Dragonfly Energy Holdings Corp. 10-K

ITEM 9A. CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES. Disclosure controls and procedures are controls and other procedures that are designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed in our reports filed or submitted under Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”) is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in the SEC’s rules and forms. Disclosure controls and procedures include, without limitation, controls and procedures designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed in our reports filed or submitted under the Exchange Act is accumulated and communicated to our management, including our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure. Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures As required by Rules 13a-15 and 15d-15 under the Exchange Act, our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer carried out an evaluation of the effectiveness of the design and operation of our disclosure controls and procedures as of December 31, 2021. Based upon their evaluation, our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Rules 13a-15 (e) and 15d-15 (e) under the Exchange Act) were not effective as of December 31, 2021, due to the revision of the Balance Sheet as of August 13, 2021 that was included in a Form 8-K, Item 8.01, filed on August 19, 2021, regarding the classification of redeemable common stock, as described below, which constitutes a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting. Management concluded that a material weakness in internal control over financial reporting existed relating to the accounting treatment for complex financial instruments. A material weakness is a deficiency, or combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting, such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of the Company’s annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis. Changes in Internal Control over Financial Reporting Other than the implementation of the remediation activities regarding the Company’s Balance Sheet on the Form 8-K filed on August 13, 2021, during the most recently completed fiscal quarter, there has been no change in our internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f) under the Exchange Act) that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting. Management has enhanced our processes to identify and appropriately apply applicable accounting requirements to better evaluate and understand the nuances of the complex accounting standards that apply to our financial statements. Our updated processes include providing enhanced access to accounting literature, research materials and documents and increased communication among our personnel and third-party professionals with whom we consult regarding complex accounting applications. The elements of our remediation plan can only be accomplished over time, and we can offer no assurance that these initiatives will ultimately have the intended effects. ​ 76 Table of Contents ITEM 9B. OTHER INFORMATION. On March 28, 2022, the Company entered into an amended and restated warrant agreement with Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, which amended and restated the warrant agreement entered into on August 10, 2021, in connection with the Initial Public Offering. The amended and restated the warrant agreement was adopted to correct a scrivener’s error and to conform to the description of the public warrants and private warrants in the Company’s final prospectus, filed with the SEC on August 12, 2021. The foregoing description of the amended and restated warrant agreement is not complete and is qualified in its entirety by reference to the amended and restated warrant agreement, a copy of which is referenced as Exhibit 4.1 to this Annual Report on Form 10-K, and is incorporated herein by reference. ​ ITEM 9C. DISCLOSURE REGARDING FOREIGN JURISDICTIONS THAT PREVENT INSPECTIONS Not applicable. ​ ​ 77 Table of Contents PART III ITEM 10. DIRECTORS, EXECUTIVE OFFICERS AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE. Our officers and directors as of December 31, 2021 were as follows: Name Position Kerry Propper ​ Co-Founder and Director (Chairman) Jonas Grossman ​ Co-Founder, Chief Executive Officer, President, Secretary, Treasurer and Director Alex Weil ​ Chief Financial Officer and Director Jonathan Biele ​ Director Perry Boyle ​ Director Roderick Hardamon ​ Director Jory Des Jardins ​ Director Hitesh Thakrar ​ Director Todd Thomson ​ Director ​ Kerry Propper , 47 , is our co-founder and has served as chairman of our board of directors since August 2021. Mr. Propper is a co-founder of Chardan and served as its chief executive officer and head of its investment bank from 2003 to 2015. He is a pioneer in the special purpose acquisition marketplace and has been an executive or senior advisor for six SPACs. Since 2015 Mr. Propper has been the chairman of Chardan’s board of directors and the co-founder and managing partner of ATW Partners, a growth-focused investment firm. Mr. Propper also sits on the board of 340Basics, Credit Sesame, PierianDx, and China Networks. Mr. Propper dedicates much of his time to philanthropy and is a founding member of Nadia’s Initiative. He also serves on the board of trustees of the International Crisis Group and sits on the executive boards of Keep A Child Alive, Voices of Rwanda, and Yazda. Mr. Propper earned his B.A. in Economics and International Studies from Colby College. We believe Mr. Propper is qualified to serve on our board of directors because of his extensive industry and transaction expertise and wide network of relationships with industry participants. Jonas Grossman , 48, is our co-founder and has been our Chief Executive Officer and a member of our board of directors since June 2020 and our President, Secretary, and Treasurer since July 2020. He is also a member of our audit committee. Since July 2020, Mr. Grossman has served as Chief Executive Officer and director of Chardan NexTech 1. Mr. Grossman was the Chief Executive Officer and President of Chardan Healthcare Acquisition 2 Corp., a SPAC, from April 2020 until its merger with Renovacor, Inc. (NYSE: RCOR) in September 2021. He is currently a director of Renovacor Inc. He was the Chief Executive Officer and President of Chardan Healthcare Acquisition Corp. from March 2018 until its merger in October 2019 with BiomX (NYSE: PHGE). Mr. Grossman is currently a director of BiomX. He was a co-founder and director for LifeSci Acquisition Corp., a SPAC from March 2020 until its merger with Vincera Pharma, Inc. (NASDAQ: VINC) in December of 2020. Since December 2020, Mr. Grossman has served as a director of Ventoux CCM. Since May 2021, Mr. Grossman has served as a director of CleanTech. He has served as Managing Partner and Head of Capital Markets for Chardan, a New York headquartered broker/dealer, since December 2003, and has additionally served as president of Chardan since September 2015. Since 2003, Mr. Grossman has overseen the Chardan’s investment banking and capital markets activities and initiatives. He has extensive transactional experience having led or managed more than 500 transactions during his tenure at Chardan. Under Mr. Grossman’s leadership, Chardan has become one of the most notable underwriters, advisors, and sponsors of SPACs, having been in involved in 115 SPAC IPO transactions raising over $14.6 billion, serving as advisor to 29 SPAC transactions totaling over $11.4 billion in transaction value, and having sponsored or co-sponsored 14 SPAC transactions. Since December 2006, Mr. Grossman has served as a founding partner for Cornix Advisors, LLC, a New York based hedge fund. From 2001 until 2003, Mr. Grossman worked at Ramius Capital Group, LLC, a global multi-strategy hedge fund where he served as Vice President and Head Trader. Mr. Grossman served as a director for Ideanomics, Inc. (formerly China Broadband, Inc.) (NASDAQ: IDEX) from January 2008 until November 2010. He holds a B.A. in Economics from Cornell University and an M.B.A. from NYU’s Stern School of Business. Mr. Grossman has served on the board of directors for UNICEF since December 2016. We believe Mr. Grossman is qualified to serve on our board of directors because of his long-running capital markets experience as well as his previous company board positions. 78 Table of Contents Alex Weil , 50, has served as our Chief Financial Officer since April 2021 and a member of our board of directors since August 2021. Mr. Weil has served as chief financial officer of Chardan NexTech 1 since March 2021, and as a member of the board of directors since April 2021. Mr. Weil has served as managing director and co-head of fintech investment banking at Chardan, a New York headquartered broker/dealer, since March 2020 and as a director of Ventoux CCM since December 2020. From January 2018 to March 2020, he served as managing director and head of insurtech investment banking at SenaHill Securities, LLC, a New York headquartered broker/dealer. From January 2013 to September 2017, Mr. Weil was a director at PricewaterhouseCoopers Inc., a network of firms providing assurance, advisory and tax services. Prior to 2012, Mr. Weil held positions as a director at Lazard Middle Market, LLC, an executive director at UBS Securities LLC and a director at Citigroup Global Markets Inc. Mr. Weil holds a B.A. in Business Administration from the University of Colorado, Boulder. We believe Mr. Weil is qualified to serve on our board of directors extensive capital markets and transaction management experience and network of relationships. Jonathan C. “Jon” Biele , 52, has served as an independent member of our board of directors since August 2021. He is also a member of our compensation committee. In March 2022, Mr. Biele joined AB Bernstein a FINRA-regulated broker dealer as Global Head of Equity Capital Markets. In November 2020, Mr. Biele joined PREEM Inc., a vertical technology platform, as head of business and corporate development after a 28-year career in investment banking serving in a variety of leadership roles. Previously, Mr. Biele served as head of technology and services investment banking after rejuvenating the equity capital markets practice at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, where he worked from July 2013 to February 2020. During his career, Mr. Biele focused on providing capital markets, strategic and tactical advice to companies, boards of directors, private equity and venture capitalists. In addition to his tenure at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, Mr. Biele served as head of equity capital markets for Citadel Securities from 2010 to 2013, for Cowen and Co. from 2007 to 2010, and for Lazard Freres from 2005 to 2007, in addition to his contribution in a variety of capacities with the equity capital markets departments of Lehman Brothers, ABN Amro Rothschild, and UBS Securities. In these roles Mr. Biele originated and executed numerous public and private equity and debt financings and provided strategic advice. His vast experience in corporate finance and advisory spans across multiple sectors and asset classes both public and private. In addition to his professional activities, Mr. Biele completed a third term as a trustee of Burke Mountain Academy in 2020, a premier ski academy in the United States, and remains the lead investor and advisor to the chief executive officer of inGamba Tours, a luxury cyclo-tourism business. Mr. Biele earned a B.A. in History in 1992 from St. Lawrence University. We believe that Mr. Biele’s vast experience in corporate finance and strategy, in addition to his vast network of relationships, is an extremely valuable contribution to our board of directors. 79 Table of Contents Perry Boyle , 58, has served as an independent member of our board of directors since August 2021. He is also a member of our audit committee. Mr. Boyle was with Point72 Asset Management, L.P. (“ Point 72 ”) and Point 72 affiliates and predecessors from 2004 through his retirement in March 2020. He helped lead Point72’s launch as a registered investment advisor, raising over $6 billion in external capital. He originally joined S.A.C. Capital Advisors in 2004 as the firm’s first director of research. In January 2013 he became head of equities and, in January 2015, he became head of discretionary investing at Point72. From June 2016 through December 2017 he served as the president and chief investment officer of Stamford Harbor Capital, L.P., a company owned by businessman Steven A. Cohen. He returned to Point72 in January 2018. In his various leadership roles at the firm, Mr. Boyle managed the long/short and macro portfolios. He created and led the firm’s professional development programs, including P72 Academy and the LaunchPoint Program, and helped drive the internationalization of the Point72, overseeing offices in London, Hong Kong, Tokyo and Singapore. Prior to joining S.A.C., Mr. Boyle was a founding partner of Thomas Weisel Partners from 2000 until 2004, and a managing director at Alex. Brown & Sons from 1992-2000. He began his career as an investment banker with Salomon Brothers Inc. Mr. Boyle is a member of the advisory board of the Center for a New American Security (CNAS), and a director of The US Friends of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS). He has agreed to serve on the board of directors of Chardan NexTech 1 upon the effectiveness of its registration statement. He was a 2018 and 2019 delegate from the IISS to the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore. He is a council member of the Hoover Institution and a Lionel Curtis member of Chatham House. Mr. Boyle currently serves as the Chairman of the BOMA Project, a poverty graduation program for women, youth, and displaced persons in sub-Saharan Africa. He is also the President of the Affordable Housing Coalition of Ketchum, an advocacy organization for workforce housing in Ketchum, Idaho. He received his B.A. in Economics from Stanford University, his M.B.A. from Dartmouth College and a M.A. from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. He has lectured on investing at Brown, Yale, Dartmouth, Columbia, Tufts, Harvard, Cambridge and the University of North Carolina, and delivered testimony to Congress on financial regulation. We believe Mr. Boyle is qualified to serve on our board of directors because of industry leadership and capital markets experience from research to fundraising. Roderick Hardamon , 45, has served as an independent member of our board of directors since August 2021. He is a member of and chairs our audit committee. Mr. Hardamon has served as chief executive officer of URGE Imprint LLC, a boutique management consulting firm headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, and URGE Development Group, a real estate development firm headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, since May 2016. From July 1998 to March 2016, Mr. Hardamon held various positions at Citigroup, a leading global bank, finally serving as managing director and North American head of Citigroup’s alternative investor services business. From March 2016 to April 2016, Mr. Hardamon briefly served as a managing director at SS&C Technologies, a global provider of services and software for the financial services and healthcare industries. Mr. Hardamon graduated from Morehouse College with B.A.s in accounting and Philosophy in 1998. We believe Mr. Hardamon is qualified to serve on our board of directors because of his extensive experience in business innovation, mergers and acquisitions, and senior executive leadership. Jory Des Jardins , 49, has served as an independent member of our board of directors since August 2021. She also is a member of and chairs our compensation committee. Ms. Des Jardins is the chief marketing officer of Countable, a community software as a service platform and serves as an advisor to The @ Company, where she previously served as chief marketing officer of AboveBoard, DigitalCultureWorks and The Juggl. She has also served as VC-in-Residence at the W Fund since July 2020. Ms. Des Jardins served as the head of global startup marketing at Amazon Web Services from July 2019 to May 2020. Before her time at Amazon Web Services, she served as the global head of community at ConsenSys from June 2018 to July 2019. Ms. Des Jardins served as consumer digital partner at Tribal Advisors from 2016 to 2018. In 2005, she co-founded BlogHer and served as the company’s president until its acquisition in in November 2015, and she served as senior Vice President of global strategic alliances for her acquiring company, SheKnowsMedia from 2014 to 2016. Ms. Des Jardins graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1993 where she studied history, literature, and psychology. We believe that Ms. Des Jardins is qualified to serve on our board of directors given her exposure to dozens of scaling startups as well as her experience with disruptiv e technology . 80 Table of Contents Hitesh Thakrar , 60, has served as an independent member of our board of directors since August 2021. Mr. Thakrar is an experienced investor in the technology sector, having spent over 20 years investing in public equities in the life sciences, information technology and innovation sectors. Since 2015, he has been active in early-stage venture investing. Mr. Thakrar is currently a Venture Partner at Syncona Limited, a Wellcome Trust backed venture fund in life sciences, a position he has held since February 2016. Since December 2018, he has also served as a Governance Board Member of KQ Labs at the Francis Crick Institute, the United Kingdom’s national medical research institute. Since August 2020, he has been the main Board Trustee of the Alan Turing Institute which is the UK National Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Data Science research. He is the Chair of the Renumeration Committee and sits on the Audit and Risk Committee. Additionally, since November 2016, Mr. Thakrar has been the Chair of the Investment Committee for Newable Ventures, a pre-Series A fund focused on deep technology. He has also served as an advisor to UKRI’s Science and Technology Funding Council (“ SFTC ”), which helps early stage companies spin out from UK universities, since July 2020. He has previously served as a non-executive director for Desktop Genetics and Tropic Biosciences since 2015 and 2017 respectively, both of which specialize in the use of CRISPR technology in gene editing. Previously, Mr. Thakrar held the position of Portfolio Manager, Global Innovation Fund with the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (“ ADIA ”), from 2009 until 2015. He has worked at several other public market institutions in global equity research and fund management including JP Morgan, Aviva Group, Dresdner Bank and New Star Asset Management. He has previously held the position of Innovation Fellow at the University of Cambridge, joined as a Trustee of the Royal National Orthopedic Hospital Charity in July 2020 and is a member of the Grants Committee and the Finance and Audit Committee. In January 2021, Mr. Thakrar was appointed Chair of the South London Health Innovation Network, a U.K. NHS-funded body to drive health innovation in the region. Mr. Thakrar has a degree in chemistry from Kings College, London, an MBA from Cranfield University and a CFA from the American Association of Investment Analysts. We believe Mr. Thakrar is qualified to serve as a member of our board of directors given his decades of technology investing and public company expertise. Todd Thomson , 61, has served as an independent member of our board of directors since August 2021. He is also a member of our compensation committee. Mr. Thomson is currently the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer of Kairos Ventures, an early-stage investment firm. He is an accomplished operating executive and entrepreneur, having served as Citigroup Chief Financial Officer for five years and as Chief Executive Officer of Citigroup’s nearly $10 billion global wealth management division for more than two years. Mr. Thomson is a leading practitioner on mergers and acquisitions and business strategy, having led the acquisition and strategy efforts for Citigroup and GE Capital, as well as serving as advisor to Fortune 500 firms while at Bain & Co., Booz Allen Hamilton, and Barents Group. He has extensive investing experience as Chief Executive Officer of Citigroup Alternative Investments, Chairman of the Citigroup Pension Investment Committee, Chairman of the Dynasty Investment Committee, and a member of the investment committees for the Davidson College and World Resources Institute endowments. Prior to joining Kairos Ventures, Mr. Thomson served as Co-founder and Chairman of Dynasty Financial Partners(“Dynasty”), a leading investment and technology platform for sophisticated independent advisors. Founded by Mr. Thomson and his colleagues in 2010, Dynasty serves nearly 50 registered investment advisor firms nationally, with over $60 billion under management. In addition to serving as Chairman, Todd served in several operating roles since Dynasty’s founding, including chairing the investment committee, serving as Chief Investment Officer, and designing and leading Dynasty Capital Strategies. Mr. Thomson has also agreed to serve on the board of Chardan NexTech 1, upon the effectiveness of its registration statement. We believe Mr. Thomson is qualified to serve on our board of directors because of his experience in public company corporate finance and early-stage investing. 81 Table of Contents Number and Terms of Office of Officers and Directors Our board consists of nine directors and is divided into two classes with only one class of directors being elected in each year and each class (except for those directors appointed prior to our first annual meeting of stockholders) serving a 2-year term. In accordance with Nasdaq corporate governance requirements, we are not required to hold an annual meeting until one year after our first fiscal year end following our listing on Nasdaq. The term of office of the first class of directors, consisting of Messrs. Biele, Boyle, Hardamon, Thakrar and Thomson and Ms. Jardins will expire at our first annual meeting of stockholders. The term of office of the second class of directors, consisting of Messrs. Grossman, Propper, and Weil, will expire at our second annual meeting of stockholders. We may not hold an annual meeting of stockholders until after we consummate our initial business combination. Subject to the terms of any preferred stock, any or all of the directors may be removed from office at any time, but only for cause and only by the affirmative vote of holders of a majority of the voting power of all then outstanding shares of our capital stock entitled to vote generally in the election of directors, voting together as a single class. Subject to any other special rights applicable to the stockholders, including holders of preferred stock, whenever any director shall have been elected by the holders of any class of stock voting separately as a class, such director may be removed and the vacancy filled only by the holders of that class of stock voting separately as a class. Vacancies caused by any such removal and not filled by the stockholders at the meeting at which such removal shall have been made, or any vacancy caused by the death or resignation of any director or for any other reason, and any newly created directorship resulting from any increase in the authorized number of directors, may be filled by the affirmative vote of a majority of the directors then in office, although less than a quorum, and any director so elected to fill any such vacancy or newly created directorship shall hold office until his or her successor is elected and qualified or until his or her earlier resignation or removal. Our officers are appointed by and serve at the discretion of the board of directors, rather than for specific terms of office. Our board of directors is authorized to appoint persons to the offices set forth in our bylaws as it deems appropriate. Our bylaws provide that our officers may consist of a Chairman of the Board, Vice Chairmen of the Board, President, Vice Presidents, Secretary, Treasurer, Assistant Secretaries, Assistant Treasurers, and such other offices as may be determined by the board of directors. Committees of the Board of Directors Our board of directors has two standing committees: an audit committee and a compensation committee. Subject to phase-in rules and certain limited exceptions, Nasdaq rules and Rule 10A-3 of the Exchange Act require that the audit committee of a listed company be comprised solely of independent directors. In addition, Nasdaq rules generally require that the compensation committee of a listed company be comprised solely of independent directors, subject to certain limited exceptions set forth thereunder. Audit Committee We have established an audit committee of the board of directors. Messrs. Hardamon, Boyle and Grossman are the members of our audit committee, and Mr. Hardamon chairs the audit committee. Under the Nasdaq listing standards and applicable SEC rules, we are required to have at least three members of the audit committee, all of whom must be independent, subject to certain phase-in provisions. Mr. Hardamon and Mr. Boyle meet the independent director standard under Nasdaq listing standards and under Rule 10-A-3(b) (1) of the Exchange Act, but Mr. Grossman does not meet such standards. Each member of the audit committee is financially literate and our board of directors has determined that Mr. Hardamon qualifies as an “audit committee financial expert” as defined in applicable SEC rules. We have adopted an audit committee charter, which details the principal functions of the audit committee, including: · the appointment, compensation, retention, replacement, and oversight of the work of the independent registered public accounting firm engaged by us; ​ 82 Table of Contents · pre-approving all audit and permitted non-audit services to be provided by the independent registered public accounting firm engaged by us, and establishing pre-approval policies and procedures; ​ · setting clear hiring policies for employees or former employees of the independent registered public accounting firm, including but not limited to, as required by applicable laws and regulations; ​ · setting clear policies for audit partner rotation in compliance with applicable laws and regulations; ​ · obtaining and reviewing a report, at least annually, from the independent registered public accounting firm describing (i) the independent registered public accounting firm ’ s internal quality-control procedures, (ii) any material issues raised by the most recent internal quality-control review, or peer review, of the audit firm, or by any inquiry or investigation by governmental or professional authorities within the preceding five years respecting one or more independent audits carried out by the firm and any steps taken to deal with such issues, and (iii) all relationships between the independent registered public accounting firm and us to assess the independent registered public accounting firm ’ s independence; ​ · reviewing and approving any related party transaction required to be disclosed pursuant to Item 404 of Regulation S-K promulgated by the SEC prior to us entering into such transaction; and ​ · reviewing with management, the independent registered public accounting firm, and our legal advisors, as appropriate, any legal, regulatory or compliance matters, including any correspondence with regulators or government agencies and any employee complaints or published reports that raise material issues regarding our financial statements or accounting policies and any significant changes in accounting standards or rules promulgated by the Financial Accounting Standards Board, the SEC or other regulatory authorities. Compensation Committee We have established a compensation committee of the board of directors. Ms. Jardins, Mr. Biele and Mr. Thomson are the members of our compensation committee. Under the Nasdaq listing standards and applicable SEC rules, we generally would be required to have at least two members of the compensation committee, all of whom must be independent, subject to certain limited exceptions set forth under the rules of Nasdaq. Ms. Jardins, Mr. Biele and Mr. Thomson are independent, and Ms. Jardins chairs the compensation committee. We have adopted a compensation committee charter, which details the principal functions of the compensation committee, including: · reviewing and approving on an annual basis the corporate goals and objectives relevant to our Chief Executive Officer ’ s compensation, if any is paid by us, evaluating our Chief Executive Officer ’ s performance in light of such goals and objectives and determining and approving the remuneration (if any) of our Chief Executive Officer based on such evaluation; ​ · reviewing and approving on an annual basis the compensation, if any is paid by us, of all of our other officers; ​ · reviewing on an annual basis our executive compensation policies and plans; ​ · implementing and administering our incentive compensation equity-based remuneration plans; ​ · assisting management in complying with our proxy statement and annual report disclosure requirements; · approving all special perquisites, special cash payments and other special compensation and benefit arrangements for our officers and employees; ​ · if required, producing a report on executive compensation to be included in our annual proxy statement; and ​ · reviewing, evaluating and recommending changes, if appropriate, to the remuneration for directors. ​ The charter also provides that the compensation committee may, in its sole discretion, retain or obtain the advice of a compensation consultant, legal counsel or other adviser and will be directly responsible for the appointment, compensation 83 Table of Contents and oversight of the work of any such adviser. However, before engaging or receiving advice from a compensation consultant, external legal counsel or any other adviser, the compensation committee will consider the independence of each such adviser, including the factors required by Nasdaq and the SEC. Director Nominations We do not have a standing nominating committee, although we intend to form a corporate governance and nominating committee as and when required to do so by law or Nasdaq rules. In accordance with Rule 5605 of the Nasdaq rules, a majority of the independent directors may recommend a director nominee for selection by the board of directors. The board of directors believes that the independent directors can satisfactorily carry out the responsibility of properly selecting or approving director nominees without the formation of a standing nominating committee. All of our independent directors will participate in the consideration and recommendation of director nominees. In accordance with Rule 5605 of the Nasdaq rules, each of Messrs. Biele, Boyle, Hardamon, Thakrar and Thomson and Ms. Jardins is independent. As there is no standing nominating committee, we do not have a nominating committee charter in place. The board of directors will also consider director candidates recommended for nomination by our stockholders during such times as they are seeking proposed nominees to stand for election at the next annual meeting of stockholders (or, if applicable, a special meeting of stockholders). Our stockholders that wish to nominate a director for election to our board of directors should follow the procedures set forth in our bylaws. However, prior to our initial business combination, holders of our public shares will not have the right to recommend director candidates for nomination to our board of directors. We have not formally established any specific, minimum qualifications that must be met or skills that are necessary for directors to possess. In general, in identifying and evaluating nominees for director, the board of directors considers educational background, diversity of professional experience, knowledge of our business, integrity, professional reputation, independence, wisdom, and the ability to represent the best interests of our stockholders. Code of Ethics We have adopted a Code of Ethics applicable to our directors, officers and employees. We have filed a copy of our Code of Ethics and our audit and compensation committee charters as exhibits to our Registration Statement. You may review these documents by accessing our public filings at the SEC’s web site at www.sec.gov. In addition, a copy of the Code of Ethics will be provided without charge upon request from us. We intend to disclose any amendments to or waivers of certain provisions of our Code of Ethics in a Current Report on Form 8-K. ​ ​ 84 Table of Contents ITEM 11. EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION As of the date of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, none of our officers or directors has received any cash compensation for services rendered to us. Except as described below, to date, no compensation of any kind, including any finder’s fee, reimbursement, consulting fee or monies in respect of any payment of a loan, will be paid by us to our officers and directors, or, other than as described herein, to the Sponsor or any affiliate of the Sponsor or officers, prior to, or in connection with any services rendered in order to effectuate, the consummation of our initial business combination (regardless of the type of transaction that it is). However, in May and June 2021, the Sponsor transferred 20,000 founder shares to each of Messrs. Biele, Boyle, Hardamon, Thakrar and Thomson and Ms. Jardins. On August 10, 2021, we effectuated a 1.1-for-1 stock split, resulting in each of our independent directors receiving an addition 2,000 shares of common stock. In addition, commencing on the date our securities were first listed on Nasdaq, we began to pay an amount equal to $10,000 per month to the Sponsor for office space, administrative and shared personnel support services. Also, our officers and directors will be reimbursed for any out-of-pocket expenses incurred in connection with activities on our behalf such as identifying potential target businesses and performing due diligence on suitable business combinations. Our audit committee will review on a quarterly basis all payments that were made to the Sponsor, officers or directors, or our or their affiliates. Any such payments prior to an initial business combination will be made using funds held outside the trust account. Other than quarterly audit committee review of such payments, we do not expect to have any additional controls in place governing our reimbursement payments to our directors and officers for their out-of-pocket expenses incurred in connection with identifying and consummating an initial business combination. After the completion of our initial business combination, directors or members of our management team who remain with us may be paid consulting or management fees from the combined company. All of these fees will be fully disclosed to stockholders, to the extent then known, in the tender offer materials or proxy solicitation materials furnished to our stockholders in connection with a proposed initial business combination. We have not established any limit on the amount of such fees that may be paid by the combined company to our directors or members of management. It is unlikely the amount of such compensation will be known at the time of the proposed initial business combination, because the directors of the post-combination business will be responsible for determining officer and director compensation. Any compensation to be paid to our officers will be determined, or recommended to the board of directors for determination, either by a compensation committee constituted solely by independent directors or by a majority of the independent directors on our board of directors. We do not intend to take any action to ensure that members of our management team maintain their positions with us after the consummation of our initial business combination, although it is possible that some or all of our officers and directors may negotiate employment or consulting arrangements to remain with us after our initial business combination. The existence or terms of any such employment or consulting arrangements to retain their positions with us may influence our management’s motivation in identifying or selecting a target business but we do not believe that the ability of our management to remain with us after the consummation of our initial business combination will be a determining factor in our decision to proceed with any potential business combination. We are not party to any agreements with our officers and directors that provide for benefits upon termination of employment. ​ ​ 85 Table of Contents ITEM 12. SECURITY OWNERSHIP OF CERTAIN BENEFICIAL OWNERS AND MANAGEMENT AND RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS The following table sets forth information regarding the beneficial ownership of our shares of common stock as of December 31, 2021 by: · each person known by us to be the beneficial owner of more than 5% of our issued and outstanding shares of common stock; · each of our officers and directors that beneficially owns shares of our common stock; and · all of our officers and directors as a group. ​ The column entitled “Number of Shares of Common Stock Beneficially Owned” is based on a total of 15,812,500 shares of Common Stock outstanding as of December 31, 2021. Unless otherwise indicated, we believe that all persons named in the table have sole voting and investment power with respect to all shares of common stock beneficially owned by them. ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Approximate ​ ​ ​ Number of Shares of ​ Percentage of ​ ​ ​ Common Stock ​ Outstanding Shares ​ Name and Address of Beneficial Owner (1) ​ Beneficially Owned of Common Stock Directors and Executive Officer ​ ​ Kerry Propper ​ — ​ — Jonas Grossman (2) ​ 3,030,500 ​ 19.2 % Alex Weil — — ​ Jonathan Biele 22,000 * ​ Perry Boyle 22,000 * ​ Roderick Hardamon 22,000 * ​ Jory Des Jardins 22,000 * ​ Hitesh Thakrar 22,000 * ​ Todd Thomson 22,000 * ​ All officers and directors as a group (nine individuals) 3,162,500 20.0 % 5% Beneficial Owners ​ Chardan NexTech Investments 2 LLC (2) 3,030,500 19.2 % HGC Investment Management Inc. (3) 925,000 5.85 % MMCAP International Inc. SPC (4) 900,000 5.69 % Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. (5) 834,996 5.28 % Weiss Asset Management LP (6) 900,000 5.69 % ​ (1) Unless otherwise indicated, the business address of each of the individuals is c/o Chardan NexTech Acquisition 2 Corp., 17 State Street, 21 st Floor, New York, NY 10004. (2) The Sponsor is the record holder of such shares. Jonas Grossman is the sole member of the Sponsor. As such, Mr. Grossman may be deemed to have beneficial ownership of the common stock held directly by the Sponsor. Mr. Grossman disclaims any beneficial ownership of the reported shares other than to the extent of any pecuniary interest they may have therein, directly or indirectly. Certain other employees of Chardan or its affiliates, including each of our executive officers, have direct or indirect membership interests in the Sponsor, and thus have pecuniary interests in certain of the reported shares (3) HGC Investment Management Inc., a company incorporated under the laws of Canada (“ HGC ”), is the investment manager to The HGC Fund LP, an Ontario limited partnership, and holds the shares of common stock on behalf of The HGC Fund LP. The principal address of HGC is 1073 Yonge Street, 2 nd Floor, Toronto, Ontario M4W 2L2, Canada. HGC disclaims beneficial ownership of any shares of common stock other than to the extent it may have a pecuniary interest therein, directly or indirectly . 86 Table of Contents (4) Consists of 900,000 shares of common stock held by a group with shared dispositive power consisting of MMCAP International Inc. SPC, a Cayman Islands exempted company (“ MMCAP ”), and MM Asset Management Inc., company incorporated under the laws of Canada (“ MM ”). The principal address for MMCAP is MCCAP International Inc. SPC, c/o Mourant Governance Services (Cayman) Limited, 94 Solaris Avenue, Camana Bay, P.O. Box 1348, Grand Cayman, KY1-1108, Cayman Islands. The principal address for MM is 161 Bay Street, TD Canada Trust Tower, Suite 2240, Toronto, Ontario M5J 2S1 Canada. (5) Polar Asset Management Partners Inc., a company incorporated under the laws of Ontario, Canada (“ Polar ”), is the investment manager of, and has voting and investment control with respect to the shares of common stock held by one or more investment accounts. The principal address for Polar is 16 York Street, Suite 2900, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5J 0E6. (6) Consists of 900,000 shares of common stock held by Weiss Asset Management LP, a Delaware limited partnership (“ Weiss Asset Management ”), WAM GP LLC, a Delaware limited liability company (“ WAM GP ”), and Andrew Weiss, an individual. Weiss Asset Management is the sole investment manager to a private investment partnership and one or more private investment funds. WAM GP is the sole general partner of Weiss Asset Management, and Andrew Weiss is the managing member of WAM GP. Shares reported for Weiss Asset Management, WAM GP, and Andrew Weiss include shares beneficially owned by the partnership and the private investment funds. The principal address for Weiss Asset Management, WAM GP, and Andrew Weiss is 222 Berkeley St., 16 th Floor, Boston, Massachusetts 02116. Each of Weiss Asset Management, WAM GP, and Andrew Weiss disclaims beneficial ownership of the shares reported other than to the extent they may have a pecuniary interest therein, directly or indirectly. ​ ​ 87 Table of Contents ITEM 13. CERTAIN RELATIONSHIPS AND RELATED TRANSACTIONS, AND DIRECTOR INDEPENDENCE On July 23, 2020, the Sponsor purchased 1,000,000 shares of common stock for an aggregate purchase price of $25,000. On March 4, 2021, we effected a 2.875-for-1 stock split, resulting in 2,875,000 shares of common stock being held by the Sponsor. In May and June 2021, the Sponsor transferred 20,000 founder shares to each of Messrs. Biele, Boyle, Hardamon, Thakrar and Thomson and Ms. Jardins. On August 10, 2021, we effectuated a 1.1-for-1 stock split, resulting in an aggregate of 3,162,500 founder shares outstanding. On July 23, 2020, the Sponsor agreed to loan the Company an aggregate of $250,000 to cover expenses related to the Initial Public Offering pursuant to a promissory note (the “ Promissory Note ”). The Promissory Note was non-interest bearing, unsecured and was repaid at August 19, 2021. The Company cannot make any additional draws under this promissory note.. In connection with the Initial Public Offering, Warrant Holdings, an affiliate of the Sponsor, purchased from the Company an aggregate of 4,627,858 private warrants (including 266,402 in connection with the underwriters’ full exercise of their over-allotment option), at a price of approximately $0.93 per private warrant (an aggregate of $4,303,907.94), with each private warrant exercisable for one share of common stock at an exercise price of $11.50 per share. If we do not complete our initial business combination by August 13, 2022 (or November 13, 2022 or February 13, 2023, as applicable if we extend the period of time to consummate a business combination by the amount as described in more detail in Item 1 - Business of this Annual Report on Form 10-K), the proceeds from the sale of the private warrants will be included in the liquidating distribution to the holders of our public shares. The private warrants are identical to the public warrants except that, so long as they are held by the initial purchasers or their respective permitted transferees, the private warrants (i) will not be redeemable by us, (ii) may not, subject to certain limited exceptions, be transferred, assigned or sold by the initial purchaser until 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination, and (iii) may be exercised by the holders on a cashless basis. The private warrants purchased by Warrant Holdings will not be exercisable after August 13, 2026, in accordance with Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, or FINRA, Rule 5110(g), as long as Chardan or any of its related persons beneficially own the private warrants. To meet our working capital needs, if the funds not held in the trust account are insufficient, our initial stockholders, officers and directors or their affiliates may, but are not obligated to, loan us funds, from time to time or at any time, in whatever amount they deem reasonable in their sole discretion. Each loan would be evidenced by a promissory note. The notes would be paid upon consummation of our initial business combination, without interest. Loans made by Chardan or any of its related persons will not be convertible into any of our securities and Chardan and its related persons will have no recourse with respect to their ability to convert their loans into any of our securities. Our initial stockholders, holders of the private warrants (and all underlying securities) and holders of the warrants (and all underlying securities) issuable in payment of working capital loans made to us, are entitled to registration rights pursuant to that certain registration rights agreement, dated as of August 10, 2021, referenced as Exhibit 10.4 to this Annual Report on Form 10-K. The holders of a majority of these securities are entitled to make up to two demands that we register such securities. The holders of the majority of the founder shares can elect to exercise the registration rights at any time commencing three months prior to the date on which the shares of common stock are to be released from escrow. The holders of a majority of the private warrants or warrants issued in payment of working capital loans made to us can elect to exercise the registration rights at any time after we consummate a business combination. In addition, the holders have certain “piggy-back” registration rights with respect to registration statements filed subsequent to our consummation of a business combination. We will bear the expenses incurred in connection with the filing of any such registration statements. Chardan and its related persons may not, with respect to the private warrants purchased by Warrant Holdings, (i) have more than one demand registration right at our expense, (ii) exercise their demand registration rights after August 13, 2026, nor (iii) exercise their “piggy-back” registration rights after August 13, 2028, as long as Chardan or any of its related persons are beneficial owners of private warrants. 88 Table of Contents We have until August 13, 2022 to consummate an initial business combination. However, if we anticipate that we may not be able to consummate our initial business combination by August 13, 2022, our insiders or their affiliates may, but are not obligated to, extend the period of time to consummate a business combination up to two times by an additional three months each time ( i.e. , until November 13, 2022 for a total of 15 months or until February 13, 2023, for a total of 18 months to complete a business combination); provided that , pursuant to the terms of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and the trust agreement to be entered into between us and Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, the only way to extend the time available for us to consummate our initial business combination is for our insiders or their affiliates or designees, upon five days’ advance notice prior to the applicable deadline, to deposit into the trust account $1,265,000 ($0.10 per share in either case, or an aggregate of $2,530,000), on or prior to the date of the applicable deadline. In the event that our insiders elected to extend the time to complete a business combination and deposited the applicable amount of money into trust, the insiders would receive a non-interest bearing, unsecured promissory note equal to the amount of any such deposit that will not be repaid in the event that we are unable to close a business combination unless there are funds available outside the trust account to do so. In the event that we receive notice from our insiders five days prior to the applicable deadline of their intent to effect an extension, we intend to issue a press release announcing such intention at least three days prior to the applicable deadline. In addition, we intend to issue a press release the day after the applicable deadline announcing whether or not the funds had been timely deposited. Our insiders and their affiliates or designees are not obligated to fund the trust account to extend the time for us to complete our initial business combination. To the extent that some, but not all, of our insiders, decide to extend the period of time to consummate our initial business combination, such insiders (or their affiliates or designees) may deposit the entire amount required. If we are unable to consummate our initial business combination within such time period, we will, as promptly as possible but not more than 10 business days thereafter, redeem 100% of our outstanding public shares for a pro rata portion of the funds held in the trust account, including a pro rata portion of any interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes, and then seek to dissolve and liquidate. However, we may not be able to distribute such amounts as a result of claims of creditors, which may take priority over the claims of our public stockholders. In the event of our dissolution and liquidation, the private warrants will expire and will be worthless. We are not prohibited from pursuing an initial business combination with a business that is affiliated with the Sponsor, its affiliates, or our officers or directors, including an Affiliated Joint Acquisition. In the event we seek to complete our initial business combination with a business that is affiliated with the Sponsor, its affiliates or our officers or directors, we, or a committee of independent directors, will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or another independent firm that commonly renders valuation opinions that our initial business combination is fair to our stockholders from a financial point of view. Any such Affiliated Joint Acquisition or specified future issuance would be in addition to, and would not include, the forward purchase securities issued pursuant to the forward purchase contract. We will reimburse our officers and directors for any reasonable out-of-pocket business expenses incurred by them in connection with certain activities on our behalf such as identifying and investigating possible target businesses and business combinations. There is no limit on the amount of out-of-pocket expenses reimbursable by us; provided, however, that to the extent such expenses exceed the available proceeds not deposited in the trust account and the interest income earned on the amounts held in the trust account, such expenses would not be reimbursed by us unless we consummate an initial business combination. Our audit committee will review and approve all reimbursements and payments made to any initial stockholder or member of our management team, or our or their respective affiliates, and any reimbursements and payments made to members of our audit committee will be reviewed and approved by our board of directors, with any interested director abstaining from such review and approval. No compensation or fees of any kind, including finder’s fees, consulting fees or other similar compensation, will be paid to any of our initial stockholders, officers or directors who owned our shares of common stock prior to the Initial Public Offering, or to any of their respective affiliates, prior to or with respect to the business combination (regardless of the type of transaction that it is). 89 Table of Contents All ongoing and future transactions between us and any of our officers and directors or their respective affiliates will be on terms believed by us to be no less favorable to us than are available from unaffiliated third parties. Such transactions, including the payment of any compensation, will require prior approval by a majority of our uninterested “independent” directors or the members of our board who do not have an interest in the transaction, in either case, who had access, at our expense, to our attorneys or independent legal counsel. We will not enter into any such transaction unless our disinterested “independent” directors determine that the terms of such transaction are no less favorable to us than those that would be available to us with respect to such a transaction from unaffiliated third parties. On August 11, 2021, we began to pay $10,000 per month to the Sponsor for office space, administrative and shared personnel support services. Upon completion of our initial business combination or our liquidation, we will cease paying these monthly fees. Accordingly, in the event the consummation of our initial business combination takes until August 13, 2022, the Sponsor will be paid a total of $120,000 ($10,000 per month) and will be entitled to be reimbursed for any out-of-pocket expenses. We may engage Chardan, or another affiliate of the Sponsor, as a financial advisor in connection with our initial business combination and pay such affiliate a customary financial advisory fee in an amount that constitutes a market standard financial advisory fee for comparable transactions. Furthermore, we may acquire a target company that has engaged Chardan, or another affiliate of the Sponsor, as a financial advisor, and such target company may pay such affiliate a financial advisory fee in connection with our initial business combination. We have engaged Chardan as an advisor in connection with our business combination, pursuant to the BCMA a copy of which is attached as Exhibit 1.1 to this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Pursuant to that agreement, we will pay Chardan a cash fee for such services upon the consummation of our initial business combination in an amount equal to, in the aggregate, 3.5% of the gross proceeds of the Initial Public Offering. As a result, Chardan will not be entitled to such fee unless we consummate our initial business combination. Related Party Policy We have not adopted a formal policy for the review, approval or ratification of related party transactions. Accordingly, the transactions discussed above were not reviewed, approved or ratified in accordance with any such policy. Prior to the consummation of the Initial Public Offering, we adopted a code of ethics requiring us to avoid, wherever possible, all conflicts of interests, except under guidelines or resolutions approved by our board of directors (or the appropriate committee of our board) or as disclosed in our public filings with the SEC. Under our code of ethics, conflict of interest situations will include any financial transaction, arrangement or relationship (including any indebtedness or guarantee of indebtedness) involving the company. In addition, our audit committee, pursuant to its written charter, is responsible for reviewing and approving related party transactions to the extent that we enter into such transactions, and it will review, on a quarterly basis, all payments that are made to the Sponsor, our officers or directors, or our or their respective affiliates An affirmative vote of a majority of the members of the audit committee present at a meeting at which a quorum is present is required in order to approve a related party transaction. A majority of the members of the entire audit committee will constitute a quorum. Without a meeting, the unanimous written consent of all of the members of the audit committee is required to approve a related party transaction. We also require each of our directors and officers to complete a directors’ and officers’ questionnaire that elicits information about related party transactions. These procedures are intended to determine whether any such related party transaction impairs the independence of a director or presents a conflict of interest on the part of a director, employee or officer. ​ 90 Table of Contents Director Independence So long as we obtain and maintain a listing for our securities on Nasdaq, a majority of our board of directors generally must be independent, subject to certain limited exceptions and phase-in period set forth under the rules of Nasdaq. An “independent director” is defined generally as a person other than an officer or employee of the company or its subsidiaries or any other individual having a relationship which in the opinion of the company’s board of directors, would interfere with the director’s exercise of independent judgment in carrying out the responsibilities of a director. Our board of directors has determined that each of Messrs. Biele, Boyle, Hardamon, Thakrar and Thomson and Ms. Jardins is an “independent director” as defined in the Nasdaq listing standards and applicable SEC rules. We expect our audit committee to be comprised of all independent directors within 12 months from the date of listing, pursuant to the Nasdaq listing rules. Our independent directors have regularly scheduled meetings at which only independent directors are present. ​ ITEM 14. PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTING FEES AND SERVICES The following is a summary of fees paid or to be paid to WithumSmith+Brown, PC, or Withum, for services rendered. Audit Fees . Audit fees consist of fees billed for professional services rendered for the audit of our year-end financial statements and services that are normally provided by Withum in connection with regulatory filings. The aggregate fees billed by Withum for professional services rendered for the audit of our annual financial statements, review of the financial information included in our Forms 10-Q for the respective periods and other required filings with the SEC for the year ended December 31, 2021 and for the period from June 23, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020 totaled approximately $146,405 and $0, respectively. The above amounts include interim procedures and audit fees, as well as attendance at audit committee meetings. Audit-Related Fees. Audit-related services consist of fees billed for assurance and related services that are reasonably related to performance of the audit or review of our financial statements and are not reported under “Audit Fees.” These services include attest services that are not required by statute or regulation and consultations concerning financial accounting and reporting standards. We did not pay Withum for consultations concerning financial accounting and reporting standards for the year ended December 31, 2021 and for the period from June 23, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020. Tax Fees . We did not pay Withum for tax planning and tax advice for the year ended December 31, 2021 and for the period from June 23, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020. All Other Fees . We did not pay Withum for other services for the year ended December 31, 2021 and for the period from June 23, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020. Pre-Approval Policy Our audit committee was formed upon the consummation of our Initial Public Offering. As a result, the audit committee did not pre-approve all of the foregoing services, although any services rendered prior to the formation of our audit committee were approved by our board of directors. Since the formation of our audit committee, and on a going-forward basis, the audit committee has and will pre-approve all auditing services and permitted non-audit services to be performed for us by our auditors, including the fees and terms thereof (subject to the de minimis exceptions for non-audit services described in the Exchange Act which are approved by the audit committee prior to the completion of the audit). ​ 91 Table of Contents PART IV ITEM 15. EXHIBITS AND FINANCIAL STATEMENT SCHEDULES. (a) The following documents are filed as part of this Annual Report on Form 10-K: (1) Financial Statements: See Index to Financial Statements in Item 8 herein. (2) Financial Statement Schedules All schedules are omitted because they are not applicable or the required information is shown in the financial statements or notes thereto. (3) Exhibits EXHIBIT INDEX ​ Exhibit No. Description 1.1 ​ Form of Underwriting Agreement (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 1.1 to the Form 8-K (File No. 001-40703) filed with the SEC on August 13, 2021) 1.2 ​ Form of Business Combination Marketing Agreement by and between the Registrant and Chardan Capital Markets LLC.(Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 1.2 to the Form 8-K (File No. 001-40703) filed with the SEC on August 13, 2021) 3.1 ​ Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 3.1 to the Form 8-K (File No. 001-40703) filed with the SEC on August 13, 2021) 3.2 ​ Bylaws. (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 3.4 to Form S-1 filed with the SEC on March 8, 2021) 4.1 ​ Amended and Restated Warrant Agreement, dated March 28, 2022, by and between the Registrant and Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company 4.2 ​ Specimen Unit Certificate. (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 4.1 to the Form S-1/A filed with the SEC on August 5, 2021) 4.3 ​ Specimen Common Stock Certificate. (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 4.2 to the Form S-1/A filed with the SEC on April 9, 2021) 4.4 ​ Specimen Warrant Certificate. 4.5 ​ Description of Securities 10.1 ​ Letter Agreement, dated August 10, 2021, among the Registrant and the Registrant’s officers and directors, Chardan NexTech Investments 2 LLC and Chardan NexTech 2 Warrant Holdings LLC (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.1 to the Form 8-K (File No. 001-40703) filed with the SEC on August 13, 2021) 10.2 ​ Investment Management Trust Agreement, dated August 10, 2021, by and between the Registrant and Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company. (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.2 to the Form 8-K (File No. 001-40703) filed with the SEC on August 13, 2021) 10.3 ​ Stock Escrow Agreement, dated August 10, 2021, by and among the Registrant, Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company and certain stockholders of the Registrant. (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.3 to the Form 8-K (File No. 001-40703) filed with the SEC on August 13, 2021) 10.4 ​ Registration Rights Agreement, dated August 10, 2021, by and among the Registrant, Chardan NexTech 2 Warrant Holdings LLC and certain stockholders of the Registrant (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.4 to the Form 8-K (File No. 001-40703) filed with the SEC on August 13, 2021) 10.5 ​ Form of Indemnity Agreement, dated August 1, 2021, by and among the Registrant and each of the directors and officers of the Registrant (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.5 to the Form 8-K (File No. 001-40703) filed with the SEC on August 13, 2021) 92 Table of Contents 10.6 ​ Administrative Services Agreement, dated August 10, 2021, by and between the Registrant and Chardan NexTech Investments 2 LLC (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.6 to the Form 8-K (File No. 001-40703) filed with the SEC on August 13, 2021) 10.7 ​ Private Placement Warrants Purchase Agreement, dated August 10, 2021, by and between the Registrant and Chardan NexTech 2 Warrant Holdings LLC (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.7 to the Form 8-K (File No. 001-40703) filed with the SEC on August 13, 2021) 10.8 ​ Subscription Agreement dated July 23, 2020, by and between the Registrant and Chardan NexTech Investments 2 LLC (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.6 to Form S-1 filed with the SEC on March 8, 2021) 10.9 ​ Promissory Note, dated July 23, 2020, issued to Chardan NexTech Investments 2 LLC. (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.6 to Form S-1 filed with the SEC on March 8, 2021) 14 ​ Form of Code of Ethics 24.1 ​ Power of Attorney (included on signature page to the Annual Report on Form 10-K) 31.1 ​ Certification of Chief Executive Officer pursuant to Rules 13a-14(a) and 15d-14(a) under the Security Exchange Act of 1934, as adopted pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. 31.2 ​ Certification of Chief Financial Officer pursuant to Rules 13a-14(a) and 15d-14(a) under the Security Exchange Act of 1934, as adopted pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. 32.1 ​ Certification of Chief Executive Officer pursuant to Section 18 U.S.C. Section 1350, as adopted pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. 32.2 ​ Certification of Chief Financial Officer pursuant to Section 18 U.S.C. Section 1350, as adopted pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. 101.INS ​ XBRL Instance Document 101.SCH ​ XBRL Taxonomy Extension Schema 101.CAL ​ XBRL Taxonomy Calculation Linkbase 101.LAB ​ XBRL Taxonomy Label Linkbase 101.PRE ​ XBRL Definition Linkbase Document 101.DEF ​ XBRL Definition Linkbase Document 104 ​ Cover Page Interactive Data File (formatted in Inline XBRL and included as Exhibit 101) ​ We hereby file as part of this Report the exhibits listed in the attached Exhibit Index. Exhibits which are incorporated herein by reference can be inspected and copied at the public reference facilities maintained by the SEC, 100 F Street, N.E., Room 1580, Washington, D.C. 20549. Copies of such material can also be obtained from the Public Reference Section of the SEC, 100 F Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20549, at prescribed rates or on the SEC website at www.sec.gov. ​ ​ ITEM 16. FORM 10-K SUMMARY None. ​ 93 Table of Contents SIGNATURES Pursuant to the requirements of Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized. ​ Dated: March 29, 2022 ​ ​ ​ ​ CHARDAN NEXTECH ACQUISITION 2 CORP. ​ ​ ​ By: /s/ Jonas Grossman ​ ​ Name: Jonas Grossman ​ ​ Title: Chief Executive Officer ​ POWER OF ATTORNEY ​ KNOW ALL PERSONS BY THESE PRESENTS, that each person whose signature appears below constitutes and appoints Jonas Grossman and Alex Weil, and each or any one of them, his true and lawful attorney-in-fact and agent, with full power of substitution and resubstitution, for him and in his name, place and stead, in any and all capacities, to sign any and all amendments to this Annual Report on Form 10-K, and to file the same, with all exhibits thereto, and other documents in connection therewith, with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission, granting unto said attorneys-in-fact and agents, and each and “Power of Attorney” title them, full power and authority to do and perform each and every act and thing requisite and necessary to be done in connection therewith, as fully to all intents and purposes as he might or could do in person, hereby ratifying and confirming all that said attorneys-in-fact and agents, or any of them, or their or his substitutes or substitute, may lawfully do or cause to be done by virtue hereof. Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, this report has been signed below by the following persons on behalf of the registrant and in the capacities and on the dates indicated. ​ Name Position Date By: /s/ Jonas Grossman Co-Founder, Chief Executive Officer, President, Secretary, Treasurer, and Director March 29, 2022 Jonas Grossman (Principal Executive Officer ) By: /s/ Alex Weil Chief Financial Officer and Director March 29, 2022 Alex Weil ( Principal Financial and Accounting Officer ) By: /s/ Kerry Propper ​ Co-Founder and Director (Chairman) ​ March 29, 2022 Kerry Propper By: /s/ Jonathan Biele Director March 29, 2022 Jonathan Biele By: /s/ Perry Boyle Director March 29, 2022 Perry Boyle By: /s/ Roderick Hardamon Director March 29, 2022 Roderick Hardamon By: /s/ Jory Des Jardins Director March 29, 2022 Jory Des Jardins ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ By: /s/ Hitesh Thakrar Director March 29, 2022 ​ Hitesh Thakrar ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ By: /s/ Todd Thomson Director March 29, 2022 ​ Todd Thomson ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ 94 Table of Contents CHARDAN NEXTECH ACQUISITION 2 CORP. INDEX TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS ​ ​ Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm F-2 Balance Sheets as of December 31, 2021 and December 31, 2020 F-3 Statements of Operations for the year ended December 31, 2021 and for the period from June 23, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020 F-4 Statements of Changes in Stockholders' Equity (Deficit) for the year ended December 31, 2021 and for the period from June 23, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020 F-5 Statements of Cash Flows for the year ended December 31, 2021 and for the period from June 23, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020 F-6 Notes to Financial Statements F-7 ​ ​ ​ ​ F-1 Table of Contents REPORT OF INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM To the Stockholders and the Board of Directors of Chardan NexTech Acquisition 2 Corp. ​ Opinion on the Financial Statements ​ We have audited the accompanying balance sheets of Chardan NexTech Acquisition 2 Corp. (the “Company”) as of December 31, 2021 and 2020, the related statements of operations, changes in stockholders’ equity and cash flows for the year ended December 31, 2021 and for the period from June 23, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020, and the related notes (collectively referred to as the “financial statements”). In our opinion, the financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Company as of December 31, 2021 and 2020, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for the year ended December 31, 2021 and for the period from June 23, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020, in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America. Going Concern ​ The accompanying financial statements have been prepared assuming that the Company will continue as a going concern. As discussed in Note 1 to the financial statements, if the Company is unable to raise additional funds to alleviate liquidity needs and complete a business combination by August 23, 2022 then the Company will cease all operations except for the purpose of liquidating. The liquidity condition and date for mandatory liquidation and subsequent dissolution raise substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern. Management's plans in regard to these matters are also described in Note 1. The financial statements do not include any adjustments that might result from the outcome of this uncertainty. Basis for Opinion ​ These financial statements are the responsibility of the Company’s management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company's financial statements based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (“PCAOB”) and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB. We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audits to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud. The Company is not required to have, nor were we engaged to perform, an audit of its internal control over financial reporting. As part of our audits we are required to obtain an understanding of internal control over financial reporting but not for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the effectiveness of the Company's internal control over financial reporting. Accordingly, we express no such opinion. Our audits included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion. ​ /s/ WithumSmith+Brown, PC ​ We have served as the Company's auditor since 2021. ​ New York, New York March 28, 2022 ​ PCAOB ID Number 100 ​ ​ ​ F-2 Table of Contents CHARDAN NEXTECH ACQUISITION 2 CORP. BALANCE SHEETS ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ December 31, 2021 December 31, 2020 ASSETS ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Current assets: ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Cash ​ $ 799,808 ​ $ 25,000 Prepaid expenses ​ 302,590 ​ — Total current assets ​ ​ 1,102,398 ​ ​ 25,000 Investments held in Trust Account ​ ​ 128,421,215 ​ ​ — Total Assets ​ $ 129,523,613 ​ $ 25,000 ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ LIABILITIES, COMMON STOCK SUBJECT TO POSSIBLE REDEMPTION AND STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY (DEFICIT) ​ ​ Current liabilities: ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Accounts payable ​ $ 16,862 ​ $ — Accrued expenses ​ ​ 31,749 ​ ​ 1,000 Franchise tax payable ​ ​ 65,600 ​ ​ — Total current liabilities ​ ​ 114,211 ​ ​ 1,000 Warrant liabilities ​ 2,036,258 ​ — Total Liabilities ​ 2,150,469 ​ 1,000 ​ ​ ​ Commitments and Contingencies ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Common stock, $ 0.0001 par value; 12,650,000 and 0 shares at redemption value of $ 10.15 at December 31, 2021 and December 31, 2020, respectively ​ ​ 128,397,500 ​ ​ — ​ ​ ​ Stockholders’ Equity (Deficit) ​ ​ Preferred stock, $ 0.0001 par value; 1,000,000 shares authorized; none issued or outstanding at December 31, 2021 and December 31, 2020, respectively ​ — ​ — Common stock, $ 0.0001 par value; 50,000,000 shares authorized; 3,162,500 shares issued and outstanding (excluding 12,650,000 and 0 shares subject to possible redemption) at December 31, 2021 and December 31, 2020, respectively ​ 317 ​ 317 Additional paid-in capital ​ — ​ 24,683 Accumulated deficit ​ ( 1,024,673 ) ​ ( 1,000 ) Total Stockholders’ Equity (Deficit) ​ ( 1,024,356 ) ​ 24,000 Total Liabilities, Common Stock Subject to Possible Redemption and Stockholders’ (Deficit) Equity ​ $ 129,523,613 ​ $ 25,000 ​ The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements. ​ ​ ​ F-3 Table of Contents CHARDAN NEXTECH ACQUISITION 2 CORP. STATEMENTS OF OPERATIONS ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ For the period from ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ June 23, 2020 ​ ​ For the year ended ​ (inception) through ​ December 31, 2021 December 31, 2020 Operating and formation costs ​ $ 292,074 ​ $ 1,000 Franchise tax expense ​ ​ 65,600 ​ ​ — Loss from operations ​ ​ ( 357,674 ) ​ ​ ( 1,000 ) Warrant issuance costs ​ ​ ( 18,797 ) ​ ​ — Loss on sale of private warrants ​ ​ ( 1,253,928 ) ​ ​ — Net gain on investments held in Trust Account ​ ​ 23,715 ​ ​ — Change in fair value of warrant liabilities ​ ​ 3,517,171 ​ ​ — Net income (loss) ​ $ 1,910,487 ​ $ ( 1,000 ) ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Basic weighted average shares outstanding ​ ​ 7,732,021 ​ ​ 2,750,000 Basic net income (loss) per common share ​ $ 0.25 ​ $ ( 0.00 ) Diluted weighted average shares outstanding ​ ​ 7,991,952 ​ ​ 2,750,000 Diluted net income (loss) per common share ​ $ 0.24 ​ $ ( 0.00 ) ​ The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements. ​ ​ ​ F-4 Table of Contents CHARDAN NEXTECH ACQUISITION 2 CORP. STATEMENTS OF CHANGES IN STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY (DEFICIT) FOR THE YEAR ENDED DECEMBER 31, 2021 AND THE PERIOD FROM JUNE 23, 2020 (INCEPTION) THROUGH DECEMBER 31, 2020 ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Additional ​ ​ ​ ​ Total ​ ​ Common Stock ​ Paid-in ​ Accumulated ​ Stockholders’ ​ Shares Amount Capital Deficit Equity (Deficit) Balance at June 23, 2020 (inception) ​ — ​ $ — ​ $ — ​ $ — ​ $ — Issuance of common stock to Sponsor (1)(2) ​ 3,162,500 ​ ​ 317 ​ ​ 24,683 ​ ​ — ​ ​ 25,000 Net loss ​ — ​ ​ — ​ — ​ ( 1,000 ) ​ ( 1,000 ) Balance at December 31, 2020 ​ 3,162,500 ​ ​ 317 ​ ​ 24,683 ​ ​ ( 1,000 ) ​ ​ 24,000 Proceeds from Initial Public Offering Costs allocated to Public Warrants (net of offering costs) ​ — ​ ​ — ​ ​ 15,052,646 ​ ​ — ​ ​ 15,052,646 Accretion of common stock to redemption amount ​ — ​ ​ — ​ ​ ( 15,077,329 ) ​ ​ ( 2,934,160 ) ​ ​ ( 18,011,489 ) Net income ​ — ​ ​ — ​ ​ — ​ ​ 1,910,487 ​ ​ 1,910,487 Balance at December 31, 2021 ​ 3,162,500 ​ $ 317 ​ $ — ​ $ ( 1,024,673 ) ​ $ ( 1,024,356 ) (1) Includes up to 412,500 shares of common stock subject to forfeiture if the over-allotment option is not exercised in full or in part by the underwriter. On August 18, 2021, the underwriters' exercised the over-allotment option in full, thus these shares are no longer subject to forfeiture (see Note 6). (2) On March 4, 2021, the Company effected a 2.875 -for-1 stock split, resulting in 2,875,000 shares of common stock outstanding (see Note 5). On August 10, 2021, the Company effectuated a 1.1 -for-1 stock split, resulting in an aggregate of 3,162,500 shares of common stock outstanding (see Note 5). All share and per-share amounts have been retroactively restated to reflect the two stock splits. ​ The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements. ​ ​ F-5 Table of Contents CHARDAN NEXTECH ACQUISITION 2 CORP. STATEMENTS OF CASH FLOWS ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ For the Period from ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ June 23, 2020 ​ ​ For the year ended ​ (inception) Through ​ ​ December 31, 2021 ​ December 31, 2020 Cash Flows from Operating Activities: ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Net income (loss) ​ $ 1,910,487 ​ $ ( 1,000 ) Adjustments to reconcile net income (loss) to net cash used in operating activities: ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Warrant issuance costs ​ ​ 18,797 ​ ​ — Net gain on investments held in Trust Account ​ ​ ( 23,715 ) ​ ​ — Loss on sale of private warrants ​ ​ 1,253,928 ​ ​ — Change in fair value of warrant liabilities ​ ​ ( 3,517,171 ) ​ ​ — Changes in operating assets and liabilities: ​ ​ ​ Accounts payable ​ ​ 16,863 ​ ​ ​ Accrued expenses ​ ​ 30,749 ​ $ 1,000 Prepaid expenses ​ ​ ( 302,590 ) ​ ​ — Franchise tax payable ​ ​ 65,600 ​ ​ — Net cash used in operating activities ​ ​ ( 547,052 ) ​ ​ — ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Cash Flows from Investing Activities: ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Cash deposited in Trust Account ​ ​ ( 128,397,500 ) ​ ​ — Net cash used in investing activities ​ ​ ( 128,397,500 ) ​ ​ — ​ ​ ​ Cash Flows from Financing Activities: ​ ​ Proceeds from initial public offering, net of underwriter’s discount paid ​ ​ 126,000,000 ​ ​ — Proceeds from promissory note - related party ​ 155,000 ​ — Repayment of promissory note - related party ​ ( 155,000 ) ​ — Proceeds from issuance of Founder Shares to Sponsor ​ ​ — ​ ​ 25,000 Proceeds from sale of private warrants ​ ​ 4,299,500 ​ ​ — Payment of offering costs ​ ​ ( 580,140 ) ​ ​ — Net cash provided by financing activities ​ ​ 129,719,360 ​ ​ 25,000 ​ ​ ​ ​ Net Change in Cash ​ 774,808 ​ 25,000 Cash - beginning of period ​ 25,000 ​ — Cash - end of period ​ $ 799,808 ​ $ 25,000 ​ The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements. ​ ​ ​ F-6 Table of Contents CHARDAN NEXTECH ACQUISITION 2 CORP. NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS DECEMBER 31, 2021 NOTE 1. DESCRIPTION OF ORGANIZATION AND BUSINESS OPERATIONS Chardan NexTech Acquisition 2 Corp (the “Company”) is a blank check company incorporated in Delaware on June 23, 2020. The Company was formed for the purpose of entering into a merger, share exchange, asset acquisition, share purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses (a “Business Combination”). The Company is not limited to a particular industry or geographic region for purposes of consummating a Business Combination. The Company is an early stage and emerging growth company and, as such, the Company is subject to all of the risks associated with early stage and emerging growth companies. As of December 31, 2021, the Company had not commenced any operations. All activity for the year ended December 31, 2021 and for the period from June 23, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020 relates to the Company’s formation and initial public offering (“Initial Public Offering”) described below, and, subsequent to the Initial Public Offering, identifying a target company for a Business Combination. The Company will not generate any operating revenues until after completion of its initial Business Combination, at the earliest. The Company generates non-operating income in the form of interest income from the proceeds derived from the Initial Public Offering. The registration statement on Form S-1 (the “Registration Statement”) for the Company’s Initial Public Offering was declared effective on August 10, 2021. On August 13, 2021, the Company consummated the Initial Public Offering of 11,000,000 units (the “Units” and, with respect to the common stock, par value $ 0.0001 per share, of the Company included in the Units sold, the “Public Shares”, and with respect to the warrants of the Company included in the Units sold, the “Public Warrants”), at $ 10.00 per Unit, generating gross proceeds of $ 110,000,000 , which is discussed in Note 3. Simultaneously with the closing of the Initial Public Offering, the Company consummated the sale of 4,361,456 warrants (the “Private Warrants”, together with the Public Warrants, the “Warrants”) at a price of $ 0.93 per Private Warrant in a private placement to Chardan NexTech 2 Warrant Holdings LLC, a Delaware limited liability company (“Holdings”), an affiliate of Chardan NexTech Investments 2 LLC, a Delaware limited liability company (the “Sponsor”), generating gross proceeds of $ 4,052,000 , which is described in Note 4. The Company had granted the underwriters in the Initial Public Offering a 45-day option to purchase up to 1,650,000 Units to cover over-allotments, if any (see Note 6). On August 16, 2021, the underwriters fully exercised the over-allotment option and, on August 18, 2021, purchased an additional 1,650,000 Units (the “Over-Allotment Units”) at a purchase price of $ 10.00 per Over-Allotment Unit, generating gross proceeds of $ 16,500,000 . Simultaneously with the closing of the exercise of the over-allotment option, the Company consummated the sale of 266,402 warrants (the “Over-Allotment Private Warrants”) at a purchase price of $ 0.93 per Over-Allotment Private Warrant in a private placement to the Holdings, generating gross proceeds of $ 247,500 . Following the closing of the Initial Public Offering and underwriters’ over-allotment option, an amount of $ 128,397,500 from the net proceeds of the sale of the Units and Over-Allotment Units and a portion of the proceeds from the sale of the Private Warrants and Over-Allotment Private Warrants was placed in a trust account (the “Trust Account”) and was invested only in U.S. government securities, within the meaning set forth in Section 2(a)(16) of the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “Investment Company Act”), with a maturity of 185 days or in money market funds meeting certain conditions under Rule 2a-7 promulgated under the Investment Company Act which invest only in direct U.S. government treasury obligations, until the earlier of: (i) the completion of a Business Combination and (ii) the distribution of the funds held in the Trust Account, as described below. Transaction costs related to the issuances described above amounted to $ 1,080,140 , consisting of $ 500,000 of cash underwriting fees and $ 580,140 of other offering costs. F-7 Table of Contents CHARDAN NEXTECH ACQUISITION 2 CORP. NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS DECEMBER 31, 2021 The Company will provide its holders of the outstanding Public Shares (the “public stockholders”) with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their Public Shares upon the completion of a Business Combination either (i) in connection with a stockholder meeting called to approve the Business Combination or (ii) by means of a tender offer. The decision as to whether the Company will seek stockholder approval of a Business Combination or conduct a tender offer will be made by the Company, solely in its discretion. The public stockholders will be entitled to redeem their Public Shares for a pro rata portion of the amount then in the Trust Account ($ 10.15 per Public Share, plus any pro rata interest earned on the funds held in the Trust Account and not previously released to the Company to pay its tax obligations). The Public Shares subject to redemption was recorded at redemption value and classified as temporary equity upon the completion of the Initial Public Offering in accordance with the Financial Accounting Standards Board’s (“FASB”) Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) Topic 480, Distinguishing Liabilities from Equity (“ASC 480”). The Company will proceed with a Business Combination only if the Company has net tangible assets of at least $ 5,000,001 either prior to or upon such consummation of a Business Combination and, if the Company seeks stockholder approval, a majority of the shares voted are voted in favor of the Business Combination. If a stockholder vote is not required by law and the Company does not decide to hold a stockholder vote for business or other reasons, the Company will, pursuant to its amended and restated certificate of incorporation, conduct the redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) and file tender offer documents with the SEC prior to completing a Business Combination. If, however, stockholder approval of the transaction is required by law, or the Company decides to obtain stockholder approval for business or other reasons, the Company will offer to redeem shares in conjunction with a proxy solicitation pursuant to the proxy rules and not pursuant to the tender offer rules. If the Company seeks stockholder approval in connection with a Business Combination, the Sponsor has agreed to vote its Founder Shares (as defined in Note 5) and any Public Shares purchased during or after the Initial Public Offering in favor of approving a Business Combination. Additionally, each public stockholder may elect to redeem their Public Shares irrespective of whether they vote for or against the proposed transaction. Notwithstanding the above, if the Company seeks stockholder approval of a Business Combination and it does not conduct redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules, the amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that a public stockholder, together with any affiliate of such stockholder or any other person with whom such stockholder is acting in concert or as a “group” (as defined under Section 13 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”)), will be restricted from redeeming its shares with respect to more than an aggregate of 15 % or more of the Public Shares, without the prior consent of the Company. The Company will have 12 months, or August 13, 2022, from the closing of the Initial Public Offering to consummate an initial Business Combination. However, if the Company anticipates that it may not be able to consummate an initial Business Combination within 12 months, the Company’s insiders or their affiliates may, but are not obligated to, extend the period of time to consummate a Business Combination up to two times by an additional three months each time (for a total of up to 18 months, or February 13, 2023, to complete a Business Combination). If the Company is unable to consummate an initial Business Combination within the above time period, the Company will distribute the aggregate amount then on deposit in the Trust Account, pro rata to the Company’s public stockholders, by way of the redemption of their shares and thereafter cease all operations except for the purposes of winding up of the Company’s affairs. In such event, the warrants will expire and be worthless. The initial stockholders have agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to any shares they own in connection with the consummation of the initial Business Combination, including their Founder Shares and Public Shares that they purchase during or after the offering, if any. In addition, the initial stockholders have agreed to waive their rights to liquidating distributions with respect to their Founder Shares if the Company fails to consummate an initial Business Combination within 18 months (assuming both of the three-month extensions were executed) from the closing of this offering. However, if the initial stockholders acquire Public Shares in or after the Initial Public Offering, they will be entitled to receive liquidating distributions with respect to such Public Shares if the Company fails to consummate an initial Business Combination within the required time period. F-8 Table of Contents CHARDAN NEXTECH ACQUISITION 2 CORP. NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS DECEMBER 31, 2021 In order to protect the amounts held in the Trust Account, the Sponsor has agreed to be liable to the Company if and to the extent any claims by a third party (other than the Company’s independent registered accounting firm) for services rendered or products sold to the Company, or a prospective target business with which the Company has discussed entering into a transaction agreement, reduce the amount of funds in the Trust Account to below (1) $ 10.15 per Public Share or (2) the actual amount per Public Share held in the Trust Account as of the date of the liquidation of the Trust Account due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, in each case net of the interest which may be withdrawn to pay the Company’s taxes, provided that such liability will not apply to any claims by a third party or prospective target business who executed a waiver of any and all rights to the monies held in the Trust Account (whether or not such waiver is enforceable) nor will it apply to any claims under the Company’s indemnity of the underwriters of the Initial Public Offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”). The Company will seek to reduce the possibility that the Sponsor will have to indemnify the Trust Account due to claims of creditors by endeavoring to have all vendors, service providers (except for the Company’s independent registered public accounting firm), prospective target businesses or other entities with which the Company does business, execute agreements with the Company waiving any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to monies held in the Trust Account. Going Concern Consideration As of December 31, 2021, the Company had $ 799,808 in cash held outside of the Trust Account and working capital of $ 988,186 . The Company has incurred and expects to continue to incur significant costs in pursuit of its acquisition plans. In connection with our assessment of going concern considerations in accordance with FASB ASC Topic 205-40, “Presentation of Financial Statements - Going Concern,” the Company has until February 13, 2023 to consummate a Business Combination. It is uncertain that the Company will be able to consummate a Business Combination by this time. If a Business Combination is not consummated by this date, there will be a mandatory liquidation and subsequent dissolution of the Company. Management has determined that the liquidity condition and mandatory liquidation, should a Business Combination not occur, and potential subsequent dissolution raises substantial doubt about its ability to continue as a going concern. No adjustments have been made to the carrying amounts of assets or liabilities should the Company be required to liquidate after February 13, 2023. Risks and Uncertainties Management continues to evaluate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the industry and has concluded that while it is reasonably possible that the virus could have a negative effect on the Company’s financial position, results of its operations, and/or search for a target company, the specific impact is not readily determinable as of the date of these financial statements. The financial statements do not include any adjustments that might result from the outcome of this uncertainty. ​ In February 2022, the Russian Federation and Belarus commenced a military action with the country of Ukraine. As a result of this action, various nations, including the United States, have instituted economic sanctions against the Russian Federation and Belarus. Further, the impact of this action and related sanctions on the world economy are not determinable as of the date of these financial statements. The specific impact on the Company's financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows is also not determinable as of the date of these financial statements. ​ ​ NOTE 2. SUMMARY OF SIGNIFICANT ACCOUNTING POLICIES Basis of Presentation The accompanying financial statements of the Company are presented in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“GAAP”) and pursuant to the rules and regulations of the SEC. F-9 Table of Contents CHARDAN NEXTECH ACQUISITION 2 CORP. NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS DECEMBER 31, 2021 Emerging Growth Company The Company is an “emerging growth company,” as defined in Section 2(a) of the Securities Act, as modified by the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012 (the “JOBS Act”), and it may take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the independent registered public accounting firm attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in its periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and stockholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. Further, Section 102(b)(1) of the JOBS Act exempts emerging growth companies from being required to comply with new or revised financial accounting standards until private companies (that is, those that have not had a Securities Act Registration Statement declared effective or do not have a class of securities registered under the Exchange Act) are required to comply with the new or revised financial accounting standards. The JOBS Act provides that a company can elect to opt out of the extended transition period and comply with the requirements that apply to non-emerging growth companies but any such election to opt out is irrevocable. The Company has elected not to opt out of such extended transition period, which means that when a standard is issued or revised and it has different application dates for public or private companies, the Company, as an emerging growth company, can adopt the new or revised standard at the time private companies adopt the new or revised standard. This may make comparison of the Company’s financial statements with another public company, which is neither an emerging growth company nor an emerging growth company which has opted out of using the extended transition period difficult or impossible because of the potential differences in accounting standards used. Use of Estimates The preparation of financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of expenses during the reporting periods. Making estimates requires management to exercise significant judgment. It is at least reasonably possible that the estimate of the effect of a condition, situation or set of circumstances that existed at the date of the financial statements, which management considered in formulating its estimate, could change in the near term due to one or more future confirming events. Accordingly, the actual results could differ significantly from those estimates. Cash and Cash Equivalents The Company considers all short-term investments with an original maturity of three months or less when purchased to be cash equivalents. The Company did not have any cash equivalents as of December 31, 2021 and 2020. F-10 Table of Contents CHARDAN NEXTECH ACQUISITION 2 CORP. NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS DECEMBER 31, 2021 Investments Held in Trust Account The Company’s portfolio of investments is comprised of U.S. government securities, within the meaning set forth in Section 2(a)(16) of the Investment Company Act, with a maturity of 185 days or less, or investments in money market funds that invest in U.S. government securities and generally have a readily determinable fair value, or a combination thereof. When the Company’s investments held in the Trust Account are comprised of U.S. government securities, the investments are classified as trading securities. When the Company’s investments held in the Trust Account are comprised of money market funds, the investments are recognized at fair value. Trading securities and investments in money market funds are presented on the balance sheets at fair value at the end of each reporting period. Gains and losses resulting from the change in fair value of these securities is included in Net income (loss) from investments held in Trust Account in the accompanying statement of operations. The estimated fair values of investments held in the Trust Account are determined using available market information. Common Stock Subject to Possible Redemption The Company accounts for its common stock subject to possible redemption in accordance with the guidance in ASC Topic 480 "Distinguishing Liabilities from Equity." Common stock subject to mandatory redemption (if any) is classified as liability instruments and is measured at fair value. Conditionally redeemable common stock (including common stock that feature redemption rights that is either within the control of the holder or subject to redemption upon occurrence of uncertain events not solely within the Company's control) is classified as temporary equity. At all other times, common stock is classified as stockholders' equity. The Company's common stock feature certain redemption rights that is considered to be outside of the Company's control and subject to the occurrence of uncertain future events. Accordingly, as of December 31, 2021, 12,650,000 shares of common stock subject to possible redemption is presented as temporary equity, outside of the stockholders' equity section of the Company's balance sheet. Effective with the closing of the Initial Public Offering, the Company recognized the accretion from the initial book value to redemption amount, which resulted in charges against additional paid-in capital (to the extent available) and accumulated deficit. The Company recognizes changes in redemption value immediately as they occur and adjusts the carrying value of redeemable common stock to equal the redemption value at the end of each reporting period. This method would view the end of the reporting period as if it were also the redemption date for the security. Increases or decreases in the carrying amount of redeemable common stock is affected by charges against additional paid in capital and accumulated deficit. As of December 31, 2021, the common stock reflected in the balance sheet is reconciled in the following table: ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Gross proceeds $ 126,500,000 Less: ​ Proceeds allocated to Public Warrants ​ ( 15,180,000 ) Issuance costs allocated to common stock ​ ( 933,989 ) Plus: ​ Accretion of carrying value to redemption value ​ 18,011,489 Common stock subject to possible redemption ​ $ 128,397,500 ​ F-11 Table of Contents CHARDAN NEXTECH ACQUISITION 2 CORP. NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS DECEMBER 31, 2021 Offering Costs associated with the Initial Public Offering The Company complies with the requirements of ASC 340-10-S99-1 and SEC Staff Accounting Bulletin Topic 5A - Expenses of Offering . Offering costs consist principally of professional and registration fees incurred through the balance sheet date that are related to the Initial Public Offering. Offering costs directly attributable to the issuance of an equity contract to be classified in equity are recorded as a reduction in equity. Offering costs for equity contracts that are classified as assets and liabilities are expensed immediately. The Company incurred offering costs amounting to $ 1,080,140 , consisting of $ 500,000 of cash underwriting fees and $ 580,140 of other offering costs. The Company recorded $ 933,989 of offering costs as a reduction of temporary equity in connection with the redeemable common stock included in the Units. The Company recorded $ 127,354 as a reduction of permanent equity in connection with the Public Warrants included in the Units and immediately expensed $ 18,797 of offering costs in connection with the Private Warrants that were classified as liabilities. Warrant Liabilities The Company accounts for warrants as either equity-classified or liability-classified instruments based on an assessment of the warrant’s specific terms and applicable authoritative guidance in ASC 480 and ASC 815, Derivatives and Hedging (“ASC 815”). The assessment considers whether the warrants are freestanding financial instruments pursuant to ASC 480, meet the definition of a liability pursuant to ASC 480, and whether the warrants meet all of the requirements for equity classification under ASC 815, including whether the warrants are indexed to the Company’s own common stock, among other conditions for equity classification. This assessment, which requires the use of professional judgment, is conducted at the time of warrant issuance and as of each subsequent quarterly period end date while the warrants are outstanding. For issued or modified warrants that meet all of the criteria for equity classification, the warrants are required to be recorded as a component of additional paid-in capital at the time of issuance. For issued or modified warrants that do not meet all the criteria for equity classification, the warrants are required to be recorded at their initial fair value on the date of issuance, and each balance sheet date thereafter. Changes in the estimated fair value of the warrants will be recognized as a non-cash gain or loss on the statements of operations. The Company accounts for the Private Warrants issued concurrently in connection with the Initial Public Offering in accordance with ASC 815-40, under which the Private Warrants will not meet the criteria for equity classification and must be recorded as liabilities. As the Private Warrants meet the definition of a derivative as contemplated in ASC 815, the Private Warrants will be measured at fair value at inception and at each reporting date in accordance with ASC 820, Fair Value Measurement (“ASC 820”), with changes in fair value recognized in the statements of operations in the period of change. The Public Warrants are not precluded from equity classification, and are accounted for as such on the date of issuance, and each balance sheet date thereafter. Income Taxes The Company complies with the accounting and reporting requirements of ASC Topic 740 - Income Taxes (“ASC 740”), which requires an asset and liability approach to financial accounting and reporting for income taxes. Deferred income tax assets and liabilities are computed for differences between the financial statement and tax bases of assets and liabilities that will result in future taxable or deductible amounts, based on enacted tax laws and rates applicable to the periods in which the differences are expected to affect taxable income. Valuation allowances are established, when necessary, to reduce deferred tax assets to the amount expected to be realized. F-12 Table of Contents CHARDAN NEXTECH ACQUISITION 2 CORP. NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS DECEMBER 31, 2021 ASC Topic 740 prescribes a recognition threshold and a measurement attribute for the financial statement recognition and measurement of tax positions taken or expected to be taken in a tax return. For those benefits to be recognized, a tax position must be more-likely-than-not to be sustained upon examination by taxing authorities. The Company recognizes accrued interest and penalties related to unrecognized tax benefits, if any, as income tax expense. There were no unrecognized tax benefits and no amounts accrued for interest and penalties as of December 31, 2021 and December 31, 2020. The Company is currently not aware of any issues under review that could result in significant payments, accruals or material deviation from its position. The effective tax rate is less than the U.S. statutory corporate tax rate of 21 % because of the unrealized change in fair value of warrant liabilities, which was the biggest factor in net income and is not taxable. The Company had a loss from operations during the year ended December 31, 2021. The Company is subject to income tax examinations by major taxing authorities since inception. Net Income (Loss) Per Share of Common Stock Net income (loss) per common share is computed by dividing net earnings by the weighted-average number of shares of common stock outstanding during the period. The Company has not considered the effect of the Warrants sold in the Initial Public Offering and private placement to purchase an aggregate of 14,115,358 shares in the calculation of diluted income per share, since the exercise of the Warrants are contingent upon the occurrence of future events. The following table reflects the calculation of basic and diluted net income (loss) per common share (in dollars, except per share amounts): ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ For the period ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ from June 23, ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ 2020 (inception) ​ ​ For the year ​ through ​ ​ ended December ​ December 31, ​ ​ 31, 2021 ​ 2020 Basic and diluted net income (loss) per share: ​ ​ Numerator: ​ ​ Net income (loss) ​ $ 1,910,487 ​ $ ( 1,000 ) Denominator: ​ ​ Basic weighted average shares outstanding ​ 7,732,021 ​ 2,750,000 Basic net income (loss) per common share ​ $ 0.25 ​ $ ( 0.00 ) Diluted weighted average shares outstanding ​ ​ 7,991,952 ​ ​ 2,750,000 Diluted net income (loss) per common share ​ $ 0.24 ​ $ ( 0.00 ) ​ Concentration of Credit Risk Financial instruments that potentially subject the Company to concentrations of credit risk consist of a cash account in a financial institution, which, at times, may exceed the Federal Depository Insurance Corporation coverage limit of $250,000. The Company has not experienced losses on this account and management believes the Company is not exposed to significant risks on such account. F-13 Table of Contents CHARDAN NEXTECH ACQUISITION 2 CORP. NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS DECEMBER 31, 2021 Fair Value of Financial Instruments The Company applies ASC 820, which establishes a framework for measuring fair value and clarifies the definition of fair value within that framework. ASC 820 defines fair value as an exit price, which is the price that would be received for an asset or paid to transfer a liability in the Company’s principal or most advantageous market in an orderly transaction between market participants on the measurement date. The fair value hierarchy established in ASC 820 generally requires an entity to maximize the use of observable inputs and minimize the use of unobservable inputs when measuring fair value. Observable inputs reflect the assumptions that market participants would use in pricing the asset or liability and are developed based on market data obtained from sources independent of the reporting entity. Unobservable inputs reflect the entity’s own assumptions based on market data and the entity’s judgments about the assumptions that market participants would use in pricing the asset or liability and are to be developed based on the best information available in the circumstances. The carrying amounts reflected in the balance sheet for current assets and current liabilities approximate fair value due to their short-term nature. Level 1 — Assets and liabilities with unadjusted, quoted prices listed on active market exchanges. Inputs to the fair value measurement are observable inputs, such as quoted prices in active markets for identical assets or liabilities. Level 2 — Inputs to the fair value measurement are determined using prices for recently traded assets and liabilities with similar underlying terms, as well as direct or indirect observable inputs, such as interest rates and yield curves that are observable at commonly quoted intervals. Level 3 — Inputs to the fair value measurement are unobservable inputs, such as estimates, assumptions, and valuation techniques when little or no market data exists for the assets or liabilities. See Note 10 for additional information on assets and liabilities measured at fair value. Recent Accounting Standards In August 2020, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) 2020-06, Debt — Debt with Conversion and Other Options (Subtopic 470-20) and Derivatives and Hedging —Contracts in Entity’s Own Equity (Subtopic 815-40) (“ASU 2020-06”) to simplify accounting for certain financial instruments. ASU 2020-06 eliminates the current models that require separation of beneficial conversion and cash conversion features from convertible instruments and simplifies the derivative scope exception guidance pertaining to equity classification of contracts in an entity’s own equity. The new standard also introduces additional disclosures for convertible debt and freestanding instruments that are indexed to and settled in an entity’s own equity. ASU 2020-06 amends the diluted earnings per share guidance, including the requirement to use the if converted method for all convertible instruments. ASU 2020-06 is effective for the Company on January 1, 2024 and should be applied on a full or modified retrospective basis, with early adoption permitted beginning on January 1, 2021. The Company adopted ASU 2020-06 effective January 1, 2021 using the full retrospective method of transition. The adoption of ASU 2020-06 did not have a material impact on the financial statements for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021. Management does not believe that any other recently issued, but not yet effective, accounting standards, if currently adopted, would have a material effect on the Company’s financial statements. ​ ​ F-14 Table of Contents CHARDAN NEXTECH ACQUISITION 2 CORP. NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS DECEMBER 31, 2021 NOTE 3. INITIAL PUBLIC OFFERING The Registration Statement for the Company’s Initial Public Offering was declared effective on August 10, 2021. On August 13, 2021, the Company completed its Initial Public Offering of 11,000,000 Units, at $ 10.00 per Unit, generating gross proceeds of $ 110,000,000 . Each Unit consisted of one Public Share, and three-quarters of one Public Warrant. Each Public Warrant entitles the holder to purchase one share of common stock at an exercise price of $ 11.50 per whole share (see Note 7). The Company had granted the underwriters in the Initial Public Offering a 45-day option to purchase up to 1,650,000 additional Units to cover over-allotments, if any (see Note 6). On August 18, 2021, the underwriters fully exercised the over-allotment option and purchased an additional 1,650,000 Over-Allotment Units, generating gross proceeds of $ 16,500,000 . ​ NOTE 4. PRIVATE PLACEMENT Simultaneously with the closing of the Initial Public Offering, Holdings purchased an aggregate of 4,361,456 Private Warrants at a price of $ 0.93 per Private Warrant ($ 4,052,000 in the aggregate). Each Private Warrant entitles the holder to purchase one share of common stock at an exercise price of $ 11.50 per share (see Note 7). The proceeds from the Private Warrants were added to the proceeds from the Initial Public Offering to be held in the Trust Account. If the Company does not complete a Business Combination within 12 months (or up to 18 months if the Company’s time to complete a Business Combination is extended), the proceeds of the sale of the Private Warrants will be used to fund the redemption of the Public Shares (subject to the requirements of applicable law) and the Private Warrants will expire worthless. The Company classifies the outstanding Private Warrants as warrant liabilities on the balance sheet in accordance with the guidance contained in ASC 815-40. Simultaneously with the closing of the exercise of the over-allotment option (see Note 6), the Company consummated the sale of 266,402 Over-Allotment Private Warrants at a purchase price of $ 0.93 per Over-Allotment Private Warrant in a private placement to Holdings, generating gross proceeds of $ 247,500 . ​ NOTE 5. RELATED PARTY TRANSACTIONS Founder Shares On June 23, 2020, the Company issued 1,000,000 shares of common stock for an aggregate price of $ 25,000 (the “Founder Shares”). On March 4, 2021, the Company effected a 2.875-for-1 stock split of its issued and outstanding shares of common stock, resulting in an aggregate of 2,875,000 shares of common stock issued and outstanding. On August 10, 2021, the Company effectuated a 1.1-for-1 stock split, resulting in an aggregate of 3,162,500 shares of common stock outstanding. Shares and the associated amounts have been retroactively restated in these financial statements to reflect the two stock splits. The Founder Shares include an aggregated of up to 412,500 shares of common stock subject to forfeiture by the initial stockholders to the extent that the underwriters’ over-allotment is not exercised in full or in part, so that the initial stockholders would collectively own, on an as-converted basis, 20 % of the Company’s issued and outstanding shares after the Initial Public Offering. On August 18, 2021, the underwriters’ exercised the over-allotment option in full, thus these shares are no longer subject to forfeiture (see Note 6). F-15 Table of Contents CHARDAN NEXTECH ACQUISITION 2 CORP. NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS DECEMBER 31, 2021 With certain limited exceptions, of the Founder Shares will not be transferred, assigned, sold or released from escrow until the earlier of (i) six months after the date of the consummation of a Business Combination (the “Escrow Period”) or (ii) the date on which the closing price of the Company's shares of common stock equals or exceeds $ 12.50 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, reorganizations and recapitalizations) for any ten trading days within any 30 -trading day period commencing after the consummation of a Business Combination. The remaining 50% of the Founder Shares will not be transferred, assigned, sold or released from escrow until the expiration of the Escrow Period. In either case, if, subsequent to a Business Combination, the Company consummates a subsequent liquidation, merger, stock exchange or other similar transaction which results in all of the stockholders having the right to exchange their shares of common stock for cash, securities or other property, and either (1) before the expiration of the Escrow Period, then the Founder Shares will be canceled, or (2) after the expiration of the Escrow Period, release the Founder Shares to the initial stockholders. Promissory Note — Related Party On July 23, 2020, the Sponsor agreed to loan the Company an aggregate of up to $ 250,000 to cover expenses related to the Initial Public Offering pursuant to a promissory note (the "Promissory Note"). The promissory note was non-interest bearing, unsecured and was repaid at August 19, 2021. As of December 31, 2021 and December 31, 2020, there was no outstanding balance under the note. The Company cannot make any additional draws under this promissory note. Administrative Support Agreement The Company entered into an agreement, commencing on the effective date of the Initial Public Offering, to pay an affiliate of the Sponsor a total of $ 10,000 per month for office space, administrative and support services. Upon completion of a Business Combination or liquidation, the Company will cease paying these monthly fees. To date, the Company has not exercised its option to use such services. Related Party Loans In order to finance transaction costs in connection with an intended initial Business Combination, the Company’s initial stockholders, officers and directors or any of their respective affiliates may, but are not obligated to, loan the Company funds as may be required from time to time or at any time, in whatever amount they deem reasonable in their sole discretion. Each loan would be evidenced by a promissory note. The notes would be paid upon consummation of an initial Business Combination, without interest. Loans made by Chardan Capital Markets, LLC or any of its related persons will not be convertible into any of the Company’s securities and Chardan Capital Markets, LLC and its related persons will have no recourse with respect to their ability to convert their loans into any of the Company’s securities. As of December 31, 2021 and December 31, 2020, the Company had no working capital loans outstanding. ​ F-16 Table of Contents CHARDAN NEXTECH ACQUISITION 2 CORP. NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS DECEMBER 31, 2021 NOTE 6. COMMITMENTS AND CONTINGENCIES Registration and Stockholder Rights Agreement The holders of the Founder Shares and Private Warrants (and any shares of common stock issuable upon the exercise of the Private Warrants) will be entitled to registration rights pursuant to an agreement to be signed prior to or on the effective date of the Initial Public Offering. The holders of a majority of these securities are entitled to make up to two demands that the Company register such securities. The holders of the majority of the Founder Shares can elect to exercise these registration rights at any time commencing three months prior to the date on which these shares of common stock are to be released from escrow. The holders of a majority of the Private Warrants (and underlying securities) can elect to exercise these registration rights at any time after the Company consummates a Business Combination. In addition, the holders have certain “piggy-back” registration rights with respect to Registration Statements filed subsequent to the consummation of a Business Combination. The Company will bear the expenses incurred in connection with the filing of any such Registration Statements. Underwriting Agreement The Company granted the underwriters a 45 -day option to purchase up to 1,650,000 additional Units to cover over-allotments at the Initial Public Offering price, less the underwriting discounts and commissions. On August 18, 2021, the underwriters fully exercised the over-allotment option to purchase an additional 1,650,000 Units at an offering price of $ 10.00 per Unit for an aggregate purchase price of $ 16,500,000 . In addition, the underwriters were paid a cash underwriting discount of $ 500,000 upon the closing of the Initial Public Offering. Business Combination Marketing Agreement The Company has engaged Chardan Capital Markets, LLC as an advisor in connection with the Company’s Business Combination to assist the Company in holding meetings with the stockholders to discuss the potential Business Combination and the target business’ attributes, introduce the Company to potential investors that are interested in purchasing the Company’s securities, assist the Company in obtaining stockholder approval for the Business Combination and assist the Company with press releases and public filings in connection with the Business Combination. The Company will pay Chardan Capital Markets, LLC a cash fee for such services upon the consummation of the Company’s initial Business Combination in an amount equal to, in the aggregate, 3.5 % of the gross proceeds of the Initial Public Offering. As a result, Chardan Capital Markets, LLC will not be entitled to such fee unless the Company consummates the initial Business Combination. Related Party Extension Loans As discussed in Note 1, the Company may extend the period of time to consummate an initial Business Combination two times, for an additional three months each time (for a total of up to 18 months to complete a Business Combination). In order to extend the time available for the Company to consummate a Business Combination, the initial stockholders or their affiliates or designees must deposit into the Trust Account $ 1,265,000 ($ 0.10 per share, or an aggregate of $ 2,530,000 ) if extended for each of the full three months), on or prior to the date of the applicable deadline. Any such payments would be made in the form of a loan. The terms of the promissory note to be issued in connection with any such loans have not yet been negotiated. If the Company completes an initial Business Combination, the Company would repay such loaned amounts out of the proceeds of the Trust Account released to the Company. If the Company does not complete an initial Business Combination, the Company will not repay such loans. The initial stockholders and their affiliates or designees are not obligated to fund the Trust Account to extend the time for the Company to complete an initial Business Combination. ​ F-17 Table of Contents CHARDAN NEXTECH ACQUISITION 2 CORP. NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS DECEMBER 31, 2021 NOTE 7. WARRANTS As of December 31, 2021 and December 31, 2020 there was 9,487,500 and no Public Warrants and 4,627,858 and no Private Warrants outstanding, respectively. Each whole Public Warrant will entitle the holder to purchase one share of common stock at an exercise price of $ 11.50 per whole share. Each of the Private Warrants is exercisable to purchase one share of common stock at a price of $ 11.50 per share, subject to adjustment. The proceeds from the sale of the Private Warrants were added to the net proceeds from the Initial Public Offering to be held in the Trust Account. If the Company does not complete a Business Combination within the Combination Period, the proceeds from the sale of the Private Warrants will be used to fund the redemption of the Public Shares (and the Private Warrants will expire worthless). The Warrants provide for a cashless exercise which the Company’s management determined to be a net settlement feature with no obligation to settle in cash. The net shares issued in a cashless exercise are based on the fair value of the Company’s common stock at the time the Warrants are exercised. Each Warrant shall, when countersigned by the Warrant Agent, entitle the Registered Holder to purchase from the Company the number of shares of common stock at $ 11.50 per share. The Public Warrants may only be exercised for a whole number of Warrant Shares by a Registered Holder. No fractional shares will be issued. A Warrant may be exercised only during the period (“Exercise Period”) commencing 30 days after the completion of the Company’s initial business combination and terminating at 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on the earlier to occur of (i) (A) five years following the completion of the Company’s initial business combination with respect to the Public Warrants, and (B) five years from the effective date of the Registration Statement with respect to the Private Warrants purchased by Chardan NexTech 2 Warrant Holdings LLC, provided that once the Private Warrants are not beneficially owned, directly or indirectly, by Chardan Capital Markets, LLC or any of its related persons anymore, the Private Warrants may not be exercised five years following the completion of the Company’s initial business combination, and (ii) the date fixed for redemption of the Warrants as provided in Section 6 of this Warrant Agreement (“Expiration Date”). Except with respect to the right to receive the Redemption Price, each Warrant not exercised on or before the Expiration Date shall become void, and all rights thereunder and all rights shall cease at the close of business on the Expiration Date. The Company may extend the duration of the Warrants by delaying the Expiration Date; provided, however, that the Company (i) may not extend the duration of the Private Warrants by delaying the Expiration Date and (ii) will provide written notice of not less than 10 days to Registered Holders of such extension and that such extension shall be identical in duration among all of the then outstanding Warrants. The Company is not required to issue any fraction of a Warrant Share in connection with the exercise of Warrants, and in any case where the Registered Holder would be entitled under the terms of the Warrants to receive a fraction of a Warrant Share upon the exercise of such Registered Holder’s Warrants, issue or cause to be issued only the largest whole number of Warrant Shares issuable on such exercise (and such fraction of a Warrant Share will be disregarded); provided, that if more than one Warrant certificate is presented for exercise at the same time by the same Registered Holder, the number of whole Warrant Shares which shall be issuable upon the exercise thereof shall be computed on the basis of the aggregate number of Warrant Shares issuable on exercise of all such Warrants. The Private Warrants: (i) will be exercisable either for cash or on a cashless basis at the holders option and (ii) will not be redeemable by the Company, in either case as long as the Private Warrants are held by the initial purchasers or any of their permitted transferees (as prescribed in the Subscription Agreement). The Private Warrants may not be sold, transferred, assigned, pledged or hypothecated, or be the subject of any hedging, short sale, derivative, put, or call transaction that would result in the effective economic disposition of, the Private Warrants (or any securities underlying the Private Warrants) for a period of one hundred eighty ( 180 ) days following the effective date of the Registration Statement to anyone other than any member participating in the Public Offering and the officers or partners thereof, if all securities so transferred remain subject to the lock-up restriction for the remainder of the time period. F-18 Table of Contents CHARDAN NEXTECH ACQUISITION 2 CORP. NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS DECEMBER 31, 2021 All (and not less than all) of the outstanding Warrants may be redeemed, in whole and not in part, at the option of the Company, at any time from and after the Warrants become exercisable, and prior to their expiration, at the office of the Warrant Agent, at the price of $ .01 per Warrant (“Redemption Price”); provided that the last sales price of the common stock has been equal to or greater than $ 16.00 per share (subject to adjustment for splits, dividends, recapitalizations and other similar events) (the “Redemption Trigger Price”), for any ten ( 10 ) trading days within a thirty ( 30 ) trading day period ending on the third business day prior to the date on which notice of redemption is given and provided further that there is a current Registration Statement in effect with respect to the shares of common stock underlying the Warrants for each day in the aforementioned 30 -day trading period and continuing each day thereafter until the Redemption Date. For avoidance of doubt, if and when the warrants become redeemable by the Company, the Company may exercise its redemption right, even if it is unable to register or qualify the Warrant Shares for sale under all applicable state securities laws. The Company accounts for the 4,627,858 Private Warrants issued in connection with the Initial Public Offering in accordance with the guidance contained in ASC 815-40. Such guidance provides that because the private warrants do not meet the criteria for equity treatment thereunder, each private warrant must be recorded as a liability. This liability is subject to re-measurement at each balance sheet date. With each such re-measurement, the warrant liabilities will be adjusted to its current fair value, with the change in fair value recognized in the Company’s statement of operations. The Company will reassess the classification at each balance sheet date. If the classification changes as a result of events during the period, the warrants will be reclassified as of the date of the event that causes the reclassification. The Public Warrants are not precluded from equity classification. Equity-classified contracts are initially measured at fair value (or allocated value). Subsequent changes in fair value are not recognized as long as the contracts continue to be classified in equity. ​ NOTE 8. STOCKHOLDERS’ EQUITY (DEFICIT) Preferred stock — The Company is authorized to issue 1,000,000 shares of preferred stock, par value $ 0.0001 per share, with such designations, voting and other rights and preferences as may be determined from time to time by the Company’s board of directors. As of December 31, 2021 and December 31, 2020 , the Company had no issued or outstanding shares of preferred stock. Common stock — The Company is authorized to issue 50,000,000 shares of common stock with a par value of $ 0.0001 per share. On December 31, 2021 and December 31, 2020, there were 15,812,500 shares of common stock issued and outstanding, including 12,650,000 shares of common stock subject to possible redemption. Of the 15,812,500 shares of common stock outstanding, up to 412,500 shares were subject to forfeiture to the Company by the initial stockholders for no consideration to the extent that the underwriters’ over-allotment option was not exercised in full or in part, so that the initial stockholders would collectively own 20 % of the Company’s issued and outstanding common stock after the Initial Public Offering. On August 16, 2021, the underwriters’ exercised the over-allotment option in full (see Note 6), thus these shares are no longer subject to forfeiture. Common stockholders of record are entitled to one vote for each share held on all matters to be voted on by stockholders. Unless specified in the Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation or bylaws, or as required by applicable law or stock exchange rules, the affirmative vote of a majority of the Company’s shares of common stock that are voted is required to approve any such matter voted on by the Company’s stockholders (other than the election of directors). ​ ​ F-19 Table of Contents CHARDAN NEXTECH ACQUISITION 2 CORP. NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS DECEMBER 31, 2021 NOTE 9. INCOME TAX The Company’s net deferred tax assets (liabilities) as of December 31, 2021 is as follows: ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Deferred tax assets: ​ Start-up costs ​ $ 61,335 Net operating loss carryforwards ​ ​ 298,437 Total deferred tax assets ​ ​ 359,772 Valuation allowance ​ ( 354,792 ) Deferred tax liabilities: ​ ​ ​ Unrealized gain on investments ​ ​ ( 4,980 ) Total deferred tax liabilities ​ ​ ( 4,980 ) Deferred tax assets, net of allowance ​ $ — ​ The income tax provision for the year ended December 31, 2021 consists of the following: ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Federal ​ ​ ​ Current ​ $ — Deferred ​ ​ ( 354,792 ) ​ ​ ​ ​ State ​ ​ ​ Current ​ ​ — Deferred ​ ​ — Change in valuation allowance ​ ​ 354,792 Income tax provision ​ $ — ​ As of December 31, 2021, the Company has available U.S. federal operating loss carry forwards of approximately $ 357,674 that may be carried forward indefinitely. In assessing the realization of deferred tax assets, management considers whether it is more likely than not that some portion or all of the deferred tax assets will not be realized. The ultimate realization of deferred tax assets is dependent upon the generation of future taxable income during the periods in which temporary differences representing future deductible amounts become deductible. Management considers the scheduled reversal of deferred tax assets, projected future taxable income and tax planning strategies in making this assessment. After consideration of all the information available, management believes that significant uncertainty exists with respect to future realization of the deferred tax assets and has therefore established a full valuation allowance. For the year ended December 31, 2021, the valuation allowance was $ 354,792 . A reconciliation of the federal income tax rate to the Company’s effective tax rate at December 31, 2021 is as follows: ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Statutory federal income tax rate 21.0 % State taxes, net of federal tax benefit ​ 0.0 % Change in fair value of derivative warrant liabilities ​ ( 40.8 ) % Non-deductible transaction costs ​ 0.2 % Change in valuation allowance 19.6 % Income tax provision 0.0 % ​ Deferred tax assets were deemed to be de minimis as of December 31, 2020. ​ F-20 Table of Contents CHARDAN NEXTECH ACQUISITION 2 CORP. NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS DECEMBER 31, 2021 NOTE 10. FAIR VALUE MEASUREMENTS The following table presents information about the Company’s financial assets and liabilities that are measured at fair value on a recurring basis as of December 31, 2021, and indicates the fair value hierarchy of the valuation inputs the Company utilized to determine such fair value: ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Amount at ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Description Fair Value Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 December 31, 2021 ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Assets ​ ​ ​ ​ Investments held in Trust Account: ​ ​ ​ ​ Money Market investments ​ $ 128,421,215 ​ $ 128,421,215 ​ $ — ​ $ — Liabilities ​ ​ ​ ​ Warrant liabilities – Private Placement Warrants ​ $ 2,036,258 ​ $ — ​ $ — ​ $ 2,036,258 ​ The Company did not have any assets or liabilities measured at fair value as of December 31, 2020. ​ The Company utilizes a Black-Scholes method to value the Private Warrants at each reporting period, with changes in fair value recognized in the statement of operations. The estimated fair value of the warrant liabilities is determined using Level 3 inputs. Inherent in a Black-Scholes model are assumptions related to expected share-price volatility, expected life, risk-free interest rate and dividend yield. The Company estimates the volatility of its common stock based on historical volatility that matches the expected remaining life of the warrants. The risk-free interest rate is based on the U.S. Treasury zero-coupon yield curve on the grant date for a maturity similar to the expected remaining life of the warrants. The expected life of the Private Warrants is assumed to be equivalent to their remaining contractual term. The dividend rate is based on the historical rate, which the Company anticipates to remain at zero. The following table provides the significant inputs to the Black-Scholes method for the fair value of the Private Warrants: ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Initial ​ As of December ​ Measurement 31, 2021 Stock price ​ $ 10.00 ​ $ 9.97 ​ Strike price ​ $ 11.50 ​ $ 11.50 ​ Dividend yield ​ — % — % Remaining term (in years) ​ 5.00 ​ 4.61 ​ Volatility ​ 19.0 % 9.1 % Risk-free rate ​ 0.81 % 1.20 % Fair value of warrants ​ $ 1.20 ​ $ 0.44 ​ ​ The following table provides a summary of the changes in the fair value of the Company’s Level 3 financial instruments that are measured at fair value on a recurring basis: ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Warrant ​ ​ Liabilities Fair value as of June 23, 2020 (inception) ​ ​ — Initial measurement ​ 5,553,429 Change in valuation inputs or other assumptions ​ ( 3,517,171 ) Fair value as of December 31, 2021 ​ ​ 2,036,258 ​ Transfers to/from Levels 1, 2, and 3 are recognized the beginning of the reporting period in which a change in valuation technique or methodology occurs. There were no transfers in or out of Level 3 from other levels in the fair value hierarchy for the period from June 23, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2021. F-21 Table of Contents CHARDAN NEXTECH ACQUISITION 2 CORP. NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS DECEMBER 31, 2021 The Company recognized gains in connection with changes in the fair value of warrant liabilities of $ 3,517,171 within change in fair value of warrant liabilities in the Statements of Operations for the year ended December 31, 2021 and $ 0 for the period from June 23, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020. NOTE 11. SUBSEQUENT EVENTS The Company evaluated subsequent events and transactions that occurred after the balance sheet date up to the date that the financial statements were issued. Based upon this review, the Company did not identify any subsequent events that would have required adjustment or disclosure in the financial statements. ​ ​ F-22