Item 1. Business
Item 1.
Business
Our Mission
Our mission is to bring together the worlds of
online e-commerce and offline physical retailers; widening consumer choice and rewarding loyalty, while sustaining and enhancing our earning
potential.
Our Company
We have created an innovative online-to-offline
(“O2O”) e-commerce platform business model offering consumers and merchants instant rebates and affiliate cashback programs,
while providing a seamless e-payment solution with rebates in both e-commerce (i.e., online) and physical retailers/merchant (i.e., offline)
settings.
Our proprietary product is an internet application
(or “App”) branded “ZCITY App,” which was developed through our wholly owned subsidiary, ZCity Sdn. Bhd. (formerly
known as Gem Reward Sdn. Bhd, name change effected on July 20, 2023) (“ZCITY”). The ZCITY App was successfully launched in
Malaysia in June 2020. ZCITY is equipped with the know-how and expertise to develop additional/add-on technology-based products and services
to complement the ZCITY App, thereby growing its reach and user base.
Through simplifying a user’s e-payment gateway
experience, as well as by providing great deals, rewards and promotions with every use, we aim to make the ZCITY App Malaysia’s
top reward and payment gateway platform. Our longer-term goal is for the ZCITY App and its ever-developing technology to become one of
the most well-known commercialized applications more broadly in Southeast Asia and Japan.
As of September 25, 2023, we had 2,642,404 registered users and 2,025 registered merchants.
Corporate Structure
Treasure
Global Inc is a Delaware corporation that was incorporated on March 20, 2020. We issued 10,000,000 shares to Kok Pin
“Darren” Tan, our founder and former Chief Executive Officer on July 1, 2020, who as a result became our sole
shareholder.
ZCity Sdn. Bhd. (formerly known as Gem Reward
Sdn. Bhd, name change effected on July 20, 2023), a Malaysia private limited company was incorporated on June 6, 2017. Prior to the incorporation
of ZCITY, Kok Pin “Darren” Tan entered into a Beneficial Shareholding Agreement (“Beneficial Shareholding Agreement
1”) with two individuals, one of which is a vice president of the Company (the “Initial ZCITY Shareholders”), which
provided for the Initial Shareholders to hold the ZCITY shares issued to them in equal amounts and for the sole benefit of Kok Pin “Darren”
Tan and provided Kok Pin “Darren” Tan with control over the voting and disposition over such shares as well as control over
the issuance of additional ZCITY shares in consideration for equity in a company that had not been determined on the date of Beneficial
Shareholding Agreement 1. On November 10, 2020, Kok Pin “Darren” Tan instructed the Initial ZCITY Shareholders to issue one
million additional ZCITY shares to Chong Chan “Sam” Teo, currently our Chief Executive Officer, and as a result each Initial
ZCITY Shareholder and Chong Chan “Sam” Teo held one million shares of ZCITY. On November 10, 2020. Chong Chan “Sam”
Teo entered into a Beneficial Shareholding Agreement with Kok Pin “Darren” Tan with terms similar to Beneficial Shareholding
Agreement 1 (“Beneficial Shareholding Agreement 2” and together with the Beneficial Shareholding Agreement 1, the “Beneficial
Shareholding Agreements”). As a result of Kok Pin “Darren” Tan’s 100% ownership of our common stock and the Beneficial
Shareholding Agreements, TGL and ZCITY were both under the sole control of Kok Pin “Darren” Tan.
1
TGL and ZCITY were reorganized into a parent subsidiary
structure pursuant to a Share Swap Agreement, dated March 11, 2021, as amended on March 11, 2021 among TGL, the Initial ZCITY Shareholders
and Chong Chan “Sam” Teo (the “Share Swap Agreement”), in which TGL exchanged 321,585 shares of its common stock
(the “Swap Shares”) for all equity of ZCITY. Pursuant to the Share Swap Agreement, the purchase and sale of the Swap Shares
was completed on March 11, 2021, but the issuance of the Swap Shares did not occur until October 27, 2021 when TGL amended its certificate
of incorporation to increase the number of its authorized common stock to a number that was sufficient to issue the Swap Shares. As a
result of the Share Swap Agreement, (i) ZCITY became the 100% subsidiary of TGL and Kok Pin “Darren” Tan no longer had any
control over ZCITY’s ordinary shares; and (ii) Kok Pin “Darren” Tan, the Initial ZCITY Shareholders and Chong Chan “Sam”
Teo owned 100% of the TGL common stock (Darren Tan owning 97%). Subsequent to the date of the Share Swap Agreement, Kok Pin “Darren”
Tan transferred 9,529,002 of his 10,000,000 shares of TGL common stock to 16 individuals and entities and currently owns less than 5%
of our common stock.
We operate solely through our subsidiaries: (i)
ZCITY; (ii) AY Food Ventures Sdn Bhd; (iii) Morgan Global Sdn. Bhd; and (iv) Foodlink. ZCITY owns all intellectual property rights to
copyrightable, patentable, and other protectable intangible assets relating to our business, including trademarks.
Corporate Information
Our principal executive offices are located at
276 5 th Avenue, Suite 704 #739, New York, New York 10001 and No.29, Jalan PPU 2A, Taman Perindustrian Pusat Bandar Puchong,
47100 Puchong, Selangor, Malaysia.
Business Developments
The following highlights recent material developments
in our business:
●
In November 2022, we announced that we signed a Memorandum of Understanding with iPay88 Holding Sdn Bhd (“iPay88”), a leading payment company that offers e-commerce, retail, online banking, e-wallets solutions and more to its merchants in Southeast Asia, to become TGL’s exclusive payment gateway partner for ZCITY, as well as a partner for TGL’s digital food and beverage (“F&B”) management platform, TAZTE.
●
In January 2023, we announced that we signed a Memorandum of Understanding to discuss a new strategic partnership in Malaysia with Boost, a regional full spectrum fintech player.
●
In March 2023, we announced that our Board of Directors (“Board”) appointed Ho Yi Hui as a member of the Board effective on March 20, 2023.
●
In May 2023, we announced that we entered into a licensing agreement with Morganfield’s Holding Sdn Bhd (“Morganfield’s”), a restaurant chain specializing in comfort food and American-style barbecue, in which Morganfield’s granted TGL an exclusive worldwide license to grant sub-licensees to third parties to use Morganfield’s trademarks for the restaurant business.
●
In May 2023, we announced that we entered into an exclusive partnership with enogy, a health and wellness brand, to expand the range of products available on our e-commerce marketplace, Zstore, targeting the large and growing health and wellness industry.
●
In June 2023, we announced that we entered into a licensing agreement with Sigma Muhibah Sdn Bhd (“Abe Yus”), a fast-growing Malaysian group of F&B brands, in which Abe Yus granted TGL the exclusive worldwide right to grant sub-licensees to third parties to use Abe Yus’ trademarks for the F&B business chain, in line with our strategic plan to become a leading franchisor of F&B companies in Southeast Asia.
●
In July 2023, we announced that we signed a Memorandum of Understanding for a collaboration agreement with the Malaysia Retail Chain Association for TAZTE to become its exclusive partner as the recommended digital F&B management solution to its members in Malaysia.
●
In July 2023, we entered into a Collaboration Agreement (the “Collaboration Agreement”) with VCI Global Limited (NASDAQ: VCIG) (“VCI Global”), a multi-disciplinary consulting group focused on business and technology, in which VCI Global and us shall collaborate to develop an artificial intelligence (“AI”)-powered travel platform (“Platform”) which utilizes advanced technology, including high-tech and predictive technology, to assist its users in discovering the best places to visit, explore, dine and engage in various activities during their travel in Malaysia.
2
●
In July 2023, we announced that we will collaborate with Borderland Music Festival 2023 to provide the first cashless and ticketing platform-powered music festival in Malaysia.
●
In August 2023, we announced that we signed a letter of intent to form an e-commerce venture in Indonesia, PT Harmoni Bagi Dunia (“HBD”) with industry pioneers Ariadi Anaya and Budihardjo Iduansjah, in which we will hold a 70% major stake in HBD.
Recent Developments
●
In July 2023, we engaged WWC, P.C. to serve as our independent registered public accounting firm, effective July 3, 2023.
●
In August 2023, we received a letter from the Nasdaq Listing Qualifications Staff of The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC (“Nasdaq”) therein stating that for the 30 consecutive business day period between July 6, 2023 through August 16, 2023, the common stock of the Company had not maintained a minimum closing bid price of $1.00 per share required for continued listing on The Nasdaq Capital Market pursuant to Nasdaq Listing Rule 5550(a)(2) (the “Bid Price Rule”). Pursuant to Nasdaq Listing Rule 5810(c)(3)(A), the Company was provided an initial period of 180 calendar days, or until February 13, 2024 (the “Compliance Period”), to regain compliance with the Bid Price Rule. To regain compliance, the closing bid price of the Company’s common stock must meet or exceed $1.00 per share for a minimum of 10 consecutive trading days, unless extended by Nasdaq under Nasdaq Rule 5810(c)(3)(H), prior to February 13, 2024. The notice from Nasdaq has no immediate effect on the listing of the Company’s common stock and its common stock will continue to be listed on The Nasdaq Capital Market under the symbol “TGL.” The Company is currently evaluating its options for regaining compliance. There can be no assurance that the Company will regain compliance with the Bid Price Rule or maintain compliance with any of the other Nasdaq continued listing requirements.
Market Opportunity
We expect that continued strong economic expansion,
robust population growth, rising level of urbanization, the emergence of the middle class and the increasing rate of adoption of mobile
technology provide market opportunities for our Company in Southeast Asia (“SEA”). SEA is a large economy and, as of 2022,
its gross domestic product (“GDP”) was US$3.66 trillion. 1 In comparison, the respective GDP for both the European
Union (“EU”) and the United States (“US”) totaled EUR$15.8 trillion and US$25.5 trillion 2 in 2022.
SEA has experienced rapid economic growth rates in recent years, far exceeding growth in major world economies such as Japan, the EU
and the US. According to the International Monetary Fund (“IMF”), Malaysia’s GDP growth averaged more than 4.5% from
2016 to 2019. However, it experienced a deficit of -5.5% in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Nevertheless, it rebounded to 3.1% and
8.7% in 2021 and 2022 respectively, and it is expected to maintain an average annual growth rate of 4.5% for the next five years, including
2023. 3 The GDP of Malaysia amounted to US$337 billion in 2020 and is projected to reach approximately US$500 billion by 2025. 4
Malaysia registered a strong post-pandemic recovery in 2022. Its strong macroeconomic policy frameworks, including a track record of
fiscal prudence and a credible monetary policy framework, have served the country well.
SEA continues to enjoy robust population growth.
The United Nations Population Division estimates that the population of the SEA countries in 2000 was approximately 525 million people,
growing to 681 million in 2022. According to the World Bank, Malaysia had a population of approximately 33 million people in 2022 compared
to 23 million people in 2000. 5
1
https://www.statista.com/statistics/796245/gdp-of-the-asean-countries/
2
https://www.statista.com/statistics/279447/gross-domestic-product-gdp-in-the-european-union-eu/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/263591/gross-domestic-product-gdp-of-the-united-states/
3
https://www.imf.org/en/News/Articles/2023/05/31/pr23191-malaysia-imf-executive-board-concludes-2023-article-iv-consultation-with-malaysia
4
IMF Staff Report March 2021
5
https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/south-eastern-asia-population/
https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.POP.TOTL?locations=MY
3
A high percentage of Malaysians have lived in
cities for the last decade and that percentage is increasing. Since 2011, Malaysia’s urbanization has increased from approximately
71.61% to approximately 77.7% in 2022. 6 By comparison, in 2021 the urbanization rates for China, Vietnam and India were approximately
62.51%, 37% and 35%, respectively. 7
Urbanization is highly correlated with the size
and growth of the middle class. Simply put, urbanization drives middle class consumption demand. According to the World Bank, Malaysia
is likely to transition from an upper-middle-income economy to a high-income economy between 2024 and 2028, a reflection of the country’s
economic transformation development trajectory over the past decades. 8 In fact, Malaysia’s gross national income per
capita is at US$11,200 according to latest estimates, only US$1,335 short of the current threshold level that defines a high-income economy. 9
And despite the ongoing effects from the COVID-19
pandemic, the Internet economy continues to boom in SEA. According to a Google Temasek e-Conomy SEA 2022 Report (the “Google Report”),
internet usage in the region increased with 20 million new users added in 2022 for a total of 460 million compared to 360 million in 2019
and 440 million in 2021. An additional 100 million internet users have come online in the last three years since 2020. 10 In
year 2022, 94% of Malaysia’s population is now online, compared to approximately 62% in 2013. 11 It is forecasted to continuously
increase between 2024 and 2028, totaling a growth of 0.4 percentage points. 81% and 80% of Malaysia and SEA’s internet users, respectively,
have made at least one purchase online. E-commerce, online media and food delivery adoption and usage surged with the total value of goods
and services sold via the Internet, or gross merchandise value (“GMV”), in SEA, expected to reach approximately US$200 billion
by year end 2022 according to the Google Report. In fact, according to the Google Report, the SEA Internet sector GMV is forecast to grow
to over US$360 billion by 2025 up from the $300 billion forecast in the Google, Temasek, Bain SEA Report 2022. 12
Malaysia’s internet economy has grown from
$14 billion in 2020 to $21 billion in 2021 (47% growth) and is expected to grow to $35 billion in 2025. 13
As consumers in these markets gradually shift
towards the online platform model, the total value of internet-based transactions has grown tremendously and is expected to keep doing
so. According to the Google Report, total the GMV of South Asia’s Internet economy is expected to skyrocket from US$174 billion
in 2021 to US$363 billion in 2025.
We believe that these ongoing positive economic and demographic trends
in SEA and South Asia propel demand for our e-commerce platform.
6
https://www.statista.com/statistics/455880/urbanization-in-malaysia/
7
https://www.statista.com/
8
https://www.worldbank.org/en/country/malaysia/overview#1
9
The World Bank Press Release dated March 16, 2021, https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2021/03/16/aiminghighmalaysia
10
https://services.google.com/fh/files/misc/e_conomy_sea_2022_report.pdf
11
https://www.statista.com/statistics/975058/internet-penetration-rate-in-malaysia/
12
https://www.bain.com/globalassets/noindex/2021/e_conomy_sea_2021_report.pdf
https://services.google.com/fh/files/misc/e_conomy_sea_2022_report.pdf
13
https://www.digitalnewsasia.com/digital-economy/e-conomy-sea-report-2021-malaysias-internet-economy-crosses-us21-bil
4
About the ZCITY App
SEA consumers have access to a plethora of smart
ordering, delivery and “loyalty” websites and apps, but in our experience, SEA consumers very rarely receive personalized
deals based on their purchases and behavior.
The ZCITY App targets consumers through the provision
of personalized deals based on consumers’ purchase history, location and preferences. Our technology platform allows us to identify
the spending trends of our customers (the when, where, why, and how much). We are able to offer these personalized deals through the application
of our proprietary artificial intelligence (or “AI”) technology that scours the available database to identify and create
opportunities to extrapolate the greatest value from the data, analyze consumer behavior and roll out attractive rewards-based campaigns
for targeted audiences. We believe this AI technology is currently a unique market differentiator for the ZCITY App.
We operate our ZCITY App on the hashtag: “#RewardsOnRewards.”
We believe this branding demonstrates to users the ability to spend ZCITY App-based Reward Points (or “RP”) and “ZCITY
Cash Vouchers” with discount benefits at checkout. Additionally, users can use RP while they earn rewards from selected e-Wallet
or other payment methods.
ZCITY App users do not require any on-going credit
top-up or need to provide bank card number with their binding obligations. We have partnered with Malaysia’s leading payment gateway,
iPay88, for secure and convenient transactions. Users can use our secure platform and enjoy cashless shopping experiences with rebates
when they shop with e-commerce and retail merchants through trusted and leading e-wallet providers such as Touch’n Go eWallet, Boost
eWallet, GrabPay eWallet and credit card/online banking like the “FPX” (the Malaysian Financial Process Exchange) as well
as more traditional providers such as Visa and Mastercard.
Our ZCITY App also provides the following functions:
1.
Registration and Account verification
Users may register as a ZCITY App user
simply, using their mobile device. They can then verify their ZCITY App account by submitting a valid email address to receive new user
“ZCITY Newbie Rewards”.
2.
Geo-location-based Homepage
Based on the users’
location, nearby merchants and exclusive offers are selected and directed to them on their homepage for a smooth, user-friendly
interaction.
3.
Affiliate Partnership
Our ZCITY App is affiliated with more
than five local services providers such as Shopee and Lazada. The ZCITY App allows users to enjoy more rewards when they navigate from the
ZCITY App to a partner’s website.
4.
Bill Payment & Prepaid service
Users can access and pay utility bills,
such as water, phone, internet and TV bills, while generating instant discounts and rewards points with each payment.
5.
Branded e-Vouchers
Users can purchase their preferred e-Vouchers
with instant discounts and rewards points with each checkout.
6.
User Engagement through Gamification
Users can earn daily rewards by playing
our ZCITY App minigame “Spin & Win” where they can earn further ZCITY RP, ZCITY e-Vouchers as well as monthly grand prizes.
5
7.
ZCITY RAHMAH Package
ZCITY has collaborated with the Ministry
of Domestic Trade and Cost of Living (KPDN) for the launch of the ‘Payung Rahmah’ program (ZCITY RAHMAH Package). This program
offers a comprehensive package of living essential e-vouchers on the ZCITY app for items such as petrol, food, and bills. ZCITY users
will be able to purchase vouchers for these items at reduced prices, thereby assisting low-income Malaysians and helping to address this
societal challenge.
8.
TAZTE Smart F&B system
ZCITY App offers a “Smart F&B”
system that provides a one stop solution and digitalization transformation for all registered Food and Beverage (“F&B”)
outlets located in Malaysia. It also allows merchants to easily record transactions with QR Digital Payment technology, set discounts
and execute RP redemptions and rewards online on the ZCITY App.
By utilizing our CRM analytics software
to attract and retain consumers through personalized promotions, we believe that data-driven engagement can be more efficiently harnessed
to generate greater profitability.
9.
Zstore
Zstore is ZCITY App’s e-mall service
that offers group-buys and instant rebate to users with embedded AI and big data analytics to provide an express shopping experience.
The functionality and benefit of users to use the Zstore can be summarized within the chart below:
Set out below is an illustration of some of our
key partnerships by category:
Retail
Merchant Agreements . We have retail merchant agreements with Morganfield’s Holdings Sdn. Bhd, and the Alley which together
own more than 100 offline food and beverage franchises in Malaysia. Each of these retail merchants have signed our standard retail merchant
agreement which allow merchants to sell their products on the ZCITY App for which we receive a commission ranging from 1% to 10% depending
on the category of goods or services being purchased on the ZCITY App. These agreements also provide that each party may use the intellectual
property marks of the other party without charge. These agreements may be terminated by either party with 30 days’ notice. On June
6, 2023, TGL entered into a licensing agreement with the fast-growing Malaysian F&B brand, Abe Yus. This agreement grants TGL the
exclusive worldwide right to sublicense third parties to use Abe Yus’ trademarks for their F&B business chain. Serving as the
master franchisor, TGL will oversee brand loyalty and raw material supply. Additionally, all Abe Yus F&B outlets will be required
to adopt TAZTE, TGL’s digital F&B management system, across all their operations and generating more revenue through monthly
licensing fees, start-up fees for new location and supply chain management.
Services
Partners Agreements . We have service provider agreements with Coup Marketing Asia Pacific Sdn. Bhd. D/B/A Pay’s Gift
and MOL Access Portal Sdn. Bhd. D/B/A Razer Gold in which Pay’s Gift and Razer Gold provide us with e-vouchers for use on the
ZCITY App that provide users with discounts on goods and services of many top multinational and lifestyle brands, including gas,
clothing, fast food, movie theaters and others. We pay the service partner for the cost of the e-voucher plus a service fee. These
contracts provide for the use by us of the trademarks of the service providers and may be terminated at any time with 30 days’
notice. ZCITY has also entered into an agreement with Apigate Sdn Bhd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Axiata Digital, branded as Boost
Connect. This agreement was entered into on July 28, 2023, and commenced on the same date, July 28, 2023. It shall continue until
March 1, 2024. Apigate Sdn Bhd is a global digital monetization and customer growth platform ecosystem provider, which offers us the
services for the reselling of digital vouchers.
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Local Strategic Partner Agreements .
We have local strategic partner agreements with iPay88. The agreements we enter into with these local strategic partners provide us with
payment gateways (i.e, online “checkout” portals) used to enter credit card information for payment of goods and services.
The iPay88 agreement was entered into on August
6, 2021 and provides our users with payment gateways that include credit card processing, online banking services from certain banks in
Malaysia and eWallet payment processing such as Touch’ N Go eWallet, Grabpay, ShopeePay, Boost eWallet etc for which iPay88 receives
a fee ranging from 1.0% to 1.6% of the processed transaction depending on the credit card used or if the transaction is online banking
or eWallet.
ZCity
Sdn Bhd (formerly known as Gem Reward Sdn Bhd), has entered into a business partner agreement with CIMB Bank to establish a payment gateway.
This agreement enables users to conveniently make payments using their CIMB Bank credit and debit cards. Additionally, users have the
added benefit of enjoying rewards for their spending at ZCITY through this partnership.
Local Demands Agreements . We
have local demand agreements with Digi Telecommunication Sdn. Bhd. (“Digi”) and ATX Distribution Sdn. Bhd. (“ATX”)
which provide ZCITY App users bill payment services.
The Digi agreement was entered on December 16, 2021 and provides our
users with bill payment services for all of its telecommunication products and services to postpaid subscribers. We receive a commission
from Digi of 0.5% for each transaction. ZCITY App users may also use Digi’s prepaid automatic internet payment service for which
we receive a commission from Digi of 2.5% for each reload. The Digi agreement may be terminated by either party with 30 days’ notice.
CelcomDigi kicked off full-scale integration of Digi & Celcom network in December 2022. This marks one of the largest telecommunications
network deployment projects in Malaysia.
The ATX agreement was entered into on November
8, 2021 whereby ATX and provides our users with bill payment services for many companies in Malaysia, including but not limited to, certain
utilities, telecommunication companies, insurance companies, entertainment companies and charities. We receive a commission on each transaction
from ATX at different rates depending on the company for which the bill is being paid. The ATX agreement may be terminated by either party
with 30 days’ notice.
The Company has both direct and indirect
relationships with merchants and service providers. In terms of the Company’s indirect relationships, through the service
partner’s agreement the Company is able to offer e-vouchers for leading brands including, among others, Shell, Lazada
FamilyMart and Watsons; while via the iPay88 agreement, the Company gains access to other e-wallet providers, such as Boost and
Grabpay. Additionally, through the Company’s agreement with ATX Distribution, it is able to gain access to bill payment
services provided by Malaysia’s telco service provider such as, among others, CelcomDigi, U Mobile, Astro and Air
Selangor.
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Download ZCITY App
ZCITY App is free to download from the Google Play Store, Apple iOS
Store, and Huawei AppGallery.
ZCITY Apps’s Reward Points Program
Operating under the hashtag #RewardsOnRewards,
we believe the ZCITY App reward points program encourages users to sign up the app, as well
as increasing user engagement and spending on purchases/repeat purchases and engenders user loyalty.
Furthermore, we believe the simplicity of the
steps to obtaining Reward Points (or “RP”) is an attractive incentive to user participation in that participants receive:
●
200 RP for registration as a new user;
●
100 RP for referral of a new user;
●
Conversion of Malaysian ringgit spent into RP;
●
50% RP of every user paid amount; and
●
25% RP of every referred user paid amount as a result of the referral.
8
The key objectives of our RP are:
●
Social Engagement;
○ RP are offered to users
for increased social engagement.
●
Spending;
○ RP incentivizes users
with every MYR spent in order to increase the spending potential and to build users loyalty.
●
Sign-up ; and
○ Drives loyalty and greater
customer engagement. Every new user onboarded will get 200 RP as welcoming gift.
●
Referral Program ;
○ Rewards users with RP
when they refer a new user.
Offline Merchant
When using our ZCITY App to make payment to a
registered physical merchant, the system will automatically calculate the amount of RP to deduct. The deducted RP amount is based on the
percentage of profit sharing as with the merchant and the available RP of the user.
Online Merchant
When using our ZCITY App to pay utility bills
or purchase any e-vouchers, our system shows the maximum RP deduction allowed and the user determines the amount of discount deducted
subject to maximum deductions described below and the number of RP owned by such user.
Different features have different maximum deduction
amounts. For example, for bill payments, the maximum deduction is up to 3% of the bill amount. For e-vouchers, the maximum deduction is
up to 5% of the voucher amount.
In order to increase the spending power of the
user, our ZCITY App RP program will credit RP to the user for all MYR paid.
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Merchant Facing Business
At present, our ZCITY merchants are concentrated
in the F&B and lifestyle sectors. Moving forward, we plan to expand our product/service offering to include grocery stores, convenience
stores, “micro-SME” (“small to medium size enterprises”) loan programs, affiliate p rograms
and advertising agencies.
We believe that ZCITY’s TAZTE Smart F&B
System, launched in the fourth quarter of 2022, provides merchants with a one-stop automated solution to digitalize their business. It
offers an innovative and integrated technology ecosystem that addresses and personalizes each merchant’s technological needs and
aims to be at the forefront of creating a smart consumer experience, thereby eliminating conventional and outdated standalone point of
sale (or “POS”) systems.
TAZTE allows merchants to effortlessly record
transactions with online payment or QR digital payment technology, set discounts and execute RP redemptions and rewards online, all via
our ZCITY App. It utilizes ZCITY App’s CRM analytics software to attract and retain consumers through personalized, data-driven
engagement to generate greater profitability.
TAZTE Smart F&B System also features a ‘Deviceless
Queue System’ that reduces staff headcount and a private domain delivery service that will allow merchants access to multiple dedicated
delivery partners to ensure outstanding delivery service to consumers.
Licensing Agreements
Abe Yus
On June 6, 2023, AY Food Ventures Sdn Bhd (“AYFV”),
one of our wholly owned subsidiaries entered into a licensing agreement with Sigma Muhibah Sdn Bhd, a food & beverage company, in
which Abe Yus granted AYFV the exclusive worldwide right to grant sub-licensees to any third parties to use Abe Yus’ trademarks
for its food & beverage business chain (the “Abe Yus Licensing Agreement”). As the master franchisor, AYFV will manage
brand loyalty and raw material supply. Under the Abe Yus Licensing Agreement, all the Abe Yus F&B outlets will be obligated to adopt
TAZTE, our digital F&B management system, across all our businesses.
Morganfield’s
On May 1, 2023, through our subsidiary, Morgan
Global Sdn. Bhd. and Morganfield’s Holdings Sdn. Bhd., a restaurant chain specializing in comfort food and American-style barbecue,
entered into a Worldwide Master License Agreement (the “Morganfield’s License Agreement”), in which Morganfield’s
granted us an exclusive worldwide license to grant sub-licensees to third parties to use Morganfield’s trademarks for the restaurant
business. Pursuant to the Morganfield’s License Agreement, Morganfield’s will also adopt our digital food & beverage management
system, TAZTE, in its nine franchisees in Malaysia, China and Singapore, accelerating the rollout of TAZTE in the region.
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The term of the Morganfield’s License Agreement
is for a period of five years, from May 1, 2023 to May 1, 2028, and will automatically renew for another five years upon expiration of
the initial term unless the Morganfield’s License Agreement is terminated. We will be entitled the right to collect payment of the
total monthly collections from our sub-licensees, namely current licensees and the newly-appointed sub-licensees provided that we pay
to Morganfield’s the monthly management fees, the amount of which will range depending on our total monthly collection from our
sublicensees in any given period, with a minimum monthly payment of RM 90,000 in year 1, RM 100,000 in year 2, RM 110,000 in year 3, RM
120,000 in year 4 and RM 130,000 in year 5.
Foodlink
As we became closer to the F&B industry and
increased our understanding, we saw a significant opportunity that would not only support the distribution of TAZTE, but establish several
new revenue streams for us. Our strategic plan is to establish synergies with our technology solutions by becoming a master licensor of
F&B companies in Southeast Asia. We will adopt TAZTE into new restaurants, while also receiving revenue from monthly licensing fees
and start-up fees with little barrier to entry.
Under the subsidiary named “Foodlink”
that TGL has established to house F&B master franchisor activity, the subsidiary will manage all brand royalties and related IP through
lease, ownership or JV agreements; and provide F&B consulting including market & product optimization as well as supply chain monetization.
TAZTE Smart F&B System shall be adopted in Morgan Global and AY Food Venture licensee holder.
Marketing Strategy - Consumer
With the number of available apps for download
from the world’s leading app stores totaling over four million, we believe that structured and innovative user marketing strategy
is the only way to stand out in today’s app market. Aside from focusing on app development and building our app features properly,
we believe we need to get our app featured on the leading platforms to most successfully extend our reach and user base.
We believe that our ZCITY App marketing strategy
covers the user from when they first learn about our ZCITY App, to when they become a regular repeat user. The marketing strategy for
the ZCITY App involves defining our target audience, learning how best to reach them, how best to communicate with them, and analyzing
their “in-app” behavior to make continuous AI driven improvements as users move through the recruitment funnel.
Ultimately, the goal of our ZCITY App marketing
strategy is to acquire users that will not only drive repeat engagement, but will also become loyal advocates for the ZCITY App.
At the initial launch of the ZCITY App in June
2020, we combined both online and offline strategies in branding and marketing, which we believed would effectively communicate our objectives,
reaching a prospective target audience and turning that target audience into users of our ZCITY App.
11
Other than just user experience and features offered
in the app itself, we believe consumers are choosing brands whose messaging, marketing and values go beyond the product, and have a potentially
deeper meaning to the user. For example, they may consider brand trustworthiness and identity to be major influences on their market decisions.
As a result, we have focused on building brand loyalty to drive on going marketing success, increase repeat users and attain greater market
share.
In this regard, we have chosen to adapt various
marketing strategies, such as re-targeting users and enticing current users to use our app on multiple occasions, by providing what users
look for when they choose our app in order to increase engagement and retention. The diagram below reflects the strategies we engage in
to promote marketing success and avoid missed opportunities.
We adopt a multi-pronged approach to user outreach
through outdoor digital billboards, radio commercials, third party editorials and advertorials, social media postings on platforms such
as Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, as well as the targeting of users through Google ads and direct email marketing to encourage
downloads and promote various campaigns.
12
Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, we
have been very focused on reaching our target audience through digital media due to movement restrictions and retail closures. Advertisements
especially on social media have become more routine.
Social media-based advertising can be very targeted,
helping to convert new users into repeat users and building brand loyalty. We reach potential users based on criteria, including, among
others, job title, interests, marital status, and recent locations. We believe that it is much easier to measure and optimize social media
campaigns while they are active. If an advertisement isn’t producing the expected results, we can suspend the campaign or reallocate
funds on demand.
13
Another key media vehicle that we utilize is Universal
App Campaign (or “UAC”) by Google. UAC helps promote our ZCITY App across Google’s
largest properties including Google Search, Google Play Store , YouTube, and the Google Display
Network. It combines information Google has on users’ tendencies and perceived intents outside of the app (such as what they have
searched for, what other apps they have downloaded and what they watched on YouTube) with advertisers’ information on user actions
in the app.
UAC then
uses machine learning technology to make decisions for each ad by analyzing potential data signal combinations in real-time, including
the platform where users are most likely to engage with our ad (such as YouTube or Gmail), the right ad format (whether video, text, or
combination of the two) and keywords that will perform best for our marketing goals.
In addition,
in order to obtain more accurate data for analysis, AppsFlyer SDK is installed in our ZCITY App, where it provides conversion data of
user acquisition and retention campaigns. Through AppsFlyer SDK, we can monitor digital media activities to optimize our marketing budget.
The data can be utilized and turned into actionable insights (to run campaigns and promotions
which users are more favorable to) that will share our strategic and tactical business decisions, while boosting the ZCITY App
brand presence.
Marketing Strategy - Merchants “6Cs”
Strategy
In order to roll out our system, we plan to implement
our 6Cs marketing strategy: clients, convenience, competition, consistency with creative content, corporate social responsibilities and
credibility.
Clients (Soon-to-be F&B Owners) . We
have forecast potential merchants by category, which will enable us to create a marketing plan that will attract them by aligning our
promotional content with their business interests and ideals. We will initiate advertisements that connect with their preferences and
generate brand loyalty. We have developed “The PILOT” program where we plan offer prospective merchant F&B owners a free
TAZTE Smart F&B system to facilitate their O2O business.
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Convenience . We plan to demonstrate the
convenience provided by our ZCITY App by launching a digitalization initiative which can get a merchant up and running on our platform
within 24 hours. We believe this strategy emphasizes the ease of onboarding potential merchants and the potential positive transformation
of their business in the shortest amount of time.
Competition . To further differentiate our
system from our competitors, we expect to identify, compare and discover issues within their business model of operations against our
own business model. The “SWITCH 180” program is where we plan to offer F&B owners not only a free TAZTE Smart F&B
system, but we will also offer additional support such as artificial intelligence inventory management system and discount vouchers.
Consistency with Creative Content . We plan
to maintain a consistent brand image across all our current marketing approaches with creative and innovative content. We strive to make
our brand recognizable to stand out among competitors to increase brand awareness and recognition.
Corporate Social Responsibilities . We expect
to integrate social and environmental concerns in our business operations to gain positive publicity and recognition and greater market
exposure. For example, our “Love Delivery” program under TAZTE will allow consumers to donate food through our merchant family
to charitable establishments such as orphanages and senior centers and similar charitable organizations. Our “Green Oil” program
will allow our merchants to contribute to zero pollution by recycling used cooking oil with one of our strategic partners.
Credibility . We expect to prove our credibility
by presenting our expertise to potential merchants who are seeking alternative business strategies in the ever-expanding technological
age. We believe that promoting a credible and reliable system for merchants will increase referrals and positive reviews. Our “ TAZTE
Cares <3” program offers F&B owners free business operations “health checks” and offers troubleshooting solutions
by introducing TAZTE Smart F&B System into their business.
Revenue Model
ZCITY’s revenues are generated from a diversified
mix of:
●
e-commerce activities for users;
●
services to merchants to help them grow their businesses; and
●
membership subscription fees.
The revenue streams consist of “Consumer
Facing” revenues and “Merchant Facing” revenues.
The revenue streams can be further categorized
as following: (1) product and loyalty program revenue, (2) transaction revenue, and (3) agent subscription revenue. Please see “Management’s
Discussion and Analysis ̶ Revenue Recognition .”
Our Competitive Strengths
Powerful, Unique and Integrated App . We
have designed an application – the ZCITY App – which serves both consumers and merchants in ways that concurrently maximize
value creation and enhance the shopping experience. Furthermore, through the application of our proprietary developed AI technology, we
can offer consumers a more personalized and targeted rewards offering/experience.
Unique Loyalty Program . Operating under
our hashtag #RewardsOnRewards, we believe our RP program increases user engagement and loyalty. Through consumer redemption and platform
issuance of RP, we believe our system is advantageous to both consumers and merchants.
Attractive Markets . We currently operate
in Malaysia, which according to the IMF is expected to average annual growth rate of 4.5% GDP growth over the next five years. 14
See Part I, Item 1. “Business—Market Opportunity. ”
15
As we scale our operations, we intend to expand
to other countries in Southeast Asia, which possesses solid economic fundamentals, fast growing middle classes, favorable demographic
trends and accelerating adoption of mobile technology.
Experienced Management Team . Our executives
and directors combine decades of on-the-ground local e-commerce operations and social media marketing experience, as well as professional
expertise in the global finance field.
Our Growth Strategy
Our main goal is focused on the recruitment of
new consumers and the registration of as many TAZTE merchants as possible in the most efficient way in the shortest amount of time. We
believe that this approach establishes a cycle where more consumers lead to more merchants and more merchants lead to more consumers.
External partnerships play an important part in our business, as we will continue sourcing more delivery partners to offer our merchants
greater flexibility.
Consumer Growth . We strive to provide consumers
with a smarter shopping experience from ordering to receiving goods and services as one seamless process. Our marketing efforts will focus
on attracting consumers by awarding RP upon the execution of successful transactions (where they can redeem instant rebates).
Merchant Growth . We believe that our TAZTE
program is an example of an O2O platform focusing on transforming traditional ways of operating F&B business with digitalized smart
ecosystems which better streamline merchant business operations and directly contribute to higher revenues. We feel TAZTE has the potential
for our ZCITY App to pioneer a generation of technologically astute “Smart Merchants,” effectively encouraging more merchants
to join the technological trend. Apart from the technological advantages, merchants would be able to gain access to a significant consumer
database of nearly one million registered users currently for their own brand marketing.
Partner Growth . We are continuously enhancing
the ZCITY App through adding further strategic partnerships. We believe that collaborations will enable merchants and consumers to have
more options to choose from and the delivery speed and rates related to transparency will benefit all parties.
Expansion Growth . With our proven systems
and by leveraging our large network, leading technology, operational excellence, and product expertise, we expect the ZCITY App to launch
and scale our expansion plans to neighboring countries such as Indonesia, Thailand, and Japan, by partnering with or acquiring local establishments.
Acquisition Growth . In order to complement
our organic growth strategy, we will continue to evaluate investment and acquisition opportunities that will enable us to become market
leaders. Our anticipated investments and acquisitions of other e-commerce platforms in different verticals are expected to expand our
service offerings and attract new consumers and merchants. We expect negotiations with acquisition targets in the e-Commerce industries.
Furthermore, we would expect to finance such acquisitions through internal and potential financings from the stock market.
14
IMF: https://www.imf.org/en/News/Articles/2023/05/31/pr23191-malaysia-imf-executive-board-concludes-2023-article-iv-consultation-with-malaysia
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Strategic Partnerships
We have entered into agreements with various Malaysian
companies i.e.: Touch’nGo e-wallet marketing, iPay88, Boost eWallet, Digi and Grabpay eWallet to provide essential services to our
ZCITY App platform.
Strategic partnerships are vital to our strategy
and operations, as they enable the ZCITY App to offer more value-added services to both our consumers and merchants. Through our partnerships,
we intend to gain low-cost access to our partners’ users, where possible, to drive user conversion. Our marketing approach to acquire
strategic partners focuses on the benefits of brand awareness, stressing the ability to access a larger pool of consumers and clients
while reducing marketing expenses via joint marketing efforts like crossover marketing campaigns, digital marketing and affiliate programs.
Competitive Outlook
We compete with other online platforms and apps
for merchants, who can sell their products/services on other online shopping marketplaces and other food ordering platforms. We also compete
with other e-commerce platforms and apps, fashion and lifestyle retailers and restaurants for the attention of consumers. Consumers have
the choice of shopping with any online or offline retailer, large marketplaces or restaurant chain. We compete for consumers and merchants
based on our ability to deliver a personalized e-commerce experience with an easy-to-use mobile app, unique cross-business reward system,
instant rebate & cashback, and a trusted payment gateway which is both secure and convenient.
Within the Malaysian market, we believe the principal
competitors to the ZCITY App to include, but not limited to Fave and Shopback. We have set out below how we perceive the ZCITY App differentiates
our offering from these competitors in the Malaysian market both downstream (services provided to consumers) and upstream (services provided
to merchants).
The information with respect to Fave was obtained
from Fave’s website at https://help.myfave.com/hc/en-us/articles/115000181194-How-do-I-pay-with-FavePay-.
The information with respect to Shop Back was
obtained from Shop Back’s website at https://support.shopback.my/hc/en-us/articles/360037382453-Is-there-a-payment-method-not-eligible-for-Cashback-.
We expect to be able to successfully compete for
merchants based on our unique cross-business reward system, reward points module, instant rebate and cashback program ,
upcoming new features, which we expect will build lasting customer loyalty for our merchants, as well as our personalized, data-driven
approach to customer engagement, both of which ensure that our success is aligned with that of our merchants.
Intellectual Property Matters
Our technology and ZCITY App are comprised of
copyrightable and/or patentable subject matter licensed by our Malaysian subsidiaries, ZCITY. Our intellectual property assets include
trade secrets associated with our software platform. We have successfully carried out development of our multilayer cloud-based software
platform based upon our reliance on third parties for payment and reward points deployment. As a result, we can monetize our software
by making it available in locations such as the Apple iOS Store, Google Play Store, Huawei AppGallery and compatible with existing payment
systems depending on the country’s regulatory requirements. We are currently focusing on using our intellectual property in Malaysia
and plan to expand further into Southeast Asia as part of our strategy. The loss of all of these third-party payment facilitators could
not be easily replaced and therefore could materially affect our business and results of operations.
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Trademarks .
ZCITY has filed one trademark application stylized as “ ” with the trademark offices of Malaysia. The name and mark, ZCITY
App and other trade names and service marks of ZCITY in this prospectus are our property.
Patents . ZCITY has filed one patent application
entitled “A Revenue Allocation System” with the Patents Registration Office of Malaysia.
We manage all our intellectual property matters
in Malaysia including the registration of patents, trademarks, trade names, and service marks in the name of ZCITY, our subsidiary in
Malaysia. While we have not delineated each of our trademarks, the foregoing constitutes our material trademarks. Without prejudice to
the generality of foregoing, ZCITY is, inter alia, the direct owner of the registered trademark “ZCITY” in connection with
artificial intelligence software, electronic payment services, loyalty programs, SaaS platforms, and other subsets of our business.
Information Technology Protection . All
of our software development professionals are required to sign and are bound by the IT Infrastructure, Security, Email, Intranet Usage
Policy Manual (the “IT Policy Manual”), which governs use of our hardware, software, code, source code, data, computational
data, screen data, analytics dashboards, data displayed on screens, emails, intranet and internet. This IT Policy Manual establishes standard
practices and rules for responsible, safe, and productive use of our intellectual property, information and assets and is expected to
ensure the protection of information and prevention of any misuse.
We have internally implemented the “Active
Directory and VPN” to manage access to our assets in order to prevent any intentional or unintentional leaks of sensitive data,
documentation or information, as well as to prevent users from installing irrelevant software or malware viruses.
Our ZCITY App’s server is hosted on the
AWScloud and is compliant with SOC2, which we believe securely manages our data across six aspects:
●
Security – protects the system resources against unauthorized access. Apply security group rules as security control. Enabled AWS WAF rule for more protection. AWS WAF (Web Application Firewall) is a managed security service provided by Amazon Web Services (AWS) that helps protect web applications from various web-based attacks. It acts as a protective layer between your web applications and the internet, allowing you to control and monitor incoming traffic to your web applications.
●
Availability – makes sure the server accessibility meets the SLA. Regularly review and report on server availability metrics to track performance against SLA targets. Provide transparent reporting to stakeholders, including customers, about server uptime and downtime. Moreover, continuously monitor and analyze server performance data (AWS) to identify areas for improvement. Implement optimizations to enhance server availability and performance over time.
●
Processing integrity– data process monitoring couple with quality assurance procedures can help ensure processing integrity.
●
Confidentiality – data is encrypted during network transmission. Subscripted to the cloud flare service, which offers a range of services to protect websites, applications, and company data.
●
Privacy – data collection, use, retention,
disclosure and disposal of personal information in conformity.
●
Backup – Enabled AWS Backup service. It helps you centralize and automate the backup of data across various AWS services and on-premises resources. AWS Backup is designed to be efficient, scalable, and reliable.
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We practice Disaster Recovery SOP to easily overcome
disaster events efficiently. We have in place a “Disaster Recovery” (“DR”) initiative, which we rely on the “AWS”
cloud facilities to ensure as described below:
The architecture diagram shows how “AWS”
cloud architect is powered by distributed servers and database services across multiple zones to ensure disaster recovery on deployment
across multiple data centers, once the Application Load Balancer (ALB) detects the primary unavailable then it will direct all traffic
to other in-service data centers. 29
29
Disaster Recovery – First-in-class automated disaster recovery mechanism with multi-AZ support https://docs.aws.amazon.com/whitepapers/latest/disaster-recovery-workloads-on-aws/disaster-recovery-options-in-the-cloud.html
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The controls for restricting user access to our
system and data, include:
1)
User authorization
2)
Maintaining the user access log
3)
Periodic review user access
4)
Revoking user access
5)
Managing Privileged User access
6)
Separation of Duties to reduce the risk of misuse of client code and assets
7)
Change management, risk management and issue management are exercised as part of Management Reviews
Litigation
From time to time, we may become involved in legal
proceedings arising in the ordinary course of our business. We believe that we do not have any pending or threatened litigation which,
individually or in the aggregate, would have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition, and/or
cash flows.
Properties
We lease and maintain our offices at located at
276 5 th Avenue, Suite 704 #739, New York, New York 10001 and No.29, Jalan PPU 2A, Taman Perindustrian Pusat Bandar Puchong,
47100 Puchong, Selangor, Malaysia.
Human Capital Resources
As of June 30, 2023, we had a total of 103 full-time
employees and a total of [*] independent contractors and consultants. We engage consultants on an as-needed basis to supplement existing
staff. Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have taken an integrated approach to helping our employees manage their work and personal
responsibilities, with a strong focus on employee well-being, health, and safety.
Our human capital resources objectives include,
as applicable, identifying, recruiting, retaining, incentivizing and integrating our existing and new employees, advisors and consultants.
The principal purposes of our equity and cash incentive plans are to attract, retain and reward personnel through the granting of stock-based
and cash-based compensation awards, in order to increase stockholder value and the success of our Company by motivating such individuals
to perform to the best of their abilities and achieve our objectives.
Available Information
Our corporate website address is https://treasureglobal.co.
Our ZCITY website address is https://zcity.io. Our Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form
8-K, any amendments to those reports, and registration statements filed or furnished with the SEC, are available free of charge through
our website. We make these materials available through our website as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file such
materials with, or furnish such materials to, the SEC. The reports filed with the SEC by our executive officers and directors pursuant
to Section 16 under the Exchange Act are also made available, free of charge on our website, as soon as reasonably practicable after
copies of those filings are provided to us by those persons. These materials can be accessed through the “Investors” section
of our website. The information contained in, or that can be accessed through, our website is not part of this Annual Report on Form
10-K.
I tem
1a. R isk Factors.
Investing in our common stock is highly speculative
and involves a significant degree of risk. Before you invest in our securities, you should give careful consideration to the following
risk factors, in addition to the other information included in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, including our financial statements and
related notes, before deciding whether to invest in our securities. The occurrence of any of the adverse developments described in the
following risk factors could materially and adversely harm our business, financial condition, results of operations or prospects. In that
case, the trading price of our common stock could decline, and you may lose all or part of your investment.
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Risks Related to Our
Business
There is substantial doubt about our ability
to continue as a going concern.
We have incurred substantial operating losses since our inception.
For the year ended June 30, 2023, we had approximately $4.6 million cash on hand, an accumulated deficit of approximately $31.4 million
at June 30, 2023, a net loss of approximately $11.7 million for the year ended June 30, 2023, and approximately $9.6 million net cash
used by operating activities for the year ended June 30, 2023. The accompanying consolidated financial statements have been prepared on
a going concern basis, which contemplates the realization of assets and satisfaction of liabilities in the normal course of business.
We anticipate incurring additional losses until such time, if ever, that we will be able to effectively market our products.
Also,
we will seek to obtain additional capital through the sale of debt or equity financing or other arrangements to fund operations; however,
there can be no assurance that we will be able to raise needed capital under acceptable terms, if at all. The sale of additional equity
may dilute existing stockholders and newly issued shares may contain senior rights and preferences compared to currently outstanding
shares of common stock. Issued debt securities may contain covenants and limit our ability to pay dividends or make other distributions
to stockholders. If we are unable to obtain such additional financing, future operations would need to be scaled back or discontinued.
Due to these factors, management believes that there is substantial doubt in our ability to continue as a going concern for twelve months
from the issuance of these consolidated financial statements.
If we have insufficient capital to operate our business under our current
business plan, we have contingency plans for our business that include, among other things, the delay of the introduction of new products
and a reduction in headcount which is expected to substantially reduce revenue growth and delay our profitability. There can be no assurance
that our implementation of these contingency plans will not have a material adverse effect on our business.
We have a limited operating history in an
evolving industry, which makes it difficult to evaluate our future prospects and may increase the risk that we will not be successful.
We have a limited operating history on which to
base an evaluation of our business and prospects. We are subject to all the risks inherent in a small company seeking to develop, market
and distribute new services, particularly companies in evolving markets such as the internet, technology and payment systems. The likelihood
of our success must be considered, in light of the problems, expenses, difficulties, complications and delays frequently encountered in
connection with the development, introduction, marketing and distribution of new products and services in a competitive environment.
Such risks for us include, but are not limited
to, dependence on the success and acceptance of our services, the ability to attract and retain a suitable client base and the management
of growth. To address these risks, we must, among other things, generate increased demand, attract a sufficient clientele base, respond
to competitive developments, increase the “ZCITY” brand names’ visibility, successfully introduce new services, attract,
retain and motivate qualified personnel and upgrade and enhance our technologies to accommodate expanded service offerings. In view of
the rapidly evolving nature of our business and our limited operating history, we believe that period-to-period comparisons of our operating
results are not necessarily meaningful and should not be relied upon as an indication of future performance.
We are therefore subject to many of the risks
common to early-stage enterprises, including under-capitalization, cash shortages, limitations with respect to personnel, financial and
other resources and lack of revenues.
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If we fail to raise capital when needed
it will have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We have limited revenue-producing operations and
will require the proceeds from our recently concluded offering to execute our full business plan. We believe the proceeds from our previous
offering will be sufficient to cover our funding needs until part way through the first calendar quarter of 2024. Further, no assurance
can be given if additional capital is needed as to how much additional capital will be required or that additional financing can be obtained,
or if obtainable, that the terms will be satisfactory to us, or that such financing would not result in a substantial dilution of shareholder
interest. A failure to raise capital when needed would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results
of operations. In addition, debt and other equity financing may involve a pledge of assets and may be senior to interests of equity holders.
Any debt financing secured in the future could involve restrictive covenants relating to capital raising activities and other financial
and operational matters, which may make it more difficult for us to obtain additional capital or to pursue business opportunities, including
potential acquisitions. If adequate funds are not obtained, we may be required to reduce, curtail or discontinue operations.
None of our material contracts are long
term and if not renewed could have a material adverse effect on our business.
We have entered into material contracts with a
number of companies that directly or indirectly provide the goods and services that appear on our ZCITY App. The majority of these contracts
can be terminated by any party with 30 days’ notice. The contract with iPay88 (the “iPay88 Agreement”), which provides
the payment gateway for many of the brands that can be accessed through the ZCITY App, has no termination clause which means that iPay88
could terminate the iPay88 Agreement without any notice. If one or more of these contracts were not renewed or were terminated and
we were not able to enter into agreements with others that could replace these services, the ZCITY App could lose material features and
in turn we could find it harder to maintain and grow our user base, which would have a material adverse effect on our business. For a
description of these material contracts See “ Business—About ZCITY App .”
We rely on email, internet search engines
and application marketplaces to drive traffic to our ZCITY App, certain providers of which offer products and services that compete directly
with our products. If links to our applications and website are not displayed prominently, traffic to our ZCITY App could decline and
our business would be adversely affected.
Email continues to be a verification source of
organic traffic for us. If email providers or internet service providers implement new or more restrictive email or content delivery or
accessibility policies, including with respect to net neutrality, it may become more difficult to deliver emails to our users or for user
verification process. For example, certain email providers, including Google, categorize our emails as “promotional,” and
these emails are directed to an alternate, and less readily accessible, section of a users’ inbox. If email providers materially
limit or halt the delivery of our emails, or if we fail to deliver emails to users in a manner compatible with email providers’
email handling or authentication technologies, our ability to contact users through email could be significantly restricted. In addition,
if we are placed on “spam” lists or lists of entities that have been involved in sending unwanted, unsolicited emails, marketing
campaigns and business updates could be substantially harmed.
We rely heavily on Internet search engines, such
as Google, to drive traffic to our ZCITY App through their unpaid search results and on application marketplaces to drive downloads of
our applications. Although search results and application marketplaces have allowed us to attract a large audience with low organic traffic
acquisition costs to date, if they fail to drive sufficient traffic to our ZCITY App, we may need to increase our marketing spend to acquire
additional traffic. We cannot assure you that the value we ultimately derive from any such additional traffic would exceed the cost of
acquisition, and any increase in marketing expense may in turn harm our operating results.
The amount of traffic we attract from search engines
is due in large part to how and where information from and links to our website are displayed on search engine result pages. The display,
including rankings, of unpaid search results can be affected by a number of factors, many of which are not in our direct control, and
may change frequently. Search engines have made changes in the past to their ranking algorithms, methodologies and design layouts that
may have reduced the prominence of links to our ZCITY App and negatively impacted our traffic, and we expect they will continue to make
such changes from time to time in the future. Similarly, marketplace operators may make changes to their marketplaces that make access
to our products more difficult. For example, our applications may receive unfavorable treatment compared to the promotion and placement
of competing applications, such as the order in which they appear within marketplaces.
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We may not know how or otherwise be in a position
to influence search results or our treatment in application marketplaces. With respect to search results in particular, even when search
engines announce the details of their methodologies, their parameters may change from time to time, be poorly defined or be inconsistently
interpreted. For example, Google previously announced that the rankings of sites showing certain types of app install interstitials could
be penalized on its mobile search results pages. While we believe the type of interstitial we currently use is not being penalized, we
cannot guarantee that Google will not unexpectedly penalize our app install interstitials, causing links to our mobile website to be featured
less prominently in Google’s mobile search results and harming traffic to our ZCITY App as a result.
In some instances, search engine companies and
application marketplaces may change their displays or rankings in order to promote their own competing products or services or the products
or services of one or more of our competitors. For example, Google has integrated its local product offering with certain of its products,
including search and maps. The resulting promotion of Google’s own competing products in its web search results has negatively impacted
the search ranking of our website. Because Google in particular is the most significant source of traffic to our website, accounting for
a substantial portion of the visits to our website, our success depends on our ability to maintain a prominent presence in search results
for queries regarding local businesses on Google. As a result, Google’s promotion of its own competing products, or similar actions
by Google in the future that have the effect of reducing our prominence or ranking on its search results, could have a substantial negative
effect on our business and results of operations.
The ecommerce market is highly competitive
and if we do not have sufficient resources to maintain research and development, marketing, sales and client support efforts on a competitive
basis our business could be adversely affected.
The internet-based ecommerce business is highly
competitive and we compete with several different types of companies that offer some form of user-vendor connection experience, as well
as marketing data companies. Certain of these competitors may have greater industry experience or financial and other resources than us.
To become and remain competitive, we will require
research and development, marketing, sales and client support. We may not have sufficient resources to maintain research and development,
marketing, sales and client support efforts on a competitive basis which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial
condition and results of operations. We intend to differentiate ourselves from competitors by developing a payments platform that allows
consumers and merchants to accept and use bonus points.
The market for consumer’s lifestyle is rapidly
evolving and intensely competitive, and we expect competition to intensify further in the future. There is no guarantee that any factors
that differentiate us from our competitors will give us a market advantage or continue to be a differentiating factor for us in the foreseeable
future. Competitive pressures created by our direct or indirect competitors could have a material adverse effect on our business, results
of operations and financial condition.
The market for our ZCITY App is new and
unproven.
We were founded in 2020 and ZCITY was founded
in 2017 and since our inception have been creating products for the developing and rapidly evolving market for API-based software platforms,
a market that is largely unproven and is subject to a number of inherent risks and uncertainties. We believe that our future success will
depend in large part on the growth, if any, in the market for software platforms that provide features and functionality to create the
entire lifestyle ecosystem. It is difficult to predict customer adoption and renewal rates, customer demand for our solutions, the size
and growth rate of the overall market that our ZCITY App addresses, the entry of competitive products or the success of existing competitive
products. Any expansion of the market our ZCITY App addresses depends upon a number of factors, including the cost, performance and perceived
value associated with such solutions. If the market our ZCITY App addresses does not achieve significant additional growth or there is
a reduction in demand for such solutions caused by a lack of customer acceptance, technological challenges, competing technologies and
products or decreases in corporate spending, it could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial
condition.
If we are unable to expand our systems or
develop or acquire technologies to accommodate increased volume or an increased variety of operating systems, networks and devices broadly
used in the marketplace our ZCITY App could be impaired.
We seek to generate a high volume of traffic and
transactions through our technologies. Accordingly, the satisfactory performance, reliability and availability of our website and platform,
processing systems and network infrastructure are critical to our reputation and our ability to attract and retain large numbers of users
who transact sales on our platform through a variety of operating systems, networks and devices while maintaining adequate customer service
levels. Our revenues depend, in substantial way, on the volume of user transactions that are successfully completed. Any system interruptions
that result in the unavailability of our service or reduced customer activity would ultimately reduce the volume of transactions completed.
Interruptions of service may also diminish the attractiveness of our company and our services. Any substantial increase in the volume
of traffic on our ZCITY App, the number of transactions being conducted by customers or substantial increase in the variety of operating
systems, networks or devices that are broadly used in the market will require us to expand and upgrade our technology, transaction processing
systems and network infrastructure. There can be no assurance that we will be able to accurately project the rate or timing of increases,
if any, in the use of the ZCITY App or timely expand and upgrade our systems and infrastructure to accommodate such increases or increases
in the variety of operating systems, networks or devices in a timely manner. Any failure to expand or upgrade our systems could have a
material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.
23
We use internally developed systems to operate
our service and for transaction processing. We must continually enhance and improve these systems in order to accommodate the level of
use of our products and services and increase our security. Furthermore, in the future, we may add new features and functionality to our
services that would result in the need to develop or license additional technologies. Our inability to add new software and hardware to
develop and further upgrade our existing technology, transaction processing systems or network infrastructure to accommodate increased
traffic on our platforms or increased transaction volume through our processing systems or to accommodate new operating systems, networks
or devices broadly used in the marketplace or to provide new features or functionality may cause unanticipated system disruptions, slower
response times, degradation in levels of customer service, impaired quality of the user’s experience on our service, and delays
in reporting accurate financial information. There can be no assurance that we will be able in a timely manner to effectively upgrade
and expand our systems or to integrate smoothly any newly developed or purchased technologies with our existing systems. Any inability
to do so would have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.
As we increase our reliance on cloud-based
applications and platforms to operate and deliver our products and services, any disruption or interference with these platforms could
adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.
We rely on cloud-based applications and platforms
for critical business functions. We also are migrating a significant portion of our computing infrastructure to third party hosted cloud-based
computing platforms. If we are not able to complete this migration on our expected timeline, we could incur additional costs. Further,
these migrations can be risky and may cause disruptions to the availability of our products due to service outages, downtime or other
unforeseen issues that could increase our costs. We also may be subject to additional risk of cybersecurity breaches or other improper
access to our data or confidential information during or following migrations to cloud-based computing platforms. In addition, cloud computing
services may operate differently than anticipated when introduced or when new versions or enhancements are released. As we increase our
reliance on cloud-based computing services, our exposure to damage from service interruptions may increase. In the event any such issues
arise; it may be difficult for us to switch our operations from our primary cloud-based providers to alternative providers. Further, any
such transition could involve significant time and expense and could negatively impact our ability to deliver our products and services,
which could harm our financial condition and results of operations.
Our failure to successfully market our ZCITY
App could result in adverse financial consequences.
We believe that continuing to strengthen our ZCITY
App is critical to achieving our widespread acceptance, particularly in light of the competitive nature of our market. Promoting and positioning
our ZCITY App will depend largely on the success of our marketing efforts and our ability to provide high quality services. In order to
promote our ZCITY App, we will need to increase our marketing budget and otherwise increase our financial commitment to creating and maintaining
brand loyalty among users. There can be no assurance that ZCITY App promotion activities will yield increased revenues or that any such
revenues would offset the expenses incurred by us in building our ZCITY App. Further, there can be no assurance that any new users attracted
to us will conduct transactions over the ZCITY App on a regular basis. If we fail to promote and maintain our brand or incur substantial
expenses in an attempt to promote and maintain our brand or if our existing or future strategic relationships fail to promote the ZCITY
App or increase awareness, our business, results of operations and financial condition would be materially adversely affected.
We may not be able to successfully develop
and promote new products or services which could result in adverse financial consequences.
We plan to expand our operations by developing
and promoting new or complementary services, products or transaction formats or expanding the breadth and depth of services. There can
be no assurance that we will be able to expand our operations in a cost-effective or timely manner or that any such efforts will maintain
or increase overall market acceptance. Furthermore, any new business or service launched by us that is not favorably received by consumers
could damage our reputation and diminish the value of our brand. Expansion of our operations in this manner would also require significant
additional expenses and development, operations and other resources and would strain our management, financial and operational resources.
The lack of market acceptance of such services or our inability to generate satisfactory revenues from such expanded services to offset
their cost could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.
24
In addition, if we are unable to keep up with
changes in technology and new hardware, software and services offerings, for example, by providing the appropriate training to out account
managers, sales technology specialists, engineers and consultants to enable them to effectively sell and deliver such new offerings to
customers, our business, results of operations or financial condition could be adversely affected.
A decline in the demand for goods and services
of the merchants included in the ZCITY App could result in adverse financial consequences.
We expect to derive most of our revenues from
fees from successfully completed transactions on our consumer facing platforms. Our future revenues will depend upon continued demand
for the types of goods and services that are offered by the merchants that are included on such platforms. Any decline in demand for the
goods offered through our services as a result of changes in consumer trends could have a material adverse effect on our business, results
of operations and financial condition.
The effective operation of our platform
is dependent on technical infrastructure and certain third-party service providers.
Our ability to attract, retain and serve customers
is dependent upon the reliable performance of our ZCITY App and the underlying technical infrastructure. We may fail to effectively scale
and grow our technical infrastructure to accommodate these increased demands. In addition, our business will be reliant upon third party
partners such as financial service providers and cash-out providers, payment terminals and equipment providers. Any disruption or failure
in the services from third party partners used to facilitate our business could harm our business. Any financial or other difficulties
these partners face may adversely affect our business, and we exercise little control over these partners, which increases vulnerability
to problems with the services they provide.
There is no assurance that we will be profitable.
There is no assurance that we will earn profits
in the future or that profitability will be sustained. There is no assurance that future revenues will be sufficient to generate the funds
required to continue our business development and marketing activities. If we do not have sufficient capital to fund our operations, we
may be required to reduce our sales and marketing efforts or forego certain business opportunities.
We could lose the right to the use of our
domain names.
We have registered domain names for our website
that we use in our business. If we lose the ability to use a domain name, whether due to trademark claims, failure to renew the applicable
registration, or any other cause, we may be forced to market our products under a new domain name, which could cause us substantial harm,
or to incur significant expense in order to purchase rights to the domain name in question. In addition, our competitors and others could
attempt to capitalize on our brand recognition by using domain names similar to ours, especially in light of our expected expansion in
SEA countries and East Asia. Domain names similar to ours may be registered in the United States and elsewhere. We may be unable to prevent
third parties from acquiring and using domain names that infringe on, are similar to, or otherwise decrease the value of our brand or
our trademarks or service marks. Protecting and enforcing our rights in our domain names may require litigation, which could result in
substantial costs and diversion of management’s attention.
25
We may be required to expend resources to
protect ZCITY App information or we may be unable to launch our services.
From time to time, other companies may copy information
from our ZCITY App, through website scraping, robots or other means, and publish or aggregate it with other information for their own
benefit. We have no assurance other companies will not copy, publish or aggregate content from our ZCITY App in the future. When third
parties copy, publish or aggregate content from our ZCITY App, it makes them more competitive, and decreases the likelihood that consumers
will visit our website or use our mobile app to find the information they seek, which could negatively affect our business, results of
operations and financial condition. We may not be able to detect such third-party conduct in a timely manner and, even if we could, we
may not be able to prevent it. In some cases, particularly in the case of websites operating outside of the United States, our available
remedies may be inadequate to protect us against such practices. In addition, we may be required to expend significant financial or other
resources to successfully enforce our rights.
Breaches of our online commerce security
could occur and could have an adverse effect on our reputation.
A significant barrier to online commerce and communications
is the secure transmission of confidential information over public networks. There can be no assurance that advances in computer capabilities,
new discoveries in the field of cryptography and cybersecurity or other events or developments will not result in a compromise or breach
of the technology used by us to protect customer transaction data. If any such compromise of our security were to occur, it could have
a material adverse effect on our reputation and, therefore, on our business, results of operations and financial condition. Furthermore,
a party who is able to circumvent our security measures could misappropriate proprietary information or cause interruptions in our operations.
We may be required to expend significant capital and other resources to protect against such security breaches or to alleviate problems
caused by such breaches. Concerns over the security of transactions conducted on the Internet and other online services and the privacy
of users may also inhibit the growth of the Internet and other online services generally, and the Web in particular, especially as a means
of conducting commercial transactions. To the extent that our activities involve the storage and transmission of proprietary information,
security breaches could damage our reputation and expose us to a risk of loss or litigation and possible liability. There can be no assurance
that our security measures will prevent security breaches or that failure to prevent such security breaches will not have a material adverse
effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.
We may not have the ability to manage our
growth.
We anticipate that significant expansion will
be required to address potential growth in our customer base and market opportunities. Our anticipated expansion is expected to place
a significant strain on our management, operational and financial resources. To manage any material growth of our operations and personnel,
we may be required to improve existing operational and financial systems, procedures and controls and to expand, train and manage our
employee base. There can be no assurance that our planned personnel, systems, procedures and controls will be adequate to support our
future operations, that management will be able to hire, train, retain, motivate and manage required personnel or that our management
will be able to successfully identify, manage and exploit existing and potential market opportunities. If we are unable to manage growth
effectively, our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations may be materially adversely affected.
We rely on the performance of highly skilled
personnel, and if we are unable to attract, retain and motivate well-qualified employees, our business could be harmed.
We are, and will be, heavily dependent on the
skill, acumen and services of our management and other employees. Our future success depends on our continuing ability to attract, develop,
motivate and retain highly qualified and skilled employees. Qualified individuals are in high demand, and we may incur significant costs
to attract them. In addition, the loss of any of our senior management or key employees could materially adversely affect our ability
to execute our business plan, and we may not be able to find adequate replacements. All of our officers and employees are at-will employees,
which means they may terminate their employment relationship with us at any time, and their knowledge of our business and industry would
be extremely difficult to replace. We cannot ensure that we will be able to retain the services of any members of our senior management
or other key employees. If we do not succeed in attracting well-qualified employees or retaining and motivating existing employees, our
business could be harmed.
Illegal use of our ZCITY App could result
in adverse consequences to us.
Despite measures we will implement to detect and
prevent identify theft or other fraud, our ZCITY App remains susceptible to potentially illegal or improper uses. Despite measures we
will take to detect and lessen the risk of this kind of conduct, we cannot assure that these measures will succeed. Our business could
suffer if customers use the ZCITY App for illegal or improper purposes.
26
If merchants on our ZCITY App are operating illegally,
we could be subject to civil and criminal lawsuits, administrative action and prosecution for, among other things, money laundering or
for aiding and abetting violations of law. We would lose the revenues associated with these accounts and could be subject to material
penalties and fines, both of which would seriously harm our business.
We are subject to certain risks by virtue
of our international operations.
We operate and expand internationally. We expect
to expand our international operations significantly by accessing new markets abroad and expanding our offerings in new languages: not
less than all languages in SEA countries and Japan. Our platform is now available in English and several other languages. However, we
may have difficulty modifying our technology and content for use in non-English-speaking markets or fostering new communities in non-English-speaking
markets. Our ability to manage our business and conduct our operations internationally requires considerable management attention and
resources, and is subject to the particular challenges of supporting a rapidly growing business in an environment of multiple languages,
cultures, customs, legal systems, alternative dispute systems, regulatory systems and commercial infrastructures. Furthermore, in most
international markets, we would not be the first entrant, and our competitors may be better positioned than we are to succeed. Expanding
internationally may subject us to risks that we have either not faced before or increase our exposure to risks that we currently face,
including risks associated with:
●
recruiting and retaining qualified, multi-lingual employees, including customer support personnel;
●
increased competition from local websites and guides and potential preferences by local populations for local providers;
●
compliance with applicable foreign laws and regulations, including different privacy, censorship and liability standards and regulations and different intellectual property laws;
●
providing solutions in different languages for different cultures, which may require that we modify our solutions and features to ensure that they are culturally relevant in different countries;
●
the enforceability of our intellectual property rights;
●
credit risk and higher levels of payment fraud;
●
compliance with anti-bribery laws;
●
currency exchange rate fluctuations;
●
foreign exchange controls that might prevent us from repatriating cash earned outside the United States;
●
political and economic instability in some countries;
●
double taxation of our international earnings and potentially adverse tax consequences due to changes in the tax laws of the United States or the foreign jurisdictions in which we operate; and
●
higher costs of doing business internationally.
We do not have liability business interruption,
litigation or natural disaster insurance.
We do not have any business liability, disruption
insurance or any other forms of insurance coverage for our operations in Malaysia because our business is still in planning and early
stage. Any potential liability, business interruption, litigation or natural disaster may result in our business incurring substantial
costs and the diversion of resources.
27
The economy of Malaysia in general might
not grow as quickly as expected, which could adversely affect our revenues and business prospects.
Our business and prospects depend on the continuing
development of the economy in Malaysia. We cannot assure you that the Malaysian economy will continue to grow at the same pace as in the
past. Economic growth is determined by countless factors, and it is extremely difficult to predict with any level of absolute certainty.
In the event that the Malaysian economy suffers, demand for the services and/or products of our wholly owned subsidiaries may diminish,
which would in turn result in decreased likelihood of profitability. This could in turn result in a substantial need for restructuring
of our business objectives and could result in a partial or entire loss of an investment in our Company.
We face the risk that changes in the policies
of the Malaysian government could have a significant impact upon the business we may be able to conduct in Malaysia and the profitability
of such business.
Policies of the Malaysian government can have
significant effects on the economic conditions of Malaysia. A change in policies by the Malaysian government could adversely affect our
interests by, among other factors: changes in laws, regulations or the interpretation thereof, confiscatory taxation, restrictions on
currency conversion, imports or sources of supplies or the expropriation or nationalization of private enterprises. We cannot assure you
that the government will continue to pursue current policies or that such policies may not be significantly altered, especially in the
event of a change in leadership, social or political disruption, or other circumstances affecting Malaysia’s political, economic
and social environment.
We are subject to foreign exchange control
policies in Malaysia.
The ability of our subsidiaries to pay dividends
or make other payments to us may be restricted by the foreign exchange control policies in the countries where we operate. For example,
there are foreign exchange policies in Malaysia which support the monitoring of capital flows into and out of the country in order to
preserve its financial and economic stability. The foreign exchange policies are administered by the Foreign Exchange Administration,
an arm of Bank Negara Malaysia (“BNM”), the central bank of Malaysia. The foreign exchange policies monitor and regulate both
residents and non-residents. Under the current Foreign Exchange Administration rules issued by BNM, non-residents are free to repatriate
any amount of funds from Malaysia in foreign currency other than the currency of Israel at any time (subject to limited exceptions), including
capital, divestment proceeds, profits, dividends, rental, fees and interest arising from investment in Malaysia, subject to any withholding
tax. In the event BNM or any other country where we operate introduces any restrictions in the future, we may be affected in our ability
to repatriate dividends or other payments from our subsidiaries in Malaysia or in such other countries. Since we are a holding company
and rely principally on dividends and other payments from our subsidiaries for our cash requirements, any restrictions on such dividends
or other payments could materially and adversely affect our liquidity, financial condition and results of operations.
Malaysia is experiencing substantial inflationary
pressures which may prompt the governments to take action to control the growth of the economy and inflation that could lead to a significant
decrease in our profitability.
While the Malaysian economy has experienced rapid
growth over the last two decades, they have also experienced inflationary pressures. As governments take steps to address inflationary
pressures, there may be significant changes in the availability of bank credits, interest rates, limitations on loans, restrictions on
currency conversions and foreign investment. There also may be imposition of price controls. If our revenues rise at a rate that is insufficient
to compensate for the rise in our costs, it may have an adverse effect on our profitability. If these or other similar restrictions are
imposed by a government to influence the economy, it may lead to a slowing of economic growth, which may harm our business, financial
condition and results of operations.
28
If inflation increases significantly in
SEA countries, our business, results of operations, financial condition and prospects could be materially and adversely affected.
Should inflation in SEA countries, including Malaysia,
increase significantly, our costs, including our staff costs are expected to increase. Furthermore, high inflation rates could have an
adverse effect on the countries’ economic growth, business climate and dampen consumer purchasing power. As a result, a high inflation
rate in SEA countries, including Malaysia, could materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations, financial condition
and prospects.
Any potential disruption in and other risks
relating to our merchants’ supply chain could increase the costs of their products or services to consumers, potentially causing
consumers to limit their spending or seek products or services from alternative businesses that may not be registered as a merchant with
us, which may ultimately affect the total number of users using our platform and harm our business, financial condition and results of
operations.
Our offline and online merchants obtain their
products, or the raw materials comprised of their products or used in their services, from manufacturers and distributors located around
the world, and may have entered into long-term contracts or exclusive agreements that would ensure their ability to acquire the types
and quantities of products or raw materials they desire at acceptable prices and in a timely manner. Any potential disruption in and other
risks relating to the offline or online merchants’ supply chain as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic or Russia’s invasion
of Ukraine, could increase the costs of their products or services to consumers, potentially causing consumers to limit their spending
or seek products or services from alternative businesses that may not be registered as a merchant with us, which may ultimately affect
the total number of users using our platform and harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Our business will be exposed to foreign
exchange risk.
We derive most of our revenue from the operations
of our ZCITY App in Malaysia and expect to derive our revenue from Malaysia, other SEA countries and Japan in the future. Our functional
currencies will by necessity be the currencies of the countries of SEA and Japan. Our reporting currency is the U.S. dollar. We translate
our results of operations using the average exchange rate for the period, unless the average is not a reasonable approximation of the
cumulative effect of the rates prevailing on the transaction dates, in which case income and expenses are translated at the rate on the
dates of the transactions, and we translate our financial position at the period-end exchange rate. Accordingly, any significant fluctuation
between the currencies of countries of SEA and Japan on the one hand and the U.S. dollar on the other could expose us to foreign exchange
risk.
Some of the currencies of the countries of SEA
are not freely convertible. The foreign exchange management regime of many SEA countries has transitioned from a system of fixed multiple
exchange rates controlled by the state banks to a system of flexible exchange rates regulated largely by market forces, though transfers
of currency is regulated and controlled in some countries. A significant depreciation in many of the currencies of countries of SEA against
major foreign currencies may have a material adverse impact on our results of operations and financial condition because our reporting
currency is the U.S. dollar. There can be no assurance, that the governments will continue to relax their foreign exchange regulations,
that they will maintain the same foreign exchange policy or that there will be sufficient foreign currency available in the market for
currency conversions. If, in the future, the regulations restrict our ability to convert local currencies or there is insufficient foreign
currency available in the market, we may be unable to meet any foreign currency payment obligations.
Fluctuations in exchange rates in the Malaysian
Ringgit (“RM”) could adversely affect our business and the value of our securities.
The value of the RM against the U.S. dollar and
other currencies may fluctuate and is affected by, among other things, changes in Malaysia’s political and economic conditions.
The value of our common stock will be indirectly affected by the foreign exchange rate between U.S. dollars and RM and between those currencies
and other currencies in which our revenue may be denominated. Appreciation or depreciation in the value of the RM relative to the U.S.
dollar would affect our financial results reported in U.S. dollar terms without giving effect to any underlying change in our business
or results of operations. As we rely entirely on revenues earned in Malaysia, any significant revaluation of RM may materially and adversely
affect our cash flows, revenues and financial condition. For example, to the extent that we need to convert U.S. dollars we receive from
an offering of our securities into RM for our operations, appreciation of the RM against the U.S. dollar could cause the RM equivalent
of U.S. dollars to be reduced and therefore could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Conversely, if we decide to convert our RM into U.S. dollars for the purpose of making dividend payments on our common stock or for other
business purposes and the U.S. dollar appreciates against the RM, the U.S. dollar equivalent of the RM we convert would be reduced. In
addition, the depreciation of significant U.S. dollar denominated assets could result in a change to our operations and a reduction in
the value of these assets.
29
We may not be able to maintain the listing
of our common stock on Nasdaq, which could adversely affect our liquidity and the trading volume and market price of our common stock
and decrease or eliminate your investment.
On August 17, 2023, we received a letter from Nasdaq notifying us that
we were no longer in compliance with the $1.00 minimum bid price requirement for continued listing on Nasdaq under Nasdaq Listing Rule
5550(a)(2). Although Nasdaq has granted us 180 calendar days, or until February 13, 2024, to regain compliance with the Bid Price Rule,
there can be no assurance that we will regain such compliance and Nasdaq could make a determination to delist our common stock.
Any delisting determination by Nasdaq could seriously decrease or eliminate
the value of an investment in our common stock and other securities linked to our common stock. While a listing on an over-the-counter
exchange could maintain some degree of a market in our common stock, we could face substantial material adverse consequences, including,
but not limited to, the following: limited availability for market quotations for our common stock; reduced liquidity with respect to
and decreased trading prices of our common stock; a determination that shares of our common stock are “penny stock” under
the SEC rules, subjecting brokers trading our common stock to more stringent rules on disclosure and the class of investors to which the
broker may sell the common stock; limited news and analyst coverage for our Company, in part due to the “penny stock” rules;
decreased ability to issue additional securities or obtain additional financing in the future; and potential breaches under or terminations
of our agreements with current or prospective large stockholders, strategic investors and banks. The perception among investors that we
are at heightened risk of delisting could also negatively affect the market price of our securities and trading volume of our common stock.
Geopolitical conditions, including acts
of war or terrorism or unrest in the regions in which we operate could adversely affect our business.
Most of our operations and business activities
are conducted in Malaysia, whose economy and legal system remain susceptible to risks associated with an emerging economy and which is
subject to higher geopolitical risks than developed countries. Social and political unrest could give rise to various risks, such as loss
of employment and safety and security risks to persons and property. Additionally, our operations could be disrupted by acts of war, terrorist
activity or other similar events, including the current or anticipated impact of military conflict and related sanctions imposed on Russia,
Belarus and certain individuals and entities connected to Russian or Belarusian political, business, and financial organizations by the
United States and other countries due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. It is not possible to predict the broader
consequences of the conflict, including related geopolitical tensions, and the measures and retaliatory actions taken by the U.S. and
other countries in respect thereof as well as any counter measures or retaliatory actions by Russia or Belarus in response, including,
for example, potential cyberattacks or the disruption of energy exports, is likely to cause regional instability, geopolitical shifts,
and could materially adversely affect global trade, currency exchange rates, regional economies and the global economy. Any such event
may in turn have a material and adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial position.
Because our principal assets are located
outside of the United States and all of our directors and all our officers reside outside of the United States, it may be difficult for
you to enforce your rights based on U.S. Federal Securities Laws against us and our officers and directors or to enforce a judgment of
a United States court against us or our officers and directors.
All of our directors and officers reside outside
of the United States. In addition, substantially all of our assets are located outside of the United States. It may therefore be difficult
for investors in the United States to enforce their legal rights based on the civil liability provisions of the U.S. federal securities
laws against us in the courts of either the U.S. or Malaysia and, even if civil judgments are obtained in U.S. courts, to enforce such
judgments in Malaysian courts.
Our failure to maintain effective internal
controls over financial reporting could have an adverse impact on us.
We are required to establish and maintain appropriate
internal controls over financial reporting. Failure to establish those controls, or any failure of those controls once established, could
adversely impact our public disclosures regarding our business, financial condition or results of operations. In addition, management’s
assessment of internal controls over financial reporting may identify weaknesses and conditions that need to be addressed in our internal
controls over financial reporting or other matters that may raise concerns for investors. Any actual or perceived weaknesses and conditions
that need to be addressed in our internal control over financial reporting, disclosure of management’s assessment of our internal
controls over financial reporting or disclosure of our public accounting firm’s attestation to or report on management’s assessment
of our internal controls over financial reporting may have an adverse impact on the price of our common stock.
In preparing our consolidated financial statements
as of and for the year ended June 30, 2023, we and our independent registered public accounting firms identified 2 material weaknesses
and other control deficiencies including significant deficiencies in our internal control over financial reporting, as defined in the
standards established by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board. A “material weakness” is a deficiency, or a combination
of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting, such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement
of the company’s annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis.
The material weaknesses identified included the
following: (1) Inadequate U.S. GAAP expertise. The current accounting staff is inexperienced in applying U.S. GAAP standard as they are
primarily engaged in ensuring compliance with International Financial Reporting Standards (“IFRS”) accounting and reporting
requirement for our consolidated operating entities, and thus require substantial training. The current staff’s accounting skills
and understanding as to how to fulfill the requirements of U.S. GAAP-based reporting, including subsidiary financial statements consolidation,
are inadequate; and (2) Inadequate internal
audit function. We lack of a functional internal audit department or personnel that monitors the consistencies of the preventive internal
control procedures and lack of adequate policies and procedures in internal audit function to ensure that our policies and procedures
have been carried out as planned.
30
Foll owing
the identification of the material weaknesses and control deficiencies, we plan to take remedial measures including (i) hiring more qualified
accounting personnel with relevant U.S. GAAP and SEC reporting experience and qualifications to strengthen the financial reporting function
and to set up a financial and system control framework; (ii) implementing regular and continuous U.S. GAAP accounting and financial reporting
training programs for our accounting and financial reporting personnel; (iii) establishing internal audit function by engaging an external
consulting firm to assist us with assessment of Sarbanes-Oxley Act compliance requirements and improvement of overall internal control;
and (iv)
strengthening corporate governance. However, the implementation of these measures may not fully address the material weaknesses in our
internal control over financial reporting. Our failure to correct the material weaknesses or our failure to discover and address any
other material weaknesses or control deficiencies could result in inaccuracies in our consolidated financial statements and could also
impair our ability to comply with applicable financial reporting requirements and related regulatory filings on a timely basis. As a
result, our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects, as well as the trading price of our common stocks, may
be materially and adversely affected. Moreover, ineffective internal control over financial reporting significantly hinders our ability
to prevent fraud.
A control
system, no matter how well conceived and operated, can provide only reasonable, not absolute, assurance that the objectives of the control
system are met. In addition, the design of a control system must reflect the fact that there are resource constraints, and the benefit
of controls must be relative to their costs. Because of the inherent limitations in all control systems, no system of controls can provide
absolute assurance that all control issues and instances of fraud, if any, within our Company have been detected. These inherent limitations
include the realities that judgments in decision-making can be faulty and that breakdowns can occur because of simple error or mistake.
Further, controls can be circumvented by individual acts of some persons, by collusion of two or more persons, or by management override
of the controls. The design of any system of controls is also based in part upon certain assumptions about the likelihood of future events,
and there can be no assurance that any design will succeed in achieving its stated goals under all potential future conditions. Over
time, a control may become inadequate because of changes in conditions or the degree of compliance with policies or procedures may deteriorate.
Because of inherent limitations in a cost-effective control system, misstatements due to error or fraud may occur and may not be detected.
If we fail
to have effective controls and procedures for financial reporting in place, we could be unable to provide timely and accurate financial
information which could result in an investigation by the SEC and civil or criminal sanctions; investors losing confidence in the accuracy
of our periodic reports filed under the Exchange Act; and a decline in our stock price.
We
are an “emerging growth company” under the JOBS Act and we cannot be certain if the reduced disclosure requirements applicable
to emerging growth companies will make our common stock less attractive to investors.
We are
an “emerging growth company,” as defined in the JOBS Act, and we may take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting
requirements that are not applicable to other public companies that are not “emerging growth companies” including, but not
limited to, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced
disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements
of holding a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and shareholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously
approved. We cannot predict if investors will find our common stock less attractive because we may rely on these exemptions. If some
investors find our common stock less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our common stock and our stock
price may be more volatile.
In addition,
Section 10 7 of the JOBS Act also provides that an “emerging growth company” can take advantage of the extended transition
period provided in Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act of 1933 (the “Securities Act”) for complying with new or revised
accounting standards. In other words, an “emerging growth company” can delay the adoption of certain accounting standards
until those standards would otherwise apply to private companies. We have chosen to take advantage of the extended transition period
for complying with new or revised accounting standards.
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We will remain an “emerging growth company”
until the last day of the fiscal year following the fifth anniversary of the date of the first sale of our common stock pursuant to an
effective registration statement under the Securities Act, although we will lose that status sooner if our revenues exceed $1.235 billion,
if we issue more than $1 billion in non-convertible debt in a three year period, or if the market value of our common stock that is held
by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of the last day of our most recently completed second fiscal quarter.
The elimination of personal liability against
our directors and officers under Delaware law and the existence of indemnification rights held by our directors, officers and employees
may result in substantial expenses.
Our certificate of incorporation, as amended (“Certificate
of Incorporation”) eliminates the personal liability of our directors and officers to us and our stockholders for damages for breach
of fiduciary duty as a director or officer to the extent permissible under Delaware law. Further, our bylaws (“Bylaws”) provide
that we are obligated to indemnify each of our directors or officers to the fullest extent authorized by the Delaware law and, subject
to certain conditions, advance the expenses incurred by any director or officer in defending any action, suit or proceeding prior to its
final disposition. Those indemnification obligations could expose us to substantial expenditures to cover the cost of settlement or damage
awards against our directors or officers, which we may be unable to afford. Further, those provisions and resulting costs may discourage
us or our stockholders from bringing a lawsuit against any of our current or former directors or officers for breaches of their fiduciary
duties, even if such actions might otherwise benefit our stockholders.
We have not paid dividends in the past and
do not expect to pay dividends in the future, and any return on investment may be limited to the value of our stock.
We have never paid cash dividends on our common
stock and do not anticipate paying cash dividends on our common stock in the foreseeable future. We currently intend to retain any future
earnings to support the development of our business and do not anticipate paying cash dividends in the foreseeable future. Our payment
of any future dividends will be at the discretion of our Board after taking into account various factors, including, but not limited to,
our financial condition, operating results, cash needs, growth plans and the terms of any credit agreements that we may be a party to
at the time. In addition, our ability to pay dividends on our common stock may be limited by Delaware state law. Accordingly, investors
must rely on sales of their common stock after price appreciation, which may never occur, as the only way to realize a return on their
investment. Investors seeking cash dividends should not purchase our common stock.
Regulatory Risks
Failure to comply with laws and regulations
applicable to our business could subject us to fines and penalties and could also cause us to lose customers or otherwise harm our business.
Our business is subject to regulation by various
governmental agencies in Malaysia, including agencies responsible for monitoring and enforcing compliance with various legal obligations,
such as privacy and data protection-related laws and regulations, intellectual property laws, employment and labor laws, workplace safety,
governmental trade laws, import and export controls, anti-corruption and anti-bribery laws, and tax laws and regulations. These laws and
regulations impose added costs on our business. Noncompliance with applicable regulations or requirements could subject us to:
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investigations, enforcement actions, and sanctions;
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mandatory changes to our network and products;
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disgorgement of profits, fines, and damages;
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civil and criminal penalties or injunctions;
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claims for damages by our customers or channel partners;
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termination of contracts;
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failure to obtain, maintain or renew certain licenses, approvals, permits, registrations or filings necessary to conduct our operations; and
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temporary or permanent debarment from sales to public service organizations.
If any governmental sanctions are imposed, or
if we do not prevail in any possible civil or criminal litigation, our business, results of operations and financial condition could be
adversely affected. In addition, responding to any action will likely result in a significant diversion of our management’s attention
and resources and an increase in professional fees. Enforcement actions and sanctions could materially harm our business, results of operations
and financial condition.
Any reviews by regulatory agencies or legislatures
may result in substantial regulatory fines, changes to our business practices and other penalties, which could negatively affect our business
and results of operations. Changes in social, political and regulatory conditions or in laws and policies governing a wide range of topics
may cause us to change our business practices. Further, our expansion into a variety of new fields also could raise a number of new regulatory
issues. These factors could negatively affect our business and results of operations in material ways.
Moreover, we are exposed to the risk of misconduct,
errors and failure to functions by our management, employees and parties that we collaborate with, who may from time to time be subject
to litigation and regulatory investigations and proceedings or otherwise face potential liability and penalties in relation to noncompliance
with applicable laws and regulations, which could harm our reputation and business.
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Regulation of the internet generally could
have adverse consequences on our business.
We are also subject to regulations and laws in
Malaysia specifically governing the internet and e-commerce. Existing and future laws and regulations may impede the growth of the Internet,
e-commerce or other online services, and increase the cost of providing online services. These regulations and laws may cover sweepstakes,
taxation, tariffs, user privacy, data protection, pricing, content, copyrights, distribution, electronic contracts and other communications,
consumer protection, broadband residential Internet access and the characteristics and quality of services. It is not clear how existing
laws governing issues such as property ownership, sales, use and other taxes, libel and personal privacy apply to the internet and e-commerce.
Unfavorable resolution of these issues may harm our business and results of operations.
Privacy regulations could have adverse consequences
on our business.
We receive, collect, store, process, transfer
and use personal information and other user data. There are numerous international laws and regulations regarding privacy, data protection,
information security and the collection, storing, sharing, use, processing, transfer, disclosure and protection of personal information
and other content, the scope of which are changing, subject to differing interpretations, and may be inconsistent among countries, or
conflict with other laws and regulations. We are also subject to the terms of our privacy policies and obligations to third parties related
to privacy, data protection and information security. We strive to comply with applicable laws, regulations, policies and other legal
obligations relating to privacy, data protection and information security to the extent possible. However, the regulatory framework for
privacy and data protection worldwide is, and is likely to remain for the foreseeable future, uncertain and complex, and it is possible
that these or other actual or alleged obligations may be interpreted and applied in a manner that we do not anticipate or that is inconsistent
from one jurisdiction to another and may conflict with other rules or our practices. Further, any significant change to applicable laws,
regulations, or industry practices regarding the collection, use, retention, security or disclosure of our users’ data, or their
interpretation, or any changes regarding the manner in which the express or implied consent of users for the collection, use, retention
or disclosure of such data must be obtained, could increase our costs and require us to modify our services and features, possibly in
a material manner, which we may be unable to complete, and may limit our ability to store and process user data or develop new services
and features.
We also expect that there will continue to be
new laws, regulations and industry standards concerning privacy, data protection and information security proposed and enacted in various
jurisdictions.
Any failure or perceived failure by us to comply
with our posted privacy policies, our privacy-related obligations to users or other third parties or any other legal obligations or regulatory
requirements relating to privacy, data protection or information security may result in governmental investigations or enforcement actions,
litigation, claims or public statements against us by consumer advocacy groups or others and could result in significant liability, cause
our users to lose trust in us, and otherwise have an adverse effect on our reputation and business. Furthermore, the costs of compliance
with, and other burdens imposed by, the laws, regulations and policies that are applicable to the businesses of our users may limit the
adoption and use of, and reduce the overall demand for, our ZCITY App.
Additionally, if third parties we work with violate
applicable laws, regulations or agreements, such violations may put our users’ data at risk, could result in governmental investigations
or enforcement actions, fines, litigation, claims or public statements against us by consumer advocacy groups or others and could result
in significant liability, cause our users to lose trust in us and otherwise have an adverse effect on our reputation and business. Further,
public scrutiny of or complaints about technology companies or their data handling or data protection practices, even if unrelated to
our business, industry or operations, may lead to increased scrutiny of technology companies, including us, and may cause government agencies
to enact additional regulatory requirements, or to modify their enforcement or investigation activities, which may increase our costs
and risks.
Regulation of gift cards or “E-vouchers”
could have adverse consequences on our business.
Our platform’s payment system inevitably
provides our customers with reward points that may or may not be deemed gift certificates, store gift cards, general-use prepaid cards
or other vouchers or “gift cards,” subject to, various laws of multiple jurisdictions. Many of these laws include specific
disclosure requirements and prohibitions or limitations on the use of expiration dates and the imposition of certain fees. Various companies
that provided deal products similar to ours around the world are currently or were defendants in purported class action lawsuits.
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The application of various other laws and regulations
to our products is uncertain. These include laws and regulations pertaining to unclaimed and abandoned property, partial redemption, revenue-sharing
restrictions on certain trade groups and professions, sales and other local taxes and the sale of alcoholic beverages. In addition, we
may become, or be determined to be, subject to United States federal or state laws or laws in Malaysia or other countries where we operate
regulating money transmitters or aimed at preventing money laundering or terrorist financing, including the Bank Secrecy Act, the USA
Patriot Act and other similar future laws or regulations in the United States and in the applicable SEA or East Asia countries.
If we become subject to claims or are required
to alter our business practices as a result of current or future laws and regulations, our revenue could decrease, our costs could increase
and our business could otherwise be harmed. In addition, the costs and expenses associated with defending any actions related to such
additional laws and regulations and any payments of related penalties, fines, judgments or settlements could harm our business.
The requirements of being a public company
are complex and have increased costs.
As a public company, we are subject to the reporting
requirements of the Exchange Act, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (the “Sarbanes-Oxley Act”), the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform
and Consumer Protection Act, and other applicable securities rules and regulations. Compliance with these rules and regulations increases
our legal and financial compliance costs, make some activities more difficult, time-consuming or costly and increase demand on our systems
and resources. The Exchange Act requires, among other things, that we file annual, quarterly and current reports with respect to our business
and operating results. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires, among other things, that we maintain effective disclosure controls and procedures
and internal control over financial reporting. In order to maintain and, if required, improve our disclosure controls and procedures and
internal control over financial reporting to meet this standard, significant resources and management oversight may be required. As a
result, management’s attention may be diverted from other business concerns, which could harm our business and operating results.
We may need to hire more employees in the future to maintain compliance with these requirements, which will increase our costs and expenses.
In addition, changing laws, regulations and standards
relating to corporate governance and public disclosure are creating uncertainty for public companies, increasing legal and financial compliance
costs and making some activities more time consuming. These laws, regulations and standards are subject to varying interpretations, in
many cases due to their lack of specificity, and, as a result, their application in practice may evolve over time as new guidance is provided
by regulatory and governing bodies. This could result in continuing uncertainty regarding compliance matters and higher costs necessitated
by ongoing revisions to disclosure and governance practices. We intend to invest resources to comply with evolving laws, regulations and
standards, and this investment may result in increased general and administrative expenses and a diversion of management’s time
and attention from revenue-generating activities to compliance activities. If our efforts to comply with new laws, regulations and standards
differ from the activities intended by regulatory or governing bodies due to ambiguities related to practice, regulatory authorities may
initiate legal proceedings against us and our business may be harmed.
We also expect that being a public company and
these new rules and regulations will make it more expensive for us to obtain director and officer liability insurance, and we may be required
to accept reduced coverage or incur substantially higher costs to obtain coverage. These factors could also make it more difficult for
us to attract and retain qualified members of our board of directors (“Board”), particularly to serve on our audit committee
and renumeration committee, and qualified executive officers.
As a result of disclosure of information in this
Annual Report on Form 10-K and in our prior SEC filings, our business and financial condition has become more visible, which we believe
may result in increased threatened or actual litigation, including by competitors and other third parties. If such claims are successful,
our business and operating results could be harmed, and even if the claims do not result in litigation or are resolved in our favor, these
claims, and the time and resources necessary to resolve them, could divert the resources of our management and harm our business and operating
results.
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Failure to comply with the U.S. Foreign
Corrupt Practices Act and Malaysia anti-corruption laws could subject us to penalties and other adverse consequences.
We are required to comply the Malaysia’s
anti-corruption laws and the United States Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which generally prohibits U.S. companies from engaging in bribery
or other prohibited payments to foreign officials for the purpose of obtaining or retaining business. In addition, we are required to
maintain records that accurately and fairly represent our transactions and have an adequate system of internal accounting controls. Foreign
companies, including some of our competitors, are not subject to these prohibitions. Corruption, extortion, bribery, pay-offs, theft and
other fraudulent practices occur from time-to-time in Malaysia. If our competitors engage in these practices, they may receive preferential
treatment from personnel of some companies, giving our competitors an advantage in securing business or from government officials who
might give them priority in obtaining new licenses, which would put us at a disadvantage. Although we inform our personnel that such practices
are illegal, we cannot assure you that our employees or other agents will not engage in such conduct for which we might be held responsible.
If our employees or other agents are found to have engaged in such practices, we could suffer severe penalties and other consequences
that may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. In addition, our brand and reputation,
our sales activities or the price of our ordinary shares could be adversely affected if we become the target of any negative publicity
as a result of actions taken by our employees or other agents.
Litigation is costly and time consuming
and could have a material adverse effect our business, results or operations and reputation.
We and/or our directors and officers may be subject
to a variety of civil or other legal proceedings, with or without merit. From time to time in the ordinary course of our business, we
may become involved in various legal proceedings, including commercial, employment and other litigation and claims, as well as governmental
and other regulatory investigations and proceedings. Such matters can be time-consuming, divert management’s attention and resources
and cause us to incur significant expenses. Furthermore, because litigation is inherently unpredictable, the results of any such actions
may have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results or financial condition.
Even if the claims are without merit, the costs
associated with defending these types of claims may be substantial, both in terms of time, money, and management distraction. In particular,
patent and other intellectual property litigation may be protracted and expensive, and the results are difficult to predict and may require
us to stop offering certain features, purchase licenses or modify our products and features while we develop non-infringing substitutes
or may result in significant settlement costs.
The results of litigation and claims to which
we may be subject cannot be predicted with certainty. Even if these matters do not result in litigation or are resolved in our favor or
without significant cash settlements, these matters, and the time and resources necessary to litigate or resolve them, could harm our
business, results or operations and reputation.
We face potential liability and expense
for legal claims based on the content on our ZCITY App.
We face potential liability and expense for legal
claims relating to the information that we publish on our website and our ZCITY App, including claims for copyright or trademark infringement,
among others. These claims could divert management time and attention away from our business and result in significant costs to investigate
and defend, regardless of the merits of the claims. In some instances, we may elect or be compelled to remove content or may be forced
to pay substantial damages if we are unsuccessful in our efforts to defend against these claims. If we elect or are compelled to remove
valuable content from our website or mobile app, our ZCITY App may become less useful to consumers and our traffic may decline, which
could have a negative impact on our business and financial performance.
Our intellectual property rights may be
inadequate to protect us against others claiming violations of their proprietary rights and the cost of enforcement could be significant.
The future success of our business is dependent
upon the intellectual property rights surrounding our technology, including trade secrets, know-how and continuing technological innovation.
Although we will seek to protect our proprietary rights, our actions may be inadequate to protect any proprietary rights or to prevent
others from claiming violations of their proprietary rights. There can be no assurance that other companies are not investigating or developing
other technologies that are similar to our technology. In addition, effective intellectual property protection may be unenforceable or
limited in certain countries, and the global nature of the Internet makes it impossible to control the ultimate designation of our technology.
Any of these claims, with or without merit, could subject us to costly litigation. If the protection of proprietary rights is inadequate
to prevent unauthorized use or appropriation by third parties, the value of our brand and other intangible assets may be diminished. Any
of these events could have an adverse effect on our business and financial results.
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Effective trade secret, copyright, trademark and
domain name protection is expensive to develop and maintain, both in terms of initial and ongoing registration requirements and expenses
and the costs of defending our rights. We are seeking to protect our trademarks and domain names in an increasing number of jurisdictions,
a process that is expensive and may not be successful or which we may not pursue in every location. Litigation may be necessary to enforce
our intellectual property rights, protect our respective trade secrets or determine the validity and scope of proprietary rights claimed
by others. Any litigation of this nature, regardless of outcome or merit, could result in substantial costs and diversion of management
and technical resources, any of which could adversely affect our business and operating results. We may incur significant costs in enforcing
our trademarks against those who attempt to imitate our brand. If we fail to maintain, protect and enhance our intellectual property rights,
our business and operating results may be harmed.
If we are unable to protect the confidentiality
of our trade secrets, our business and competitive position could be harmed.
In addition to patent protection, we also rely
upon copyright and trade secret protection, as well as non-disclosure agreements and invention assignment agreements with our employees,
consultants and third parties, to protect our confidential and proprietary information. In addition to contractual measures, we try to
protect the confidential nature of our proprietary information using commonly accepted physical and technological security measures. Such
measures may not, for example, in the case of misappropriation of a trade secret by an employee or third party with authorized access,
provide adequate protection for our proprietary information. Our security measures may not prevent an employee or consultant from misappropriating
our trade secrets and providing them to a competitor, and recourse we take against such misconduct may not provide an adequate remedy
to protect our interests fully. Unauthorized parties may also attempt to copy or reverse engineer certain aspects of our product that
we consider proprietary. Enforcing a claim that a party illegally disclosed or misappropriated a trade secret can be difficult, expensive
and time-consuming, and the outcome is unpredictable. Even though we use commonly accepted security measures, trade secret violations
are often a matter of state law, and the criteria for protection of trade secrets can vary among different jurisdictions. In addition,
trade secrets may be independently developed by others in a manner that could prevent legal recourse by us. If any of our confidential
or proprietary information, such as our trade secrets, were to be disclosed or misappropriated, or if any such information was independently
developed by a competitor, our business and competitive position could be harmed.
Third parties may assert that our employees
or consultants have wrongfully used or disclosed confidential information or misappropriated trade secrets.
We employ individuals who previously worked with
other companies, including our competitors or potential competitors. Although we try to ensure that our employees and consultants do not
use the proprietary information or know-how of others in their work for us, we may be subject to claims that we or our employees, consultants
or independent contractors have inadvertently or otherwise used or disclosed intellectual property, including trade secrets or other proprietary
information, of a former employer or other third party. Litigation may be necessary to defend against these claims. If we fail in defending
any such claims or settling those claims, in addition to paying monetary damages or a settlement payment, we may lose valuable intellectual
property rights or personnel. Even if we are successful in defending against such claims, litigation could result in substantial costs
and be a distraction to management and other employees.
Item 1B . Unresolved
Staff Comments
None.
Item 2. Properties.
Our principal executive offices are located at
276 5th Avenue, Suite 704 #739, New York, New York 10001 and
No.29, Jalan PPU 2A, Taman Perindustrian Pusat
Bandar Puchong, 47100 Puchong, Selangor, Malaysia.
We lease and maintain our offices, and we
currently do not own any real estate.