UNITED STATES
SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION
Washington, D.C. 20549
FORM 10-K/A
Amendment No. 1
☒ ANNUAL
REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
For the fiscal year ended December 31 , 2022
☐ TRANSITION
REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
For the transition period from ______ to ______
Commission file number 001-40729
DATCHAT, INC.
(Exact name of registrant as specified in charter)
Nevada 47-2502264
(State or jurisdiction of
Incorporation or organization) I.R.S. Employer
Identification No.
204 Neilson Street
New Brunswick , NJ
08901
(Address of principal executive offices) (Zip code)
(732) 374-3529
(Registrant’s telephone number, including
area code)
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b)
of the Act:
Title of Each Class Trading Symbol(s) Name of Each Exchange on Which Registered
Common Stock, par value $0.0001 per share DATS The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC
Series A Warrants, each warrant exercisable for one share of Common Stock at an exercise price of $4.98 DATSW The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC
Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a
well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes ☐ No ☒
Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not
required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act. Yes ☐ No ☒
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant
(1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months
(or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements
for the past 90 days. Yes ☒ No ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant
has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§ 232.405
of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). Yes ☒
No ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant
is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth
company. See definition of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,”
and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.
Large accelerated filter ☐ Accelerated filter ☐
Non-accelerated filter ☒ Smaller reporting company ☒
Emerging growth company ☒
If an emerging growth company, indicate by check
mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting
standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant
has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial
reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or
issued its audit report. ☐
If securities are registered pursuant to Section
12(b) of the Act, indicate by check mark whether the financial statements of the registrant included in the filing reflect the correction
of an error to previously issued financial statements. ☐
Indicate by check mark whether any of those error
corrections are restatements that required a recovery analysis of incentive-based compensation received by any of the registrant’s
executive officers during the relevant recovery period pursuant to §240.10D-1(b).
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant
is a shell company (as defined by Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act) Yes ☐
No ☒
The aggregate market value of the voting and non-voting
common equity held by non-affiliates of the registrant as of June 30, 2022, the last business day of the registrant's most recently completed
second fiscal quarter, was approximately $ 17,847,418 based upon the closing price reported for such date on The Nasdaq Capital Market
as of that date.
Number of shares of common stock outstanding as
of May 10, 2023 was 20,234,066 .
Documents Incorporated by Reference: None.
Auditor Name: Auditor Location: Auditor Firm ID:
D. Brooks and Associates CPAs, P. A Palm Beach Gardens, Florida 4048
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PAGE
PART II
Item 9A.
Controls and Procedures
1
PART IV
Item 15.
Exhibits, Financial Statement Schedules
2
Signatures
3
i
EXPLANATORY NOTE
DatChat. Inc. (the “Company,”
“we”, “our” or “us”) is filing this Amendment No. 1 on Form 10-K/A (this “Amendment”)
to its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022 (the “Original Filing” and, together with this
Amendment, the “Form 10-K Filings”), which was filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) on
March 31, 2023 (the “Original Filing Date”), to amend and restate Part II, Item 9A, “Controls and Procedures,”
with respect to the conclusion of management regarding the effectiveness of the Company’s disclosure controls and procedures as
of December 31, 2022, in response to comments received from the SEC staff.
Also, as required by Rule
12b-15 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), this Amendment also contains new certifications
by our principal executive officer and principal financial officer pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, filed as
exhibits to this Amendment No. 1 under Item 15 of Part IV hereof. Because no financial statements have been included in this Amendment
No. 1, paragraph 3 of the certifications has been omitted and no new certifications pursuant to Section 906 are included as exhibits to
this Amendment No. 1.
Except as described above,
no changes have been made to the Original Filing and this Amendment does not amend, update or change any other items or disclosures contained
in the Original Filing, and accordingly, this Amendment does not reflect or purport to reflect any information or events occurring after
the original filing date or modify or update those disclosures affected by subsequent events. Accordingly, this Amendment should be read
in conjunction with the Original Filing and the Company’s other filings with the SEC.
ii
PART II
ITEM 9A. CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES
Evaluation of Disclosure Controls
Our principal executive officer
and principal financial officer, after evaluating the effectiveness of the Company’s “disclosure controls and procedures”
(as defined in Exchange Act Rule 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) as of December 31, 2022, the end of the period covered by this Annual Report
on Form 10-K, have concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures were not effective such that the information required to be disclosed
by us in reports filed under the Exchange Act is (i) recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in
the SEC’s rules and forms and (ii) accumulated and communicated to our management, including our principal executive officer and
principal financial officer, as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding disclosure. In designing and evaluating the disclosure
controls and procedures, management recognizes that any controls and procedures, no matter how well designed and operated, cannot provide
absolute assurance that the objectives of the controls system are met, and no evaluation of controls can provide absolute assurance that
all control issues and instances of fraud, if any, within a company have been detected.
Management’s Report on Internal Control
Over Financial Reporting
Our management is responsible
for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting as such term is defined in Exchange Act Rule 13a-15(f).
Internal control over financial reporting is a process designed under the supervision and with the participation of our management, including
our principal executive officer and principal financial officer, to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial
reporting and the preparation of consolidated financial statements for external purposes in accordance with GAAP. All internal control
systems, no matter how well designed, have inherent limitations. Therefore, even those systems determined to be effective can provide
only reasonable assurance with respect to financial statement preparation and presentation.
As of December 31, 2022, under
the supervision and with the participation of our management, including our principal executive officer and principal financial officer,
we conducted an evaluation of the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting based on the
Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission in Internal Control-Integrated Framework - 2013 . Based on this
assessment, our management concluded that, as of December 31, 2022, our internal control over financial reporting was not effective because
it identified a material weakness. A material weakness is a significant deficiency or a combination of significant deficiencies in internal
control over financial reporting such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of the annual or interim financial
statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis.
Specifically, management concluded
that the ineffectiveness of our internal controls over financial reporting was due to the following material weaknesses:
● We lack segregation of duties
within accounting functions duties as a result of our limited financial resources to support hiring of personnel.
● We lack control over the custody
of and accounting for digital currencies and other digital assets accounts.
● The lack of multiples levels
of management review on complex business, accounting and financial reporting issues.
● We have not implemented adequate
system and manual controls.
While we used the services
of a third-party accountant to provide accounting and financial reporting services to us, we lack both an adequate number of personnel
with requisite expertise in the key functional areas of finance and accounting and an adequate number of personnel to properly implement
internal control over financial reporting. These factors represent material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting.
Although we believe the possibility of errors in our financial statements is remote and expect to continue to use a third-party accountant
to address shortfalls in staffing and to assist us with accounting and financial reporting responsibilities in an effort to mitigate the
lack of segregation of duties, until such time as we expand our staff with qualified personnel, we expect to continue to report material
weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting.
Attestation Report
of our Registered Public Accounting Firm
This Amendment No. 1 to our
Annual Report on Form 10-K/A does not include an attestation report of our registered public accounting firm regarding internal control
over financial reporting. As a smaller reporting company, our management’s report was not
subject to attestation by our registered public accounting firm pursuant to rules of the SEC that permit us to provide only management’s
report in this annual report .
Changes in Internal Control Over Financial
Reporting
There have been no changes
in our internal control over financial reporting that occurred during our last fiscal quarter that have materially affected, or are reasonably
likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.
- 1 -
PART IV
ITEM 15. EXHIBITS
AND FINANCIAL STATEMENT SCHEDULES
See
“Index to Consolidated Financial Statements” in Part IV, Item 15 of the Original Filing. Financial statement schedules have
been omitted because they are not required or are not applicable or because the information required in those schedules either is not
material or is included in the consolidated financial statements or the accompanying notes.
The following documents
are included as exhibits to this report.
Exhibit Number
Title of Document
3.1**
Amended and Restated Articles of Incorporation (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 3.1 to the Company’s Form S-1 filed on July 2, 2021)
3.2**
Amended and Restated Bylaws (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 3.2 to the Company’s Form S-1/A filed on August 9, 2021)
3.3**
Amendment No.1 to Amended and Restated Bylaws (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 3.1 to the Company’s Form 8-K filed on October 26, 2022)
3.4**
Certificate of Designation of Series A Preferred Stock (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 3.3 to the Company’s Form S-1/A filed on August 9, 2021)
3.5**
Certificate of Amendment to Amended and Restated Articles of Incorporation (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 3.4 to the Company’s Form S-1/A filed on August 9, 2021)
3.6**
Certificate of Change to Amended and Restated Articles of Incorporation (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 3.5 to the Company’s Form S-1/A filed on August 9 2021)
4.1**
Form of Series A Warrant Agent Agreement including Form of Series A Warrant (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 4.1 to the Company’s Form S-1/A filed on August 9, 2021)
4.2**
Form of Representative’s Warrant (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 4.2 to the Company’s Form S-1/A filed on August 9, 2021)
4.3**
Form of Stock Certificate (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 4.3 to the Company’s Form S-1/A filed on August 9, 2021)
10.1**
Agreement and Plan of Merger, dated as of June 29, 2022, by and among DatChat, Inc., DatChat Patents I, Inc., DatChat Patents II, LLC, and Avila Security Corporation (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 2.1 to the Company’s Form 8-K Filed on July 5, 2022)
10.2+**
Employment Agreement between the Company and Brett Blumberg (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.1 to the Company’s Form 8-K filed on February 16, 2022)
10.3**
Media Partnership Plan by and between, Datchat, Inc. and Bartsool Sports (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.1 to the Company’s Form 8-K filed on October 13, 2021)
10.4**
Statement of Work by and between, Datchat, Inc. and IZEA Worldwide, Inc. (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.1 to the Company’s Form 8-K filed on September 24, 2021)
10.5**
2021 Equity Incentive Plan and forms of award agreements thereunder (Incorporated by reference to Exhibit 10.2 to the Company’s Form S-1/A filed on August 9, 2021)
23.1**
Consent of D. Brooks and Associates CPAs, P.A.
31.1*
Certification of the Chief Executive Officer pursuant to Rule 13a-14(a) of the Exchange Act, as adopted pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002
31.2*
Certification of the Chief Financial Officer pursuant to Rule 13a-14(a) of the Exchange Act, as adopted pursuant to Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002
32.1***
Certification of the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer pursuant to Rule 13a-14(b) of the Exchange Act and 18 U.S.C. Section 1350, as adopted pursuant to Section 906 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002
101.INS*
Inline XBRL Instance Document
101.SCH*
Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Schema Document
101.CAL*
Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Calculation Linkbase Document
101.LAB*
Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Label Linkbase Document
101.PRE*
Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Presentation Linkbase Document
101.DEF*
Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Definition Linkbase Document
104*
Cover Page Interactive Data File – the cover page of the Registrant’s Annual Report on Form 10-K/A for the year ended December 31, 2022 is formatted in Inline XBRL
*
Filed herewith.
**
Previously filed.
***
Previously furnished.
+ Indicates a management contract
or any compensatory plan, contract or arrangement.
- 2 -
SIGNATURES
Pursuant to the requirements
of Section 13 and 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this Annual Report on Form 10-K/A to be
signed on its behalf by the undersigned, thereunto duly authorized on this 12 th day of May, 2023.
DATCHAT, INC.
/s/ Darin Myman
Darin Myman
Chief Executive Officer and Director
(Principal Executive Officer)
/s/ Brett Blumberg
Brett Blumberg
Chief Financial Officer
(Principal Financial and Accounting Officer)
Pursuant to the requirements
of the Securities Act of 1934, this Amendment No. 1 to the Annual Report on Form 10-K/A has been signed below by the following persons
on behalf of the registrant and in the capacities and on the dates indicated.
Signature
Title
Date
/s/ Darin Myman
Chief Executive Officer and Director
May 12, 2023
Darin Myman
(Principal Executive Officer)
/s/ Brett Blumberg
Chief Financial Officer
May 12, 2023
Brett Blumberg
(Principal Financial and Accounting Officer)
-3-
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.