VenHub Global, Inc. 10-K

Item 1A. Risk Factors An investment in our Common Stock involves a high degree of risk. You should carefully consider the risks described below before investing in our Common Stock. If any of the following risks occur, our business, operating results, and financial condition could be seriously harmed. RISKS RELATED TO VENHUB’S BUSINESS AND INDUSTRY Because we are an early-stage company with minimal revenue and a history of losses and we expect to continue to incur substantial losses for the foreseeable future, we cannot assure you that we can or will be able to operate profitably. We are an early-stage company. We were formed and commenced operations in 2023. We face all the risks associated with newer companies, including significant competition from existing and emerging competitors in the automated smart store industry, some of which are established and have better access to capital. In addition, as a new business, we may encounter unforeseen expenses, difficulties, complications, delays and other known and unknown factors. We will need to transition from an early-stage company to a company capable of supporting larger-scale commercial activities. If we are not successful in such a transition, our business, results, and financial condition will be harmed. We have not been profitable to date, and there can be no assurance that we will not continue to incur net losses in the future. We may not succeed in expanding our customer base and product offerings and even if we do, may never generate revenue that is significant enough to achieve profitability. Even if we do achieve profitability, we may not be able to sustain or increase profitability on a quarterly or annual basis. Furthermore, we may not be able to control overhead expenses even where our operations successfully expand. Our failure to become and remain profitable would depress our value and could impair our ability to raise capital, expand our business, diversify our product offerings or even continue our operations. We have a limited operating history, which may make it difficult to evaluate our business and prospects. We face the risks associated with businesses in their early stages, as we have a limited operating history and our prospects are hard to evaluate. Any evaluation of our business and our prospects must be considered in light of the uncertainties, delays, difficulties and expenses commonly experienced by companies at this stage, which generally include unanticipated problems and additional costs relating to the development and testing of products, product approval or clearance, regulatory compliance, production, product introduction and marketing and competition. For example, we have incurred losses for each of the past few years, driven mainly by our investments in research and development costs. Many of these factors are beyond the control of our management. In addition, our performance will be subject to other factors beyond our control, including general economic conditions and conditions in the robotics industry. Accordingly, our business and success face risks from uncertainties faced by developing companies in a competitive environment. There can be no assurance that our efforts will be successful or that we will ultimately be able to attain profitability. Our former independent auditors have issued an audit opinion for the year ended December 31, 2024, for VenHub Global, Inc. that includes a statement describing our going concern status. Our financial status creates doubt whether we will continue as a going concern. As described in Note 3 of our accompanying financial statements, our auditors have issued a going concern opinion regarding the Company. This means there is substantial doubt we can continue as an ongoing business for the next twelve months. The financial statements do not include any adjustments that might result from the uncertainty regarding our ability to continue in business. As such, we may have to cease operations and investors could lose part or all of their investment in the Company. If we fail to effectively manage our growth, we may not be able to design, develop, manufacture, market and launch new generations of our robotic systems, firmware, and software products successfully. We intend to invest significantly in order to expand our business. Our expansion plans involve significant reliance on AI technologies and data collection, which come with inherent risks including, but not limited to, data breaches, AI malfunctions, and regulatory changes. We also import key components from China, exposing us to risks of supply chain disruptions and potential trade restrictions. Any failure to manage our growth effectively, or to mitigate these risks, could materially and adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results. We intend to expand our operations significantly. We expect our expansion to include: ● expanding the management, engineering, and product teams; ● identifying and recruiting individuals with the appropriate relevant experience; ● hiring and training new personnel; 8 ● launching commercialization of new products and services; ● forecasting production and revenue; ● entering into relationships with one or more third-party design for manufacturing partners and third-party contract manufacturers and/or expanding our internal manufacturing capabilities; ● controlling expenses and investments in anticipation of expanded operations; ● carrying out acquisitions and entering into collaborations, in-licensing arrangements, joint ventures, strategic alliances or partnerships; ● expanding and enhancing internal information technology, safety and security systems; ● conducting demonstrations; ● entering into agreements with suppliers and service providers; and ● implementing and enhancing administrative infrastructure, systems, and processes. Should market penetration warrant, we intend to continue to hire a significant number of additional personnel, including engineers, design, production, operations personnel and service technicians for our robotic systems and services. Because of the innovative nature of our technology, individuals with the necessary experience may not be available to hire, and as a result, we will need to expend significant time and expense, to recruit and retain experienced employees and appropriately train any newly hired employees. Competition for individuals with experience designing, producing, and servicing robots and their software is intense, and we may not be able to attract, integrate, train, motivate or retain additional highly qualified personnel. The failure to attract, integrate, train, motivate and retain these additional employees could seriously harm our business, prospects, financial condition, and operating results. Our revenues and profits are subject to fluctuations. We are currently focused on the development and commercialization of our autonomous store products. As of the date of this filing, five stores have been developed, including two stores deployed directly by the Company. Our pre-orders and current deployments may not be indicative of future revenue or growth. Any future revenues and growth are dependent on our ability to convert our pre-orders into deployed and revenue-generating units, as well as management’s assessment of market opportunities. It is difficult to accurately forecast our revenues and operating results, and these may fluctuate in the future due to a number of factors, including: changes in customer demand for our autonomous store units and related hardware, firmware, and software offerings; customers’ available capital to invest in our products; general economic and market conditions; our ability to market our Company and technology effectively; and evolving industry and regulatory requirements. Although we have received pre-orders, we have only limited deployment experience, and therefore have no reliable metric to determine the likelihood that pre-orders will convert into final sales. As a result, our operating results may fluctuate materially from period to period, and at times these fluctuations may be significant and could adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations. We are dependent on general economic conditions. Our business model is dependent on companies purchasing our autonomous store units. Our business model is thus dependent on national and international economic conditions. Uncertain economic conditions have created volatility in the U.S. Such adverse national and international economic conditions may reduce the future availability of dollars companies have to spend on our services, which would negatively impact our revenues and possibly our ability to continue operations. For example, higher interest rates have resulted in a decrease in investment activity and overall capital allocation to hardware startups or for customers to effectively finance the purchase of our products. The worsening of global economic conditions has in the past adversely affected, and could in the future, adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations, and the worsening of economic conditions in certain specific regions of the country could impact the expansion and success of our businesses in such areas. 9 Many of our planned features are still in development or conceptual and may not be commercialized on our anticipated timeline, if at all. While our Version 1 Smart Stores are commercially available today, many of the features we describe in this filing — including ID verification technology for age-restricted products, enhanced AI-driven analytics, solar-powered alternatives, and mobile or retrofit Smart Store formats — are still in development. In addition, we are evaluating a number of longer-term opportunities, such as larger-format Smart Stores, biometric authentication, and expanded personalization capabilities, which remain conceptual at this stage. The pace and timing of development for these features will depend on a variety of factors, including technological feasibility, available capital resources, customer demand, and regulatory requirements. As a result, there can be no assurance that any of these features will be completed, successfully tested, or commercialized within our expected timeframe, or at all. If we are unable to deliver new features as planned, our growth prospects, competitive position, and financial results could be adversely affected. We rely on the availability of certain raw materials and a limited number of suppliers for key components, and any disruption in our supply chain could adversely affect our operations. Our Smart Stores require a range of raw materials and specialized components, including structural steel, refrigeration units, robotics hardware, electronic components, sensors, and display systems. While many of these materials are available from multiple sources, certain specialized components — such as robotics assemblies and semiconductor chips — are currently obtained from a limited number of suppliers. Supplier concentration increases our vulnerability to supply chain disruptions. Global supply chains for certain materials and components have experienced significant volatility due to factors such as semiconductor shortages, increased demand for electronics, commodity price fluctuations, shipping delays, labor shortages, and geopolitical conditions. If any of our suppliers were unable or unwilling to meet our requirements, or if the cost of raw materials or critical components were to rise significantly, we could face production delays, higher operating costs, or reduced margins. Although we are pursuing secondary sourcing arrangements and evaluating long-term supply agreements to mitigate these risks, there can be no assurance that such measures will be sufficient. Any material disruption in the supply of raw materials or components could adversely affect our ability to manufacture and deploy Smart Stores on a timely and cost-effective basis, which in turn could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations. The inability of our supply chain to deliver certain key electrical components, such as computer components and accessories, could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. Autonomous/robotic smart stores rely on specialized hardware components such as sensors, robotics arms, and computer systems, which are often sourced from a limited number of suppliers. Disruptions in the supply of these critical components — due to manufacturing issues, resource scarcity, or geopolitical tensions — can delay the production or maintenance of the robotic systems, impacting store operations and customer service. Dependence on a few key vendors for essential software and hardware increases vulnerability. If a key vendor fails financially, faces production halts, or discontinues a crucial product line, it could significantly disrupt operations. Developing contingency plans, including identifying alternative suppliers and maintaining strategic stockpiles of essential components, is critical. Supply chain disruptions may delay the timing of production and maintenance of our robots, which in turn could negatively impact our business, results of operations and financial condition. In addition, most components used in our units are manufactured overseas. The logistics networks that support the delivery and maintenance of robotic components are susceptible to various risks, including transportation delays, regulatory changes, and natural disasters. Disruptions in logistics can lead to inventory shortages, impacting the ability to stock stores and maintain equipment. Shifts in geo-political relationships between the US and component supplier countries could generally limit access to component parts all together. Changes in trade policies, tariffs, and international relations can affect the supply chain’s stability. For example, import restrictions or increased tariffs on goods from a primary supplier country could increase costs or limit access to necessary technology. 10 As an advanced technologies company, we are also faced with supply chains issues created indirectly from rapidly transforming standards and benchmarks in artificial intelligence and robotics. Rapid advancements in technology can quickly render certain components or software obsolete, complicating maintenance and updates. Managing the lifecycle of technology products, planning for end-of-life components, and staying abreast of new technological developments are essential to minimize this risk. Our failure to attract and retain highly qualified personnel in the future could harm our business. We are an innovative technology company. We may not be able to locate or attract qualified individuals for important positions, such as software engineers, robotics engineers, machine vision and machine learning experts and others, which could affect our ability to grow and expand our business. We may also face intense competition for qualified individuals from numerous other companies, including other similarly situated technology companies, many of whom have greater financial and other resources than we do. In addition, new hires often require significant training and, in many cases, take significant time before they achieve full productivity. We may incur significant costs to attract and retain qualified personnel, including significant expenditures related to salaries and benefits and compensation expenses related to equity awards, and we may lose new employees to our competitors or other companies before we realize the benefit of our investment in recruiting and training them. Moreover, new employees may not be or become as productive as we expect, as we may face challenges in adequately or appropriately integrating them into our workforce and culture. If we are unable to attract, integrate and retain suitably qualified individuals who can meet our technical, operational, and managerial requirements, on a timely basis or at all, our business, results of operation and financial condition could be adversely affected. Our units rely on sophisticated software technology that incorporate third-party components and networks to operate, and the inability to maintain licenses for software technology, errors in the software we license, or the terms of open-source licenses could result in increased costs or reduced service levels, which would adversely affect our business. Our units require certain third-party software and networks to function safely and effectively, and our business relies on certain third-party software obtained under licenses from other companies. Although we continue to develop our own software and firmware products and solutions, we anticipate that we will continue to rely on such third-party software in the future. Although we believe that there are commercially reasonable alternatives to the third-party software, we currently license, this may not always be the case, or it may be difficult or costly to replace. In addition, integration of new third-party software may require significant work and require substantial investment of our time and resources. Our use of additional or alternative third-party software would require us to enter into license agreements with third parties, which may not be available on commercially reasonable terms or at all. Many of the risks associated with the use of third-party software cannot be eliminated, and these risks could negatively affect our business. Furthermore, performance degradation or lack of access to such software and networks can result in poor operational performance or even grounding of our operations of autonomous stores until it is resolved, which can adversely impact our ability to continue our operations. Additionally, some software powering our technology systems incorporates software covered by open-source licenses. The terms of many open-source licenses have not been interpreted by U.S. courts, and there is a risk that the licenses could be construed in a manner that imposes unanticipated conditions or restrictions on our ability to operate our systems. In the event that portions of our proprietary software are determined to be subject to an open-source license, we could be required to publicly release the affected portions of our source code or re-engineer all or a portion of our technology systems, each of which could reduce or eliminate the value of our technology systems. Such a risk could be difficult or impossible to eliminate and could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. The benefits to customers of our products could be supplanted by other technologies or solutions or competitors’ products that utilize similar technology to ours in a more effective way. The benefits to customers of our products could be supplanted by other technologies or solutions or competitors’ products that utilize similar technology to ours in a more effective way. We cannot be sure that alternative technologies or improvements to artificial intelligence, industrial automation or other technologies, processes or industries will not match or exceed the benefits of our products or be more cost effective than our products. The development of any alternative technology that can compete with or supplant our products may materially and adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results, including in ways we do not currently anticipate. Any failure by us to develop new or enhanced technologies or processes, or to react to changes in existing technologies, could materially delay our development and introduction of new and enhanced products, which could result in the loss of competitiveness of our robotic systems and solutions, decreased revenue and a loss of market share to competitors. Our research and development efforts may not be sufficient to adapt to new or changing technologies. While we plan to upgrade and adapt our units as we or others develop new technology, our robotic systems and solutions may not compete effectively with alternative products if we are not able to source and integrate the latest technology into our systems and solutions. 11 Our competitor base may change or expand as we continue to develop and commercialize our robotic systems in the future. A number of these companies may have, or may attain, more resources and/or greater market recognition than we do. These or other competitors may develop new technologies or products that provide superior results to customers or are less expensive than our products. Our technologies and products could have reduced competitiveness by such developments. Our competitors may respond more quickly to new or emerging technologies, undertake more extensive marketing campaigns, have greater financial, marketing, manufacturing and other resources than we do or may be more successful in attracting potential customers, employees and strategic partners. In addition, potential customers could have long-standing or contractual relationships with competitors. Potential customers may be reluctant to adopt our products, particularly if they compete with or have the potential to compete with or diminish the need/utilization of products or technologies supported through these existing relationships. If we are not able to compete effectively, our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results will be negatively impacted. In addition, because we operate in a new market, the actions of our competitors could adversely affect our business. Adverse events such as product defects or legal claims with respect to competing or similar products could cause reputational harm to the robotics market on the whole and, accordingly, our business. Our VenHub Smart Stores rely heavily on artificial intelligence for operations of the units. Interruptions, hallucinations, errors, and malfunctions created from our artificial intelligence could limit the functionality of our VenHub Smart stores and cause damage to our reputation in the market. Our business relies heavily on artificial intelligence (AI) for the automation of our smart stores. While AI enables us to provide highly efficient services, any technical failures, malfunctions, or inaccuracies in AI algorithms could lead to significant operational disruptions. These disruptions could result in lost revenue, customer dissatisfaction, or even legal claims if the failure leads to inaccurate billing or product handling. AI drives most of our core operations, including inventory management, customer interactions, and security. If we experience issues with the AI software, such as bugs, system crashes, or vulnerability to cyberattacks, it could materially affect our ability to operate efficiently. In particular, cyberattacks on AI systems could expose us to data breaches, theft of proprietary information, or operational sabotage, potentially damaging our reputation and exposing us to legal liabilities. In addition, continuous improvement and maintenance of our AI systems are required to keep up with technological advancements and changing customer needs. There is a risk that the integration of new AI technologies, or updates to existing systems, could lead to unexpected bugs, incompatibilities, or performance issues. This could result in temporary service interruptions or diminished operational efficiency, which may negatively impact our financial performance. Our AI systems make autonomous decisions in the operation of our smart stores, including inventory management, pricing, and customer service interactions. If these AI-driven decisions are flawed or inaccurate, we could be exposed to liability claims. For example, if an AI system causes damage to customer property or provides misleading product information, we could face lawsuits or fines, harming our reputation and financial standing. The deployment of artificial intelligence and robotics as a replacement to conventional brick and mortar stores may create social and ethical concerns that could indirectly affect use of our VenHub Smart Stores. The deployment of autonomous systems in retail can lead to significant job displacement, as robots replace human workers in roles such as cashiers, restockers, and customer service representatives. This can result in public backlash and negative media coverage, especially in regions with already high unemployment rates. To mitigate these risks, the Company intends to address these concerns proactively by demonstrating commitment to workforce retraining programs or showing how automation can create new job opportunities in other areas. 12 Autonomous stores often utilize a variety of sensors and cameras to manage inventory, track purchases, and enhance customer experience. This raises concerns about privacy and the extent of surveillance. Consumers may be wary of being monitored so closely, and any misuse of data can lead to trust issues. Ensuring transparent communication about data use, implementing stringent data protection measures, and adhering to privacy laws are essential steps to mitigate these risks. Robotic systems must be designed to be accessible to all customers, including those with disabilities. This includes physical accessibility to the store as well as the usability of automated systems. Failure to consider these factors can lead to exclusion and discrimination complaints, potentially resulting in legal consequences and harming the Company’s reputation. Moreover, the introduction of high-tech solutions in retail can widen the socio-economic divide. Those with less access to technology or the internet might find themselves at a disadvantage, unable to benefit from the conveniences offered by autonomous stores. In addition, the use of artificial intelligence in customer interactions and inventory management involves decisions on how AI algorithms are developed and the biases they may contain. There is a risk that AI systems might make decisions that are perceived as unfair or discriminatory. Addressing these concerns involves investing in ethical AI development practices, including transparency in AI decision processes and ongoing monitoring for biased outcomes. Additionally, the use of AI technologies is subject to evolving laws and regulations that could impose new obligations on our operations. For instance, changes in laws governing data privacy, AI-driven decision-making, or cybersecurity could increase our compliance costs. Additionally, we may face regulatory scrutiny over the fairness, transparency, and accountability of our AI systems, especially if our algorithms are perceived to make biased or unfair decisions affecting customers. Failure to ultimately engage end users could affect our potential to continue to grow the business. Generally, our business strategy is to sell units to our customers who may then deploy the units as they see fit, so long as such deployment is within the standards set forth in the purchase agreements. Ultimately, acquiring end users will be driven by our customers’ ability to successfully deploy the units for their own business. Although we will continue to support marketing efforts alongside our customers, we cannot ensure adoption of our units and will not manage the operations of the units. Moreover, regardless of our efforts or the efforts of our customers, end user adoption is limited. We know that automated vending machines and kitchens have expanded market share with mixed success. We also know that despite the initial excitement regarding stores like Amazon Go, recent trends suggest that user adoption isn’t sufficient to continue operations. We have designed and developed our robotic systems with the goal of reducing operating costs and greenhouse gases. Even if we successfully market our products and services to customers, the purchase, adoption and the use of the products may be materially and negatively impacted if our customers resist or delay the use and adoption of these new technology products and services. End users may resist or delay the adoption of our products and services for several reasons, including lack of confidence in autonomous and semi-autonomous delivery vehicles. If our customers resist or delay adoption of our automated smart store systems, our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results will be materially and adversely affected. Defects, glitches, or malfunctions in our products or the software that operates them, failure of our products to perform as expected, connectivity issues or operator errors may result in product recalls, lower than expected return on investment for customers and could cause significant safety concerns, each of which could adversely affect our results of operations, financial condition, and our reputation. Our products incorporate sophisticated computer software. Complex software frequently contains errors, especially when first introduced. Our software may experience errors or performance problems in the future. If any part of our products’ hardware or software were to fail, the service mission could be compromised. Additionally, users may not use our products in accordance with safety protocols and training, which could increase the risk of failure. Any such occurrence could cause a delay in market acceptance of our products, damage to our reputation, product recalls, increased service and warranty costs, product liability claims and loss of revenue relating to such hardware or software defects. 13 We anticipate that as part of our ordinary course of business we may be subject to product liability claims alleging defects in the design or manufacture of our products. A product liability claim, regardless of our merit or eventual outcome, could result in significant legal defense costs and high punitive damage payments. Although we maintain product liability insurance, the coverage is subject to deductibles and limitations and may not be adequate to cover future claims. Additionally, we may be unable to maintain our existing product liability insurance in the future at satisfactory rates or adequate amounts. Even if our products perform properly and are used as intended, if operators sustain any injuries while using our products, we could be exposed to liability and our results of operations, financial condition and our reputation may be adversely affected. Our products contain complex technology and must be used as designed and intended in order to operate safely and effectively. While we expect to develop a training, customer service and maintenance and servicing infrastructure to ensure users are equipped to operate our products in a safe manner, we cannot be sure that the products will ultimately be used as designed and intended. In addition, we cannot be sure that we will be able to predict all the ways in which use or misuse of the products can lead to injury or damage to property, and our training resources may not be successful at preventing all incidents. If operators were to cause any injuries or damage to property while using our products, in a manner consistent with our training and instructions or otherwise, we could be exposed to liability and our results of operations, financial condition and our reputation may be adversely affected. If we cannot protect, maintain and, if necessary, enforce our intellectual property rights, our ability to develop and commercialize products may be adversely impacted. Our success, in large part, depends on our ability to protect and maintain the proprietary nature of our technology. We must prosecute and maintain our existing patents and obtain new patents. Some of our proprietary information may not be patentable, and there can be no assurance that others will not utilize similar or superior solutions to compete with us. We cannot guarantee that we will develop proprietary products that are patentable, and that, if issued, any patent will give us a competitive advantage or that such patent will not be challenged by third parties. The process of obtaining patents can be time consuming with no certainty of success, as a patent may not issue or may not have sufficient scope or strength to protect the intellectual property it was intended to protect. We cannot assure you that our means of protecting our proprietary rights will suffice or that others will not independently develop competitive technology or design around patents or other intellectual property rights issued to us. If any of our products or the technology underlying our products is covered by third-party patents or other intellectual property rights, we could be subject to various legal actions. Even if a patent is issued, it does not guarantee that it is valid or enforceable. Any patents that we or our licensors have obtained or obtain in the future may be challenged, invalidated or unenforceable. Pursuant to NRS 78.138(3), our Board of Directors has determined that initiating actions to protect our intellectual property, when necessary, is in the best interests of the corporation, despite the costs and time involved, as such actions are essential to protecting our business assets and competitive position. We may be subject to claims of infringement of third-party intellectual property rights. Our operating results may be adversely affected if third parties claim that our products infringed their patent, copyright, or other intellectual property rights. We cannot assure you that our products do not, or will not in the future, infringe patents held by others. Although there have been no allegations made to this effect, we cannot assure you that we will not receive such correspondence from third parties or competitors in the future. Such assertions could lead to expensive and unpredictable litigation, diverting the attention of management and technical personnel. Litigation may be necessary to enforce our intellectual property rights, to protect our trade secrets, to determine the validity and scope of the proprietary rights of others, or to defend against claims of infringement or invalidity, misappropriation, or other claims. Any such litigation could result in substantial costs and diversion of our resources. Moreover, any settlement of or adverse judgment resulting from such litigation could require us to obtain a license to continue to use the technology that is the subject of the claim, or otherwise restrict or prohibit our use of the technology. Any required licenses may not be available to us on acceptable terms, if at all. An unsuccessful result in such litigation could adversely affect our business, including injunctions, exclusion orders and royalty payments to third parties. Security breaches and other disruptions could compromise our proprietary information and expose us to liability, which would cause our business and reputation to suffer. We rely on trade secrets, technical know-how and other unpatented proprietary information relating to our product development and manufacturing activities to provide us with competitive advantages. We protect this information by entering into confidentiality agreements with our employees, consultants, strategic partners and other third parties. We also design our computer systems and networks and implement various procedures to restrict unauthorized access to the dissemination of our proprietary information. 14 We face internal and external data security threats. For example, current, departing, or former employees or third parties could attempt to improperly use or access our computer systems and networks to copy, obtain or misappropriate our proprietary information or otherwise interrupt our business. Like others, we are also subject to significant system or network disruptions from numerous causes, including computer viruses and other cyber-attacks, facility access issues, new system implementations and energy blackouts. Security breaches, computer malware, phishing, spoofing, and other cyber-attacks have become more prevalent and sophisticated in recent years. We do not believe that such attacks have caused us any material damage to date, but because the techniques used by computer hackers and others to access or sabotage networks constantly evolve and generally are not recognized until launched against a target, we may be unable to anticipate, counter or ameliorate all these techniques. As a result, our and our customers’ proprietary information may be misappropriated, and we cannot predict the impact of any future incident. Any loss of such information could harm our competitive position, result in a loss of customer confidence in the adequacy of our threat mitigation and detection processes and procedures, cause us to incur significant costs to remedy the damages caused by the incident and divert management and other resources. We routinely implement improvements to our network security safeguards, and we are devoting increasing resources to the security of our information technology systems. However, we cannot assure you that such system improvements will be sufficient to prevent or limit the damage from any future cyber-attack or network disruptions. The costs related to cyber-attacks or other security threats or computer systems disruptions typically would not be fully insured or indemnified by others. As a result, the occurrence of any of the events described above could result in the loss of competitive advantages derived from our intellectual property. Moreover, these events may result in the diversion of the attention of management and critical information technology and other resources, or otherwise adversely affect our internal operations and reputation or degrade our financial results and stock price. We may be subject to theft, loss, or misuse of personal data by or about our employees, customers or other third parties, which could increase our expenses, damage our reputation or result in legal or regulatory proceedings. In the ordinary course of our business, we have access to sensitive, confidential, or personal data or information regarding our employees and others that are subject to privacy and security laws and regulations. Therefore, the theft, loss, or misuse of personal data collected, used, stored or transferred by us to run our business, or by our third-party service providers, including business process software applications providers and other vendors that have access to sensitive data, could result in damage to our reputation, disruption of our business activities, significantly increased business and security costs or costs related to defending legal claims. We are also aware of certain media reports relating to the use of our automated systems as elements in law enforcement surveillance efforts. As a general policy, we do not share data with law enforcement, except in certain narrow circumstances where (1) we are required to share data when served with a warrant or subpoena or (2) there are insurance claims, active incident investigations, or acts of armed violence or theft attempts involving the Company’s personnel or property. Global privacy legislation, enforcement, and policy activity in this area are rapidly expanding and creating a complex regulatory compliance environment. For example, the European Union has adopted the General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”), which requires companies to comply with rules regarding the handling of personal data, including its use, protection and the ability of persons whose data is stored to correct or delete such data about themselves. Failure to meet GDPR requirements could result in penalties of up to 4% of worldwide revenue. In addition, the interpretation and application of consumer and data protection laws in the U.S., Europe, and elsewhere are often uncertain and fluid and may be interpreted and applied in a manner that is inconsistent with our data practices. As a result, complying with these changing laws has caused, and could continue to cause, us to incur substantial costs, which could harm our business and the results of operations. Further, failure to comply with existing or new rules may result in significant penalties or orders to stop the alleged non-compliant activity. Finally, even our inadvertent failure to comply with federal, state or international privacy-related or data protection laws and regulations could result in audits, regulatory inquiries or proceedings against us by governmental entities or others. 15 Our business plans require a significant amount of capital. Our future capital needs may require us to sell additional equity or debt securities that may dilute our stockholders or contain terms unfavorable to us or our investors. We expect our capital expenditures to remain significant in the foreseeable future as we continue to develop, improve, and commercialize our autonomous store systems. Although based on our current cash resources and management’s operating plan we believe we will have sufficient liquidity to fund our currently planned operations for the near term, our ability to sustain operations and implement our growth strategy will require raising additional capital. Our actual capital needs will depend on a variety of factors, many of which are outside of our control. These include: the pace at which we can commercialize and scale our autonomous stores; the cost and timing of research and development activities; manufacturing and deployment expenses; customer demand; general economic conditions; and potential unanticipated costs such as accelerated product improvements, strategic alliances, or acquisitions. Because we have limited experience commercializing our autonomous stores on a large scale, we have little historical data on long-term demand, which makes our capital requirements inherently uncertain. To meet these needs, we will likely be required to seek additional equity or debt financing. Such financing may not be available in a timely manner, on acceptable terms, or at all. If available, additional equity or equity-linked securities could dilute existing stockholders, while debt financing could increase our leverage and impose restrictive covenants. If we are unable to raise sufficient funds when needed, we may be forced to significantly reduce our spending, delay or cancel planned activities, alter our growth strategy, or even curtail or discontinue operations. We will be required to raise additional capital in order to develop our technology and scale our commercial delivery operations. However, we may be unable to raise additional capital needed to fund and grow our business. We will need additional capital to develop our next generation of autonomous smart stores and scale our operations. We will not be able to continue product development and our autonomous smart store operations if we cannot raise additional debt and/or equity financing. We may not be able to increase our capital resources by engaging in additional debt or equity financings. Even if we complete such financings, they may result in dilution to our existing investors and include additional rights or terms that may be unfavorable to our existing investor base. These circumstances could materially and adversely affect our financial results and impair our ability to achieve our business objectives. Additionally, we may be required to accept terms that restrict our ability to incur additional indebtedness or take other actions (including terms that require us to maintain specified liquidity or other ratios) that would otherwise be in the best interests of our stockholders. Adverse developments affecting the financial services industry, such as actual events or concerns involving liquidity, defaults or non-performance by domestic and international financial institutions or transactional counterparties, could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. Actual events involving reduced or limited liquidity, defaults, non-performance or other adverse developments that affect domestic and international financial institutions or other companies in the financial services industry or the financial services industry generally or concerns or rumors about any events of these kinds, have in the past and may in the future lead to market-wide liquidity problems. For example, on March 10, 2023, Silicon Valley Bank was closed by the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation as receiver. Although we currently do not have any debt obligations, future financings may require that we engage with similar institutions, exposing ourselves to greater risk. Furthermore, investor concerns regarding the U.S. or international financial systems could result in less favorable commercial financing terms, including higher interest rates or costs and tighter financial and operating covenants or systemic limitations on access to credit and liquidity sources, thereby making it more difficult for us to acquire financing on acceptable terms or at all. Any decline in available funding or access to our cash and liquidity resources could, among other risks, adversely impact our ability to meet our operating expenses, financial obligations or fulfil our other obligations or result in breaches of our financial and/or contractual obligations. Any of these impacts, or any other impacts resulting from the factors described above or other related or similar factors not described above, could have material adverse impacts on our liquidity and our current and/or projected business operations, financial condition and results of operations. Variations in local permitting and zoning rules may delay or even prevent roll out of VenHub Smart Stores in certain locales that could affect our overall footprint. VenHub and its customers may face challenges in obtaining local permits and complying with zoning ordinances, which could adversely affect the deployment and operation of Smart Stores. Navigating the complex and varied permitting processes and zoning laws across different jurisdictions can lead to delays, additional costs, or the inability to operate in certain areas. These regulatory hurdles could impede our expansion efforts, disrupt our business plans, and negatively impact our financial performance. Moreover, although we have designed and built our first stores with California and Nevada regulations in mind, varied or additional requirements may require additional efforts in design and build of VenHub Smartstores that may slow production and delivery of VenHub Smartstores. Furthermore, any changes in local regulations or enforcement practices could further complicate compliance efforts and introduce additional operational risks. 16 Our business depends on discretionary spending patterns in the areas where our customers deploy the autonomous smart stores, as well as in the broader economy. Economic downturns or other events (like coronavirus variants or similar widespread health/pandemic outbreaks) impacting the United States and global economy could materially adversely affect our results of operations. Purchases at autonomous smart stores are discretionary for consumers, and therefore, we are susceptible to changes in discretionary spending patterns or economic slowdowns in the geographic areas where these stores on our partners’ platforms operate, and in the economy at large. Discretionary consumer spending can be impacted by general economic conditions, unemployment, consumer debt, inflation, rising gasoline prices, interest rates, consumer confidence, and other macroeconomic factors. We believe that consumers are generally more willing to make discretionary purchases, including shopping at autonomous smart stores during favorable economic conditions. Disruptions in the overall economy (including disruptions due to coronavirus (“COVID-19”) or similar health/pandemic events), including high unemployment, inflation, rising gasoline prices, financial market volatility and unpredictability, and the related reduction in consumer confidence, could negatively affect sales throughout the autonomous smart store industry, including transactions on our partners’ platforms. Additionally, operators of these autonomous stores may be negatively impacted by general economic conditions, supply chain issues, labor shortages, inflation, or other macroeconomic factors, which could negatively impact their ability to fulfil customer needs. There is also a risk that if uncertain economic conditions persist for an extended period of time or worsen, consumers might make long-lasting changes to their discretionary spending behavior, including shopping less frequently at these autonomous stores. The ability of the U.S. economy to handle this uncertainty is likely to be affected by many national and international factors that are beyond our control. These factors, including national, regional and local politics and economic conditions, continued impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, disposable consumer income and consumer confidence, also affect discretionary consumer spending. If any of these factors cause autonomous stores to cease operations or cease using our partners’ platforms, it could also significantly harm our financial results, for the reasons set forth elsewhere in these risk factors. Continued uncertainty in or a worsening of the economy, generally or in a number of our markets, and consumers’ reactions to these trends could adversely affect our business and cause us to, among other things, reduce the number and frequency of new market openings or cease operations in existing markets. Moreover, inflation also increases the cost of labor and materials needed to build and operate autonomous systems. For example, we have observed an increase in the cost of labor for managing and maintaining autonomous systems in the field over the past year. However, over the longer time horizon, technological improvements continue to reduce the cost of our key components such as sensors, batteries, and computers. While the unit cost of labor for operating these systems will increase over time with inflation, autonomous technology leverages labor more efficiently than manual retail operations. As such, we believe labor inflation increases the cost of manual retail operations more than it increases the cost of operating autonomous systems. However, we believe improvements in automation will continue to reduce the rate of labor usage. Our autonomous smart stores are disruptive to the traditional convenience store, retail stores, pharmacies, lockers, and any and all distribution or sales outlets and vending industries, and important assumptions about the market demand, pricing, adoption rates and sales cycle for our current and future stores may be inaccurate. The market demand for and adoption of our autonomous stores is unproven, and important assumptions about the characteristics of targeted markets, pricing and sales cycles may be inaccurate. Although we have engaged in ongoing dialogue with potential customers, we have no binding commitments to purchase products and services. Existing or new regulatory or safety standards, or resistance by customer employees and labor unions, all of which are outside of our control, could cause delays or otherwise impair adoption of these new technologies, which will adversely affect our growth, financial position, and prospects. Given the evolving nature of the markets in which we operate, it is difficult to predict customer demand or adoption rates for our products or the future growth of the markets we expect to target. If one or more of the targeted markets experience a shift in customer or prospective customer demand, our products may not compete as effectively, if at all, and they may not be fully developed into commercial products. As a result, any projections necessarily reflect various estimates and assumptions that may not prove accurate and these projections could differ materially from actual results because of the risks included in this “ Risk Factors ” section, among others. If demand does not develop as expected or if we cannot accurately forecast pricing, adoption rates and sales cycle for our products, our business, results of operations and financial condition will be adversely affected. 17 Our systems, products, technologies and services and related equipment may have shorter useful lives than we anticipate. Our growth strategy depends in part on developing systems, products, technologies and services. These reusable systems, products, technologies and services and systems will have a limited useful life. While we intend to design our products and technologies for a certain lifespan, which corresponds to a number of cycles, there can be no assurance as to the actual operational life of a product or that the operational life of individual components will be consistent with its design life. A number of factors will impact the useful lives of our products and systems, including, among other things, the quality of their design and construction, the durability of their component parts and availability of any replacement components and the occurrence of any anomaly or series of anomalies or other risks affecting the technology during launch and in orbit. In addition, any improvements in technology may make our existing products, designs or any component of our products obsolete prior to the end of their lifecycle. If our systems, products, technologies and services and related equipment have shorter useful lives than we currently anticipate, this may lead to delays in increasing the rate of our follow on work and new business, which would have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. In addition, we are continually learning, and as our engineering and manufacturing expertise and efficiency increases, we aim to leverage this learning to be able to manufacture our products and equipment using less of our currently installed equipment, which could render our existing inventory obsolete. Any acquisitions, partnerships or joint ventures that we enter into could disrupt our operations and have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. From time to time, we may evaluate potential strategic acquisitions of businesses, including partnerships or joint ventures with third parties. We may not be successful in identifying acquisition, partnership or joint venture candidates. In addition, we may not be able to continue the operational success of such businesses or successfully finance or integrate any businesses that we acquire or with which we form a partnership or joint venture. We may have potential write-offs of acquired assets and/or an impairment of any goodwill recorded as a result of acquisitions. Furthermore, the integration of any acquisition may divert management’s time and resources from our core business and disrupt our operations or may result in conflicts with our business. Any acquisition, partnership or joint venture may not be successful, may reduce our cash reserves, may negatively affect our earnings and financial performance and, to the extent financed with the proceeds of debt, may increase our indebtedness. Further, depending on market conditions, investor perceptions of us and other factors, we might not be able to obtain financing on acceptable terms, or at all, to implement any such transaction. We cannot ensure that any acquisition, partnership or joint venture we make will not have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations. Changes to the Company’s business segments and operations could create additional costs and complications that could burden the growth of the Company. As VenHub considers expanding its business segments by operating VenHub-owned stores and developing relationships with white label or other enterprise operations, there are inherent risks associated with such changes. Transitioning from a sales-focused model to operating VenHub-owned stores could require substantial operational adjustments, including resource allocation, management restructuring, and the development of new strategic competencies. Additionally, aligning with white label or enterprise partners may introduce complexities in integration, quality control, and brand consistency. These shifts in business lines could be disruptive, potentially lead to operational challenges, inefficiencies, and increased expenditures. Any inability to effectively manage these transitions could adversely impact VenHub’s business operations, financial performance, and market positioning. 18 As part of growing our business, we may make acquisitions. If we fail to successfully select, execute or integrate our acquisitions, then our business, results of operations and financial condition could be materially adversely affected, and our stock price could decline. Failure to successfully identify, complete, manage and integrate acquisitions could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations and could cause our stock price to decline. From time to time, we may undertake acquisitions to add new products and technologies, acquire talent, gain new sales channels or enter into new markets or sales territories. In addition to possible stockholder approval, we may need approvals and licenses from relevant government authorities for the acquisitions and to comply with any applicable laws and regulations, and a failure to obtain such approvals and licenses could result in delays and increased costs and may disrupt our business strategy. Furthermore, acquisitions and the subsequent integration of new assets, businesses, key personnel, customers, vendors and suppliers require significant attention from our management and could result in a diversion of resources from our existing business, which in turn could have an adverse effect on our operations. Acquired assets or businesses may not generate the financial results we expect. Acquisitions could result in the use of substantial amounts of cash, potentially dilutive issuances of equity securities and exposure to potential unknown liabilities of the acquired business. Moreover, the costs of identifying and consummating acquisitions may be significant. Our management team will have broad discretion in making strategic decisions to execute their growth plans, and there can be no assurance that our management’s decisions will result in successful achievement of our business objectives or will not have unintended consequences that negatively impact our growth prospects. Our management team will have broad discretion in making strategic decisions to execute their growth plans and may devote time and company resources to new or expanded solution offerings, potential acquisitions, prospective customers or other initiatives that do not necessarily improve our operating results or contribute to our growth. Management’s failure to make strategic decisions that are ultimately accretive to our growth may result in unfavorable returns and uncertainty about our prospects, each of which could cause the price of the common stock to decline. Our controlling stockholders have significant influence over the Company. Our Chief Executive Officer, Shahan Ohanessian, along with his wife, Shoushana Ohanessian, who sits as Chairwoman of the Board of Directors, hold, through their limited liability company SSO, LLC, 57,935,029 shares of Common Stock, and 100,000 Series C Preferred Stock which, have voting rights equal to exactly 1,000 votes per each share of Series C Preferred Stock, for a total of 15,7935,029 votes. As a result, Mr. and Mrs. Ohanessian will collectively hold over 87% voting rights on all matters presented to shareholders, limiting shareholders’ ability to affect decision making. 19 Our executive employment agreements include significant cash bonus and equity award provisions, which could increase our expenses or result in substantial dilution to our stockholders. In July 2025, we entered into new employment agreements with our Chief Executive Officer and our President, which became effective in October 2025. These agreements provide for base salaries, potential cash bonuses, and equity awards tied to geographic expansion and performance milestones. While the aggregate potential annual cash bonuses under these agreements could total up to $3.2 million, the payment of such bonuses is subject to the availability of surplus cash, approval of our Board of Directors, and achievement of specified conditions. Accordingly, there can be no assurance as to the timing or amount of any such payments; however, if paid, these bonuses could materially increase our operating expenses and impact our liquidity in future periods. The agreements also provide for equity-based awards that could result in the issuance of a significant number of additional shares if geographic expansion or performance milestones are achieved. For example, the agreements contemplate issuances of up to 1,000,000 shares per U.S. state and 2,000,000 shares per country in which we open or operate Smart Stores, as well as 1,000,000 shares for every 30 Smart Stores launched or sold and 2,000,000 shares upon the listing of our common stock on a national securities exchange. If these milestones are met, the resulting issuances could substantially dilute the ownership interests of our existing stockholders. Together, these cash and equity obligations could adversely affect our liquidity, results of operations, and the value of our common stock. Our incorporation in Nevada may have adverse effects on stockholder rights. Our incorporation in Nevada subjects stockholder rights to the Nevada Revised Statutes, which may materially affect such rights, increase legal uncertainty, and adversely impact market perceptions. Upon reincorporation, the rights of our stockholders and the fiduciary duties of our directors and officers will be governed by the Nevada Revised Statutes (“NRS”), which differ in certain material respects from the Delaware General Corporation Law (“DGCL”). The NRS provides broader statutory protections for directors and officers and lacks the extensive body of judicial precedents available in Delaware, potentially increasing uncertainty in the interpretation and enforcement of corporate law and the resolution of stockholder disputes. Recent legislative developments may further complicate the corporate-law landscape. In March 2025, Delaware enacted significant amendments to the DGCL relating to controller transactions, definitions of “controlling stockholder” and “disinterested director,” and books-and-records inspection rights. Nevada and Texas have likewise adopted amendments aimed at enhancing their attractiveness as incorporation jurisdictions. Changes in any of these regimes may affect how courts evaluate our governance structures or stockholder claims, including the enforceability of charter and bylaw provisions. Moreover, proxy advisory firms have increased scrutiny of reincorporations in 2025 and may issue adverse voting recommendations. Negative sentiment among institutional investors or proxy advisors toward Nevada-domiciled companies could negatively affect our corporate governance scores or the trading market for our common stock. We may also face additional litigation risks and costs related to our forum-selection provisions in our Amended and Restated Bylaws in connection with the reincorporation. Under Nevada Revised Statutes § 78.747, we may adopt exclusive forum provisions for internal corporate claims. While Nevada law expressly permits such provisions, they may still be subject to legal challenges, potentially resulting in parallel proceedings, increased costs, or unenforceable provisions. (See “Description of Securities—Certain Provisions of Nevada Law and of Our Governing Documents.”) Finally, the reincorporation is subject to obtaining requisite corporate approvals and effecting necessary filings. Any delay or failure to complete the reincorporation on our anticipated timeline could result in increased expenses and may divert the attention of management. 20 We and any manufacturing partners and suppliers may rely on complex machinery for production, which involves a significant degree of risk and uncertainty in terms of operational performance and costs. We, any third-party manufacturing partners and suppliers may rely on complex machinery for the production, assembly, repair and maintenance of our robotic systems, which will involve a significant degree of uncertainty and risk in terms of operational performance and costs. Our operational facilities, and those of any third-party manufacturing partners and suppliers, consist or are expected to consist of large-scale machinery combining many components. These components may suffer unexpected malfunctions from time to time and will depend on repairs and spare parts to resume operations, which may not be available when needed. Unexpected malfunctions of these components may significantly affect the intended operational efficiency. Operational performance and costs can be difficult to predict and are often influenced by factors outside of our or any third-party manufacturing partners’ and suppliers’ control, such as, but not limited to, scarcity of natural resources, environmental hazards and remediation, costs associated with decommissioning of machines, labor disputes and strikes, difficulty or delays in obtaining governmental permits, damages or defects in electronic systems, industrial accidents, fire including wild fires, seismic activity and natural disasters. Should operational risks materialize, they may result in the personal injury to or death of workers, the loss of production equipment, damage to production facilities, monetary losses, delays and unanticipated fluctuations in production, environmental damage, administrative fines, increased insurance costs and potential legal liabilities, all which could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results. We may be unable to adequately control the costs associated with our operations. We will require significant capital to develop and grow our business, including developing and producing our commercial robotic systems and other products, establishing or expanding design, research and development, production, operations and maintenance and service facilities and building our brand and partnerships. We have incurred and expect to continue incurring significant expenses which will impact our profitability, including research and development expenses, procurement costs, business development, operation and integration expenses as we build and deploy our autonomous store systems, and general and administrative expenses as we scale our operations, identify and commit resources to investigate new areas of demand and incur costs as a public company. In addition, we may incur significant costs servicing, maintaining and refurbishing our robots, and we expect that the cost to repair and service our robots will increase over time as they age. Our ability to become profitable in the future will not only depend on our ability to complete the design and development of our autonomous store systems to meet projected performance metrics, identify and investigate new areas of demand and successfully market our autonomous store services, but also to sell, whether outright or through subscriptions, our systems at prices needed to achieve our expected margins and control our costs, including the risks and costs associated with operating, maintaining and financing our autonomous store systems. If we are unable to efficiently design, develop, manufacture, market, deploy, distribute and service our robots in a cost-effective manner, our margins, profitability and prospects would be materially and adversely affected. Our ability to manufacture products of sufficient quality on schedule in the future is uncertain, and delays in the design, production and launch of our products could harm our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results. Our future business depends in large part on our ability to execute our plans to design, develop, manufacture, market, deploy and service our products. We have designed our units to be assembled on site with minimal additional manufacturing requirements. However, we have yet to engage in full scale delivery of units. We may underestimate the costs and labor associated with both pre-assembly production and the delivery of our systems on a large scale. We also plan to retain third-party vendors and service providers to engineer, design and test some of the critical systems and components of our units. While this allows us to draw from such third parties’ industry knowledge and expertise, there can be no assurance such systems and components will be successfully developed to our specifications or delivered in a timely manner to meet our program timing requirements. 21 Laws, regulations and other legislative efforts related to climate change, environmental concerns and health and safety could result in increased operating costs, reduced demand for our products and services or the loss of future business. Concerns over environmental pollution and climate change have produced significant legislative and regulatory efforts on a global basis, and we believe this will continue both in scope and in the number of countries participating. These changes could directly increase the cost of energy, which may have an effect on the way we manufacture or utilize energy in our autonomous smart stores. In addition, any new regulations or laws in the environmental area might increase the cost of raw materials or key components we use in our autonomous smart stores. Environmental regulations may require us to reduce product energy usage and to participate in compulsory recovery and recycling of our products or components. We are unable to predict how any future changes will impact us and if such impacts will be material to our business. Further, climate change laws, environmental regulations, and other similar measures may have an effect on the operating activities of our customers, which may, in turn, reduce the demand for our products and services. To the extent increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases in the Earth’s atmosphere may produce climate changes that have significant physical effects, such as increased frequency and severity of storms, droughts, floods and other climatic events, such events could have a material adverse effect on the Company and potentially subject the Company to further regulation. We may become subject to new or changing governmental regulations relating to the design, manufacturing, marketing, distribution, servicing or use of our products, including as a result of climate change, and a failure to comply with such regulations could lead to withdrawal or recall of our products from the market, delay our projected revenues, increase cost or make our business unviable if we are unable to modify our products to comply. Autonomous and robotic smart stores operate at the intersection of multiple regulatory environments, including retail, consumer safety, data protection, and advanced technologies involving robotics and artificial intelligence. Each jurisdiction may have distinct and possibly conflicting requirements, making compliance complex and burdensome. For example, specific licenses might be required to operate robotic equipment in public spaces, or there might be stringent regulations governing the sale of goods through automated systems or the collection of personal customer data. These conflicting regulatory schemes may limit our ability to provide the most sophisticated products and slow development for future offerings. Our initial model for deployment is to sell units and SaaS to our customers. We do not, currently, intend to operate the autonomous smart stores, with the exception of several flagship locations, along with any other stores that we may use to seed market locations, for R&D purposes, or as otherwise requested by local jurisdictions or others. The burden of regulatory compliance will be eased by shifting liabilities to customers. However, this could result in fewer sales if we are unable to provide products that are not ultimately compliant across multiple jurisdictions and multiple layers of regulations. We may become subject to new or changing international, federal, state and local regulations, including laws relating to the design, manufacturing, marketing, distribution, servicing or use of our products. Such laws and regulations may require us to pause sales and modify our products, which could result in a material adverse effect on our revenues and financial condition. Such laws and regulations can also give rise to liability such as fines and penalties, property damage, bodily injury and cleanup costs. Capital and operating expenses needed to comply with laws and regulations can be significant, and violations may result in substantial fines and penalties, third-party damages, suspension of production or a cessation of our operations. Any failure to comply with such laws or regulations could lead to the withdrawal or recall of our products from the market. Climate change laws and environmental regulations could result in increased operating costs and reduced demand for our services. Concerns over environmental pollution and climate change have produced significant legislative and regulatory efforts on a global basis, and we believe this will continue both in scope and in the number of countries participating. These changes could directly increase the cost of energy, which may have an effect on the way we operate our autonomous smart stores or utilize energy to deliver our services. In addition, any new regulations or laws in the environmental area might increase the cost of raw materials or key components we use in our autonomous smart stores. Environmental regulations may require us to reduce product energy usage and to participate in compulsory recovery and recycling of components from our autonomous smart stores. We are unable to predict how any future changes will impact us and if such impacts will be material to our business. Further, climate change laws, environmental regulations and other similar measures may have an effect on the operating activities of our customers, which may, in turn, reduce the demand for our products and services. To the extent increasing concentrations of greenhouse gasses in the Earth’s atmosphere may produce climate changes that have significant physical effects, such as increased frequency and severity of storms, droughts, floods and other climatic events, such events could have a material adverse effect on the Company and potentially subject the Company to further regulation. 22 We are subject to cybersecurity risks to our operational systems, security systems, infrastructure, integrated software in our products and data processed by us or third-party vendors. Our business and operations involve the collection, storage, processing and transmission of personal data and certain other sensitive and proprietary data of collaborators, customers, and others. Additionally, we maintain sensitive and proprietary information relating to our business, such as our own proprietary information and personal data relating to our employees. An increasing number of organizations have disclosed breaches of their information security systems and other information security incidents, some of which have involved sophisticated and highly targeted attacks. We may be a target for attacks by state-sponsored actors and others designed to disrupt our operations or to attempt to gain access to our systems or data that is processed or maintained in our business. The ongoing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have increased security risks due to personnel working remotely. We are at risk for interruptions, outages and breaches of our: (a) operational systems, including business, financial, accounting, product development, data processing or production processes, owned by us or our third-party vendors or suppliers ; (b) facility security systems, owned by us or our third-party vendors or suppliers; (c) transmission control modules or other in-product technology, owned by us or our third-party vendors or suppliers; (d) the integrated software in our autonomous smart stores; or (e) customer data that we processes or that our third-party vendors or suppliers process on our behalf. Because techniques used to obtain unauthorized access to or to sabotage information systems change frequently and may not be known until launched against a target, we may be unable to anticipate or prevent these attacks, react in a timely manner, or implement adequate preventive measures, and may face delays in our detection or remediation of, or other responses to, security breaches and other privacy-and security-related incidents. Such incidents could: materially disrupt our operational systems; result in loss of intellectual property, trade secrets or other proprietary or competitively sensitive information; compromise certain information of customers, employees, suppliers or others; jeopardize the security of our facilities or affect the performance of in-product technology and the integrated software in our autonomous smart stores. Certain efforts may be state-sponsored or supported by significant financial and technological resources, making them even more difficult to detect, remediate, and otherwise respond to. We plan to include product services and functionality that utilize data connectivity to monitor performance and timely capture opportunities to enhance performance and for safety and cost-saving preventative maintenance. The availability and effectiveness of our services depend on the continued operation of information technology and communications systems. Our systems will be vulnerable to damage or interruption from, among others, physical theft, fire, terrorist attacks, natural disasters, power loss, war, telecommunications failures, viruses, denial or degradation of service attacks, ransomware, social engineering schemes, insider theft or misuse or other attempts to harm our systems. We intend to use our product services and functionality to log information about each unit’s use in order to aid us in diagnostics and servicing. Our customers may object to the use of this data, which may require us to implement new or modified data handling policies and mechanisms, increase our unit maintenance costs and costs associated with data processing and handling, and harm our business prospects. Although we are in the process of implementing certain systems and processes that are designed to protect our data and systems within our control, prevent data loss and prevent other security breaches and security incidents, these security measures cannot guarantee security. The IT and infrastructure used in our business may be vulnerable to cyberattacks or security breaches, and third parties may be able to access data, including personal data and other sensitive and proprietary data of us and our customers, collaborators and partners, our employees’ personal data or other sensitive and proprietary data, accessible through those systems. Employee error, malfeasance or other errors in the storage, use or transmission of any of these types of data could result in an actual or perceived privacy or security breach or other security incident. 23 Moreover, there are inherent risks associated with developing, improving, expanding and updating our current systems, such as the disruption of our data management, procurement, production execution, finance, supply chain and sales and service processes. These risks may affect our ability to manage our data and inventory, procure parts or supplies or manufacture, deploy, and service our autonomous smart stores, adequately protect our intellectual property or achieve and maintain compliance with, or realize available benefits under, applicable laws, regulations and contracts. We cannot be sure that these systems upon which we rely, including those of our third-party vendors or suppliers, will be effectively implemented, maintained or expanded as planned. If we do not successfully implement, maintain or expand these systems as planned, our operations may be disrupted, our ability to accurately and timely report our financial results could be impaired, and deficiencies may arise in our internal control over financial reporting, which may impact our ability to certify our financial results. Moreover, our proprietary information or intellectual property could be compromised or misappropriated, and our reputation may be adversely affected. If these systems do not operate as we expect them to, we may be required to expend significant resources to make corrections or find alternative sources for performing these functions. Any actual or perceived security breach or security incident, or any systems outages or other disruption to systems used in our business, could interrupt our operations, result in loss or improper access to, or acquisition or disclosure of, data or a loss of intellectual property protection, harm our reputation and competitive position, reduce demand for our products, damage our relationships with customers, partners, collaborators, or others or result in claims, regulatory investigations, and proceedings and significant legal, regulatory and financial exposure, and any such incidents or any perception that our security measures are inadequate could lead to loss of confidence in us and harm to our reputation, any of which could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. Any actual or perceived breach of privacy or security or other security incident impacting any entities with which we share or disclose data (including, for example, our third-party technology providers) could have similar effects. We expect to incur significant costs in an effort to detect and prevent privacy and security breaches and other privacy-and security-related incidents and may face increased costs and requirements to expend substantial resources in the event of an actual or perceived privacy or security breach or other incident. We are subject to evolving laws, regulations, standards, policies and contractual obligations related to data privacy and security laws and regulations, and our actual or perceived failure to comply with such obligations could harm our reputation, subject us to significant fines and liability or otherwise adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results. We are subject to or affected by a number of federal, state and local laws and regulations, as well as contractual obligations and industry standards, that impose certain obligations and restrictions with respect to data privacy and security, and govern our collection, storage, retention, protection, use, processing, transmission, sharing and disclosure of personal information, including that of our employees, customers and others. Most jurisdictions have enacted laws requiring companies to notify individuals, regulatory authorities and others of security breaches involving certain types of data. Such laws may be inconsistent or may change, or additional laws may be adopted. In addition, our agreements with certain customers may require us to notify them in the event of a security breach. Such mandatory disclosures are costly, could lead to negative publicity, result in penalties or fines, result in litigation, may cause our customers to lose confidence in the effectiveness of our security measures and require us to expend significant capital and other resources to respond to and/or alleviate problems caused by the actual or perceived security breach. The global data protection landscape is rapidly evolving, and implementation standards and enforcement practices are likely to remain uncertain for the foreseeable future. We may not be able to monitor and react to all developments in a timely manner. For example, California adopted the California Consumer Privacy Act (“CCPA”), which became effective in January 2020. The CCPA establishes a privacy framework for covered businesses, including an expansive definition of personal information and data privacy rights for California residents. The CCPA includes a framework with potentially severe statutory damages and private rights of action. The CCPA requires covered businesses to provide new disclosures to California residents, provide them with new ways to opt-out of certain disclosures of personal information, and allow for a new cause of action for data breaches. Additionally, a new privacy law, the California Privacy Rights Act (“CPRA”), was approved by California voters in the November 3, 2020 election. The CPRA creates obligations relating to consumer data beginning on January 1, 2022, with implementing regulations expected on or before July 1, 2022, and enforcement beginning July 1, 2023. The CPRA significantly modifies the CCPA, potentially resulting in further uncertainty. Some observers have noted that the CCPA could mark the beginning of a trend toward more stringent privacy legislation in the United States. Other states have begun to propose and enact similar laws. For example, Virginia has enacted the Virginia Consumer Data Protection Act, which provides for obligations similar to the CCPA, and which will go into effect January 1, 2023. As we expand our operations, the CCPA, CPRA and other laws and regulations relating to privacy and data security may increase our compliance costs and potential liability. Compliance with any applicable privacy and data security laws and regulations is a rigorous and time-intensive process, and we may be required to put in place additional mechanisms to comply with such laws and regulations. 24 Additionally, as our international presence expands, we may become subject to or face increasing obligations under laws and regulations in countries outside the United States, many of which, such as the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”) and national laws supplementing the GDPR, as well as legislation substantially implementing the GDPR in the United Kingdom, are significantly more stringent than those currently enforced in the United States. The GDPR requires companies to meet stringent requirements regarding the handling of personal data of individuals located in the European Economic Area (“EEA”). The GDPR also includes significant penalties for noncompliance, which may result in monetary penalties up to the higher of €20 million or 4% of a group’s worldwide turnover for the preceding financial year for the most serious violations. The United Kingdom’s version of the GDPR, the UK GDPR, which it maintains along with its Data Protection Act (collectively, the “UK GDPR”), also provides for substantial penalties that, for the most serious violations, can go up to the greater of £17.5 million or 4% of a group’s worldwide turnover for the preceding financial year. Many other jurisdictions globally are considering or have enacted legislation providing for local storage of data or otherwise imposing privacy, data protection and data security obligations in connection with the collection, use and other processing of personal data. We publish privacy policies and other documentation regarding our collection, processing, use and disclosure of personal information and/or other confidential information. Although we endeavor to comply with our published policies and other documentation, we may at times fail to do so or may be perceived to have failed to do so. Moreover, despite our efforts, we may not be successful in achieving compliance, including if our employees, contractors, service providers or vendors fail to comply with our published policies and documentation. Such failures can subject us to potential action by governmental or regulatory authorities if they are found to be deceptive, unfair or misrepresentative of our actual practices. We are also aware of certain media reports relating to the use of our robots as elements in law enforcement surveillance efforts. As a general policy, we do not share data with law enforcement, except in certain narrow circumstances where (1) we are required to share data when served with a warrant or subpoena or (2) there are insurance claims, active incident investigations or acts of armed violence or theft attempts involving our personnel or property. Public perception of our involvement in such surveillance activities could harm our reputation, and consequently, our business prospects and financial condition. Any actual or perceived inability of us to adequately address privacy and security concerns or comply with applicable laws, rules and regulations relating to privacy, data protection or data security or applicable privacy notices, could lead to investigations, claims and proceedings by governmental entities and private parties, damages for contract breach, and other significant costs, penalties and other liabilities. Any such claims or other proceedings could be expensive and time-consuming to defend and could result in adverse publicity. Any of the foregoing may have an adverse effect on our business, prospects, results of operations and financial condition. We are subject to U.S. and foreign anti-corruption and anti-money laundering laws and regulations. We can face criminal liability and other serious consequences for violations, which can harm our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results. We are subject to the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977, as amended (the “FCPA”), the U.S. domestic bribery statute contained in 18 U.S.C. § 201, the U.S. Travel Act, and other anti-corruption, anti-bribery and anti-money laundering laws in countries in which we conduct activities. Anti-corruption laws are interpreted broadly and prohibit companies and their employees, business partners, third-party intermediaries, representatives and agents from authorizing, promising, offering or providing, directly or indirectly, improper payments or anything else of value to government officials, political candidates, political parties or commercial partners for the purpose of obtaining or retaining business or securing an improper business advantage. We sometimes leverage third parties to conduct our business abroad, and our third-party business partners, representatives and agents may have direct or indirect interactions with officials and employees of government agencies or state-owned or affiliated entities. We can be held liable for the corrupt or other illegal activities of our employees or these third parties, even if we do not explicitly authorize or have actual knowledge of such activities. The FCPA and other applicable laws and regulations also require that we keep accurate books and records and maintain internal controls and compliance procedures designed to prevent any such actions. While we have policies and procedures to address compliance with such laws, there can be no assurance that all of our employees, business partners, third-party intermediaries, representatives and agents will not take actions in violation of our policies and applicable law, for which we may be ultimately held responsible. Our exposure to violating these laws increases as our international presence expands and as we increase sales and operations in foreign jurisdictions. Any violations of the laws and regulations described above may result in whistleblower complaints, adverse media coverage, investigations, substantial civil and criminal fines and penalties, damages, settlements, prosecution, enforcement actions, imprisonment, the loss of export or import privileges, suspension or debarment from government contracts, tax reassessments, breach of contract and fraud litigation, reputational harm and other consequences, any of which could adversely affect our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results. In addition, responding to any investigation or action will likely result in a significant diversion of management’s attention and resources and significant defense costs and other professional fees. 25 Being a public company can be administratively burdensome and will significantly increase our legal and financial compliance costs. As a public company, we are subject to the information and reporting requirements of the Securities Act, the Exchange Act and other federal securities laws, rules and regulations related thereto, including compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (the “Sarbanes-Oxley Act”), and the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (the “Dodd-Frank Act”). In addition, the listing requirements of any national securities exchange or other exchange and other applicable securities rules and regulations impose various requirements on public companies. Our management and other personnel will need to devote a substantial amount of time to these compliance initiatives. Moreover, these rules and regulations will significantly increase our legal and financial compliance costs and will make some activities more time-consuming and costly. Among other things, we are required to: ● maintain and evaluate a system of internal controls over financial reporting in compliance with the requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the related rules and regulations of the SEC and the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board; ● maintain policies relating to disclosure controls and procedures; ● prepare and distribute periodic reports in compliance with our obligations under federal securities laws; ● institute a more comprehensive compliance function, including with respect to corporate governance; and ● involve, to a greater degree, our outside legal counsel and accountants in the above activities. The costs of preparing and filing annual and quarterly reports, proxy statements and other information with the SEC and furnishing audited reports to stockholders is expensive and much greater than that of a privately-held company, and compliance with these rules and regulations will require us to hire additional financial reporting, internal controls and other finance personnel, and will involve a material increase in regulatory, legal and accounting expenses and the attention of our board of directors and management. In addition, being a public company makes it more expensive for us to obtain director and officer liability insurance. In the future, we may be required to accept reduced coverage or incur substantially higher costs to obtain this coverage. These factors could also make it more difficult for us to attract and retain qualified executives and members of our board of directors. Although the JOBS Act may for a limited period of time somewhat lessen the cost of complying with these additional regulatory and other requirements, we nonetheless expect a substantial increase in legal, accounting, insurance and certain other expenses in the future, which will negatively impact our business, results of operations and financial condition. Material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting could result in material misstatements of our financial statements and impair our ability to produce timely and accurate financial information. We have identified material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting. A material weakness is a deficiency, or combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of our annual or interim financial statements would not be prevented or detected on a timely basis. As a result of these material weaknesses, management concluded that our internal control over financial reporting was not effective as of December 31, 2025. Although we have implemented certain remediation measures and continue to take steps to strengthen our internal control environment, our efforts may not be sufficient to remediate these material weaknesses in a timely manner or at all. If we are unable to remediate these material weaknesses and maintain effective internal control over financial reporting, we may be unable to accurately report our financial results on a timely basis. This could result in restatements of our financial statements, regulatory scrutiny, loss of investor confidence, or a decline in the market price of our securities. Additionally, ineffective internal controls could cause us to incur increased costs associated with compliance, internal control remediation efforts, and potential litigation or regulatory actions. 26 Our management as a group has limited experience in operating a publicly traded company. Our management team may not successfully or effectively manage operating as a public company subject to significant regulatory oversight and reporting obligations under U.S. securities laws. Our executive officers as a group have limited experience in the management of a publicly traded company. Their limited experience in dealing with the increasingly complex laws pertaining to public companies could be a significant disadvantage in that it is likely that an increasing amount of their time may be devoted to these activities which will result in less time being devoted to the management and growth of our company. We may not have adequate personnel with the appropriate level of knowledge, experience and training in the accounting policies, practices or internal control over financial reporting required of public companies. Any failure by us to effectively and efficiently meet our obligations as a publicly traded company could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, financial condition and operating results and/or result in legal liability or other negative consequences. Our Significant Executive Cash Compensation Obligations May Adversely Affect Our Liquidity and Operational Flexibility Under our executive employment agreements, we are obligated to pay high base salaries, guaranteed cash bonuses, expense allowances, and severance benefits. These commitments include annual cash bonuses totaling over $3.2 million and significant severance entitlements. The payment of such bonuses is subject to the availability of surplus cash, approval of our Board of Directors, and achievement of specified conditions. Accordingly, there can be no assurance as to the timing or amount of any such payments; however, if paid, these bonuses could materially increase our operating expenses and impact our liquidity in future periods. These substantial cash obligations may adversely affect our ability to allocate capital for operating activities, research and development, or growth initiatives. If our revenues fail to meet projections or we are unable to secure additional financing, our cash obligations to executives could strain our financial condition and limit our operational flexibility. General Risk Factors We may face risks related to securities litigation that could result in significant legal expenses and settlement or damage awards. We may in the future become subject to claims and litigation alleging violations of the securities laws or other related claims, which could harm our business and require us to incur significant costs. Significant litigation costs could impact our ability to comply with certain financial covenants under our credit agreement. Under Nevada law (NRS 78.7502), we are permitted to, and our bylaws require us, to indemnify our current and former directors and officers who are named as defendants in these types of lawsuits to the fullest extent permitted by Nevada law, subject to certain limitations. Regardless of the outcome, litigation may require significant attention from management and could result in significant legal expenses, settlement costs or damage awards that could have a material impact on our business, results of operation and financial condition. We may be significantly impacted by pandemics, outbreaks of other contagious diseases and other catastrophic events. The extent to which any catastrophic event affects our business and financial results will depend on future developments, including the duration of such event and the global response to it, its impact on capital and financial markets, its impact on global supply chains, and whether the impacts may result in temporary or permanent changes in consumer behavior among others, which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted. In addition, we cannot predict the impact any future pandemic, outbreak of other contagious diseases or other catastrophic events will have on our business partners and third-party merchants and suppliers, and we may be adversely impacted as a result of the adverse impact our business partners and third-party merchants and suppliers suffer. For example, if we are unable to maintain our automated systems due to technical issues, we may not be able to operate our automated smart stores as planned and scale our business. This impact would mean we’d need to raise additional capital in order to cover our operating expenses and meet our revenue targets. To the extent a pandemic or other catastrophic event adversely affects our business and financial results, it may also have the effect of heightening many of the other risks described in this “Risk Factors” section. Any of the foregoing factors, or other cascading effects of the pandemic that are not currently foreseeable, could adversely impact our business, financial performance and condition and results of operations. 27 Our status as an “emerging growth company” under the JOBS Act Of 2012 may make it more difficult to raise capital when we need to do it. We qualify as an “emerging growth company,” as defined in the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012 (the “JOBS Act”), and may take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies. These exemptions include, but are not limited to, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation, exemptions from the requirement to obtain an auditor attestation report on the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, and relief from certain other public company reporting requirements. In addition, the JOBS Act permits emerging growth companies to take advantage of an extended transition period for complying with new or revised financial accounting standards applicable to public companies. As a result, our financial statements may not be comparable to those of other public companies that are not emerging growth companies or that have opted out of using the extended transition period. Because of these exemptions, some investors may find our securities less attractive, which could make it more difficult for us to raise additional capital as and when we need it. We will remain an emerging growth company until the earliest to occur of (i) the last day of the fiscal year in which we have total annual gross revenues of $1.235 billion or more, (ii) the last day of the fiscal year following the fifth anniversary of the date of the first sale of our common stock pursuant to an effective registration statement, (iii) the date on which we have issued more than $1.0 billion in non-convertible debt during the previous three-year period, or (iv) the date on which we are deemed to be a “large accelerated filer” under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. If we cease to qualify as an emerging growth company, we would be required to comply with additional reporting and disclosure requirements applicable to other public companies, including compliance with new or revised accounting standards as of the dates required for other public companies and, potentially, the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. These additional requirements could increase our legal, accounting, and compliance costs and place additional demands on our management and financial resources. If investors believe that our financial reporting is less transparent or comparable than that of other companies, they may be less willing to invest in our securities. Any such perception could adversely affect the trading price of our common stock and our ability to raise additional capital, which could materially and adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations. 28 We will not be required to comply with certain provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act for as long as we remain an “emerging growth company.” We are not currently required to comply with the SEC rules that implement Sections 302 and 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and are therefore not required to make a formal assessment of the effectiveness of our internal controls over financial reporting for that purpose. Upon becoming a public company, we will be required to comply with certain of these rules, which will require management to certify financial and other information in our quarterly and annual reports and provide an annual management report on the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting. Though we will be required to disclose changes made in our internal control procedures on a quarterly basis, we will not be required to make our first annual assessment of our internal control over financial reporting pursuant to Section 404 until the later of the year following our first annual report required to be filed with the SEC, or the date we are no longer an “emerging growth company” as defined in the JOBS Act. Our independent registered public accounting firm is not required to formally attest to the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting until the later of the year following our first annual report required to be filed with the SEC, or the date we are no longer an “emerging growth company.” At such time, our independent registered public accounting firm may issue a report that is adverse in the event it is not satisfied with the level at which our controls are documented, designed or operating. Reduced disclosure requirements applicable to emerging growth companies may make our common stock less attractive to investors. As an “emerging growth company”, we may take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not “emerging growth companies” including not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements and exemptions from the requirements of holding a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and shareholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. We cannot predict if investors will find our common stock less attractive because we may rely on these exemptions. If some investors find our common stock less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our common stock and our stock price may be more volatile. We will incur ongoing costs and expenses for SEC reporting and compliance, with minimal revenues and operations at a net loss we may not be able to remain in compliance, making it difficult for investors to sell their shares, if at all. Going forward, the Company will have ongoing SEC compliance and reporting obligations, estimated as approximately $1,000,000 annually. Such ongoing obligations will require the Company to expend additional amounts on compliance, legal and auditing costs. In order for us to remain in compliance, we will require future revenues to cover the cost of these filings, which could comprise a substantial portion of our available cash resources. If we are unable to generate sufficient revenues to remain in compliance, it may be difficult for you to resell any shares you may purchase, if at all. Our Chief Executive Officer will control and make corporate decisions that may differ from those that might be made by the other shareholders. Due to the controlling amount of their share ownership in our Company, our chief executive officer will have a significant influence in determining the outcome of all corporate transactions, including the power to prevent or cause a change in control. His interests may differ from the interests of other stockholders and thus result in corporate decisions that are disadvantageous to other shareholders. Our future results may vary significantly in the future which may adversely affect the price of our common stock. It is possible that our quarterly revenues and operating results may vary significantly in the future and period-to-period comparisons of our revenues and operating results are not necessarily meaningful indicators of the future. You should not rely on the results of one quarter as an indication of our future performance. It is also possible that in some future quarters, our revenues and operating results will fall below our expectations or the expectations of market analysts and investors. If we do not meet these expectations, the price of our common stock may decline significantly. We Are Unlikely To Pay Dividends To date, we have not paid, nor do we intend to pay in the foreseeable future dividends on our common stock, even if we become profitable. Earnings, if any, are expected to be used to advance our activities and for general corporate purposes, rather than to make distributions to stockholders. Prospective investors will likely need to rely on an increase in the price of Company stock to profit from an investment. There are no guarantees that any market for our common stock will ever develop or that the price of our stock will ever increase. If prospective investors purchase Shares pursuant to this Offering, they must be prepared to be unable to liquidate their investment and/or lose their entire investment. 29 Since we are not in a financial position to pay dividends on our common stock, and future dividends are not presently being contemplated, investors are advised that return on investment in our common stock is restricted to an appreciation in the share price. The potential or likelihood of an increase in share price is questionable at best. RISKS RELATED TO OWNERSHIP OF OUR COMMON STOCK Any future market price for the shares may be volatile. In the event the Company has its common stock listed on the Nasdaq, the market price for the resulting shares is likely to be highly volatile, and subject to wide fluctuations in response to various factors including the following: 1. Actual or anticipated fluctuations in the Company’s quarterly operating results and revisions to expected results; 2. Changes in financial estimates by securities research analysts; 3. Conditions in the U.S. financial markets; 4. Changes to international, federal, state or local regulations related to artificial intelligence, automated retail technology, digital payment systems, personal data protection, and robotics; 5. Changes in the economic performance or market valuations of companies specializing in comparable companies having securities traded on a national exchange; 6. Announcements by the Company or its competitors of new services, strategic relationships, joint ventures or capital commitments; 7. Addition or departure of key personnel; 8. Litigation related to any assets or intellectual property; and 9. Sales or perceived potential sales of the shares. In addition, securities markets have from time to time, and to a greater degree since 2007, experienced significant price and volume fluctuations that bear no relation to the operating performance of particular companies. These market fluctuations may also have a materially adverse effect on the market price of the Company’s common shares. Furthermore, in the past, following periods of volatility in the market price of a public company’s securities, investors have frequently instituted securities class action litigation against that company. Litigation of this kind could result in substantial costs and a diversion of management’s attention and resources. 30 If securities or industry analysts do not publish research or publish unfavorable or inaccurate research about our business, our stock price and trading volume could decline. The trading market for our common stock will depend in part on the research and reports that securities or industry analysts publish about us or our business, as well as the way analysts and investors interpret our financial information and other disclosures. Securities and industry analysts do not currently, and may never, publish research on our business. If few, or no, securities or industry analysts commence coverage of us, our stock price could be negatively affected. If securities or industry analysts downgrade our common stock, or publish negative reports about our business, our stock price would likely decline. If one or more of these analysts cease coverage of us or fail to publish reports on us regularly, demand for our common stock could decrease, which might cause our stock price to decline and could decrease the trading volume of our common stock. FINRA sales practice requirements may limit a stockholder’s ability to buy and sell our common stock. The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, or FINRA, has adopted rules requiring that, in recommending an investment to a customer, a broker-dealer must have reasonable grounds for believing that the investment is suitable for that customer. Prior to recommending speculative or low-priced securities to their non-institutional customers, broker-dealers must make reasonable efforts to obtain information about the customer’s financial status, tax status, investment objectives and other information. Under interpretations of these rules, FINRA has indicated its belief that there is a high probability that speculative or low-priced securities will not be suitable for at least some customers. If these FINRA requirements are applicable to us or our securities, they may make it more difficult for broker-dealers to recommend that at least some of their customers buy our common stock, which may limit the ability of our stockholders to buy and sell our common stock and could have an adverse effect on the market for and price of our common stock. Our Amended and Restate Bylaws designate the state courts of Nevada as the exclusive forum for certain litigation that may be initiated by our stockholders and the federal district courts of the United States as the exclusive forum for litigation arising under the Securities Act, which could limit our stockholders’ ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with us or our directors, officers, employees, or agents. Pursuant to our Amended and Restated Bylaws unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the state courts of the State Nevada will be the sole and exclusive forum for any claims in state court for (1) any derivative action or proceeding brought on our behalf, (2) any action asserting a claim of breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any of our directors, officers, other employees, or stockholders to us or our stockholders, (3) any action asserting a claim against us arising pursuant to any provision of Chapter 78 of Nevada Revised Statutes, our articles of incorporation or our bylaws, or (4) any other action asserting a claim against us that is governed by the internal affairs doctrine; provided that for the avoidance of doubt, the forum selection provision that identifies the state courts of the State Nevada as the exclusive forum for certain litigation, including any “derivative action”, will not apply to suits to enforce a duty or liability created by Securities Act, the Exchange Act, or any other claim for which the federal courts have exclusive jurisdiction. Moreover, Section 22 of the Securities Act creates concurrent jurisdiction for federal and state courts over all claims brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Securities Act or the rules and regulations thereunder and our certificate of incorporation will also provide that, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum and to the fullest extent permitted by law, the federal district courts of the United States shall be the exclusive forum for the resolution of any complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act, While there can be no assurance that federal or state courts will follow the holding of the Nevada Supreme Court or determine that our federal forum provision should be enforced in a particular case, application of our federal forum provision means that suits brought by our stockholders to enforce any duty or liability created by the Securities Act must be brought in federal court and cannot be brought in state court. Section 27 of the Exchange Act creates exclusive federal jurisdiction over all claims brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Exchange Act or the rules and regulations thereunder and our certificate of incorporation will provide that neither the exclusive forum provision nor our federal forum provision applies to suits brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Exchange Act. Accordingly, actions by our stockholders to enforce any duty or liability created by the Exchange Act or the rules and regulations thereunder must be brought in federal court. Our stockholders will not be deemed to have waived our compliance with the federal securities laws and the regulations promulgated thereunder. 31 Our articles of incorporation will further provide that any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring or holding any interest in shares of our capital stock is deemed to have notice of and consented to the provisions of our articles of incorporation described above. The forum selection provision in our articles of incorporation may have the effect of discouraging lawsuits against us or our directors and officers and may limit our stockholders’ ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with us. If the enforceability of our forum selection provisions were to be challenged, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving such challenge. While we currently have no basis to expect any such challenge would be successful, if a court were to find our forum selection provisions to be inapplicable or unenforceable with respect to one or more of these specified types of actions or proceedings, we may incur additional costs associated with having to litigate in other jurisdictions, which could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, cash flows, and prospects and result in a diversion of the time and resources of our employees, management, and board of directors. Issuances of Equity-Based Compensation to Executives Will Result in Substantial Dilution to Existing Stockholders Our executive employment agreements include significant equity-based compensation, including fully vested annual equity grants and milestone-based share issuances tied to geographic expansion and operational milestones. These issuances could result in the issuance of tens of millions of additional shares of our common stock over the course of the agreements. As a result, existing stockholders will experience substantial dilution in their ownership and voting interests, which may depress the market price of our common stock. The potential for dilution is further compounded by the fact that such equity grants are not contingent on continued employment or achievement of future performance metrics in certain instances.