Creatd, Inc. 10-K

ITEM 1. BUSINESS Overview Creatd, Inc. (“CRTD,” “the Company,” or “Creatd”) is a company whose mission is to provide economic opportunities to creators by multiplying the impact of platforms, people, and technology. We operate four main business segments, or ‘pillars’: Creatd Labs, Creatd Partners, Creatd Ventures, and Creatd Studios. Together, Creatd's pillars work together to create a flywheel effect, supporting our core vision of creating a viable ecosystem for all stakeholders in the creator economy. Creator-Centric Strategy Our purpose is to empower creators to prosper through exceptional tools, built-in communities, and opportunities for monetization and audience expansion. This creator-first approach is the foundation of our culture and mission, and how we choose to allocate our resources. It governs our business model and shapes the value we provide for each of our stakeholders across Creatd’s four pillars. Creatd Labs Creatd Labs is dedicated to the development of technology products that support the creator economy. This pillar houses Creatd’s proprietary technology platforms, including Creatd’s flagship product, Vocal. This pillar is operated through our wholly-owned subsidiary, Abacus Tech Pty Ltd. Vocal Vocal was built to serve as a home base for digital creators. This robust, proprietary technology platform that provides best-in-class tools, safe and curated communities, and monetization opportunities that enable creators to find a receptive audience and get rewarded. Creators of all types call Vocal their home, from bloggers to podcasters, makers, musicians, photographers, and more. Since its initial launch in 2016, Vocal has grown to be one of the fastest growing communities for content creators of all shapes and sizes. Creators can opt to use Vocal for free, or upgrade to Vocal+. Upon subscribing to Vocal, either as a freemium or premium member, creators can immediately begin to access the numerous monetization opportunities that Vocal facilitates. Specifically, Vocal creators can earn money i) every time their story is read, ii) by competing in Challenges, iii) by receiving Bonuses, iv) by collaborating on branded content campaigns through the company’s in-house agency, Vocal for Brands, v) through ‘Subscribe,’ which enables creators to receive payment directly from their audience via monthly subscriptions and one-off microtransactions. vi) through the Vocal Ambassador Program, which enables creators to receive additional rewards whenever they refer a new Vocal+ member. Vocal+ Vocal+ is Vocal’s premium membership program. Subscribers pay a membership fee to access additional premium features on the platform, including: a higher rate of earnings per read, reduced platform processing fees on tips received, eligibility to participate in exclusive Vocal+ Challenges, access to Vocal’s ‘Quick Edit’ feature for published stories, and more. The current cost of a Vocal+ membership is either $9.99 per month or $99 annually. From time to time, the Company offers Vocal+ subscriptions at a discount for a predetermined number of months as a promotion for new subscribers. 1 Moderation and Compliance One of the key differentiating factors between Vocal and most other user-generated content platforms is the fact that each story submitted to Vocal is run through the Company’s proprietary moderation process before it goes live on the platform. The decision to implement moderation into the submission process was in direct response to the rise of misinformation and bad actors on many social platforms. In response to these inherent pitfalls within the content landscape, Vocal’s proprietary moderation system combines the algorithmic detection of copyrighted material, hate speech, graphic violence, and nudity, and human-led curation to ensure the quality and safety of each story published on Vocal, thus fostering a safe and trustworthy environment for creators, audiences, and brands. Moderation and compliance are more important than ever in a world where ambiguity can systematically damage value. Vocal’s enforcement of community guidelines and emphasis on content moderation protects the platform, its creators, and Creatd shareholders. Trust and safety are paramount to the Vocal ecosystem. We follow best practices when handling personally identifiable information, with guidance from the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Platform Compliance Policies include: ● Human-led, technology assisted moderation of every story submitted; ● Algorithmic detection of hate speech, nudity, and copyright infringement; ● Brand, creator, and audience safety enforced through community watch; and ● The rejection of what we consider toxic content, with the understanding that diverse opinions are encouraged. Technology Development Vocal’s proprietary technology is built on Keystone, the same underlying open-source framework used by industry-leaders such as Atlassian, a $43-billion Australian technology company. Some of the key differentiating elements of Vocal’s technology are speed, sustainability, and scalability. The Company continues to invest heavily in research and development to continuously improve and innovate its platform, with the goal of optimizing the user experience for creators. Vocal’s architecture allows it to do more with less cost and provides a model capable of turning a profit. Additionally, the Vocal platform and its underlying technology allows us to maintain an advantageous capital-light infrastructure. By using cloud service providers, we are able to focus on platform and revenue growth rather than building and maintaining the costly internal infrastructures that have materially affected so many legacy media platforms. Vocal’s technology has been specifically designed and built to scale without a material corresponding increase in operational costs. While our users can embed rich media, such as video, audio, and product links, into their Vocal stories, the rich media content is hosted elsewhere (such as YouTube, Instagram, Vimeo, Shopify, Spotify, etc.). Thus, our platform can accommodate rich media content of all kinds without bearing the financial or operational costs associated with hosting the rich media itself. In addition to the benefits this framework affords to the Company, it is the additional benefit to our content creators, in that a creator can increase their monetization; for example, a creator can embed their YouTube video into a Vocal story and thus derive earnings from both platforms when their video is viewed. 2 Creatd Partners Creatd Partners houses the Company’s agency businesses, with the goal of fostering partnerships between creators and brands. Creatd Partners’ offerings include: Vocal for Brands (content marketing), Seller’s Choice (performance marketing), and WHE Agency (influencer marketing). Creatd Partners leverages its network of brands and influencers, along with resources from across Creatd, to help direct-to-consumer brands achieve conversions and reach their target audiences, while driving success for all of Creatd’s stakeholders. Vocal for Brands All brands have a story to tell, and our creator community helps them tell it. Vocal for Brands, Creatd's internal content marketing studio, specializes in pairing leading brands with Vocal creators to produce marketing campaigns that are non-interruptive, engaging, and direct-response driven, with creators telling the brand’s story in a way that is both engaging and trustworthy. Further, Vocal for Brands campaigns leverage Vocal’s first-party data and technology, which enables the creation of highly targeted and segmented audiences and optimized campaign results. In addition to branded story campaigns Additionally, brands can opt to collaborate with Vocal on a sponsored Challenge, prompting the creation of high-quality stories that are centered around the brand’s mission and further disseminated through creators’ respective social channels and promotional outlets. WHE Agency The WHE Agency (“WHE”), acquired by Creatd in 2021, was founded by Tracy Willis with the goal of supporting top creators and influencers, by connecting them with leading family and lifestyle brands and global audiences. Today, WHE represents a roster of over 100 creators across numerous verticals including family and lifestyle, music, and celebrity categories. Seller’s Choice Seller’s Choice is Creatd Partners’ performance marketing agency specializing in DTC (direct-to-consumer) and e-commerce clientele. Seller’s Choice provides direct-to-consumer brands with design, development, strategy, and sales optimization services. Creatd Ventures Creatd Ventures houses Creatd's portfolio of e-commerce businesses, both majority and minority-owned as well as associated e-commerce technology and infrastructure. The Company supports founders by providing capital, as well as a host of services including design and development, marketing and distribution, and go-to-market strategy. Currently, the Creatd Ventures portfolio includes: ● Camp , previously Plant Camp, a direct-to-consumer (DTC) food brand which creates healthy upgrades to classic comfort food favorites. Each of Camp’s products are created with hidden servings of vegetables and contain Vitamins A, C, D, E, B1 + B6. In the fourth quarter of 2021, Camp added two new products to its expanding line of healthy, veggie-based, family-friendly foods. Currently, Camp has four flavors available for purchase: Classic Cheddar Mac 'N' Cheese, White Cheddar Mac 'N' Cheese, Vegan Cheezy Mac, and Twist Veggie Pasta. Camp, which first launched in 2020, represents the first investment within the Creatd Ventures portfolio. ● Dune Glow Remedy (“Dune”), acquired by Creatd through a series of noncontrolling interest acquisitions prior to the third quarter of 2021, the Company announced its intent to purchase a controlling stake in Dune Glow Remedy (“Dune”). The Company subsequently announced the completion of its purchase of a 50.4% majority stake in the fourth quarter of 2021. Brought to market in 2021, Dune is a beverage brand focused on promoting wellness and beauty from within. Each beverage in Dune’s product line is meticulously crafted with functional ingredients that nourish skin from the inside out and enhance one's natural glow. ● Basis , which was acquired by the Company subsequent to year-end 2021, in March of 2022. Founded in 2017, Basis is a hydrating electrolyte drink mix formulated using rehydration therapies developed by the World Health Organization. Historically, Basis has shown strong sales volume both on the brand’s website as well as through third-party distribution channels such as Amazon. Creatd’s acquisition of 100% ownership in Basis marks the third majority ownership acquisition for Creatd Ventures. 3 Creatd Studios The goal of Creatd Studios is to elevate creators’ stories to TV, film, books, podcasts, video, and more. ● Transmedia Assets : With millions of compelling stories in its midst, Creatd’s technology surfaces the best candidates for transmedia adaptations, through community and creator data insights. Then, Creatd Studios helps creators tell their existing stories in new ways, by partnering them with entertainment and publishing studios to create unique content experiences that accelerate earnings, discoverability, and open doors. ● OG Gallery : The OG Collection is an extensive library of original artwork and imagery from the archives of some of the most iconic magazines of the 20th century. OG Gallery is an exploratory initiative aimed at identifying opportunities to propel the OG Collection into a new technological sphere: the NFT marketplace. Application of First-Party Data Creatd’s business intelligence and marketing teams identify and target individual creators, communities, and brands, utilizing empirical data harnessed from the Vocal platform. The team’s ability to apply its proprietary first-party data works to reduce acquisition costs for new creators and to help provide brands with conversions and an ideal targeted audience. In this way, our ability to apply first-party data is one of the value-drivers for the Company across its four business pillars. Importantly, we do not sell the collected data, that being a common monetization opportunity for many other businesses. Instead, we use our collected first-party data for the purposes of bettering the platform. Specifically, our data helps us understand the behaviors and attributes that are common among the creators, brands, and audiences within our ecosystem. We then pair our first-party Vocal data with third-party data from distribution platforms such as Facebook and Snapchat to provide a more granular profile of our creators, brands, and audiences. It is through generating this valuable first-party data that we can continually enrich and refine our targeting capabilities for branded content promotion and creator acquisition, and specifically, to reduce our creator acquisition costs (CAC) and subscriber acquisition costs (SAC). Competition The idea for Vocal came as a response to what Creatd’s founders recognized as systemic flaws inherent to the digital media industry and its operational infrastructures. Depreciating value of digital media business models built on legacy technology platforms created a unique opportunity for development of a creator-centric platform that could appeal to a global community and, at the same time, be capable of acquiring undervalued complimentary technology assets. Creatd’s founders built the Vocal platform upon the general thesis that a closed and safe ecosystem utilizing first-party data to increase efficiencies could create a sustainable and defensible business model. Vocal was strategically developed to provide value for content creators, readers, and brands, and to serve as a home for the ever-increasing amount of digital content being produced and the libraries of digital assets lying dormant. Vocal is most commonly discussed as a combination of: ● Medium, a platform for writers built by former Twitter founder Ev Williams; ● Reddit, a social news aggregation, web content rating, and discussion website; and ● Patreon, a membership platform that provides business tools for content creators to run a subscription service. 4 Creatd does not view Vocal as a substitute or competitor to segment-specific content platforms, such as Vimeo, YouTube, Instagram, or SoundCloud. We don’t want to replace anyone; we built Vocal to be accretive to the entire digital ecosystem. In fact, one of the most powerful components of our technology is the fact that Vocal makes it easy for creators to embed their existing published content, including videos, songs, podcasts, photographs, and more, directly into Vocal. We see this as a growth opportunity by building partnerships with the world’s greatest technology companies and to further spread our roots deeper into the digital landscape. Revenue Model Creatd’s revenues are primarily generated through: ● Creator Subscriptions: Vocal+ subscription offering provides creators with increased monetization and access to premium tools and features. At approximately $10 per month, Vocal+ offers creators a strong value proposition for freemium users to upgrade, while providing a scalable source of monthly recurring gross revenue for Creatd. ● Marketing Partnerships: Vocal partners with leading brands and creators through its internal content studio, Vocal for Brands, to produce content marketing campaigns, including sponsored Challenges, that leverage the power of Vocal. Branded stories and Challenges are optimized for conversions, distributed to a targeted audience based on Vocal’s first-party data, and are optimized for conversions to maximize revenue growth. Additionally, marketing partnerships are brokered through the Company’s in-house influencer talent management firm, WHE, which manages and promotes a growing roster of influencer talent who partner with brands on marketing campaigns both inside and outside the Vocal platform. ● Managed Services: Creatd’s in-house marketing agency for e-commerce, Seller’s Choice, provides direct-to-consumer brands with design, development, strategy, and sales optimization services. ● Platform Processing Fees and Microtransactions: With Tipping and other types of microtransactions, audiences can engage and support their favorite Vocal creators by actively investing in their creativity. Vocal takes a platform processing fee on all transactions. Each Tip sent on Vocal generates revenue for the Company in the form of platform processing fees. For Vocal Free creators, we retain a 7% platform processing fee for every Tip exchanged. For Vocal+ creators, we retain a 2.9% platform processing fee. ● Affiliate sales: Vocal generates revenue through affiliate marketing relationships, which pays the Company a percentage of purchases made on our platform. Affiliate relationships include Amazon, Skimlinks, Tune, and more. This represents a unique opportunity in the post-pandemic environment where brands need expansive distribution pipelines such as Vocal to reach broader audiences. ● E-commerce: Our e-commerce strategy involves revitalizing archival imagery and media content in dormant legacy portfolios. Our curation and data capabilities have helped us create scalable and definable value for our internal collection of media assets through financing, trademarking, licensing, and production opportunities. Creatd has an exclusive license to leverage the stories housed on Vocal, reimagining them for films, episodic shows, games, graphic novels, collectibles, books, and more. Acquisition Strategy Creatd’s hybrid finance and design culture is key to its acquisition strategy. Acquisition targets are companies that meet a set of opportunistic or financial standards or that are part of specific digital environments that are accretive and can seamlessly integrate into Creatd’s existing revenue lines. Creatd will continue to make strategic acquisitions when presented with opportunities that are in the interest of shareholder value. Corporate History and Information We were originally incorporated under the laws of the State of Nevada on December 30, 1999 under the name LILM, Inc. The Company changed its name on December 3, 2013 to Great Plains Holdings, Inc. On February 5, 2016 (the “Merger Closing Date”), we entered into an Agreement and Plan of Merger (the “Merger Agreement”) with GPH Merger Sub, Inc., a Nevada corporation and our wholly-owned subsidiary (“Merger Sub”), and Jerrick Ventures, Inc., a privately-held Nevada corporation headquartered in New Jersey (“Jerrick”), pursuant to which the Merger Sub was merged with and into Jerrick, with Jerrick surviving as our wholly-owned subsidiary (the “Merger”). Pursuant to the terms of the Merger Agreement, we acquired, through a reverse triangular merger, all of the outstanding capital stock of Jerrick in exchange for issuing Jerrick’s shareholders (the “Jerrick Shareholders”), pro-rata, a total of 475,000 shares of our common stock, par value $0.001 per share (“Common Stock”). Additionally, we assumed 33,415 shares of Jerrick’s Series A Convertible Preferred Stock (the “Jerrick Series A Preferred”) and 8,064 shares of Series B Convertible Preferred Stock (the “Jerrick Series B Preferred”). 5 Upon closing of the Merger on February 5, 2016, the Company changed its business plan to our current plan. In connection with the Merger, on the Merger Closing Date, we entered into a Spin-Off Agreement with Kent Campbell (the “Spin-Off Agreement”), pursuant to which Mr. Campbell purchased (i) all of our interest in Ashland Holdings, LLC, a Florida limited liability company, and (ii) all of our interest in Lil Marc, Inc., a Utah corporation, in exchange for the cancellation of 13,030 shares of our common stock held by Mr. Campbell. In addition, Mr. Campbell assumed all of our debts, obligations and liabilities, including any existing prior to the Merger, pursuant to the terms and conditions of the Spin-Off Agreement. Effective February 28, 2016, we entered into an Agreement and Plan of Merger (the “Statutory Merger Agreement”), pursuant to which we became the parent company of Jerrick Ventures, LLC, our wholly-owned operating subsidiary (the “Statutory Merger”). On February 28, 2016, we changed our name to Jerrick Media Holdings, Inc. to better reflect our new business strategy. On July 25, 2019, we filed a certificate of amendment to our articles of incorporation, as amended (the “Amendment”), with the Secretary of State of the State of Nevada to effectuate a one-for-twenty (1:20) reverse stock split (the “Reverse Stock Split”) of our common stock without any change to its par value. The Amendment became effective on July 30, 2019. The number of shares of authorized common stock was proportionately reduced as a result of the Reverse Stock Split. The number of shares of authorized preferred stock was not affected by the Reverse Stock Split. No fractional shares were issued in connection with the Reverse Stock Split as all fractional shares were “rounded up” to the next whole share. All share and per share amounts for the common stock indicated in this Form 10-K have been retroactively restated to give effect to the Reverse Stock Split. On September 11, 2019, the Company acquired 100% of the membership interests of Seller’s Choice, LLC, a New Jersey limited liability company (“Seller’s Choice”). Seller’s Choice is digital e-commerce agency based in New Jersey (see Note 4). On July 13, 2020, upon approval from our board of directors and stockholders, we filed Second Amended and Restated Articles of Incorporation with the Secretary of State of the State of Nevada for the purpose of increasing our authorized shares of Common Stock to 100,000,000. On August 13, 2020, we filed a certificate of amendment to our second amended and restated articles of incorporation (the “Amendment”), with the Secretary of State of the State of Nevada to effectuate a one-for-three (1:3) reverse stock split (the “August 2020 Reverse Stock Split”) of our common stock without any change to its par value. The Amendment became effective on August 17, 2020. No fractional shares were issued in connection with the August 2020 Reverse Stock Split as all fractional shares were rounded down to the next whole share. All share and per share amounts of our common stock listed in this Form 10-K have been adjusted to give effect to the August 2020 Reverse Stock Split. On September 9, 2020, the Company filed a certificate of amendment with the Secretary of State of the State of Nevada to change our name to “Creatd, Inc.”, which became effective on September 10, 2020. Recent Developments Registered Direct Offering –March 2022 On March 7, 2022, the Company entered into a securities purchase agreement (the “Purchase Agreement”) with thirteen accredited investors resulting in the raise of $2,659,750 in gross proceeds to the Company. Pursuant to the terms of the Purchase Agreement, the Company agreed to sell in a registered direct offering an aggregate of 1,519,857 shares of the Company’s common stock, par value $0.001 per share (the “Common Stock”) together with warrants to purchase an aggregate of 1,519,857 shares of Common Stock (the “Warrants”) at an exercise price of $1.75 per share (collectively, the “Offering”). The warrants will be immediately exercisable and will expire on March 9, 2027. 6 The Offering closed on March 9, 2022, after the satisfaction of customary closing conditions as set forth in the Purchase Agreement. The gross proceeds from the Offering were $2,659,750, before deducting Offering expenses, which will be used for general corporate purposes, including working capital. The shares of Common Stock were offered and sold by the Company pursuant to a prospectus supplement, which was filed with Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) on March 9, 2022, in connection with a takedown from the Company’s effective shelf registration statement on Form S-3, which was filed with the SEC on November 25, 2020 and subsequently declared effective on April 23, 2021 (File No. 333-250982) (the “Shelf Registration Statement”). Nasdaq Notice of Delisting On January 4, 2021, the Company received a letter from the staff of The Nasdaq Capital Market (the “Exchange”) notifying the Company that the Exchange had determined to delist the Company’s common stock and warrants from the Exchange based on the Company’s non-compliance with the Exchange’s (i) $5 million stockholders’ equity requirement for initial listing pursuant to Nasdaq Listing Rule 5505(b), (ii) the $2.5 million stockholders’ equity requirement or any of the alternatives for continued listing pursuant to Nasdaq Listing Rule 5550(b), and (iii) the Company’s failure to provide material information to the Exchange pursuant to Nasdaq Listing Rule 5250(a)(1). On February 11, 2021, the Company met with the Exchange’s Hearings Panel (the “Panel”) with respect to such determination, in accordance with the Exchange’s rules and, pursuant to such request by the Company to appeal, the delisting of the Company’s securities and the Form 25 Notification of Delisting filing was stayed pending the Panel’s decision. On March 9, 2021, the Exchange notified the Company that the Panel had determined to continue the listing of the Company on the Exchange. Notwithstanding the Panel’s determination to continue the listing of the Company’s securities on the Exchange, the Panel issued a public reprimand letter to the Company, pursuant to Listing Rule 5815(c)(1)(D), based on its finding “that the Company failed to meet the initial listing criteria with respect to stockholders’ equity and failed to provide Nasdaq with material information with respect to that deficiency.” Specifically, the Panel found that the Company failed to comply with Listing Rule 5250(a)(1), requiring it to notify Nasdaq of certain significant developments that led to the Company’s prior representations about its ability to satisfy the initial listing requirements being inaccurate. In reaching its determination to continue the listing of the Company on Nasdaq, the Panel acknowledged that the Company has since demonstrated compliance with the initial listing requirement for stockholders’ equity and all other applicable initial listing requirements. The Panel also determined that the violations were inadvertent and that the Company had relied on advice of counsel at the time in its interactions with the Nasdaq staff (“Staff”). The Panel also acknowledged the Company’s efforts to implement structural changes within the Company to avoid similar misstatements in the future and that would allow for proper accounting and disclosure on an ongoing basis. A Panel Monitor has been implemented under Listing Rule 5815(d)(4)(A) for a period of one year from the date of the Letter. In the event that the Company becomes deficient with respect to any continued listing requirement, the Company will not be afforded the opportunity to submit a compliance plan for Staff’s consideration and Staff will issue a Delist Determination Letter and promptly schedule a new hearing under Listing Rule 5810(c)(2), at which the Company may present a compliance plan for the Panel’s consideration. In the event of a new hearing, any suspension or delisting action would be stayed pending the completion of the hearings process and the expiration of any additional extension period granted by the Panel following the hearing. On March 1, 2022, the Company received a letter (the “Letter”) from the staff of The Nasdaq Capital Market (the “Exchange”) notifying the Company that the Exchange has determined to delist the Company’s common stock from the Exchange based on the Company’s Market Value of Listed Securities for the 30-consecutive day period between January 15, 2022 and February 25, 2022 falling short of the requirements under Listing Rule 5550(b)(2) (the “Rule”). Although a 180-day period is typically allowed for an issuer to regain compliance, the Company is not eligible to use such compliance period, as the Exchange had instituted a Panel Monitor through March 9, 2022. 7 The Company is pursuing an appeal to the Panel of such determination, in accordance with the Exchange’s rules and, pursuant to such request by the Company to appeal, the delisting of the Company’s securities and the Form 25 Notification of Delisting filing will be stayed pending the Panel’s decision. The Company intends to present to the Panel evidence that the Company has regained compliance with the Rule; however, there can be no assurance that the Panel will grant the Company’s request for continued listing. The Letter has no immediate impact on the listing of the Company’s common stock or warrants, which will continue to be listed and traded on the Exchange, subject to the Company’s compliance with other continued listing requirements. The Company’s receipt of the Letter does not affect the Company’s business, operations or reporting requirements with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Securities Purchase Agreement On March 1, 2022, the Company entered into securities purchase agreements with twenty-eight (28) accredited investors whereby, at the closing, such investors purchased from the Company an aggregate of (i) 1,401,457 shares of the Company’s common stock, par value $0.001 per share and (ii) 1,401,457 warrants to purchase shares of common stock, for an aggregate purchase price of $2,452,550. Such warrants are exercisable for a term of five-years from the date of issuance, at an exercise price of $1.75 per share, and provide for cashless exercise to the extent that there is no registration statement available for the underlying shares of common stock. The Benchmark Company, LLC acted as exclusive financial advisor for the Company in connection with the financing and is entitled to receive 125,000 shares of common stock as compensation for its services. The closing of the financing occurred on March 1, 2022. Board of Directors and Management Appointment of New Directors On February 17, 2022, the Board of Directors (the “Board”) of the Company appointed Joanna Bloor, Brad Justus, and Lorraine Hendrickson to serve as members of the Board. Ms. Bloor has been nominated to, and will serve as, chair of the Compensation Committee, and to be a member of the Audit Committee and Nominating & Corporate Governance Committee. Mr. Justus has been nominated, and will serve as, chair of the Nominating & Corporate Governance Committee, and to be a member of the Compensation Committee and Audit Committee. Ms. Hendrickson has been nominated to, and will serve as, chair of the Audit Committee and to be a member of the Compensation and Nominating & Corporate Governance Committee. Departure of Directors On July 16, 2021, Mark Patterson notified the Board of the Company of his resignation from the Board, effective July 31, 2021. Such resignation was not the result of any disagreement with the Company on any matter relating to the Company’s operations, policies or practices. On February 17, 2022, the Board received notice that effective immediately, Mark Standish resigned as Chair of the Board, Chair of the Audit Committee and as a member of the Compensation Committee and Nominating & Corporate Governance Committee; Leonard Schiller resigned as member of the Board, Chair of the Compensation Committee and as a member of the Audit Committee and Nominating & Corporate Governance Committee; and LaBrena Martin resigned as a member of the Board, Chair of the Nominating & Corporate Governance Committee and as a member of the Audit Committee and Compensation Committee. Such resignations are not the result of any disagreement with the Company on any matter relating to the Company’s operations, policies or practices. Management Restructuring On August 13, 2021, the Board approved the restructuring of the Company’s senior management team to be comprised of two Co-Chief Executive Officers and appointed Jeremy Frommer and Laurie Weisberg to such positions (the “First Restructuring”). Additionally, Justin Maury was appointed Chief Operating Officer and retains his position as President. Prior to the First Restructuring, Mr. Frommer served as the Company’s Chief Executive Officer and Ms. Weisberg served as the Company’s Chief Operating Officer. Mr. Frommer and Ms. Weisberg continue to serve as members of the Board. The Restructuring did not impact the role or functions of the Company’s Chief Financial Officer, Chelsea Pullano. 8 On February 17, 2022, the Board of the Company approved the restructuring of the Company’s senior management team to eliminate the Co-Chief Executive Officer role, appointing Jeremy Frommer as Executive Chairman and Founder, and appointing Laurie Weisberg as Chief Executive Officer (the “Second Restructuring”). Prior to the Second Restructuring, Mr. Frommer and Ms. Weisberg served as the Company’s co-Chief Executive Officers and Ms. Weisberg served as the Company’s Chief Operating Officer. The Second Restructuring does not impact the role or functions of the Company’s Chief Financial Officer, Chelsea Pullano, or the role or functions of the Company’s President and Chief Operating Officer, Justin Maury. Plant Camp LLC Purchase On June 4, 2021, the Company, through its wholly owned subsidiary, Creatd Partners, LLC, a Delaware limited liability company (the “Purchaser”), entered into a Membership Interest Purchase Agreement (the “MIPA”) with Angela Hein and Heidi Brown (the “Sellers”), pursuant to which the Purchaser acquired 841,005 common units of Plant Camp LLC, a Delaware limited liability company (“Plant Camp”) from the Sellers, resulting in the Purchaser owning 89% of the issued and outstanding equity of Plant Camp. Simultaneous with the execution of the MIPA, and having met all conditions precedent in the MIPA, the parties to the MIPA consummated the closing of the transactions contemplated by the MIPA (the “Closing”). At the Closing, the Purchaser acquired a majority interest in Plant Camp in exchange for a cash payment to the Sellers of $300,000. The MIPA contains customary representations, warranties, covenants, indemnification and other terms for transactions of a similar nature. On the Closing Date, the Amended and Restated Liability Company Operating Agreement of Plant Camp was amended and restated (the “Second A&R Operating Agreement”) to reflect the purchase and sale of the Membership Interests pursuant to the MIPA. Underwritten Public Offering On June 17, 2021, the Company entered into an underwriting agreement (the “Underwriting Agreement”) with The Benchmark Company LLC (“Benchmark” or the “Underwriter”), pursuant to which we agreed to sell to the Underwriter in a firm commitment underwritten public offering (the “Offering”) an aggregate of 750,000 shares of the Company’s common stock, par value $0.001 per share, at a public offering price of $3.40 per share. The Company also granted the Underwriter a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional 112,500 shares of common stock to cover over-allotments, if any. The Offering closed on June 21, 2021. Benchmark acted as sole bookrunner for the Offering. The Offering was made pursuant to a prospectus supplement dated June 17, 2021, and a base prospectus dated April 23, 2021, which is part of a registration statement on Form S-3 (File No. 333-250982) that was filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “Commission”) on November 25, 2020, as amended on April 9, 2021, and declared effective by the Commission on April 23, 2021. The Underwriter received a discount in the amount of 7% of the aggregate gross proceeds received by the Company in connection with the Offering, warrants equal to 5% of the total of all shares issued in the Public Offering, including overallotment shares, exercisable six months from the date of issuance, at the price of $4.08, for a period of five years (the “Underwriter Warrants”), and reimbursement of certain expenses. The Underwriting Agreement included customary representations, warranties and covenants, and customary conditions to closing, expense and reimbursement obligations and termination provisions. Additionally, under the terms of the Underwriting Agreement, we have agreed to indemnify the Underwriter against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or to contribute to payments the Underwriter may be required to make in respect of these liabilities. 9 The gross proceeds to the Company from the sale of 750,000 shares of Common Stock, before deducting underwriting discounts and commissions and estimated offering expenses payable by us, will be $2,550,000. We used the net proceeds from the Offering for working capital and general corporate purposes. WHE Agency Transaction On July 20, 2021, the Company entered into, through its wholly owned subsidiary, Creatd Partners, LLC (“Creatd Partners”), a Stock Purchase Agreement (the “Purchase Agreement”) with individuals named therein (collectively, the “Sellers”), pursuant to which Creatd Partners acquired from the Sellers, subject to the terms and conditions of the Purchase Agreement and other related agreements (the “Transaction Documents”) 1,158,000 shares of common stock of WHE Agency, Inc. (“WHE Agency”), a talent management and public relations agency that primarily focuses on representation and management of family and lifestyle-focused influencers and digital creators. The equity interest acquired in the Transaction (as defined below) along with the Voting Agreements described below equals fifty-five (55%) of the voting power and forty-four (44%) of the ownership of WHE Agency’s issued and outstanding shares, determined on a fully diluted basis post-transaction. Pursuant to the Purchase Agreement, the Sellers sold, transferred, assigned, conveyed and delivered to Creatd Partners their respective issued and outstanding shares of common stock in WHE Agency (the “Transaction”). The aggregate closing consideration of the Transaction is $1,038,271, which consists of a combination of cash, in the amount of $144,750 (“Cash Consideration”), and the remaining $893,521 issued to the Sellers in the form of 224,503 shares of the Company’s restricted common stock (“Closing Share Consideration”). The Transaction closed on July 23, 2021 (the “Closing”). At the Closing, Sellers received their respective portion of the aggregate closing consideration in the form of a combination of Cash Consideration and Closing Share Consideration, except for 5% of the total Closing Share Consideration that will be subject to a twelve (12) month Indemnification Holdback Period. The 224,503 shares of the Company’s common stock, par value $0.001 per share (the “Common Stock”), were issued as part of the Closing Share Consideration (the “Shares”) to the Sellers are “restricted securities,” as defined in Rule 144(a)(3) under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Act”), and accordingly the Shares may not be resold by the Sellers without registration under the Act or an available exemption from registration. Under the Purchase Agreement, the Company will be obligated to file with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) within ten business days after the Closing, a registration statement on Form S-1 or Form S-3 registering the resale of the Shares by the Sellers under the Act to cover the resale of the Shares issued to the Sellers. 10 The Purchase Agreement contain representations and warranties made by and to the parties thereto as of specific dates. The Purchase Agreement includes customary representations, warranties and covenants of the Company, Sellers and WHE Agency. The representations and warranties made by each party were made solely for the benefit of the other parties and (i) were not intended to be treated as categorical statements of fact, but rather as a way of allocating the risk between the parties to the Purchase Agreement if those statements prove to be inaccurate; (ii) may have been qualified in the Purchase Agreement by disclosures that were made to the other party in disclosure schedules to the Purchase Agreement, and (iii) were made only as of the date of the Purchase Agreement or such other date or dates as may be specified in the Purchase Agreement. In connection with entering into the Purchase Agreement, Creatd Partners entered into a certain Voting Agreement and Proxy (the “Voting Agreement”) with certain beneficial owners that collectively own 11% percent of WHE Agency’s issued and outstanding restricted common stock (“Restricted Stockholders”). Through the Voting Agreements entered into with the Restricted Stockholders, Creatd Partners effectively controls 55% of the total voting power of the Company in the aggregate. The Voting Agreements generally require that the stockholders who are party to the Voting Agreements vote or cause to be voted their WHE Agency shares, and execute and deliver written consents and otherwise exercise all voting and other rights with respect to the WHE Agency shares at the direction of Creatd Partners. In addition, in connection with the Voting Agreements, the Restricted Stockholders delivered irrevocable proxies to Creatd Partners. The Voting Agreements terminate upon the twenty-year anniversary of executing the Voting Agreements. Dune Transaction On October 3, 2021, we, through Creatd Partners, LLC (“Buyer”), entered into a Stock Purchase Agreement (the “Dune Agreement”) with Standard Holdings, Inc. (“SHI”) and Mark De Luca (“De Luca”) (SHI and De Luca, collectively the “Dune Sellers”), and Stephanie Roy Dufault, whereby Buyer purchased a majority stake in Dune, Inc., a Delaware corporation (“Dune”). Pursuant to the Dune Agreement, which closed on October 4, 2021, Buyer acquired a total of 3,905,634 shares of the common stock of Dune (the “Purchased Shares”). The Company issued 163,344 restricted shares of the Company’s common stock to the Dune Sellers. In addition, pursuant to the Dune Agreement, $50,000 worth of the Company’s common stock issuable to the Dune Sellers on a pro rata basis, priced in accordance with the terms and conditions set forth in the Dune Agreement (the “Indemnification Escrow Amount”), shall be held in escrow and reserved in each Dune Seller’s name by the Company’s transfer agent until such time as release is authorized under the Agreement. Each of the Dune Sellers and Buyer have made customary representations and warranties, and covenants in the Agreement. In connection with the Dune Agreement, Dune, Creatd Partners, Mark De Luca and SHI entered into a Stockholders Agreement dated October 3, 2021, providing for the purchase of the Purchased Shares representing a majority stake in Dune. The Stockholders Agreement contains customary representations and warranties, and covenants. 11 Registered Direct Offering – October 2021 On October 25, 2021, we entered into a securities purchase agreement (the “Purchase Agreement”) with institutional investors (collectively, the “Purchasers”) resulting in the raise of $3,825,000 in gross proceeds to the Company. Pursuant to the terms of the Purchase Agreement, the Company agreed to sell, in a registered direct offering, an aggregate of 850,000 shares (the “Shares”) of the Company’s common stock, par value $0.001 per share (the “Common Stock”), at a purchase price of $4.50 per Share (the “Offering”). The Offering closed on October 27, 2021, subject to customary closing conditions. Pursuant to the terms of the Purchase Agreement, each of the Purchasers was granted the right to participate in a subsequent financing in an amount up to 25% of such subsequent financing. Additionally, under the terms of the Purchase Agreement, the Company and its subsidiaries are prohibited from issuing Common Stock or common stock equivalents for a period of 30 days from the date of the closing of the Purchase Agreement, other than with respect to Exempt Issuances (as defined in the Purchase Agreement) and the Company shall not undertake a reverse or forward stock split or reclassification of the Common Stock without the prior written consent of the Purchasers holding a majority in interest of the Shares, except as may be required in connection with the satisfaction of the minimum bid price requirement of the principal Trading Market. The Benchmark Company, LLC acted as exclusive placement agent (the “Placement Agent”) for the Company in connection with the Offering. Pursuant to that certain Placement Agency Agreement, dated as of October 25, 2021, between the Company and the Placement Agent (the “Placement Agency Agreement”), the Placement Agent is entitled to a cash fee equal to $267,750, which represents seven percent (7.0%) of the aggregate gross proceeds raised in the Offering, the reimbursement of certain of the Placement Agent’s expenses, and warrants to purchase up to 42,500 shares of Common Stock at an exercise price of $5.40 per share, which represents five percent (5.0%) of the aggregate number of Shares sold in the Offering (the “Placement Agent Warrants”). The Placement Agent Warrants will not be exercisable for a period of six months following the date of the closing and thereafter are exercisable for a period of five years. The Company’s net proceeds to the Company from the Offering were approximately $3,407,250 after deducting the Placement Agent fees and estimated expenses payable by the Company. Employees As of March 31, 2022, we had 56 full-time employees and 23 part-time employees. None of our employees are subject to a collective bargaining agreement, and we believe our relationship with our employees to be good. We believe that our future success will depend in part on our continued ability to attract, hire and retain qualified personnel. Our human capital resources objectives include identifying, recruiting, retaining, incentivizing and integrating our existing and new employees, advisors and consultants. The principal purposes of our equity and cash incentive plans are to attract, retain and reward personnel through the granting of stock-based and cash-based compensation awards, in order to increase stockholder value and the success of our company by motivating such individuals to perform to the best of their abilities and achieve our objectives. Corporate Information The Company’s address is 648 Broadway, Suite 200, New York, NY 10012. The Company’s telephone number is (201) 258-3770. Our website is https://creatd.com. The information on, or that can be accessed through, this website is not part of this Form 10-K, and you should not rely on any such information in making the decision whether to purchase the Common Stock. 12