Item 1. Business
Item 1.
Business
Overview
We believe that the future of audio technology is in wireless devices and that WiSA is well positioned to deliver best-in-class immersive wireless sound technology for intelligent devices and next generation home entertainment systems. Historically we have sold modules which wirelessly transmit and receive audio directly to speakers. In late 2023, we launched a new wireless technology, WiSA E, that is software-based and works with standard Wi-Fi chips. Additionally, we plan to license our proprietary software technology, currently embedded in our wireless modules, to other companies who can then embed our technology into other Wi-Fi enabled smart devices. The segment of the wireless audio market that WiSA focuses on is comprised of scalable multichannel solutions with levels of latency that are low enough to synchronize with video. The term multichannel refers to the use of multiple audio tracks to reconstruct a sound field using multiple speakers.
As part of the effort to grow the wireless multichannel home audio segment, WiSA Technologies, Inc. was a founding member of the WiSA Association, an association dedicated to providing industry leadership and consumer choice through interoperability testing between brands. Products certified and marked with a WiSA Association logo have been tested to inter operate. This preserves consumer choice by enabling consumers to choose different wireless transmitting products across different brands where audio is decoded with speakers that have the WiSA Association logo displayed. Our marketing strategy focuses on, what we believe, are two emerging wireless audio market needs: immersive, multi-channel audio and robust wireless performance. WiSA sold custom semiconductor chips and wireless modules to premium audio brands in the consumer electronics industry. We believe that a growing adoption of our technology by leaders in this industry will revolutionize the way people experience media content through their mobile and handheld devices, televisions (“TVs”),soundbars (“SBs”), set-top-boxes/streaming devises and personal computers (“PCs”).
Our Business Focus
Our primary business focus is to enable mainstream consumers and audio enthusiasts to experience high quality wireless immersive audio. We intend to continue selling our proprietary wireless modules to consumer electronics companies while also expanding our focus to implement a lower-cost solution by porting our software onto commercially available internet of things (“IoT”) modules with integrated Wi-Fi technology.
Industry Background
The primary growth segments for in-home entertainment have been “Bluetooth” stereo accessories which include single speakers, headsets, and more recently, “multi-room” stereo speakers that use your home’s Wi-Fi network to stream audio throughout house. Another market that continues to grow is the sound bar market. Sound bars are typically sold with wireless subwoofers and may also be sold with wireless rear speakers.
Our Technology
Our fundamental technology addresses some of the main issues that we perceive hinder the growth of immersive audio in the home: complexity of setup, cost, interoperability between smart devices and the speakers, and robust wireless performance. We believe that consumers want to experience theater-quality immersive sound from the comfort of their homes. However, traditional immersive audio systems, commonly referred to as home theater surround sound systems, are wired and often require expensive audio-visual (“AV”) receivers to decode the audio stream, leaving the consumer with the burden of concealing the wires. Hiring a professional to hide the wires into the walls or floor is invasive, complicated, costly, and time consuming. Our first-generation wireless technology addresses these problems by transmitting wireless audio to each speaker at Blu-ray quality (uncompressed 24 bit audio up to 96 kHz sample rates) and emphasizing ease of setup. Our next generation technology, WiSA E, is software IP designed for (i) easy implementation for the manufacturing brand to design with, (ii) broad flexibility to accommodate various price points and business models, and (iii) maintaining high quality wireless performance for the consumer.
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Having successfully developed wireless audio solutions for the high-end of the immersive audio market, WiSA is continuing its development of proprietary software (WiSA E) targeted at bringing its best-of-class immersive audio technology to entry/mid-level audio systems. Noting the growth of the sound bar market, WiSA plans a low-cost, entry-level wireless audio solution designed to meet the needs of the consumer looking for a sound bar-based, value-driven immersive audio system. To address this market segment, WiSA is currently developing certain proprietary software for which patent applications have been submitted that will enable sound bars as well as smart devices that have Wi-Fi and video media to deliver immersive audio. First development kits for WiSA E began to ship during late Q3 2023 (pursuant to confidentiality agreements). Our goal is to commercialize a software based -solution, which other brands can integrate into their devices, that will (i) reduce integration costs for mass market use, (ii) utilize Wi-Fi for wireless connectivity, making it easy to integrate into today’s high volume, low cost systems on a chip (“SOC”) and modules, (iii) provide a low power consumption option to allow for use in battery-powered devices, and (iv) provide compatibility with popular consumer electronic operating systems.
WiSA Association
Our wholly-owned subsidiary, WiSA, LLC, operates the WiSA Association, which is an association of brands, manufacturers, and influencers within the consumer electronics industry, with the purpose of promoting a standardized method of interoperability between wireless audio components using WiSA’s technology. The WiSA Association creates, maintains and manages specifications for wireless interoperability that are available to all WiSA Association members. For products with a WiSA Association certification, the WiSA Association also creates, maintains, and manages testing criteria and specifications for all products to be listed, marketed and sold. WiSA-certification is an industry-wide “stamp of approval” certifying that a product is interoperable with other products in the WiSA ecosystem and has passed several high-performance tests ensuring interoperability and wireless performance standards are met. As the sole owner of WiSA, LLC, we certify all WiSA Association products.
WiSA, LLC is also the IP licensing organization for WiSA E interoperable transmission from smart devices to audio devices. In Q4, 2023, WiSA, LLC announced a licensing program for display devices (TVs and projectors). In the first 90 days three manufacturers have signed licenses.
Currently, WiSA-certified products are required to use WiSA modules in order to meet the standards set by the WiSA Association. As a result, WiSA Association members purchase modules from us in order to build their products to meet such standards.
Among WiSA-certified products, consumers will be able to outfit their home entertainment system with WiSA-certified speakers and components from any participating vendor with the assurance that the devices will interoperate and provide high quality wireless HD surround sound.
The WiSA Association manages logo usage and trademark guidelines, investigates alternative markets, connects brands to manufacturing resources, and, we believe, provides industry leadership in solving the challenges facing the home theater and commercial markets in the integration of wireless audio technology.
Modules
WiSA has designed wireless modules that provide high performance wireless audio for our customers to integrate into their products, such as a speakers, TVs, soundbars, set-top-boxes, and HDMI dongles. These modules can be designed using our custom semiconductors with our IP built in, as well as a Wi-Fi radio for communications or with our WiSA E software loaded onto a third party IoT Wi-Fi chip. By designing and selling these modules, we believe that we can reduce our customers’ design expense, accelerate their time-to-market cycle, and reduce the cost of each module. The consumer’s smart devises must have interoperable WiSA modules compatible with the WiSA transmit technology. Speakers, with the matching “RX” model, receive the wireless audio signal and processes it for audio play out.
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The WiSA Opportunity
We believe that the following attributes: cost, mobility, video support, ease of installation and quality create a market opportunity for WiSA’s technologies to be adopted by the consumer electronics industry as described further below.
Cost
We believe that the simplicity and cost structure of both our original technology and our embedded software solution will make our prices competitive for a wider range of applications in their respective markets, allowing consumer electronics companies to integrate our technology, while also delivering high quality audio.
Video Support
Wireless audio capable of supporting video has become a priority for consumers across a variety of high-volume multimedia platforms, including TV’s, smartphones, game consoles and set-top boxes. Video applications require audio and video to be perfectly synchronized in order to avoid lip-sync and speaker audio phase distortion issues. WiSA’s technology prioritizes wireless robustness, latency and speaker synchronization to create an entertaining experience.
Ease of Installation
We believe that the home entertainment market has moved toward simplicity in recent years. The costly and inconvenient home theaters of the past have left consumers with a desire for audio systems that provide a simplified installation process. We believe that as the TVs adopt broad use of Dolby Atmos and Dolby Atmos Music, which delivers the immersive audio decoding, new audio systems, including the predominant sound bar system, will need to provide a higher level of performance, especially in the surround-sound market. WiSA’s technology greatly simplifies the installation process of true surround-sound systems. This allows consumers to install an immersive audio system with the same amount of effort as a sound bar, but enjoy a far superior experience. We believe that an overwhelming majority of the content entering consumers’ homes through digital TV and streaming services is provided in a multi-channel format, which is why WiSA’s goal is to facilitate enjoyment of true surround sound for both the everyday consumer and audio enthusiast.
In addition to easy installation, WiSA’s technology provides consumers with a multitude of options, allowing customization of the immersive audio experience individualized to each consumer, without being forced to stick with one brand of speaker. For example, our hope is that a consumer might start with a WiSA enabled sound bar for their TV and then add a WiSA enabled subwoofer. That same system can be easily upgraded to a variety of surround sound systems by simply adding more speakers. Our technology will allow consumers to upgrade an audio system or just one component of the system without the need to replace the entire system. Consumers can keep the original transmitter, sound bar, and subwoofer and integrate them seamlessly into a new system. Being able to outfit a home entertainment system with WiSA-enabled speakers and components gives consumers the ability to express their individual preference and needs and provides the assurance that the devices will interoperate, delivering what we believe is the highest standard in HD wireless surround sound.
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Dissatisfaction with Bluetooth Performance and Quality
We believe that consumers want better performance and quality from their Bluetooth audio devices. For example, they may want headsets that stay connected over longer distances or products that offer better audio fidelity. By offering a solution that addresses these needs at a comparable price point to Bluetooth, we believe that we can build consumer demand for our technology.
Enjoyment of improved audio on existing content
We believe that the growth in the number of video devices streaming multi-channel audio content, coupled with new 3D immersive sound experiences from Dolby’s Atmos and DTS’ DTS:X formats, will help propel the demand for wireless speakers well into the future.
Enjoyment of wireless audio without interference from other wireless signals
Having other devices nearby that also use the 5 GHz band should not affect the performance of a WiSA-enabled audio system, as WiSA’s technology can seamlessly switch to another frequency within the 5 GHz band. The 5 GHz U-NII spectrum utilized by WiSA technology has up to 24 channels available that are constantly monitored for interference using the Dynamic Frequency Selection sub-band between 5.2 and 5.8 GHz. When interference is detected, the next channel, having been monitored for over one minute and confirmed for accessibility, is ready to be accessed and WiSA-enabled devices switch seamlessly to that channel, without the user ever noticing or the audio experience being affected.
What Distinguishes WiSA from its Competitors
Both the proprietary technology and the adoption of the technology by leaders in consumer electronics are differentiating factors for WiSA. Our management believes that WiSA is one of the only companies with the technical capabilities of transmitting high resolution, low latency, and speaker synchronization of wireless audio capable of supporting up to eight channels. Premium consumer brands, like Bang & Olufsen, Harman International, a division of Samsung, and LG Electronics have begun to adopt our technology as a valued feature in performance products.
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Category Defining Wireless Audio
Our first generation wireless audio technology delivers industry leading eight channels of uncompressed audio directly to the speakers in 24 bit and up to 96 kHz sample rates. This means that a consumer can experience audio exactly as it was mastered in the studio. WiSA’s technology supports surround sound systems up to 7.1 or 5.1.2 for Dolby Atmos® configurations.
Alternative technologies such as, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi standards were not designed to transmit fixed low latency audio that is synchronized to video. However, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi standards can work well for audio-only wireless transmission, when video is not a part of the listening experience. In audio-only applications, latency is less critical and audio data can be buffered in memory to ensure proper speaker synchronization even when data retransmissions are needed in today’s congested wireless environments. In video applications, retransmissions add to latency. Standard Bluetooth and Wi-Fi standards have long variable latency that can exceed acceptable audio to video synchronization and make quality multichannel audio experience unachievable. A few custom silicon-based solutions exist today that improve on Bluetooth and Wi-Fi standards based performance, but compared to WiSA, such products have longer latencies, lower performing speaker synchronization, and are limited to 2-4 audio channels and often only support 16 bit CD quality audio.
WiSA’s technology roadmap includes proprietary software that will enable standard Wi-Fi protocol to support multi-channel audio for video applications, while permitting WiSA to leverage Wi-Fi’s lower chip and module cost structure. WiSA’s first generation technology was designed for the mid to high end home theater market and offers a unique feature set that is expected to be included in new product designs for years. WiSA’s new Wi-Fi strategy enables the Company to compete in the entry-level home theater market at Bluetooth price points, while delivering superior multi-channel performance for higher volume applications. The Company’s recently announced Discovery module is the first product that integrates WiSA’s new software which enables a transceiver module to keep up to four independent wireless audio channels synchronized in a room size up to 10 meters square. The Discovery modules is ideally suited for entry level home entertainment systems, including sound bars, TVs, subwoofers and Dolby Atmos® applications.
WiSA Customers
WiSA currently sells wireless modules containing custom semiconductor chips to a growing list of consumer electronics customers, including major brands such as Bang & Olufsen, KEF, LG, Harman International, a division of Samsung, Savant, Skyworth and System Audio. We believe that the use of our products by well-known consumer electronics brands will provide an opportunity to create wireless audio products that are simple to install and perform at high levels. Brands such as Bang & Olufsen and Harman have chosen WiSA technology to drive their wireless home audio/theater product assortments. We believe that their leadership has brought credibility to the technology and paved the way at retail for other brands to follow.
Our Strategy
Our goal is to establish and maintain a leadership position as the ubiquitous standard for hi-fidelity wireless, multichannel audio. To obtain and enhance our position as the leading standard in the audio space, we intend to:
● improve recognition of our WiSA Certification brand and the WiSA standard brand;
● provide excellent products and services to our customers and members;
● make sure our technology is accessible to many consumers by having our technology in consumer electronics devices that sell at a variety of price points;
● expand market awareness of wireless multi-channel hi-fidelity audio experience availability;
● reduce hardware costs;
● enhance and protect our IP portfolio;
● invest in highly qualified personnel; and
● build innovative products alongside the world’s leading consumer electronics companies.
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We currently sell our modules in relatively small quantities. As we introduce WiSA E technology to customers, with its lower price points and great flexibility for designs, we expect that orders for our modules will increase. With larger orders, we believe that we can take advantage of economies of scale and improve gross margins on our modules.
Interoperability
Interoperability is a key aspect of wireless technology. We believe that this is especially true with audio technology, where unique designs, price points, audio quality and capabilities as well as consumer brand loyalties are significant factors for the end consumer. Creating home theater and audio components that all work with an interoperable standard creates a high level of confidence in retailers and consumers in the functionality of the entire entertainment system. Interoperability also increases the opportunity for specialized brands to create new and innovative products knowing they can focus on their specific part of the market and rely on others to create the necessary cohort components.
Proprietary Software
A significant amount of our time and resources are being allocated towards launching a software licensing part of our business under the WiSA E brand. Customers will receive a license for our TX software, so that any of their devices with a suitable Wi-Fi radio can transmit audio compliant with our standard without having to purchase and integrate our TX module. We believe that this software will be well positioned for use by major consumer electronics companies in many devices including TVs, handsets, gaming consoles, and computers. Patent applications have been submitted for key technology innovations in this software.
Research and Development
As of February 9, 2024, our research and development department consisted of 30 dedicated employees. WiSA’s engineering team has a wide range of expertise, capable of developing all levels of product design, from Application Specific Integrated Circuits (“ASIC”) to modules to finished products. WiSA research and development has and will continue developing trade secrets for Digital Signal Processing (“DSP”), RF design and testing of WiSA technologies.
WiSA has developed multiple ASICs and certified modules for integration into multiple wireless audio designs by ODMs which are currently shipping to consumers. The ASIC hardware solution uses a high-performance proprietary network protocol for transmission of multi-channel audio.
WiSA is also currently shipping and developing modules that are Wi-Fi compatible. The Software (“SW”) solution enables multi-channel audio capabilities on off the shelf IoT modules running RTOS and future Linux/Android based multimedia systems. The software solution uses a Wi-Fi network for transmission of multi-channel audio. WiSA released to production a low cost 2.4GHz IoT module supporting (5) audio channels and in the process of porting our software to a 5GHz IoT module in 2024. We have engaged an Indian design center to focus on Android integration of the core SW for embedded TV applications.
Manufacturing, Logistics and Fulfillment
Our modules are designed and developed in Oregon at our facility, and our manufacturing is outsourced to contract manufacturers located in China. Our manufacturing facilities have been ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 certified. We purchase components and fabricated parts from multiple suppliers; however, we rely on sole source suppliers for certain components used to manufacture our modules. Several key strategic parts are purchased from suppliers by us and then consigned to our manufacturers, while the vast majority of parts are procured directly by our contract manufacturers. Our operations team manages the pricing and supply of the key components of our modules and seeks to achieve competitive pricing on the largest value-add components, while leveraging our contract manufacturers’ volume purchases for best pricing on common parts. We have strong relationships with our manufacturers, helping us meet our supply and support requirements. Our manufacturing partners procure components and assemble our devices in accordance with our purchase orders. Demand forecasts and manufacturing purchase orders are based upon customer orders, historical trends, and analysis from our sales and product management functions. We believe that our manufacturing capabilities are essential to maintaining and improving product quality and performance, and that using outsourced manufacturing enables greater scale and flexibility than establishing our own manufacturing facilities.
While some modules are delivered from our production facility in Oregon, we have a third-party warehouse and fulfillment center in Hong Kong that delivers the majority our modules.
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Sales Channels and Customers
WiSA sells modules and integrated circuits (“ICs”) directly to OEM brands worldwide which in turn, sell their system level products to end customers through a vast channel of retailers and dealer networks. Internationally known brands such as Bang & Olufsen, Harman International, a division of Samsung, LG, System Audio, KEF, and many others are among our current customers, with products aimed at the wireless home theater market. Most of these brands sell through retailers store fronts and online e-tail.
Marketing and Advertising
Effective and consistent marketing and advertising is critical as we grow our wireless audio solutions. We have worked with multiple PR agencies on establishing effective messaging to face all segments within our category including press, brands, reviewers, retailers and consumers. Our focuses are ease of set-up, high quality performance, expandability and the benefits of a true multi-channel surround sound audio solutions.
Competition
The semiconductor industry is intensely competitive and has been characterized by price erosion and rapid technological change. We compete with major domestic and international semiconductor companies, many of which have greater market recognition and greater financial, technical, marketing, distribution and other resources than we have with which to pursue engineering, manufacturing, marketing and distribution of their products. Competitive products include products that: (a) are resistant to interference, low latency, long-range, and able to stream uncompressed audio; (b) target applications in the PC accessory audio, iPod accessory audio, home theater, and consumer & enterprise voice markets; (c) enable smart TVs, computers and mobile devices to connect to their multiple peripherals wirelessly, and simultaneously from a single host, with the ability to mix-and-match peripherals; and (d) utilize Bluetooth technology as a means of transmission.
We believe that our technology competes favorably with our competitors for a variety of reasons, including, among others:
● Our technology transmits audio packets with fixed latency in a manner well-suited for multi-channel audio networks and video applications.
● Our technology contains WiFi compatible software which provides the following future key benefits:
o WiFi is not inherently proficient for transporting low latency audio. WiSA has spent the last 5 years developing a protocol that can leverage off the shelf high volume low cost 2.4GHz and 5GHz IoT chips and modules and scale to higher audio channel counts. As chip technology performance improves so will our performance.
o WiFi compatibility allows us to operate more efficiently in congested environments while delivering the performance the market demands.
o A software solution will allow WiSA Technologies to pivot into new markets quicker than those making custom proprietary chip solutions.
There are many other factors that impact our ability to be competitive and may impact our success against both larger and emerging competitors.
Intellectual Property
We have key IP assets, including patents and trade secrets developed based on our technical expertise. As of March 27, 2024, we had 13 issued and 10 pending U.S. patents covering our technology. Our currently issued patents expire at various times from September 25, 2027 through March 1, 2040.
IP is an important aspect of our business, and our practice is to seek protection for our IP as appropriate. A multi-channel audio for surround sound system has technical requirements not required by simple stereo only systems. Multi-channel systems require each audio channel to be precisely played in time to create a sound field that correlates to video being viewed by a consumer. WiSA has developed hardware and software core technologies that manage system network latency and speaker phase. WiSA’s patents are based on protecting our low latency network algorithms and multi receiver synchronization.
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We pursue a general practice of filing patent applications for our technologies in the U.S. and occasionally in foreign countries where our customers manufacture, distribute, or sell licensed products. We actively pursue new applications to expand our patent portfolio to address new technological innovations. We have multiple patents covering aspects and improvements for many of our technologies.
Our trademarks cover our various products, technologies, improvements, and features, as well as the services that we provide. These trademarks are an integral part of our technology licensing program, and licensees typically elect to place our trademarks on their products to inform consumers that their products incorporate our technology and meet our quality specifications.
We protect our IP rights both domestically and internationally. From time to time, we may experience problems with OEMs of consumer entertainment products in emerging economies. In the event it becomes necessary, we will take all necessary steps to enforce our IP rights.
Moreover, we have relatively no issued patents outside the U.S. Growing our licensing revenue in developing countries may depend in part on our ability to obtain and maintain patent rights in these countries, which is uncertain. Further, because of the limitations of the legal systems in many countries, the effectiveness of patents obtained or that may in the future be obtained, if any, is uncertain.
Employees
As of March 27, 2024, we had a total 46 employees working in the United States and internationally, 40 of which work full time. In the United States, we had 43 employees, including 30 employees that work in our research and development department, 8 employees in our sales and marketing department, 1 employee that works in our manufacturing/logistics/fulfillment department and 5 employees that work in our general and administrative department. Additionally, we have one logistics employee in China, one sales employee in Taiwan and one sales employee in Korea. None of our employees are currently covered by a collective bargaining agreement, and we have experienced no work stoppages. We consider our relationship with our employees to be good.
Recent Developments
2024 Bridge Note and Warrant
On January 22, 2024, the Company entered into securities purchase agreements (the “2024 Bridge Purchase Agreements”), with the holders of Series B Preferred Stock purchase warrants issued in October 2023 (the “Series B Preferred Warrants”), pursuant to which the Company agreed to issue to such holders promissory notes in the aggregate principal amount of $1,000,000 (the “2024 Bridge Promissory Notes”) and common stock purchase warrants (the “2024 Bridge Warrants”) to purchase up to an aggregate of 10,000,000 shares. The closing of the 2024 Bridge Private Placement occurred on January 23, 2024. Between January 26, 2024 and February 2, 2024, the 2024 Bridge Promissory Notes were paid back in full.
The 2024 Bridge Warrants contain 4.99/9.99% beneficial ownership limitations and are not exercisable until after the date that stockholder approval is obtained to approve each of (i) the issuance of the 2024 Bridge Warrant Shares issuable upon the exercise of the 2024 Bridge Warrants, as may be required by the applicable rules and regulations of The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC (“Nasdaq”) and (ii) if necessary, a proposal to amend the our certificate of incorporation (the “Certificate of Incorporation”) to increase the authorized share capital of the Company to an amount sufficient to cover the 2024 Bridge Warrant Shares or to effectuate a reverse stock split whereby the authorized share capital is not split and is sufficient to cover the 2024 Bridge Warrant Shares (and such reverse split is effectuated) (“Bridge Warrant Stockholder Approval”), and will expire on the fifth (5th) anniversary of the date on which Bridge Warrant Stockholder Approval is received and deemed effective under Delaware law. The exercise price of the 2024 Bridge Warrants is subject to downward adjustment, upon any subsequent transaction at a price lower than the exercise price then in effect and standard adjustments in the event of certain events, such as stock splits, combinations, dividends, distributions, reclassifications, mergers or other corporate changes.
Conversion of Series B Preferred Stock
Between January 1, 2024 and March 27, 2024, holders of the Company’s Series B Convertible Preferred Stock, par value $0.0001 per share (the “Series B Preferred Stock”) converted 5,000 shares of Series B Preferred Stock into 1,205,690 shares of common stock, par value $0.0001, of the Company (“Common Stock”).
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February 2024 Unit Offering
On February 13, 2024, the Company completed a public offering (the “February 2024 Unit Offering”) of an aggregate of 23,734,000 units (the “February Units”) and 130,106,000 pre-funded units (the “February Pre-Funded Units”) for a purchase price of $0.065 per February Unit and $0.0649 per February Pre-Funded Unit, resulting in aggregate gross proceeds of approximately $10 million. Each February Unit consists of (i) one share of Common Stock, and (ii) one warrant (the “February Warrants”) to purchase one share of Common Stock (the “February Warrant Shares”), at an exercise price of $0.065 per share. Each February Pre-Funded Unit consists of (i) one pre-funded warrant (the “February Pre-Funded Warrants”) to purchase one share of Common Stock, and (ii) one February Warrant. The February Warrants are not exercisable until after the date that stockholder approval is obtained to approve each of (i) the issuance of the February Warrant Shares, as may be required by the Nasdaq Requirement, and (ii) if necessary, a proposal to amend the Certificate of Incorporation to increase the authorized share capital of the Company to an amount sufficient to cover the February Warrant Shares or to effectuate a reverse stock split whereby the authorized share capital is not split and is sufficient to cover the February Warrant Shares (and such reverse split is effectuated) (“Stockholder Approval for February 2024 Unit Offering”), and will expire on the fifth (5th) anniversary of the date on which Stockholder Approval for February 2024 Unit Offering is received and deemed effective under Delaware law. The February Pre-Funded Warrants are immediately exercisable for one share of Common Stock at an exercise price of $0.0001 per share, and will remain exercisable until exercised in full.
The exercise price of the February Warrant and number of shares of Common Stock issuable upon exercise thereof will adjust in the event of certain stock dividends and distributions, stock splits, stock combinations, reclassifications or similar events. Upon a Dilutive Issuance (as defined in the February Warrant), the exercise price will downward adjust subject to a floor price equal to $0.0401. In addition, on the sixth (6th) trading day following the date on which the next reverse stock split is effected by the Company of its outstanding Common Stock following the date of issuance of the February Warrants, the exercise price per February Warrant shall be adjusted to equal the lower of (a) the exercise price then in effect (after taking into account and adjusting for the reverse stock split) and (b) the lowest VWAP (as defined in the February Warrants) of the Common Stock in the five (5) trading days immediately prior to such date.
In connection with the February 2024 Unit Offering, on February 12, 2024, the Company entered into a securities purchase agreement (the “February Purchase Agreement”) with certain investors, pursuant to which the Company agreed, subject to certain exemptions, not to offer for sale, issue, sell, contract to sell, pledge or otherwise dispose of any of its shares of Common Stock or securities convertible into Common Stock until the date of the Stockholder Approval for February 2024 Unit Offering, unless the Company is required to complete a financing prior to the date of the Stockholder Approval for February 2024 Unit Offering, in order to satisfy Nasdaq’s continued listing requirements.
Also in connection with the February 2024 Unit Offering, on February 12, 2024, the Company entered into a placement agency agreement (the “February Placement Agency Agreement”) with Maxim, pursuant to which Maxim agreed to act as placement agent on a “best efforts” basis in connection with the February 2024 Unit Offering. The Company paid Maxim an aggregate fee equal to 7.0% of the gross proceeds raised in the February 2024 Unit Offering and reimbursed Maxim $75,000 for expenses in connection therewith. As of the date of this Annual Report, all 130,106,000 pre-funded warrants issued in the February 2024 Unit Offering have been exercised.
Series B Repurchase and Cancellation Transaction
On February 5, 2024, the Company entered into side letter agreements (the “February 2024 Side Letters”) with the holders of Series B Preferred Warrants, whereby such holders agreed to, among others, (i) allow the Company to repurchase all 62,657 outstanding shares of Series B Preferred Stock then held by them at $100 per share with a portion of the proceeds received from the February 2024 Unit Offering, and (ii) cancel all outstanding Series B Preferred Warrants to purchase up to 81,315 shares of Series B Preferred Stock, then held by them, immediately prior to the closing of the February 2024 Unit Offering (collectively, the “Series B Repurchase and Cancellation Transaction”). The Company used approximately $6.3 million of the proceeds from the February 2024 Unit Offering to repurchase 62,657 shares of the Company’s Series B Preferred Stock, at $100 per share.
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February 14 Nasdaq Letter
On February 14, 2024, the Company received a notice (the “February 14 Letter”) from the Listing Qualifications Staff (the “Staff”) of Nasdaq that the Staff had determined that as of February 14, 2024, the Company’s securities had a closing bid price of $0.10 or less for ten consecutive trading days triggering application of Listing Rule 5810(c)(3)(A)(iii) which states in part: if during any compliance period specified in Rule 5810(c)(3)(A), a company’s security has a closing bid price of $0.10 or less for ten consecutive trading days, the Listing Qualifications Department shall issue a Staff Delisting Determination under Rule 5810 with respect to that security (the “Low Priced Stocks Rule”). As a result, the Staff determined to delist the Company’s securities from Nasdaq, unless the Company timely requests an appeal of the Staff’s determination to a Hearings Panel (the “Panel”), pursuant to the procedures set forth in the Nasdaq Listing Rule 5800 Series.
The Company has requested a hearing before the Panel to appeal the February 14 Letter and to address all outstanding matters, including compliance with the Nasdaq Listing Rule 5550(a)(2), the Low Priced Stocks Rule and the Nasdaq requirement for listed companies to maintain a minimum of $2,500,000 in stockholders’ equity for continued listing (the “Stockholders’ Equity Requirement”), which hearing was held on March 28, 2024; however, as of the date of this Report, the Panel has not yet rendered a decision. While the appeal process is pending, the suspension of trading of the Common Stock, will be stayed and the Common Stock will continue to trade on the Nasdaq Capital Market until the hearing process concludes and the Panel issues a written decision. There are no assurances that a favorable decision will be obtained from the Panel.
March 2024 Special Meeting
At a special meeting of our stockholders held on March 15, 2024, our stockholders approved (a) a proposal to amend the Certificate of Incorporation to authorize the Company’s board of the directors (the “Board”) to increase the Company’s share capital stock from 220,000,000 shares to 320,000,000 shares, of which 300,000,000 shares shall be Common Stock (the “Charter Amendment to Increase Authorized Shares”), (b) a proposal to amend the Certificate of Incorporation to authorize the Board to effect a reverse stock split of all outstanding shares of Common Stock, by a ratio in the range of one-for-five to one-for-one hundred and fifty, to be determined in the Board’s sole discretion, (c) the issuance of 20% or more of the Company’s outstanding shares of Common Stock upon exercise of the common stock purchase warrants issued to certain holders of the Company’s Series B Convertible Preferred Stock purchase warrants issued on October 17, 2023, for purposes of Nasdaq Rule 5635(d), (d) the issuance of 20% or more of the Company’s outstanding shares of Common Stock upon exercise of the common stock purchase warrants, dated January 23, 2024, issued to the holders of such warrants by the Company pursuant to certain securities purchase agreements, dated as of January 22, 2024, by and between the Company and each such holder, for the purposes of Nasdaq Rule 5635(d), and (e) the amendment to the Company’s 2018 Long-Term Stock Incentive Plan (the “LTIP”) to increase the annual share limit of Common Stock that may be issued only for the 2024 fiscal year under the LTIP from 8% of the shares of Common Stock outstanding to 15% of the shares of Common Stock outstanding.
March 2024 Warrant Amendment
On March 26, 2024, the Company entered into a warrant amendment agreement (the “Warrant Amendment Agreement”) with holders of (i) certain common stock purchase warrants, issued by the Company to such holders in connection with certain inducement agreements, dated as of December 5, 2023, by and between the Company and each such holder (the “December 2023 Warrants”), as amended by that certain warrant amendment agreement, dated as of February 5, 2024, (ii) certain common stock purchase warrants, dated January 23, 2024 (the “January 2024 Warrants”), and (iii) certain common stock purchase warrants, dated February 13, 2024 (the “February 2024 Warrants”, and together with the December 2023 Warrants and the January 2024 Warrants, the “Original Warrants”), whereby the holders agreed to (i) amend the exercisability provision in the December 2023 Warrants and January 2024 Warrants so such warrants shall not be exercisable until one or more certificates of amendment to the Certificate of Incorporation are filed with the Secretary of State of the State of Delaware to effectuate an increase in authorized shares of capital stock of the Company and a reverse stock split of the Company’s outstanding shares of Common Stock; and (ii) remove certain exercise price reset, right to reprice and/or share adjustment provisions in the Original Warrants, to be effective following the first adjustments following the Company’s next reverse stock split of its shares of Common Stock, pursuant to each of Section 2(c) in the December 2023 Warrants and the January 2024 Warrants and Section 3(f) of the February 2024 Warrants, as applicable, for purposes of compliance with Nasdaq.
March 2024 Charter Amendment
On March 25, 2024, we filed an amendment to our Certificate of Incorporation to increase our authorized shares of capital stock from 220,000,000 shares to 320,000,000 shares, of which 300,000,000 shares are designated as Common Stock.
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March 2024 Offering
On March 27, 2024, we entered into a securities purchase agreement with certain purchasers, pursuant to which we issued and sold to such purchasers (a) in a registered direct offering, (i) 62,675,000 shares of Common Stock and (ii) pre-funded warrants to purchase up to 14,001,478 shares of Common Stock, at an exercise price of $0.0001 per share and (b) in a concurrent private placement, common stock purchase warrants exercisable for an aggregate of up to 76,676,478 shares of Common Stock, at an exercise price of $0.04 per share, for aggregate gross proceeds of approximately $2.3 million (such offerings, the “March Offering”). The March Offering closed on March 27, 2024.
Our Corporate Information
We were formed as a limited liability company in Delaware on July 23, 2010. W e converted to a Delaware corporation, effective December 31, 2017. Effective as of March 11, 2022, the Company changed its name to “WiSA Technologies, Inc.” The address of our corporate headquarters is 15268 NW Greenbrier Pkwy, Beaverton, OR 97006. Our website address is www.wisatechnologies.com. The information contained in or accessible through our website is not part of this prospectus and is intended for informational purposes only.
Item 1A.
Risk Factors.
As a smaller reporting company, the Company is not required to include the disclosure required under this Item 1A.