Item 1. Business
ITEM 1. BUSINESS
Overview and Market Opportunities
KULR Technology Group, Inc., through our wholly owned subsidiary KULR Technology Corporation, maintains expertise in three key technology domain areas: (1) energy storage systems and recycling, (2) thermal management solutions, and (3) rotary system vibration reduction. Historically, KULR, focused on thermal energy management solutions for space and Department of Defense (DoD) applications, with recent expansion into energy storage and vibration reduction markets as the logical next step. Combined, this energy management platform consists of high-performance thermal management technologies for batteries and electronics, AI-powered battery management and vibration mitigation software solutions, and reusable energy storage modules. Our mission is to advance and apply these technologies to make our world more sustainable by using less energy; using energy more efficiently; making energy consumption safer and cooler; using less materials to achieve these goals; and completing the circular economy through recycling.
Active government initiatives propelled by industry and regulatory tailwinds are increasing demand for energy storage, battery recycling and clean energy, resulting in an expanding total addressable market for KULR’s solutions. According to Precedence Research, global energy storage systems market is to grow from $210B in 2021 to $435B by 3030. Global lithium-ion battery recycling industry is to grow from $4.6B in 2021 to $22.8B by 2030, according to Market and Markets Research. Additionally, the domain driving the growth of KULR’s battery design and production capabilities is the private space exploration market sector, which requires highly custom, safe, and reliable energy storage systems, and is expected to reach $1,110.8B by 2030 according to CoherentMI. The Company’s disruptive technologies strive to fulfill an addressable $24 billion thermal management systems market (estimated based on market data projections published by Converged Markets stating that the thermal management systems market size was projected to grow to $24.8 billion by 2025). E-aviation growth and continued reliance on traditional aviation vehicles drives an aircraft maintenance market size that is expected to reach $127.2B by 2032, an increase from $82.7B in 2023, according to Precedence Research. KULR VIBE, the Company’s rotary system vibration reduction software, positions KULR to access this market area.
As companies and governments around the world pledge to meet net zero emissions over the next few decades, KULR is uniquely positioned to accelerate the adoption of clean energy solutions and sustainable products and facilitate the migration to a global circular economy. The Company’s goal is to provide total battery safety solutions for more efficient battery systems, increased sustainability, and end-of-life battery management, making KULR a key technology solutions provider in the migration to a global circular economy.
KULR ONE and KULR ONE Design Solutions (K1DS)
KULR’s primary technical domain that is shaping the future landscape of the Company is safe, high-performance energy storage solutions. To effectively support and provide energy storage solutions, a holistic approach is necessary. Batteries are an interdisciplinary technology which require:
(1) Multi-disciplinary expertise to address related electrical, thermal, mechanical, and electrochemical requirements,
(2) Cell supply access to top-tier OEMs,
(3) Cell level testing capabilities to characterize performance, quality, and safety behavior at the cell level,
(4) Expertise in early concept design, modeling, and analysis,
(5) Rapid prototyping and production capabilities,
(6) Pack and system level thermal, mechanical, electrical, and abuse testing capabilities,
(7) Expertise in battery management, controls, and monitoring,
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(8) Ability to support beginning of life to end of life requirements for transport and recycling.
To address the need for a holistic approach, KULR developed a battery product and service portfolio over the course of the last decade that provides products, safety testing services, modeling and analysis services, electrical testing services, transport and recycling packaging and logistics, and battery design solutions. Collectively, this is referred to as KULR ONE Design Solutions (K1-DS), which is actively leveraged by the Company to facilitate engagement with customers no matter the battery life cycle phase they are in.
Currently, the primary aspects of K1-DS utilized by industry are product sales of trigger cells and TRS, the safety testing methodologies, and the utilization of the K1-DS platform as a whole to develop customized energy storage solutions.
Internally, KULR has leveraged K1-DS to develop off the shelf KULR ONE architectures which represent a groundbreaking innovation that is driving the world’s transition to a more sustainable electrification economy. These revolutionary designs offer a unique combination of cutting-edge features, including unparalleled safety, exceptional performance, intelligent functionality, modular construction, reliability, and customizability. The KULR ONE battery packs have been engineered to meet the exacting demands of the
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world’s most demanding applications. As of now, the Company is focused on the KULR ONE Space for space exploration, the KULR ONE Guardian for military applications, and the KULR ONE Max for rack-style grid energy storage systems, also referred to as Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS). These architectures collectively offer a comprehensive solution that addresses the critical need for safe and reliable energy storage in a wide range of industries, from aerospace and defense to electric vehicles and consumer electronics. One of the key features of the KULR ONE family of battery packs is the modularity and consistency of the architectures. This allows for greater flexibility as customers can easily adjust the size and configuration of the battery pack to suit their specific application requirements while still also benefitting from testing previously conducted by the KULR team for their specific architecture. In addition to offering exceptional performance and reliability, the KULR ONE battery packs are also designed with safety as a top priority. They incorporate state-of-the-art thermal management technology to prevent overheating and ensure safe operation even in the most challenging environments. Overall, the KULR ONE family of battery packs, depicted with the following picture, is at the forefront of the global drive towards sustainable electrification. With its unparalleled combination of safety, performance, intelligence, modularity, reliability, and customizability, KULR ONE is positioned to revolutionize the way we think about energy storage and powering the world’s most demanding applications.
KULR VIBE Solution
During 2022, we acquired intellectual property from Vibetech International, LLC (“Vibetech”), which allows KULR to expand itself as a vertically integrated energy management company focused on sustainable energy solutions. For nearly twenty years, the primary application has been aviation. However, advances in measurement and computing technologies have allowed KULR VIBE to provide transformative and scalable solutions across transportation, renewable energy (wind farm), manufacturing, industrial, performance racing and autonomous aerial (drone) applications among others. KULR VIBE addresses one the most challenging issues with advanced machinery today; excessive energy robbing vibrations that are destructive to both the machinery and in many cases the operator. The KULR VIBE suite of technologies utilize proprietary sensor processes with advanced learning algorithms to both achieve precision balancing solutions, and successfully predict component failure based on its comprehensive database of vibration signatures. Its enhanced AI learning algorithms pinpoint areas where excess vibrations cause a loss of energy that can lead to system malfunctions, weakened performance, and maintenance issues.
This innovative technology can be utilized as a standalone solution or be paired with existing track and balance technology to facilitate vibration reduction, achieve increased energy production, and reduce mechanical failures thereby extending platform life. KULR VIBE recently balanced the motors and blades of a mission critical drone to demonstrate the benefits of the technology. The results were a 23% increase in battery life and a lift increase of 45%. Same motors, same blades, KULR VIBE optimized.
The KULR VIBE suite of products and services have provided vibration analysis and mitigation to global companies across multiple industries and sectors. According to Fact.MR, an insights-driven global market intelligence company, the global vibration motor market is estimated at $6.5 billion in 2023 and is forecast to reach $24.1 billion by 2032, growing at a Compounded Annual Growth Rate (“CAGR”) of 14.1% during 2023-2032.
The Future is Energy + AI
We believe the future of KULR is Energy + AI. We are building our AI infrastructure on industry leading Nvidia and AMD semiconductor platforms, and they are hosted on a hybrid of private cloud and Microsoft Azure. As the world faces shortages of both
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technical expertise to design batteries and raw materials to build batteries, KULR aims to address this need with KULR ONE AI (K1AI). The Company is collecting large quantities of performance and safety test datasets for the most highly used commercial lithium-ion cells and combining that data with AI techniques to drive battery design and reduce engineering touch time to market. This product is to target the following markets:
● Aerospace and defense systems, such as CubeSat batteries meeting JSC 20793 safety requirements by NASA
● Power tools and industrial equipment
● High-performance electric vehicles
● Electric vertical take-off and landing (“eVOTL”)
● Electric micro-mobility vehicles
● Residential and commercial energy storage systems
Energy Storage
Lithium-ion batteries are the dominant technology on the market for energy storage because of their cost and availability but do carry well documented safety risks. While rare, cell to cell thermal runaway in lithium-ion batteries can cause a fire or explosion. For example, an explosion at Arizona Public Service’s McMicken battery plant injured four emergency responders in 2019 and overheating caused the 1.2 GWh Moss Landing storage facility in California to go off-line. To reach net zero by mid-century will require an additional 245 GWh of battery capacity each year until 2030, but incidents of the like distill trust in battery technologies and threaten to slow the pace which is needed to achieve decarbonization goals. KULR’s passive propagation resistant (PPR) and thermal runaway shield (TRS) technologies prevent cell to cell thermal runaway propagation and inhibit fire and ejecta of a single cell from exiting the battery enclosure, making battery energy storage packs safe for homes, hospitals, schools, and universities, and more. KULR is partnering with leaders in the energy storage industry such as Volta Energy Products, the subsidiary of Buffalo NY based parent company, Viridi, to increase deployments of safe, reliable, and durable energy storage safety systems to accelerate the broader energy transition.
Battery Recycling and Management
KULR-Tech Safe Case provides a safe and cost-effective solution to commercially store and transport lithium batteries, which is increasing in frequency as supply chain challenges and ESG commitments necessitate battery recycling and end-of-lifecycle management. Whether shipping a single battery, a battery-powered device or a load shipment of batteries, KULR’s technology mitigates the impacts of cell-to-cell thermal runaway propagation and ensures a safe journey. KULR’s Thermal Runaway Shield (TRS) technology is trusted by NASA to ship and store astronauts’ laptop batteries on the International Space Station. In addition, KULR combines its Passive Propagation Resistant (PPR) solutions with its new CellCheck intelligent battery management system to extend battery life. The CellCheck modular battery management system platform is KULR’s AI-powered battery safety technology for e-mobility, energy storage and fleet applications. It captures real time and lifetime battery intelligence, sensing adverse electrical, environmental, and physical events to analyze and control for maximum battery safety, reliability, and performance. As commercial industries across the board face greater scrutiny to comply with ESG standards, KULR is serving a total addressable market for a circular economic model for batteries that will reach over $21 billion by 2025 (estimated based on market data projections published by Grand View Research, Inc. stating that the global battery recycling market size is expected to reach $21.04 billion by 2025).
E-mobility
KULR is supporting the shift to electrified transport by enabling safer, lighter, and faster charging lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles and micro mobility solutions. KULR’s passive propagation resistant (PPR) battery pack solutions increase battery energy capacity while preventing thermal runaway events that can lead to hazardous explosions, helping the transportation industry to address growing public safety concerns around electric vehicles, electric aviation and micro-mobility markets.
Vehicle technology advancements and EV range anxiety requires more battery capacity to expand the range and power of existing platforms while adding new, power-demanding components for advances such as 5G data networks. The additional strain on batteries increases the risk for overheating and serious failures and can damage sensitive chip architecture. In addition, overheating has been a key limiting factor for advancing fast charging battery technology. KULR’s carbon fiber thermal management technologies reduce the thermal resistance inside battery cells while increasing electrical conductivity to dissipate heat more efficiently to enable the safe deployment of fast charging batteries. With KULR, automotive OEMs and battery manufacturers can increase the energy capacity of battery cells so less cells are needed, making for lighter vehicles that drive further before needing to be charged.
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Aerospace/Defense
KULR’s thermal management solutions enable the defense and aerospace industries to safely deploy electronic technologies that support critical missions and protect national security. Technology in this sector is developing at increasing rates - the space industry alone will be worth nearly $3 trillion in 30 years. The electronic devices being placed into aircrafts, satellites, and missiles are becoming ever smaller and more powerful. Lithium-ion batteries, which are already prone to overheating and propagation, are exposed to harsh thermal environments as well as shock and vibration during aerospace and defense operations. The Company has partnered with Lockheed Martin, Leidos and other prime contractors to develop and supply mission-critical technologies for hypersonic vehicles, high-power magnetic wave, and other defense systems.
High-Powered Computing & 5G
Demand for improved, cost-effective cooling solutions in the rapidly growing 5G and cloud computing industries is ever-increasing. KULR’s portfolio of thermal management solutions target air and liquid-cooling of high-performance computing applications such as crypto mining, cloud computing, AI, and AR/VR simulations to maximize performance, energy efficiency and safety. KULR’s proprietary carbon fiber-based suite of thermal interface materials leverage advanced carbon fiber based heatsink technology that offers customers highly customizable, lightweight, and cost-effective solutions with industrial-level reliability due to their high thermal conductivity, lightweight, and low contact pressure.
New Facility and IT-Systems
KULR currently maintains three facilities of operations. KULR California, located at 4863 Shawline St, San Diego, CA., supports our fully automated battery cell screening line and remains the only U.S. automated facility capable of executing the test requirements of NASA Work Instruction 37(WI37). WI37 is the testing standard required for battery cells used on all manned missions for NASA. Additionally, the facility produces our patented Thermal Runaway Shields, Fiber Thermal Interface materials, Cathodes, Phase Change Materials, and heatsinks.
KULR, on February 1 st , 2024, relocated the KULR Texas facility previously located at 1692 N. Texas Avenue, Webster, TX to a significantly larger facility located at 555 Forge River Road, Suite 100, Webster, TX. The previous location provided 4800 ft 2 , whereas the new facility provides 17,560 ft 2 supporting the growth of our customer base and engineering team. The facility is conveniently located 2.1 miles from NASA Johnson Space Center and is surrounded by a large number of KULR existing and targeted customers. The facility will support research and development related activities for lithium-ion battery systems. This expanded space will provide room for additional personnel office space, an engineering design and prototyping sandbox, a 3D printing room, an electrical room for tab welding operations, an expanded CNC capability, Laser welding, Volume TRS manufacturing and a large warehouse for storage. Once fully operational, necessary actions will be completed to have the new location included in KULR’s existing ISO 9001 certification.
Our testing facility in San Leon, TX, will be consolidated into KULR Texas during the second quarter of 2024. This consolidation allows for maximum efficiency of operations of our engineering talent while creating a showcase of advanced Fractional Thermal Runaway Calorimetry (FTRC), Bomb Calorimetry, Thermal Modeling, Destructive Battery pack testing, and SafeCase verification testing. This new location provides for greater customer engagements both on site and via live feed internationally.
KULR has engaged with Managed Solutions to enhance our IT infrastructure and improve all aspects of Cybersecurity. As a sub-contractor for DOD programs, it is vital that KULR have state-of-the-art IT systems and controls. We believe the best path based on the current scale of the company is to outsource this activity to a professional IT services organization. The result of this activity was an improvement of our NIST score of over 140 points. Additionally, KULR has further increased its Cybersecurity initiatives by hiring FRSecure to act as a VCISO and provide continuous cyber threat training to our personnel. They also will audit our current level of threat sophistication and ensure any weak link is addressed immediately. See Item 1C - Cybersecurity for additional information.
Corporate
KULR was incorporated in the State of Delaware in December 2015 and was formerly known as “KT High-Tech Marketing, Inc.” and, prior to that, as “Grant Hill Acquisition Corporation.” In April 2016, KULR implemented a change of control by issuing shares to new shareholders, redeeming shares of existing shareholders, electing new officers and directors and accepting the resignations of its then existing officers and directors.
Our wholly-owned subsidiary, KULR Technology Corp, was formed in 2013 and is based in San Diego, California. Since its inception, KTC primarily focused on developing and commercializing its thermal management technologies, which it acquired through assignment from and license with KTC’s co-founder Dr. Timothy Knowles. Prior to 2013, KTC’s technologies were used in numerous
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advanced space and industrial applications for NASA, Boeing, and Raytheon. A few notable achievements were the use of KTC’s technologies in the X-31 aircraft (battery heat sink), Mercury Messenger (battery heat sink), and X-51 Scramjet (heat exchanger).
On June 19, 2017, KULR closed a share exchange with KTC and 100% of the shareholders of KTC (the “KTC Shareholders”) whereby the KTC Shareholders agreed to transfer an aggregate of 25,000,000 shares of KTC’s common stock to KULR in exchange for the issuance of an aggregate of 50,000,000 shares of KULR’s common stock to the KTC Shareholders (the “Share Exchange”), resulting in KTC becoming a wholly-owned subsidiary of KULR and KTC’s business of developing and commercializing its thermal management technologies becoming KULR’s main operation.
The Share Exchange was accounted for as a reverse recapitalization in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles in the United States of America, with KTC being treated as the acquiring company for accounting purposes.
On August 30, 2018, KULR changed its name from “KT High-Tech Marketing, Inc.” to “KULR Technology Group, Inc.” by filing a certificate of amendment to its Certificate of Incorporation with the office of the Secretary of State of the State of Delaware.
Recent Developments
Revenues
The Company reported record annual revenues of $9.8 million for 2023, as compared to its previous record revenues of $4.0 million for 2022.
Liability Repayment
Subsequent to December 31, 2023, the Company repaid in full all remaining principal and interest owed in connection with the prepaid advance liability.
Equity Financing
On September 15, 2023, the Company completed a public offering of 8,214,285 shares of common stock, priced at $0.35 per share, with gross proceeds of $2,875,000 less issuance costs of $588,230, for net proceeds of $2,286,770.
On December 22, 2023, the Company completed a public offering of 5,175,000 shares of common stock, priced at $0.20 per share, with gross proceeds of $1,035,000 less issuance costs of $257,800, for net proceeds of $777,200.
Compliance with NYSE American Continued Listing Requirements
On December 20, 2023, the Company received a notice of noncompliance (the “Stockholders’ Equity Notice”) from NYSE Regulation (“NYSE”) stating that it is not in compliance with Section 1003(a)(i) in the NYSE American Company Guide (the “Company Guide”) since the Company reported stockholders’ equity of $1,200,172 at September 30, 2023, and losses from continuing operations and/or net losses in its five most recent fiscal years. Section 1003(a)(iii) of the Company Guide requires a listed company to have stockholders’ equity of $6 million or more if the listed company has reported losses from continuing operations and/or net losses in its five most recent fiscal years.
As required by the Stockholders’ Equity Notice, on January 19, 2024, the Company submitted a plan (the “Plan”) to NYSE advising of actions it has taken or will take to regain compliance with the continued listing standards by June 20, 2025. NYSE staff will review the Company periodically for compliance with the initiatives outlined in the Plan. If the Company is not in compliance with the continued listing standards by June 20, 2025, or if the Company does not make progress consistent with the Plan during the Plan period, NYSE staff will initiate delisting proceedings as appropriate.
On March 5, 2024, the Company received a notification (the “Acceptance Letter”) from the NYSE American that the Company’s plan to regain compliance was accepted. The NYSE American has granted the Company a plan period through June 20, 2025 to regain compliance with Section 1003(a)(iii). If the Company is not in compliance with the continued listing standards by that date or if the Company does not make progress consistent with the plan during the plan period, the NYSE American may commence delisting procedures.
On February 12, 2024, the Company received a notice letter (the “Letter”) from NYSE stating that it is not incompliance with Section 1003(f)(v) of the Company Guide since the Company’s securities were trading at an average of less than $0.20 per share for 30 days. The Company intends to cure the stock price deficiency and return to compliance with NYSE continued listing standards, however, the Company can provide no assurance that this measure will be successful.
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Issuance of Non-Convertible Series A Voting Preferred Stock
On January 26, 2024, the Board of Directors (“Board”) of the Company, following extensive strategic evaluation, including consultation with advisors, approved, authorized, and ratified the issuance of 730,000 shares of previously designated Non-convertible Series A Voting Preferred Stock to the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Company, Michael Mo, subject to certain limitations as set forth below, for no consideration. The issuance of up to 1,000,000 shares of Non-convertible Series A Voting Preferred Stock was previously approved and authorized by a vote of the majority stockholders of the Company.
The issuance is subject to the Board reserving the full and unequivocal right to revoke, rescind, transfer or otherwise cancel the issued Non-convertible Series A Voting Preferred Stock in the event Michael Mo is removed from any position with the Company or resigns from all positions with the Company. This conditional arrangement is designed to ensure that the voting power conferred by the Non-convertible Series A Voting Preferred Stock remains tied to the active leadership of the Company. This underscores the Board’s commitment to maintaining alignment with the long-term interests of the Company and its stockholders.
The Independent Members of the Board have determined that the issuance represents a pivotal strategic move to reinforce and enhance the Company’s flexibility to optimize the Company’s negotiating position in any potential current and/or future engagements with commercial, financial, and/or strategic parties, and to provide defenses against potential hostile third-party actions.
Appointment of Officers and Management
Appointment of Vice President, Sales
On January 16, 2023, the Company appointed a Vice President of Sales (the “VP of Sales”), and issued the VP of Sales 298,507 shares of restricted common stock. The restricted common stock had a grant date fair value of $400,000, and vests in four equal annual installments beginning January 16, 2024 based solely on continued service. The grant date fair value will be amortized ratably over the vesting period. In addition, the Company committed to a one-year guaranteed commission of $200,000, payable in four quarterly installments as well as a severance package of $250,000 and one-year of family health insurance if the VP of Sales is terminated without cause (as defined) within one year of hire.
Appointment of Chief Financial Officer
On March 31, 2023, the Company appointed a Chief Financial Officer (the “CFO”) and issued the CFO 1,500,000 shares of restricted stock. The restricted common stock had an aggregate grant date fair value of $1,380,000, and vests in five equal annual installments beginning March 31, 2024 based solely on continued service.
Management Equity Incentive Grants
On July 12, 2023, the Board unanimously approved an equity grant to the Chief Technology Officer, of 350,000 shares of restricted common stock. The restricted common stock had a grant date fair value of $266,000 and vests in four equal annual installments beginning on July 12, 2024.
Merchant Cash Advance Agreement
On January 22, 2024, the Company entered into a merchant cash advance agreement (the “Cash Advance Agreement”) whereby the Company received $504,900 of cash (net of underwriting fees of $35,100) with the obligation to repay a total of $804,600 over thirty-two weekly payments of $25,143.75, beginning January 30, 2024. On February 26, 2024, the parties added an addendum to the agreement for an early payoff discount whereby the Company will owe $756,000 if paid by March 22, 2024, or $783,000 if paid by April 22, 2024.
On February 26, 2024, the Company entered into a merchant cash advance agreement (the “Second Cash Advance Agreement”) whereby the Company received $502,200 of cash (net of underwriting fees of $37,800) with the obligation to repay a total of $804,600 over thirty weekly payments of $26,820, beginning February 29, 2024.
Recent Shareholder Vote by Majority Written Consent
On February 9, 2024, the shareholders of the Company, acted by way of majority written consent (in lieu of a special meeting of stockholders) to approve resolutions authorizing the Company’s Board of Directors to take the following actions: (1) to issue shares of Common Stock to current or future engagements with commercial or strategic parties, which may result in issuances of over 20% of the issued and outstanding shares of Common Stock; (2) to amend the Company’s Bylaws to decrease the number of shares of Common
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Stock needed to establish a quorum for meetings of stock holders to thirty-three-and-one-third percent (33 1/3 %) of the outstanding voting securities of the Company; (3) to amend the Certificate of Incorporation of the Company to effect a reverse split within a ratio range between 1-for-2 and 1-for-80; (4) to issue shares of common stock, in connection with an existing financing facility, which may result in the potential issuance of over 20% of the issued and outstanding shares. The resolution was approved by shareholders holding in aggregate of 55.72% of outstanding shares as of February 9, 2024.
Sales and Marketing Strategy
The Company employs various channels to market and sell its products and solutions, including direct sales to customers, as well as sales through representatives and strategic partners. We believe that establishing direct relationships with key accounts allows for deeper technical interactions, faster turnaround times, and provides valuable feedback that helps inform product development and marketing efforts. To ensure that our target customers fully understand the unique features and benefits of our products and services, we organize technology day events. We use a combination of marketing approaches to reach prospects and customers, such as leveraging employee, representative, and strategic partner relationships, maintaining an informative website, attending industry conferences, and conducting market research. Recently, we expanded our direct sales and marketing teams, including Mr. Ted Krupp, a highly experienced professional with important relationships in the Aerospace and Defense sectors, as our new VP of Sales and Marketing. Looking ahead, we plan to further expand our direct sales team to enhance our key account coverage and support a growing representative and distributor network.
Advertising and Communications Strategy
We employ a diverse range of advertising and communication tools to reach our audience. These include commissioning impartial white papers and technical papers, participating in industry events, conferences, and symposiums as attendees, sponsors, and guest speakers. We maintain a public relations consultant who oversees our press releases and media relations, ensuring that we maintain a positive presence in newspapers, magazines, and blogs. To bolster our social media outreach activities, we have a dedicated SEO specialist. We leverage our strong reputation within the thermal management and lithium-ion battery safety communities to spread positive feedback through word-of-mouth. Additionally, we utilize several social media platforms, such as LinkedIn, YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook, to reach a broader audience.
Intellectual Property and Patent Strategy
Our intellectual property strategy includes pursuing patent protection for new innovations in core carbon fiber architecture development, application development, acquisition of intellectual property, and licensing of third-party patents and intellectual property. As of December 31, 2023, we have six patents granted and assigned to KULR, an exclusive license to four third party patents, and ten pending nonprovisional and provisional patent applications.
Product and Services
In addition to KULR ONE and KULR VIBE, here are some of the technologies, products and services we offer to customers:
Lithium-Ion Battery Thermal Runaway Shield (“TRS”) : KULR has developed a thermal insulation technology aimed at passive resistance to thermal runaway propagation in Li-ion batteries in partnership with National Aeronautics and Space Administration Johnson Space Center (“NASA JSC”). HYDRA TRS acts as a heat sink during normal Li-ion battery pack operation but also prevents thermal runaway propagation, which is a serious concern for aerospace and defense customers and electric vehicle manufacturers. The HYDRA is a vaporizing thermal capacitor that provides passive prevention of thermal runaway propagation (“TRP”) in Li-ion battery packs. Thermal runaway can occur spontaneously in a Li-ion cell due to a short. This can trigger an explosive release of electric energy that ruptures the end cap resulting in a flare and combustion of cell materials. Released heat drives the triggered cell temperatures to > 500°C, causing a dramatic increase in neighboring cell temperatures. Temperatures above the critical 130°C greatly increases the chance for a short in adjacent cells and result in TRP. TRS keeps neighboring cell temperatures from rising above 100°C (well below the 130°C threshold) and prevents TRP.
KULR Automated Battery Cell Screening and Test System: KULR completed the installation of a fully automated battery cell testing platform this January in our Sand Diego facility. The system fully supports the stringent requirements of NASA and the DOD. This platform has been designed to meet the entire specifications of NASA WI-037 battery testing requirements. This fully automated system is believed to be the only fully automated system capable of such performance. We have designed the system to be modular and have installed a minimum of 500K cell capacity annually capable of handling 18650 and 21700 cells.
CellCheck: A scalable battery management platform to provide a new level of safety, performance optimization and regulatory compliance capabilities to our customers. We achieve this by putting together a modular architecture that is built on large data
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sets, performing an array of analytics, and then layering on top of it AI algorithms to provide predictive and preventative intelligence to our customers. It’s modular so that we can incorporate new capabilities and enhancements to the platform as the battery evolution accelerates in the coming years. This is another significant step to position KULR as a one-stop-shop total solutions provider of battery thermal energy and safety management.
KULR SafeCase: This product was developed for the commercial transportation and storage of Li-ion batteries. It is an extension of the product jointly developed with NASA, the TRS Bags which safely store and transport Li-ion batteries to and in the International Space Station. The cases have been tested and granted special permits by the Department of Transportation (DOT) for shipment of Li-ion batteries up to 2.1KWh for shipment of batteries classified as DDR (damaged, defective or recall), recycling and prototype.
Fiber Thermal Interface Material (“FTI”) : KULR thermal interface materials (“TIMs”) consist of vertically oriented carbon fiber velvets attached to a film of polymer or metal. The fiber packing density and orientation are selected to serve a wide range of applications, including hostile thermal and chemical environments, sliding interfaces, and interfaces with widely varying gaps. They can be coated for electrical isolation. They require low contact pressure and provide high thermal conductivity. Their light weight and high compliance make them uniquely suited for aerospace, industrial and high-performance commercial devices.
Phase Change Material (“PCM”) Heat Sink : KULR PCM composite heat sinks consisting of a conductive carbon fiber velvet embedded with a proprietary heat dissipation medium having high latent heat at its melting point. Such heat sinks offer passive thermal control for instruments that would otherwise overheat or under-cool during periodic operations. A typical application involves lasers that dissipate heat but need tight thermal control where active cooling is unavailable.
Internal Short Circuit (“ISC”) Device : In March 2018, KULR reached an agreement with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (“NREL”), a national laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy, to be the exclusive manufacturing and distribution partner for the patented ISC device, which causes predictable battery cell failures in Li-ion batteries, making them easier to study and, therefore, safer. Li-ion batteries are the industry and consumer standard for portable power; billions of individual battery cells exist and billions more are planned for production. They provide power for everything from smart phones and laptops to electric cars and space crafts. But Li-ion batteries fail, sometimes with catastrophic results. Due to the relative rarity of cell failures, scientists and researchers had been unable to reliably or accurately replicate latent defect cell failures in lab settings, impeding research into safer battery technology.
CRUX Cathode : The CRUX Cathode is composed of a carbon fiber velvet, providing a means of generating powerful electron pulses by field emission from the tops of the carbon fibers. CRUX Cathodes can be customized for different applications including the generation of microwaves, x-rays, and laser radiation. They can be fabricated in a wide variety of physical configurations, ranging from simple planar and cylindrical forms to more complex lobed shapes.
Competition
Currently, the battery industry uses a number of solutions to mitigate thermal runaway propagation that are offered by Aspen Aerogel, Unifrax, Lydall, LHS, 3M, Engineered Syntactic Systems, Celono, AllCell and others. Each of their solutions offer unique features and benefits for a specific application. We do not believe, however, that there is a one-size-fits-all solution across all applications. We believe our PPR design solution offers competitive light-weight and effective solutions for high energy battery cells because it is more flexible and can fit into different design configurations. For applications that require passive, light-weight solutions for high energy density battery cells, TRS offers a competitive solution.
Thermal interface material is a large and fragmented market with many large suppliers including Henkel Bergquist, Fujipoly, Laird, 3M, Honeywell and others. These solutions are typically based on silicone and thermal particles. KULR’s FTI offers high bulk thermal conductivity and low contact pressure requirements, which we believe gives us a competitive advantage over other thermal interface solutions.
Our licensed ISC device offers a reliable way to trigger battery cell thermal runaway compared to nail penetration, over-charging or over-heating the cell. ISC does not rely on mechanically damaging the battery exterior to activate the short, as do most of the other evaluation methodologies. Instead, the ISC devices trigger true internal shorts. This makes it possible to accurately pinpoint and fix problems leading to malfunctions, an ability that we believe will give us a competitive advantage over other testing solutions.
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Governmental Regulation and Environmental Compliance
Certain substances we use in our manufacturing process are subject to federal governmental regulations (such as Environmental Protect Agency regulations). We believe we are in material compliance with all applicable governmental regulations, and that the cost and effect of compliance with environmental laws is not material. As a small generator of hazardous substances, we are subject to local governmental regulations relating to the storage, discharge, handling, emission, generation, manufacture and disposal of toxic or other hazardous substances, such as acetone that is used in very small quantities to manufacture our products. We are currently in compliance with these regulations. Most new materials sold in the U.S or in many other countries require regulation by government authorities. In most other countries, there are no specific regulations that require additional regulation, but some countries do have registration requirements with which we comply to the best our ability.
Employees
As of December 31, 2023, we had 57 full time employees and 3 contractors (after the Workforce Reduction discussed below). We believe that we maintain a good working relationship with our employees, and we have not experienced any significant labor disputes. In addition, KULR leverages outsource partners for IT management, Software Development, Battery Cell R&D, and Machine Automation. On January 9, 2024, the Company announced that it had completed a reduction of its total workforce of approximately 15% in an effort to allocate its resources to key business priorities to focus on improving the profitability of commercial customer engagements.
Intellectual Property
We seek to establish and maintain our proprietary rights in our technology and products through the use of patents, copyright, trademarks and trade secrets. We have, and will continue to, file applications for and/or obtain patents, copyrights and trademarks in the United States and selected foreign countries where we believe filing for such protection is appropriate. We also seek to maintain our trade secrets and confidential information by implementing organizational nondisclosure policies and through the use of appropriate confidentiality agreements.
As of December 31, 2023, we held six U.S. patents and six non-provisional pending U.S. patent applications with expiration dates ranging from 2024 to 2035. In addition, KULR has exclusive license on four patents from its partnerships. There can be no assurance, however, that the rights obtained can be successfully enforced against infringing products in every jurisdiction. While our patents, copyrights, trademarks, and trade secrets provide some advantage and protection, we believe our competitive position and future success is largely determined by such factors as the system and application knowledge, innovative skills, technological expertise and management ability and experience of our personnel; the range and success of new products being developed by us; our market brand recognition and ongoing marketing efforts; and customer service and technical support. We also have trademarks that are used in the conduct of our business to distinguish genuine KULR products; KULR has been granted trademarks for Class 9 and Class 17 applications.
Text extracted from the filing as submitted to EDGAR. Formatting, tables and exhibits are simplified for reading; the original document is authoritative for anything you rely on.