Company: DARE
Filing Date: 2025-04-24
Form Type: DEF 14A
Source: 0001401914-25-000014
Chunk: 57

Company: Dare Bioscience, Inc.
Filing Date: 2025-04-24
Form: DEF 14A
Chunk 57
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 for the Annual Meeting, there were 8,850,386 shares of common stock outstanding and 230,075 shares remained available for issuance under the 2022 Plan (assuming that all outstanding awards are ultimately settled for their full number of shares and are not forfeited or modified). If the 2022 Plan Amendment is approved, the approximate impact of the additional shares that would be available for issuance under the 2022 Plan on stockholder dilution is shown in the below table (the below figures represent a percentage of our outstanding basic number of shares as of the record date for the Annual Meeting).

| Dilutive effect of requested new shares (600,000) under the 2022 Plan(1)                                                                       |     | 6% |
| (1)Calculated as follows: (a) 600,000 divided by (b) (i) number of shares of common stock outstanding as of the record date plus (ii) 600,000. |     |    |

After considering the foregoing, along with our expected future equity grant practices, our Board believes that increasing the number of shares of our common stock available for issuance under the 2022 Plan by 600,000 will be an appropriate number to satisfy our equity compensation needs for approximately the next two to three years, subject to a variety of factors, including, but not limited to, stock price, hiring, and long-term incentive compensation mix.

Additional information on our equity compensation plans is available elsewhere in this proxy statement under the section entitled “Equity Compensation Plan Information.” As of April 17, 2025, the fair market value of a share of our common stock (as determined by the closing price on that date) was $2.90 per share.

The 2022 Plan Combines Compensation and Governance Best Practices

The following points summarize why the Board strongly believes that the 2022 Plan is essential for our future success and that stockholders should therefore approve the 2022 Plan Amendment:

2025 Proxy Statement | Page 43

• Alignment with Stockholders . Achieving superior long-term results for our stockholders always has been one of our primary objectives and, therefore, it is essential that employees think and act like owners of the Company. Stock ownership helps enhance the alignment of the long-term economic interests of our employees with those of our stockholders. Accordingly, we have historically granted equity compensation awards to encourage alignment of the interests of our management and our employees with the long-term economic interests of our stockholders.

• Providing Competitive Compensation . A