Item 1. Business
ITEM 1. BUSINESS.
ORGANIZATION AND INITIAL PUBLIC OFFERING
Deep Medicine Acquisition Corp. (the “Company,”
“we,” “us” and “our”) is a blank check company incorporated on July 8, 2020, under the laws of the
State of Delaware for the purpose of entering into a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization
or other similar business combination with one or more businesses or entities (a “Business Combination”). While the Company
may, subject to certain limitations, pursue a Business Combination target with operations or prospects in the digital healthcare and artificial
intelligence (AI) in medicine sector in the global market.
As of March 31, 2022, the Company had not commenced
any operations. All activity for the period from July 8, 2020 (inception) through March 31, 2022, relates to the Company’s formation
and its initial public offering (“IPO”), which is described below, and subsequent to its IPO, identifying a target company
for a Business Combination. The Company will not generate any operating revenues until after the completion of a Business Combination,
at the earliest. The Company will generate non-operating income in the form of interest income from the cash and marketable securities
held in the Trust Account (as defined below). The Company has selected March 31 as its fiscal year end.
On October 29, 2021, the Company consummated its IPO
of 12,650,000 units (the “Units” and, with respect to the shares of Class A common stock included in the Units, the “Public
Shares”) at $10.00 per unit, which included 1,650,000 Units issued pursuant to the full exercise by the Underwriters (as defined
below) of their over-allotment option, and the private sale of an aggregate of 519,500 Units (the “Private Placement Units”
and with respect to the shares of Class A common stock included in the Units, the “Private Placement Shares”) to its sponsor,
Bright Vision Sponsor LLC (the “Sponsor”) and I-Bankers Securities, Inc. (“I-Bankers” or “Underwriters”)
at a purchase price of $10.00 per Private Placement Unit, generating gross proceeds of $5,195,000 to the Company that closed simultaneously
with the closing of the IPO (see Note 3). The Company’s securities have been listed on the Nasdaq Global Market (“Nasdaq”).
On December 2, 2021, the Company’s Units no longer traded, and shares of the Company’s Class A common stock and rights underlying
the Units commenced trading separately.
Transaction costs amounted to $7,282,500 consisting
of $2,530,000 in cash of underwriting commissions, $4,427,500 of business combination marketing fee, and $325,000 of other offering costs.
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Upon the closing of the IPO on October 29, 2021, the
Company deposited $127,765,000 ($10.10 per Unit) from the proceeds of the IPO and certain proceeds of the sales of Private Placement Units
in the trust account (“Trust Account”), located in the United States and invested only in U.S. government securities, within
the meaning set forth in Section 2(a)(16) of the Investment Company Act, with a maturity of 185 days or less or in any open-ended investment
company that holds itself out as a money market fund selected by the Company meeting certain conditions of Rule 2a-7 of the Investment
Company Act, as determined by the Company, until the earlier of: (i) the completion of a Business Combination and (ii) the distribution
of the funds held in the Trust Account, as described below.
Following the closing of the IPO, cash of $764,101
was held outside of the Trust Account (as defined below) and is available for working capital purposes. As of March 31, 2022, the Company
had available cash of $877,099 on its balance sheet and working capital of $655,693.
The Company’s management has broad discretion
with respect to the specific application of the net proceeds of the IPO and the sale of the Private Placement Units, although substantially
all of the net proceeds are intended to be applied generally toward consummating a Business Combination. There is no assurance that the
Company will be able to complete a Business Combination successfully. The Company must complete a Business Combination with one or more
operating businesses or assets that together have an aggregate fair market value equal to at least 80% of the net assets held in the Trust
Account (net of amounts disbursed to management for working capital purposes, if permitted, and excluding the amount of any deferred underwriting
commissions) at the time of the Company’s signing a definitive agreement in connection with its initial Business Combination. The
Company will only complete a Business Combination if the post-transaction company owns or acquires 50% or more of the outstanding voting
securities of the target or otherwise acquires an interest in the target business or assets sufficient for it not to be required to register
as an investment company under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “Investment Company Act”).
PROPOSED BUSINESS
General
We are a blank check company incorporated on
July 8, 2020 as a Delaware corporation and formed for the purpose of effecting a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock
purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses. We have not selected any specific business combination
target and we have not, nor has anyone on our behalf, initiated any substantive discussions, directly or indirectly, with any business
combination target. We intend to effectuate our initial business combination using cash from the proceeds of the IPO and the private placement
of the private placement units, the proceeds of the sale of our shares in connection with our initial business combination (including
pursuant to forward purchase agreements or backstop agreements we may enter into following the consummation of the IPO or otherwise),
shares issued to the owners of the target, debt issued to bank or other lenders or the owners of the target, or a combination of the foregoing.
While we may pursue an acquisition or a business
combination target in any business or industry, we intend to concentrate our efforts in identifying a target in the healthcare industry
with an equity value of approximately $300 million to $1 billion. The healthcare industry, the focus of our company, has been
chosen due to the myriad of the opportunities it offers, as well as our deep expertise in it that can be a source of significant competitive
advantage.
In addition to being the largest sector of the
world economy, the healthcare sector is also the fastest growing. This is due to a number of demographic, technological, and economic
reasons. The aging global population means that people live longer to develop many “old-age” chronic diseases such as hypertension,
heart disease, cancer, and many other diseases. There has been significant progress in the ability to manage these diseases over the last
century. In 1970, the probability of dying from a heart attack was over 30%, while today it is less than 5%. Hairy cell leukemia was universally
fatal in the late 90’s, while today most patients are cured with the first round of chemotherapy. The pace of innovation in medical
science has accelerated due to the increase in global wealth and the available funding for research, better equipment and techniques,
and increased sophistication in designing clinical trials. Also, increased consumerism in healthcare means that the use of healthcare
services has continued to rise along with the rise in consumer wealth and education.
Most recently, there has been significant interest
and research in the use of digital technologies in all aspects of healthcare. This spans translational medical research, clinical trials,
telehealth, disease management, patient monitoring, and more. One of the key drivers of this trend was the Affordable Care Act, that provided
significant funds for the adoption of the EHR. Once the data began to be digitized, the possibility of using that data to uncover new
insights about diseases and managing
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patients more proactively and precisely became
possible. The past decade has seen the launch of many companies the digital health space and there has been key learnings from the successes
and failures of these products and companies.
Most recently, with the advancement of the big
data and analytics capabilities and the re-emergence of AI, there is intense focus in the application of AI in healthcare. This is due
to the increased availability of big data, increased computing power, and more sophisticated analytic capabilities. There is now more
than a decade of EHR data and increasingly, the data from radiology, pathology, ophthalmology, among others, is digitized. This opens
up a world of possibilities for using AI in discovering, developing, and delivering the next generation of diagnostics and therapeutics.
The last few years has seen the FDA approvals of the first wave of AI solutions in medicine. Applications in radiology and pathology show
that ML algorithms can be used to accelerate diagnosis, complement human judgement and subjectivity, and provide consistency across individuals
and institutions. Drug discovery and development, one of the most promising applications of AI in medicine, is seeing significant early
interest from the public sector and pharma companies.
There are significant issues in healthcare that
give rise to the opportunities for AI: large number of serious diagnostic errors, mistakes in treatment, waste of resources, inefficiencies
in workflows, and more. AI in medicine market is seeing explosive growth. In 2018, the market for AI in medicine was at ~$2B, mostly in
computer aided diagnosis in mammograms. This is projected to increase by 18 folds by 2025 to $36B. Most of this projected growth is expected
to be due to diagnostics such as applications in radiology and pathology. In radiology, drivers of growth will be soft tissue imaging
such as MRI and CT scans. Some of the top projected applications will include robot-assisted surgery, virtual nursing assistants, dosage
error reduction, automated image diagnosis, preliminary diagnosis, clinical trial participant identifier, and more.
In private market funding, healthcare AI start-ups
have raised over $6B across more than 700 deals since 2013, topping all other industries in AI deal activity. So far, diagnostics has
been a major driver of health AI deals. The more streamlined and faster FDA approval process for medical algorithms has meant new commercial
pathways for over 100 AI imaging & diagnostics companies that have raised equity financing since 2013, accounting for a total of close
to 200 deals. These companies span a number of potential promising areas for AI in medicine but Development of new treatments, population
health, and workflow automation are considered the most promising applications. A review of the vast array of potential value propositions
being funded reveal that investors believe that AI/ML has the potential to disrupt all aspects of healthcare business and delivery.
Although many algorithms are being created,
only a small fraction will ever be widely commercialized due to the many barriers at various stages. These include algorithms that do
not perform as expected in the real clinical environment, where the clinical cases encountered many be more diverse than the data used
to train the algorithm; incompatibility with the entire clinical workflow; inability to reproduce the results by other investigators and
clinicians; lack of supporting data from large-scale clinical trials analogous to the ones used for drugs and medical devices; and the
lack of existing infrastructure in health systems to install these algorithms. It is increasingly clear that solving for these barriers
and clinical use cases will be the differentiator between companies that succeed in achieving commercial success and those that fail to
gain traction in spite of strong use cases or innovative solutions.
Given the complexity of the healthcare sector
and the many factors that can lead to the success or failure of any new solutions, and especially in an emerging field such as AI in medicine,
the next few years will present huge opportunities for knowledgeable investors and operators to fund and develop companies that can navigate
this challenging landscape. Our team includes members who have developed and commercialized some of the most innovative solutions in digital
health over the past decade and have deep knowledge and expertise in the barriers that prevent well-conceived solutions from ever achieving
their promise. They have also been advising medical centers and life science companies in evaluating and adopting big data solutions in
digital and AI and understand the needs of these stakeholders and their complex internal workflows and challenges.
Competitive Differentiation
We intend to capitalize on the mentioned deep
expertise and experience of our team to identify, acquire, and operate companies in the AI in Medicine space. Given the enormous opportunity
and the exponential growth ahead coupled with the complexity of identifying the promising solutions that can actually gain clinical adoption,
our team will be able to deliver significant risk-adjusted returns for our investors.
•
Industry expertise: diverse background of our team members includes deep clinical expertise as practicing physicians, life sciences consulting experience at McKinsey, Founders and CEOs of digital health companies, investors in healthcare and biopharma and experience in corporate transactions such as equity fundraising, M&A, and IPOs.
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•
Strong network: the diverse background of our team and their many years in the different areas in healthcare, including experience as clinicians at the highest level of clinical medicine at institutions such as the Mayo Clinic and with the top life science companies as McKinsey consultants, and investors in high-impact companies, means that sourcing companies and finding great talent for them, and helping them with connecting to the right clinical institutions will be a major source of competitive advantage.
•
Deal experience: members of our team has been involved in some of the largest equity and M&A deals in healthcare and digital health over the last two decades, including the Pfizer acquisition of Wyeth pharmaceuticals, equity financing of digital health companies such as Castlight health and Acupera, and exists of companies such as Flatiron health.
•
Operational value-add: given the experience of the team in commercializing digital solutions in healthcare, there will be significant lessons learned that can be used in ensuring product-market fit and faster adoption. This will also include a network of medical centers that can be used to generate evidence for the solutions that will eventually be the major driver for the adoption of such solutions.
This narrow focus in AI in Medicine, one of
the most promising fields in healthcare, already experiencing explosive growth, coupled with the complexity of achieving commercial success
in this space, means that our team’s background and experience can be a source of great differentiation and value creation for our
investors.
Acquisition Criteria
A methodical and disciplined approach will
be used to identify and evaluate potential acquisition targets. This score-card based approach will be heavily informed by our experience
in developing and commercializing digital health products.
•
Sector focus: although AI in Medicine will touch almost every aspect of healthcare, the short- and medium-term applications that will yield significant growth and ROI will be in certain sectors that have certain characteristics. These include the presence of large amounts of structured data, current diagnostic or therapeutic challenges, current solutions with significant limitations, and available infrastructure and workflows to launch the solutions.
•
Nature of products and solutions: experience to date in AI in Medicine shows that successfully developed algorithms with FDA approval have struggled to gain traction in clinical medicine due to a number of factors. These include the urgency of the issues they are tackling, complexity of their incorporation into the clinical workflows, reimbursement issues by payers, impact on medical center revenues and profits, and more. This vast experience with what it takes to reach clinical adoption and commercial success will guide our selection of potential targets.
•
Opportunities for accelerating growth: innovative companies with algorithms in radiology, dermatology, pathology, drug discovery and so forth are encountering various barriers for the adoption of their solutions. Examination of the leadership of these companies shows great technical and product expertise but limited clinical experience or lack of familiarity with the process of generating evidence that leads to clinical adoption and insurance reimbursement. Given the depth and diversity of the experience in our team, we will look for innovative companies that have products that can gain clinical adoption and reimbursement if the right evidence is generated with a network of clinical partners.
•
Strong management teams: given the complexity of healthcare and the blend of expertise that will be needed to develop strong products and incorporate them into the clinical workflows, we will look for teams that have a strong track record of developing products, strong data science expertise, digital application experience, with clinical experience preferred by not absolutely necessary as our team will be able to round out their data and digital experience with expertise in clinical and digital health, as well as commercial and corporate finance experience.
These criteria are not exhaustive and we will
consider these along with other key criteria as we embark on the journey to identify and evaluate companies. There will be company-specific
criteria that will emerge as we examine the products and business models of the companies in AI in Medicine. Given the deep and diverse
experience of our team, we will be able to discern the product- and company-specific criteria of success and determine the company’s
strengths and weaknesses against those criterial and in the case of weaknesses, how our team can be a catalyst in overcoming those weaknesses.
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Initial Business Combination
Nasdaq rules require that we must complete one
or more business combinations having an aggregate fair market value of at least 80% of the value of the assets held in the trust account
(excluding taxes payable on the interest earned on the trust account) at the time of our signing a definitive agreement in connection
with our initial business combination. Our board of directors will make the determination as to the fair market value of our initial business
combination. If our board of directors is not able to independently determine the fair market value of our initial business combination,
we will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm that is a member of FINRA or an independent accounting firm with
respect to the satisfaction of such criteria. While we consider it unlikely that our board of directors will not be able to make an independent
determination of the fair market value of our initial business combination, it may be unable to do so if it is less familiar or experienced
with the business of a particular target or if there is a significant amount of uncertainty as to the value of a target’s assets
or prospects. Additionally, pursuant to Nasdaq rules, any initial business combination must be approved by a majority of our independent
directors.
We anticipate structuring our initial business
combination either (i) in such a way so that the post-transaction company in which our public stockholders own shares will own or
acquire 100% of the equity interests or assets of the target business or businesses, or (ii) in such a way so that the post-transaction
company owns or acquires less than 100% of such interests or assets of the target business in order to meet certain objectives of the
target management team or stockholders, or for other reasons. However, we will only complete an initial business combination if the post-transaction
company owns or acquires 50% or more of the outstanding voting securities of the target or otherwise acquires a controlling interest in
the target sufficient for it not to be required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act. Even if the post-transaction
company owns or acquires 50% or more of the voting securities of the target, our stockholders prior to the initial business combination
may collectively own a minority interest in the post-transaction company, depending on valuations ascribed to the target and us in the
initial business combination. For example, we could pursue a transaction in which we issue a substantial number of new shares in exchange
for all of the outstanding capital stock of a target. In this case, we would acquire a 100% controlling interest in the target. However,
as a result of the issuance of a substantial number of new shares, our stockholders immediately prior to our initial business combination
could own less than a majority of our outstanding shares subsequent to our initial business combination.
If less than 100% of the equity interests or
assets of a target business or businesses are owned or acquired by the post-transaction company, the portion of such business or businesses
that is owned or acquired is what will be taken into account for purposes of Nasdaq’s 80% of net assets test. If the initial business
combination involves more than one target business, the 80% of net assets test will be based on the aggregate value of all of the transactions
and we will treat the target businesses together as the initial business combination for purposes of a tender offer or for seeking stockholder
approval, as applicable.
Our Business Combination Process
In evaluating prospective business combinations,
we expect to conduct a thorough due diligence review process that will encompass, among other things, a review of historical and projected
financial and operating data, meetings with management and their advisors (if applicable), on-site inspection of facilities and assets,
discussion with customers and suppliers, legal reviews and other reviews as we deem appropriate.
We are not prohibited from pursuing an initial
business combination with a company that is affiliated with our sponsor or our officers or directors. In the event we seek to complete
our initial business combination with a company that is affiliated with our sponsor, officers or directors, we, or a committee of independent
directors, will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm that is a member of FINRA or an independent accounting
firm that our initial business combination is fair to our company from a financial point of view.
We will issue to our officers and our directors
an aggregate of 300,000 post business combination shares within 10 days following the business combination, with the same lock-up restrictions
and registration rights as the founder shares. Because of this arrangement, our sponsor and our officers and directors may have a conflict
of interest in determining whether a particular target business is an appropriate business with which to effectuate our initial business
combination. Further, each of our officers and directors may have a conflict of interest with respect to evaluating a particular business
combination if the retention or resignation of any such officers and directors were to be included by a target business as a condition
to any agreement with respect to our initial business combination.
We have not selected any specific business combination
target and we have not, nor has anyone on our behalf, initiated any substantive discussions, directly or indirectly, with any business
combination target.
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Each of our officers and directors presently
has, and any of them in the future may have additional, fiduciary or contractual obligations to other entities pursuant to which such
officer or director is or will be required to present a business combination opportunity. Accordingly, if any of our officers or directors
becomes aware of a business combination opportunity which is suitable for an entity to which he or she has then-current fiduciary or contractual
obligations, he or she will honor his or her fiduciary or contractual obligations to present such opportunity to such entity. We believe,
however, that the fiduciary duties or contractual obligations of our officers or directors will not materially affect our ability to complete
our initial business combination. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that we renounce our interest in any
corporate opportunity offered to any director or officer unless such opportunity is expressly offered to such person solely in his or
her capacity as a director or officer of our company and such opportunity is one we are legally and contractually permitted to undertake
and would otherwise be reasonable for us to pursue, and to the extent the director or officer is permitted to refer that opportunity to
us without violating another legal obligation.
Our Management Team
Members of our management team are not obligated
to devote any specific number of hours to our matters but they intend to devote as much of their time as they deem necessary to our affairs
until we have completed our initial business combination. The amount of time that any member of our management team will devote in any
time period will vary based on whether a target business has been selected for our initial business combination and the current stage
of the business combination process.
We believe our management team’s operating
and transaction experience and relationships with companies will provide us with a substantial number of potential business combination
targets. Over the course of their careers, the members of our management team have developed a broad network of contacts and corporate
relationships in various industries. This network has grown through the activities of our management team sourcing, acquiring and financing
businesses, our management team’s relationships with sellers, financing sources and target management teams and the experience of
our management team in executing transactions under varying economic and financial market conditions. See the section of this Annual Report
entitled “Management” for a more complete description of our management team’s experience.
Status as a Public Company
We believe our structure will make us an attractive
business combination partner to target businesses. As a public company, we offer a target business an alternative to the traditional initial
public offering through a merger or other business combination with us. Following an initial business combination, we believe the target
business would have greater access to capital and additional means of creating management incentives that are better aligned with stockholders’
interests than it would as a private company. A target business can further benefit by augmenting its profile among potential new customers
and vendors and aid in attracting talented employees. In a business combination transaction with us, the owners of the target business
may, for example, exchange their shares of stock in the target business for our shares of Class A common stock (or shares of a new
holding company) or for a combination of our shares of Class A common stock and cash, allowing us to tailor the consideration to
the specific needs of the sellers.
Although there are various costs and obligations
associated with being a public company, we believe target businesses will find this method a more expeditious and cost effective method
to becoming a public company than the typical initial public offering. The typical initial public offering process takes a significantly
longer period of time than the typical business combination transaction process, and there are significant expenses in the initial public
offering process, including underwriting discounts and commissions, marketing and road show efforts that may not be present to the same
extent in connection with an initial business combination with us.
Furthermore, once a proposed initial business
combination is completed, the target business will have effectively become public, whereas an initial public offering is always subject
to the underwriters’ ability to complete the offering, as well as general market conditions, which could delay or prevent the offering
from occurring or could have negative valuation consequences. Following an initial business combination, we believe the target business
would then have greater access to capital and an additional means of providing management incentives consistent with stockholders’
interests and the ability to use its shares as currency for acquisitions. Being a public company can offer further benefits by augmenting
a company’s profile among potential new customers and vendors and aid in attracting talented employees.
While we believe that our structure and our
management team’s backgrounds will make us an attractive business partner, some potential target businesses may view our status
as a blank check company, such as our lack of an operating history and our ability to seek stockholder approval of any proposed initial
business combination, negatively.
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We are an “emerging growth company,”
as defined in Section 2(a) of the Securities Act, as modified by the JOBS Act. As such, we are eligible to take advantage of certain
exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not “emerging growth companies”
including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the independent registered public accounting firm attestation requirements
of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports
and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a non-binding advisory vote on executive compensation and stockholder
approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. If some investors find our securities less attractive as a result,
there may be a less active trading market for our securities and the prices of our securities may be more volatile.
In addition, Section 107 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 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 intend to
take advantage of the benefits of this extended transition period.
We will remain an emerging growth company until
the earlier of (1) the last day of the fiscal year (a) following the fifth anniversary of the completion of the IPO, (b) in
which we have total annual gross revenue of at least $1.07 billion, or (c) in which we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer,
which means the market value of our Class A common stock that is held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of the prior September
30, and (2) the date on which we have issued more than $1.0 billion in non-convertible debt securities during the prior three-year
period.
Additionally, we are a “smaller reporting
company” as defined in Rule 10(f)(1) of Regulation S-K. Smaller reporting companies may take advantage of certain reduced disclosure
obligations, including, among other things, providing only two years of audited financial statements. We will remain a smaller reporting
company until the last day of the fiscal year in which (1) the market value of our common stock held by non-affiliates exceeds $250
million as of the end of the prior September 30, or (2) our annual revenues exceeded $100 million during such completed fiscal year
and the market value of our common stock held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of the prior September 30.
Offering Structure
Unlike other blank check companies that sell
units comprised of shares of common stock and warrants to purchase a full share of common stock in their initial public offerings, we
are selling units, each unit comprised of one share of Class A common stock and one right which entitles the holder thereof to receive
one-tenth (1/10) of one share of Class A common stock upon consummation of our initial business combination. Our management believes that
investors in similarly structured blank check offerings, and those likely to invest in the IPO, have come to expect the units of such
companies to include one share of common stock and another security which would allow the holders to acquire additional shares of common
stock. Without the ability to acquire such additional shares of common stock, our management believes the investors would not be willing
to purchase units in such companies’ initial public offerings. Accordingly, because the number of shares ordinarily issuable upon
exercise of the warrants found in the structure of other blank check initial public offerings is lessened in our case (since units often
consist of a whole warrant that entitles the holder thereof to receive a full share of common stock as opposed to the one-tenth (1/10)
of one share the rights entitle a holder to receive), our management believes we may be viewed more favorably by potential target companies
when determining which company to engage in a business combination with. However, our management may be incorrect in this belief.
Financial Position
With funds available for an initial business
combination initially in the amount of $123,337,500 assuming no redemptions, after payment of $4,427,500 of Marketing Fee payable to I-Bankers,
in each case before fees and expenses associated with our initial business combination, together with the Marketing Fee, we offer
a target business a variety of options such as creating a liquidity event for its owners, providing capital for the potential growth and
expansion of its operations or strengthening its balance sheet by reducing its debt or leverage ratio. Because we are able to complete
our initial business combination using our cash, debt or equity securities, or a combination of the foregoing, we have the flexibility
to use the most efficient combination that will allow us to tailor the consideration to be paid to the target business to fit its needs
and desires. However, we have not taken any steps to secure third party financing and there can be no assurance it will be available to
us.
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Effecting Our Initial Business Combination
We are not presently engaged in, and we will
not engage in, any operations for an indefinite period of time following the IPO. We intend to effectuate our initial business combination
using cash from the proceeds of the IPO and the private placement of the private placement units, the proceeds of the sale of our shares
in connection with our initial business combination (including pursuant to forward purchase agreements or backstop agreements we may enter
into following the consummation of the IPO or otherwise), shares issued to the owners of the target, debt issued to bank or other lenders
or the owners of the target, or a combination of the foregoing. We may seek to complete our initial business combination with a company
or business that may be financially unstable or in its early stages of development or growth, which would subject us to the numerous risks
inherent in such companies and businesses.
If our initial business combination is paid
for using equity or debt securities, or not all of the funds released from the trust account are used for payment of the consideration
in connection with our initial business combination or used for redemptions of our Class A common stock, we may apply the balance
of the cash released to us from the trust account for general corporate purposes, including for maintenance or expansion of operations
of the post-transaction company, the payment of principal or interest due on indebtedness incurred in completing our initial business
combination, to fund the purchase of other companies or for working capital.
We may seek to raise additional funds through
a private offering of debt or equity securities in connection with the completion of our initial business combination, and we may effectuate
our initial business combination using the proceeds of such offering rather than using the amounts held in the trust account. In addition,
we intend to target businesses larger than we could acquire with the net proceeds of the IPO and the sale of the private placement units,
and may as a result be required to seek additional financing to complete such proposed initial business combination. Subject to compliance
with applicable securities laws, we would expect to complete such financing only simultaneously with the completion of our initial business
combination. In the case of an initial business combination funded with assets other than the trust account assets, our proxy materials
or tender offer documents disclosing the initial business combination would disclose the terms of the financing and, only if required
by law, we would seek stockholder approval of such financing. There are no prohibitions on our ability to raise funds privately, or through
loans in connection with our initial business combination. At this time, we are not a party to any arrangement or understanding with any
third party with respect to raising any additional funds through the sale of securities or otherwise.
Sources of Target Businesses
We anticipate that target business candidates
will be brought to our attention from various unaffiliated sources, including investment bankers and investment professionals. Target
businesses may be brought to our attention by such unaffiliated sources as a result of being solicited by us by calls or mailings. These
sources may also introduce us to target businesses in which they think we may be interested on an unsolicited basis, since many of these
sources will have read this Annual Report and know what types of businesses we are targeting. Our officers and directors, as well as our
sponsor and their affiliates, may also bring to our attention target business candidates that they become aware of through their business
contacts as a result of formal or informal inquiries or discussions they may have, as well as attending trade shows or conventions. In
addition, we expect to receive a number of proprietary deal flow opportunities that would not otherwise necessarily be available to us
as a result of the business relationships of our officers and directors and our sponsor and their affiliates. While we do not presently
anticipate engaging the services of professional firms or other individuals that specialize in business acquisitions on any formal basis,
we may engage these firms or other individuals in the future, in which event we may pay a finder’s fee, consulting fee, advisory
fee or other compensation to be determined in an arm’s length negotiation based on the terms of the transaction. We will engage
a finder only to the extent our management determines that the use of a finder may bring opportunities to us that may not otherwise be
available to us or if finders approach us on an unsolicited basis with a potential transaction that our management determines is in our
best interest to pursue. Payment of finder’s fees is customarily tied to completion of a transaction, in which case any such fee
will be paid out of the funds held in the trust account. In no event, however, will our sponsor or any of our existing officers or directors,
or any entity with which our sponsor or officers are affiliated, be paid any finder’s fee, reimbursement, consulting fee, monies
in respect of any payment of a loan or other compensation by the company prior to, or in connection with any services rendered for any
services they render in order to effectuate, the completion of our initial business combination (regardless of the type of transaction
that it is). None of our sponsor, executive officers or directors, or any of their respective affiliates, will be allowed to receive any
compensation, finder’s fees or consulting fees from a prospective business combination target in connection with a contemplated
initial business combination prior to the business combination. However, we will issue to our officers and directors an aggregate of 300,000
post business combination shares, with the same lock-up restrictions and registration rights as the founder shares. Some of our officers
and directors may enter into employment or consulting agreements with
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the post-transaction company following our
initial business combination. The presence or absence of any such fees or arrangements will not be used as a criterion in our selection
process of an initial business combination candidate.
We are not prohibited from pursuing an initial
business combination with an initial business combination target that is affiliated with our sponsor, officers or directors or making
the initial business combination through a joint venture or other form of shared ownership with our sponsor, officers or directors. In
the event we seek to complete our initial business combination with an initial business combination target that is affiliated with our
sponsor, officers or directors, we, or a committee of independent directors, would obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking
firm which is a member of FINRA or an independent accounting firm that such an initial business combination is fair to our company from
a financial point of view. We are not required to obtain such an opinion in any other context.
As more fully discussed in the section of this
Annual Report entitled “Management — Conflicts of Interest,” if any of our officers or directors becomes aware
of an initial business combination opportunity that falls within the line of business of any entity to which he or she has pre-existing
fiduciary or contractual obligations, he or she may be required to present such business combination opportunity to such entity prior
to presenting such business combination opportunity to us. Our officers and directors currently have certain relevant fiduciary duties
or contractual obligations that may take priority over their duties to us.
Selection of a Target Business and Structuring
of our Initial Business Combination
Nasdaq rules require that we must complete
one or more business combinations having an aggregate fair market value of at least 80% of the value of the assets held in the trust account
(excluding taxes payable on the interest earned on the trust account) at the time of our signing a definitive agreement in connection
with our initial business combination. The fair market value of our initial business combination will be determined by our board of directors
based upon one or more standards generally accepted by the financial community, such as discounted cash flow valuation, a valuation based
on trading multiples of comparable public businesses or a valuation based on the financial metrics of M&A transactions of comparable
businesses. If our board of directors is not able to independently determine the fair market value of our initial business combination,
we will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm that is a member of FINRA or an independent accounting firm with
respect to the satisfaction of such criteria. While we consider it unlikely that our board of directors will not be able to make an independent
determination of the fair market value of our initial business combination, it may be unable to do so if it is less familiar or experienced
with the business of a particular target or if there is a significant amount of uncertainty as to the value of a target’s assets
or prospects. We do not intend to purchase multiple businesses in unrelated industries in conjunction with our initial business combination.
Subject to this requirement, our management will have virtually unrestricted flexibility in identifying and selecting one or more prospective
target businesses, although we will not be permitted to effectuate our initial business combination with another blank check company or
a similar company with nominal operations.
In any case, we will only complete an initial
business combination in which we own or acquire 50% or more of the outstanding voting securities of the target or otherwise acquire a
controlling interest in the target sufficient for it not to be required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company
Act. If we own or acquire less than 100% of the equity interests or assets of a target business or businesses, the portion of such business
or businesses that are owned or acquired by the post-transaction company is what will be taken into account for purposes of Nasdaq’s
80% of net assets test. There is no basis for investors in the IPO to evaluate the possible merits or risks of any target business with
which we may ultimately complete our initial business combination.
To the extent we effect our initial business
combination with a company or business that may be financially unstable or in its early stages of development or growth we may be affected
by numerous risks inherent in such company or business. Although our management will endeavor to evaluate the risks inherent in a particular
target business, we cannot assure you that we will properly ascertain or assess all significant risk factors.
In evaluating a prospective business target,
we expect to conduct a thorough due diligence review, which may encompass, among other things, meetings with incumbent management and
employees, document reviews, interviews of customers and suppliers, inspection of facilities, as well as a review of financial and other
information that will be made available to us.
The time required to select and evaluate a target
business and to structure and complete our initial business combination, and the costs associated with this process, are not currently
ascertainable with any degree of certainty. Any costs incurred with respect to the identification and evaluation of a prospective target
business with which our initial business combination is not ultimately completed will result in our incurring losses and will reduce the
funds we can use to complete another business combination.
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Lack of Business Diversification
For an indefinite period of time after the
completion of our initial business combination, the prospects for our success may depend entirely on the future performance of a single
business. Unlike other entities that have the resources to complete business combinations with multiple entities in one or several industries,
it is probable that we will not have the resources to diversify our operations and mitigate the risks of being in a single line of business.
In addition, we intend to focus our search for an initial business combination in a single industry. By completing our initial business
combination with only a single entity, our lack of diversification may:
•
subject us to negative economic, competitive and regulatory developments, any or all of which may have a substantial adverse impact on the particular industry in which we operate after our initial business combination, and
•
cause us to depend on the marketing and sale of a single product or limited number of products or services.
Limited Ability to Evaluate the Target’s
Management Team
Although we intend to closely scrutinize the
management of a prospective target business when evaluating the desirability of effecting our initial business combination with that business,
our assessment of the target business’ management may not prove to be correct. In addition, the future management may not have the
necessary skills, qualifications or abilities to manage a public company. Furthermore, the future role of members of our management team,
if any, in the target business cannot presently be stated with any certainty. The determination as to whether any of the members
of our management team will remain with the combined company will be made at the time of our initial business combination. While it is
possible that one or more of our directors will remain associated in some capacity with us following our initial business combination,
it is unlikely that any of them will devote their full efforts to our affairs subsequent to our initial business combination. Moreover,
we cannot assure you that members of our management team will have significant experience or knowledge relating to the operations of the
particular target business.
We cannot assure you that any of our key personnel
will remain in senior management or advisory positions with the combined company. The determination as to whether any of our key personnel
will remain with the combined company will be made at the time of our initial business combination.
Following an initial business combination, we
may seek to recruit additional managers to supplement the incumbent management of the target business. We cannot assure you that we will
have the ability to recruit additional managers, or that additional managers will have the requisite skills, knowledge or experience necessary
to enhance the incumbent management.
Stockholders May Not Have the Ability to
Approve Our Initial Business Combination
We may conduct redemptions without a stockholder
vote pursuant to the tender offer rules of the SEC. However, we will seek stockholder approval if it is required by law or applicable
stock exchange rule, or we may decide to seek stockholder approval for business or other legal reasons. Presented in the table below is
a graphic explanation of the types of initial business combinations we may consider and whether stockholder approval is currently required
under Delaware law for each such transaction.
Type of Transaction
Whether Stockholder Approval is
Required
Purchase of assets
No
Purchase of stock of target not involving a merger with the company
No
Merger of target into a subsidiary of the company
No
Merger of the company with a target
Yes
Under Nasdaq’s listing rules, stockholder
approval would be required for our initial business combination if, for example:
•
we issue shares of Class A common stock that will be equal to or in excess of 20% of the number of shares of our Class A common stock then outstanding;
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•
any of our directors, officers or substantial stockholders (as defined by Nasdaq rules) has a 5% or greater interest (or such persons collectively have a 10% or greater interest), directly or indirectly, in the target business or assets to be acquired or otherwise and the present or potential issuance of common stock could result in an increase in outstanding common shares or voting power of 5% or more; or
•
the issuance or potential issuance of common stock will result in our undergoing a change of control.
Permitted Purchases of our Securities
If we seek stockholder approval of our initial
business combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer
rules, our initial stockholders, directors, officers, advisors or their affiliates may purchase shares or rights in privately negotiated
transactions or in the open market either prior to or following the completion of our initial business combination. There is no limit
on the number of shares our initial stockholders, directors, officers, advisors or their affiliates may purchase in such transactions,
subject to compliance with applicable law and Nasdaq rules. However, they have no current commitments, plans or intentions to engage
in such transactions and have not formulated any terms or conditions for any such transactions. If they engage in such transactions,
they will not make any such purchases when they are in possession of any material nonpublic information not disclosed to the seller or
if such purchases are prohibited by Regulation M under the Exchange Act. We do not currently anticipate that such purchases, if any,
would constitute a tender offer subject to the tender offer rules under the Exchange Act or a going-private transaction subject to the
going-private rules under the Exchange Act; however, if the purchasers determine at the time of any such purchases that the purchases
are subject to such rules, the purchasers will comply with such rules. Any such purchases will be reported pursuant to Section 13
and Section 16 of the Exchange Act to the extent such purchasers are subject to such reporting requirements. None of the funds held
in the trust account will be used to purchase shares or rights in such transactions prior to completion of our initial business combination.
The purpose of any such purchases of shares
could be to vote such shares in favor of the initial business combination and thereby increase the likelihood of obtaining stockholder
approval of the initial business combination or to satisfy a closing condition in an agreement with a target that requires us to have
a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash at the closing of our initial business combination, where it appears that such requirement
would otherwise not be met. The purpose of any such purchases of rights could be to reduce the number of rights, or underlying shares,
outstanding. Any such purchases of our securities may result in the completion of our initial business combination that may not otherwise
have been possible. In addition, if such purchases are made, the public “float” of our shares of Class A common stock
or rights may be reduced and the number of beneficial holders of our securities may be reduced, which may make it difficult to maintain
or obtain the quotation, listing or trading of our securities on a national securities exchange.
Our sponsor, officers, directors and/or their
affiliates anticipate that they may identify the stockholders with whom our sponsor, officers, directors or their affiliates may pursue
privately negotiated purchases by either the stockholders contacting us directly or by our receipt of redemption requests submitted by
stockholders following our mailing of proxy materials in connection with our initial business combination. To the extent that our sponsor,
officers, directors, or their affiliates enter into a private purchase, they would identify and contact only potential selling stockholders
who have expressed their election to redeem their shares for a pro rata share of the trust account or vote against our initial business
combination, whether or not such stockholder has already submitted a proxy with respect to our initial business combination. Our sponsor,
officers, directors, advisors or their affiliates will only purchase shares if such purchases comply with Regulation M under the Exchange
Act and the other federal securities laws.
Any purchases by our sponsor, officers, directors
and/or their affiliates who are affiliated purchasers under Rule 10b-18 under the Exchange Act will only be made to the extent such
purchases are able to be made in compliance with Rule 10b-18, which is a safe harbor from liability for manipulation under Section 9(a)(2)
and Rule 10b-5 of the Exchange Act. Rule 10b-18 has certain technical requirements that must be complied with in order for the
safe harbor to be available to the purchaser. Our sponsor, officers, directors and/or their affiliates will not make purchases of common
stock if the purchases would violate Section 9(a)(2) or Rule 10b-5 of the Exchange Act. Any such purchases will be reported
pursuant to Section 13 and Section 16 of the Exchange Act to the extent such purchases are subject to such reporting requirements.
Redemption Rights for Public Stockholders
upon Completion of our Initial Business Combination
We will provide our public stockholders with
the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their shares of Class A common stock upon the completion of our initial business combination
at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account as of two business days prior
to the consummation of the initial business
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combination including interest earned on the
funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our franchise and income taxes, divided by the number of then
outstanding public shares, subject to the limitations described herein. The amount in the trust account is initially anticipated to be
approximately $10.10 per public share. Our initial stockholders, officers and directors and I-Bankers have entered into a letter agreement
with us, pursuant to which they have agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to any founder shares, private placement shares,
representative shares and any public shares held by them in connection with the completion of our initial business combination.
Manner of Conducting Redemptions
We will provide our public stockholders with
the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their shares of Class A common stock upon the completion of our initial business combination
either (i) in connection with a stockholder meeting called to approve the initial business combination or (ii) by means of a
tender offer. The decision as to whether we will seek stockholder approval of a proposed initial business combination or conduct a tender
offer will be made by us, solely in our discretion, and will be based on a variety of factors such as the timing of the transaction and
whether the terms of the transaction would require us to seek stockholder approval under the law or stock exchange listing requirement.
Under Nasdaq rules, asset acquisitions and stock purchases would not typically require stockholder approval while direct mergers with
our company where we do not survive and any transactions where we issue more than 20% of our outstanding common stock or seek to amend
our amended and restated certificate of incorporation would require stockholder approval. If we structure an initial business combination
with a target company in a manner that requires stockholder approval, we will not have discretion as to whether to seek a stockholder
vote to approve the proposed initial business combination. We may conduct redemptions without a stockholder vote pursuant to the tender
offer rules of the SEC unless stockholder approval is required by law or stock exchange listing requirements or we choose to seek stockholder
approval for business or other legal reasons. So long as we obtain and maintain a listing for our securities on Nasdaq, we will be required
to comply with such rules.
If a stockholder vote is not required and
we do not decide to hold a stockholder vote for business or other legal reasons, we will, pursuant to our amended and restated certificate
of incorporation:
•
conduct the redemptions pursuant to Rule 13e-4 and Regulation 14E of the Exchange Act, which regulate issuer tender offers, and
•
file tender offer documents with the SEC prior to completing our initial business combination which contain substantially the same financial and other information about the initial business combination and the redemption rights as is required under Regulation 14A of the Exchange Act, which regulates the solicitation of proxies.
Upon the public announcement of our initial
business combination, we or our sponsor will terminate any plan established in accordance with Rule 10b5-1 to purchase shares of
our Class A common stock in the open market if we elect to redeem our public shares through a tender offer, to comply with Rule 14e-5
under the Exchange Act.
In the event we conduct redemptions pursuant
to the tender offer rules, our offer to redeem will remain open for at least 20 business days, in accordance with Rule 14e-1(a) under
the Exchange Act, and we will not be permitted to complete our initial business combination until the expiration of the tender offer period.
In addition, the tender offer will be conditioned on public stockholders not tendering more than a specified number of public shares which
are not purchased by our sponsor, which number will be based on the requirement that we will only redeem our public shares so long as
(after such redemption) our net tangible assets will be at least $5,000,001 either immediately prior to or upon consummation of our initial
business combination and after payment of underwriters’ fees and commissions (so that we are not subject to the SEC’s “penny
stock” rules) or any greater net tangible asset or cash requirement which may be contained in the agreement relating to our initial
business combination. If public stockholders tender more shares than we have offered to purchase, we will withdraw the tender offer and
not complete the initial business combination.
If, however, stockholder approval of the transaction
is required by law or stock exchange listing requirement, or we decide to obtain stockholder approval for business or other legal reasons,
we will, pursuant to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation:
•
conduct the redemptions in conjunction with a proxy solicitation pursuant to Regulation 14A of the Exchange Act, which regulates the solicitation of proxies, and not pursuant to the tender offer rules, and
•
file proxy materials with the SEC.
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In the event that we seek stockholder approval
of our initial business combination, we will distribute proxy materials and, in connection therewith, provide our public stockholders
with the redemption rights described above upon completion of the initial business combination.
If we seek stockholder approval, we will complete
our initial business combination only if a majority of the outstanding shares of common stock voted are voted in favor of the initial
business combination. A quorum for such meeting will consist of the holders present in person or by proxy of shares of outstanding capital
stock of the company representing a majority of the voting power of all outstanding shares of capital stock of the company entitled to
vote at such meeting. Our initial stockholders will count toward this quorum and pursuant to the letter agreement, our initial stockholders,
officers and directors and I-Bankers have agreed to vote their founder shares, private placement shares, representative shares and any
public shares purchased during or after the IPO (including in open market and privately negotiated transactions) in favor of our initial
business combination. For purposes of seeking approval of the majority of our outstanding shares of common stock voted, non-votes will
have no effect on the approval of our initial business combination once a quorum is obtained. As a result, in addition to founder shares,
private placement shares and representative shares, we would need only 4,433,401 shares, or 35.0%, of the 12,650,000 public shares sold
in the IPO to be voted in favor of an initial business combination (assuming all outstanding shares are voted), or 325,101 shares, or
2.6%, the 12,650,000 public shares sold in the IPO to be voted in favor of an initial business combination (assuming only a quorum is
present), in order to have our initial business combination approved. We intend to give approximately 30 days (but not less than
10 days nor more than 60 days) prior written notice of any such meeting, if required, at which a vote shall be taken to approve
our initial business combination. These quorum and voting thresholds, and the voting agreements of our initial stockholders, may make
it more likely that we will consummate our initial business combination. Each public stockholder may elect to redeem its public shares
irrespective of whether they vote for or against the proposed transaction.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation
provides that we will only redeem our public shares so long as (after such redemption) our net tangible assets will be at least $5,000,001
either immediately prior to or upon consummation of our initial business combination and after payment of underwriters’ fees and
commissions (so that we are not subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules) or any greater net tangible asset or cash
requirement which may be contained in the agreement relating to our initial business combination. For example, the proposed initial business
combination may require: (i) cash consideration to be paid to the target or its owners, (ii) cash to be transferred to the
target for working capital or other general corporate purposes or (iii) the retention of cash to satisfy other conditions in accordance
with the terms of the proposed initial business combination. In the event the aggregate cash consideration we would be required to pay
for all shares of Class A common stock that are validly submitted for redemption plus any amount required to satisfy cash conditions
pursuant to the terms of the proposed initial business combination exceed the aggregate amount of cash available to us, we will not complete
the initial business combination or redeem any shares, and all shares of Class A common stock submitted for redemption will be returned
to the holders thereof.
Limitation on Redemption upon Completion
of our Initial Business Combination if we Seek Stockholder Approval
Notwithstanding the foregoing, if we seek stockholder
approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant
to the tender offer rules, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that a public stockholder, together with any
affiliate of such stockholder or any other person with whom such stockholder is acting in concert or as a “group” (as defined
under Section 13 of the Exchange Act), will be restricted from seeking redemption rights with respect to more than an aggregate of
15% of the shares sold in the IPO, which we refer to as the “Excess Shares.” Such restriction shall also be applicable to
our affiliates. We believe this restriction will discourage stockholders from accumulating large blocks of shares, and subsequent attempts
by such holders to use their ability to exercise their redemption rights against a proposed initial business combination as a means to
force us or our management to purchase their shares at a significant premium to the then-current market price or on other undesirable
terms. Absent this provision, a public stockholder holding more than an aggregate of 15% of the shares sold in the IPO could threaten
to exercise its redemption rights if such holder’s shares are not purchased by us or our management at a premium to the then-current
market price or on other undesirable terms. By limiting our stockholders’ ability to redeem no more than 15% of the shares sold
in the IPO without our prior consent, we believe we will limit the ability of a small group of stockholders to unreasonably attempt to
block our ability to complete our initial business combination, particularly in connection with an initial business combination with a
target that requires as a closing condition that we have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash. However, we would not be restricting
our stockholders’ ability to vote all of their shares (including Excess Shares) for or against our initial business combination.
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Tendering Stock Certificates in Connection
with a Tender Offer or Redemption Rights
We may require our public stockholders seeking
to exercise their redemption rights, whether they are record holders or hold their shares in “street name,” to either tender
their certificates to our transfer agent prior to the date set forth in the tender offer documents or proxy materials mailed to such holders,
or up to two business days prior to the vote on the proposal to approve the initial business combination in the event we distribute proxy
materials, or to deliver their shares to the transfer agent electronically using the Depository Trust Company’s DWAC (Deposit/Withdrawal
At Custodian) System, at the holder’s option. The tender offer or proxy materials, as applicable, that we will furnish to holders
of our public shares in connection with our initial business combination will indicate whether we are requiring public stockholders to
satisfy such delivery requirements. Accordingly, a public stockholder would have from the time we send out our tender offer materials
until the close of the tender offer period, or up to two days prior to the vote on the initial business combination if we distribute proxy
materials, as applicable, to tender its shares if it wishes to seek to exercise its redemption rights. Given the relatively short exercise
period, it is advisable for stockholders to use electronic delivery of their public shares.
There is a nominal cost associated with the
above-referenced tendering process and the act of certificating the shares or delivering them through the DWAC System. The transfer agent
will typically charge the tendering broker $80.00 and it would be up to the broker whether or not to pass this cost on to the redeeming
holder. However, this fee would be incurred regardless of whether or not we require holders seeking to exercise redemption rights to tender
their shares. The need to deliver shares is a requirement of exercising redemption rights regardless of the timing of when such delivery
must be effectuated.
The foregoing is different from the procedures
used by many blank check companies. In order to perfect redemption rights in connection with their business combinations, many blank check
companies would distribute proxy materials for the stockholders’ vote on an initial business combination, and a holder could simply
vote against a proposed initial business combination and check a box on the proxy card indicating such holder was seeking to exercise
his or her redemption rights. After the initial business combination was approved, the company would contact such stockholder to arrange
for him or her to deliver his or her certificate to verify ownership. As a result, the stockholder then had an “option window”
after the completion of the initial business combination during which he or she could monitor the price of the company’s stock in
the market. If the price rose above the redemption price, he or she could sell his or her shares in the open market before actually delivering
his or her shares to the company for cancellation. As a result, the redemption rights, to which stockholders were aware they needed to
commit before the stockholder meeting, would become “option” rights surviving past the completion of the initial business
combination until the redeeming holder delivered its certificate. The requirement for physical or electronic delivery prior to the meeting
ensures that a redeeming holder’s election to redeem is irrevocable once the initial business combination is approved.
Any request to redeem such shares, once made,
may be withdrawn at any time up to the date set forth in the tender offer materials or the date of the stockholder meeting set forth in
our proxy materials, as applicable. Furthermore, if a holder of a public share delivered its certificate in connection with an election
of redemption rights and subsequently decides prior to the applicable date not to elect to exercise such rights, such holder may simply
request that the transfer agent return the certificate (physically or electronically). It is anticipated that the funds to be distributed
to holders of our public shares electing to redeem their shares will be distributed promptly after the completion of our initial business
combination.
If our initial business combination is not
approved or completed for any reason, then our public stockholders who elected to exercise their redemption rights would not be entitled
to redeem their shares for the applicable pro rata share of the trust account. In such case, we will promptly return any certificates
delivered by public holders who elected to redeem their shares. If our initial
proposed initial business combination is not completed, we may continue to try to complete an initial business combination with a different
target until 12 months from the closing of the IPO (or up to 18 months from the closing of the IPO if we extend the period of time to
consummate a business combination, as described in more detail in this Annual Report).
Ability to Extend Time to Complete Business
Combination
We will have until 12 months from the closing
of the IPO to consummate an initial business combination. However, if we anticipate that we may not be able to consummate our initial
business combination within 12 months, we may extend the period of time to consummate a business combination up to two times, each by
an additional three months (for a total of up to 18 months to complete a business combination). Pursuant to the terms of our amended and
restated certificate of incorporation and the trust agreement entered into between us and American Stock Transfer & Trust Company
on October 26, 2021, in order to extend the time available for us to consummate our initial business combination, our sponsor or its affiliates
or designees, upon five days advance notice prior to the applicable deadline, must deposit into the trust account up
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to $1,265,000 ($0.10 per share) on or prior
to the date of the applicable deadline, for each three month extension (or up to an aggregate of $2,530,000, or $0.20 per share, if we
extend for the full six months). In the event that we receive notice from our sponsor five days prior to the applicable deadline of their
intent to effect an extension, we intend to issue a press release announcing such intention at least three days prior to the applicable
deadline. In addition, we intend to issue a press release the day after the applicable deadline announcing whether or not the funds had
been timely deposited. Our sponsor and its affiliates or designees are not obligated to fund the trust account to extend the time for
us to complete our initial business combination.
Redemption of Public Shares and Liquidation
if no Initial Business Combination
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation
provides that we will have only 12 months from the closing of the IPO (or up to 18 months from the closing of the IPO if we extend the
period of time to consummate a business combination, as described in more detail in this Annual Report) to complete our initial business
combination. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination within such 12-month period (or up to 18-month period), we
will: (i) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up, (ii) as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than
ten business days thereafter, redeem the public shares, at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit
in the trust account including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our franchise
and income taxes (less up to $50,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares,
which redemption will completely extinguish public stockholders’ rights as stockholders (including the right to receive further
liquidating distributions, if any), subject to applicable law, and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption,
subject to the approval of our remaining stockholders and our board of directors, dissolve and liquidate, subject in each case to our
obligations under Delaware law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law. There will be no redemption
rights or liquidating distributions with respect to our rights, which will expire worthless if we fail to complete our initial business
combination within the 12-month time period (or up to 18-month period).
Our initial stockholders, officers and directors
and I-Bankers have entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which they have waived their rights to liquidating distributions
from the trust account with respect to any founder shares, private placement shares or representative shares held by them if we fail to
complete our initial business combination within 12 months from the closing of the IPO (or up to 18 months from the closing of the IPO
if we extend the period of time to consummate a business combination, as described in more detail in this Annual Report). However, if
our initial stockholders officers or directors acquire public shares in or after the IPO, they will be entitled to liquidating distributions
from the trust account with respect to such public shares if we fail to complete our initial business combination within the allotted
12-month time period (or up to 18-month period).
Our initial stockholders, officers and directors
have agreed, pursuant to a written agreement with us, that they will not propose any amendment to our amended and restated certificate
of incorporation (i) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete
our initial business combination within 12 months from the closing of the IPO (or up to 18 months from the closing of the IPO if we extend
the period of time to consummate a business combination, as described in more detail in this Annual Report) or (ii) with respect
to any other provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity, unless we provide our public
stockholders with the opportunity to redeem their shares of Class A common stock upon approval of any such amendment at a per-share
price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account including interest earned on the funds held
in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our franchise and income taxes divided by the number of then outstanding
public shares. However, we will only redeem our public shares so long as (after such redemption) our net tangible assets will be at least
$5,000,001 either immediately prior to or upon consummation of our initial business combination and after payment of underwriters’
fees and commissions (so that we are not subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules). If this optional redemption right
is exercised with respect to an excessive number of public shares such that we cannot satisfy the net tangible asset requirement (described
above), we would not proceed with the amendment or the related redemption of our public shares at such time. We
expect that all costs and expenses associated with implementing our plan of dissolution, as well as payments to any creditors, will be
funded from amounts remaining out of the approximately $900,000 of proceeds held outside the trust account, although we cannot assure
you that there will be sufficient funds for such purpose. We will depend on sufficient interest being earned on the proceeds held in the
trust account to pay any franchise and income tax obligations we may owe. However, if those funds are not sufficient to cover the costs
and expenses associated with implementing our plan of dissolution, to the extent that there is any interest accrued in the trust account
not required to pay franchise and income taxes on interest income earned on the trust account balance, we may request the trustee to release
to us an additional amount of up to $50,000 of such accrued interest to pay those costs and expenses.
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If we were to expend all of the net proceeds
of the IPO and the sale of the private placement units, other than the proceeds deposited in the trust account, and without taking into
account interest, if any, earned on the trust account, the per-share redemption amount received by stockholders upon our dissolution would
be approximately $10.10. The proceeds deposited in the trust account could, however, become subject to the claims of our creditors which
would have higher priority than the claims of our public stockholders. We cannot assure you that the actual per-share redemption amount
received by stockholders will not be substantially less than $10.10. Under Section 281(b) of the DGCL, our plan of dissolution must
provide for all claims against us to be paid in full or make provision for payments to be made in full, as applicable, if there are sufficient
assets. These claims must be paid or provided for before we make any distribution of our remaining assets to our stockholders. While we
intend to pay such amounts, if any, we cannot assure you that we will have funds sufficient to pay or provide for all creditors’
claims.
Although we will seek to have all vendors, service
providers, prospective target businesses or other entities with which we do business execute agreements with us waiving any right, title,
interest or claim of any kind in or to any monies held in the trust account for the benefit of our public stockholders, there is no guarantee
that they will execute such agreements or even if they execute such agreements that they would be prevented from bringing claims against
the trust account including but not limited to fraudulent inducement, breach of fiduciary responsibility or other similar claims, as well
as claims challenging the enforceability of the waiver, in each case in order to gain an advantage with respect to a claim against our
assets, including the funds held in the trust account. If any third party refuses to execute an agreement waiving such claims to the monies
held in the trust account, our management will perform an analysis of the alternatives available to it and will only enter into an agreement
with a third party that has not executed a waiver if management believes that such third party’s engagement would be significantly
more beneficial to us than any alternative. Examples of possible instances where we may engage a third party that refuses to execute a
waiver include the engagement of a third party consultant whose particular expertise or skills are believed by management to be significantly
superior to those of other consultants that would agree to execute a waiver or in cases where management is unable to find a service provider
willing to execute a waiver. MaloneBailey, LLP, our independent registered public accounting firm, and the underwriters of the offering,
will not execute agreements with us waiving such claims to the monies held in the trust account.
In addition, there is no guarantee that such
entities will agree to waive any claims they may have in the future as a result of, or arising out of, any negotiations, contracts or
agreements with us and will not seek recourse against the trust account for any reason. Our sponsor has agreed that it will be liable
to us if and to the extent any claims by a third party for services rendered or products sold to us, or a prospective target business
with which we have entered into a written letter of intent, confidentiality or similar agreement or business combination agreement, reduce
the amount of funds in the trust account to below the lesser of (i) $10.10 per public share and (ii) the actual amount per public
share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account, if less than $10.10 per share due to reductions
in the value of the trust assets, less taxes payable, provided that such liability will not apply to any claims by a third party or prospective
target business who executed a waiver of any and all rights to the monies held in the trust account (whether or not such waiver is enforceable)
nor will it apply to any claims under our indemnity of the underwriters of the IPO against certain liabilities, including liabilities
under the Securities Act. However, we have not asked our sponsor to reserve for such indemnification obligations, nor have we independently
verified whether our sponsor has sufficient funds to satisfy its indemnity obligations and believe that our sponsor’s only assets
are securities of our company. Therefore, we cannot assure you that our sponsor would be able to satisfy those obligations. None of our
officers or directors will indemnify us for claims by third parties including, without limitation, claims by vendors and prospective target
businesses.
In the event that the proceeds in the trust
account are reduced below (i) $10.10 per public share or (ii) such lesser amount per public share held in the trust account as of
the date of the liquidation of the trust account, due to reductions in value of the trust assets, in each case net of the amount of interest
which may be withdrawn to pay taxes, and our sponsor asserts that it is unable to satisfy its indemnification obligations or that it has
no indemnification obligations related to a particular claim, our independent directors would determine whether to take legal action against
our sponsor to enforce its indemnification obligations.
While we currently expect that our independent
directors would take legal action on our behalf against our sponsor to enforce its indemnification obligations to us, it is possible that
our independent directors in exercising their business judgment may choose not to do so if, for example, the cost of such legal action
is deemed by the independent directors to be too high relative to the amount recoverable or if the independent directors determine that
a favorable outcome is not likely. We have not asked our sponsor to reserve for such indemnification obligations and we cannot assure
you that our sponsor would be able to satisfy those obligations. Accordingly, we cannot assure you that due to claims of creditors the
actual value of the per-share redemption price will not be less than $10.10 per public share.
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We will seek to reduce the possibility that our sponsor
will have to indemnify the trust account due to claims of creditors by endeavoring to have all vendors, service providers, prospective
target businesses or other entities with which we do business execute agreements with us waiving any right, title, interest or claim of
any kind in or to monies held in the trust account. Our sponsor will also not be liable as to any claims under our indemnity of the underwriters
of the IPO against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. We will have access to up to approximately $500,000
from the proceeds of the IPO with which to pay any such potential claims (including costs and expenses incurred in connection with our
liquidation, currently estimated to be no more than approximately $50,000). In the event that we liquidate and it is subsequently determined
that the reserve for claims and liabilities is insufficient, stockholders who received funds from our trust account could be liable for
claims made by creditors. In the event that our offering expenses exceed our estimate of $500,000, we may fund such excess with funds
from the funds not to be held in the trust account. In such case, the amount of funds we intend to be held outside the trust account would
decrease by a corresponding amount. Conversely, in the event that the offering expenses are less than our estimate of $500,000, the amount
of funds we intend to be held outside the trust account would increase by a corresponding amount.
Under the DGCL, stockholders may be held liable
for claims by third parties against a corporation to the extent of distributions received by them in a dissolution. The pro rata portion
of our trust account distributed to our public stockholders upon the redemption of our public shares in the event we do not complete our
initial business combination within 12 months from the closing of the IPO (or up to 18 months from the closing of the IPO if we extend
the period of time to consummate a business combination, as described in more detail in this Annual Report) may be considered a liquidating
distribution under Delaware law.
If the corporation complies with certain procedures
set forth in Section 280 of the DGCL intended to ensure that it makes reasonable provision for all claims against it, including a
60-day notice period during which any third-party claims can be brought against the corporation, a 90-day period during which the corporation
may reject any claims brought, and an additional 150-day waiting period before any liquidating distributions are made to stockholders,
any liability of stockholders with respect to a liquidating distribution is limited to the lesser of such stockholder’s pro rata
share of the claim or the amount distributed to the stockholder, and any liability of the stockholder would be barred after the third
anniversary of the dissolution.
Furthermore, if the pro rata portion of our
trust account distributed to our public stockholders upon the redemption of our public shares in the event we do not complete our initial
business combination within 12 months from the closing of the IPO (or up to 18 months from the closing of the IPO if we extend the period
of time to consummate a business combination, as described in more detail in this Annual Report), is not considered a liquidating distribution
under Delaware law and such redemption distribution is deemed to be unlawful (potentially due to the imposition of legal proceedings that
a party may bring or due to other circumstances that are currently unknown), then pursuant to Section 174 of the DGCL, the statute
of limitations for claims of creditors could then be six years after the unlawful redemption distribution, instead of three years, as
in the case of a liquidating distribution. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination within 12 months from the closing
of the IPO (or up to 18 months from the closing of the IPO if we extend the period of time to consummate a business combination, as described
in more detail in this Annual Report), we will: (i) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up, (ii) as promptly
as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, redeem the public shares, at a per-share price, payable in cash,
equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and
not previously released to us to pay our franchise and income taxes (less up to $50,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), divided
by the number of then outstanding public shares, which redemption will completely extinguish public stockholders’ rights as stockholders
(including the right to receive further liquidating distributions, if any), subject to applicable law, and (iii) as promptly as reasonably
possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining stockholders and our board of directors, dissolve and liquidate,
subject in each case to our obligations under Delaware law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable
law. Accordingly, it is our intention to redeem our public shares as soon as reasonably possible following our 12 th month (or
up to 21 st month) and, therefore, we do not intend to comply with those procedures. As such, our stockholders could potentially
be liable for any claims to the extent of distributions received by them (but no more) and any liability of our stockholders may extend
well beyond the third anniversary of such date.
Because we will not be complying with Section 280,
Section 281(b) of the DGCL requires us to adopt a plan, based on facts known to us at such time that will provide for our payment
of all existing and pending claims or claims that may be potentially brought against us within the subsequent 10 years. However,
because we are a blank check company, rather than an operating company, and our operations will be limited to searching for prospective
target businesses to acquire, the only likely claims to arise would be from our vendors (such as lawyers, investment bankers, etc.) or
prospective target businesses.
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As described above, pursuant to the obligation
contained in our underwriting agreement, we will seek to have all vendors, service providers, prospective target businesses or other entities
with which we do business execute agreements with us waiving any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to any monies held
in the trust account.
As a result of this obligation, the claims
that could be made against us are significantly limited and the likelihood that any claim that would result in any liability extending
to the trust account is remote. Further, our sponsor may be liable only to the extent necessary to ensure that the amounts in the trust
account are not reduced below (i) $10.10 per public share or (ii) such lesser amount per public share held in the trust account as
of the date of the liquidation of the trust account, due to reductions in value of the trust assets, in each case net of the amount of
interest withdrawn to pay taxes and will not be liable as to any claims under our indemnity of the underwriters of the
IPO against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. In the event that an executed waiver is deemed to be
unenforceable against a third party, our sponsor will not be responsible to the extent of any liability for such third-party claims.
If we file a bankruptcy petition or an involuntary
bankruptcy petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, the proceeds held in the trust account could be subject to applicable bankruptcy
law, and may be included in our bankruptcy estate and subject to the claims of third parties with priority over the claims of our stockholders.
To the extent any bankruptcy claims deplete the trust account, we cannot assure you we will be able to return $10.10 per share to our
public stockholders. Additionally, if we file a bankruptcy petition or an involuntary bankruptcy petition is filed against us that is
not dismissed, any distributions received by stockholders could be viewed under applicable debtor/creditor and/or bankruptcy laws as either
a “preferential transfer” or a “fraudulent conveyance.” As a result, a bankruptcy court could seek to recover
some or all amounts received by our stockholders. Furthermore, our board of directors may be viewed as having breached its fiduciary duty
to our creditors and/or may have acted in bad faith, thereby exposing itself and our company to claims of punitive damages, by paying
public stockholders from the trust account prior to addressing the claims of creditors. We cannot assure you that claims will not be brought
against us for these reasons.
Our public stockholders will be entitled to
receive funds from the trust account only upon the earlier to occur of: (i) the completion of our initial business combination, (ii) the
redemption of any public shares properly tendered in connection with a stockholder vote to amend any provisions of our amended and restated
certificate of incorporation (A) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do
not complete our initial business combination within 12 months from the closing of the IPO (or up to 18 months from the closing of the
IPO if we extend the period of time to consummate a business combination, as described in more detail in this Annual Report) or (B) with
respect to any other provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity, and (iii) the
redemption of all of our public shares if we are unable to complete our business combination within 12 months from the closing of the
IPO (or up to 18 months from the closing of the IPO if we extend the period of time to consummate a business combination, as described
in more detail in this Annual Report), subject to applicable law.
In no other circumstances will a stockholder
have any right or interest of any kind to or in the trust account. In the event we seek stockholder approval in connection with our initial
business combination, a stockholder’s voting in connection with the initial business combination alone will not result in a stockholder’s
redeeming its shares to us for an applicable pro rata share of the trust account. Such stockholder must have also exercised its redemption
rights as described above. These provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, like all provisions of our amended
and restated certificate of incorporation, may be amended with a stockholder vote.
Competition
In identifying, evaluating and selecting a target
business for our initial business combination, we may encounter intense competition from other entities having a business objective similar
to ours, including other blank check companies, private equity groups and leveraged buyout funds, and operating businesses seeking strategic
business combinations. Many of these entities are well established and have extensive experience identifying and effecting business combinations
directly or through affiliates. Moreover, many of these competitors possess greater financial, technical, human and other resources than
we do. Our ability to acquire larger target businesses will be limited by our available financial resources. This inherent limitation
gives others an advantage in pursuing the initial business combination of a target business. Furthermore, our obligation to pay cash in
connection with our public stockholders who exercise their redemption rights may reduce the resources available to us for our initial
business combination, and the future dilution they potentially represent, may not be viewed favorably by certain target businesses. Either
of these factors may place us at a competitive disadvantage in successfully negotiating an initial business combination.
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Employees
We currently have two officers. These individuals
are not obligated to devote any specific number of hours to our matters but they intend to devote as much of their time as they deem necessary
to our affairs until we have completed our initial business combination. The amount of time they will devote in any time period will vary
based on whether a target business has been selected for our initial business combination and the stage of the initial business combination
process we are in. We do not intend to have any full time employees prior to the completion of our initial business combination. We
consider the Company’s relations with the Company’s employees to be good.
Periodic Reporting and Financial Information
Class A common stock and rights have been
registered under the Exchange Act and we have reporting obligations under such act, including the requirement that we file annual, quarterly
and current reports with the SEC. In accordance with the requirements of the Exchange Act, our annual reports will contain financial statements
audited and reported on by our independent registered public accountants.
We will provide stockholders with audited financial
statements of the prospective target business as part of the tender offer materials or proxy solicitation materials sent to stockholders
to assist them in assessing the target business. In all likelihood, these financial statements will need to be prepared in accordance
with, or reconciled to, GAAP, or IFRS, depending on the circumstances, and the historical financial statements may be required to be audited
in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. These financial statement requirements may limit the pool of potential targets we may conduct
an initial business combination with because some targets may be unable to provide such statements in time for us to disclose such statements
in accordance with federal proxy rules and complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame. We cannot assure
you that any particular target business identified by us as a potential business combination candidate will have financial statements
prepared in accordance with GAAP or that the potential target business will be able to prepare its financial statements in accordance
with the requirements outlined above. To the extent that these requirements cannot be met, we may not be able to acquire the proposed
target business. While this may limit the pool of potential business combination candidates, we do not believe that this limitation will
be material.
We will be required to evaluate our internal
control procedures for the fiscal year ending March 31, 2022 as required by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Only in the event we are deemed to
be a large accelerated filer or an accelerated filer, and no longer qualify as an emerging growth company, will we be required to have
our internal control procedures audited. A target company may not be in compliance with the provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act regarding
adequacy of their internal controls. The development of the internal controls of any such entity to achieve compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley
Act may increase the time and costs necessary to complete any such business combination. We have no current intention of filing a Form 15
to suspend our reporting or other obligations under the Exchange Act prior or subsequent to the consummation of our initial business combination.
We will remain an emerging growth company until
the earlier of (1) the last day of the fiscal year (a) following the fifth anniversary of the completion of the IPO, (b) in
which we have total annual gross revenue of at least $1.07 billion, or (c) in which we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer,
which means the market value of our shares of Class A common stock that are held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of the
prior September 30, and (2) the date on which we have issued more than $1.0 billion in non-convertible debt during the prior three-year
period.
Text extracted from the filing as submitted to EDGAR. Formatting, tables and exhibits are simplified for reading; the original document is authoritative for anything you rely on.