EDGAR 10-K Filing

Company CIK: 1841125
Filing Year: 2024
Filename: 1841125_10-K_2024_0001213900-24-023100.json

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ITEM 1. BUSINESS
ITEM 1. BUSINESS
General
We are a blank check company formed as a Delaware corporation for the purpose of effecting a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization, or similar business combination with one or more businesses, which we refer to throughout this Annual Report as our initial business combination. While we may pursue an acquisition opportunity in any business, industry, sector, or geography, we initially focused our search on identifying a prospective target business in the healthcare or healthcare-related infrastructure industries in the United States and other developed countries, but remained open to evaluating other potential targets.
In January 2021, our sponsor purchased 7,187,500 founder shares for a capital contribution of $25,000. In February 2021, our sponsor transferred 35,000 founder shares to each of our directors. Prior to the initial investment in the company of $25,000 by our sponsor, we had no assets, tangible or intangible. The per-share purchase price of the founder shares was determined by dividing the amount of cash contributed to us by the number of founder shares issued. Up to 937,500 founder shares were subject to forfeiture by our initial stockholders depending on the extent to which the underwriters’ over-allotment option was exercised so that the number of founder shares would remain equal to 20% of our common stock after our initial public offering. The over-allotment option was exercised in full on May 6, 2021; thus, these shares are no longer subject to forfeiture. In connection with the votes to approve the Second Extension (as defined herein), the holders of 1,522,544 shares of Class A common stock properly exercised their right to redeem their shares for cash at a redemption price of approximately $10.71 per share, for an aggregate redemption amount of approximately $16.3 million, leaving approximately $6.2 million in the trust account. See “First Extension” and “Second Extension” below for more details.
The registration statement on Form S-1 (File No. 333-253465) for our initial public offering was declared effective by SEC on March 16, 2021. On March 19, 2021, we consummated our initial public offering of 25,000,000 units, generating gross proceeds of $250,000,000. Each unit consists of one share of Class A common stock and one-third of one redeemable warrant, with each whole warrant entitling the holder thereof to purchase one share of Class A common stock at an exercise price of $11.50 per share. Simultaneously with the consummation of our initial public offering, we consummated the private placement of 4,500,000 private placement warrants to our sponsor at a price of $1.50 per private placement warrant, generating total gross proceeds of $6,750,000.
On May 6, 2021, the underwriters exercised their over-allotment option in full, resulting in our issuance of an additional 3,750,000 units at a public offering price of $10.00 per unit. In addition, we consummated the sale of an additional 500,000 private placement warrants at $1.50 per private placement warrant, generating gross proceeds of $750,000. After giving effect to the exercise and close of the option, an aggregate of 28,750,000 units were issued in the initial public offering, with aggregate gross proceeds of $287,500,000.
A total of $287,500,000 (or $10.00 per unit sold in our initial public offering) of the net proceeds from our initial public offering and the private placement was placed in a trust account established for the benefit of our public shareholders (the “trust account”), with Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company acting as trustee, and up until the First Extension vote, as described below, was invested only in U.S. “government securities” within the meaning of Section 2(a)(16) of the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the “Investment Company Act”), having a maturity of 185 days or less, or in money market funds meeting certain conditions under Rule 2a-7 promulgated under the Investment Company Act which invest only in direct U.S. government treasury obligations.
Upon implementation of the First Extension, the $21.3 million of remaining trust funds were deposited in an interest-bearing demand deposit account at a bank until the earlier of: (i) the completion of our initial business combination within the required time period and (ii) the distribution of the trust account, as described below, except that interest earned on the trust account can be released to pay our taxes payable and for dissolution expenses up to $100,000, as applicable.
Our units began trading on March 18, 2021 on The Nasdaq Stock Market LLC (“Nasdaq”) under the symbol “GAMCU.” Commencing on May 7, 2021, the shares of Class A common stock and warrants comprising the units began separate trading on Nasdaq under the symbols “GAMC” and “GAMCW,” respectively. Those units not separated continue to trade on Nasdaq under the symbol “GAMCU.”
First Extension
On March 15, 2023, our stockholders approved an amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (as amended, the “charter”) (the “Charter Amendment”). The Charter Amendment extended the date by which we had to consummate a business combination (the “First Extension”) for an additional nine months, from March 19, 2023 to up to December 19, 2023 by electing to extend the date to consummate an initial business combination on a monthly basis for up to nine times by an additional one month each time after March 19, 2023, until December 19, 2023 or a total of up to nine months after March 19, 2023, or such earlier date as determined by our board of directors (the “Board”), unless the closing of our initial business combination shall have occurred, provided that the Sponsor (or its affiliates or permitted designees) deposited into the trust account an amount determined by multiplying $0.03 by the number of public shares then outstanding, up to a maximum of $105,000 for each such one-month extension unless the closing of our initial business combination shall have occurred, in exchange for a non-interest bearing, unsecured promissory note payable upon consummation of a business combination.
In connection with the votes to approve the First Extension, the holders of 26,649,519 shares of Class A common stock properly exercised their right to redeem their shares for cash at a redemption price of approximately $10.16 per share, for an aggregate redemption amount of approximately $270,869,315, leaving approximately $21,349,573 in the trust account.
On March 16, 2023, our sponsor voluntarily converted the 7,047,500 shares of Class B common stock it held into 7,047,500 shares of Class A common stock in accordance with our charter (the “Conversion”). Following the implementation of the First Extension and the Conversion, we had 9,147,981 shares of Class A common stock outstanding and 140,000 shares of Class B common stock outstanding.
Second Extension
On December 12, 2023, we held a special meeting of stockholders in which the stockholders approved the proposal to amend our Charter, to extend the date by which we have to consummate a business combination for an additional nine months from December 19, 2023 to up to September 19, 2024 by electing to extend the date to consummate an initial business combination on a monthly basis for up to nine times by an additional one month each time after December 19, 2023, until September 19, 2024 or a total of up to nine months after December 19, 2023, or such earlier date as determined by our Board, unless the closing of the Company’s initial business combination shall have occurred, which we refer to as the “Second Extension,” and such later date, the “Extended Date”, provided that the Sponsor (or its affiliates or permitted designees) will deposit into the trust account an amount determined by multiplying $0.02 by the number of public shares then outstanding, up to a maximum of $20,000 for each such one-month extension unless the closing of the Company’s initial business combination shall have occurred, in exchange for a non-interest bearing, unsecured promissory note payable upon consummation of a business combination (each, an “Extension Payment”). The First Extension and the Second Extension are referred to, collectively, as the “Extensions.”
In connection with the votes to approve the Second Extension, the holders of 1,522,544 shares of Class A common stock properly exercised their right to redeem their shares for cash at a redemption price of approximately $10.71 per share, for an aggregate redemption amount of approximately $16.3 million, leaving approximately $6.2 million in the trust account.
As of December 31, 2023, ten extension payments were made for a total of $578,694. On January 18, 2024 and February 18, 2024, two additional extension payments of $11,559 were made which extended the deadline by which we must complete an initial business combination to March 19, 2024. As a result of redemptions following the Extensions, as of the date of this Annual Report, the founder shares held by our initial stockholders represent approximately 92.6% of our outstanding shares of common stock.
Proposed Business Combination
Business Combination Agreement
On October 4, 2023, we entered into a Business Combination Agreement (the “Business Combination Agreement”) with Beam Merger Sub, Inc., a Delaware corporation and a direct, wholly owned subsidiary of the Company (“Merger Sub”) and Bolt Threads, Inc., a Delaware corporation (“Bolt Threads”).
Pursuant to the Business Combination Agreement, the parties will consummate a business combination transaction pursuant to which Merger Sub will merge with and into Bolt Threads, with Bolt Threads surviving the merger as a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company (the “Merger” and, together with the other transactions contemplated by the Business Combination Agreement, the “Business Combination” and the closing of the Business Combination, the “Closing”). In connection with the Closing, the Company will be renamed “Bolt Projects Holdings, Inc.” and is referred to herein as the “Post-Combination Company” as of the time following such change of name.
The proposed Merger is expected to be consummated after receipt of the required approvals by our stockholders and Bolt Threads’ stockholders and the satisfaction or waiver of certain other customary conditions.
The aggregate equity consideration to be paid to Bolt Threads’ stockholders and optionholders in the Business Combination will be equal to the quotient of (i) $250,000,000 (the “Equity Value”) divided by (ii) $10.00. Immediately prior to the Closing, (i) all of the outstanding principal and accrued interest under the Company Convertible Notes (as defined in the Business Combination Agreement) will be converted into shares of Bolt Threads common stock and (ii) all of the shares of Bolt Threads preferred stock will be converted into shares of Bolt Threads common stock.
Related Agreements
PIPE Subscription Agreements
Concurrently with the execution of the Business Combination Agreement, certain investors (the “PIPE Investors”), including the Sponsor, entered into subscription agreements (as amended, the “PIPE Subscription Agreements”) pursuant to which the PIPE Investors have committed to purchase in a private placement up to 2,734,433 shares of Class A common stock (the “PIPE Shares”) at a purchase price of $10.00 per share and an aggregate purchase price of up to $27,344,330 (the “PIPE Investment”). The purchase of the PIPE Shares is conditioned upon, among other things, the consummation of the Business Combination and will be consummated immediately prior to or substantially concurrently with the Closing. The shares of Class A common stock to be issued pursuant to the PIPE Subscription Agreements have not been registered under the Securities Act, and will be issued in reliance on the availability of an exemption from such registration. On February 28, 2024, the PIPE Investors entered into amendments to the PIPE Subscription Agreements which reduced their aggregate commitment to purchase PIPE Shares to 2,287,464 at a purchase price of $10.00 per share, for an aggregate PIPE Investment of up to $22,874,640.
Pursuant to the PIPE Subscription Agreement executed by the sponsor, the sponsor has agreed to purchase 656,499 shares of Class A common stock at a purchase price of $10.00 per share for an aggregate purchase price of $6,564,990. However, the number of subscribed shares to be purchased thereunder by the sponsor will be reduced by the number of shares of Class A common stock that have not been elected for redemption as of the expiration of the redemption period related to the Closing and that are held by certain individuals mutually agreed upon by us and Bolt Threads at any time from the date of the execution of the agreement up to immediately prior to the expiration of such redemption period.
Registration Rights and Lock-up Agreement
The Business Combination Agreement provides that, in connection with the Closing, the Post-Combination Company, certain stockholders of Bolt Threads, the sponsor and certain stockholders of the Company will enter into an amended and restated registration rights and lock-up agreement (the “Registration Rights and Lock-up Agreement”), pursuant to which the Post-Combination Company will agree to register for resale certain shares of the Post-Combination Company common stock and other equity securities that are held by the parties thereto from time to time.
Additionally, pursuant to the Registration Rights and Lock-up Agreement, certain Bolt Threads stockholders and the Sponsor will be subject to certain restrictions on transfer with respect to the shares of the Post-Combination Company common stock issued as part of the transaction consideration and certain shares of the Post-Combination Company common stock held by the Sponsor and certain stockholders of the Company.
Sponsor Support Agreement
In connection with the execution of the Business Combination Agreement, we entered into a sponsor support agreement (the “Sponsor Support Agreement”) with the sponsor and Bolt Threads. Pursuant to the Sponsor Support Agreement, the sponsor has, among other things, agreed to vote all of its shares of capital stock in favor of the approval of the Transactions. In addition, the sponsor has agreed that 1,437,500 shares of the Post-Combination Company common stock issued in connection with the IPO (the “Sponsor Shares”) will be unvested and subject to forfeiture as of the Closing and will only vest if, during the five year period following the Closing, (i) the volume weighted average price of the Post-Combination Company common stock equals or exceeds $12.50 (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any twenty trading days within a period of thirty consecutive trading days or (ii) there is a change of control of the Company. Any Sponsor Shares that remain unvested after the fifth anniversary of the Closing will be forfeited. The Sponsor Support Agreement will terminate upon the earliest of (i) the effective time of the Merger, (ii) the termination of the Business Combination Agreement if the Closing does not occur, and (iii) the written agreement of the parties terminating the Sponsor Support Agreement.
Stockholder Support Agreement
In connection with the execution of the Business Combination Agreement, we entered into a support agreement (the “Stockholder Support Agreement”) with Bolt Threads and certain stockholders of Bolt Threads pursuant to which such stockholders have, among other things, agreed to vote to adopt and approve, upon the registration statement on Form S-4 being declared effective, the Business Combination Agreement and all other documents and transactions contemplated thereby and to subject their shares to certain transfer restrictions. The Stockholder Support Agreement will terminate upon the earliest of (i) the effective time of the Merger, (ii) the termination of the Business Combination Agreement if the Closing does not occur, and (iii) the written agreement of the parties terminating the Stockholder Support Agreement.
Unless specifically stated, this Annual Report does not give effect to the proposed business combination and does not contain the risks associated with the proposed business combination. Such risks and effects relating to the proposed business combination are included in the S-4 Registration Statement.
Our Management Team
We are led by an experienced team of managers, operators, and investors bound by shared insight. Combining our strong idiosyncratic views developed over decades of experience, we believe we are uniquely qualified to identify and successfully merge with a valuable target company.
For more information about our management team, See Item 10. Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance of this Annual Report.
Members of our team have deployed billions of dollars of equity capital buying and building industry-leading businesses and have developed a vast network of relationships with entrepreneurs, corporate executives, consultants, bankers, and other advisors who seek out the partnership of our management team when embarking on significant capital investment or potential change-of-control transactions. Our team has built proprietary networks and relationships that allow us to source transactions that are not broadly marketed. We use the same criteria that have guided our successful collective investment histories in underwriting, analyzing, and structuring a prospective transaction. We consider various types of companies that are appropriate for this particular corporate structure when assessing potential opportunities.
Competitive Advantage
The network, sourcing, valuation, diligence, and execution capabilities of our management team, sponsor and advisors should provide us what we believe to be a significant and attractive pipeline of opportunities from which to evaluate and select a target business that will benefit from our collective expertise. We capitalize on the following competitive advantages in our pursuit of target assets:
● Extensive Private and Public Investing Experience. Our team is comprised of individuals who have extensive private equity, crossover, and public equities experience. We leverage the structuring and asset management expertise as well as the public markets insights of our team in identifying and executing potential business combinations. Mr. Babich has 20 years of investing and operating experience in the healthcare sector. In late 2020, Mr. Babich merged two Ambulatory Surgery Center software businesses, which created the leading modern software suite for the fast-growing ASC market. Mr. Doft, as CEO of Highline Capital, has been investing in healthcare companies in both public and private markets for more than 25 years, and has participated in several earlier stage private financings, including the creation of special purpose vehicles to facilitate profitable private investments in both Novocure and Passage Bio. Mr. Rechtschaffen, both personally and as CEO of AREX Capital and at his prior firms, has been investing in healthcare companies in both public and private markets for nearly two decades, including early-stage investments in Ambulnz, a leading provider of mobile medical services and transportation, and Veridikal, a leading provider of software-driven analytics and audit services to healthcare companies. Mr. Hirt has led over $3 billion of private equity investments throughout his career, including healthcare-industry investments in Epax Neutraceuticals and Trygg Pharma.
● Execution and Structuring Capability for Complex Transactions. We believe we have the organizational resources, significant transaction experience, and reputation required to effectively and efficiently source opportunities, analyze companies, negotiate and optimize structures, and ultimately complete an acquisition of a target company. These types of transactions may be complex and require creative structuring, industry knowledge and expertise, rigorous due diligence, and extensive negotiation and documentation. We believe that our expertise and experience in executing transactions with varying degrees of complexity may enhance our ability to identify attractive acquisition opportunities.
● Proprietary Sourcing and Deep Network of Industry Relationships. We believe that our reputation, deep experience and proactive approach to sourcing transactions, and extensive industry relationships will continue to provide numerous investment opportunities. Mr. Babich’s operational and managerial expertise in the healthcare space make him a compelling partner for healthcare companies seeking capital solutions. In addition, members of our board have been longtime investors in both public and private healthcare firms. Moreover, given the combination of Mr. Babich’s and our board members’ long track records and reputations, as well as their broad and diverse networks, there will be significant potential for them to source new opportunities that may not be broadly marketed.
● Creating Long-Term Shareholder Value. Marrying a well-positioned business with the capital it needs is but one way we intend to create value. Our collective track record helping companies grow, expand margins, and tackle opportunity, as well as our significant collective understanding of the factors that allow public companies to be successful and well-received by market participants, leads us to believe that more sustained value creation beyond the initial transaction is possible.
Acquisition Strategy
While we may acquire a business in any industry or sector, our initial focus was on the healthcare infrastructure sector in the United States and other developed countries, but we remained open to evaluating other potential targets.
Our selection process leverages our deep experiences as public and private equity investors and our networks of relationships with industry leaders, private equity and venture capital firms, strategic partners, and other service providers to give us multiple avenues to develop acquisition opportunities. Our objective is to source the highest quality targets while avoiding competitive auction processes. Targets may include late-stage growth companies that need sizable capital injections to aggressively capture a nascent market opportunity; family-owned businesses seeking to facilitate generational transfer without complete monetization; business units of enterprises seeking both independence and dedicated funding; negative cashflow growth companies; and sponsor-owned companies pursuing recapitalization.
Acquisition Criteria
Consistent with our acquisition strategy, we have identified the following general criteria and guidelines that we believe are important in evaluating prospective target businesses. We use these criteria and guidelines in evaluating acquisition opportunities, but we may decide to enter our initial business combination with a target business that does not meet these criteria and guidelines.
● Attractive Business Model. Among the criteria that we emphasize in evaluating our acquisition targets are significant existing and/or potential recurring revenue streams, strong steady-state margins, opportunities for operational improvement, and attractive free cash flow characteristics, including low capital intensity and strong free cash flow conversion.
● Strong Competitive Position. We focus on acquisition targets that have existing demonstrable and sustainable competitive advantages, with a clear path to sustain and/or develop a leading market position in their respective industries. Furthermore, we focus on industries or niches that have high barriers to entry and that we believe exhibit rational competitive behaviors over the short, medium, and long term.
● Innovative Product and/or Service Offerings. We seek to acquire one or more businesses that have innovative product and/or service offerings that serve to lower costs and improve efficiency and quality for customers. This may involve identifying targets with technology-driven business models that seek to improve or replace incumbent and/or physically-driven solutions.
● Compelling Growth Outlook. We seek to acquire one or more businesses that have the potential for significant growth. The targets that we seek to focus on have large total addressable markets; clear secular growth drivers over the short, medium, and long term; avenues for growth from exploiting existing opportunities and expanding into adjacent markets and new geographies; and significant potential to pursue synergistic acquisitions and drive outsized inorganic top-line growth.
● Experienced Management Team. We focus on target businesses that have complete, experienced management teams with a vision for creating a substantially larger enterprise. Furthermore, we focus on acquisition opportunities in which the management team of the target have substantial equity ownership in the newly public company and is aligned with us and incentivized to create long-term shareholder value.
● Benefits from Long-Term Sponsorship. We intend to acquire a company that we believe will benefit from our differentiated industry network, brand, and value creation capabilities. We seek to partner with a potential target’s management team and anticipate that the financial and operational experience of our management team and board will enhance a target company’s ability to grow and succeed as a public company.
● Benefits from Being a Public Company. We intend to acquire one or more businesses that will benefit from being a public company as a result of a lower cost of capital, an enhanced public profile, and the ability to use publicly-traded stock-based compensation to attract and retain employees, among other things.
These criteria are not intended to be exhaustive. Any evaluation relating to the merits of a particular initial business combination may be based, to the extent relevant, on these general guidelines as well as other considerations, factors, and criteria that our management team may deem relevant. In the event that we decide to enter into our initial business combination with a target business that does not meet the above criteria and guidelines, we will disclose that the target business does not meet the above criteria in our stockholder communications related to our initial business combination, which would be in the form of proxy solicitation materials or tender offer documents that we would file with the SEC.
Our Acquisition Process
In evaluating a prospective target business, we conduct a thorough due diligence review which may encompass, among other things, meetings with incumbent management and employees, document reviews, inspection of facilities, as well as a review of financial, operational, legal and other information that will be made available to us.
We are not prohibited from pursuing an initial business combination with a business that is affiliated with our sponsor, officers or directors. In the event we seek to complete our initial business combination with a business that is affiliated with our sponsor, officers or directors, we, or a committee of independent and disinterested directors, will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm that is a member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, or FINRA, or from an independent accounting firm, that such initial business combination is fair to our company from a financial point of view.
Members of our management team directly or indirectly own our securities, and accordingly, they may have a conflict of interest in determining whether a particular target business is an appropriate business with which to effectuate our initial business combination. Further, each of our officers and directors may have a conflict of interest with respect to evaluating a particular business combination if the retention or resignation of any such officers and directors was included by a target business as a condition to any agreement with respect to our initial business combination.
Our officers and directors are from time to time made aware of potential business opportunities, one or more of which we may desire to pursue, for a business combination, but we have not (nor has anyone on our behalf) contacted any prospective target business or had any substantive discussions, formal or otherwise, with respect to a business combination transaction with us.
Each of our officers and directors presently has, and any of them in the future may have additional fiduciary, contractual or other obligations or duties to one or more other entities pursuant to which such officer or director is or will be required to present a business combination opportunity to such entities. Accordingly, if any of our officers or directors becomes aware of a business combination opportunity which is suitable for one or more entities to which he or she has fiduciary, contractual or other obligations or duties, he or she will honor these obligations and duties to present such business combination opportunity to such entities first, and only present it to us if such entities reject the opportunity and he or she determines to present the opportunity to us.
We do not believe, however, that the fiduciary, contractual or other obligations or duties of our officers or directors will materially affect our ability to complete our initial business combination. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that we renounce our interest in any corporate opportunity offered to any director or officer unless such opportunity is expressly offered to such person solely in his or her capacity as a director or officer of our company and such opportunity is one we are legally and contractually permitted to undertake and would otherwise be reasonable for us to pursue.
In addition, our sponsor and our officers and directors may sponsor or form other special purpose acquisition companies similar to ours or may pursue other business or investment, even prior to us entering into a definitive agreement for our initial business combination. Any such companies, businesses or investments may present additional conflicts of interest in pursuing an initial business combination. However, we do not believe that any such potential conflicts would materially affect our ability to complete our initial business combination.
We will either (1) seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination at a meeting called for such purpose at which stockholders may elect to redeem their public shares, regardless of whether they vote for or against the proposed business combination or don’t vote at all, into their pro rata share of the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account (net of taxes payable), or (2) provide our stockholders with the opportunity to sell their public shares to us by means of a tender offer (and thereby avoid the need for a stockholder vote) for an amount equal to their pro rata share of the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account (net of taxes payable), in each case subject to the limitations described herein. The decision as to whether we will seek stockholder approval of our proposed business combination or allow stockholders to sell their shares to us in a tender offer will be made by us, solely in our discretion, and will be based on a variety of factors such as the timing of the transaction and whether the terms of the transaction would otherwise require us to seek stockholder approval. If we decide to allow stockholders to sell their shares to us in a tender offer, we will file tender offer documents with the SEC which will contain substantially the same financial and other information about the initial business combination as is required under the SEC’s proxy rules. We will consummate our initial business combination only if we seek stockholder approval, and a majority of the outstanding shares of common stock voted are voted in favor of the business combination. We have no specified maximum percentage threshold for conversions in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and even those public stockholders who vote in favor of our initial business combination have the right to convert their public shares. As a result, this may make it easier for us to consummate our initial business combination.
Initial Business Combination
Nasdaq rules require that an initial business combination must be with one or more operating businesses or assets with a fair market value equal to at least 80% of the net assets held in the trust account (net of amounts disbursed to management for working capital purposes, if permitted, and excluding the amount of any deferred underwriting discount). We refer to this as the 80% of net assets test. If our board of directors is not able to independently determine the fair market value of the target business or businesses, we will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or another independent entity that commonly renders valuation opinions, with respect to the satisfaction of such criteria. Additionally, pursuant to Nasdaq rules, any initial business combination must be approved by a majority of our independent directors. Notwithstanding the foregoing, if we are not then listed on Nasdaq, these rules will not be applicable to us. We do not currently intend to purchase multiple businesses in unrelated industries in conjunction with our initial business combination, although there is no assurance that will be the case.
We anticipate structuring our initial business combination so that the post-transaction company in which our public stockholders own or acquire shares will own or acquire 100% of the outstanding equity interests or assets of the target business or businesses. We may, however, structure our initial business combination such that the post-transaction company owns or acquires less than 100% of such interests or assets of the target business in order to meet certain objectives of the target management team or stockholders or for other reasons, but we will only complete such business combination if the post-transaction company owns or acquires 50% or more of the outstanding voting securities of the target or otherwise acquires a controlling interest in the target business sufficient for it not to be required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended, or the Investment Company Act. Even if the post-transaction company owns or acquires 50% or more of the outstanding voting securities of the target, our stockholders prior to our initial business combination may collectively own a minority interest in the post-transaction company, depending on valuations ascribed to the target and us in our initial business combination transaction. For example, we could pursue a transaction in which we issue a substantial number of new shares in exchange for all of the outstanding capital stock of a target, or issue a substantial number of new shares to third-parties in connection with financing our initial business combination. In such cases, we would acquire a 100% controlling interest in the target. However, as a result of the issuance of a substantial number of new shares, our stockholders immediately prior to our initial business combination could own less than a majority of our outstanding shares subsequent to our initial business combination. If less than 100% of the outstanding equity interests or assets of a target business or businesses are owned or acquired by the post-transaction company, the portion of such business or businesses that is owned or acquired by us is what will be valued for purposes of the 80% of net assets test. If our initial business combination involves more than one target business, the 80% of net assets test will be based on the aggregate value of all of the target businesses.
We are subject to the rules and regulations promulgated under the Exchange Act. We have no current intention of filing a Form 15 to suspend our reporting or other obligations under the Exchange Act prior or subsequent to the consummation of our initial business combination.
Competition
We have encountered and if the business combination with Bolt Threads is not completed, may in the future encounter intense competition from other entities having a business objective similar to ours, including private investors (which may be individuals or investment partnerships), other blank check companies and other entities, domestic and international, competing for the types of businesses we intend to acquire.
Many of these individuals and entities are well-established and have extensive experience in identifying and effecting, directly or indirectly, acquisitions of companies operating in or providing services to various industries. Many of these competitors possess greater technical, human and other resources or more local industry knowledge than we do and our financial resources are relatively limited when contrasted with those of many of these competitors. While we believe there are numerous target businesses we could potentially acquire with the net proceeds of our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement warrants, our ability to compete with respect to the acquisition of certain target businesses that are sizable is limited by our available financial resources. Our sponsor or any of its affiliates may make additional investments in us, although our sponsor has no obligation or other duty to do so. This inherent competitive limitation gives others an advantage in pursuing the acquisition of certain target businesses. Furthermore, our obligation to pay cash in connection with our public stockholders who exercise their redemption rights may reduce the resources available to us for our initial business combination and our outstanding warrants, and the future dilution they potentially represent, may not be viewed favorably by target businesses. Any of these factors may place us at a competitive disadvantage in successfully negotiating and completing an initial business combination.
Human Capital Resources
We currently have one officer and do not intend to have any full-time employees prior to the completion of our initial business combination. Members of our management team are not obligated to devote any specific number of hours to our matters but they intend to devote as much of their time as they deem necessary to our affairs until we have completed our initial business combination. The amount of time that any such person devotes in any time period to our company will vary based on whether a target business has been selected for our initial business combination and the current stage of the business combination process.
Corporate Information
Our corporate website address is www.goldenarrowspac.com. The information contained on, or accessible through our corporate website or any other website that we may maintain is not incorporated by reference into this Annual Report. Our executive offices are located at 10 E. 53rd Street, 13th Floor, New York, NY 10022 and our telephone number is (212) 430-2214.
Periodic Reporting and Financial Information
We have registered our units, Class A common stock and public warrants under the Exchange Act and have reporting obligations, including the requirement that we file annual, quarterly and current reports with the SEC. In accordance with the requirements of the Exchange Act, our annual reports will contain financial statements audited and reported on by our independent registered public accounting firm.
We will provide stockholders with audited financial statements of the prospective target business as part of the tender offer materials or proxy solicitation materials sent to stockholders to assist them in assessing the target business. These financial statements may be required to be prepared in accordance with, or be reconciled to, GAAP or IFRS, depending on the circumstances and the historical financial statements may be required to be audited in accordance with PCAOB standards. These financial statement requirements may limit the pool of potential target businesses we may acquire because some targets may be unable to provide such financial statements in time for us to disclose such financial statements in accordance with federal proxy rules and complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame. While this may limit the pool of potential business combination candidates, we do not believe that this limitation will be material.
We are required to evaluate our internal control procedures for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2023 as required by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Only in the event we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer or an accelerated filer, and no longer qualify as an emerging growth company, will we be required to comply with the independent registered public accounting firm attestation requirements on our internal control over financial reporting. A target business may not be in compliance with the provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act regarding adequacy of their internal controls. The development of the internal controls of any such entity to achieve compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act may increase the time and costs necessary to complete any such acquisition.
We are an “emerging growth company,” as defined in Section 2(a) of the Securities Act, as modified by the JOBS Act. As such, we are eligible to take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not “emerging growth companies” including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the 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 non-binding advisory vote on executive compensation and stockholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. If some investors find our securities less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our securities and the prices of our securities may be more volatile. In addition, Section 107 of the JOBS Act also provides that an “emerging growth company” can take advantage of the extended transition period provided in Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act for complying with new or revised accounting standards. In other words, an “emerging growth company” can delay the adoption of certain accounting standards until those standards would otherwise apply to private companies. We intend to take advantage of the benefits of this extended transition period. We will remain an emerging growth company until the earlier of: (1) the last day of the fiscal year (a) following the fifth anniversary of the completion of this offering, (b) in which we have total annual gross revenue of at least $1.235 billion, or (c) in which we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer, which means the market value of our common stock that is held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of the end of that year’s second fiscal quarter; and (2) the date on which we have issued more than $1.00 billion in non-convertible debt securities during the prior three-year period. References herein to “emerging growth company” shall have the meaning associated with it in the JOBS Act.
Additionally, we are a “smaller reporting company” as defined in Item 10(f)(1) of Regulation S-K. Smaller reporting companies may take advantage of certain reduced disclosure obligations, including, among other things, providing only two years of audited financial statements. We will remain a smaller reporting company until the last day of the fiscal year in which (1) the market value of our common stock held by non-affiliates exceeds $250 million as of the end of that year’s second fiscal quarter, or (2) our annual revenues exceeded $100 million during such completed fiscal year and the market value of our common stock held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of the end of that year’s second fiscal quarter.

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ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS
ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS
Summary of Risk Factors
An investment in our securities involves a high degree of risk. The occurrence of one or more of the events or circumstances described in this section, alone or in combination with other events or circumstances, may materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results. In that event, the trading price of our securities could decline, and you could lose all or part of your investment. Such risks include, but are not limited to:
● We are a newly incorporated company with no operating history and no revenues, and you have no basis on which to evaluate our ability to achieve our business objective.
● Our public stockholders may not be afforded an opportunity to vote on our proposed business combination, which means we may complete our initial business combination even though a majority of our public stockholders do not support such a combination.
● Your only opportunity to affect the investment decision regarding a potential business combination will be limited to the exercise of your right to redeem your shares from us for cash, unless we seek stockholder approval of such business combination.
● If we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination, our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or any of their respective affiliates may enter into certain transactions, including purchasing shares or warrants from the public, which may influence the outcome of our proposed business combination and reduce the public “float” of our securities.
● The ability of our public stockholders to redeem their shares for cash may make our financial condition unattractive to potential business combination targets, which may make it difficult for us to enter into a business combination with a target.
● The ability of our public stockholders to exercise redemption rights with respect to a large number of our shares may not allow us to complete the most desirable business combination or optimize our capital structure.
● The requirement that we complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame may give potential target businesses leverage over us in negotiating a business combination and may limit the time we have in which to conduct due diligence on potential business combination targets, in particular as we approach our dissolution deadline, which could undermine our ability to complete our initial business combination on terms that would produce value for our stockholders.
● Our search for a business combination, and any target business with which we ultimately consummate a business combination, may be materially adversely affected by negative impacts on the global economy, capital markets or other geopolitical conditions resulting from the invasion of Ukraine by Russia and Hamas’ attack on Israel.
● Past performance by members of our management team and their respective affiliates may not be indicative of future performance of an investment in us.
● If a stockholder fails to receive notice of our offer to redeem our public shares in connection with our initial business combination, or fails to comply with the procedures for tendering its shares, such shares may not be redeemed.
● You will not have any rights or interests in funds from the trust account, except under certain limited circumstances. To liquidate your investment, therefore, you may be forced to sell your public shares or warrants, potentially at a loss.
● Nasdaq may delist our securities from trading on its exchange, which could limit investors’ ability to make transactions in our securities and subject us to additional trading restrictions.
● You are not entitled to protections normally afforded to investors of many other blank check companies.
● Because of our limited resources and the significant competition for business combination opportunities, it may be more difficult for us to complete our initial business combination. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public stockholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per share, or less in certain circumstances, on our redemption of their stock, and our warrants will expire worthless.
● If the net proceeds of this offering and the sale of the private placement warrants not being held in the trust account are insufficient, it could limit the amount available to fund our search for a target business or businesses and complete our initial business combination and we will depend on loans from our sponsor or management team to fund our search, to pay our taxes and to complete our initial business combination. If we are unable to obtain such loans, we may be unable to complete our initial business combination.
● Certain of our officers and directors are now, and all of them may in the future become, affiliated with entities engaged in business activities similar to those intended to be conducted by us and, accordingly, may have conflicts of interest in determining to which entity a particular business opportunity or other transaction should be presented.
● A new 1% U.S. federal excise tax could be imposed on us in connection with redemptions by us of our shares of common stock.
● Our liquidity condition and proximity to our liquidation date expresses substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a “going concern.”
● Provisions in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and Delaware law may inhibit a takeover of us, which could limit the price investors might be willing to pay in the future for our Class A common stock and could entrench management.
For risk factors related to Bolt Threads and our proposed business combination, please review the S-4 Registration Statement, including the preliminary proxy statement/prospectus of the Company to be included therein, and the definitive proxy statement/prospectus to be filed by the Company.
Risks Relating to Our Search for, Consummation of, or Inability to Consummate, a Business Combination and Post-Business Combination Risks
We are a newly incorporated company with no operating history and no revenues, and you have no basis on which to evaluate our ability to achieve our business objective.
We are a newly incorporated company with no operating results to date. Because we lack an operating history, you have no basis upon which to evaluate our ability to achieve our business objective of completing our initial business combination with one or more target businesses. We may be unable to complete our initial business combination, including the proposed business combination with Bolt Threads. If we fail to complete our initial business combination, we will never generate any operating revenues.
Our public stockholders may not be afforded an opportunity to vote on our proposed initial business combination, which means we may complete our initial business combination even though a majority of our public stockholders do not support such a combination.
We may not hold a stockholder vote to approve our initial business combination unless the business combination would require stockholder approval under applicable law or stock exchange listing requirements or if we decide to hold a stockholder vote for business or other reasons. Except as required by applicable law or stock exchange rules, the decision as to whether we will seek stockholder approval of a proposed business combination or will allow stockholders to sell their shares to us in a tender offer will be made by us, solely in our discretion, and will be based on a variety of factors, such as the timing of the transaction. Accordingly, we may consummate our initial business combination even if holders of a majority of our outstanding public shares do not approve of the business combination we consummate.
If we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination, our sponsor, officers and directors have agreed to vote in favor of such initial business combination, regardless of how our public stockholders vote.
Our sponsor, officers and directors have agreed (and their permitted transferees will agree) to vote any founder shares and any public shares held by them in favor of our initial business combination. We expect that our initial stockholders and their permitted transferees will own at least 92.6% of our outstanding shares of common stock at the time of any such stockholder vote. Accordingly, if we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination, it is more likely that the necessary stockholder approval will be received than would be the case if our initial stockholders and their permitted transferees agreed to vote their founder shares in accordance with the majority of the votes cast by our public stockholders.
Your only opportunity to affect the investment decision regarding a potential business combination will be limited to the exercise of your right to redeem your shares from us for cash, unless we seek stockholder approval of such business combination.
You may not be provided with an opportunity to evaluate the specific merits or risks of any target businesses. Additionally, since our board of directors may complete a business combination without seeking stockholder approval, public stockholders may not have the right or opportunity to vote on the business combination. Accordingly, if we do not seek stockholder approval, your only opportunity to affect the investment decision regarding a potential business combination may be limited to exercising your redemption rights within the period of time (which will be at least 20 business days) set forth in our tender offer documents mailed to our public stockholders in which we describe our initial business combination.
The ability of our public stockholders to redeem their shares for cash may make our financial condition unattractive to potential business combination targets, which may make it difficult for us to enter into a business combination with a target.
We may seek to enter into a business combination transaction agreement with a prospective target that requires as a closing condition that we have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash. If too many public stockholders exercise their redemption rights, we would not be able to meet such closing condition and, as a result, would not be able to proceed with the business combination. Prospective targets will be aware of these risks and, thus, may be reluctant to enter into a business combination transaction with us.
The ability of our public stockholders to exercise redemption rights with respect to a large number of our shares may not allow us to complete the most desirable business combination or optimize our capital structure.
At the time we enter into an agreement for our initial business combination, we will not know how many stockholders may exercise their redemption rights and, therefore, we will need to structure the transaction based on our expectations as to the number of shares that will be submitted for redemption. If our initial business combination agreement requires us to use a portion of the cash in the trust account to pay the purchase price or requires us to have a minimum amount of cash at closing, we will need to reserve a portion of the cash in the trust account to meet such requirements or arrange for third-party financing. In addition, if a larger number of shares is submitted for redemption than we initially expected, we may need to restructure the transaction to reserve a greater portion of the cash in the trust account or arrange for third-party financing. Raising additional third-party financing may involve dilutive equity issuances or the incurrence of indebtedness at higher than desirable levels. The above considerations may limit our ability to complete the most desirable business combination available to us or optimize our capital structure.
The ability of our public stockholders to exercise redemption rights with respect to a large number of our shares could increase the probability that our initial business combination would be unsuccessful and that you would have to wait for liquidation in order to redeem your stock.
If our initial business combination agreement requires us to use a portion of the cash in the trust account to pay the purchase price, or requires us to have a minimum amount of cash at closing, the probability that our initial business combination would be unsuccessful increases. If our initial business combination is unsuccessful, you would not receive your pro rata portion of the trust account until we liquidate the trust account. If you are in need of immediate liquidity, you could attempt to sell your stock in the open market; however, at such time our stock may trade at a discount to the pro rata amount per share in the trust account. In either situation, you may suffer a material loss on your investment or lose the benefit of funds expected in connection with our redemption until we liquidate or you are able to sell your stock in the open market.
The requirement that we complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame may give potential target businesses leverage over us in negotiating a business combination and may limit the time we have in which to conduct due diligence on potential business combination targets, in particular as we approach our dissolution deadline, which could undermine our ability to complete our initial business combination on terms that would produce value for our stockholders.
Any potential target business with which we enter into negotiations concerning a business combination will be aware that we must complete our initial business combination by the Extended Date. Consequently, such target business may obtain leverage over us in negotiating a business combination, knowing that if we do not complete our initial business combination with that particular target business, we may be unable to complete our initial business combination with any target business. This risk will increase as we get closer to the end of the timeframe described above. In addition, we may have limited time to conduct due diligence and may enter into our initial business combination on terms that we would have rejected upon a more comprehensive investigation.
We may not be able to complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame, in which case we would cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up and we would redeem our public shares and liquidate, in which case our public stockholders may receive only $10.00 per share, or less than such amount in certain circumstances, and our warrants will expire worthless.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that we must complete our initial business combination by the Extended Date. We may not be able to find a suitable target business and complete our initial business combination within such time period. Our ability to complete our initial business combination may be negatively impacted by general market conditions, volatility in the capital and debt markets and the other risks described herein. The invasion of Ukraine by Russia, Hamas’ attack on Israel and the ensuing conflict, may negatively impact businesses we may seek to acquire. It may also have the effect of heightening many of the other risks described in this “Risk Factors” section, such as those related to the market for our securities and cross-border transactions. Additionally, financial markets may be adversely affected by current or anticipated military conflict, including between Russia and Ukraine and between Israel and Hamas, terrorism, sanctions or other geopolitical events globally.
If we have not completed our initial business combination within such time period or during any Extension Period, we will: (1) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up; (2) as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, redeem the public shares, at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest (which interest shall be net of taxes payable, and less up to $100,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, which redemption will completely extinguish public stockholders’ rights as stockholders (including the right to receive further liquidating distributions, if any); and (3) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining stockholders and our board of directors, dissolve and liquidate, subject in each case to our obligations under Delaware law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law. In such case, our public stockholders may receive only $10.00 per share, or less than $10.00 per share, on the redemption of their shares, and our warrants will expire worthless. Please see “Risk Factors - Risks Relating to the Trust Account - If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the trust account could be reduced and the per-share redemption amount received by stockholders may be less than $10.00 per share” and other risk factors herein.
If a stockholder fails to receive notice of our offer to redeem our public shares in connection with our initial business combination, or fails to comply with the procedures for tendering its shares, such shares may not be redeemed.
We will comply with the tender offer rules or proxy rules, as applicable, when conducting redemptions in connection with our initial business combination. Despite our compliance with these rules, if a stockholder fails to receive our tender offer or proxy materials, as applicable, such stockholder may not become aware of the opportunity to redeem its shares. In addition, the tender offer documents or proxy materials, as applicable, that we will furnish to holders of our public shares in connection with our initial business combination will describe the various procedures that must be complied with in order to validly tender or redeem public shares. For example, we may require our public stockholders seeking to exercise their redemption rights, whether they are record holders or hold their shares in “street name,” to either tender their certificates to our transfer agent prior to the date set forth in the tender offer or proxy materials documents mailed to such holders, or up to two business days prior to the scheduled vote on the proposal to approve the initial business combination in the event we distribute proxy materials, or to deliver their shares to the transfer agent electronically. In the event that a stockholder fails to comply with these procedures, its shares may not be redeemed.
Because of our limited resources and the significant competition for business combination opportunities, it may be more difficult for us to complete our initial business combination. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public stockholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per share, or less in certain circumstances, on our redemption of their stock, and our warrants will expire worthless.
We encounter intense competition from other entities having a business objective similar to ours, including private investors (which may be individuals or investment partnerships), other blank check companies and other entities, domestic and international, competing for the types of businesses we are seeking to acquire. Many of these individuals and entities are well-established and have extensive experience in identifying and effecting, directly or indirectly, acquisitions of companies operating in or providing services to various industries. Many of these competitors possess greater technical, human and other resources or more local industry knowledge than we do and our financial resources will be relatively limited when contrasted with those of many of these competitors. While we believe there are numerous target businesses we could potentially acquire with the net proceeds of our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement warrants, our ability to compete with respect to the acquisition of certain target businesses that are sizable is limited by our available financial resources. Our sponsor or any of its affiliates may make additional investments in us, although our sponsor and its affiliates have no obligation or other duty to do so. This inherent competitive limitation gives others an advantage in pursuing the acquisition of certain target businesses. Furthermore, our obligation to pay cash in connection with our public stockholders who exercise their redemption rights may reduce the resources available to us for our initial business combination and our outstanding warrants, and the future dilution they potentially represent, may not be viewed favorably by target businesses. Any of these factors may place us at a competitive disadvantage in successfully negotiating and completing an initial business combination. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public stockholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per share, or less in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless. Please see “Risk Factors - Risks Relating to the Trust Account - If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the trust account could be reduced and the per-share redemption amount received by stockholders may be less than $10.00 per share” and other risk factors herein.
If the funds not being held in the trust account are insufficient to allow us to operate until at least the Extended Date, we may be unable to complete our initial business combination.
The funds available to us outside of the trust account may not be sufficient to allow us to operate until at least the Extended Date, assuming that our initial business combination is not completed during that time. We expect to incur significant costs in pursuit of our acquisition plans. Management’s plans to address this need for capital through our initial public offering and potential loans from certain of our affiliates are discussed in the section of this Annual Report titled “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.” However, our affiliates are not obligated to make loans to us in the future, and we may not be able to raise additional financing from unaffiliated parties necessary to fund our expenses. Any such event in the future may negatively impact the analysis regarding our ability to continue as a going concern at such time.
Of the funds available to us, we could use a portion of the funds available to us to pay commitment fees for financing, fees to consultants to assist us with our search for a target business or as a down payment or to fund a “no-shop” provision (a provision in letters of intent or merger agreements designed to keep target businesses from “shopping” around for transactions with other companies or investors on terms more favorable to such target businesses) with respect to a particular proposed business combination, although we do not have any current intention to do so. If we entered into an agreement where we paid for the right to receive exclusivity from a target business and were subsequently required to forfeit such funds (whether as a result of our breach or otherwise), we might not have sufficient funds to continue searching for, or conduct due diligence with respect to, a prospective target business. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public stockholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per share, or less in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless. Please see “Item 1A. Risk Factors - Risks Relating to the Trust Account - If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the trust account could be reduced and the per-share redemption amount received by stockholders may be less than $10.00 per share” and other risk factors herein.
If the net proceeds of our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement warrants not being held in the trust account are insufficient, it could limit the amount available to fund our search for a target business or businesses and complete our initial business combination and we will depend on loans from our sponsor or management team to fund our search, to pay our taxes and to complete our initial business combination. If we are unable to obtain such loans, we may be unable to complete our initial business combination.
If we are required to seek additional capital, we would need to borrow funds from our sponsor, management team or other third parties to operate or may be forced to liquidate. Neither our sponsor, members of our management team nor any of their respective affiliates is under any obligation or other duty to loan funds to, or invest in, us in such circumstances. Any such loans may be repaid only from funds held outside the trust account or from funds released to us upon completion of our initial business combination. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination because we do not have sufficient funds available to us, we will be forced to cease operations and liquidate the trust account. In such case, our public stockholders may receive only $10.00 per share, or less in certain circumstances, and our warrants will expire worthless. Please see “Risk Factors - Risks Relating to the Trust Account - If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the trust account could be reduced and the per-share redemption amount received by stockholders may be less than $10.00 per share” and other risk factors herein.
Subsequent to our completion of our initial business combination, we may be required to subsequently take write-downs or write-offs, restructuring and impairment or other charges that could have a significant negative effect on our financial condition, results of operations and the price of our securities, which could cause you to lose some or all of your investment.
Even if we conduct extensive due diligence on a target business with which we combine, such as Bolt Threads, we cannot assure you that this diligence will identify all material issues that may be present with a particular target business, that it would be possible to uncover all material issues through a customary amount of due diligence, or that factors outside of the target business and outside of our control will not later arise. As a result of these factors, we may be forced to later write-down or write-off assets, restructure our operations, or incur impairment or other charges that could result in our reporting losses. Even if our due diligence successfully identifies certain risks, unexpected risks may arise and previously known risks may materialize in a manner not consistent with our preliminary risk analysis. Even though these charges may be non-cash items and not have an immediate impact on our liquidity, the fact that we report charges of this nature could contribute to negative market perceptions about us or our securities. In addition, charges of this nature may cause us to violate net worth or other covenants to which we may be subject as a result of assuming pre-existing debt held by a target business or by virtue of our obtaining post-combination debt financing. Accordingly, any stockholders or warrant holders who choose to remain a stockholder or warrant holder following our initial business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their securities. Such stockholders or warrant holders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value.
If, after we distribute the proceeds in the trust account to our public stockholders, we file a bankruptcy petition or an involuntary bankruptcy petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, a bankruptcy court may seek to recover such proceeds, and the members of our board of directors may be viewed as having breached their fiduciary duties to our creditors, thereby exposing the members of our board of directors and us to claims of punitive damages.
If, after we distribute the proceeds in the trust account to our public stockholders, we file a bankruptcy petition or an involuntary bankruptcy petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, any distributions received by stockholders could be viewed under applicable debtor/creditor and/or bankruptcy laws as either a “preferential transfer” or a “fraudulent conveyance.” As a result, a bankruptcy court could seek to recover some or all amounts received by our stockholders. In addition, our board of directors may be viewed as having breached its fiduciary duty to our creditors and/or having acted in bad faith by paying public stockholders from the trust account prior to addressing the claims of creditors, thereby exposing itself and us to claims of punitive damages.
If, before distributing the proceeds in the trust account to our public stockholders, we file a bankruptcy petition or an involuntary bankruptcy petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, the claims of creditors in such proceeding may have priority over the claims of our stockholders and the per-share amount that would otherwise be received by our stockholders in connection with our liquidation may be reduced.
If, before distributing the proceeds in the trust account to our public stockholders, we file a bankruptcy petition or an involuntary bankruptcy petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, the proceeds held in the trust account could be subject to applicable bankruptcy law, and may be included in our bankruptcy estate and subject to the claims of third parties with priority over the claims of our stockholders. To the extent any bankruptcy claims deplete the trust account, the per-share amount that would otherwise be received by our public stockholders in connection with our liquidation would be reduced.
Our stockholders may be held liable for claims by third parties against us to the extent of distributions received by them upon redemption of their shares.
Under the Delaware General Corporation Law, or the DGCL, stockholders may be held liable for claims by third parties against a corporation to the extent of distributions received by them in a dissolution. The pro rata portion of our trust account distributed to our public stockholders upon the redemption of our public shares in the event we do not complete our initial business combination within the required time period may be considered a liquidating distribution under Delaware law. If a corporation complies with certain procedures set forth in Section 280 of the DGCL intended to ensure that it makes reasonable provision for all claims against it, including a 60-day notice period during which any third-party claims can be brought against the corporation, a 90-day period during which the corporation may reject any claims brought, and an additional 150-day waiting period before any liquidating distributions are made to stockholders, any liability of stockholders with respect to a liquidating distribution is limited to the lesser of such stockholder’s pro rata share of the claim or the amount distributed to the stockholder, and any liability of the stockholder would be barred after the third anniversary of the dissolution. However, it is our intention to redeem our public shares as soon as reasonably possible following the 24th month from the closing of our initial public offering (or the end of any Extension Period) in the event we do not complete our initial business combination and, therefore, we do not intend to comply with the foregoing procedures.
Because we do comply with Section 280, Section 281(b) of the DGCL requires us to adopt a plan, based on facts known to us at such time that will provide for our payment of all existing and pending claims or claims that may be potentially brought against us within the 10 years following our dissolution. However, because we are a blank check company, rather than an operating company, and our operations are limited to searching for prospective target businesses to acquire, the only likely claims to arise would be from our vendors (such as lawyers, investment bankers, consultants, etc.) or prospective target businesses. If our plan of distribution complies with Section 281(b) of the DGCL, any liability of stockholders with respect to a liquidating distribution is limited to the lesser of such stockholder’s pro rata share of the claim or the amount distributed to the stockholder, and any liability of the stockholder would likely be barred after the third anniversary of the dissolution. We cannot assure you that we will properly assess all claims that may be potentially brought against us. As such, our stockholders could potentially be liable for any claims to the extent of distributions received by them (but no more) and any liability of our stockholders may extend beyond the third anniversary of such date. Furthermore, if the pro rata portion of our trust account distributed to our public stockholders upon the redemption of our public shares in the event we do not complete our initial business combination within the required time period is not considered a liquidating distribution under Delaware law and such redemption distribution is deemed to be unlawful, then pursuant to Section 174 of the DGCL, the statute of limitations for claims of creditors could then be six years after the unlawful redemption distribution, instead of three years, as in the case of a liquidating distribution.
The grant of registration rights to our initial stockholders and their permitted transferees may make it more difficult to complete our initial business combination, and the future exercise of such rights may adversely affect the market price of our Class A common stock.
Pursuant to a Registration Rights Agreement entered into upon the closing of our initial public offering, at or after the time of our initial business combination, our initial stockholders and their permitted transferees can demand that we register the resale of their founder shares after those shares convert to shares of our Class A common stock. In addition, holders of our private placement warrants and their permitted transferees can demand that we register the resale of the private placement warrants and the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the private placement warrants, and holders of warrants that may be issued upon conversion of working capital loans may demand that we register the resale of such warrants or the Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of such warrants. We will bear the cost of registering these securities. The registration and availability of such a significant number of securities for trading in the public market may have an adverse effect on the market price of our Class A common stock. In addition, the existence of the registration rights may make our initial business combination more costly or difficult to complete. This is because the stockholders of the target business may increase the equity stake they seek in the combined entity or ask for more cash consideration to offset the negative impact on the market price of our Class A common stock that is expected when the securities described above are registered for resale.
Because we are neither limited to evaluating target businesses in a particular industry, sector or geographic area nor have we selected any specific target businesses with which to pursue our initial business combination, you will be unable to ascertain the merits or risks of any particular target business’s operations.
While we have initially focused our search on identifying a prospective target business in the healthcare or healthcare-related infrastructure industries in the United States and other developed countries, we may seek to complete a business combination with an operating company in any industry, sector or geographic area. However, we are not, under our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, permitted to effectuate our initial business combination solely with another blank check company or similar company with nominal operations. There is no basis for you to evaluate the possible merits or risks of any particular target business’s operations, results of operations, cash flows, liquidity, financial condition or prospects which we may ultimately acquire. To the extent we complete our initial business combination, we may be affected by numerous risks inherent in the business operations with which we combine. For example, if we combine with a financially unstable business or an entity lacking an established record of sales or earnings, we may be affected by the risks inherent in the business and operations of a financially unstable or a development stage entity. Although our officers and directors endeavor to evaluate the risks inherent in any particular target business, we cannot assure you that we will properly ascertain or assess all of the significant risk factors or that we will have adequate time to complete due diligence. Furthermore, some of these risks may be outside of our control and leave us with no ability to control or reduce the chances that those risks will adversely impact a target business. We also cannot assure you that an investment in our securities will ultimately prove to be more favorable to investors than a direct investment, if such opportunity were available, in a business combination target. Accordingly, any stockholders or warrant holders who choose to remain a stockholder or warrant holder following our initial business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their securities. Such stockholders or warrant holders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value.
We may seek acquisition opportunities in acquisition targets that may be outside of our management’s areas of expertise.
We will consider a business combination outside of our management’s areas of expertise if such business combination candidate is presented to us and we determine that such candidate offers an attractive acquisition opportunity for our company. In the event we elect to pursue an acquisition outside of the areas of our management’s expertise, our management’s expertise may not be directly applicable to its evaluation or operation, and the information contained in this Annual Report regarding the areas of our management’s expertise would not be relevant to an understanding of the business that we elect to acquire. As a result, our management may not be able to adequately ascertain or assess all of the significant risk factors relevant to such acquisition. Accordingly, any stockholders or warrant holders who choose to remain a stockholder or warrant holder following our initial business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their securities. Such stockholders or warrant holders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value.
Although we have identified general criteria and guidelines that we believe are important in evaluating prospective target businesses, we may enter into our initial business combination with a target that does not meet such criteria and guidelines, and as a result, the target business with which we enter into our initial business combination may not have attributes entirely consistent with our general criteria and guidelines.
Although we have identified general criteria and guidelines for evaluating prospective target businesses, it is possible that a target business with which we enter into our initial business combination will not have all of these positive attributes. If we complete our initial business combination with a target that does not meet some or all of these criteria and guidelines, such combination may not be as successful as a combination with a business that does meet all of our general criteria and guidelines. In addition, if we announce a prospective business combination with a target that does not meet our general criteria and guidelines, a greater number of stockholders may exercise their redemption rights, which may make it difficult for us to meet any closing condition with a target business that requires us to have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash. In addition, if stockholder approval of the transaction is required by applicable law or stock exchange rules, or we decide to obtain stockholder approval for business or other reasons, it may be more difficult for us to attain stockholder approval of our initial business combination if the target business does not meet our general criteria and guidelines. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public stockholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per share, or less in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless.
We may seek acquisition opportunities with an early stage company, a financially unstable business or an entity lacking an established record of revenue or earnings, which could subject us to volatile revenues or earnings, intense competition and difficulties in obtaining and retaining key personnel.
To the extent we complete our initial business combination with an early stage company, a financially unstable business or an entity lacking an established record of sales or earnings, we may be affected by numerous risks inherent in the operations of the business with which we combine. These risks include investing in a business without a proven business model and with limited historical financial data, volatile revenues or earnings, intense competition and difficulties in obtaining and retaining key personnel. Although our officers and directors endeavor to evaluate the risks inherent in a particular target business, we may not be able to properly ascertain or assess all of the significant risk factors. Furthermore, some of these risks may be outside of our control and leave us with no ability to control or reduce the chances that those risks will adversely impact a target business.
We are not required to obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm or from an independent accounting firm regarding fairness. Consequently, you may have no assurance from an independent source that the price we are paying for the business is fair to our company from a financial point of view.
Unless we complete our initial business combination with a business that is affiliated with our sponsor, officers or directors, we are not required to obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm that is a member of FINRA or from an independent accounting firm that the price we are paying is fair to our company from a financial point of view. If no opinion is obtained, our stockholders will be relying on the judgment of our board of directors, who will determine fair market value based on standards generally accepted by the financial community. Such standards used will be disclosed in our tender offer documents or proxy solicitation materials, as applicable, related to our initial business combination.
Resources could be wasted in researching acquisitions that are not completed, which could materially adversely affect subsequent attempts to locate and acquire or merge with another business. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public stockholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per share, or less than such amount in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless.
We anticipate that the investigation of each specific target business and the negotiation, drafting and execution of relevant agreements, disclosure documents and other instruments will require substantial management time and attention and substantial costs for accountants, attorneys and others. If we decide not to complete a specific initial business combination, the costs incurred up to that point for the proposed transaction likely would not be recoverable. Furthermore, if we reach an agreement relating to a specific target business, we may fail to complete our initial business combination for any number of reasons including those beyond our control. Any such event will result in a loss to us of the related costs incurred which could materially adversely affect subsequent attempts to locate and acquire or merge with another business. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public stockholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per share, or less in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless. Please see “Risk Factors - Risks Relating to the Trust Account - If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the trust account could be reduced and the per-share redemption amount received by stockholders may be less than $10.00 per share” and other risk factors herein.
Our ability to successfully effect our initial business combination and to be successful thereafter will be dependent upon the efforts of our key personnel, some of whom may join us following our initial business combination. The loss of key personnel could negatively impact the operations and profitability of our post-combination business.
Our ability to successfully effect our initial business combination is dependent upon the efforts of our key personnel. The role of our key personnel in the target business, however, cannot presently be ascertained. Although some of our key personnel may remain with the target business in senior management or advisory positions following our initial business combination, we do not currently expect that any of them will do so. While we intend to closely scrutinize any individuals we engage after our initial business combination, we cannot assure you that our assessment of these individuals will prove to be correct. These individuals may be unfamiliar with the requirements of operating a company regulated by the SEC, which could cause us to have to expend time and resources helping them become familiar with such requirements.
In addition, the officers and directors of an acquisition candidate may resign upon completion of our initial business combination. The departure of a business combination target’s key personnel could negatively impact the operations and profitability of our post-combination business. The role of an acquisition candidate’s key personnel upon the completion of our initial business combination cannot be ascertained at this time. Although we contemplate that certain members of an acquisition candidate’s management team will remain associated with the acquisition candidate following our initial business combination, it is possible that members of the management of an acquisition candidate will not wish to remain in place. The loss of key personnel could negatively impact the operations and profitability of our post-combination business.
Our key personnel may negotiate employment or consulting agreements with a target business in connection with a particular business combination, and a particular business combination may be conditioned on the retention or resignation of such key personnel. These agreements may cause our key personnel to have conflicts of interest in determining whether to proceed with a particular business combination. However, we do not expect that any of our key personnel will remain with us after the completion of our initial business combination.
Our key personnel may be able to remain with our company after the completion of our initial business combination only if they are able to negotiate employment or consulting agreements in connection with the business combination. Such negotiations would take place simultaneously with the negotiation of the business combination and could provide for such individuals to receive compensation in the form of cash payments and/or our securities for services they would render to us after the completion of the business combination. Such negotiations also could make such key personnel’s retention or resignation a condition to any such agreement. The personal and financial interests of such individuals may influence their motivation in identifying and selecting a target business. However, we believe the ability of such individuals to remain with us after the completion of our initial business combination will not be the determining factor in our decision as to whether or not we will proceed with any potential business combination, as we do not expect that any of our key personnel will remain with us after the completion of our initial business combination. The determination as to whether any of our key personnel will remain with us will be made at the time of our initial business combination.
We may have a limited ability to assess the management of a prospective target business and, as a result, may effect our initial business combination with a target business whose management may not have the skills, qualifications or abilities to manage a public company.
When evaluating the desirability of effecting our initial business combination with a prospective target business, our ability to assess the target business’s management may be limited due to a lack of time, resources or information. Our assessment of the capabilities of the target’s management, therefore, may prove to be incorrect and such management may lack the skills, qualifications or abilities we suspected. Should the target’s management not possess the skills, qualifications or abilities necessary to manage a public company, the operations and profitability of the post-combination business may be negatively impacted. Accordingly, any stockholders or warrant holders who choose to remain a stockholder or warrant holder following our initial business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their securities. Such stockholders or warrant holders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value.
The officers and directors of an acquisition candidate may resign upon completion of our initial business combination. The departure of a business combination target’s key personnel could negatively impact the operations and profitability of our post-combination business. The role of an acquisition candidate’s key personnel upon the completion of our initial business combination cannot be ascertained at this time. Although we contemplate that certain members of an acquisition candidate’s management team will remain associated with the acquisition candidate following our initial business combination, it is possible that members of the management of an acquisition candidate will not wish to remain in place. As a result, we may need to reconstitute the management team of the post-transaction company in connection with our initial business combination, which may adversely impact our ability to complete an acquisition in a timely manner or at all.
Since our initial stockholders will lose their entire investment in us if our initial business combination is not completed (other than with respect to any public shares they may hold), a conflict of interest may arise in determining whether a particular business combination target is appropriate for our initial business combination.
In January 2021, our sponsor purchased 7,187,500 founder shares for a capital contribution of $25,000. As of the date of this Annual Report, the founder shares represent approximately 92.6% of our outstanding shares of common stock as a result of redemptions in connection with the Extensions. The founder shares will be worthless if we do not complete an initial business combination.
In addition, our sponsor purchased an aggregate of 5,000,000 private placement warrants for a purchase price of $7,500,000, or $1.50 per warrant, that will also be worthless if we do not complete our initial business combination within the allocated time period.
The personal and financial interests of our officers and directors may influence their motivation in identifying and selecting a target business combination, completing an initial business combination and influencing the operation of the business following the initial business combination. This risk may become more acute as the deadline for completing our initial business combination nears.
We may only be able to complete one business combination with the proceeds of our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement warrants, which will cause us to be solely dependent on a single business which may have a limited number of products or services. This lack of diversification may materially negatively impact our operations and profitability.
We may effectuate our initial business combination with a single target business or multiple target businesses simultaneously or within a short period of time. However, we may not be able to effectuate our initial business combination with more than one target business because of various factors, including the existence of complex accounting issues and the requirement that we prepare and file pro forma financial statements with the SEC that present operating results and the financial condition of several target businesses as if they had been operated on a combined basis. By completing our initial business combination with only a single entity our lack of diversification may subject us to numerous economic, competitive and regulatory risks. Further, we would not be able to diversify our operations or benefit from the possible spreading of risks or offsetting of losses, unlike other entities which may have the resources to complete several business combinations in different industries or different areas of a single industry. Accordingly, the prospects for our success may be:
● solely dependent upon the performance of a single business, property or asset; or
● dependent upon the development or market acceptance of a single or limited number of products, processes or services.
This lack of diversification may subject us to numerous economic, competitive and regulatory risks, any or all of which may have a substantial adverse impact upon the particular industry in which we may operate subsequent to our initial business combination.
If we are unable to complete the proposed business combination with Bolt Threads, we may attempt to simultaneously complete business combinations with multiple prospective targets, which may hinder our ability to complete our initial business combination and give rise to increased costs and risks that could negatively impact our operations and profitability.
If we determine to simultaneously acquire several businesses that are owned by different sellers, we will need for each of such sellers to agree that our purchase of its business is contingent on the simultaneous closings of the other business combinations, which may make it more difficult for us, and delay our ability, to complete our initial business combination. With multiple business combinations, we could also face additional risks, including additional burdens and costs with respect to possible multiple negotiations and due diligence investigations (if there are multiple sellers) and the additional risks associated with the subsequent assimilation of the operations and services or products of the acquired companies in a single operating business. If we are unable to adequately address these risks, it could negatively impact our profitability and results of operations.
We may attempt to complete our initial business combination with a private company about which little information is available, which may result in a business combination with a company that is not as profitable as we suspected, if at all.
In pursuing our acquisition strategy, we may seek to effectuate our initial business combination with a privately held company. Very little public information generally exists about private companies, and we could be required to make our decision on whether to pursue a potential initial business combination on the basis of limited information, which may result in a business combination with a company that is not as profitable as we suspected, if at all.
As the number of special purpose acquisition companies evaluating targets increases, attractive targets may become scarcer and there may be more competition for attractive targets. If the Proposed Business Combination with Bolt Threads is not completed and we have to seek another target company, this could increase the cost of our initial business combination and could even result in our inability to find a target or to consummate an initial business combination.
In recent years, the number of special purpose acquisition companies that have been formed has increased substantially. Many potential targets for special purpose acquisition companies have already entered into an initial business combination, and there are still many special purpose acquisition companies seeking targets for their initial business combination, as well as many such companies currently in registration. As a result, at times, fewer attractive targets may be available, and it may require more time, more effort and more resources to identify a suitable target and to consummate an initial business combination.
In addition, because there are more special purpose acquisition companies seeking to enter into an initial business combination with available targets, the competition for available targets with attractive fundamentals or business models may increase, which could cause targets companies to demand improved financial terms. Attractive deals could also become scarcer for other reasons, such as economic or industry sector downturns, geopolitical tensions, including the invasion of Ukraine by Russia and Hamas’ attack on Israel and the ensuing war, or increases in the cost of additional capital needed to close business combinations or operate targets post-business combination. This could increase the cost of, delay or otherwise complicate or frustrate our ability to find and consummate an initial business combination, and may result in our inability to consummate an initial business combination on terms favorable to our investors altogether.
Changes in the market for directors and officers liability insurance could make it more difficult and more expensive for us to negotiate and complete an initial business combination.
Recently, the market for directors and officers liability insurance for special purpose acquisition companies has changed. Fewer insurance companies are offering quotes for directors and officers liability coverage, the premiums charged for such policies have generally increased and the terms of such policies have generally become less favorable. There can be no assurance that these trends will not continue.
The increased cost and decreased availability of directors and officers liability insurance could make it more difficult and more expensive for us to negotiate an initial business combination. In order to obtain directors and officers liability insurance or modify its coverage as a result of becoming a public company, the post-business combination entity might need to incur greater expense, accept less favorable terms or both. However, any failure to obtain adequate directors and officers liability insurance could have an adverse impact on the post-business combination’s ability to attract and retain qualified officers and directors.
In addition, even after we were to complete an initial business combination, our directors and officers could still be subject to potential liability from claims arising from conduct alleged to have occurred prior to the initial business combination. As a result, in order to protect our directors and officers, the post-business combination entity may need to purchase additional insurance with respect to any such claims (“run-off insurance”). The need for run-off insurance would be an added expense for the post-business combination entity, and could interfere with or frustrate our ability to consummate an initial business combination on terms favorable to our investors.
Our management may not be able to maintain control of a target business after our initial business combination. We cannot provide assurance that, upon loss of control of a target business, new management will possess the skills, qualifications or abilities necessary to profitably operate such business.
If we are unable to complete the proposed business combination with Bolt Threads, we may structure our initial business combination so that the post-transaction company in which our public stockholders own or acquire shares will own less than 100% of the outstanding equity interests or assets of a target business, but we will only complete such business combination if the post-transaction company owns or acquires 50% or more of the outstanding voting securities of the target or otherwise acquires a controlling interest in the target business sufficient for us not to be required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act. We will not consider any transaction that does not meet such criteria. Even if the post-transaction company owns or acquires 50% or more of the outstanding voting securities of the target, our stockholders prior to our initial business combination may collectively own a minority interest in the post business combination company, depending on valuations ascribed to the target and us in our initial business combination. For example, we could pursue a transaction in which we issue a substantial number of new shares of common stock in exchange for all of the outstanding capital stock of a target, or issue a substantial number of new shares to third-parties in connection with financing our initial business combination. In such cases, we would acquire a 100% interest in the target. However, as a result of the issuance of a substantial number of new shares of common stock, our stockholders immediately prior to such transaction could own less than a majority of our outstanding shares of common stock subsequent to such transaction. In addition, other minority stockholders may subsequently combine their holdings resulting in a single person or group obtaining a larger share of the company’s stock than we initially acquired. Accordingly, this may make it more likely that our management will not be able to maintain our control of the target business.
We do not have a specified maximum redemption threshold. The absence of such a redemption threshold may make it possible for us to complete our initial business combination with which a substantial majority of our stockholders do not agree.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation does not provide a specified maximum redemption threshold . As a result, we may be able to complete our initial business combination even though a substantial majority of our public stockholders do not agree with the transaction and have redeemed their shares or, if we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination and do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, have entered into privately negotiated agreements to sell their shares to our sponsor, officers, directors, advisors or any of their respective affiliates. In the event the aggregate cash consideration we would be required to pay for all shares of common stock that are validly submitted for redemption plus any amount required to satisfy cash conditions pursuant to the terms of the proposed business combination exceed the aggregate amount of cash available to us, we will not complete the business combination or redeem any shares, all shares of common stock submitted for redemption will be returned to the holders thereof, and we instead may search for an alternate business combination (including, potentially, with the same target).
In order to effectuate an initial business combination, blank check companies have, in the recent past, amended various provisions of their charters and modified governing instruments, including their warrant agreements. We cannot assure you that we will not seek to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or governing instruments, including our warrant agreement, in a manner that will make it easier for us to complete our initial business combination that some of our stockholders or warrant holders may not support.
In order to effectuate an initial business combination, blank check companies have, in the recent past, amended various provisions of their charters and modified governing instruments, including their warrant agreements. For example, blank check companies have amended the definition of business combination, increased redemption thresholds, extended the time to consummate an initial business combination and, with respect to their warrants, amended their warrant agreements to require the warrants to be exchanged for cash and/or other securities. We cannot assure you that we will not seek to amend our charter or governing instruments or extend the time to consummate an initial business combination in order to effectuate our initial business combination. To the extent any such amendment would be deemed to fundamentally change the nature of any of the securities offered through the registration statement filed in connection with our initial public offering, we would register, or seek an exemption from registration for, the affected securities.
Certain provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation that relate to our pre-business combination activity (and corresponding provisions of the agreement governing the release of funds from our trust account) may be amended with the approval of holders of at least 65% of our outstanding common stock, which is a lower amendment threshold than that of some other blank check companies. It may be easier for us, therefore, to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and the trust agreement to facilitate the completion of an initial business combination that some of our stockholders may not support.
Some other blank check companies have a provision in their charter which prohibits the amendment of certain of its provisions, including those which relate to a company’s pre-business combination activity, without approval by holders of a certain percentage of the company’s stockholders. In those companies, amendment of these provisions typically requires approval by holders holding between 90% and 100% of the company’s public shares. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that any of its provisions (other than amendments relating to the appointment or removal of directors prior to our initial business combination, which require the approval by holders of a majority of at least 90% of the outstanding shares of our common stock voting at a stockholder meeting) related to pre-business combination activity (including the requirement to deposit proceeds of our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement warrants into the trust account and not release such amounts except in specified circumstances and to provide redemption rights to public stockholders as described herein) may be amended if approved by holders of at least 65% of our outstanding common stock, and corresponding provisions of the trust agreement governing the release of funds from our trust account may be amended if approved by holders of at least 65% of our outstanding common stock. Unless specified in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or bylaws, or as required by applicable law or stock exchange rules, the affirmative vote of a majority of the outstanding shares of our common stock that are voted is required to approve any such matter voted on by our stockholders, and, prior to our initial business combination, the affirmative vote of holders of a majority of the outstanding shares of our Class B common stock is required to approve the election or removal of directors. We may not issue additional securities that can vote pursuant to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation on any initial business combination or any amendments to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation. Our initial stockholders, who beneficially own approximately 92.6% of our common stock, may participate in any vote to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and/or trust agreement and will have the discretion to vote in any manner they choose. As a result, we may be able to amend the provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation which governs our pre-business combination behavior more easily than some other blank check companies, and this may increase our ability to complete our initial business combination with which you do not agree.
Our sponsor, officers and directors have agreed, pursuant to a written agreement, that they will not propose any amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (A) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemptions in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination by The Extended Date or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity, unless we provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem their shares of Class A common stock upon approval of any such amendment at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest (which interest shall be net of taxes payable), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares. These agreements are contained in a letter agreement that we have entered into with our sponsor, officers and directors. Our public stockholders are not parties to, or third-party beneficiaries of, these agreements and, as a result, will not have the ability to pursue remedies against our sponsor, officers or directors for any breach of these agreements. As a result, in the event of a breach, our public stockholders would need to pursue a stockholder derivative action, subject to applicable law.
Certain agreements related to our initial public offering may be amended without stockholder approval.
Certain agreements, including the letter agreement among us and our sponsor, officers and directors, and the registration rights agreement among us and our initial stockholders, may be amended without stockholder approval. These agreements contain various provisions, including transfer restrictions on our founder shares and private placement warrants, that our public stockholders might deem to be material. While we do not expect our board of directors to approve any amendment to any of these agreements prior to our initial business combination, it may be possible that our board of directors, in exercising its business judgment and subject to its fiduciary duties, chooses to approve one or more amendments to any such agreement in connection with the consummation of our initial business combination. Any such amendments would not require approval from our stockholders, may result in the completion of our initial business combination that may not otherwise have been possible, and may have an adverse effect on the value of an investment in our securities.
We may be unable to obtain additional financing to complete our initial business combination or to fund the operations and growth of a target business, which could compel us to restructure or abandon a particular business combination.
Although we believe that the net proceeds of our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement warrants will be sufficient to allow us to complete our initial business combination, because we have not yet selected any target business we cannot ascertain the capital requirements for any particular transaction. If the net proceeds of our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement warrants prove to be insufficient, either because of the size of our initial business combination, the depletion of the available net proceeds in search of a target business, the obligation to redeem for cash a significant number of shares from stockholders who elect redemption in connection with our initial business combination or the terms of negotiated transactions to purchase shares in connection with our initial business combination, we may be required to seek additional financing or to abandon the proposed business combination. We cannot assure you that such financing will be available on acceptable terms, if at all. None of our sponsor or its affiliates are obligated to provide, or seek, any such financing or, except as expressly set forth herein, to provide any other services to us. To the extent that additional financing proves to be unavailable when needed to complete our initial business combination, we would be compelled to either restructure the transaction or abandon that particular business combination and seek an alternative target business candidate. In addition, even if we do not need additional financing to complete our initial business combination, we may require such financing to fund the operations or growth of the target business. The failure to secure additional financing could have a material adverse effect on the continued development or growth of the target business. None of our officers, directors or stockholders is required to provide any financing to us in connection with or after our initial business combination. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public stockholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per share, or less in certain circumstances, on the liquidation of our trust account, and our warrants will expire worthless.
Our initial stockholders control the election of our board of directors until consummation of our initial business combination and will hold a substantial interest in us. As a result, they will elect all of our directors prior to our initial business combination and may exert a substantial influence on actions requiring a stockholder vote, potentially in a manner that you do not support.
Our initial stockholders own approximately 92.6% of our outstanding common stock. In addition, prior to our initial business combination, holders of our Class B common stock have the right to appoint all of our directors and may remove members of our board of directors for any reason. Holders of our public shares have no right to vote on the election of directors during such time. These provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation may only be amended by holders of a majority of at least 90% of the outstanding shares of our common stock voting at a stockholder meeting. As a result, you will not have any influence over the election of directors prior to our initial business combination.
Neither our initial stockholders nor, to our knowledge, any of our officers or directors, have any current intention to purchase additional securities. Factors that would be considered in making such additional purchases would include consideration of the current trading price of our Class A common stock. In addition, as a result of their substantial ownership in our company, our initial stockholders may exert a substantial influence on other actions requiring a stockholder vote, potentially in a manner that you do not support, including amendments to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and approval of major corporate transactions. If our initial stockholders purchase any additional shares of common stock in the open market or in privately negotiated transactions, this would increase their influence over these actions. Accordingly, our initial stockholders may exert significant influence over actions requiring a stockholder vote.
A provision of our warrant agreement may make it more difficult for us to consummate an initial business combination.
If (x) we issue additional shares of Class A common stock or equity-linked securities for capital raising purposes in connection with the closing of our initial business combination at a newly issued price of less than $9.20 per share of Class A common stock, (y) the aggregate gross proceeds from such issuances represent more than 60% of the total equity proceeds, and interest thereon, available for the funding of our initial business combination on the date of the completion of our initial business combination (net of redemptions), and (z) the Market Value of our Class A common stock is below $9.20 per share, the exercise price of the warrants will be adjusted (to the nearest cent) to be equal to 115% of the higher of the Market Value and the newly issued price, and the $18.00 per share redemption trigger price will be adjusted (to the nearest cent) to be equal to 180% of the higher of the Market Value and the newly issued price. This may make it more difficult for us to consummate an initial business combination with a target business.
Our search for a business combination, and any target business with which we ultimately consummate a business combination, may be materially adversely affected by negative impacts on the global economy, capital markets or other geopolitical conditions resulting from the invasion of Ukraine by Russia and Hamas’ attack on Israel and the ensuing war.
United States and global markets have experienced volatility and disruption following the escalation of geopolitical tensions as a result of the invasion of Ukraine by Russia in February 2022 and the attack of Israel by Hamas in October 2023 and the ensuing war. Although the length and impact of the ongoing military conflict in Ukraine and the Israel-Hamas conflict are highly unpredictable, these conflicts could lead to market disruptions, including significant volatility in commodity prices, credit and capital markets, as well as supply chain interruptions.
Any of the abovementioned factors, or any other negative impact on the global economy, capital markets or other geopolitical conditions resulting from the Russian invasion of Ukraine or the Israel-Hamas conflict, could adversely affect our search for a business combination. The extent and duration of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the Israel-Hamas conflict and any related market disruptions are impossible to predict, but could be substantial, particularly if geopolitical tensions result in expanded military operations on a global scale. Any such disruptions may also have the effect of heightening many of the other risks described in this “Risk Factors” section, such as those related to the market for our securities, cross-border transactions or our ability to raise equity or debt financing in connection with any particular business combination. If these disruptions or other matters of global concern continue for an extensive period of time, our ability to consummate a business combination, or the operations of a target business with which we ultimately consummate a business combination, may be materially adversely affected.
Because we must furnish our stockholders with target business financial statements, we may lose the ability to complete an otherwise advantageous initial business combination with some prospective target businesses.
The federal proxy rules require that a proxy statement with respect to a vote on a business combination meeting certain financial significance tests include historical and/or pro forma financial statement disclosure in periodic reports. We will include the same financial statement disclosure in connection with our tender offer documents, whether or not they are required under the tender offer rules. These financial statements may be required to be prepared in accordance with, or be reconciled to, accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America, or GAAP, or international financial reporting standards as issued by the International Accounting Standards Board, or IFRS, depending on the circumstances and the historical financial statements may be required to be audited in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States), or PCAOB. These financial statement requirements may limit the pool of potential target businesses we may acquire because some targets may be unable to provide such financial statements in time for us to disclose such financial statements in accordance with federal proxy rules and complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame.
Compliance obligations under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act may make it more difficult for us to effectuate our initial business combination, require substantial financial and management resources, and increase the time and costs of completing an acquisition.
Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires that we evaluate and report on our system of internal controls beginning with our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ending December 31, 2022. Only in the event we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer or an accelerated filer, and no longer qualify as an emerging growth company, will we be required to comply with the independent registered public accounting firm attestation requirement on our internal control over financial reporting. The fact that we are a blank check company makes compliance with the requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act particularly burdensome on us as compared to other public companies because a target business with which we seek to complete our initial business combination may not be in compliance with the provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act regarding adequacy of its internal controls.
The development of the internal control of any such entity to achieve compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act may increase the time and costs necessary to complete any such acquisition.
Provisions in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and Delaware law may inhibit a takeover of us, which could limit the price investors might be willing to pay in the future for our Class A common stock and could entrench management.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation contains provisions that may discourage unsolicited takeover proposals that stockholders may consider to be in their best interests. These provisions include staggered board of directors, the ability of the board of directors to designate the terms of and issue new series of preferred shares, and the fact that prior to the completion of our initial business combination only holders of our shares of Class B common stock, which are held by our initial stockholders, are entitled to vote on the election of directors, which may make more difficult the removal of management and may discourage transactions that otherwise could involve payment of a premium over prevailing market prices for our securities.
We are also subject to anti-takeover provisions under Delaware law, which could delay or prevent a change of control. Together these provisions may make more difficult the removal of management and may discourage transactions that otherwise could involve payment of a premium over prevailing market prices for our securities.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation designates the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware as the sole and exclusive forum for certain types of actions and proceedings that may be initiated by our stockholders, which could limit our stockholders’ ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with our company or our company’s directors, officers or other employees.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware shall, to the fullest extent permitted by law, be the sole and exclusive forum for any (1) derivative action or proceeding brought on behalf of our company, (2) action asserting a claim of breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any director, officer, employee or agent of our company to our company or our stockholders, or any claim for aiding and abetting any such alleged breach, (3) action asserting a claim against our company or any director or officer of our company arising pursuant to any provision of the DGCL or our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or our bylaws, or (4) action asserting a claim against us or any director or officer of our company governed by the internal affairs doctrine except for, as to each of (1) through (4) above, any claim (a) as to which the Court of Chancery determines that there is an indispensable party not subject to the jurisdiction of the Court of Chancery (and the indispensable party does not consent to the personal jurisdiction of the Court of Chancery within ten days following such determination) or (b) which is vested in the exclusive jurisdiction of a court or forum other than the Court of Chancery. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the provisions of this paragraph will not apply to suits brought to enforce any liability or duty created by the Securities Act or the Exchange Act or otherwise arising under federal securities laws, for which the federal district courts of the United States of America shall be the sole and exclusive forum. We note, however, that investors cannot waive compliance with the federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder. Section 22 of the Securities Act creates concurrent jurisdiction for state and federal courts over all suits brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Securities Act or the rules and regulations thereunder. Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring any interest in any shares of our capital stock shall be deemed to have notice of and to have consented to the forum provisions in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation. If any action the subject matter of which is within the scope the forum provisions is filed in a court other than a court located within the State of Delaware (a “foreign action”) in the name of any stockholder, such stockholder shall be deemed to have consented to: (x) the personal jurisdiction of the state and federal courts located within the State of Delaware in connection with any action brought in any such court to enforce the forum provisions (an “enforcement action”), and (y) having service of process made upon such stockholder in any such enforcement action by service upon such stockholder’s counsel in the foreign action as agent for such stockholder.
This forum selection clause may discourage claims or limit stockholders’ ability to submit claims in a judicial forum that they find favorable and may result in additional costs for a stockholder seeking to bring a claim. While we believe the risk of a court declining to enforce this forum selection clause is low, if a court were to determine the forum selection clause to be inapplicable or unenforceable in an action, we may incur additional costs in conjunction with our efforts to resolve the dispute in an alternative jurisdiction, which could have a negative impact on our results of operations and financial condition and result in a diversion of the time and resources of our management and board of directors.
Data privacy and security breaches, including, but not limited to, those resulting from cyber incidents or attacks, acts of vandalism or theft, computer viruses and/or misplaced or lost data, could result in information theft, data corruption, operational disruption, reputational harm, criminal liability and/or financial loss.
In searching for targets for our initial business combination, we depend on digital technologies, including information systems, infrastructure and cloud applications and services, including those of third parties with which we may deal. Sophisticated and deliberate attacks on, or privacy and security breaches in, our systems or infrastructure, or the systems or infrastructure of third parties or the cloud, could lead to corruption or misappropriation of our assets, proprietary information, and sensitive or confidential data. As an early stage company without significant investments in data privacy or security protection, we may not be sufficiently protected against such occurrences and therefore could be liable for privacy and security breaches, including potentially those caused by any of our subcontractors.
We may not have sufficient resources to adequately protect against, or to investigate and remediate any vulnerability to, cyber incidents or other incidents that result in a privacy or security breach. It is possible that any of these occurrences, or a combination of them, could have adverse consequences on our business and lead to reputational harm, criminal liability and/or financial loss.
If our management team pursues a company with operations or opportunities outside of the United States for our initial business combination, we may face additional burdens in connection with investigating, agreeing to and completing such combination, and if we effect such initial business combination, we would be subject to a variety of additional risks that may negatively impact our operations.
If we are unable to complete the proposed business combination with Bolt Threads and our management team pursues a company with operations or opportunities outside of the United States for our initial business combination, we would be subject to risks associated with cross-border business combinations, including in connection with investigating, agreeing to and completing our initial business combination, conducting due diligence in a foreign market, having such transaction approved by any local governments, regulators or agencies and changes in the purchase price based on fluctuations in foreign exchange rates.
If we effect our initial business combination with such a company, we would be subject to any special considerations or risks associated with companies operating in an international setting, including any of the following:
● costs and difficulties inherent in managing cross-border business operations and complying with commercial and legal requirements of overseas markets;
● rules and regulations regarding currency redemption;
● laws governing the manner in which future business combinations may be effected;
● tariffs and trade barriers;
● regulations related to customs and import/export matters;
● longer payment cycles;
● tax issues, including limits on our ability to change our tax residence from the United States, complex withholding or other tax regimes which may apply in connection with our initial business combination or to our structure following our initial business combination, variations in tax laws as compared to the United States, and potential changes in the applicable laws in the United States and/or relevant non-U.S. jurisdictions;
● rates of inflation;
● challenges in collecting accounts receivable;
● cultural and language differences;
● employment regulations;
● crime, strikes, riots, civil disturbances, terrorist attacks, natural disasters and wars, such as the invasion of Ukraine by Russia or Hamas’ attack of Israel and the ensuing war;
● deterioration of political relations with the United States;
● obligatory military service by personnel; and
● government appropriation of assets.
We may not be able to adequately address these additional risks. If we were unable to do so, we may be unable to complete such combination or, if we complete such combination, our operations might suffer, either of which may adversely impact our results of operations and financial condition.
Our initial business combination and our structure thereafter may not be tax-efficient to our stockholders and warrant holders. As a result of our business combination, our tax obligations may be more complex, burdensome and uncertain.
Although we will attempt to structure our initial business combination in a tax-efficient manner, tax structuring considerations are complex, the relevant facts and law are uncertain and may change, and we may prioritize commercial and other considerations over tax considerations. For example, in connection with our initial business combination and subject to requisite stockholder approval, we may structure our business combination in a manner that requires stockholders and/or warrant holders to recognize gain or income for tax purposes. We do not intend to make any cash distributions to stockholders or warrant holders to pay taxes in connection with our business combination or thereafter. Accordingly, a stockholder or a warrant holder may need to satisfy any liability resulting from our initial business combination with cash from its own funds or by selling all or a portion of such holder’s shares or warrants. In addition, we may effect a business combination with a target company in another jurisdiction or reincorporate in a different jurisdiction (including, but not limited to, the jurisdiction in which the target company or business is located). As a result, stockholders and warrant holders may be subject to additional income, withholding or other taxes with respect to their ownership of us after our initial business combination.
Furthermore, we may effect a business combination with a target company that has business operations outside of the United States, and, possibly, business operations in multiple jurisdictions. If we effect such a business combination, we could be subject to significant income, withholding and other tax obligations in a number of jurisdictions with respect to income, operations and subsidiaries related to those jurisdictions. Due to the complexity of tax obligations and filings in other jurisdictions, we may have a heightened risk related to audits or examinations by taxing authorities. This additional complexity and risk could have an adverse effect on our after-tax profitability and financial condition.
If our management following our initial business combination is unfamiliar with U.S. securities laws, they may have to expend time and resources becoming familiar with such laws, which could lead to various regulatory issues.
Following our initial business combination, any or all of our management could resign from their positions as officers of the post-business combination company, and the management of the target business at the time of the business combination could remain in place. Management of the target business may not be familiar with U.S. securities laws. If new management is unfamiliar with U.S. securities laws, they may have to expend time and resources becoming familiar with such laws. This could be expensive and time-consuming and could lead to various regulatory issues which may adversely affect our operations.
After our initial business combination, substantially all of our assets may be located in a foreign country and substantially all of our revenue will be derived from our operations in such country. Accordingly, our results of operations and prospects will be subject, to a significant extent, to the economic, political, social and government policies, developments and conditions in the country in which we operate.
The economic, political and social conditions, as well as government policies, of the country in which our operations are located could affect our business. Economic growth could be uneven, both geographically and among various sectors of the economy and such growth may not be sustained in the future. If in the future such country’s economy experiences a downturn or grows at a slower rate than expected, there may be less demand for spending in certain industries. A decrease in demand for spending in certain industries could materially and adversely affect our ability to find an attractive target business with which to consummate our initial business combination and if we effect our initial business combination, the ability of that target business to become profitable.
Exchange rate fluctuations and currency policies may cause a target business’ ability to succeed in the international markets to be diminished.
In the event we acquire a non-U.S. target, all revenues and income would likely be received in a foreign currency, and the dollar equivalent of our net assets and distributions, if any, could be adversely affected by reductions in the value of the local currency. The value of the currencies in our target regions fluctuate and are affected by, among other things, changes in political and economic conditions. Any change in the relative value of such currency against our reporting currency may affect the attractiveness of any target business or, following consummation of our initial business combination, our financial condition and results of operations. Additionally, if a currency appreciates in value against the dollar prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, the cost of a target business as measured in dollars will increase, which may make it less likely that we are able to consummate such transaction.
Our liquidity condition and proximity to our liquidation date expresses substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a “going concern.”
We may not have sufficient liquidity to meet our anticipated obligations and may be unable to raise additional funds to alleviate our liquidity needs. In connection with our assessment of going concern considerations in accordance with the Financial Accounting Standards Board’s (“FASB”) Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) 2014-15, “Disclosures of Uncertainties about an Entity’s Ability to Continue as a Going Concern,” management has determined that our liquidity condition, as well as mandatory liquidation and subsequent dissolution raise substantial doubt about our company’s ability to continue as a going concern. No adjustments have been made to the carrying amounts of assets or liabilities should our company be required to liquidate after the Extended Date. The financial statements do not include any adjustment that might be necessary if our company is unable to continue as a going concern.
Risks Relating to Our Securities
The Second Extension contravenes Nasdaq rules and, as a result, may lead Nasdaq to suspend trading in our securities or lead our securities to be delisted from Nasdaq.
Our Class A common stock, units and warrants are listed on Nasdaq. Nasdaq IM-5101-2 requires that a special purpose acquisition company complete one or more business combinations within 36 months of the effectiveness of its registration statement for its initial public offering, which, in the case of the Company, would be March 19, 2024 (the “Nasdaq Deadline”). The Second Extension extends the Company’s termination date beyond the Nasdaq Deadline. As a result, the Second Extension does not comply with Nasdaq rules. There is a risk that trading in the Company’s securities may be suspended and the Company may be subject to delisting by Nasdaq if the Company does not complete one or more business combinations by the Nasdaq Deadline. We cannot assure you that Nasdaq will not delist the Company in such event, or that we will be able to obtain a hearing with Nasdaq’s Hearings Panel to appeal the delisting determination, or that our securities will not be suspended pending the Hearing Panel’s decision.
In addition, we are subject to compliance with Nasdaq’s continued listing requirements in order to maintain the listing of our securities on Nasdaq. Such continued listing requirements for our common stock include, among other things, the requirement to maintain at least 300 public holders and at least 500,000 publicly held shares.
We expect that if our Class A common stock fails to meet Nasdaq’s continued listing requirements, our units and warrants will also fail to meet Nasdaq’s continued listing requirements for those securities. We cannot assure you that any of our Class A common stock, units or warrants will be able to meet any of Nasdaq’s continued listing requirements following any stockholder redemptions of our public shares in connection with the amendment of our certificate of incorporation pursuant to the Charter Amendment Proposal. If our securities do not meet Nasdaq’s continued listing requirements, Nasdaq may delist our securities from trading on its exchange.
If Nasdaq delists any of our securities from trading on its exchange and we are not able to list such securities on another national securities exchange, we expect such securities could be quoted on an over-the-counter market. If this were to occur, we could face significant material adverse consequences, including:
● a limited availability of market quotations for our securities;
● reduced liquidity for our securities;
● a determination that our Class A common stock is a “penny stock” which will require brokers trading in our Class A common stock to adhere to more stringent rules and possibly result in a reduced level of trading activity in the secondary trading market for our securities;
● a limited amount of news and analyst coverage; and
● a decreased ability to issue additional securities or obtain additional financing in the future.
The National Securities Markets Improvement Act of 1996, which is a federal statute, prevents or pre-empts the states from regulating the sale of certain securities, which are referred to as “covered securities.” Because our securities are listed on Nasdaq, they qualify as covered securities under such statute. Although the states are pre-empted from regulating the sale of covered securities, the federal statute does allow the states to investigate companies if there is a suspicion of fraud, and, if there is a finding of fraudulent activity, then the states can regulate or bar the sale of covered securities in a particular case. While we are not aware of a state having used these powers to prohibit or restrict the sale of securities issued by blank check companies, other than the State of Idaho, certain state securities regulators view blank check companies unfavorably and might use these powers, or threaten to use these powers, to hinder the sale of securities of blank check companies in their states. Further, if we were no longer listed on Nasdaq, our securities would not qualify as covered securities under such statute and we would be subject to regulation in each state in which we offer our securities.
If we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules, and if you or a “group” of stockholders are deemed to hold in excess of 15% of our Class A common stock, you will lose the ability to redeem all such shares in excess of 15% of our Class A common stock.
If we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that a public stockholder, together with any affiliate of such stockholder or any other person with whom such stockholder is acting in concert or as a “group” (as defined under Section 13 of the Exchange Act), will be restricted from redeeming its shares with respect to more than an aggregate of 15% of the shares sold in our initial public offering, which we refer to as the “Excess Shares,” without our prior consent. However, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation does not restrict our stockholders’ ability to vote all of their shares (including Excess Shares) for or against our initial business combination. Your inability to redeem the Excess Shares will reduce your influence over our ability to complete our initial business combination and you could suffer a material loss on your investment in us if you sell Excess Shares in open market transactions. Additionally, you will not receive redemption distributions with respect to the Excess Shares if we complete our initial business combination. And as a result, you will continue to hold that number of shares exceeding 15% and, in order to dispose of such shares, would be required to sell your stock in open market transactions, potentially at a loss.
If we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination, our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or any of their respective affiliates may enter into certain transactions, including purchasing shares or warrants from the public, which may influence the outcome of our proposed business combination and reduce the public “float” of our securities.
If we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or any of their respective affiliates may purchase public shares or public warrants or a combination thereof in privately negotiated transactions or in the open market either prior to or following the completion of our initial business combination, although they are under no obligation or other duty to do so. Such a purchase may include a contractual acknowledgement that such public stockholder, although still the record holder of our shares is no longer the beneficial owner thereof and therefore agrees not to exercise its redemption rights. In the event that our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or any of their respective affiliates purchase public shares in privately negotiated transactions from public stockholders who have already elected to exercise their redemption rights, such selling public stockholders would be required to revoke their prior elections to redeem their shares. The price per share paid in any such transaction may be different than the amount per share a public stockholder would receive if it elected to redeem its shares in connection with our initial business combination. Additionally, at any time at or prior to our initial business combination, subject to applicable securities laws (including with respect to material nonpublic information), our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors or any of their affiliates may enter into transactions with investors and others to provide them with incentives to acquire public shares, vote their public shares in favor of our initial business combination or not redeem their public shares. However, such persons have no current commitments, plans or intentions to engage in such transactions and have not formulated any terms or conditions for any such transactions. The purpose of any such transaction could be to (1) vote such shares in favor of the initial business combination and thereby increase the likelihood of obtaining stockholder approval of the initial business combination, (2) reduce the number of public warrants outstanding or to vote such warrants on any matters submitted to the warrant holders for approval in connection with our initial business combination or (3) satisfy a closing condition in an agreement with a target that requires us to have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash at the closing of our initial business combination, where it appears that such requirement would otherwise not be met. Any such transactions may result in the completion of our initial business combination that may not otherwise have been possible.
In addition, if such purchases are made, the public “float” of our Class A common stock or warrants and the number of beneficial holders of our securities may be reduced, possibly making it difficult to maintain or obtain the quotation, listing or trading of our securities on a national securities exchange.
We have not registered the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants under the Securities Act or any state securities laws, and such registration may not be in place when an investor desires to exercise warrants, thus precluding such investor from being able to exercise its warrants except on a “cashless basis” and potentially causing such warrants to expire worthless.
We have not registered the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants under the Securities Act or any state securities laws. However, under the terms of the warrant agreement, we have agreed that as soon as practicable, but in no event later than 20 business days after the closing of our initial business combination, we will use our commercially reasonable efforts to file with the SEC, and within 60 business days following our initial business combination to have declared effective, a registration statement covering the issuance of the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants and to maintain a current prospectus relating to those shares of Class A common stock until the warrants expire or are redeemed. We cannot assure you that we will be able to do so if, for example, any facts or events arise which represent a fundamental change in the information set forth in the registration statement or prospectus, the financial statements contained or incorporated by reference therein are not current, complete or correct or the SEC issues a stop order. If the shares issuable upon exercise of the warrants are not registered under the Securities Act, we will be required to permit holders to exercise their warrants on a cashless basis, in which case, the number of shares of Class A common stock that you will receive upon cashless exercise will be based on a formula subject to a maximum amount of shares equal to 0.361 shares of Class A common stock per warrant (subject to adjustment). However, no warrant will be exercisable for cash or on a cashless basis, and we will not be obligated to issue any shares to holders seeking to exercise their warrants, unless the issuance of the shares upon such exercise is registered or qualified under the securities laws of the state of the exercising holder or an exemption from registration is available. Notwithstanding the above, if our Class A common stock is at the time of any exercise of a warrant not listed on a national securities exchange such that it satisfies the definition of a “covered security” under Section 18(b)(1) of the Securities Act, we may, at our option, require holders of public warrants who exercise their warrants to do so on a “cashless basis” in accordance with Section 3(a)(9) of the Securities Act and, in the event we so elect, we will not be required to file or maintain in effect a registration statement, but we will use our commercially reasonable efforts to register or qualify the shares under applicable blue sky laws to the extent an exemption is not available. In no event will we be required to net cash settle any warrant, or issue securities or other compensation in exchange for the warrants in the event that we are unable to register or qualify the shares underlying the warrants under applicable state securities laws and no exemption is available. If the issuance of the shares upon exercise of the warrants is not so registered or qualified or exempt from registration or qualification, the holder of such warrant shall not be entitled to exercise such warrant and such warrant may have no value and expire worthless. In such event, holders who acquired their warrants as part of a purchase of units will have paid the full unit purchase price solely for the shares of Class A common stock included in the units. There may be a circumstance where an exemption from registration exists for holders of our private placement warrants to exercise their warrants while a corresponding exemption does not exist for holders of the public warrants included as part of units sold in our initial public offering. In such an instance, our sponsor and its permitted transferees (which may include our directors and officers) would be able to exercise their warrants and sell the shares of Class A common stock underlying their warrants while holders of our public warrants would not be able to exercise their warrants and sell the underlying shares of Class A common stock. If and when the warrants become redeemable by us, we may exercise our redemption right even if we are unable to register or qualify the underlying shares of Class A common stock for sale under all applicable state securities laws. As a result, we may redeem warrants even if the holders are otherwise unable to exercise their warrants.
We may issue additional shares of Class A common stock or preferred stock to complete our initial business combination or under an employee incentive plan after completion of our initial business combination. We may also issue shares of Class A common stock upon the conversion of the Class B common stock at a ratio greater than one-to-one at the time of our initial business combination as a result of the anti-dilution provisions described herein. Any such issuances would dilute the interest of our stockholders and likely present other risks.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation authorizes the issuance of up to 200,000,000 shares of Class A common stock, par value $0.0001 per share, and 20,000,000 shares of Class B common stock, par value $0.0001 per share and 1,000,000 shares of undesignated preferred stock, par value $0.0001 per share. As of the date of this Annual Report, there were 192,374,563and 19,860,000 authorized but unissued shares of Class A and Class B common stock available, respectively, for issuance, which amount does not take into account shares reserved for issuance upon exercise of outstanding warrants or upon the conversion of the Class B common stock. Shares of Class B common stock are automatically convertible into shares of our Class A common stock at the time of our initial business combination, or earlier at the option of the holder, initially at a one-for-one ratio but subject to adjustment as set forth herein. On March 16, 2023, our sponsor voluntarily converted the 7,047,500 shares of Class B common stock it held into 7,047,500 shares of Class A common stock in accordance with our charter. Immediately after our initial public offering, there were no shares of preferred stock issued and outstanding.
We may issue a substantial number of additional shares of Class A common stock, and may issue shares of preferred stock, in order to complete our initial business combination or under an employee incentive plan after completion of our initial business combination. We may also issue shares of Class A common stock to redeem the warrants or upon conversion of the Class B common stock at a ratio greater than one-to-one at the time of our initial business combination as a result of the anti-dilution provisions described herein. However, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides, among other things, that prior to our initial business combination, we may not issue additional shares of capital stock that would entitle the holders thereof to (1) receive funds from the trust account or (2) vote pursuant to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation on any initial business combination or any amendments to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation. The issuance of additional shares of common or preferred stock:
● may significantly dilute the equity interest of investors in our initial public offering, which dilution would increase if the anti-dilution provisions in the Class B common stock resulted in the issuance of Class A common stock on a greater than one-to-one basis upon conversion of the Class B common stock;
● may subordinate the rights of holders of common stock if preferred stock is issued with rights senior to those afforded our common stock;
● could cause a change of control if a substantial number of shares of our common stock is issued, which may affect, among other things, our ability to use our net operating loss carry forwards, if any, and could result in the resignation or removal of our present officers and directors;
● may have the effect of delaying or preventing a change of control of us by diluting the stock ownership or voting rights of a person seeking to obtain control of us;
● may adversely affect prevailing market prices for our units, Class A common stock and/or warrants; and
● may not result in adjustment to the exercise price of our warrants.
We may issue notes or other debt securities, or otherwise incur substantial debt, to complete a business combination, which may adversely affect our leverage and financial condition and thus negatively impact the value of our stockholders’ investment in us.
Although we have no commitments as of the date of this Annual Report to issue any notes or other debt securities, or to otherwise incur outstanding debt following our initial public offering, we may choose to incur substantial debt to complete our initial business combination. We have agreed that we will not incur any indebtedness unless we have obtained from the lender a waiver of any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to the monies held in the trust account. As such, no issuance of debt will affect the per-share amount available for redemption from the trust account. Nevertheless, the incurrence of debt could have a variety of negative effects, including:
● default and foreclosure on our assets if our operating revenues after an initial business combination are insufficient to repay our debt obligations;
● acceleration of our obligations to repay the indebtedness even if we make all principal and interest payments when due if we breach certain covenants that require the maintenance of certain financial ratios or reserves without a waiver or renegotiation of that covenant;
● our immediate payment of all principal and accrued interest, if any, if the debt is payable on demand;
● our inability to obtain necessary additional financing if the debt contains covenants restricting our ability to obtain such financing while the debt is outstanding;
● our inability to pay dividends on our common stock;
● using a substantial portion of our cash flow to pay principal and interest on our debt, which will reduce the funds available for dividends on our common stock if declared, expenses, capital expenditures, acquisitions and other general corporate purposes;
● limitations on our flexibility in planning for and reacting to changes in our business and in the industry in which we operate;
● increased vulnerability to adverse changes in general economic, industry and competitive conditions and adverse changes in government regulation; and
● limitations on our ability to borrow additional amounts for expenses, capital expenditures, acquisitions, debt service requirements, execution of our strategy and other purposes and other disadvantages compared to our competitors who have less debt.
We may amend the terms of the warrants in a manner that may be adverse to holders of public warrants with the approval by the holders of at least 50% of the then outstanding public warrants. As a result, the exercise price of your warrants could be increased, the warrants could be converted into cash or stock, the exercise period could be shortened and the number of shares of our Class A common stock purchasable upon exercise of a warrant could be decreased, all without your approval.
Our warrants were issued in registered form under a warrant agreement between Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company, as warrant agent, and us. The warrant agreement provides that the terms of the warrants may be amended without the consent of any holder to cure any ambiguity or correct any defective provision, but requires the approval by the holders of at least 50% of the then outstanding public warrants to make any change that adversely affects the interests of the registered holders of public warrants. Accordingly, we may amend the terms of the public warrants in a manner adverse to a holder if holders of at least 50% of the then outstanding public warrants approve of such amendment. Although our ability to amend the terms of the public warrants with the consent of at least 50% of the then outstanding public warrants is unlimited, examples of such amendments could be amendments to, among other things, increase the exercise price of the warrants, convert the warrants into cash or stock (at a ratio different than initially provided), shorten the exercise period or decrease the number of shares of our common stock purchasable upon exercise of a warrant.
We may redeem your unexpired warrants prior to their exercise at a time that is disadvantageous to you, thereby making your warrants worthless.
We have the ability to redeem outstanding warrants at any time after they become exercisable and prior to their expiration, at a price of $0.01 per warrant if, among other things, the last reported sales price of our Class A common stock equals or exceeds $18.00 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 20 trading days within a 30 trading-day period ending on the third trading day prior to the date we send the notice of redemption to the warrant holders. If and when the warrants become redeemable by us, we may exercise our redemption right even if we are unable to register or qualify the underlying securities for sale under all applicable state securities laws. As a result, we may redeem the public warrants as set forth above even if the holders are otherwise unable to exercise the warrants. Redemption of the outstanding warrants could force you to: (1) exercise your warrants and pay the exercise price therefor at a time when it may be disadvantageous for you to do so; (2) sell your warrants at the then-current market price when you might otherwise wish to hold your warrants; or (3) accept the nominal redemption price which, at the time the outstanding warrants are called for redemption, we expect would be substantially less than the market value of your warrants.
In addition, we have the ability to redeem outstanding warrants commencing ninety days after they become exercisable and prior to their expiration, at a price of $0.10 per warrant if, among other things, the last reported sale price of our Class A common stock equals or exceeds $10.00 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) on the trading day prior to the date on which we send the notice of redemption to the warrant holders. In such a case, the holders will be able to exercise their warrants for cash or on a cashless basis prior to redemption. The value received upon exercise of the warrants (1) may be less than the value the holders would have received if they had exercised their warrants at a later time where the underlying share price is higher and (2) may not compensate the holders for the value of the warrants, including because the number of common shares received is capped at 0.361 shares of Class A common stock per warrant (subject to adjustment) irrespective of the remaining life of the warrants.
None of the private placement warrants will be redeemable by us so long as they are held by our sponsor or its permitted transferees.
Our warrants and founder shares may have an adverse effect on the market price of our Class A common stock and make it more difficult to complete our initial business combination.
We issued warrants to purchase 9,583,333 shares of our Class A common stock at a price of $11.50 per whole share (subject to adjustment as provided herein), as part of the units in our initial public offering and, simultaneously with the closing of our initial public offering, we issued private placement warrants to purchase an aggregate of 5,000,000 shares of Class A common stock. Our initial stockholders currently hold 7,187,500 founder shares, consisting of 7,047,500 shares of Class A common stock and 140,000 shares of Class B common stock. The founder shares are convertible into shares of Class A common stock on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment as set forth herein. On March 16, 2023, our sponsor voluntarily converted the 7,047,500 shares of Class B common stock it held into 7,047,500 shares of Class A common stock in accordance with our charter. In addition, if our sponsor, an affiliate of our sponsor or certain of our officers and directors make any working capital loans, up to $1,500,000 of such loans may be converted into warrants, at the price of $1.50 per warrant at the option of the lender. Such warrants would be identical to the private placement warrants.
To the extent we issue shares of Class A common stock to complete our initial business combination, the potential for the issuance of a substantial number of additional shares of Class A common stock upon exercise of these warrants or conversion rights could make us a less attractive acquisition vehicle to a target business. Any such issuance will increase the number of outstanding shares of our Class A common stock and reduce the value of the Class A common stock issued to complete the business combination. Therefore, our warrants and founder shares may make it more difficult to complete a business combination or increase the cost of acquiring the target business.
Because each unit offered in our initial public offering contained one-third of one redeemable warrant and only a whole warrant may be exercised, the units may be worth less than units of other blank check companies.
Each unit offered in our initial public offering contained one-third of one redeemable warrant. Pursuant to the warrant agreement, no fractional warrants will be issued upon separation of the units, and only whole units will trade. This is different from other offerings similar to ours whose units include one share of Class A common stock and one whole warrant to purchase one whole share. We have established the components of the units in this way in order to reduce the dilutive effect of the warrants upon completion of a business combination since the warrants will be exercisable in the aggregate for one-third of the number of shares compared to units that each contain a whole warrant to purchase one whole share, thus making us, we believe, a more attractive business combination partner for target businesses. Nevertheless, this unit structure may cause our units to be worth less than if they included a whole warrant.
A market for our securities may not fully develop or be sustained, which would adversely affect the liquidity and price of our securities.
The price of our securities may vary significantly due to one or more potential business combinations and general market or economic conditions, including as a result of the invasion of Ukraine by Russia and Hamas’ attack of Israel and the ensuing war. Furthermore, an active trading market for our securities may not fully develop or, if developed, it may not be sustained. You may be unable to sell your securities unless a market can be fully developed and sustained.
Our warrants are accounted for as liabilities and the changes in value of our warrants could have a material effect on our financial results.
On April 12, 2021, the staff of the SEC (the “SEC Staff”) issued the Staff Statement on Accounting and Reporting Considerations for Warrants Issued by Special Purpose Acquisition Companies (“SPACs”) dated April 12, 2021 (the “SEC Statement”), wherein the SEC Staff expressed its view that certain terms and conditions common to SPAC warrants may require the warrants to be classified as liabilities on the SPAC’s balance sheet as opposed to being treated as equity. Specifically, the SEC Statement focused on certain settlement terms and provisions related to certain tender offers following a business combination, which terms are similar to those contained in the warrant agreement governing our warrants. As a result of the SEC Statement, we reevaluated the accounting treatment of our warrants, and pursuant to the guidance in ASC 815, Derivatives and Hedging (“ASC 815”), determined the warrants should be classified as derivative liabilities measured at fair value on our balance sheet, with any changes in fair value to be reported each period in earnings on our statements of operations.
As a result of the recurring fair value measurement, our financial statements may fluctuate quarterly, based on factors which are outside of our control. Due to the recurring fair value measurement, we expect that we will recognize non-cash gains or losses on our warrants each reporting period and that the amount of such gains or losses could be material.
Risks Relating to Our Management Team
Past performance by members of our management team and their respective affiliates may not be indicative of future performance of an investment in us.
Information regarding performance by, or businesses associated with, members of our management team and their respective affiliates is presented for informational purposes only. Any past experience and performance, including related to acquisitions, of members of our management team and their respective affiliates is not a guarantee either: (1) that we will be able to successfully identify a suitable candidate for our initial business combination; or (2) of any results with respect to any initial business combination we may consummate. You should not rely on the historical record of our management team’s or their affiliates’ performance. Our management has no experience in operating special purpose acquisition companies.
Our officers and directors allocate their time to other businesses thereby causing conflicts of interest in their determination as to how much time to devote to our affairs. This conflict of interest could have a negative impact on our ability to complete our initial business combination.
Our officers and directors are not required to, and do not, commit their full time to our affairs, which may result in a conflict of interest in allocating their time between our operations and our search for a business combination and their other responsibilities. We do not currently have, and do not intend to have, any full-time employees prior to the completion of our business combination. Each of our officers and directors is engaged in several other business endeavors for which he or she may be entitled to substantial compensation and our officers and directors are not obligated to contribute any specific number of hours per week to our affairs. Our independent directors also serve as officers and/or board members for other entities. If our officers’ and directors’ other business affairs require them to devote substantial amounts of time to such affairs in excess of their current commitment levels, it could limit their ability to devote time to our affairs which may have a negative impact on our ability to complete our initial business combination.
We are dependent upon our officers and directors and their departure could adversely affect our ability to operate.
Our operations are dependent upon a relatively small group of individuals. We believe that our success depends on the continued service of our officers and directors, at least until we have completed our initial business combination. We do not have an employment agreement with, or key-man insurance on the life of, any of our directors or officers. The unexpected loss of the services of one or more of our directors or officers could have a detrimental effect on us.
Certain of our officers and directors are now, and all of them may in the future become, affiliated with entities engaged in business activities similar to those intended to be conducted by us and, accordingly, may have conflicts of interest in determining to which entity a particular business opportunity or other transaction should be presented.
Following the completion of our initial public offering and until we consummate our initial business combination, we have engaged in the business of identifying and combining with one or more businesses. Our sponsor and officers and directors are, or may in the future become, affiliated with entities (such as operating companies or investment vehicles) that are engaged in a similar business. We do not have employment contracts with our officers and directors that will limit their ability to work at other businesses.
Each of our officers and directors presently has, and any of them in the future may have additional, fiduciary, contractual or other obligations or duties to one or more other entities pursuant to which such officer or director is or will be required to present a business combination opportunity to such entities. Accordingly, if any of our officers or directors becomes aware of a business combination opportunity which is suitable for one or more entities to which he or she has fiduciary, contractual or other obligations or duties, he or she will honor these obligations and duties to present such business combination opportunity to such entities first, and only present it to us if such entities reject the opportunity and he or she determines to present the opportunity to us. These conflicts may not be resolved in our favor and a potential target business may be presented to another entity prior to its presentation to us. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that we renounce our interest in any corporate opportunity offered to any director or officer unless such opportunity is expressly offered to such person solely in his or her capacity as a director or officer of our company and such opportunity is one we are legally and contractually permitted to undertake and would otherwise be reasonable for us to pursue.
In addition, our sponsor and our officers and directors may sponsor or form other special purpose acquisition companies similar to ours or may pursue other business or investment ventures, even prior to us entering into a definitive agreement for our initial business combination. Any such companies, businesses or investments may present additional conflicts of interest in pursuing an initial business combination. However, we do not believe that any such potential conflicts would materially affect our ability to complete our initial business combination.
Our officers, directors, security holders and their respective affiliates may have competitive pecuniary interests that conflict with our interests.
We have not adopted a policy that expressly prohibits our directors, officers, security holders or affiliates from having a direct or indirect pecuniary or financial interest in any investment to be acquired or disposed of by us or in any transaction to which we are a party or have an interest. In fact, we may enter into a business combination with a target business that is affiliated with our sponsor, directors or officers. We do not have a policy that expressly prohibits any such persons from engaging for their own account in business activities of the types conducted by us. Accordingly, such persons or entities may have a conflict between their interests and ours.
Members of our management team and board of directors have significant experience as founders, board members, officers, executives or employees of other companies. Certain of those persons have been, may be, or may become, involved in litigation, investigations or other proceedings, including related to those companies or otherwise. This may have an adverse effect on us, which may impede our ability to consummate an initial business combination.
During the course of their careers, members of our management team and board of directors have had significant experience as founders, board members, officers, executives or employees of other companies. Certain of those persons have been, may be or may in the future become involved in litigation, investigations or other proceedings, including relating to the business affairs of such companies, transactions entered into by such companies, or otherwise Any such litigation, investigations or other proceedings could result in substantial judgments against those individuals and may divert the attention and resources of our management team and board of directors away from identifying and selecting a target business or businesses for our initial business combination and may negatively affect our reputation, which may impede our ability to complete an initial business combination.
We may engage in a business combination with one or more target businesses that have relationships with entities that may be affiliated with our sponsor, officers or directors which may raise potential conflicts of interest.
In light of the involvement of our sponsor, officers and directors with other businesses, we may decide to acquire one or more businesses affiliated with or competitive with our sponsor, officers and directors, and their respective affiliates. Our directors also serve as officers and/or board members for other entities. Such entities may compete with us for business combination opportunities. Although we are not specifically focusing on, or targeting, any transaction with any affiliated entities, we would pursue such a transaction if we determined that such affiliated entity met our criteria for a business combination and such transaction was approved by a majority of our independent and disinterested directors. Despite our agreement to obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm that is a member of FINRA or from an independent accounting firm, regarding the fairness to our company from a financial point of view of a business combination with one or more domestic or international businesses affiliated with our sponsor, officers or directors, potential conflicts of interest still may exist and, as a result, the terms of the business combination may not be as advantageous to our public stockholders as they would be absent any conflicts of interest.
Moreover, we may, at our option, pursue an affiliated joint acquisition opportunity with our sponsor or its affiliates or with other entities to which an officer or director has a fiduciary, contractual or other obligation or duty. Any such parties may co-invest with us in the target business at the time of our initial business combination, or we could raise additional proceeds to complete the acquisition by making a future issuance of securities to any such parties, which may give rise to certain conflicts of interest.
Our independent directors may decide not to enforce the indemnification obligations of our sponsor, resulting in a reduction in the amount of funds in the trust account available for distribution to our public stockholders.
In the event that the proceeds in the trust account are reduced below the lesser of: (1) $10.00 per public share; or (2) such lesser amount per public share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, in each case net of the amount of interest which may be withdrawn to pay taxes, and our sponsor asserts that it is unable to satisfy its obligations or that it has no indemnification obligations related to a particular claim, our independent directors would determine whether to take legal action against our sponsor to enforce its indemnification obligations. While we currently expect that our independent directors would take legal action on our behalf against our sponsor to enforce its indemnification obligations to us, it is possible that our independent directors in exercising their business judgment may choose not to do so in certain instances. For example, the cost of such legal action may be deemed by the independent directors to be too high relative to the amount recoverable or the independent directors may determine that a favorable outcome is not likely. If our independent directors choose not to enforce these indemnification obligations, the amount of funds in the trust account available for distribution to our public stockholders may be reduced below $10.00 per share.
Risks Relating to the Trust Account
If third parties bring claims against us, the proceeds held in the trust account could be reduced and the per-share redemption amount received by stockholders may be less than $10.00 per share.
Our placing of funds in the trust account may not protect those funds from third-party claims against us. Although we will seek to have all vendors, service providers (other than our independent registered public accounting firm), prospective target businesses and other entities with which we do business execute agreements with us waiving any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to any monies held in the trust account for the benefit of our public stockholders, such parties may not execute such agreements, or even if they execute such agreements they may not be prevented from bringing claims against the trust account, including, but not limited to, fraudulent inducement, breach of fiduciary responsibility or other similar claims, as well as claims challenging the enforceability of the waiver, in each case in order to gain an advantage with respect to a claim against our assets, including the funds held in the trust account. If any third party refuses to execute an agreement waiving such claims to the monies held in the trust account, our management will perform an analysis of the alternatives available to it and will only enter into an agreement with a third party that has not executed a waiver if management believes that such third party’s engagement would be significantly more beneficial to us than any alternative. Making such a request of potential target businesses may make our acquisition proposal less attractive to them and, to the extent prospective target businesses refuse to execute such a waiver, it may limit the field of potential target businesses that we might pursue. Examples of possible instances where we may engage a third party that refuses to execute a waiver include the engagement of a third-party consultant whose particular expertise or skills are believed by management to be significantly superior to those of other consultants that would agree to execute a waiver or in cases where we are unable to find a service provider willing to execute a waiver. In addition, there is no guarantee that such entities will agree to waive any claims they may have in the future as a result of, or arising out of, any negotiations, contracts or agreements with us and will not seek recourse against the trust account for any reason. Upon redemption of our public shares, if we have not completed our initial business combination within the prescribed timeframe, or upon the exercise of a redemption right in connection with our initial business combination, we will be required to provide for payment of claims of creditors that were not waived that may be brought against us within the 10 years following redemption. Accordingly, the per-share redemption amount received by public stockholders could be less than the $10.00 per share initially held in the trust account, due to claims of such creditors.
Our sponsor has agreed that it will be liable to us if and to the extent any claims by a third party for services rendered or products sold to us, or a prospective target business with which we have discussed entering into a transaction agreement, reduce the amount of funds in the trust account to below: (1) $10.00 per public share; or (2) such lesser amount per public share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, in each case net of the amount of interest which may be withdrawn to pay taxes, except as to any claims by a third party who executed a waiver of any and all rights to seek access to the trust account and except as to any claims under our indemnity of the underwriters of our initial public offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. Moreover, in the event that an executed waiver is deemed to be unenforceable against a third party, our sponsor will not be responsible to the extent of any liability for such third-party claims. We have not independently verified whether our sponsor, which is a newly formed entity, has sufficient funds to satisfy its indemnity obligations and believe that our sponsor’s only assets are securities of our company. Our sponsor may not have sufficient funds available to satisfy those obligations. We have not asked our sponsor to reserve for such obligations, and therefore, no funds are currently set aside to cover any such obligations. As a result, if any such claims were successfully made against the trust account, the funds available for our initial business combination and redemptions could be reduced to less than $10.00 per public share. In such event, we may not be able to complete our initial business combination, and you would receive such lesser amount per share in connection with any redemption of your public shares. None of our officers or directors will indemnify us for claims by third parties including, without limitation, claims by vendors and prospective target businesses.
You will not have any rights or interests in funds from the trust account, except under certain limited circumstances. To liquidate your investment, therefore, you may be forced to sell your public shares or warrants, potentially at a loss.
Our public stockholders will be entitled to receive funds from the trust account only upon the earliest to occur of: (1) the completion of our initial business combination, and then only in connection with those shares of Class A common stock that such stockholder properly elected to redeem, subject to the limitations described herein; (2) the redemption of any public shares properly submitted in connection with a stockholder vote to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (A) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemptions in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination by The Extended Date or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity; and (3) the redemption of all of our public shares if we have not completed our initial business combination by The Extended Date, subject to applicable law and as further described herein. In addition, if we have not completed an initial business combination within the required time period for any reason, compliance with Delaware law may require that we submit a plan of dissolution to our then-existing stockholders for approval prior to the distribution of the proceeds held in our trust account. In that case, public stockholders may be forced to wait beyond the end of such period before they receive funds from our trust account. In no other circumstances will a public stockholder have any right or interest of any kind in or to the trust account. Holders of warrants will not have any right to the proceeds held in the trust account with respect to the warrants. Accordingly, to liquidate your investment, you may be forced to sell your public shares or warrants, potentially at a loss.
General Risk Factors
You are not entitled to protections normally afforded to investors of many other blank check companies.
Since the net proceeds of our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement warrants are intended to be used to complete an initial business combination with a target business that has not been selected, we may have been deemed to be a “blank check” company under the U.S. securities laws. However, because we had net tangible assets in excess of $5,000,000 upon the successful completion of our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement warrants and filed a Current Report on Form 8-K, including an audited balance sheet of our company demonstrating this fact, we are exempt from rules promulgated by the SEC to protect investors in blank check companies, such as Rule 419. Accordingly, investors will not be afforded the benefits or protections of those rules. Among other things, this means we will have a longer period of time to complete our initial business combination than do companies subject to Rule 419. Moreover, if our initial public offering were subject to Rule 419, that rule would prohibit the release of any interest earned on funds held in the trust account to us unless and until the funds in the trust account were released to us in connection with our completion of our initial business combination.
If we are deemed to be an investment company for purposes of the Investment Company Act, we would be required to institute burdensome compliance requirements and our activities would be severely restricted and, as a result, we may abandon our efforts to consummate a business combination and liquidate.
There is currently uncertainty concerning the applicability of the Investment Company Act to a SPAC. It is possible that a claim could be made that we have been operating as an unregistered investment company.
If we are deemed to be an investment company under the Investment Company Act, our activities would be severely restricted. In addition, we would be subject to burdensome compliance requirements. We do not believe that our principal activities will subject us to regulation as an investment company under the Investment Company Act. However, if we are deemed to be an investment company and subject to compliance with and regulation under the Investment Company Act, we would be subject to additional regulatory burdens and expenses for which we have not allotted funds. As a result, unless we are able to modify our activities so that we would not be deemed an investment company, we would expect to abandon our efforts to complete a business combination and instead to liquidate. If we are required to liquidate, our stockholders would not be able to realize the benefits of owning stock in a successor operating business, including the potential appreciation in the value of our stock and warrants following such a transaction, and our warrants would expire worthless.
To mitigate the risk that we could be deemed to be an investment company for purposes of the Investment Company Act, following the First Extension, we instructed the trustee to liquidate the securities held in the trust account and instead to hold the funds in the trust account in an interest-bearing demand deposit account at a bank until the earlier of the consummation of a Business Combination or its liquidation. Following the liquidation of securities in the trust account, we may receive less interest on the funds held in the trust account than the interest we would have received pursuant to its original Trust Account investments, which could reduce the dollar amount our public stockholders would receive upon any redemption or liquidation of our Company.
Until March 2023, the funds in the trust account had, since our initial public offering, been held only in U.S. government treasury obligations with a maturity of 185 days or less or in money market funds investing solely in U.S. government treasury obligations and meeting certain conditions under Rule 2a-7 under the Investment Company Act. However, to mitigate the risk of us being deemed to be an unregistered investment company (including under the subjective test of Section 3(a)(1)(A) of the Investment Company Act) and thus subject to regulation under the Investment Company Act, following the First Extension, we instructed the trustee with respect to the trust account to liquidate the U.S. government treasury obligations or money market funds held in the trust account and thereafter to hold all funds in the trust account in an interest-bearing demand deposit account at a bank until the earlier of consummation of an initial business combination or our liquidation. Following such liquidation, we may receive less interest on the funds held in the trust account than the interest we would have received pursuant to its original trust account investments; however, interest previously earned on the funds held in the trust account still may be released to us to pay our taxes. Consequently, the transfer of the funds in the trust account to an interest-bearing demand deposit account at a bank could reduce the dollar amount our public stockholders would receive upon any redemption or liquidation of our Company.
Changes in laws or regulations, or a failure to comply with any laws and regulations, may adversely affect our business, including our ability to negotiate and complete our initial business combination, and results of operations.
We are subject to laws and regulations enacted by national, regional and local governments. In particular, we are required to comply with certain SEC and other legal requirements. Compliance with, and monitoring of, applicable laws and regulations may be difficult, time consuming and costly. Those laws and regulations and their interpretation and application may also change from time to time and those changes could have a material adverse effect on our business, investments and results of operations. In addition, a failure to comply with applicable laws or regulations, as interpreted and applied, could have a material adverse effect on our business, including our ability to negotiate and complete our initial business combination, and results of operations.
Russia's military intervention in Ukraine and Hamas' strikes in Gaza and the international community's responses have created substantial political and economic disruption, uncertainty, and risk.
Russia's military intervention in Ukraine in February 2022, Ukraine's widespread resistance, and the NATO led and United States coordinated economic, financial, communications, and other sanctions imposed by other countries have created significant political and economic world uncertainty and contributed to worldwide inflation. There is significant risk of expanded military confrontation between Russia and other countries, possibly including the United States. Current and likely additional international sanctions against Russia may contribute to higher costs, particularly for petroleum-based products.
In October 2023, Hamas launched assaults against Israeli citizens in Gaza. Israel has responded aggressively with operations inside Gaza against Hamas. The foregoing events have caused substantial regional instability and world-wide concern and potential involvement. In addition to deadly fighting, the conflict has created large numbers of refugees who are fleeing Gaza.
The Ukraine and Gaza military activities and related actions, responses, and consequences that cannot now be predicted or controlled may contribute to worldwide economic reversals and inflation. In these circumstances, our business and a potential target’s business may be negatively impacted.
Inflation could adversely affect our business and results of operations.
While inflation in the United States and global markets has been relatively low in recent years, during 2021 and 2022, the economy in the United States and global markets encountered a material increase in the level of inflation. The impact of COVID-19, geopolitical developments such as the Russia-Ukraine and the Israel - Hamas conflicts and global supply chain disruptions continue to increase uncertainty in the outlook of near-term and long-term economic activity, including whether inflation will continue and how long, and at what rate. Additionally, increases in inflation, along with the uncertainties surrounding geopolitical developments and global supply chain disruptions, have caused, and may in the future cause, global economic uncertainty and uncertainty about the interest rate environment, which may make it more difficult, costly or dilutive for us to secure financing. A failure to adequately respond to these risks could have a material adverse impact on our financial condition, results of operations or cash flows.
We are an emerging growth company and a smaller reporting company within the meaning of the Securities Act, and if we take advantage of certain exemptions from disclosure requirements available to emerging growth companies or smaller reporting companies, this could make our securities less attractive to investors and may make it more difficult to compare our performance with other public companies.
We are an “emerging growth company” within the meaning of the Securities Act, as modified by the JOBS Act, and 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, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and stockholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. As a result, our stockholders may not have access to certain information they may deem important. We could be an emerging growth company for up to five years, although circumstances could cause us to lose that status earlier, including if the market value of our common stock held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of the end of any second quarter of a fiscal year, in which case we would no longer be an emerging growth company as of the end of such fiscal year. We cannot predict whether investors will find our securities less attractive because we will rely on these exemptions. If some investors find our securities less attractive as a result of our reliance on these exemptions, the trading prices of our securities may be lower than they otherwise would be, there may be a less active trading market for our securities and the trading prices of our securities may be more volatile.
Further, Section 102(b)(1) of the JOBS Act exempts emerging growth companies from being required to comply with new or revised financial accounting standards until private companies (that is, those that have not had a Securities Act registration statement declared effective or do not have a class of securities registered under the Exchange Act) are required to comply with the new or revised financial accounting standards. The JOBS Act provides that a company can elect to opt out of the extended transition period and comply with the requirements that apply to non-emerging growth companies but any such election to opt out is irrevocable. We have elected not to opt out of such extended transition period which means that when a standard is issued or revised and it has different application dates for public or private companies, we, as an emerging growth company, can adopt the new or revised standard at the time private companies adopt the new or revised standard. This may make comparison of our financial statements with another public company which is neither an emerging growth company nor an emerging growth company which has opted out of using the extended transition period difficult or impossible because of the potential differences in accounting standards used.
Additionally, we are a “smaller reporting company” as defined in Item 10(f)(1) of Regulation S-K. Smaller reporting companies may take advantage of certain reduced disclosure obligations, including, among other things, providing only two years of audited financial statements. We will remain a smaller reporting company until the last day of the fiscal year in which (1) the market value of our common stock held by non-affiliates exceeds $250 million as of the end of that year’s second fiscal quarter, or (2) our annual revenues exceeded $100 million during such completed fiscal year and the market value of our common stock held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of the end of that year’s second fiscal quarter. To the extent we take advantage of such reduced disclosure obligations, it may also make comparison of our financial statements with other public companies difficult or impossible.
A recent 1% U.S. federal excise tax could be imposed on us in connection with redemptions by us of our shares of common stock.
On August 16, 2022, the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (the “IR Act”) was signed into federal law. The IR Act provides for, among other things, a new U.S. federal 1% excise tax on certain repurchases (including redemptions) of stock by publicly traded U.S. domestic corporations and certain U.S. domestic subsidiaries of publicly traded foreign corporations occurring on or after January 1, 2023. The excise tax is imposed on the repurchasing corporation itself, not its shareholders from which shares are repurchased. The amount of the excise tax is generally 1% of the fair market value of the shares repurchased at the time of the repurchase. However, for purposes of calculating the excise tax, repurchasing corporations are permitted to net the fair market value of certain new stock issuances against the fair market value of stock repurchases during the same taxable year. In addition, certain exceptions apply to the excise tax. The U.S. Department of the Treasury (the “Treasury”) has been given authority to provide regulations and other guidance to carry out, and prevent the abuse or avoidance of, the excise tax.
Any redemption or other repurchase that occurs after December 31, 2022 may be subject to the excise tax, including in connection with an initial business combination, certain amendments to our charter or otherwise. Whether and to what extent we would be subject to the excise tax would depend on a number of factors, including (i) the fair market value of the redemptions and repurchases in connection with an initial business combination, certain amendments to our charter or otherwise, (ii) the structure of an initial business combination, (iii) the nature and amount of any “PIPE” or other equity issuances in connection with an initial business combination (or otherwise issued not in connection with such initial business combination but issued within the same taxable year of such initial business combination) and (iv) the content of regulations and other guidance from the Treasury. In addition, because the excise tax would be payable by us, and not by the redeeming holder, the mechanics of any required payment of the excise tax have not been determined. The proceeds placed in the trust account in connection with our initial public offering and any Extension Payments, as well as any interest earned thereon, will not be used to pay for any excise tax payable pursuant to the IR Act. As of December 31, 2023, we recognized $2,870,720 in excise tax payable related to share redemptions.
We may not be able to complete an initial business combination with a U.S. target company such as Bolt Threads if such initial business combination is subject to U.S. foreign investment regulations and review by a U.S. government entity such as the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), or ultimately prohibited.
Our sponsor, Golden Arrow Sponsor, LLC, is a Delaware limited liability company, and is not controlled by, nor has substantial ties with any non-U.S. person. We do not expect the Company to be considered a “foreign person” under the regulations administered by CFIUS. However, if our initial business combination with a U.S. business is subject to CFIUS review, the scope of which was expanded by the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act of 2018 (“FIRRMA”), to include certain non-passive, non-controlling investments in sensitive U.S. businesses and certain acquisitions of real estate even with no underlying U.S. business, FIRRMA, and subsequent implementing regulations that are now in force, also subjects certain categories of investments to mandatory filings. If our proposed business combination with Bolt Threads or another potential initial business combination with a U.S. business falls within CFIUS’s jurisdiction, we may determine that we are required to make a mandatory filing or that we will submit a voluntary notice to CFIUS, or to proceed with the initial business combination without notifying CFIUS and risk CFIUS intervention, before or after closing the initial business combination. CFIUS may decide to block or delay our initial business combination, impose conditions to mitigate national security concerns with respect to such initial business combination or order us to divest all or a portion of a U.S. business of the combined company without first obtaining CFIUS clearance, which may limit the attractiveness of or prevent us from pursuing certain initial business combination opportunities that we believe would otherwise be beneficial to us and our shareholders. As a result, the pool of potential targets with which we could complete an initial business combination may be limited and we may be adversely affected in terms of competing with other special purpose acquisition companies which do not have similar foreign ownership issues.
Moreover, the process of government review, whether by the CFIUS or otherwise, could be lengthy and we have limited time to complete our initial business combination. If we cannot complete our initial business combination by the Extended Date because the review process drags on beyond such timeframe or because our initial business combination is ultimately prohibited by CFIUS or another U.S. government entity, we may be required to liquidate. If we liquidate, our public stockholders may only receive an amount per share that will be determined by when we liquidate, and our warrants will expire worthless. This will also cause you to lose the investment opportunity in a target company and the chance of realizing future gains on your investment through any price appreciation in the combined company.

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ITEM 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS
ITEM 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS
None.

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ITEM 2. PROPERTIES
ITEM 2. PROPERTIES
We currently maintain our executive offices at 10 E. 53rd Street, 13th Floor, New York, NY 10022. We consider our current office space adequate for our current operations.

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ITEM 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS
ITEM 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS
There is no material litigation, arbitration or governmental proceeding currently pending against us or any members of our management team.

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ITEM 4. MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURE
ITEM 4. MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES
Not applicable.
PART II

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ITEM 5. MARKET FOR REGISTRANT'S COMMON EQUITY
ITEM 5. MARKET FOR REGISTRANT’S COMMON EQUITY, RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS AND ISSUER PURCHASES OF EQUITY SECURITIES
Our equity securities trade on Nasdaq. Each of our units consists of one share of Class A common stock and one-third of one redeemable warrant and, commencing on March 17, 2021, trades on Nasdaq under the symbol “GAMCU.” The Class A common stock and warrants underlying our units began trading separately on Nasdaq under the symbols “GAMC” and “GAMCW,” respectively, on May 7, 2021.
Holders of Record
On March 15, 2024, there were 1 holder of record of our units, 2 holders of record of our Class A common stock, 4 holders of record of our Class B common stock and 3 holders of record of our warrants. Such numbers do not include beneficial owners holding our securities through nominee names.
Dividends
We have not paid any cash dividends on our common stock to date and do not intend to pay cash dividends prior to the completion of our initial business combination. The payment of cash dividends in the future will be dependent upon our revenues and earnings, if any, capital requirements and general financial condition subsequent to completion of our initial business combination. The payment of any cash dividends subsequent to our initial business combination will be within the discretion of our board of directors at such time. In addition, our board of directors is not currently contemplating and does not anticipate declaring any stock dividends in the foreseeable future. If we incur any indebtedness in connection with our initial business combination, our ability to declare dividends may be limited by restrictive covenants we may agree to in connection therewith.
Use of Proceeds from our Initial Public Offering
On March 19, 2021, we consummated our initial public offering of 28,750,000 units and on May 6, 2021, we consummated the sale of an additional 3,750,000 units as a result of the exercise in full of the underwriters’ over-allotment option, in each case at an offering price of $10.00 per unit, generating total gross proceeds of $287,500,000. The securities sold in our initial public offering were registered under the Securities Act on registration statement on Form S-1 (No. 333-253465). The registration statement became effective on March 16, 2021. In connection with the votes to approve the First Extension, the holders of 26,649,519 shares of Class A common stock of the Company properly exercised their right to redeem their shares for cash at a redemption price of approximately $10.16 per share, for an aggregate redemption amount of approximately $270,869,315, leaving approximately $21,349,573 in the trust account. In connection with the votes to approve the Second Extension, the holders of 1,522,544 shares of Class A common stock of the Company properly exercised their right to redeem their shares for cash at a redemption price of approximately $10.71 per share, for an aggregate redemption amount of approximately $16.3 million, leaving approximately $6.2 million in the trust account.

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ITEM 6. SELECTED FINANCIAL DATA
ITEM 6. [RESERVED]

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ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS
ITEM 7. MANAGEMENT’S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
The following discussion and analysis of the Company’s financial condition and results of operations should be read in conjunction with our audited financial statements and the notes related thereto which are included in “Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data” of this Annual Report. Certain information contained in the discussion and analysis set forth below includes forward-looking statements. Our actual results may differ materially from those anticipated in these forward-looking statements as a result of many factors, including those set forth under “Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements,” “Item 1A. Risk Factors” and elsewhere in this Annual Report.
Overview
We are a blank check company formed under the laws of the State of Delaware on December 31, 2020 for the purpose of effecting a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or similar business combination with one or more businesses, which we refer to as our initial business combination. We intend to effectuate our initial business combination using cash from the proceeds of the Initial Public Offering (defined below) and the sale of the private placement warrants, our capital stock, debt or a combination of cash, stock and debt.
We expect to continue to incur significant costs in the pursuit of our acquisition plans. We cannot assure you that our plans to complete an initial business combination will be successful.
Proposed Business Combination
Business Combination Agreement
On October 4, 2023, the Company entered into a Business Combination Agreement with Merger Sub and Bolt Threads.
Pursuant to the Business Combination Agreement, the parties will consummate a business combination transaction pursuant to which Merger Sub will merge with and into Bolt Threads, with Bolt Threads surviving the merger as a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company.
The Business Combination is expected to be consummated after receipt of the required approvals by the stockholders of the Company and Bolt Threads and the satisfaction or waiver of certain other customary conditions.
The aggregate equity consideration to be paid to Bolt Threads’ stockholders and option holders in the Business Combination will be equal to the quotient of (i) $250,000,000 divided by (ii) $10.00.
Related Agreements
PIPE Subscription Agreements
Concurrently with the execution of the Business Combination Agreement, the PIPE Investors, including the Sponsor, entered into PIPE Subscription Agreements pursuant to which the PIPE Investors committed to purchase in a private placement up to 2,734,433 PIPE Shares at a purchase price of $10.00 per share and an aggregate PIPE Investment of up to $27,344,330. The purchase of the PIPE Shares is conditioned upon, among other things, the consummation of the Business Combination and will be consummated immediately prior to or substantially concurrently with the Closing. On February 28, 2024, the PIPE Investors entered into amendments to the PIPE Subscription Agreements which reduced their aggregate commitment to purchase PIPE Shares to 2,287,464 at a purchase price of $10.00 per share, for an aggregate PIPE Investment of up to $22,874,640.
Pursuant to the PIPE Subscription Agreement executed by the Sponsor, the Sponsor has agreed to purchase 656,499 shares of Class A common stock at a purchase price of $10.00 per share for an aggregate purchase price of $6,564,990. However, the number of subscribed shares to be purchased thereunder by the Sponsor will be reduced by the number of shares of Class A common stock that have not been elected for redemption as of the expiration of the redemption period related to the Closing and that are held by certain individuals mutually agreed upon by the Company and Bolt Threads at any time from the date of the execution of the agreement up to immediately prior to the expiration of such redemption period.
Registration Rights and Lock-up Agreement
The Business Combination Agreement provides that, in connection with the Closing, the Post-Combination Company, certain stockholders of Bolt Threads, our Sponsor and certain of our stockholders will enter into the Registration Rights and Lock-up Agreement, pursuant to which the Post-Combination Company will agree to register for resale the Post-Combination Company common stock and other equity securities that are held by the parties thereto from time to time.
Additionally, pursuant to the Registration Rights and Lock-up Agreement, certain Bolt Threads stockholders and the Sponsor will be subject to certain restrictions on transfer with respect to the shares of the Post-Combination Company common stock issued as part of the transaction consideration and certain shares of the Post-Combination Company common stock held by the Sponsor and certain stockholders of the Company.
Sponsor Support Agreement
In connection with the execution of the Business Combination Agreement, we entered into a Sponsor Support Agreement with the Sponsor and Bolt Threads. Pursuant to the Sponsor Support Agreement, the Sponsor has, among other things, agreed to vote all of its shares of capital stock in favor of the approval of the Transactions. In addition, the Sponsor has agreed that 1,437,500 Sponsor Shares will be unvested and subject to forfeiture as of the Closing and will only vest if, during the five year period following the Closing, (i) the volume weighted average price of the Post-Combination Company common stock equals or exceeds $12.50 (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any twenty trading days within a period of thirty consecutive trading days or (ii) there is a change of control of the Company. Any Sponsor Shares that remain unvested after the fifth anniversary of the Closing will be forfeited. The Sponsor Support Agreement will terminate upon the earliest of (i) the effective time of the Merger, (ii) the termination of the Business Combination Agreement if the Closing does not occur, and (iii) the written agreement of the parties terminating the Sponsor Support Agreement.
Stockholder Support Agreement
In connection with the execution of the Business Combination Agreement, we entered into the Stockholder Support Agreement with Bolt Threads and certain stockholders of Bolt Threads pursuant to which such stockholders have, among other things, agreed to vote to adopt and approve, upon the registration statement on Form S-4 being declared effective, the Business Combination Agreement and all other documents and transactions contemplated thereby and to subject their shares to certain transfer restrictions. The Stockholder Support Agreement will terminate upon the earliest of (i) the effective time of the Merger, (ii) the termination of the Business Combination Agreement if the Closing does not occur, and (iii) the written agreement of the parties terminating the Stockholder Support Agreement.
First Extension
On March 15, 2023, our stockholders approved a charter amendment which extended the date by which we have to consummate a business combination for an additional nine months, from March 19, 2023 to up to December 19, 2023 by electing to extend the date to consummate an initial business combination on a monthly basis for up to nine times by an additional one month each time after March 15, 2023, until December 19, 2023 or a total of up to nine months after March 15, 2023, or such earlier date as determined by our Board, unless the closing of the initial business combination shall have occurred, provided that the Sponsor (or its affiliates or permitted designees) deposited into the trust account an amount determined by multiplying $0.03 by the number of public shares then outstanding, up to a maximum of $105,000 for each such one-month extension unless the closing of our initial business combination shall have occurred, in exchange for a non-interest bearing, unsecured promissory note payable upon consummation of a business combination.
In connection with the votes to approve the First Extension, the holders of 26,649,519 shares of Class A common stock properly exercised their right to redeem their shares for cash at a redemption price of approximately $10.16 per share, for an aggregate redemption amount of $270,769,687, leaving $21,467,825 in the trust account.
On March 16, 2023, our sponsor voluntarily converted the 7,047,500 shares of Class B common stock it held into 7,047,500 shares of Class A common stock in accordance with the charter. Following the implementation of the First Extension and the Conversion, we had 9,147,981 shares of Class A common stock outstanding and 140,000 shares of Class B common stock outstanding.
Second Extension
On December 12, 2023, we held a special meeting in which the stockholders approved a charter amendment to extend the date by which we have to consummate a business combination for an additional nine months from December 19, 2023 to September 19, 2024 by electing to extend the date to consummate an initial business combination on a monthly basis for up to nine times by an additional one month each time after December 19, 2023, until September 19, 2024 or a total of up to nine months after December 19, 2023, or such earlier date as determined by our Board, unless the closing of our initial business combination shall have occurred, provided that the Sponsor (or its affiliates or permitted designees) will deposit into the trust account an amount determined by multiplying $0.02 by the number of public shares then outstanding, up to a maximum of $20,000 for each such one-month extension unless the closing of our initial business combination shall have occurred, in exchange for a non-interest bearing, unsecured promissory note payable upon consummation of a business combination.
In connection with the votes to approve the Second Extension, the holders of 1,522,544 shares of Class A common stock of the Company properly exercised their right to redeem their shares for cash at a redemption price of approximately $10.71 per share, for an aggregate redemption amount of approximately $16.3 million, leaving approximately $6.2 million in the trust account.
As of December 31, 2023, ten Extension Payments were made for a total of $578,694.
On January 18, 2024 and February 18, 2024, additional extension payments of $11,559 each were made which extended the deadline by which we must complete a business combination to March 19, 2024.
Results of Operations
We have neither engaged in any operations nor generated any revenues to date. Our only activities from December 31, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2023 were organizational activities, those necessary to prepare for the Initial Public Offering, described below, and, subsequent to the initial public offering, identifying a target company for a business combination. We do not expect to generate any operating revenues until after the completion of our business combination. We generate non-operating income in the form of interest income on marketable securities held in the trust account (defined below). We incur expenses as a result of being a public company (for legal, financial reporting, accounting and auditing compliance), as well as for due diligence expenses.
For the year ended December 31, 2023, we had a net loss of $1,467,612, which consisted of change in fair value of warrant liability of $1,895,834, formation and operational costs of $2,103,668 and provision for income taxes of $653,044, offset by interest earned on marketable securities held in the trust account of $3,176,694 and interest income bank in $8,240.
For the year ended December 31, 2022, we had a net income of $9,846,711, which consisted of the change in fair value of warrant liabilities of $7,138,542, change in fair value of convertible notes of $811,150, interest earned on marketable securities held in the trust account of $4,000,465, offset by formation and operational costs of $1,343,799 and provision for income taxes of $759,647.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
On March 19, 2021, we consummated the initial public offering of 25,000,000 units at $10.00 per unit, generating gross proceeds of $250,000,000. Simultaneously with the closing of the initial public offering, we consummated the sale of 4,500,000 private placement warrants at a price of $1.50 per private placement warrant in a private placement to the sponsor generating gross proceeds of $6,750,000.
Following the initial public offering and the sale of the private placement warrants, a total of $250,000,000 was placed in the trust account. We incurred $14,246,969 in initial public offering related costs, including $5,000,000 of underwriting fees, $8,750,000 of deferred underwriting fees and $496,969 of other offering costs. On February 2, 2024, the Company, BTIG and Bolt Threads entered into an amendment to the underwriting agreement, pursuant to which $500,000 will be deposited and held in the trust account and payable in cash directly from the trust account, without accrued interest, to BTIG for its own account upon consummation of our initial Business Combination. Additionally, upon consummation of our initial Business Combination, BTIG will receive shares of post-combination company common stock equivalent to the greater of: (i) 500,000 shares of post-combination company common stock, or (ii) the number of shares calculated by dividing (x) $5,000,000 by (y) the VWAP of the post-combination company common stock over the three trading days immediately preceding the initial filing of the resale registration statement, provided that clause (y) will not be less than $8.00. The deferred fee will become payable to the underwriters solely in the event that we complete the Business Combination, subject to the terms of the underwriting agreement, as amended.
On May 6, 2021, in connection with the underwriters’ exercise of their over-allotment option in full, we consummated the sale of an additional 3,750,000 Units at a price of $10.00 per unit, generating total gross proceeds of $37,500,000. In addition, we also consummated the sale of an additional 500,000 private placement warrants at $1.50 per private placement warrant, generating gross proceeds of $750,000. A total of $37,500,000 of the net proceeds from the sale of the additional units and private placement warrants was placed in the trust account, bringing the aggregate proceeds held in the trust account to $287,500,000.
In connection with the votes to approve the First Extension, the holders of 26,649,519 shares of Class A common stock properly exercised their right to redeem their shares for cash at a redemption price of approximately $10.16 per share, for an aggregate redemption amount of approximately $270,869,315, leaving approximately $21,349,572 in the trust account. Upon implementation of the First Extension, the remaining trust funds were deposited in an interest-bearing demand deposit account at a bank. In connection with the votes to approve the Second Extension, the holders of 1,522,544 shares of Class A common stock properly exercised their right to redeem their shares for cash at a redemption price of approximately $10.71 per share, for an aggregate redemption amount of approximately $16.3 million, leaving approximately $6.2 million in the trust account.
For the year ended December 31, 2023, cash used in operating activities was $1,738,493. Net loss of $1,467,612 was affected by change in fair value of warrant liability of $1,895,834 and interest earned on marketable securities held in the trust account of $3,176,694. Changes in operating assets and liabilities provided $1,009,979 of cash for operating activities.
For the year ended December 31, 2022, cash used in operating activities was $1,647,496. Net income of $9,846,711 was affected by change in fair value of warrant liabilities of $7,138,542, change in fair value of convertible notes of $811,150, interest earned on marketable securities held in the trust account of $4,000,465. Changes in operating assets and liabilities provided $455,950 of cash for operating activities.
As of December 31, 2023, we held investments in the trust account in the amount of $6,218,429. Interest income on the balance in the trust account may be used by us to pay taxes. Through December 31, 2023, we withdrew $288,183,427 from the trust account for the redemption payment and to be used towards tax payments. On October 3, 2022, we withdrew $360,000 of interest earned from the trust account to be used towards Delaware franchise tax obligations.
We intend to use substantially all of the funds held in the trust account, including any amounts representing interest earned on the trust account (less income taxes payable), to complete our Business Combination. To the extent that our capital stock or debt is used, in whole or in part, as consideration to complete our Business Combination, the remaining proceeds held in the trust account will be used as working capital to finance the operations of the target business or businesses, make other acquisitions and pursue our growth strategies.
As of December 31, 2023, we had cash of $306,034. We intend to use the funds held outside the trust account primarily to identify and evaluate target businesses, perform business due diligence on prospective target businesses, travel to and from the offices, plants or similar locations of prospective target businesses or their representatives or owners, review corporate documents and material agreements of prospective target businesses, and structure, negotiate and complete a Business Combination.
In order to fund working capital deficiencies or finance transaction costs in connection with a business combination, the Sponsor, or certain of our officers and directors or their affiliates may, but are not obligated to, loan us funds as may be required. If we complete a Business Combination, we would repay such loaned amounts. In the event that a Business Combination does not close, we may use a portion of the working capital held outside the trust account to repay such loaned amounts but no proceeds from our trust account would be used for such repayment. Up to $1,500,000 of such loans may be convertible into warrants, at the option of the lender. The warrants would be identical to the private placement warrants.
On February 25, 2022, we issued a promissory note to the sponsor pursuant to which we may borrow up to an aggregate principal amount of $500,000. The promissory note is non-interest bearing and payable upon the consummation of a Business Combination. At the Sponsor’s discretion, the promissory note may be converted into warrants of the post-Business Combination entity at a price of $1.50 per warrant. The warrants would be identical to the Private Placement Warrants. On August 26, 2022, we issued a second promissory note to the Sponsor pursuant to which it may borrow up to an aggregate principal amount of $400,000. The promissory note is non-interest bearing and payable upon the consummation of a Business Combination. At the Sponsor’s discretion, the promissory note may be converted into warrants of the post-Business Combination entity at a price of $1.50 per warrant. The warrants would be identical to the Private Placement Warrants. On March 8, 2023, the Company issued a third promissory note to which it may borrow up to an aggregate principal amount of $750,000. The promissory note is non-interest bearing and payable upon the consummation of a Business Combination. At the Sponsor’s discretion, the promissory note may be converted into warrants of the post-Business Combination entity at a price of $1.50 per warrant, provided that the aggregate of such warrants, together with any warrants issued upon conversions pursuant to the promissory notes dated February 25, 2022 and August 26, 2022, do not exceed 1,000,000 warrants. The warrants would be identical to the Private Placement Warrants.
As of December 31, 2023 and 2022, there was an aggregate of $1,484,326 and $88,850 outstanding under the three promissory notes (together, the “Convertible Promissory Notes”), respectively. The Convertible Promissory Notes were valued at par value.
In connection with the Extension Payments, on March 17, 2023, we issued an unsecured promissory note to our Sponsor in the aggregate amount of $567,130 (the “First Extension Note”). As of December 31, 2023, we have deposited an aggregate of $567,130 of Extension Payments into the Trust Account and intends to continue to extend the Termination Date up to December 19, 2023. The First Extension Note bears no interest and the principal balance is payable on the date of the consummation of our initial business combination. The First Extension Note is not convertible into private placement warrants and the principal balance may be prepaid at any time. As of December 31, 2023, $567,130 was outstanding under this note.
On December 18, 2023, we issued an unsecured promissory note to our Sponsor in the aggregate amount of $104,029 (the “Second Extension Note” and, together with the First Extension Note, the “Extension Notes”). As of December 31, 2023, we have deposited an aggregate of $11,559 of Extension Payments into the Trust Account and intends to continue to extend the Termination Date up to January 19, 2024. The Second Extension Note bears no interest and the principal balance is payable on the date of the consummation of our initial business combination. The Second Extension Note is not convertible into private placement warrants and the principal balance may be prepaid at any time.
On January 8, 2021, we issued a non-interest bearing, unsecured promissory note to the Sponsor, pursuant to which we may borrow up to an aggregate principal amount of $200,000, which was originally due on March 19, 2021. On March 18, 2022, we amended and restated the promissory note to extend the due date of amounts outstanding under the promissory note to the earlier of December 31, 2022 and the date of consummation of our initial business combination. As of December 31, 2023 and 2022, there were no amounts outstanding under the promissory note, respectively.
If our estimate of the costs of identifying a target business, undertaking in-depth due diligence and negotiating a business combination are less than the actual amount necessary to do so, we may have insufficient funds available to operate our business prior to our Business Combination. Moreover, we may need to obtain additional financing either to complete our Business Combination or because we become obligated to redeem a significant number of our public shares upon consummation of our Business Combination, in which case we may issue additional securities or incur debt in connection with such Business Combination.
Going Concern
As a result of the First Extension and Second Extension, we have up to September 19, 2024 to consummate a business combination, provided that the Sponsor (or its affiliates or permitted designees) will deposit into the trust account the Extension Payments. It is uncertain that we will be able to consummate a Business Combination by the Extended Date. If we are unable to raise additional funds to alleviate liquidity needs as well as complete a Business Combination by this date, there will be a mandatory liquidation and subsequent dissolution. Management has determined that the possible liquidity condition as we continue to incur costs and the mandatory liquidation, should a business combination not occur, and potential subsequent dissolution raises substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern. Management plans to consummate a business combination prior to the mandatory liquidation date. No adjustments have been made to the carrying amounts of assets or liabilities should we be required to liquidate after September 19, 2024.
Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements
We have no obligations, assets or liabilities, which would be considered off-balance sheet arrangements as of December 31, 2023. We do not participate in transactions that create relationships with unconsolidated entities or financial partnerships, often referred to as variable interest entities, which would have been established for the purpose of facilitating off-balance sheet arrangements. We have not entered into any off-balance sheet financing arrangements, established any special purpose entities, guaranteed any debt or commitments of other entities, or purchased any non-financial assets.
Contractual Obligations
We do not have any long-term debt, capital lease obligations, operating lease obligations or long-term liabilities.
The underwriters were entitled to a deferred fee of $0.35 per unit, or $10,062,500 in the aggregate. On February 2, 2024, the Company, BTIG and Bolt Threads entered into an amendment to the underwriting agreement, pursuant to which $500,000 will be deposited and held in the trust account and payable in cash directly from the trust account, without accrued interest, to BTIG for its own account upon consummation of our initial Business Combination. Additionally, upon consummation of our initial Business Combination, BTIG will receive shares of post-combination company common stock equivalent to the greater of: (i) 500,000 shares of post-combination company common stock, or (ii) the number of shares calculated by dividing (x) $5,000,000 by (y) the VWAP of the post-combination company common stock over the three trading days immediately preceding the initial filing of the resale registration statement, provided that clause (y) will not be less than $8.00. The deferred fee will become payable to the underwriters solely in the event that we complete the Business Combination, subject to the terms of the underwriting agreement, as amended.
We entered into an agreement with Jones International Group for consulting services related to a search for a target business. For the year ended December 31, 2023, we incurred $20,500 of consulting fees. On February 20, 2023, the Company terminated this agreement.
Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates
The preparation of consolidated financial statements and related disclosures in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements, and income and expenses during the periods reported. Actual results could materially differ from those estimates. We have identified the following critical accounting policies:
Warrant Liabilities
We account for the warrants in accordance with the guidance contained in ASC 815-40-15 under which the warrants do not meet the criteria for equity treatment and must be recorded as liabilities. Accordingly, we classify the warrants as liabilities at their fair value and adjust the warrants to fair value at each reporting period. This liability is subject to re-measurement at each balance sheet date until exercised, and any change in fair value is recognized in our statements of operations. The Private Placement Warrants and the warrants included as part of the units in the Initial Public Offering (the “Public Warrants” and together with the Private Placement Warrants, the “warrants”) for periods where no observable traded price was available are valued using a lattice model, specifically a binomial lattice model incorporating the Cox-Ross-Rubenstein methodology. For periods subsequent to the detachment of the Public Warrants from the Units, the Public Warrant quoted market price was used as the fair value as of each relevant date.
Common Stock Subject to Possible Redemption
We account for our common stock subject to possible conversion in accordance with the guidance in Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) Topic 480 “Distinguishing Liabilities from Equity.” Common stock subject to mandatory redemption is classified as a liability instrument and measured at fair value. Conditionally redeemable common stock (including common stock that features redemption rights that are either within the control of the holder or subject to redemption upon the occurrence of uncertain events not solely within our control) is classified as temporary equity. At all other times, common stock is classified as stockholders’ equity. Our common stock features certain redemption rights that are considered to be outside of our control and subject to occurrence of uncertain future events. Accordingly, common stock subject to possible redemption is presented at redemption value as temporary equity, outside of the stockholders’ deficit section of our consolidated balance sheets.
Net (Loss) Income Per Common Share
Net (loss) income per common share is computed by dividing net income by the weighted average number of common stock outstanding for the period. We have two classes of shares which are referred to as Class A common stock and Class B Common stock. Income is shared pro rata between the two classes of shares. Net (loss) income per common share is calculated by dividing the net (loss) income by the weighted average shares of common stock outstanding for the respective period. Accretion associated with the redeemable shares of Class A common stock is excluded from earnings per share as the redemption value approximates fair value.
Recent Accounting Standards
In August 2020, the FASB issued ASU No. 2020-06, “Debt-Debt with Conversion and Other Options (Subtopic 470-20) and Derivatives and Hedging-Contracts in Entity’s Own Equity (Subtopic 815-40): Accounting for Convertible Instruments and Contracts in an Entity’s Own Equity” (“ASU 2020-06”), which simplifies accounting for convertible instruments by removing major separation models required under current GAAP. ASU 2020-06 removes certain settlement conditions that are required for equity contracts to qualify for the derivative scope exception, and it also simplifies the diluted earnings per share calculation in certain areas. ASU 2020-06 is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2023, including interim periods within those fiscal years, with early adoption permitted. The impact of the adoption of ASU 2020-06 is being assessed by the company, however no significant impact on the financial statements is anticipated.
In June 2016, the FASB issued Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) 2016-13 - Financial Instruments - Credit Losses (Topic 326): Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments (“ASU 2016-13”). This update requires financial assets measured at amortized cost basis to be presented at the net amount expected to be collected. The measurement of expected credit losses is based on relevant information about past events, including historical experience, current conditions, and reasonable and supportable forecasts that affect the collectability of the reported amount. Since June 2016, the FASB issued clarifying updates to the new standard including changing the effective date for smaller reporting companies. The guidance is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2022, and interim periods within those fiscal years, with early adoption permitted. The Company adopted ASU 2016-13 on January 1, 2023. The adoption of ASU 2016-13 did not have a material impact on its financial statements.
In December 2023, the FASB issued ASU 2023-09, Income Taxes (Topic 740): Improvements to Income Tax Disclosures (ASU 2023-09), which requires disclosure of incremental income tax information within the rate reconciliation and expanded disclosures of income taxes paid, among other disclosure requirements. ASU 2023-09 is effective for fiscal years beginning after December 15, 2024. Early adoption is permitted. The Company’s management does not believe the adoption of ASU 2023-09 will have a material impact on its consolidated financial statements and disclosures.
Management does not believe that any recently issued, but not yet effective, accounting standards, if currently adopted, would have a material effect on our consolidated financial statements.

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ITEM 7A. QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURES ABOUT MARKET RISK
Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk
Not required for smaller reporting companies.

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ITEM 8. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND SUPPLEMENTARY DATA
Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data
This information appears following Item 15 of this Report and is included herein by reference.

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ITEM 9. CHANGES IN AND DISAGREEMENTS WITH ACCOUNTANTS
Item 9. Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure
None.

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ITEM 9A. CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES
Item 9A. Controls and Procedures.
Disclosure Controls and Procedures
Disclosure controls and procedures are controls and other procedures that are designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed in our reports filed or submitted under the Exchange Act is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in the SEC’s rules and forms. Disclosure controls and procedures include, without limitation, controls and procedures designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed in our reports filed or submitted under the Exchange Act is accumulated and communicated to our management, including our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer, to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.
Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures
As required by Rules 13a-15 and 15d-15 under the Exchange Act, our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer carried out an evaluation of the effectiveness of the design and operation of our disclosure controls and procedures as of December 31, 2023. Based upon their evaluation, our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) under the Exchange Act) were not effective, due solely to the material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting related to the Company’s accounting for complex financial instruments. As a result, we performed additional analysis as deemed necessary to ensure that our financial statements were prepared in accordance with GAAP. Accordingly, management believes that the financial statements included in this Annual Report present fairly in all material respects our financial position, results of operations and cash flows for the period presented.
Management’s Annual Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting
As required by SEC rules and regulations implementing Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, our management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting. Our internal control over financial reporting is designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of our financial statements for external reporting purposes in accordance with GAAP. Our internal control over financial reporting includes those policies and procedures that:
(1)
pertain to the maintenance of records that, in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of the assets of our company,
(2) provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in accordance with GAAP, and that our receipts and expenditures are being made only in accordance with authorizations of our management and directors, and
(3) provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use or disposition of our assets that could have a material effect on the financial statements.
Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect errors or misstatements in our financial statements. Also, projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risk that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree or compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate. Management assessed the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting at December 31, 2023. In making these assessments, management used the criteria set forth by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO) in Internal Control - Integrated Framework (2013). Based on our assessments and those criteria, management determined that we did not maintain effective internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2023.
This Annual Report does not include an attestation report of our independent registered public accounting firm due to our status as an emerging growth company under the JOBS Act.
Changes in Internal Control Over Financial Reporting
Other than the matters described above, there were no changes in our internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the fourth quarter of the fiscal year covered by this Annual Report that have materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.

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ITEM 9B. OTHER INFORMATION
ITEM 9B. OTHER INFORMATION
None.

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ITEM 10. DIRECTORS, EXECUTIVE OFFICERS AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE
ITEM 10. DIRECTORS, EXECUTIVE OFFICERS AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE
Directors and Executive Officers
Our current directors and executive officers are listed below.
Name
Age
Position
Timothy Babich
Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer
Jacob Doft
Chairman of the Board of Directors
Lance Hirt
Director
Andrew Rechtschaffen
Director
Brett Barth
Independent Director
Lloyd Dean
Independent Director
Jack Hidary
Independent Director
Steven Klosk
Independent Director
Timothy Babich has served as our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer since our inception. In 2018, Mr. Babich founded, and he continues to manage, Nexxus Holdings, an investment firm primarily dedicated to managing his investments. In addition, Mr. Babich was the founder and chairman of FCM Bank, a European based, online challenger bank. FCM Bank was founded in 2012 and sold in 2017 to a private European payments platform. Mr. Babich also is the co-founder of the RUNX1 Research Program, a medical foundation dedicated to finding a cure for an inherited predisposition to leukemia. In 2006, Mr. Babich founded Fortelus Capital Management, a London-based, multi-billion dollar investment manager focused on European special situation investments, where he currently serves as CEO and director. Prior to founding Fortelus in 2006, Mr. Babich was a Member of the General Partner at Silver Point Capital, a Greenwich, CT-based special situations fund. He joined Silver Point’s founder in early 2001 after the founder retired as head of Goldman Sachs’ Global Special Situations Group. Mr. Babich graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1999, summa cum laude, with undergraduate degrees from Wharton and Engineering (Computer Sciences) as part of the Management & Technology (M&T) dual degree program, along with an MBA from Wharton. He currently serves as Chairman of the Board for the M&T program.
Jacob Doft has served as Chairman of our board of directors since our inception. In 1995, Mr. Doft co-founded Highline Capital Management, L.P., a New York-based investment management firm, where he currently serves as Chief Executive Officer. Before co-founding Highline, Mr. Doft worked at Gleacher and Co., Inc. where his time was predominantly spent helping firms consider strategic mergers, acquisitions, and restructurings. Mr. Doft received a B.S. from Wharton School and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School. He currently serves as a member of the Wharton Undergraduate Executive Board.
Lance Hirt has served as one of our directors since our inception. Since 2016, Mr. Hirt has served as a Managing Partner at Stonecourt Capital LP, a New York based private investment firm. Previously, from 2003 to 2016, he was a partner at Lindsay Goldberg LLC, a private equity firm, during which time the firm invested $10 billion of equity capital across 35 portfolio companies. Prior to that, he was a Managing Director in the M&A department at Morgan Stanley, where he also served as the Operating Officer for the global M&A Division. Mr. Hirt began his career as a management consultant at Touche Ross & Co. and subsequently practiced law at Sullivan & Cromwell. Mr. Hirt has served on the board of directors of 21 portfolio companies during his 19-year private equity career. His investment experience spans a broad set of industries and geographies. Mr. Hirt graduated from Yeshiva College with a B.A. in Economics and received an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and a Juris Doctorate from Harvard Law School. Mr. Hirt currently serves as a Trustee of Yeshiva University.
Andrew Rechtschaffen has served as one of our directors since our inception. Since 2017, Mr. Rechtschaffen serves as Founder and Chief Executive Officer of AREX Capital Management, LP, an equities-focused investment firm. Prior to AREX, Mr. Rechtschaffen was a Partner at Greenlight Capital where he was a member of the investment team from 2002 to 2005 and 2011 to 2017, becoming a Partner in 2005 and again in 2014. Between these periods, he was a Managing Director at Citadel Investment Group managing a multi-billion-dollar portfolio in the Principal Strategies Group and the founder of Obrem Capital Management. He began his career as an Associate in Morgan Stanley’s Investment Banking Division. Mr. Rechtschaffen served as director of Fiesta Restaurant Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: FRGI) from 2020 until the company was privately acquired in 2023, and currently serves as a director of the Wharton Alumni Executive Board. Mr. Rechtschaffen was awarded the Alan C. Greenberg Young Leadership Award by UJA-Federation of New York, Wall Street & Financial Services Division. Mr. Rechtschaffen graduated from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, summa cum laude, with a Bachelor of Science degree and an MBA.
Brett Barth has served on our board of directors since March 2021. Mr. Barth co-founded BBR Partners in 2000 and is a Co-Chief Executive Officer, co-managing the firm and overseeing BBR’s investment approach and implementation. He has extensive experience vetting investment opportunities across the asset class spectrum and through a range of market environments, working with both traditional and alternative investment managers. Mr. Barth is also a member of BBR’s Executive Committee and Co-Chair of its Investment Committee. Prior to founding BBR, Mr. Barth was in the Equities Division of Goldman Sachs. Previously, he served in Goldman’s Equity Capital Markets groups in New York and Hong Kong. He began his career in Goldman Sachs’ Corporate Finance Department. Mr. Barth previously served as a director of Cowen Inc. He is also a Member of the Investment Advisory Counsel for Waycrosse, Inc., a premier multi-generational, single-family office based in Minneapolis, MN. Mr. Barth is a trustee of the University of Pennsylvania as well as a member of the Board of Advisors of the Graduate School of Education. He previously served as both the Chair of the Penn Fund, the University of Pennsylvania’s undergraduate annual giving program, and as the Inaugural Chair of the Undergraduate Financial Aid Leadership Council. Mr. Barth is a member of the board of the UJA-Federation of New York and chairs the endowment’s Investment Committee. Mr. Barth was awarded the Alan C. Greenberg Young Leadership Award by UJA-Federation of New York, Wall Street & Financial Services Division. Mr. Barth graduated summa cum laude with concentrations in Finance and Accounting from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Lloyd Dean has served on our board of directors since March 2021. He has served as chief executive emeritus and founding executive of CommonSpirit Health since August 2022, having served as its chief executive officer from 2019 to 2022. From 2000 to 2019, he served as president and chief executive officer of Dignity Health( f/k/a Catholic Healthcare West), one of the nation’s largest non-profit healthcare systems, until its transition to CommonSpirit Health. Prior to that, Mr. Dean served as chief operating officer of Advocate Health Care from 1997 to 2000. Since 2015, Mr. Dean has served on the board of McDonald’s Corporation, a publicly traded company, and currently chairs the McDonald’s Board Compensation Committee. He also serves on the boards of Guidehouse, Nox Health and Progyny, Inc., a publicly traded company, and has been appointed to the NY Governor’s Future of Health Care Task Force and chairs its Hospital Subcommittee. Previously, he served on the boards of Bay Area Council (past chair), Catholic Health Association of the USA (past chair), Committee on Jobs (past chair), an organization that brings employment to the San Francisco Bay Area, Cytori Therapeutics (past chair), Mercy Housing California and Wells Fargo & Company. In 2019, California Governor Gavin Newsom appointed Mr. Dean to his Task Force on Business and Jobs Recovery. He also co-chaired the California Future Health Workforce Commission, which developed a strategic plan to strengthen California’s future health workforce.
Jack Hidary has served on our board of directors since March 2021. Mr. Hidary is a serial technology entrepreneur and author. Mr. Hidary established the Hidary Foundation, which supports breakthroughs in oncology, and was recognized as a Global Leader of Tomorrow at the World Economic Forum in Davos. He served as Chairman and Co-Founder of Vista Research, an independent financial research company, from 2001 until its acquisition in 2005 by Standard & Poor’s. In 1995, Mr. Hidary co-founded the IT portal EarthWeb, and served as its Chairman and Chief Executive Officer through its initial public offering in 1998. Mr. Hidary serves on several private company boards, including as Chairman of Radimmune, a biotech company, and XPrize.org. Mr. Hidary studied at Columbia University and received the Stanley Fellowship in Clinical Neuroscience at The National Institutes of Health, where he worked on the application of neural networks to medical imaging.
Steven Klosk has served on our board of directors since March 2021. Mr. Klosk served as a director of Cambrex Corporation (formerly NYSE: CBM), a leading global small molecule contract development and manufacturing organization (“Cambrex”), from 2008 until June 2020, and served as its President and Chief Executive Officer from 2008 until its acquisition by Permira in December 2019 and remained Chief Executive Officer through June 2020. Having joined Cambrex in 1992, Mr. Klosk held positions of increasing responsibility, including Executive Vice President, Administration, through 2005, when he assumed direct responsibility for the leadership of the Biopharmaceutical Business Unit as Chief Operating Officer. In August 2006, Mr. Klosk assumed the responsibility of the Pharma business as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer - Biopharma & Pharma, and in February 2007, was appointed to Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer and President, Pharmaceutical Products and Services, the last role he held prior to being appointed President and Chief Executive Officer. Earlier in his career Mr. Klosk served as Vice President, Administration for The Genlyte Group, Inc., a publicly traded producer of lighting fixtures. Mr. Klosk earned a B.S. from Cornell University and a J.D. from New York Law School. Mr. Klosk has served on the board of directors of Lisata Therapeutics. (Nasdaq: LSTA) since 2014. He also currently serves on the board of directors of Recipharm and BIOVECTRA, each a pharmaceutical contract development and manufacturing organization (“CDMO”), NJ Biopharmaceuticals LLC, a pharmaceutical contract research organization and BioIVT, a global provider of biologic specimens for pharma/biotech research. Mr. Klosk also serves as Chairman of the board of directors of Formulated Solutions, a topicals CDMO.
Number and Terms of Office of Officers and Directors
Our board consists of seven members. Our board of directors is divided into three classes, with only one class of directors being elected in each year, and with each class (except for those directors appointed prior to our first annual meeting of stockholders) serving a three-year term. The term of office of the first class of directors, consisting of Jacob Doft, Brett Barth, Lloyd Dean, expired at our first annual meeting of stockholders. The term of office of the second class of directors, consisting of Lance Hirt and Steven Klosk, will expire at our second annual meeting of stockholders. The term of office of the third class of directors, consisting of Andrew Rechtschaffen and Jack Hidary, will expire at our third annual meeting of stockholders.
Prior to consummation of our initial business combination, holders of our Class B common stock have the right to elect all of our directors and remove members of our board of directors for any reason. Holders of our public shares do not have the right to vote on the election of directors during such time. On March 15, 2023, holders of our Class B common stock re-elected Jacob Doft, Brett Barth and Lloyd Dean to serve as Class I directors for a three-year term, or until the election and qualification of their respective successors in office, subject to their earlier death, resignation or removal. These provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation may only be amended if approved by holders of a majority of at least 90% of the outstanding shares of our common stock voting at a stockholder meeting. Approval of our initial business combination will require the affirmative vote of a majority of our board directors, which must include a majority of our independent directors. Subject to any other special rights applicable to the stockholders, prior to our initial business combination, any vacancies on our board of directors may be filled by the affirmative vote of a majority of the directors present and voting at the meeting of our board of directors that includes any directors representing our sponsor then on our board of directors, or by holders of a majority of the outstanding shares of our Class B common stock.
Our officers are appointed by the board of directors and serve at the discretion of the board of directors, rather than for specific terms of office. Our board of directors is authorized to appoint persons to the offices set forth in our bylaws as it deems appropriate. Our bylaws provide that our officers may consist of a Chairman of the Board, a Chief Executive Officer, a Chief Financial Officer, a Secretary and such other officers (including without limitation, a President, Vice Presidents, Assistant Secretaries, and a Treasurer) as our board of directors from time to time may determine.
Committees of the Board of Directors
Our board of directors has two standing committees: an audit committee and a compensation committee, both of which are composed solely of independent directors. Each committee operates under a charter that has been approved by our board of directors and has the composition and responsibilities described below. The charter of each committee is available to view at our website, www.goldenarrowspac.com, under the Governance Documents section.
Audit Committee
The members of our audit committee are Brett Barth, Lloyd Dean and Steven Klosk. Mr. Klosk serves as chair of the audit committee. Each member of the audit committee is financially literate and our board of directors has determined that Mr. Klosk qualifies as an “audit committee financial expert” as defined in applicable SEC rules and has accounting or related financial management expertise.
We have adopted an audit committee charter, which details the purpose and principal functions of the audit committee, including:
● assisting board oversight of (1) the integrity of our financial statements, (2) our compliance with legal and regulatory requirements, (3) our independent registered public accounting firm’s qualifications and independence, and (4) the performance of our internal audit function and independent registered public accounting firm;
● the appointment, compensation, retention, replacement, and oversight of the work of the independent registered public accounting firm and any other independent registered public accounting firm engaged by us;
● pre-approving all audit and non-audit services to be provided by the independent registered public accounting firm or any other registered public accounting firm engaged by us, and establishing pre-approval policies and procedures;
● reviewing and discussing with the independent registered public accounting firm all relationships the independent registered public accounting firm have with us in order to evaluate their continued independence;
● setting clear policies for audit partner rotation in compliance with applicable laws and regulations;
● obtaining and reviewing a report, at least annually, from the independent registered public accounting firm describing (1) the independent registered public accounting firm’s internal quality-control procedures and (2) any material issues raised by the most recent internal quality-control review, or peer review, of the independent registered public accounting firm, or by any inquiry or investigation by governmental or professional authorities, within the preceding five years respecting one or more independent audits carried out by the firm and any steps taken to deal with such issues;
● meeting to review and discuss our annual audited financial statements and quarterly financial statements with management and the independent registered public accounting firm, including reviewing our specific disclosures under “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations”;
● reviewing and approving any related party transaction required to be disclosed pursuant to Item 404 of Regulation S-K promulgated by the SEC prior to us entering into such transaction; and
● reviewing with management, the independent registered public accounting firm, and our legal advisors, as appropriate, any legal, regulatory or compliance matters, including any correspondence with regulators or government agencies and any employee complaints or published reports that raise material issues regarding our financial statements or accounting policies and any significant changes in accounting standards or rules promulgated by the Financial Accounting Standards Board, the SEC or other regulatory authorities.
Compensation Committee
The members of our compensation committee are Brett Barth, Lloyd Dean and Steven Klosk. Mr. Dean serves as chair of the compensation committee.
We have adopted a compensation committee charter, which details the purpose and responsibilities of the compensation committee, including:
● reviewing and approving on an annual basis the corporate goals and objectives relevant to our Chief Executive Officer’s compensation, evaluating our Chief Executive Officer’s performance in light of such goals and objectives and determining and approving the remuneration (if any) of our Chief Executive Officer based on such evaluation;
● reviewing and making recommendations to our board of directors with respect to the compensation, and any incentive-compensation and equity-based plans that are subject to board approval of all of our other officers;
● reviewing our executive compensation policies and plans;
● implementing and administering our incentive compensation equity-based remuneration plans;
● assisting management in complying with our proxy statement and annual report disclosure requirements;
● approving all special perquisites, special cash payments and other special compensation and benefit arrangements for our officers and employees;
● producing a report on executive compensation to be included in our annual proxy statement; and
● reviewing, evaluating and recommending changes, if appropriate, to the remuneration for directors.
The charter also provides that the compensation committee may, in its sole discretion, retain or obtain the advice of a compensation consultant, independent legal counsel or other adviser and will be directly responsible for the appointment, compensation and oversight of the work of any such adviser. However, before engaging or receiving advice from a compensation consultant, external legal counsel or any other adviser, the compensation committee will consider the independence of each such adviser, including the factors required by Nasdaq and the SEC.
Director Nominations
We do not have a standing nominating committee. In accordance with Rule 5605(e)(2) of the Nasdaq rules, a majority of the independent directors may recommend a director nominee for selection by the board of directors. The board of directors believes that the independent directors can satisfactorily carry out the responsibility of properly selecting or approving director nominees without the formation of a standing nominating committee. The directors who shall participate in the consideration and recommendation of director nominees are Brett Barth, Lloyd Dean, Steven Klosk and Jack Hidary. In accordance with Rule 5605(e)(1)(A) of the Nasdaq rules, all such directors are independent. As there is no standing nominating committee, we do not have a nominating committee charter in place.
The board of directors will also consider director candidates recommended for nomination by our stockholders during such times as they are seeking proposed nominees to stand for election at the next annual meeting of stockholders (or, if applicable, a special meeting of stockholders). Our stockholders that wish to nominate a director for election to the Board should follow the procedures set forth in our amended and restated memorandum and articles of association.
We have not formally established any specific, minimum qualifications that must be met or skills that are necessary for directors to possess. In general, in identifying and evaluating nominees for director, the board of directors considers educational background, diversity of professional experience, knowledge of our business, integrity, professional reputation, independence, wisdom, and the ability to represent the best interests of our stockholders.
Code of Ethics and Committee Charters
We have adopted a Code of Ethics (“Code of Ethics”) applicable to our directors, officers and employees. We have filed a copy of our Code of Ethics, our Audit Committee Charter and our Compensation Committee Charter as exhibits to our registration statement for our initial public offering. You may also review these documents by accessing our public filings at the SEC’s web site at www.sec.gov. We intend to disclose any amendments to or waivers of certain provisions of our Code of Ethics in a Current Report on Form 8-K. Copies of our Code of Ethics, our Audit Committee Charter and our Compensation Committee Charter are available on our corporate website, www.goldenarrowspac.com, under the Governance Documents section. The information contained on or accessible through our corporate website or any other website that we may maintain is not incorporated by reference into this report.

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ITEM 11. EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION
ITEM 11. EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION
Executive Officer and Director Compensation
None of our officers or directors have received any compensation for services rendered to us. Our sponsor, officers, directors and their respective affiliates are reimbursed for any out-of-pocket expenses incurred in connection with activities on our behalf such as identifying potential target businesses and performing due diligence on suitable business combinations. Our audit committee reviews on a quarterly basis all payments that were made by us to our sponsor, officers, directors or our or any of their respective affiliates.
After the completion of our initial business combination, directors or members of our management team who remain with us may be paid consulting, management or other compensation from the combined company. All compensation will be fully disclosed to stockholders, to the extent then known, in the tender offer materials or proxy solicitation materials furnished to our stockholders in connection with a proposed business combination. It is unlikely the amount of such compensation will be known at the time such materials are distributed, because the directors of the post-combination business will be responsible for determining executive officer and director compensation. Any compensation to be paid to our officers after the completion of our initial business combination will be determined by a compensation committee constituted solely by independent directors.
We are not party to any agreements with our officers and directors that provide for benefits upon termination of employment. The existence or terms of any such employment or consulting arrangements may influence our management’s motivation in identifying or selecting a target business, and we do not believe that the ability of our management to remain with us after the consummation of our initial business combination should be a determining factor in our decision to proceed with any potential business combination.

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ITEM 12. SECURITY OWNERSHIP OF CERTAIN BENEFICIAL OWNERS
ITEM 12. SECURITY OWNERSHIP OF CERTAIN BENEFICIAL OWNERS AND MANAGEMENT AND RELATED STOCKHOLDER MATTERS
The following table sets forth information regarding the beneficial ownership of our shares of common stock as of March 15, 2024 based on information obtained from the persons named below, with respect to the beneficial ownership of shares of our common stock by:
● each person known by us to be the beneficial owner of more than 5% of the outstanding shares of common stock;
● each of our executive officers and directors that beneficially owns shares of common stock; and
● all our executive officers and directors as a group.
Unless otherwise indicated, we believe that all persons named in the table have sole voting and investment power with respect to all shares of common stock beneficially owned by them.
Name and Address of Beneficial Owner(1) Number
of Shares of Class A Common Stock
Beneficially
Owned(2) Number
Shares of Class B Common Stock
Beneficially
Owned(2) Approximate
Percentage of
Outstanding
Common
Stock(3)
Golden Arrow Sponsor, LLC(4) 7,047,500 - 90.8 %
Timothy Babich(4) 7,047,500 - 90.8 %
Jacob Doft(4) 7,047,500
90.8 %
Lance Hirt(4) 7,047,500 - 90.8 %
Andrew Rechtschaffen(4) 7,047,500 - 90.8 %
Brett Barth - 35,000 *
Lloyd Dean - 35,000 *
Jack Hidary - 35,000 *
Steven Klosk - 35,000 *
All executive officers and directors as a group (8 individuals) 7,047,500 140,000 92.6 %
* Less than one percent.
(1) Unless otherwise noted, the business address of each of the following entities or individuals is c/o Golden Arrow Merger Corp., 10 E. 53rd Street, 13th Floor, New York, NY 10022.
(2) Interests shown consist solely of founder shares. On March 16, 2023, our sponsor voluntarily converted the 7,047,500 shares of Class B common stock it held into 7,047,500 shares of Class A common stock in accordance with our charter. The remaining shares of Class B common stock will automatically convert into shares of Class A common stock at the time of our initial business combination, or earlier at the option of the holder, on a one-for-one basis, subject to adjustment.
(3) Based on 7,765,437 shares of common stock outstanding at March 15, 2024, of which 7,625,437 were Class A common stock and 140,000 were Class B common stock.
(4) Golden Arrow Sponsor, LLC, our sponsor, is the record holder of the shares of Class A common stock reported herein. According to a Schedule 13G filed on February 14, 2022, our sponsor is controlled by Messrs. Babich, Doft, Hirt and Rechtschaffen. Accordingly, Messrs. Babich, Doft, Hirt and Rechtschaffen share voting and dispositive power over the shares of Class A common stock held by our sponsor and may be deemed to beneficially own such shares.

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ITEM 13. CERTAIN RELATIONSHIPS AND RELATED TRANSACTIONS
ITEM 13. CERTAIN RELATIONSHIPS AND RELATED TRANSACTIONS, AND DIRECTOR INDEPENDENCE
Certain Relationships and Related Transactions
In January 2021, our sponsor purchased 7,187,500 founder shares for a capital contribution of $25,000. In February 2021, our sponsor transferred 35,000 founder shares to each of our directors. The number of founder shares issued was determined based on the expectation that the founder shares would represent 20% of the outstanding shares of common stock upon completion of this offering. Up to 937,500 founder shares were subject to forfeiture by our initial stockholders depending on the extent to which the underwriters’ over-allotment option was exercised. The over-allotment option was exercised in full on May 6, 2021; thus, these shares are no longer subject to forfeiture.
As a result of redemptions in connection with the Extensions, as of the date of this Annual Report, the founder shares represent approximately 92.6% of our outstanding shares of common stock.
Simultaneous with the closing of our initial public offering, our sponsor purchased 4,500,000 private placement warrants for a purchase price of $1.50 per warrant in a private placement, generating total proceeds of $6,750,000.
On May 6, 2021, the underwriters exercised their over-allotment option in full and we consummated the sale of an additional 500,000 private placement warrants to our sponsor at $1.50 per private placement warrant, generating gross proceeds of $750,000.
Our sponsor, officers and directors or any of their respective affiliates are reimbursed for any out-of-pocket expenses incurred in connection with activities on our behalf such as identifying potential target businesses and performing due diligence on suitable business combinations. Our audit committee reviews on a quarterly basis all payments that were made by us to our sponsor, officers, directors or our or any of their respective affiliates and determine which expenses and the amount of expenses that will be reimbursed. There is no cap or ceiling on the reimbursement of out-of-pocket expenses incurred by such persons in connection with activities on our behalf.
On January 8, 2021, our sponsor agreed to loan us up to $200,000 to be used for a portion of the expenses of our initial public offering, pursuant to a promissory note issued by us to the sponsor. These loans were non-interest bearing, unsecured and were originally due at the earlier of June 30, 2021 and the closing of our initial public offering. On March 18, 2022, we amended and restated the promissory note originally issued to our sponsor on January 8, 2021, to extend the due date of amounts outstanding under the promissory note to the earlier of December 31, 2022 and the date of consummation of our initial business combination. As of December 31, 2022 and 2021, there was $0 and $141,367 outstanding under the promissory note, respectively.
On February 25, 2022 and August 26, 2022, we issued the 2022 Convertible Promissory Notes to our sponsor pursuant to which we may borrow up to an aggregate principal amount of $500,000 and $400,000, respectively. The 2022 Convertible Promissory Notes are non-interest bearing, unsecured and payable upon consummation of our initial business combination. At our sponsor’s discretion, the 2022 Convertible Promissory Notes may be converted into warrants of the post-business combination entity at a price of $1.50 per warrant. The warrants would be identical to the private placement warrants. As of December 31, 2023, there was a $900,000 balance outstanding under the 2022 Convertible Promissory Notes.
On March 8, 2023, we issued the 2023 Convertible Promissory Note to our sponsor pursuant to which we may borrow up to an aggregate principal amount of $750,000. The 2023 Convertible Promissory Note is non-interest bearing and payable upon the consummation of a business combination. At the sponsor’s discretion, the 2023 Convertible Promissory Note may be converted into warrants of the post-business combination entity at a price of $1.50 per warrant, provided that the aggregate of such warrants together with any warrants issued upon conversions pursuant to the 2022 Convertible Promissory Notes do not exceed 1,000,000 warrants. The warrants would be identical to the private placement warrants.
In connection with the First Extension, on March 17, 2023, we issued the First Extension Note to our Sponsor, in the aggregate amount of $567,130. In connection with the Second Extension, on December 12, 2023, we issued the Second Extension Note to our Sponsor, in the aggregate amount of $104,029. The Extension Notes bear no interest and the respective principal balances are payable on the date of the consummation of our initial business combination. The Extension Notes are not convertible into Private Placement Warrants and the respective principal balances may be prepaid at any time.
In order to fund working capital deficiencies or finance transaction costs in connection with an intended initial business combination, our sponsor, an affiliate of our sponsor or our officers and directors may, but are not obligated to, loan us additional funds as may be required. If we complete our initial business combination, we may repay such loaned amounts out of the proceeds of the trust account released to us. In the event that our initial business combination does not close, we may use a portion of the working capital held outside the trust account to repay such loaned amounts but no proceeds from our trust account would be used for such repayment. Up to $1,500,000 of such loans (including the Convertible Promissory Notes) may be convertible into warrants at a price of $1.50 per warrant at the option of the lender. The warrants would be identical to the private placement warrants. Prior to the completion of our business combination, we do not expect to seek loans from parties other than our sponsor, an affiliate of our sponsor or our officers and directors, if any, as we do not believe third parties will be willing to loan such funds and provide a waiver against any and all rights to seek access to funds in our trust account.
After our initial business combination, members of our management team who remain with us, if any, may be paid consulting, management or other fees from the combined company with any and all amounts being fully disclosed to our stockholders, to the extent then known, in the tender offer or proxy solicitation materials, as applicable, furnished to our stockholders. It is unlikely the amount of such compensation will be known at the time of distribution of such tender offer materials or at the time of a stockholder meeting held to consider our initial business combination, as applicable, as it will be up to the directors of the post-combination business to determine executive officer and director compensation.
In connection with our initial public offering, we entered into a registration rights agreement with the sponsor, and our directors and officers, with respect to the founder shares, private placement warrants and warrants that may be issued upon conversion of working capital loans and the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the foregoing and upon conversion of the founder shares (the “Legacy Registration Rights Agreement”).
In connection with the Business Combination, we have entered into a registration rights agreement with the Sponsor, and our directors and officers, with respect to the founder shares, Private Placement Warrants and warrants that may be issued upon conversion of working capital loans and the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the foregoing and upon conversion of the founder shares. The Business Combination Agreement contemplates that, prior to or concurrently with the Closing, the Post-Combination Company, certain stockholders of Bolt Threads, independent directors of the Company and Sponsor will enter into the Registration Rights and Lock-up Agreement, pursuant to which the Post-Combination Company will agree to register for resale, pursuant to Rule 415 under the Securities Act, certain shares of Post-Combination Company Common Stock and other equity securities of the Post-Combination Company that are held by the parties thereto from time to time, subject to the restrictions on transfer therein. The stockholders who are party to the Registration Rights and Lock-up Agreement will also have customary demand and piggyback registration rights for so long as their securities of the Post-Combination Company constitute “registrable securities” for purposes of the agreement. The Post-Combination Company will bear the expenses incurred in connection with the filing of any such registration statements and any offering conducted pursuant to the terms of the Registration Rights and Lock-up Agreement, except that the stockholders will pay their own brokerage and underwriting commissions.
Additionally, pursuant to the Registration Rights and Lock-up Agreement, certain Bolt Threads stockholders and the Sponsor will be subject to certain restrictions on transfer with respect to the shares of Post-Combination Company Common Stock issued as part of the transaction consideration and certain shares of Post-Combination Company Common Stock held by the Sponsor and certain stockholders of the Company (the “Lock-Up Shares”). Such restrictions begin at Closing and end on the date that is 180 days after the Closing, subject to certain exceptions, including that the Sponsor will be permitted to sell up to $2,875,000 of Post-Combination Company Common Stock during such period to cover any excise tax liability of the Company for 2023 under Section 4501 of the Internal Revenue Code arising from redemptions of shares of Class A Common Stock by our stockholders.
The Registration Rights and Lock-up Agreement will result in the termination of the Legacy Registration Rights Agreement.
In connection with the Business Combination, on October 4, 2023, the Sponsor entered into a Subscription Agreement, as amended on February 28, 2024, whereby the Sponsor agreed to purchase 656,499 shares of Class A Common Stock at a purchase price of $10.00 per share for an aggregate purchase price of $6,564,990. However, the number of subscribed shares to be purchased thereunder by the Sponsor will be reduced by the number of shares of Class A Common Stock that have not been elected for redemption as of the expiration of the redemption period related to the Closing and that are held by certain individuals mutually agreed upon by the Company and Bolt Threads at any time from the date of the execution of the agreement up to immediately prior to the expiration of such redemption period.
Related Party Policy
We have not yet adopted a formal policy for the review, approval or ratification of related party transactions. Accordingly, the transactions discussed above were not reviewed, approved or ratified in accordance with any such policy.
Our Code of Ethics requires us to avoid, wherever possible, all conflicts of interests, except under guidelines or resolutions approved by our board of directors (or the appropriate committee of our board) or as disclosed in our public filings with the SEC. Under our Code of Ethics, conflict of interest situations will include any financial transaction, arrangement or relationship (including any indebtedness or guarantee of indebtedness) involving the Company. We filed our Code of Ethics as an exhibit to the registration statement for our initial public offering.
Our audit committee, pursuant to its written charter, is responsible for reviewing and approving related party transactions to the extent we enter into such transactions. An affirmative vote of a majority of the members of the audit committee present at a meeting at which a quorum is present is required in order to approve a related party transaction. A majority of the members of the entire audit committee constitutes a quorum. Without a meeting, the unanimous written consent of all of the members of the audit committee is required to approve a related party transaction. We also require each of our directors and executive officers to complete a directors’ and officers’ questionnaire that elicits information about related party transactions.
These procedures are intended to determine whether any such related party transaction impairs the independence of a director or presents a conflict of interest on the part of a director, employee or officer.
To further minimize conflicts of interest, we have agreed not to consummate an initial business combination with an entity that is affiliated with any of our sponsor, officers or directors unless we, or a committee of independent and disinterested directors, have obtained an opinion from an independent investment banking firm that is a member of FINRA or from an independent accounting firm that our initial business combination is fair to our company from a financial point of view. Furthermore, no finder’s fees, reimbursements or cash payments will be made by us to our sponsor, officers or directors, or our or their affiliates, for services rendered to us prior to or in connection with the completion of our initial business combination, other than the following payments, none of which will be made from the proceeds of our initial public offering held in the trust account prior to the completion of our initial business combination:
● repayment of an aggregate of up to $200,000 in loans made to us by our sponsor to cover offering-related and organizational expenses;
● reimbursement for any out-of-pocket expenses related to identifying, investigating and completing an initial business combination; and
● repayment of loans which may be made by our sponsor, an affiliate of our sponsor or our officers and directors to finance transaction costs in connection with an intended initial business combination, the terms of which have not been determined nor have any written agreements been executed with respect thereto. Up to $1,500,000 of such loans may be convertible into warrants at a price of $1.50 per warrant at the option of the lender.
Director Independence
Nasdaq rules require that a majority of our board of directors be independent within one year of our initial public offering. An “independent director” is defined generally as a person other than an officer or employee of the company or its subsidiaries or any other individual having a relationship which, in the opinion of the company’s board of directors, would interfere with the director’s exercise of independent judgment in carrying out the responsibilities of a director. We have three “independent directors” as defined in the Nasdaq rules and applicable SEC rules prior to completion of this offering. Our board of directors has determined that each of Brett Barth, Lloyd Dean, Jack Hidary and Steven Klosk is an independent director under applicable SEC and Nasdaq rules. Our independent directors will have regularly scheduled meetings at which only independent directors are present.

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ITEM 14. PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTING FEES AND SERVICES
Item 14. Principal Accountant Fees and Services.
The firm of WithumSmith+Brown, PC, or Withum, acts as our independent registered public accounting firm. The following is a summary of fees paid to Withum for services rendered.
Audit Fees. For the year ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, fees for our independent registered public accounting firm were approximately $107,900 and $138,720, respectively, for the services Withum performed in connection with our Initial Public Offering and the audit of our December 31, 2023 and 2022 financial statements included in this Annual Report.
Audit-Related Fees. For the year ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, our independent registered public accounting firm did not render assurance and related services related to the performance of the audit or review of financial statements.
Tax Fees. For the year ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, tax fees were approximately $13,000 and $9,360, respectively, for services Withum provided to us for tax compliance, tax advice and tax planning.
All Other Fees. For the year ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, there were no fees billed for products and services provided by our independent registered public accounting firm other than those set forth above.
Pre-Approval Policy
Our audit committee was formed upon the consummation of our Initial Public Offering. As a result, the audit committee did not pre-approve all of the foregoing services, although any services rendered prior to the formation of our audit committee were approved by our board of directors. Since the formation of our audit committee, and on a going-forward basis, the audit committee has and will pre-approve all auditing services and permitted non-audit services to be performed for us by our auditors, including the fees and terms thereof (subject to the de minimis exceptions for non-audit services described in the Exchange Act which are approved by the audit committee prior to the completion of the audit).

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ITEM 15. EXHIBITS, FINANCIAL STATEMENT SCHEDULES
Item 15. Exhibits, Financial Statement Schedules
(a) The following documents are filed as part of this Form 10-K:
(1) Financial Statements:
Page
Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm PCAOB ID Number 100
Consolidated Balance Sheets
Consolidated Statements of Operations
Consolidated Statements of Changes in Stockholders’ Deficit
Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements
(2) Financial Statement Schedules:
None.
(3) Exhibits
We hereby file as part of this Report the exhibits listed in the attached Exhibit Index. Exhibits which are incorporated herein by reference can be inspected and copied at the public reference facilities maintained by the SEC, 100 F Street, N.E., Room 1580, Washington, D.C. 20549. Copies of such material can also be obtained from the Public Reference Section of the SEC, 100 F Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20549, at prescribed rates or on the SEC website at www.sec.gov.
Exhibit No.
Description
2.1(1)
Business Combination Agreement, dated as of October 4, 2023, by and among Golden Arrow Merger Corp., Beam Merger Sub, Inc. and Bolt Threads, Inc.
3.1(2)
Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation.
3.2(3)
Certificate of Amendment to the Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation of Golden Arrow Merger Corp., dated March 15, 2023.
3.3(4)
Certificate of Amendment to the Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation of Golden Arrow Merger Corp., dated December 12, 2023.
3.4(5)
Bylaws.
4.1(6)
Specimen Unit Certificate.
4.2(6)
Specimen Class A Common Stock Certificate.
4.3(6)
Specimen Warrant Certificate.
4.4(2)
Warrant Agreement, dated March 16, 2021, between the Registrant and Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company.
4.5(7)
Description of Securities of the Registrant.
10.1(5)
Promissory Note, dated January 8, 2021, issued to Golden Arrow Sponsor, LLC.
10.2(5)
Subscription Agreement, dated January 8, 2021, between the Registrant and Golden Arrow Sponsor, LLC.
10.3(2)
Letter Agreement, dated March 16, 2021, among the Registrant, Golden Arrow Sponsor, LLC and each of the executive officers and directors of the Registrant.
10.4(2)
Investment Management Trust Agreement, dated March 16, 2021, between the Registrant and Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company.
10.5(3)
Amendment to the Investment Management Trust Agreement, dated March 15, 2023, by and between the Registrant and Continental Stock Transfer & Trust Company.
10.6(2)
Registration Rights Agreement, dated March 16, 2021, among the Registrant, Golden Arrow Sponsor, LLC and each of the executive officers and directors of the Registrant.
10.7(2)
Private Placement Warrants Purchase Agreement, dated March 16, 2021, between the Registrant and Golden Arrow Sponsor, LLC.
10.8(2)
Form of Indemnity Agreement.
10.9(7)
Amended and Restated Promissory Note, dated March 18, 2022, issued to Golden Arrow Sponsor, LLC.
10.10(7)
Promissory Note, dated February 25, 2022, issued to Golden Arrow Sponsor, LLC.
10.11(8)
Promissory Note, dated August 26, 2022, issued by Golden Arrow Merger Corp. to Golden Arrow Sponsor LLC.
10.12(9)
Promissory Note, dated March 8, 2023, issued by Golden Arrow Merger Corp. to Golden Arrow Sponsor LLC.
10.13(3)
Promissory Note, dated March 17, 2023, issued by Golden Arrow Merger Corp. to Golden Arrow Sponsor LLC.
10.14(4)
Promissory Note, dated December 18, 2023, issued by Golden Arrow Merger Corp. to Golden Arrow Sponsor LLC.
10.15(1)
Form of Amended and Restated Registration Rights and Lock-Up Agreement.
10.16(1)
Form of PIPE Subscription Agreement.
10.17*
Form of Amendment to PIPE Subscription Agreement.
10.18(1)
Sponsor Support Agreement, dated as of October 4, 2023, by and among Golden Arrow Sponsor, LLC, Golden Arrow Merger Corp. and Bolt Threads, Inc.
10.19(1)
Stockholder Support Agreement, dated as of October 4, 2023, by and among Golden Arrow Merger Corp., Bolt Threads, Inc. and certain other stockholder parties thereto.
10.20*
Letter Agreement/Amendment to Underwriting Agreement, dated as of February 2, 2024, by and among Golden Arrow Merger Corp., Bolt Threads, Inc. and BTIG LLC.
31.1*
Certification of Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer required by Rule 13a-14(a) or Rule 15d-14(a).
32.1**
Certification of Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer required by Rule 13a-14(b) or Rule 15d-14(b) and 18 U.S.C. 1350.
97*
Golden Arrow Merger Corp. Policy for Recovery of Erroneously Awarded Compensation.
101.INS*
Inline XBRL Instance Document.
101.SCH*
Inline XBRL Taxonomy Extension Schema.
101.CAL*
Inline XBRL Taxonomy Calculation Linkbase.
101.LAB*
Inline XBRL Taxonomy Label Document.
101.DEF*
Inline XBRL Definition Linkbase Document.
101.PRE*
Inline XBRL Definition Linkbase Document.
104*
Cover Page Interactive Data File (formatted as Inline XBRL and contained in Exhibit 101).
* Filed herewith.
** Furnished herewith.
(1) Incorporated by reference to an exhibit to the Registrant’s Current Report on Form 8-K (File No. 001-40223), filed with the SEC on October 4, 2023.
(2) Incorporated by reference to an exhibit to the Registrant’s Current Report on Form 8-K (File No. 001-40223), filed with the SEC on March 22, 2021.
(3) Incorporated by reference to an exhibit to the Registrant’s Current Report on Form 8-K (File No. 001-40223), filed with the SEC on March 22, 2023.
(4) Incorporated by reference to an exhibit to the Registrant’s Current Report on Form 8-K (File No. 001-40223), filed with the SEC on December 18, 2023.
(5) Incorporated by reference to an exhibit to the Registrant’s Registration Statement on Form S-1 (File No. 333-253465), filed with the SEC on February 24, 2021.
(6) Incorporated by reference to an exhibit to the Registrant’s Registration Statement on Form S-1, as amended (File No. 001-253465), filed with the SEC on March 5, 2021.
(7) Incorporated by reference to an exhibit to the Registrant’s Annual Report on Form 10-K (File No. 001-40223), filed with the SEC on March 31, 2022.
(8) Incorporated by reference to an exhibit to the Registrant’s Current Report on Form 8-K (File No. 001-40223), filed with the SEC on September 1, 2022.
(9) Incorporated by reference to an exhibit to the Registrant’s Current Report on Form 8-K (File No. 001-40223), filed with the SEC on March 10, 2023.