the ATF rules, a manufacturer must determine whether the device is a firearm and therefore be subject to ATF regulation and if it is a firearm whether it is subject to National Firearms Act of 1934 ("NFA") regulations.

To be considered a regulated firearm in the United States, the device must be: (i) a weapon that (ii) will or is designed to expel a projectile (iii) by the action of an explosive. Although primers in ammunition cartridges are exempt from control under the explosives regulations as administered by ATF, they are still considered an "explosive" for the purposes of the firearm definition.  Because we use primers in the ammunition cartridges for our PARA OPS devices, we have decided to self-classify our PARA OPS devices as a form of firearm in the United States pending any different eventual classification by the ATF. 

As the PARA OPS product line is identified as a firearm in the United States, it must be determined whether an additional level of control is imposed by the NFA. Under NFA regulations, there are only two possible types of NFA firearm that PARA OPS could be defined as: (1) a "any other weapon" ("AOW") or (2) a "destructive device".  Sale of either of these to consumers is permissible but requires a lengthy approval process conducted by the ATF (the background check process on the consumer); whereas sale to law enforcement agencies, military bodies, or government agencies is a more expedient approval process (usually less than 7 days). Further, the AOW classification requires only a $5 transfer tax to consumers whereas a destructive device classification results in a $200 transfer tax to consumers (such tax being borne by the consumer). While our PARA OPS is non-lethal (the kinetic energy of our projectile is well below lethal threshold), we have determined that the current version of our PARA OPS devices are "destructive devices" because the measurement of the bore of our device is currently in excess of the one-half inch in diameter, the maximum size for AOW. Therefore, until we produce a small caliber version for the consumer market, we plan to focus sales on the market of law enforcement and other public safety agencies.

As a result, initial sales of our PARA OPS devices in the United States are expected to come primarily from law enforcement agencies until we reduce the bore diameter of our device to less than one-half inch in diameter for the consumer market. In July 2022, we entered into a consulting agreement with an FFL engineering firm, Bachstein Consulting LLC, in the United States to finalize the prototype for the PARA OPS single and multi-shot devices, including LRIP during Q1 Fiscal 2023.  We plan to pursue development through Fiscal 2025 of a non-pyrotechnic energy actuator for PARA OPS in conjunction with a smaller diameter cartridge and projectile which, together, we expect would result in a next-generation version of PARA OPS products that would be considered non-firearms in most jurisdictions. The distribution of our PARA OPS in the United States will be done directly with FFL distributors/firearm dealers for civilian sales.  Today, all 50 states of the United States allow civilians to own a firearm subject to the firearm laws of the state (which vary by state). We expect the sales of our PARA OPS devices will position us well for significant recurring revenues through the sale of subsequent ammunition over the next 12 months (see Risk Factors - We have Significant Non-Recurring Revenue).

For the non-lethal ARWEN products, we maintain a firearm business license (the "Firearm Business License") issued by the Chief Firearms Office of the Ontario Ministry of the Solicitor General and we are also registered under the Controlled Goods Program in Canada. For further information, see Digitization and Counter Threat. Additionally, we maintain a Federal Explosives License/Permit for the manufacturing of explosives and an FFL for manufacturer and sale of destructive devices, both issued by the ATF in the United States. All sales of our ARWEN launchers are made directly to law enforcement agencies.

Rest of the World

As our current focus is commercializing PARA OPS in the United States, we have not begun analyzing the related government regulations for the rest of the world.

Digitization and Counter-Threat

Firearm Business License

In Canada, we maintain a Firearm Business License with the Chief Firearms Officer of the Ontario Ministry of Solicitor General for our following business activities:

• Manufacture, modification and assembly: prohibited weapons, ammunition, restricted firearms, prohibited devices, prohibited ammunition, prohibited handguns, non-restricted firearms, prohibited firearms;
• Retail sales (including consignment sales): restricted firearms and non-restricted firearms;
• Consignment sales: prohibited firearms including prohibited handguns;
• Gunsmithing: prohibited firearms, prohibited handguns, non-restricted firearms, restricted firearms;
• Transportation of inventory: prohibited firearms, ammunition, prohibited handguns, non-restricted firearms, prohibited ammunition, prohibited devices, restricted firearms, prohibited weapons;
• Storage of firearms: restricted firearms, non-restricted firearms, prohibited firearms, prohibited handguns.
• Export: ammunition, prohibited handguns, non-restricted firearms, prohibited ammunition, prohibited firearms, prohibited weapons, prohibited devices;

• Possession for the purpose of instruction: restricted firearms, ammunition, non-restricted firearms, prohibited handguns.
• Import: prohibited firearms, non-restricted firearms, prohibited devices, prohibited ammunition, ammunition, prohibited weapons, prohibited handguns and restricted firearms.

The Firearm Business License is for the purposes of: (i) the performance of a contract entered into by the Government of Canada, the government of a province, the government of a municipality acting on behalf of a police force, or a police force, or by a person acting on behalf of such a government or a police force; and (ii) the development, modification or testing of a prohibited firearm, prohibited weapon, prohibited device or prohibited ammunition, or any component or part thereof, for the purpose of training, or supplying goods or training materials used in the training of, a public officer as defined in subsection 117.07(2) of the Criminal Code (Canada), who is acting in the course of his or her duties or employment.

As of the date of this Prospectus, we believe ourselves to be fully compliant with all the conditions under which the Firearm Business License is delivered and maintained.

We have a Firearms Business License that covers any potential scenario that we may from time to time be involved in in which such a license would be required. We are currently not in the retail or consignment sale of firearms and do not expect to be in this type of business.

For greater clarity, we use real firearms in the development and testing of our products as well as in training users in their use. Any device such as the TASCS IFM or TASCS NORS must be developed and tested on the weapon platforms for which it is designed. The Shot Counter is designed to work on automatic weapons in military and police inventories. These types of weapons are classified as prohibited and are solely utilized in the development and testing of the product. Replica systems are utilized for static demonstrations, trade shows and other non-firing events.

We procure ammunition such as those required for mortars, grenade launchers and others weapon types to conduct testing and evaluation. On occasion, we may need to export ammunition in support of demonstrations.

Controlled Goods Program

In Canada, an individual or organization must register in the Controlled Goods Program with the Public Services and Procurement Canada if they need to:

• examine, possess or transfer controlled goods (munitions);
• transfer controlled goods outside of Canada; or
• receive bid solicitation documents containing controlled goods or controlled technology.

We are registered in the Controlled Goods Program and believe we are in compliance as of the date of this Prospectus.

Economic Dependence

As an early-stage company, the revenue stream in Fiscal 2021 for the TASCS system was concentrated on one United States military customer. We recognized 98.3% of the total revenue (USD$0.8 million) for this United States military customer during Fiscal 2021 (see Operating and Financial Review and Prospects, Critical Accounting Estimates).  We have delivered the remaining milestone and recognized the remaining 2.7% of the total revenue during the first quarter of Fiscal 2022. While we expect follow-on orders for our TASCS IFM 81mm mortar system they are likely to be under multi-year "Joint Fires" programs throughout Fiscal 2025, and there is no assurance of such orders Fiscal 2025.

Since September 30, 2021, we have further diversified our revenue base as a result of the Police Ordnance Acquisition.  Additionally, on December 1, 2021, we entered into a master professional services agreement (the "MPSA") with General Dynamics Mission System ("GDMS") to support the development of digitization solutions for future Canadian land C41SR programs under Strong, Secure, Engaged: Canada's Defence Policy. This includes TAK integration and other digitization services over 12 months. The MPSA serves as the master agreement and governs the basic terms and conditions for all future statements of work ("SOW") but does not in itself give rise to financial rights or obligations for either GDMS or us nor does it ensure that a future SOW will be awarded. Accordingly, there are no material terms in the MPSA except for the termination provision. At its sole discretion, GDMS may terminate the MPSA and/or a SOW by written notice to us. Under such event, GDMS will be liable for work rendered or expenses incurred prior to the effective date of such termination for which payment has not been made to us.  GDMS may also terminate the MPSA immediately in the event of default (as defined in the GDMS). Concurrently with entering in the MPSA, we entered into a SOW with GDMS for the first phase of the project which was delivered by the end of Q3 Fiscal 2022 and fully collected.  GDMS accounted for 41% of our Fiscal 2022 consolidated revenue. During Q1 Fiscal 2023 we entered into another SOW with GDMS for USD$0.1 million, which we delivered by the end of the quarter. With the commercial launch of PARA OPS product line in Fiscal 2024 and continued product sales from the ARWEN launchers, we anticipate our total consolidated revenue will continue to diversify with various customers, resulting in less dependence on limited customers to drive positive cash flows and profitability.

Foreign Operations

We established office space in Stafford, Virginia to conduct United States business development activities and anticipated light assembly and distribution for our non-lethal, Digitization, and Counter-Threat business lines. We released this space in the summer of 2023 and rented alternative space in the premises of our outsourced PARA OPS devices manufacturer in North Carolina for greater economy and convenience.

History and Development of the Company

Corporate Overview

KWESST Micro Systems Inc. is a corporation domiciled in Canada and was incorporated under the BCBCA on November 28, 2017. We develop and commercialize next-generation tactical systems for military, security, and personal defense markets. Key market segments and solutions addressed by our proprietary solutions are:

(i) non-lethal products with broad application in the professional and personal defense market,

(ii) modernized digitization of tactical teams for shared real-time situational awareness in the military and public safety markets, and

(iii) counter-measures against threats such as drones, lasers and electronic detection for the military market.

Our business activities are carried on by our wholly-owned subsidiaries, see Organizational Structure.

Our registered office is located at 2900 - 550 Burrard Street, Vancouver, British Columbia V6C 0A3 and our principal place of business is located at 155 Terence Matthews Crescent, Unit #1, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, K2M 2A8.

Our Common Shares are listed and posted for trading on Nasdaq under the symbol "KWE", the TSXV under the trading stock symbol "KWE.V" and the Frankfurt Stock Exchange under the stock symbol of "62U". Certain of our Warrants are listed and posted for trading on Nasdaq under the symbol "KWESW".

Following the closing of the Qualifying Transaction on September 17, 2020 (as defined below) pursuant to the policies of the TSXV, we changed our fiscal year end from December 31^st to September 30^th.

The SEC maintains an internet site at http://www.sec.gov/edgar that contains reports, proxy and information statements, and other information regarding issuers that file electronically with the SEC. Our internet site is https://www.kwesst.com; our telephone number is (613)319-0537.

Intercorporate Relationships

The following chart illustrates our wholly-owned subsidiaries:

KWESST U.S. Holdings Inc.

On May 2, 2022, we incorporated a wholly-owned United States holding subsidiary in Delaware (United States). 

KWESST Public Safety Systems U.S. Inc.

On May 2, 2022, we incorporated a wholly-owned United States subsidiary in Delaware (United States), for the PARA OPS product line in the United States (see Business Overview). 

KWESST Defense Systems U.S. Inc. (formerly KWESST U.S., Inc.)

On January 28, 2021, we incorporated a wholly-owned United States subsidiary in Delaware (United States), named KWESST U.S., Inc., and established an office in Stafford, Virginia (United States) to further pursue Digitization and Counter-Threat business opportunities in the United States.  On June 3, 2022, we amended the certificate of incorporation of the subsidiary to change the name to KWESST Defense Systems U.S. Inc.

KWESST Public Safety Systems Canada Inc.

On April 6, 2022, we incorporated a wholly-owned subsidiary in Ontario (Canada), for the PARA OPS business line in Canada (see Business Overview). 

2720178 Ontario Inc. and Police Ordnance Company Inc.

On December 15, 2021, we acquired 2720178 Ontario Inc., which owns all of the issued and outstanding shares of Police Ordnance, a company incorporated in Ontario (Canada) (see Principal Capital Expenditures and Divestitures).  These are wholly-owned subsidiaries of KWESST.

KWESST Inc.

On April 24, 2017, we incorporated a company in Ontario (Canada) named KWESST Inc. for the Digitization and Counter-Threat business lines.

On September 17, 2020, pursuant to the Qualifying Transaction (as defined below), KWESST Inc. amalgamated with 2751530 Ontario Ltd. ("Subco"), with the amalgamated company retaining the name of "KWESST Inc."

Events in the Development of the Business

All share-related information presented in this section gives effect to the Reverse Split.

Inception to 2019 Highlights

KWESST was formed in April 2017. KWESST was founded to pursue advanced projects within the defense and security fields. We opened our offices in Ottawa, Ontario in May of 2017 and began development of what would become our core technology, TASCS. Our TASCS consists of a sensor package mounted to a soldier weapon and a display running a user interface program typically known as the Battlefield Management System ("BMS").

Between May and September of 2017, we developed the first-generation prototype of the sensor package forming part of TASCS, combined with a basic BMS system. KWESST started to collaborate with a United States military drone supplier, AeroVironment, Inc. ("AeroVironment").

In March 2018, we successfully integrated AeroVironment's drone data feed into KWESST's TASCS.

From April 20, 2018, to December 14, 2018, KWESST completed several financings (collectively "KWESST 2018 Financing") in the amount of $940,255 by way of revenue sharing agreements, related party loans and 10% convertible debentures to fund our working capital requirements.

2019 Highlights

On April 12, 2019, we won our first contract with AeroVironment valued at USD$100,000. In August 2019, we were in discussions with AeroVironment for a further contract to integrate our TASCS IFM with AeroVironment's Augmented Weapon Sight technology for the preproduction development of 60mm and 81mm mortar and machine gun mounts. This was delayed to April 2020 due to COVID-19 restrictions.

On October 1, 2019, we entered into an executive service agreement with DEFSEC Corporation ("DEFSEC") in which its CEO, David Luxton, agreed to serve as our Executive Chairman (refer to Compensation for remuneration information).

On October 24, 2019, we completed a private placement of Common Shares for gross proceeds of $1,015,000 at a price of $140 per share, resulting in the issuance of 7,250 Common Shares (the “October 2019 Private Placement”).

On October 24, 2019, the revenue sharing agreements and convertible debentures that we issued as part of the KWESST 2018 Financing were settled by the issuance of: (i) 4,435 Common Shares, and (ii) $234,515 in principal amount of convertible notes, bearing interest at a rate of 10% per annum (the “KWESST 2019 Convertible Notes”).

On November 18, 2019, we entered into a non-exclusive licensing agreement (the "AerialX Licensing Agreement") with AerialX and licensed a technology required to manufacture, operate and use a drone whose principal function and purpose is to act as a projectile to intercept aerial threats using kinetic force (the "Licensed Technology").

During the quarter ended December 31, 2019, we started developing proprietary laser defense products to protect ground forces from a portable laser attack weapon developed and produced by a foreign adversary.

Fiscal 2020 Highlights

On January 30, 2020, we completed a private placement of 3,750 Common Shares at a price of $280 per Common Share for gross proceeds of $1,050,000.

On March 1, 2020, we entered into a consulting agreement with SageGuild, LLC (“SageGuild”) to provide United States business development support to facilitate the integration of our solutions/services into the U.S. Department of Defense markets. The monthly consulting fee comprised of cash and 43 Common Shares at a price of $350 per share. In preparation for a go-public transaction, the Common Shares issuable in satisfaction of the consulting fee were amended to stock options starting from May 31, 2020, in which the exercise price was satisfied by services rendered by SageGuild.

On March 25, 2020, we completed a private placement of 1,208 Common Shares at a price of $350 per Common Share for gross proceeds of $422,875.

On April 30, 2020, Foremost Ventures Corp. ("Foremost"), together with its wholly owned subsidiary, Subco, entered into an amalgamation agreement ("Amalgamation Agreement") with KWESST Inc. pursuant to which Subco and KWESST Inc. agreed to amalgamate (the "Amalgamation") to complete an arm's length qualifying transaction, in accordance with the policies of the TSXV (the "Qualifying Transaction" or "QT").

On April 25, 2020, AeroVironment issued an additional purchase order valued at USD$635,000 to provide increased capability to the AWS system. This generated approximately $530,000 of revenue in Fiscal 2020.

On May 8, 2020, we issued an aggregate amount of $1,115,034 in convertible notes comprised of (i) $1,081,504 in principal amount of convertible notes convertible at $315.00 per Common Share, bearing interest at a rate of 15% per annum (“KWESST May 2020 Private Placement Convertible Notes”) and (ii) a convertible note with a principal amount of $33,530 issued to a third party for services rendered in connection with the private placement, all of which convertible notes (including accrued interest thereon) were automatically converted into 3,727 Common Shares upon closing of the Qualifying Transaction on September 17, 2020. Additionally, as an inducement, the note holders were entitled to receive 25% of the principal amount in the form of Common Shares based on a stock price of $315.00 per share, resulting in the issuance of 858 Common Shares concurrently with the above conversion event.

On June 12, 2020, we entered into a technology agreement (the “GhostStep Technology Purchase Agreement”) with SageGuild pursuant to which KWESST acquired GhostStep technology. We have since rebranded it as Phantom. The total purchase consideration was valued at approximately $482,000. For further information, see Principal Capital Expenditures and Divestitures.

On July 9, 2020, KWESST issued 6,299 subscription receipts of KWESST at $490.10 per subscription receipt for aggregate gross proceeds of approximately $3,087,138, before share issuance costs. As part of the Qualifying Transaction, in September 2020, the 6,299 subscription receipts were converted into Common Shares of KWESST, which were subsequently cancelled, and Common Shares were issued in exchange therefor.

On July 20, 2020, we won a contract with a United States military customer valued at USD$405,000 to integrate our TASCS IFM with a mortar system.

On September 17, 2020, KWESST completed the Qualifying Transaction with Foremost. The Amalgamation was structured as a three-cornered amalgamation and, as a result, the amalgamated corporation, named “KWESST Inc.”, became a wholly owned subsidiary of Foremost, which changed its name to “KWESST Micro Systems Inc.”. Immediately following the completion of the Amalgamation, there were 58,951 Common Shares outstanding, and the former shareholders of KWESST Inc., along with the holders of the subscription receipts and convertible notes of KWESST Inc., owned approximately 97.8% of the issued and outstanding Common Shares. This constituted a reverse acquisition for accounting purposes under IFRS.

On September 22, 2020, the Common Shares began trading on the TSXV under the stock symbol “KWE”.

Fiscal 2021 Highlights

On December 16, 2020, following successful trials, a United States military customer awarded a follow-on order of USD$799,000 with new hardware and software requirements coupled with additional military trials.

On January 14, 2021, we entered into a definitive technology purchase agreement (the "DEFSEC Purchase Agreement") to acquire the Low Energy Cartridge technology from DEFSEC, a proprietary non-lethal cartridge-based firing system (rebranded as the "PARA OPS" system) for a total purchase consideration of approximately $2.9 million, subject to closing conditions. For further information, see Principal Capital Expenditures and Divestitures.

On February 4, 2021, the Common Shares commenced quotation on the OTCQB under the stock symbol "KWEMF."

On April 5, 2021, KWESST and AerialX entered into an amended and restated license agreement in which we obtained exclusive rights to gain exclusive rights to manufacture, operate, and use its drone for the C-UAS (Counter Unmanned Aerial Systems) market, for the United States Department of Defense and Canada's Department of National Defense. For further information, see Principal Capital Expenditures and Divestitures.

On April 29, 2021, we completed a private placement of 5,108 units at a price of $875.00 per unit for gross proceeds of $4,470,071 (the “April 2021 Private Placement”), as amended in August 2021. Each unit consisted of one Common Share and seventy Common Share purchase warrants, exercisable to acquire 1/7 of a Common Share at a price of $17.50 each (7 warrants for one Common Share) for a period of 24 months. Following this closing, we also closed the acquisition of the PARA OPS system on the same day.

On July 9, 2021, we held our first live demonstration of the PARA OPS system in Whistler, British Columbia. Following this successful live demonstration, on July 12, 2021, we announced details of our commercialization road map for the PARA OPS system, including the unveiling our products at the 2022 SHOT Show® in Las Vegas, Nevada to be held on January 18-21, 2022.

On July 21, 2021, we announced that Brandon Tatum agreed to be our strategic advisor and advocate for the LEC System. Mr. Tatum is a former Tucson Police Officer and runs a successful You-Tube channel called "The Officer Tatum", with over 1.9 million subscribers, as well as other social media platforms and a nationally syndicated radio show on the Salem Radio Network.

On August 31, 2021, the Common Share purchase warrants issued in the April 2021 Private Placement were listed for trading on the TSXV under the stock symbol "KWE.WT."

On September 16, 2021, we completed a private placement of 1,071 units at a price of $1400 per unit for gross proceeds of $1,500,000 (the “September 2021 Private Placement”). Each unit consisted of one Common Share and seven Common Share purchase warrants, exercisable at a price of $23.50 for each 1/7 of a Common Share (7 warrants for one Common Share) for a period of 24 months.

On September 28, 2021, we announced our strategic partnership with Stryk Group USA for the commercialization of our PARA OPS system in the United States.

Fiscal 2022 Highlights

On October 4, 2021, we announced the introduction to market our Phantom electronic battlefield decoy, including advanced negotiation with a global defense contractor to provide Phantom units as part of the contractor tender for armored vehicles to a large NATO customer. There are only two bidders that have qualified for this opportunity.

On October 13, 2021, we announced that we are accelerating the readiness of deployable and man-wearable BLDS for first deliveries available by end of Q1 Fiscal 2022, following military interest from a number of NATO land and Special Operation Forces at the signature European defense show, DSEI, which took place in London, UK, on September 13 to 18, 2021.  While no deliveries took place in Fiscal 2022, on November 2, 2022, we won our first customer order of USD$330,000 from Nordic Defence & Security AS of Oslo, Norway, a trading and consulting agency offering solutions for the army, navy, air force in addition to other professional users such as the police, fire departments and different security dependent organizations, for the provision of four BLDS to be delivered by May 2, 2023.  These BLDS units are to be mounted and integrated on the new combat patrol vehicles for Norwegian Special Operating Forces ("SOF") now in prototype build. Through this initial order, we are well positioned to supply a higher quantity of BLDS if the Norwegian SOF combat vehicle proceeds into full production. There is no assurance on timing or that we will receive additional orders for our BLDS from Norwegian SOF.

On November 12, 2021, we announced that General Dynamics Land Systems ("GDLS") selected KWESST's Phantom electronic battlefield decoy as part of its ongoing efforts to develop a next generation multi-million domain mobile capability at the tactical level. If GDLS wins the contract with their United States military customer, we have estimated the potential value for this contract to KWESST could be more than USD$40 million, depending on the number of Phantom units per military vehicle and final pricing based on volume. The United States military customer is expected to announce the winner of the tender for 400-500 next generation military vehicles in calendar 2023. Accordingly, there is no assurance that we will be awarded this contract or if we are, what the value of such contract will be to KWESST.

On November 15, 2021, we conducted live fire demonstration of our initial non-lethal cartridge-based single shot device for investors near Toronto, Ontario, including an opportunity for these investors to use the devices. Further, on January 14, 2022, we announced the unveiling of our non-lethal cartridge-based products under the brand PARA OPS at the 2022 SHOT Show® in Las Vegas held on January 18^th to 21^st 2022.

On November 23, 2021, in connection with an updated capital markets strategy, we submitted our initial application to list our Common Shares on Nasdaq. We believe that, if successful, a Nasdaq listing can broaden investor awareness for KWESST's Common Shares, with a view to supporting shareholder value.

On December 2, 2021, we announced that we engaged the New York-based public relations firm AMW Public Relations to lead our public relations, brand strategy, and media communication initiatives.

On December 8, 2021, our United States military customer accepted the delivery of the final milestone of the USD$0.8 million relating to the integration of our TASCS IFM with the 81 mortar system. Final payment was received in January 2022. While we expect follow-on customer orders for this solution during Fiscal 2023, there is no assurance of such orders.

On December 14 and 16, 2021, we announced that we signed a Master Services Agreement with GDMS - Canada to support the development of digitization solutions for future Canadian land C4ISR programs. We estimate the contract's value to KWESST to be up to $1.0 million over the next 12 months.

On December 15, 2021, we completed the non-cash acquisition of Police Ordnance Company Inc. - see Principal Capital Expenditures and Divestitures for further details. On January 10, 2022, we announced that Police Ordnance Company Inc. received orders from law enforcement agencies for approximately $0.4 million in ARWEN products, all have since been delivered as of the date of this Prospectus. However, as most of the shipments related to open customer orders at the acquisition date, these were not recorded as revenue during the quarter but rather as a reduction of intangible assets in accordance with IFRS.

At the 2022 SHOT Show® held in Las Vegas from January 18^th to 21^st 2022, we showcased our initial PARA OPS single shot device. Since this event, we have continued to make further improvements to this device based on positive feedback from the SHOT Show®. As of the date of this Prospectus, we have finalized the design of the single shot device and are in the process of producing small quantities for market testing prior to commercial launch this summer. We are also in the process of optimizing the design of our multi-shot device for market testing in June 2022 and commercial launch soon after. Our initial sales focus will be law enforcement agencies. (see Proprietary Protection - Government Regulations).

On February 11, 2022, we filed United States patent application No. 17/669,420 claiming priority to a provisional patent application serial 63/148,163 by the USPO for our PARA OPS system.

On March 11, 2022, we closed a non-secured and non-convertible loan financing transaction with a syndicate of lenders for aggregate loan proceeds of $1.8 million and an additional $0.2 million on March 15, 2022, for a gross total of $2.0 million (the "Unsecured Loans"). The Unsecured Loans bear interest at a rate of 9.0% per annum, compounded monthly and not in advance, and have a maturity of thirteen months, with KWESST having the option to repay the whole or any part of the Unsecured Loans, without penalty or premium, at any time prior to the close of business on the maturity date. The principal amount is due only at maturity.  As part of the terms of the Unsecured Loans, we issued an aggregate of 1,428 bonus Common Shares to the lenders. These Common Shares were issued pursuant to prospectus exemptions of applicable Canadian securities laws and therefore subject to a four-month plus one day trading restriction. 

On March 29, 2022, the Common Shares commenced trading on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange under the stock symbol "62U." We believe this listing will provide us with the opportunity to further increase our investor base globally, improve our stock liquidity, and promote KWESST to the European financial markets.

We announced on April 4, 2022, with the war in Ukraine, that we are currently actioning a number of NATO and non-NATO country requests for quotations of our Phantom electronic decoy and laser detection products. While we are confident that this activity will generate sales orders before the end of Fiscal 2022, there is no assurance that we will be successful.

On April 22, 2022, we issued 87 Common Shares to the selling shareholders of Police Ordnance as a result of achieving the performance milestone as defined in the share purchase agreement.

On April 25, 2022, we announced that we engaged RedChip Companies ("RedChip") to lead our investor relations efforts in the United States, in advance of our pending Nasdaq listing. Headquartered in Orlando, Florida, RedChip provides investor relations, financial media, and research for microcap and small-cap stocks.

On July 6, 2022, we won our first CIMS related contract and entered into a three-year contract with Counter-Crisis Technology Inc. to design, develop, and implement a significant component of a national Ground Search and Rescue Incident Command System for Public Safety Canada, with the Ontario Provincial Police as technical advisory stakeholder for this project. The total contract value is approximately $0.7 million, net of in-kind contributions of $76,000, over three years of services commencing in late July 2022.  Either party may, at any time and for any reason, terminate the contract for convenience upon at least 30 business days' notice.  In the event of termination for convenience, we may recover only the actual cost of work completed to the date of termination in approved units of work or percentage of completion.

On July 14, 2022, we closed a non-brokered private placement, resulting in the issuance of 2,285 units of KWESST, at a price of $150.50 per unit, for aggregate gross proceeds of $0.34 million. Each unit consisted of one Common Share and seven one-half Common Share purchase warrants, exercisable at a price of $2.85 each per share for a period of 24 months. Each Warrant converts into 0.1428571 Common Shares or 7 warrants for one Common Share. Certain of our directors and officers participated in the amount of $87,500.

On August 16, 2022, we announced that we publicly filed a registration statement on Form F-1 with the SEC relating to a proposed public offering in the United States of common units (the "U.S. IPO Common Units"), consisting of one Common Share and a warrant to purchase one Common Share ("U.S. IPO Warrants"), and pre-funded units, consisting of a pre-funded warrant to purchase one Common Share and a warrant to purchase one Common Share (the "U.S. IPO").

On August 29, 2022, we announced that we closed two non-secured loans in the amount of USD$200,000 per loan with a third party lender for an aggregate amount of USD$400,000.  The first non-secured loan of USD$200,000 bears interest of 6% per annum and will mature on August 31, 2023.  In connection with the first non-secured loan, we issued 423 bonus shares to the lender. The second non-secured loan of USD$200,000 (the "Second Loan") bears interest of 6% per annum and will mature on August 31, 2023. For both loans, the repayment will be 110% of its principal and both loans are senior to our other unsecured indebtedness. The Second Loan contains certain provisions allowing us to apply to the TSXV to repay the principal amount by issuing Common Shares in accordance with the rules and regulations of the TSXV.

On September 13, 2022, we announced the commencement of an underwritten public offering in Canada of units (the "Canadian Units") consisting of one Common Share and one Common Share purchase warrant (the "Canadian Warrants") for gross proceeds of approximately USD$3 million (the "Canadian Offering") following the filing of a preliminary short form base PREP prospectus with the securities regulatory authorities in each of the provinces of Canada, except Québec.

Fiscal 2023 Highlights

On October 28, 2022, in advance of the Nasdaq listing, we effected a one for seventy (1-for-70) reverse stock split of our Common Shares to meet Nasdaq's initial listing requirements.

On November 2, 2022, we won our first customer order from an overseas NATO country for our BLDS product (see Business Overview - Principal Products and Services). These BLDS are for Special Forces who will be battle-testing the system in operational conditions. Subject to successful testing, we expect follow-on requirements, though there is no assurance there will be any follow-on orders.

On December 6, 2022, our Common Shares and the U.S. IPO Warrants were approved for trading on Nasdaq under the symbols "KWE" and "KWESW", respectively, and commenced trading on December 7, 2022. The SEC declared our Form F-1 Registration Statement effective on December 6, 2022.

On December 9, 2022, we announced the closing of the U.S. IPO and Canadian Offering, for aggregate gross proceeds of USD$14.1 million. In the U.S. IPO, we sold 250,000 U.S. IPO Common Units at a public offering price of USD$41.30 per unit. Each Common Unit consisted of one Common Share and one U.S. IPO Warrant. The U.S. IPO Warrants have a per share exercise price of USD$50.00, can be exercised immediately, and expire five years from the date of issuance. The U.S. IPO Warrants are listed on Nasdaq under the symbol “KWESW”. In connection with the closing of the U.S. IPO, the underwriter partially exercised its over-allotment option to purchase an additional 19,900 pre-funded common share purchase warrants (the “U.S. IPO Pre-funded Warrants”) and 37,500 U.S. IPO Warrants (the “U.S. IPO Option Warrants”). In the Canadian Offering, we sold 72,639 Canadian Units at a price to the public of USD$41.30 per unit. The Canadian Warrants have a per Common Share exercise price of USD$50.00, are exercisable immediately and expire five years from the date of issuance. The Canadian Warrants are not listed on any exchange.

On January 30, 2023, we announced the highlights of the 2023 SHOT SHOW where the Company's new PARA OPS products and its ARWEN non-lethal launcher were showcased, in Las Vegas. The Company was invited to demonstrate and brief its ARWEN 37mm launcher system to symposiums in 2023 to highlight the effectiveness of the ARWEN platform for crowd control and for SWAT teams conducting high-risk arrests. 

On February 14, 2023, we announced that the Company was showcasing its products at IDEX in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, and to exhibit and speak at Future Soldier 2023 Technology Conference in London, United Kingdom, as part of our international market development program.

On February 27, 2023, we announced the key business pursuits arising from IDEX in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates including: (i) a digitization project to provide first responders with shared, real-time situational awareness in critical incident response; (ii)  a digitization project to feed video footage directly to shipborne and ground personnel from airborne platforms conducting maritime patrol operations in the Gulf; (iii) equipping police and security forces in the MENA region with the Company's new PARA OPS non-lethal system through distributors the Company met with; and (iv) potential co-ventures with UAE defense technology agencies and financial partners, arranged through the Company's investment bankers, Think Equity, New York.

On March 1, 2023, we announced that Steven Archambault stepped down as Chief Financial Officer ("CFO") of the Company to pursue a new opportunity overseas.

On March 17, 2023, we announced the prospect of new European opportunities with military and major defense industry suppliers arising from our presentation at the Future Soldier Technology conference and its subsequent meetings in the United Kingdom.

On March 24, 2023, we announced that a G7 capital police force had adopted the Company's new Overwatch Commander system for critical incident management.

On April 3, 2023, we announced that David Luxton assumed the role of Interim CFO in addition to his role as Executive Chairman.

On April 27, 2023, the TSXV approved the listing of the Canadian Warrants issued in the Canadian Offering in December 2022, commencing trading on May 1, 2023.

On May 2, 2023, we announced that the Company received notice of a contract award under a joint venture with two other defence industry partners, to perform software systems engineering work for the Canadian Department of National Defence ("DND") for approximately $20 million over a span of five years (the "Canadian Government Contract").

On May 29, 2023, we announced that at CANSEC 2023, the Company planned to feature its capability to rapidly integrate and exploit digital information for the dismounted and mounted soldier to more than thirty visiting countries, including TAK integration, Tactical Digital Fires System and Command and Control On The Move, all vital aspects of soldier modernization for survivability.

On May 30, 2023, we announced the appointment of Sean Homuth as CFO and Chief Compliance Officer, effective June 12, 2023.

On July 19, 2023, we announced that we had entered into definitive agreements with a group of accredited and institutional investors for the issuance and sale of Common Shares (or Common Share equivalents) on a brokered private placement basis, for aggregate gross proceeds of approximately USD$5.6 million.

On July 21, 2023, we announced the closing of the offering and the issuance and sale of 247,274 Common Shares (or Common Share equivalents), for aggregate gross proceeds of USD$5,588,396.92. As a part of the offering, the Company issued 154,219 Common Shares at a price of USD$22.60 per common share and 93,054 pre-funded warrants at a price of USD$22.59 per pre-funded warrant, with each common share and pre-funded warrant being bundled with one common share purchase warrant of the Company. As compensation for services rendered, the Company paid to ThinkEquity LLC (“ThinkEquity”) a cash fee of $475,013.14 representing 8.5% of the aggregate gross proceeds of the offering and issued 12,363 warrants to purchase a number of Common Shares.

On July 25, 2023, we announced that we had filed a U.S. patent application for the core module of our next-generation Battlefield Laser Detection System branded "BlaDE", and that we will make the BlaDE module available as a plug-and-play offering to third-party OEMs for incorporation into their new and legacy electro-optical systems on armored vehicles.

Year-to-Date Fiscal 2024 Highlights

On October 18, 2023, we announced that we were developing a patent-pending SaaS product for public safety agencies to enable "lightning fast" real-time shared situational awareness among front-line responders during critical incidents.

On October 24, 2023, we announced that we received a Notice of Allowance for the Luxton Low Energy Cartridge (LEC) patent from the U.S. Patent Office, which supports our PARA OPS product line. The patent was subsequently issued on October 31, 2023.

On November 27, 2023, we announced that Sean Homuth was appointed as President and CEO.

On December 6, 2023, we announced that General (Retired) Rick Hillier joined our Board and became chair of our Strategic Planning Committee, following the retirement of Jeff McLeod.

On December 13, 2023, we announced that our non-lethal PARA OPS and ARWEN products would be available for law enforcement agencies to purchase on-line as of December 18, 2023.

From January 23-26, 2024, we attended the SHOT Show 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada. On January 22, 2024, in advance of the SHOT Show 2024, we demonstrated our new ARWEN 40mm cartridge and PARA OPS non-lethal system, with live fire demonstrations.

On February 2, 2024, we announced that Dave Ibbetson, former General Manager of General Dynamics C4 Systems International, and General Dynamics Mission Systems International was engaged by us as a Strategic Defence Advisor.

On February 5, 2024, we announced highlights from the Company's attendance at SHOT Show 2024.  This included law enforcement agencies at the federal, state and local level, plus foreign distributors from Europe, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East.  The Company has started receiving initial small quantity orders for test and evaluation of its 40mm baton ammunition as well as requests from various agencies for live demonstrations of the PARA OPS^TM products. 

On February 12, 2024, we announced that we were invited to demonstrate and brief on our public safety products at an international gathering of special intervention units, which was held overseas in April 2024. We have also been demonstrating and briefing on our new PARA OPS non-lethal system, our new 40mm ARWEN cartridge for riot control and tactical teams and our new Lighting and T-SAS^™ systems for sharing situational awareness among responders and commanders to various police agencies in North America.

On February 28, 2024, we announced the signing of a binding letter of intent with O'Dell Engineering Ltd., in Southwestern Ontario, Canada, for the sale and distribution of PARA OPS products in Canada for the civilian market.

On March 8, 2024, we announced that we were awarded a contract by the Ontario Provincial Police to deliver training and certification to the force's lead Team Awareness users and trainers.

On March 12, 2024, we announced the demonstration of our PARA OPS and new ARWEN 40mm products to Southern California law enforcement agencies at their request following our demonstration at the SHOT Show 2024 in Las Vegas, Nevada. We also announced that we were invited by the Los Angeles Police Department ("LAPD") to its invitation-only Less Lethal Expo 2024 to be held June 6, 2024 at the LAPD Elysian Park Academy.

On April 9, 2024, we announced the closing of an underwritten public offering of 73,500 Common Shares and 80,350 pre-funded warrants with an exercise price of $0.01 at a public offering price of USD$6.50 per share and USD$6.49 per pre-funded warrant, less an underwriting discount (the “April 2024 Offering”). ThinkEquity acted as sole book-running manager for the offering. The gross proceeds from the offering, before deducting the underwriting discount of USD$0.4875 per Common Share (being an aggregate of USD$75,002 or 7.5% of the public offering price of the securities) and estimated offering expenses payable by the Company, were approximately USD$1,000,000. In addition, the Company issued to ThinkEquity as compensation for its services 7,692 common share purchase warrants with an exercise price of USD$8.125 per share.

On May 17, 2024, we announced that we were awarded a contract with our teaming partner CounterCrisis Tech for a proof-of-concept project to provide a situational awareness app in support of Canadian Red Cross emergency and disaster relief operations.

On May 20, 2024, we announced that we received written notification from Nasdaq, indicating that we are not in compliance with the minimum bid price requirement set forth in the Nasdaq rules for continued listing on Nasdaq, which requires listed securities to maintain a minimum bid price of US$1.00 per share.

On May 23, 2024, we announced the appointment of MNP LLP ("MNP") as our new, successor auditor until the close of the next annual general meeting.

On June 10, 2024, we announced that we were awarded a subcontract by Thales Canada (the "Thales Subcontract"). Under the Thales Subcontract, we will deliver specialized software services for work under the DND Land C4ISR series of contracts to modernize the Canadian Army's capabilities through advanced land command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C4ISR) systems (the "Land C4ISR Program").

On June 14, 2024, we announced the closing of a public offering of 290,000 Common Shares at a public offering price of USD$5.80 per share, less placement agent fees (the “June 2024 Offering”). ThinkEquity acted as the sole placement agent for the offering. The gross proceeds from the offering, before deducting placement agent fees of USD $0.435 per Common Share (being an aggregate of USD$126,150 or 7.5% of the public offering price of the securities) and estimated offering expenses payable by the Company, were approximately US$1,682,000. In addition, the Company issued to the placement agent as compensation for its services 14,500 common share purchase warrants with an exercise price of US$7.25 per share. All of the Common Shares were offered by the Company.

On August 7, 2024, we announced that a G7 capital city police service has taken delivery of three T-SAS^™ systems and in conjunction has entered into an agreement with the Company for a limited time free trial of KWESST Lightning^™.

On August 13, 2024, we announced the closing of a registered direct offering for the purchase and sale of 471,500 Common Shares at a purchase price of $2.00 per Common Share, and in a concurrent private placement, the Company issued unregistered warrants to purchase up to 471,500 common shares (the “Investor Warrants”) at an exercise price of $2.50 per share that were immediately exercisable upon issuance and will expire five years following the date of issuance (the “August 2024 Offering”). H.C. Wainwright & Co. acted as the exclusive placement agent for the August 2024 Offering and was issued 35,362 placement agent's warrants (“Placement Agent’s Warrants”) to purchase a number of Common Shares equal to 7.5% of the aggregate number of Common Shares sold in the August 2024 Offering.  The gross proceeds to the Company from the offering were approximately US$943,000 before deducting placement agent fees and other offering expenses payable by the Company.

On August 27, 2024, we announced the results of our 2024 Annual and Special Meeting of shareholders held on Monday, August 26, 2024, which included electing all the nominees to the Board, appointing MNP as auditor of the Company for the ensuing year, authorizing the Board to determine auditor's compensation, and approving the Company's amended LTIP. We also announced the addition of new directors Sean Homuth and Jennifer Welsh, and the departure of outgoing director John McCoach.

Principal Capital Expenditures and Divestitures

We made the following material capital expenditures over the last three financial years and year-to-date Fiscal 2024. All share-related information presented in this section gives effect to the Reverse Split.

Year-to-date Fiscal 2024

• There have been no significant capital expenditures or divestitures in year-to-date Fiscal 2024.

Fiscal 2023

• There were no significant capital expenditures or divestitures in Fiscal 2023.

Fiscal 2022

• On December 15, 2021, we acquired 2720178 Ontario Inc., an Ontario (Canada) corporation, which owns all of the issued and outstanding shares of Police Ordnance (the "Police Ordnance Acquisition"). Located in Bowmanville, Ontario, with ancillary operations in Florida, Police Ordnance owns all intellectual properties to the ARWEN product line of non-lethal systems, and a proprietary line of 37 mm non-lethal cartridges designed for riot control and tactical teams.  Police Ordnance has law enforcement customers across Canada, the United States, and abroad. The Police Ordnance Acquisition provides us with a strategic opportunity to leverage its law enforcement customer base to accelerate growth within our specialty ordnance business (see Business Overview).

• On December 15, 2021, the closing date of the Police Ordnance Acquisition, the fair value of the purchase consideration was $0.6 million, which comprised of: (i) 396 Common Shares, (ii) 20,000 Common Share purchase warrants exercisable at a price of $17.20 per warrant (one warrant converts to 0.1428571 Common Share or 7 warrants for one Common Share) and expiring on December 15, 2024; and (ii) 87 Common Shares contingent on fulfilment of a financial milestone, which was met in April 2022 resulting in the issuance of these Common Shares. 

Fiscal 2021:

• On January 14, 2021, we entered into the DEFSEC Purchase Agreement. The transaction closed on April 29, 2021, following the April 2021 Private Placement. DEFSEC is an Ottawa-based based private company owned by David Luxton, our Executive Chairman. The purchase consideration was approximately $2.9 million comprising of 1,428 Common Shares, 50,000 Common Share purchase warrants, and the fair value of the minimum annual royalty payments over a ten-year period. Each Common Share purchase warrant entitles the holder to purchase one Common Share, at a price of $7.00 per 1/7 of a Common Share (7 warrants for one Common Share). These warrants will expire on April 29, 2026. Under the DEFSEC Purchase Agreement, we agreed to pay a 7% royalty on future annual sales of the PARA OPS products, subject to minimum annual royalty payments over a ten-year period. Refer to Note 4(a) of the audited financial statements for Fiscal 2021 for further details.

• On April 5, 2021, we entered into an amended and restated AerialX Licensing Agreement with AerialX in which we obtained exclusive rights to the Licensed Technology for the United States Department of Defense and Canada’s Department of National Defense for a period of two years from the date upon which AerialX will meet certain technical milestones (the “Technical Milestones”). In consideration for the exclusivity, we issued 142 Common Shares to AerialX. We also agreed to issue an additional 142 Common Shares and 428 Common Shares upon AerialX achieving the Technical Milestones and certain financial milestones, respectively. Additionally, we agreed to pay a variable 8%-15% royalty. Refer to Note 26 of the audited financial statements of Fiscal 2021 for further details.

Advisers

Our United States legal counsel is Dorsey & Whitney LLP, with a business address at 161 Bay Street, Suite 4310, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5J 2S1.

Our Canadian legal counsel is Fasken Martineau DuMoulin S.E.N.C.R.L., s.r.l, with a business address at 800 Victoria Square, Suite 3500, Montreal, Québec, Canada, H4Z 1E9.

Auditors

KPMG LLP, Chartered Professional Accountants (“KPMG”) was our former independent auditor from March 31, 2021 to May 15, 2024, the effective date of KPMG’s resignation. KPMG audited our consolidated financial statements for the year ended September 30, 2023, the year ended September 30, 2022, and the year ended September 30, 2021. The business address of KPMG is 150 Elgin Street, Suite 1800, Ottawa, Ontario, K2P 2P8. KPMG are registered with both the Canadian Public Accountability Board and the United States Public Company Accounting Oversight Board.

MNP was engaged as our new independent auditor, effective May 22, 2024, until the close of the next annual general meeting.

Organizational Structure

See History and Development of the Company - Intercorporate Relationships.

Property, Plants and Equipment

We do not own any real estate property. We operate from leased premises in three different locations, as detailed in the following table:

At September 30, 2023, the carrying value of our total tangible fixed assets was approximately $0.4 held in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

OPERATING AND FINANCIAL REVIEW AND PROSPECTS

Certain share-related information presented in this section gives effect to the Reverse Split.

The following Operating and Financial Review and Prospects section is intended to help the reader understand the factors that have affected the Company's financial condition and results of operations for the historical period covered by the financial statements and management's assessment of factors and trends which are anticipated to have a material effect on the Company's financial condition and results in future periods. This section is provided as a supplement to, and should be read in conjunction with, our consolidated financial statements and the other financial information contained elsewhere in this document. Our Consolidated Financial Statements have been prepared in accordance with IFRS as issued by the IASB. Our discussion contains forward-looking statements based on current expectations that involve risks and uncertainties, such as our plans, objectives and intentions. Our actual results may differ from those indicated in such forward-looking statements.

Operating Results

Overview

Since Fiscal 2023, we had some significant highlights to our operating results:

• On October 18, 2023, we announced that we were developing a patent-pending SaaS product for public safety agencies to enable "lightning fast" real-time shared situational awareness among front-line responders during critical incidents.

• On October 24, 2023, we announced that we received a Notice of Allowance for the Luxton Low Energy Cartridge (LEC) patent from the U.S. Patent Office, which supports our PARA OPS product line. The patent was subsequently issued on October 31, 2023.

• On February 28, 2024, we announced the signing of a binding letter of intent with O'Dell Engineering Ltd., in Southwestern Ontario, Canada, for the sale and distribution of PARA OPS products in Canada for the civilian market.

• On March 8, 2024, we announced that we were awarded a contract by the Ontario Provincial Police to deliver training and certification to the force's lead Team Awareness users and trainers.

• On April 9, 2024, we announced the closing of an underwritten public offering of 73,500 Common Shares and 80,350 pre-funded warrants with an exercise price of $0.01 at a public offering price of USD$6.50 per share and USD$6.49 per pre-funded warrant, less an underwriting discount. ThinkEquity acted as sole book-running manager for the offering. The gross proceeds from the offering, before deducting the underwriting discount of USD$0.4875 per common share (being an aggregate of USD$75,002 or 7.5% of the public offering price of the securities) and estimated offering expenses payable by the Company, were approximately USD$1,000,000. In addition, the Company issued to ThinkEquity as compensation for its services 7,692 common share purchase warrants with an exercise price of USD$8.125 per share. 

• On May 17, 2024, we announced that we were awarded a contract with our teaming partner CounterCrisis Tech for a proof-of-concept project to provide a situational awareness app in support of Canadian Red Cross emergency and disaster relief operations.

• On June 10, 2024, we announced that we were awarded the Thales Subcontract. Under the Thales Subcontract, we will deliver specialized software services for work under the DND Land C4ISR series of contracts to modernize the Canadian Army's capabilities through the Land C4ISR Program.

• On June 14, 2024, we announced the closing of the June 2024 Offering. ThinkEquity acted as the sole placement agent for the offering. The gross proceeds from the offering, before deducting placement agent fees of USD $0.435 per Common Share (being an aggregate of USD$126,150 or 7.5% of the public offering price of the securities) and estimated offering expenses payable by the Company, were approximately US$1,682,000. In addition, the Company issued to the placement agent as compensation for its services 14,500 common share purchase warrants with an exercise price of US$7.25 per share  per share. All of the Common Shares were offered by the Company.

• On August 13, 2024, we announced the closing of a registered direct offering for the purchase and sale of 471,500 Common Shares at a purchase price of $2.00 per Common Share, and in a concurrent private placement, the Company issued Investor Warrants to purchase up to 471,500 common shares at an exercise price of $2.50 per share that were immediately exercisable upon issuance and will expire five years following the date of issuance. H.C. Wainwright & Co. acted as the exclusive placement agent for the August 2024 Offering and was issued 35,362 Placement Agent's Warrants to purchase a number of Common Shares equal to 7.5% of the aggregate number of Common Shares sold in the August 2024 Offering.  The gross proceeds to the Company from the offering were approximately US$943,000 before deducting placement agent fees and other offering expenses payable by the Company.

• As of the date of this filing, the program under our contract with DSEF has progressed from its start-up in the third quarter of Fiscal 2023 ("Q3 Fiscal 2023") and is now in its ramp-up phase with a core team executing priority taskings that were approved in Q3 Fiscal 2023. The contract is a task-based contract for resources provided as-and-when needed, the recent suspension of new employees represents a temporary pause of previously planned, lower-priority tasks, in response to 2024 Canadian government budgetary constraints. This pause does not represent any material change to the expected contract limit over the term and we expect additional taskings, corresponding employee onboarding and revenue to proceed following this temporary pause. It is expected that these additional taskings will continue to reduce our reliance on non-recurring revenue (see Risk Factors - A significant portion of our revenues are non-recurring).

Results of Operations

The following selected financial data has been extracted from the unaudited Q3 Fiscal 2024 financial statements and the audited Fiscal 2023 financial statements.

(1) EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA are non-IFRS measures. See Non-IFRS Measures.

In the following table, we have reconciled the EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA to the most comparable IFRS financial measure.

Current Quarter Variance Analysis (Q3 Fiscal 2024 vs. Q3 Fiscal 2023)

For Q3 and year to date ("YTD") Fiscal 2024, KWESST's net loss was $1.2 million and $5.1 million, respectively. Q3 and YTD Fiscal 2024 EBITDA loss was $0.8 million and $4.0 million, respectively, a decrease of 75% and 30%, respectively over the comparable prior period mainly due to an increase in revenue and gross profits from our digitization contracts combined with a decrease in operating expenses mainly due to a reduction in consulting fees and investor relations costs over the three-month period end, and a decrease in share issuance costs over the nine-month period end. The adjustments to EBITDA loss for Q3 and YTD Fiscal 2024 included the change in fair value of derivative liabilities. Due to the lower volume of stock-based grants in the last 12 months, compared to same prior period, there is a reduction in stock-based compensation expense in the YTD Fiscal 2024 period compared to YTD Fiscal 2023. There were share issuance costs in Q3 2024 relating to two US public offerings whereas no financing activities occurred in the comparable quarter Fiscal 2023. The lower share issuance costs YTD Fiscal 2024 over the comparable prior period is mainly due to the U.S. IPO and Canadian Offering in Fiscal 2023 YTD. The decrease in net financing costs YTD Fiscal 2024 over the comparable prior period is due to the costs related to the unsecured loans in Fiscal 2023 whereas the loans were repaid, and no such costs were incurred YTD Fiscal 2024.

Revenue

Total revenue increased by $0.2 million in the third quarter compared to Q3 Fiscal 2023, mainly due to an additional $0.2 million generated from our digitization business line, offset by a negligible reduction from our non-lethal business line (driven from the sale of ARWEN products).

Total revenue increased by $0.3 million in YTD Fiscal 2024 compared to YTD Fiscal 2023, mainly due to an additional $0.3 million generated from our digitization business line. At the nine-month period ended June 30, 2024, we had sales from our non-lethal business line (driven from the sale of ARWEN products) of $280,000, a decrease of $21,000 from the comparable prior period.

We expect revenue to increase with the commercial launch of KWESST Lightning^TM which we expect to be early in calendar 2025, with the expected demand/future orders for the new ARWEN 40mm ammunition and PARA OPS products, as well as from the recently announced land command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (LC4ISR) subcontract. Management continues to work with our industry partners to determine the outlook for ramp-up on the DSEF program. The Company continues to expect no material impact to the overall potential revenue over the life of the contract.

Gross Profit

In Q3 Fiscal 2024, similar to the same period in Fiscal 2023, the gross profit was negligible. For YTD Fiscal 2024, we earned $0.2 million or gross margin of 24.3%, compared to $0.2 million or gross margin of 39.3% in the same period in 2023.

In Fiscal 2024, indirect costs associated with the ramp up of the Canadian Government contracts in Q1 resulted in lower gross margin as compared to the same period in 2023. We expect gross profit / margin to continue to increase during Fiscal 2024 from the other product lines described above as well as continued ramp up on the Canadian Government contracts.

Operating Expenses ("OPEX")

Total OPEX decreased by $0.8 million from the comparable prior period in the three months ended June 30, 2024 due to the following factors:

• Selling and marketing ("S&M") decreased by $0.5 million, primarily due to a decrease in investor relations costs and related sales and marketing costs ($0.4 million) in Fiscal 2024 as compared to Fiscal 2023;

• General and administrative ("G&A") decreased by $0.3 million, primarily due to a decrease in professional fees and general office expenses, offset by an increase in senior management and directors compensation due to market adjustments and additional personnel as compared to Fiscal 2023; offset by

• Research and development ("R&D") increased by $0.1 million, primarily due to an increase in personnel costs advancing the KWESST Lightning^TM and BLDS projects in Fiscal 2024.

Total OPEX was $7.9 million for YTD Fiscal 2024 compared to $7.8 million in YTD Fiscal 2023, an increase of $ 0.2 million over the comparable prior year due to the following factors:

• R&D increased by $0.8 million, primarily due to the fact that the LEC has reached commercial feasibility, and any associated costs are no longer being capitalized, while it was still in the development stage in Fiscal 2023 ($0.5 million), coupled with an increase in personnel costs advancing the KWESST Lightning^TM and BLDS projects in Fiscal 2024 ($0.7 million), offset by a reduction in consulting fees compared to the comparable prior year period ($0.3 million);

• G&A increased by $0.4 million, primarily due to the amortization of the LEC intangible in Fiscal 2024 ($0.4 million), an increase in senior management and directors compensation to be in line with market and additional personnel as compared to Fiscal 2023 ($0.3 million), offset by a reduction in consulting & professional fees compared to the comparable prior year period ($0.2 million); offset by

• S&M decreased by $1.2 million, primarily due to a decrease in investor relations costs and related sales and marketing costs ($1.0 million), and a decrease in business development costs ($0.2 million).

Other income (expenses), net

For Q3 Fiscal 2024, our total other income was $1.0 million, compared to total other expenses of $0.5 million in Q3 Fiscal 2023. This change in other income (expenses) net is mainly due to the favorable $2.0 million change in fair value of warrant liabilities as a result of the remeasurement of the warrant liabilities at June 30, 2024, driven by a decrease in the underlying common share price on June 30, 2024, offset by a $0.4 million increase in share issuance costs associated with the two US public offering financing activities in Q3 Fiscal 2024.

For YTD Fiscal 2024, our total other income was $2.5 million, compared to total other income of $0.7 million for the same period 2023 resulting in an increase of $1.8 million. The change in other income (expenses) was driven mainly by:

• $0.3 million favorable change in fair value of warrant liabilities as a result of the remeasurement of the warrant liabilities at June 30, 2024, driven by a decrease in the underlying common share price on June 30, 2024. Under IFRS, we are required to remeasure the warrant liabilities at each reporting date until they are exercised or expired;

• A decrease of $0.9 million in Share Offering Costs as $1.3 million related to the U.S. IPO and Canadian Offering in Fiscal 2023, compared to $0.4 million associated with the two US public offering financing activities in April and June 2024;

• $0.5 million decrease in net finance costs is primarily due to the Fiscal 2023 recognition of the remaining unamortized accretion costs and interest expense relating to the repayment of all outstanding loans, following the closing of the U.S. IPO and Canadian Offering; and

• $0.2 million increase in foreign exchange gain due to appreciation in the U.S. currency during the period.

Prior Year Variance Analysis (2023 vs. 2022)

For Fiscal 2023, KWESST's net loss was $9.3 million. Fiscal 2023 adjusted EBITDA loss was $10.8 million, an increase of 48% compared to the prior year, mainly due to increased operating expenses driven by increased personnel costs, consulting costs, professional fees, insurance costs, regulatory and compliance costs, and tradeshows. The adjustments to EBITDA loss for Fiscal 2023 included share insurance costs relating to warrant liabilities, and the change in fair value of derivative liabilities, all of which are related to the warrants issued in the U.S. IPO and Canadian Offering and the July 2023 Private Placement (see Notes 15 and 16 of the Fiscal 2023 financial statements). There has been a lower volume of stock-based grants in the last 12 months resulting in a material reduction in stock-based compensation expense in the current year compared to Fiscal 2022.

Revenue

Total revenue increased by $0.5 million in the year compared to Fiscal 2022, mainly due to an additional $0.4 million generated from our digitization business line and $0.1 million from our non-lethal business line (driven from sale of ARWEN products).

We expect revenue to increase as we have formally received work tasks under the recently announced Canadian Government Contract and we have commenced hiring and staffing those requirements.  We continue to work towards a commercial launch of our PARA OPS, which we now expect to be in 1H Fiscal 2025.

Gross Profit

Our gross profit was a negative $0.2 million in the year compared to a positive gross profit of $0.2 million in Fiscal 2022. The decrease is due mainly to onerous contracts and consultant fees that have since been eliminated. As we are in the pre-revenue stage for most product lines, we experienced continued fluctuation in gross profit / margin during Fiscal 2024 as we ramped up revenue in the year.

Operating Expenses ("OPEX")

Total OPEX was $11.9 million for YTD Fiscal 2023 compared to $10.3 million in YTD Fiscal 2022 for a total increase of $1.6M. Excluding share-based compensation, total OPEX was $11.5 million compared to $8.3 million, a 39% increase over the comparable prior year due to the following factors:

• G&A increased by $2.3 million, or 47%, primarily due to the impairment charge on the Phantom intangible asset, the retention bonus earned by our former CFO, an increase in salaries due to increase in corporate headcount and related compensation consistent with increased compliance requirements and associated risk from the Nasdaq listing, higher consulting fees and retention bonuses relating to key personnel in the non-lethal business line. Additionally, we incurred an increase in D&O insurance, professional fees, and compliance costs due to KWESST's Nasdaq listing in December 2022 and subsequent regulatory filing compliance.

• S&M decreased by $0.3 million, or 8%, primarily due to a $0.4 million decrease in share-based compensation expense, coupled with lower U.S. business development consulting costs in YTD Fiscal 2023.  This was partially offset by an increase in tradeshow spend to promote our products and consulting fees.

• R&D decreased by $0.4 million, or 20%, primarily due to $0.2 million decrease in share-based compensation expense in Fiscal 2023 in comparison to the prior year. R&D expenses further decreased due to reallocating most of our engineering resources to deliver on customer contracts. The related costs are reported as part of cost of sales (for delivered performance obligations to customers) and work-in-progress inventories.  These costs included an increase in payroll costs due to the strong local demand for skilled, experienced engineers.

Other income (expenses), net

For Fiscal 2023, our total other income was $2.8 million, compared to total other expenses of $0.5 million.  The change in other income (expenses), net was driven mainly by the $5.8 million favorable change in fair value of warrant liabilities as a result of the remeasurement of the warrant liabilities at September 30, 2023, driven by a decrease in the underlying common share price on September 30, 2023. Under IFRS, we are required to remeasure the warrant liabilities at each reporting date until they are exercised or expired.  This was partially offset by:

• $0.2 million increase in net finance costs is primarily due to the recognition of the remaining unamortized accretion costs and interest expense relating to the repayment of all outstanding loans, following the closing of the U.S. IPO and Canadian Offering;

• $2.0 million in Share Offering Costs relating to the U.S. IPO and Canadian Offering and the July 2023 Private Placement.  Under IFRS, we are required to allocate proportionately the total underwriting and share offering costs (collectively "Share Offering Costs") between equity and warrant liabilities resulting from the U.S. IPO and Canadian Offering and the July 2023 Private Placement. The portion of the Share Offering Costs allocated to warrant liabilities were expensed; and

• $0.1 million increase in foreign exchange loss due to appreciation in the U.S. currency during the year.

Selected Annual and Quarterly Information

The following selected financial information is taken from the unaudited financial statements for the period ended June 30, 2024.

See Operating Results - Results of Operations for additional details and for the comparison discussion between the periods presented above.

The following selected financial information is taken from audited financial statements for the years ended September 30, 2023, 2022, and 2021.

See Operating Results - Results of Operations for additional details and for the comparison discussion between the periods presented above.

Summary of Quarterly Results

The following tables summarize selected results for the eight most recent completed quarters to June 30, 2024 (unaudited):

Quarterly Results Trend Analysis

There is no material change to our quarterly results trend from our disclosure in our annual MD&A dated January 17, 2024, except that we expect further volatility with our quarterly revenue during Fiscal 2024 due to uncertain magnitude and timeline of ramp up on our military government contracts as well as ramp of revenue for new Arwen and PARA OPS products. Additionally, we expect further volatility with our quarterly net loss due to the remeasurement of warrant liabilities at each reporting period, with the change in fair value recorded through P&L.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

Financial Condition

The following table summarizes our financial position:

Our working capital was $0.3 million at June 30, 2024, a $0.1 million decrease from September 30, 2023. The decrease was primarily due to the net operating loss for YTD Fiscal 2024, offset by proceeds from two financing activities the fourth quarter of Fiscal 2024. Current liabilities include warrant liabilities, a non-cash liability item (see Note 10 of the Q3 Fiscal 2024 financial statements). Excluding warrant liabilities, we would have working capital of $0.6 million. These warrant liabilities will be extinguished when the warrants are exercised or expired. If exercised, the proceeds will provide us with additional capital to fund our future working capital requirements. There is no assurance that any warrants will be exercised.

Total assets decreased by $5.0 million from September 30, 2023, mainly due to a decrease in cash of $4.2 million and a decrease in the unamortized value of non-current assets of $0.8 million.

Total liabilities decreased by $4.2 million from September 30, 2023, mainly due a decrease in the warrant liabilities of $4.0 million, a $0.1 million decrease in trade payables and accrued liabilities due to the timing of payments to suppliers, and a $0.1 million decrease in existing lease obligations.

Financial Condition - Fiscal 2023

^{(1) Working capital is calculated as current assets less current liabilities.}

Our working capital was positive $0.5 million at September 30, 2023, an increase of $5.9 million from September 30, 2022. The increase was primarily due to net proceeds from the U.S. IPO and Canadian Offering and the July 2023 Private Placement, offset partially by an increase to inventory and prepaid expenses, repayment of all outstanding loans, payments of overdue accounts payables and certain accrued liabilities, and net operating loss for Fiscal 2023. Current liabilities include warrant liabilities, a non-cash liability item (see Note 15 of Fiscal 2023 financial statements). Excluding warrant liabilities, working capital would be $4.8 million. These warrant liabilities will be extinguished when the warrants are exercised or expired.  If exercised, the proceeds will provide us with additional capital to fund our future working capital requirements.  There is no assurance that any warrants will be exercised.

Total assets increased by $4.4 million from September 30, 2022, mainly due to an increase of $5.3 million in currents assets made up mostly of net proceeds of the U.S. IPO and Canadian Offering and the July 2023 Private Placement, offset partially by inventory and prepaid expenses, repayment of all outstanding loans, payments of overdue accounts payables and certain accrued liabilities.

Total liabilities decreased by $0.5 million from September 30, 2022, to $7.8 million at September 30, 2023, mainly due to a reduction in current liabilities from having paid aged accounts payable subsequent to the closing of our NASDAQ IPO. While we have significantly paid the outstanding accounts payable and fully repaid all outstanding loans during the current year, these were offset by the recognition of warrant liabilities at fair value as noted above.  As at September 30, 2023, we had $4.3 million of warrant liabilities.

Available Liquidity

Our approach to managing liquidity is to ensure, to the extent possible, that we always have sufficient liquidity to meet our liabilities as they come due. We regularly perform cash flow forecasts to ensure that we have sufficient cash to meet our operational needs while maintaining sufficient liquidity. At this time, we do not use any derivative financial instruments to hedge our currency risk.

On December 9, 2022, we closed both the U.S. IPO and Canadian Offering pursuant to which we received aggregate gross proceeds of USD$14.1 million (or CAD$19.4 million), before underwriting and offering costs (refer to the annual MD&A dated January 17, 2024 for further details including our expected use of proceeds). On July 21, 2023, we closed July 2023 Private Placement pursuant to which we received aggregate gross proceeds of USD$5.59 million (or CAD$7.4 million), before underwriting and offering costs (refer to the annual MD&A dated January 17, 2024 for further details including our expected use of proceeds). On April 9, 2024, we closed the April 2024 Offering pursuant to which we received aggregate gross proceeds of USD$1.0 million (or CAD$1.4 million), before underwriting and offering costs. On June 14, 2024, we closed the June 2024 Offering pursuant to which we received aggregate gross proceeds of USD$1.7 million (or CAD$2.3 million), before underwriting and offering costs.

At June 30, 2024, our cash position was $1.2 million, a decrease of $4.2 million since September 30, 2023 primarily due to cash used in operations of $6.9 million, offset by net proceeds of $2.6 million from the April 2024 Offering and June 2024 Offering.

As an early-stage company, we have not yet reached commercial production for most of our other products and have incurred significant losses and negative operating cash flows from inception that have primarily been funded from financing activities. Our ability to continue as a going concern and realize our assets and discharge our liabilities in the normal course of business is dependent upon closing timely additional sales orders, timely commercial launch of new products, and the ability to raise additional debt or equity financing, when required. There are various risks and uncertainties affecting our future financial position and our performance. However, we may require additional capital in the event we fail to implement our business plan, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and/or financial performance. There is no assurance that we will be able to raise additional capital as they are required in the future. Potential sources of capital may include additional equity and/or debt financings. In our view, the availability of capital will be affected by, among other things, capital market conditions, the success of our PARA OPS system commercialization efforts, timing for winning new customer contracts, potential acquisitions, and other relevant considerations (see Risk Factors). In the event we raise additional funds by issuing equity securities, our existing shareholders will likely experience dilution, and any additional incurrence of indebtedness would result in increased debt service obligations and could require us to agree to operational and financial covenants that could further restrict our operations. Any failure to raise additional funds on terms favorable to us or at all may require us to significantly change or curtail our current or planned operations in order to conserve cash until such time, if ever, that sufficient proceeds from operations are generated, and could result in us not being in a position to advance our commercialization strategy or take advantage of business opportunities.

Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows

The following table summarizes our consolidated statements of cash flows for the respective periods:

Cash used by operating activities

Cash flow used in operating activities decreased by $4.5 million to $6.9 million for the nine months ended June 30, 2024 primarily due to payments on overdue payables as well as unpaid voluntary deferred wages, consulting fees, and bonuses in Fiscal 2023 after the close of the U.S. IPO and Canadian Offering in December 2022, coupled with significant prepaid expenses during the nine months ended June 30, 2023 including retention bonus for our general manager of PARA OPS (refundable in the event he voluntarily terminates prior to a specified date as set by us), compared to regular operating activities in Fiscal 2024, with no significant transactions.

Cash used by investing activities

Cash flow used in investing activities decreased by $0.9 million to $0.1 million for the nine months ended June 30, 2024 mainly due to the Fiscal 2023 additional investment in the product development of our PARA OPS, coupled with additional low-rate initial production equipment for PARA OPS, whereas there were no significant investments in equipment in Fiscal 2024.

Cash provided by financing activities

Cash flow used by financing activities was less than $2.8 million for the nine months ended June 30, 2024 mainly from the net proceeds received from the April 2024 Offering and June 2024 Offering in Fiscal 2024, compared to cash flow provided by financing activities of $13.9 million in Fiscal 2023 primarily due to net proceeds generated from the U.S. IPO and Canadian Offering, partially offset by repayment of all outstanding borrowings during the Fiscal 2023 period to date.

Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows - Fiscal 2023

The following table summarizes our consolidated statements of cash flows for the respective periods:

Cash used by operating activities

Cash flow used in operating activities increased by $9.8 million to $14.1 million for the year ended September 30, 2023, primarily due to payments on overdue payables as well as unpaid voluntary deferred wages, consulting fees, and bonuses until we closed the U.S. IPO and Canadian Offering, coupled with significant prepaid expenses during the year ended September 30, 2023. Prepaid expenses increased by $0.4 million mainly due to the renewal of D&O and commercial insurance coverage, capital market advisory services, and retention bonus for our head of PARA OPS (refundable in the event he voluntarily terminates prior to a specified date as set by us).

Cash used by investing activities

Cash flow used in investing activities was $1.4 million for the year ended September 30, 2023, an increase of $0.3 million from the comparable period, mainly due to additional investment in the product development of our PARA OPS, coupled with additional low-rate initial production equipment for PARA OPS.

Cash provided by financing activities

Cash flow provided by financing activities was $20.8 million in Fiscal 2023 compared to $2.9 million in Fiscal 2022 primarily due to net proceeds generated from the U.S. IPO and Canadian Offering and the July Private Placement, partially offset by repayment of all outstanding borrowings during the year ended September 30, 2023.

Capital Resources

Our objective in managing our capital is to safeguard our ability to continue as a going concern and to sustain future development of the business. Our senior management is responsible for managing the capital through regular review of financial information to ensure sufficient resources are available to meet operating requirements and investments to support its growth strategy. Our Board is responsible for overseeing this process. From time to time, we could issue new Common Shares or debt to maintain or adjust our capital structure. We are not subject to any externally imposed capital requirements.

Our primary sources of capital to date have been borrowings, security offerings, exercise of stock options and warrants, and, to a lesser extent, pre-commercial revenue.  The following is a breakdown of our capital:

During Fiscal 2023, we fully repaid all outstanding loans following the closing of the U.S. IPO and Canadian Offering.

Contractual Obligations and Commitments

At June 30, 2024, our contractual obligations and commitments were as follows:

Shares Outstanding

At June 30, 2024, our authorized capital consists of an unlimited number of Common Shares with no stated par value.

The following table shows the outstanding Common Shares and dilutive securities at June 30, 2024:

(1) Represents the number of shares to be issued upon exercise.

U.S. IPO and Canadian Offering

On December 9, 2022, we closed the U.S. IPO and Canadian Offering. In the U.S. IPO, we sold 250,000 U.S. Common Units at a public offering price of USD$41.30 per unit, consisting of one Common Share and one Warrant. The Warrants have a per share exercise price of USD$50.00, could be exercised immediately, and expire five years from the date of issuance. In connection with the closing of the U.S. IPO, the underwriter partially exercised its over-allotment option to purchase an additional 19,900 pre-funded common share purchase warrants and 37,500 warrants to purchase Common Shares. All these warrants will expire on December 8, 2027.

In the Canadian Offering, we sold 72,639 units, each consisting of one Common Share and one warrant to purchase one Common Share, at a price to the public of USD$41.30 per unit. The warrants will have a per Common Share exercise price of USD$50.00, are exercisable immediately and expire five years from the date of issuance.

The closing of the U.S. IPO and Canadian Offering resulted in aggregate gross proceeds of USD$14.1 million (CAD $19.4 million).  After underwriting discounts and offering expenses, the net proceeds were USD$11 million (CAD $15 million).  See Note 16(a) of Fiscal 2023 financial statements for further details.

Use of Proceeds

As of September 30, 2023, the Company has used all of the USD$11M of the net proceeds as outlined below: