EDGAR 10-K Filing

Company CIK: 1837067
Filing Year: 2022
Filename: 1837067_10-K_2022_0001193125-22-090030.json

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ITEM 1. BUSINESS
Item 1.
Business.
Our Company
We are an early stage blank check company incorporated 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 report as our initial business combination. We have not selected any specific business combination target.
While we may pursue an acquisition opportunity in any business, industry, sector or geographical location, our search is focused on the cybersecurity, safety, security and privacy, or CSSP, sector, which complements the expertise of our management team.
Business Strategy
Dave DeWalt, Mark Garrett, Ken Gonzalez, Morgan Kyauk, Steve Simonian, Kara Wilson and Barbara Massa are referred to as the NightDragon Team throughout this report. The NightDragon Team’s business strategy is to identify, evaluate and complete an initial business combination with a company in the CSSP industry that has proven products that are solving a large pain point for organizations and can benefit from the power of the NightDragon Team to take it to the next level. We intend to acquire a company that has sufficient scale to be a successful public company which can benefit from our knowledge of, and access to, capital markets to further invest in organic and inorganic growth initiatives, as well as benefit from partnering with a team that has a deep bench of operating and deal making experience, as well as strong trusted relationships in the industry.
Focus on a Large Addressable Market
The NightDragon Team is focused on the large, rapidly growing CSSP market, which consists of the information technology, or IT, security and counterspace security markets. We estimate the total CSSP market to be $131 billion in 2020, growing to $183 billion in 2024, at a 9% compound annual growth rate. This is in comparison to the broader information and Communications Technology market’s 2020-2024 compound annual growth rate of 3.5%, according to IDC. The IT security market is estimated by IDC to reach $175 billion by 2024. The global counterspace security market is estimated by BIS Research to reach $8 billion by 2024. According to PitchBook Data, as of January 2021, cybersecurity alone has more than 70 private companies that have received at least four venture financing rounds. This market has experienced significant growth driven by a confluence of factors, including rapid technological innovation and adoption driving expansion of attack surface, rise of financially and ideologically motivated adversaries, widely available markets for attacker tools, geopolitical tensions, lack of innovation from existing vendors, increasing regulation, a dramatic shortage in security-related talent and the impact of COVID-19.
A “perfect security storm” of factors is driving the continued growth of the massive $131 billion CSSP market, and includes:
•
Rapid Technological Innovation and Adoption Drives Expansion of Attack Surface:
Significant re-platforming
of consumer and enterprise technologies such as cloud computing, digital identities, mobile devices, blockchain, artificial intelligence, social networks, satellites, digitalization of supply chains, IoT devices and drones have fundamentally changed the way we live, work and play. This rapid technological innovation exponentially expands the attack surface for adversaries to capitalize on, resulting in the need for new, innovative CSSP products and solutions.
•
Rise of Financially and Ideologically Motivated Adversaries:
Outside of nation states, the attacker landscape has evolved significantly since the early 2000s, when viruses were largely nuisances and created for show and notoriety. More adversaries armed with greater resources have contributed to an increasingly sophisticated and disruptive attack landscape, including the rise of ransomware. According to the 2020 CrowdStrike Global Security Attitude Survey, 56% of respondents’ organizations have suffered a ransomware attack in the last 12 months, with an average amount of $1.1 million being paid to attackers by those organizations forced to make such payment. Furthermore, anonymity on the internet, cryptocurrency, smart contracts and blockchain-based applications have contributed to automated at-scale
attacks and emboldened threat actors to step up hacktivism, cybercrime, espionage, terrorism and cyber warfare.
•
Widely Available Markets for Attacker Tools:
The rise of the “sharing” economy has been accompanied by the rise of sharing, and collaboration between financially, ideologically and nation-state driven attackers. With anonymization and use of cryptocurrencies on the rise, vulnerabilities and exploit kits are now easily accessible on the internet with the dark web, providing a low-cost
and efficient way for attackers to achieve their goals.
•
Geopolitical Tensions:
Nation states have been cyber adversaries since the earliest days of the internet. Countries such as China, Russia, North Korea and Iran, to name a few, have become hotbeds of attacker innovation and rapidly increasing capabilities. With geopolitical tensions on the rise and a lack of internet governance or viable law enforcement models, there is little reason to believe similar attacks will not continue.
•
Lack of Innovation from Existing Vendors:
A recent Mandiant study found that existing security tools missed 53% of attacks against enterprises. The inability of the legacy security providers to detect and prevent attacks has also contributed to the growth of the CSSP market. Their lack of innovation has driven aggressive procurement of newer best-of-breed
solutions principally coming from younger, emerging companies.
•
Increasing Regulation:
With the General Data Protection Regulation now in effect in the European Union, or E.U., and anticipated new regulations in the United States, organizations are increasing their focus on cybersecurity and must ensure that they have the resources available to be in compliance with novel pieces of legislation.
•
Massive Skills Shortage:
The 2020 ISC2 Cybersecurity Workforce Study estimates that there was a shortage of 3.1 million individuals to meet the cybersecurity workforce demand globally in 2020, leaving government and commercial organizations unprepared for the cyberattacks they face. This growing shortage has driven CSSP spending as organizations seek automated solutions to reduce workforce staffing dependencies.
•
COVID-19:
The COVID-19
pandemic has caused institutions to fundamentally re-evaluate
their organizational processes and business models, leading to a massive increase in remote work and use of distributed technology applications and systems. These changes have caused a corresponding increase in the vulnerability of employees accessing mission critical applications, essential IT systems and sensitive data from unprotected locations. The changing nature of work driven by the pandemic is shaping new architectures and new priorities in spend, creating opportunities for CSSP companies to satisfy the demand for new security products and solutions.
The ramifications of the “perfect security storm” of factors are evidenced in the latest seminal and ongoing cybersecurity hacking campaign described below.
•
Recent Seminal Event:
On December 16, 2020, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, or FBI, the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, or CISA, and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, or ODNI, issued a joint statement confirming that they have become aware of a significant and ongoing cybersecurity hacking campaign. CISA is tracking this cyber incident which has impacted enterprise networks across federal, state and local governments, as well as critical infrastructure entities and other private sector organizations. CISA noted that an advanced persistent threat actor is responsible for compromising SolarWinds Orion software supply chain, as well as widespread abuse of commonly used authentication mechanisms. CISA has highlighted that this threat actor has the resources, patience and expertise to gain access to and privileges over highly sensitive information if left unchecked. As a result, CISA is urging organizations to prioritize measures to identify and address this threat.
This recent and significant seminal event illuminates how the security landscape continues to evolve and become more dangerous. Rapid technological innovation has expanded the attack surface exponentially in both the digital and the physical domain, including ground-based information technology, or IT, and operational technology, or OT, networks as well as in air drones and satellite-based platforms. We believe a large unmet need exists to secure this rapidly evolving technology footprint.
Our sector focus on CSSP encompasses technologies that protect and defend the following growing technology areas:
•
Cloud:
Growing use of cloud computing has fueled demand for securing cloud infrastructure and cloud-delivered applications.
•
Identity
and
Endpoint
:
With staff working remotely, corporate applications are being accessed from laptops and other mobile devices outside of the traditional enterprise perimeter. As a result, identity and endpoint-based security are replacing perimeter-based security strategies.
•
Social and Digital:
Enterprises increasingly utilize social media channels and web properties that can be spoofed or compromised.
•
Consumer Privacy:
According to a 2020 KPMG Survey, 87% of consumers say data privacy is a human right, and 91% say that companies should be held responsible for corporate data breaches. Massive data breaches continue to leave consumers vulnerable.
•
Cryptocurrency and Blockchain:
As cryptocurrency and blockchain technologies continue to become more mainstream, securing enterprise blockchain ecosystems and auditing smart contracts will become more important as institutions incorporate these technologies into critical business applications.
•
Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning:
New and unknown risks are inherent in our growing dependence on AI and machine learning technologies to make business decisions.
•
Industrial and IoT:
Critical infrastructure, including energy, power and transportation, typically runs on legacy technology built for reliability and uptime, with little concern for cybersecurity. Exponential growth of internet-connected industrial sensors and devices has further exacerbated inherent vulnerabilities, thus driving the need for new ways to protect these environments.
•
Supply Chain:
Increasing digital connectivity with
third-party vendors in the supply chain continues to represent significant vulnerability outside of the control of enterprise organizations that can be leveraged by attackers.
•
Insider Threats:
Insider threats continue to represent an insidious and difficult-to-detect
attack vector even as the potential for reputational and economic damage increases as digital transformation takes hold.
•
Drones:
Drones are more prevalent in today’s society driven by innovative uses like home delivery, unmanned inspection of sites and equipment, and hobbies for drone enthusiasts. Equipped with cameras, GPS and USB ports, drones are increasingly incorporating more advanced features and are beginning to be used by adversaries-representing not only a significant cyber threat, but a physical one as well.
•
Satellite:
Space satellites are increasingly utilized by government and commercial organizations for mission-critical and business applications, including as a new means of communications and internet access. As the internet moves to space, a new attack vector will follow.
Collective Operating Expertise
Our team has over 150 years of cumulative experience building and operating iconic cybersecurity and software companies in private and public markets and has a deep understanding of operations, finance, mergers and acquisitions and talent acquisition. Our team has worked together at different points in time during our tenure at market-leading public companies including Cadence, Documentum, DellEMC, FireEye and McAfee. Based on our collective operating experience and proven track record, we believe we are uniquely positioned to take advantage of the confluence of factors driving market growth and rapid technological innovation to support and advise the CSSP company with which we partner in becoming a next-generation market-leading public company.
Business Combination Criteria
Consistent with our business strategy, we have identified the following general criteria and guidelines that we believe are important in evaluating prospective target businesses. While we may decide to enter into a business combination with a target business that does not meet these criteria and guidelines, we are seeking an initial business combination with a target business:
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where we can materially impact the value and growth of the company in partnership with management;
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where we can leverage networks of founders, operators, investors and advisors;
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where we have a differentiated view on the ability of the target to create value as a public company;
•
where we can address a large market capitalizing on trends within the CSSP industry;
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that can serve as a platform for consolidation and growth;
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with a defensible market position and demonstrated advantages when compared to its competitors, and which creates barriers to entry against new competitors;
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which is at an inflection point (such as requiring additional management expertise) or that is able to innovate through new operational techniques;
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that is a fundamentally sound company and can leverage our expertise and relationships to achieve its full potential;
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which may be undergoing a transition to subscription or SaaS models;
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which is exhibiting unrecognized value or other characteristics, desirable returns on capital, and a need for capital to achieve the company’s growth strategy that we believe has been misevaluated by the marketplace based on our analysis and due diligence review;
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that would offer an attractive risk-adjusted return for our stockholders, potential upside from growth in the target business and an improved capital structure that would be weighed against any identified downside risks; and
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that could benefit from being a publicly traded company, could rapidly ramp its readiness to be a public company, and could utilize access to broader capital markets.
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 may deem relevant. If we decide to enter into our initial business combination with a target business that does not meet the above criteria, and guidelines, we would disclose that the target business does not meet the above criteria and guidelines in our stockholder communications related to our initial business combination, which, as discussed in this report, would be in the form of proxy solicitation materials or tender offer documents that we would file with the SEC.
In addition to any potential business candidates we may identify on our own, we anticipate that other target business candidates would be brought to our attention from various unaffiliated sources, including investment market participants, private equity funds, and large business enterprises seeking to divest non-core
assets or divisions.
Our Acquisition Process
In evaluating prospective business combinations, we have conducted and will continue to conduct a thorough due diligence review process that encompasses, among other things, a review of historical and projected financial and operating data, meetings with management and their advisors (if applicable), inspection of facilities and assets, discussion with customers and suppliers, legal reviews and other reviews as we deem appropriate. We have utilized and will continue to utilize the expertise of our management team and advisors in analyzing companies in the CSSP industry and evaluating financial and operating projections and determining the appropriate return expectations given the risk profile of the target business.
We are not prohibited from pursuing an initial business combination with a company that is affiliated with our sponsor, officers or directors. Our initial business combination will be approved by a majority of independent and disinterested directors, and, in the event we seek to complete our initial business combination with a company that is affiliated with our sponsor or any of our officers or directors, we, or a committee of our independent directors, will obtain an opinion that our initial business combination is fair to us from a financial point of view from an independent investment banking firm. We may take other appropriate steps consistent with Delaware law to address any potential conflicts of interest.
Our sponsor, our directors and members of our management team may directly or indirectly own shares of our Class A common stock, Class B common stock, warrants to purchase our Class A common stock or other equity-linked securities, and, accordingly, 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 officer or director is made a condition to any agreement with respect to our initial business combination.
Each of our officers and directors presently has, and any of them in the future may have, additional fiduciary or contractual obligations to other entities pursuant to which such officer or director is or will be required to present a business combination opportunity. Accordingly, if any of our officers or directors becomes aware of a business combination opportunity which is suitable for an entity to which he or she has then-current fiduciary or contractual obligations to present the opportunity to such entity, he or she would honor his or her fiduciary or contractual obligations to present such opportunity to such entity. We do not believe, however, that the fiduciary duties or contractual obligations of our officers or directors will materially affect our ability to complete our initial business combination. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation will provide that we renounce our interest in any corporate opportunity offered to any director or officer unless such opportunity is expressly offered to such person solely in his or her capacity as a director or officer of our company and such opportunity is one we are legally and contractually permitted to undertake and would otherwise be reasonable for us to pursue, and to the extent the director or officer is permitted to refer that opportunity to us without violating another legal obligation.
Our officers, directors and any of their respective affiliates may sponsor or form, or, in the case of individuals, serve as a director or officer of, other blank check companies similar to ours during the period in which we are seeking an initial business combination. Any such company may present additional conflicts of interest in pursuing an acquisition target. However, we do not believe that any such potential conflict would materially affect our ability to complete our initial business combination. Our sponsor, directors, officers, and advisors have agreed not to participate in the formation of, or become an officer or director of, any other special purpose acquisition company with a class of securities registered under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, or the Exchange Act, until we have entered into a definitive agreement regarding our initial business combination or we have failed to complete our initial business combination within 24 months after the closing of our initial public offering, or 27 months from the closing of our initial public offering if we have executed a letter of intent, agreement in principle or definitive agreement for an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering.
Key Members of Management and Board
Management Team
Dave DeWalt
Dave DeWalt is a veteran CEO, board member, advisor and investor who has led numerous software and cybersecurity companies, from startups to the Fortune 500, on transformational journeys of success. As President, and CEO of three major public companies, more than $6 billion of stockholder value was created during his tenure. Another $14 billion of stockholder value was created during his service as a member of the boards of successful enterprise software companies such as Forescout, Mandiant, Five9, Jive Software, Polycom, MatrixOne and Serena.
Today, Dave is the Founder and Managing Director of NightDragon, a venture capital firm investing in innovative growth and late stage companies within the CSSP industry. He is also the Executive Chairman of Momentum Cyber, a cybersecurity advisory and investment bank, and Managing Director of Allegis Cyber, an early-stage venture capital firm focused on cybersecurity investments.
Dave has been a CEO for 17 years, most recently as FireEye’s CEO from November 2012 to June 2016, and Chairman of the Board from May 2012 to February 2017, a period in which the company’s revenues grew more than 10 times. Prior to FireEye, he served as President and CEO of McAfee, Inc. from March 2006 until its acquisition by Intel for $7.7 billion closed in 2011. At the time, this was the largest all cash deal in high technology history. Prior to McAfee, from 2003 to 2007, Dave held executive positions with EMC Corporation, a provider of information infrastructure technology and solutions, including serving as EVP and President of Customer Operations and Content Management Software. He joined EMC through the Documentum acquisition in 2003, where he served as President and Chief Executive Officer, and led the company through nine consecutive quarters of growth, five record revenue quarters and four acquisitions.
Dave also held various executive positions at Quest Software, Segue and Oracle. Over the course of his career he has helped build companies from startup (Eventus, Quest) to midsize (Documentum, Segue) to market-leading global corporations (Oracle, EMC).
Dave’s current investments and board roles include Optiv, ForgeRock, Claroty, Securing SAM, Illusive Networks and Premise Data. He is also on the board of Team8, an Israeli startup incubator, and is a board advisor to DataTribe, a startup studio based in the Washington, D.C. area. Dave serves on the board of Delta Air Lines, and is the chairman of the board’s safety, and security committee. He was appointed by President Barack Obama to the National Security Telecommunications Advisory Council (NSTAC) and continued to serve under President Donald Trump. The committee, composed of telecommunications and technology industry CEOs, advises and provides recommendations to the President, and other government leaders on matters of security that relate to the nation’s telecommunications systems.
A recognized authority on cybersecurity, Dave has spoken at the World Economic Forum in Davos on the issue of cybersecurity, and keynoted at several technology industry conferences including Interop, and RSA. Dave has also participated in panel discussions alongside world leaders, and served as an advisor to the National Security Agency and the Central Intelligence Agency, among others. He was named one of the 25 most influential executives in high technology by the readers of the industry publication CRN. Cyber Defense Magazine calls him one of the most brilliant and successful minds in the industry. Throughout his career, Dave has worked alongside members of the NightDragon Team in an operating and investing role.
Dave received his Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from the University of Delaware in 1986.
Dave has been selected to serve on our board of directors because of his extensive senior management and board expertise in the information technology security industry.
Mark Garrett
Mark Garrett serves as Chair of the Audit Committee for the Board of Directors of Cisco, GoDaddy and Snowflake. He also serves on the Board of Directors of HireRight and is a Strategic Advisor to General Atlantic. With more than 30 years of financial management experience in the technology sector, Mr. Garrett has worked with many leading companies.
Most recently, Mark served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Adobe from February 2007 to April 2018. Mark played a pivotal role and has been credited with successfully guiding Adobe and investors through Adobe’s Digital Media business unit transformation to a full cloud-based subscription model and away from the physical, shrink-wrapped product with a perpetual license model. Under his guidance as Executive Vice President, and CFO, Adobe completed the transition to a cloud-based subscription model.
Prior to Adobe, Mark was the Senior Vice President, and CFO of EMC Software Group of EMC Corp.
Prior to EMC, he was Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Documentum, Inc., and co-led
its $1.7 billion acquisition with a 29% premium by EMC in December 2003. Following the acquisition, he became Senior Vice President and CFO of EMC’s Software Group until February 2007. Previous accounting and finance management positions include tenures at IBM and Cadence. In 2017, Mark was awarded Best CFO in Software by the Institutional Investor All America Executive Team ranking, and in 2015, was rated Public Company CFO of the Year by Silicon Valley Business Journal.
He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting and Marketing from Boston University, and an MBA from Marist College.
Mark has been selected to serve on our board of directors because of his extensive history of leadership in finance and accounting in the technology industry, including experience in product and business model transition and transformation to the cloud, and his experience serving as a public company director.
Ken Gonzalez
Ken Gonzalez has been a senior operating executive at technology companies for over 20 years. He has led the strategy, corporate business development, and channel functions for market leading public and private technology companies, including McAfee and FireEye alongside Dave DeWalt and Siebel Systems (Oracle) and Avast.
Today, Ken is the Managing Director of NightDragon, a venture capital firm investing in innovative growth and late stage companies within the CSSP industry. He is also a Partner of Momentum Cyber, a cybersecurity advisory and investment bank. Ken is also a member of the general partnership of Cyber Innovation Partners II, L.P., an early-stage venture capital fund formed by AllegisCyber focused on early stage cybersecurity investing. Ken also serves as an Advisor to YL Ventures, an American-Israeli early-stage venture capital firm. Ken was previously a Managing Director at Forgepoint Capital.
Prior to starting his investing career, Ken was a senior operating executive at various technology companies. Most recently, Ken was the Senior Vice President of Corporate Development, Global Alliances and Channels at FireEye, a publicly listed cybersecurity company. He led these functions from 2013 to 2017, through its IPO, and its transformational acquisition of Mandiant.
Prior to FireEye, he served as the Chief Strategy Officer of Avast from 2011 through 2012. In this role he ran the company’s strategy and corporate development efforts. He was the first U.S.-based employee and had the responsibility of establishing and growing North American operations. He served as Senior Vice President of Corporate Development at McAfee, Inc. from 2006 until its acquisition by Intel in 2011. Prior to McAfee, from 1998 to 2006, Ken was the Vice President of Corporate Development at Siebel Systems from 1998 until its acquisition by Oracle in 2006.
During his career in technology he has worked on 40 acquisitions, including 23 in cybersecurity. He has created, managed and grown numerous strategic go-to-market
partnerships from technology integration to OEM and to resale and two-tier
distribution.
Ken is a graduate of Harvard Business School and the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. He served in the U.S. Army as an infantry officer with the 82nd Airborne Division and the 75th Ranger Regiment.
Ken has been selected to serve on our board of directors because of his extensive experience as a senior operating executive in the technology industry, including his history of leadership in strategy and corporate development.
Barbara Massa
Barbara Massa joined our board of directors in February 2022. She is a member of the audit committee of our board of directors. Barbara has over 25 years of experience driving innovation, workforce strategy and organizational effectiveness. Barbara has led people and organizational readiness activities for a diverse range of businesses, from startup stages through initial public offerings and major public companies. Her exceptional ability to attract and recruit top level talent, combined with her significant experience in mergers and acquisitions, pre-IPO,
startup environments and in mature Fortune 500 organizations, sets Barbara apart as a powerful advisor to companies looking to scale.
Barbara joined FireEye in January 2013 as Executive Vice President of People & Places, where she helped scale the company from approximately 400 to approximately 2,800 employees in 2.5 years. Most recently, in January 2020, Barbara was asked to expand her responsibilities as Executive Vice President and Chief of Business Operations to include Information Technology and Security (Information & Physical). Barbara has directly recruited many c-suite
executives and over 50 other senior leaders to FireEye. She helped to establish and implement the company’s first global human resources systems and processes, succession planning programs, employee engagement methodologies, learning and development and total rewards strategies, human resources operations and human resources partnering functions. Under Barbara’s leadership, FireEye has been recognized on various lists of best places to work in locations where FireEye has operations.
Before joining FireEye, Barbara served as Vice President of Global Talent & Diversity at McAfee, Inc. During her tenure, McAfee was consistently named a “top employer,” and received high employee engagement scores. Prior to McAfee, Barbara served as Senior Director of Talent at EMC, where she was responsible for the approximately 40,000 employee organization and led a geographically dispersed recruiting and infrastructure staff of more than 200 individuals. In this role, Barbara advised on 19 acquisitions from due diligence through integration.
Barbara has been selected to serve on our board of directors because of her experience at leading CSSP companies and her expertise in talent management.
Kara Wilson
Kara Wilson has over 25 years of experience driving disruptive go-to-market
strategies for leading companies such as Rubrik, FireEye, Okta, SuccessFactors and SAP. Kara has launched brands, created categories and navigated companies’ growth through initial public offerings, and is passionate about redefining the traditional approach to marketing.
Kara is a general investor, board member and advisor to corporations and technology startups in the United States and Europe. Kara is currently a strategic advisor for KKR, where she assists with due diligence and counsels their high-growth portfolio companies on go-to-market
strategy and execution. Kara most recently served as Chief Marketing Officer at Rubrik from June 2017 to May 2019.
Prior to Rubrik, Kara was Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer for FireEye. Kara has also served as the Chief Marketing Officer for Okta, SuccessFactors, SAP and Network General and held marketing leadership positions at Cisco and PeopleSoft. She sits on the boards of cybersecurity companies ReliaQuest and KnowBe4 and previously served as an advisor to ForeScout. Kara is also a director on the boards of Paychex, OneStream, OutSystems, Corel and Calabrio. Kara’s highly analytic and data driven approach to marketing comes with a relentless focus on developing go-to-market
programs that drive deals, not just leads.
Kara received a Bachelor of Arts in Political Economy from the University of California, Berkeley.
Morgan Kyauk
Morgan Kyauk brings a wealth of experience leading corporate development and merger and acquisition strategy for companies of all sizes-from late stage, pre-IPO
companies to large, serial acquirers. Today, Morgan is a Partner at NightDragon, a venture capital firm investing in innovative growth and late stage companies within the CSSP industry.
Prior to his role at NightDragon, Morgan was the Vice President of Corporate Development at FireEye, where he was responsible for the evaluation, execution and integration of all acquisition, investment and strategic partnering activity for the company. Morgan originally joined FireEye in early 2013, working with Dave DeWalt, Ken Gonzalez, Barbara Massa and Kara Wilson during his time there. While at FireEye, he led corporate development efforts leading up to its IPO and through its transformative acquisitions, which included FireEye’s acquisition of Mandiant, iSIGHT Partners and Verodin. Morgan was also responsible for the integration of the acquired companies, working closely with the targets’ management teams in operationalizing the synergies behind each of the transactions. In addition, Morgan was also Head of Corporate Development at Dropbox, leading the creation of its acquisition strategy, pipeline and process prior to its initial public offering as well. Earlier in his career, Morgan held corporate development roles at Juniper Networks and Hewlett Packard, where he helped both companies establish and execute on its cybersecurity strategy through a series of acquisitions in the CSSP industry. Morgan began his career advising technology companies on M&A transactions while at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
Morgan received his MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and his bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and Economics from the University of California, Berkeley.
Steve Simonian
Steve Simonian has over 20 years of experience as chief financial officer of various Silicon Valley-based venture capital firms. Steve has been the Chief Financial Officer of NightDragon, a venture capital firm investing in innovative growth and late stage companies within the CSSP industry, since June 2019.
In addition to his role at NightDragon, Steve has served as CFO of AllegisCyber, an early-stage venture capital firm that works closely with NightDragon, since May 2015. Steve also has his own consulting practice, S Squared Consulting, where he has provided finance and operational services for venture capital, private equity and operating companies since 2013. Steve served as CFO of August Capital from 2008 to 2013, and before that, as CFO of Gabriel Venture Partners from 2003 to 2008 and as CFO of Meritech Capital Partners from 1999 to 2003.
Steve has a Bachelor of Arts in Business Economics, Accounting and Finance from the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is a Certified Public Accountant (non practicing).
The past performance of our management team or their respective affiliates is not a guarantee either: (i) of success with respect to any business combination we may consummate; or (ii) that we will be able to identify a suitable candidate for our initial business combination. No member of our management team has had management experience with any special purpose acquisition company in the past. You should not rely on the historical record of our management team’s or their respective affiliates’ performance as indicative of future performance.
Our Value-Add
We believe that the NightDragon Team’s deep experience as operators and board members of scaled, public software companies, and their financial and strategic acumen, give us a differentiated advantage in identifying and attracting a leading technology company for a business combination. Further, we believe that our extensive network of industry relationships built over years of working, advising and investing in industry-defining businesses, will help us drive substantial long-term growth for the technology company we combine with. We anticipate offering the following benefits to our business combination partner:
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partnership with our management team members who have extensive and proven track records of founding, operating, advising, and investing in market-leading software and CSSP companies;
•
access to our network of advisors, investors, C-level
executives, CISOs and former senior intelligence officers from the United States, the United Kingdom and Israel;
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increased visibility with customers;
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higher engagement with core, relevant, fundamental investors as anchor stockholders than a traditional IPO bookbuilding process would offer;
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lower risk and expedited path to a public listing with an infusion of cash and ongoing access to public capital markets;
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listed public company stock currency for future acquisitions;
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ability for management to retain control and focus on growing the business; and
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opportunity to motivate and retain employees using stock-based compensation with public company stock.
Status as a Public Company
We believe our structure makes us an attractive business combination partner to target businesses. As an existing public company, we offer target businesses an alternative to the traditional initial public offering through a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or similar business combination. In this situation, the owners of the target business would exchange their shares of stock in the target business for shares of our stock or for a combination of shares of our stock and cash, allowing us to tailor the consideration to the specific needs of the sellers. Although there are various costs and obligations associated with being a public company, we believe target businesses will find this method a more certain and cost effective method to becoming a public company than the typical initial public offering. In a typical initial public offering, there are additional expenses incurred in marketing, road show and public reporting efforts that may not be present to the same extent in connection with a business combination with us.
Furthermore, once a proposed business combination is completed, the target business will have effectively become public, whereas an initial public offering is always subject to the underwriters’ ability to complete the offering, as well as general market conditions, which could delay or prevent the offering from occurring. Once public, we believe the target business would then have greater access to capital and an additional means of providing management incentives consistent with stockholders’ interests. It can offer further benefits by augmenting a company’s profile among potential new customers and vendors and aid in attracting talented employees.
Financial Position
With funds available in the trust account for a business combination initially in the amount of $345,000,000, we offer a target business a variety of options such as creating a liquidity event for its owners, providing capital for the potential growth and expansion of its operations or strengthening its balance sheet by reducing its debt ratio. Because we are able to complete our initial business combination using our cash, debt or equity securities, or a combination of the foregoing, we have the flexibility to use the most efficient combination that will allow us to tailor the consideration to be paid to the target business to fit its needs and desires. However, we have not taken any steps to secure third-party financing and there can be no assurance it will be available to us.
NightDragon Acquisition Corp. Investment Thesis
The CSSP market is a large, $131 billion addressable market.
As a result of a confluence of major factors, including technological innovation, lack of innovation from existing vendors, rise of financially and ideologically motivated adversaries, widely available markets for attacker tools, geopolitical tensions, increasing regulation, a dramatic shortage in security-related talent and the impact of COVID-19,
there is an increasing demand and opportunity for CSSP companies to address these threats.
Members of the NightDragon Team have established and prolific track records operating iconic cybersecurity and software companies and generating significant value in the process. We will use our experience and our ecosystem of advisors and relationships in the CSSP industry to attract, advise, merge with and scale a next-generation, market-leading CSSP company.
Additionally, we expect our performance-based Stakeholder-Center Aligned Listed Equity, or SCALE, structure to attract high quality companies that share our philosophy of long-term alignment, enhance the potential for high returns, and strengthen the value proposition of NightDragon Acquisition Corp. for all stakeholders.
The key elements of our structure are summarized below and are explained further elsewhere in this report.
Conventional SPAC
NightDragon SCALE
NightDragon SCALE’s Advantages
•  Sponsor’s promote represents 20% of the common stock issued and outstanding
•  All founder shares vested, no performance-based test
•  Promote consists of Class B common stock, representing approximately 20% of our shares of common stock outstanding, will vest in four equal tranches as described below
•  25% of the Class B common stock will convert to shares of Class A common stock upon the consummation of our initial business combination, with the remaining 75% converting in three equal tranches upon the achievement of Class A common stock price milestones of $12.00, $15.00 and $20.00 per share for 20 trading days within a 30-trading
day period following our initial business combination (but only prior to the 10 year anniversary of our initial business combination)
•  The Class B common stock will also convert to Class A common stock upon the consummation of a strategic transaction following our initial business combination if the effective price per share of Class A common stock is at least equal to $12.00 in such transaction
•  Any portion of the Class B common stock not converted before the 10th anniversary of our initial business combination will be automatically forfeited for no consideration
•  Less dilution to the target business absent post-business combination share price performance
•  Downside and upside are shared with investors because our sponsor’s economics from the founder shares only fully reach the level of a conventional SPAC with 20% founder shares when the stock trades at or above $20.00 per share for the predetermined number of days or in connection with the consummation of certain strategic transactions following our initial business combination
•  Vesting thresholds create longer-term incentives
Initial Business Combination
Nasdaq listing rules require that our initial business combination must be with one or more target businesses that together have an aggregate fair market value equal to at least 80% of the value of the trust account (excluding any deferred underwriting fees and taxes payable on the income earned on the trust account) at the time of our signing a definitive agreement in connection with our initial business combination. 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 the 80% of net assets test. While we consider it unlikely that our board of directors would not be able to make an independent determination of the fair market value of our initial business combination, it may be unable to do so if it is less familiar or experienced with the business of a particular target or if there is a significant amount of uncertainty as to the value of a target’s assets or prospects.
We anticipate structuring our initial business combination so that the post-transaction company in which our public stockholders own 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 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 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 the initial business combination. For example, we could pursue a transaction in which we issue a substantial number of new shares in exchange for all of the outstanding capital stock of a target. In this case, we would acquire a 100% controlling interest in the target. However, as a result of the issuance of a substantial number of new shares, our stockholders immediately prior to our initial business combination could own less than a majority of our outstanding shares subsequent to our initial business combination. If less than 100% of the equity interests or assets of a target business or businesses are owned or acquired by the post-transaction company, the portion of such business or businesses that is owned or acquired is what will be taken into account for purposes of 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 have filed a Registration Statement on Form 8-A
with the SEC to voluntarily register our securities under Section 12 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or the Exchange Act. As a result, 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.
Other Considerations
We are not prohibited from pursuing an initial business combination or subsequent transaction with a company that is affiliated with our sponsor, officers or directors. Our initial business combination will be approved by a majority of independent and disinterested directors, and, in the event we seek to complete our initial business combination or, subject to certain exceptions, subsequent material transactions with a company that is affiliated with our sponsor or any of our officers or directors, we, or a committee of independent directors, will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm that such initial business combination or transaction is fair to our company from a financial point of view. We may take other appropriate steps consistent with Delaware law to address any potential conflicts of interest.
Our officers and directors are not required to commit any specified amount of time to our affairs, and, accordingly, will have conflicts of interest in allocating management time among various business activities, including identifying potential business combinations and monitoring the related due diligence.
Corporate Information
Our executive offices are located at 101 Second Street, Suite 1275, San Francisco, California 94105 and our telephone number is (510) 306-7780.
We maintain a corporate website at www.ndac.com. The information contained on or accessible through our corporate website or any other website that we may maintain is not part of this report.
We are an “emerging growth company,” as defined in Section 2(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, or the Securities Act, as modified by the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012, or 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 of 2002, or 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 March 4, 2026, (b) in which we have total annual gross revenue of at least $1.07 billion, or (c) in which we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer, which means the aggregate worldwide market value of our Class A common stock that is held by non-affiliates
equals or exceeds $700 million as of the prior June 30, and (2) the date on which we have issued more than $1.0 billion in non-convertible
debt securities during the prior three-year period. References herein to emerging growth company will 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
equals or exceeds $250 million as of the prior June 30, or (2) our annual revenues equal or exceed $100 million during such completed fiscal year and the market value of our common stock held by non-affiliates
equals or exceeds $700 million as of the prior June 30.

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ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS
Item 1A. Risk Factors.
You should carefully consider the following risk factors, in addition to the other information contained in this Annual Report on Form 10-K,
or Annual Report, including the “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” section and our unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements and related notes. If any of the events described in the following risk factors and the risks described elsewhere in this report occurs, our business, operating results and financial condition could be seriously harmed. This Annual Report also contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Our actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements as a result of factors that are described below and elsewhere in this Annual Report. Our Risk Factors are not guarantees that no such conditions exist as of the date of this Annual Report and should not be interpreted as an affirmative statement that such risks or conditions have not materialized, in whole or in part
Risks Relating to Our Search for and Consummation of a Business Combination
We are a recently incorporated company with a limited operating history and no revenues, and you have no basis on which to evaluate our ability to achieve our business objective.
We are a recently incorporated company with limited operating results. Because we have a limited operating history, you have very little 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 have no plan, arrangement or understanding with any prospective target business concerning an initial business combination and may be unable to complete our initial business combination. If we fail to complete our initial business combination, we will never generate any operating revenues.
Our independent registered public accounting firm’s report contains an explanatory paragraph that expresses substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a “going concern.”
As of December 31, 2021, we had $1,102,919 in our operating bank accounts. We have incurred, and expect to continue to incur, significant costs in pursuit of an initial Business Combination. Management’s plans to address this need are discussed under “Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.” Our plans to raise capital and to consummate our initial Business Combination may not be successful. The initial deadline for us to complete our initial business combination is March 4, 2023, or June 4, 2023 if we have executed a letter of intent, agreement in principle or definitive agreement for an initial Business Combination by March 4, 2023. These factors, among others, raise substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern. The financial statements contained elsewhere in this report do not include any adjustments that might result from our inability to continue as a going concern.
Past performance by our management team, directors, advisors and their respective affiliates may not be indicative of future performance of an investment in the company or in the future performance of any business we may acquire.
Information regarding performance by, or businesses associated with, our management team, directors, advisors and their respective affiliates is presented for informational purposes only. Past performance by our management team, directors, advisors and such affiliates is not a guarantee either (i) of success with respect to any business combination we may consummate or (ii) that we will be able to locate a suitable candidate for our initial business combination. You should not rely on the historical performance of our management team, directors and advisors or that of their respective affiliates as indicative of the future performance of an investment in the company or the returns the company will, or is likely to, generate going forward. Our management team, directors and advisors and their respective affiliates do not have past experience with blank check and special purpose acquisition companies.
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 choose not to hold a stockholder vote to approve our initial business combination unless the initial 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. For instance, Nasdaq rules currently allow us to engage in a tender offer in lieu of a stockholder meeting but would still require us to obtain stockholder approval if we were seeking to issue more than 20% of our outstanding capital stock to a target business as consideration in any business combination. Therefore, if we were structuring a business combination that required us to issue more than 20% of our outstanding capital stock, we would seek stockholder approval of such business combination. However, 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 and whether the terms of the transaction would otherwise require us to seek stockholder approval. Accordingly, we may complete our initial business combination even if holders of a majority of our public shares do not approve of the initial business combination we complete. For additional information, please see the section of our final prospectus filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 2, 2021 titled “Proposed Business-Stockholders May Not Have the Ability to Approve Our Initial Business Combination.”
If we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination, our sponsor and our directors, officers and advisors have agreed to vote in favor of such initial business combination, regardless of how our public stockholders vote.
Pursuant to a letter agreement, our sponsor and our directors, officers and advisors have agreed to vote all of their shares of our common stock (whether acquired before, in connection with or after our initial public offering, including in open market and privately negotiated transactions) in favor of our initial business combination. Our sponsor owns shares of our common stock that represent, on an as-converted
to Class A common stock basis, approximately 21.9% of the combined voting power of our issued and outstanding shares of Class A common stock (including the private placement shares) and Class B common stock. Our sponsor and members of our management team also may from time to time purchase shares of our Class A common stock prior to the completion of our initial business combination.
As a result, in addition to our sponsor’s Class B common stock and Class A common stock, we would need only 12,420,001, or 36.0% (assuming all outstanding shares are voted), or 1,380,002, or 4.0% (assuming only the minimum number of shares representing a quorum are voted), of the 34,500,000 public shares sold in our initial public offering to be voted in favor of an initial business combination in order to have our initial business combination approved. Accordingly, if we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination, the agreement by our sponsor to vote in favor of our initial business combination will increase the likelihood that we will receive the requisite stockholder approval for such initial business 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 the initial business combination.
As of the date of this report, you will not be provided with an opportunity to evaluate the specific merits or risks of our initial business combination. Since our board of directors may complete an initial business combination without seeking stockholder approval, public stockholders may not have the right or opportunity to vote on the initial business combination, unless we seek such stockholder vote.
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 given 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 an initial business combination with a target.
We may seek to enter into an initial business combination 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 initial business combination. Furthermore, in no event would we redeem our public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 upon consummation of our initial business combination and after payment of deferred underwriting commissions (so that we are not subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules) or any greater net tangible asset or cash requirement which may be contained in the agreement relating to our initial business combination. Consequently, if accepting all properly submitted redemption requests would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 upon consummation of our initial business combination and after payment of deferred underwriting commissions or such greater amount necessary to satisfy a closing condition as described above, we would not proceed with such redemption and the related business combination and may instead search for an alternate business combination. Prospective targets will be aware of these risks and, thus, may be reluctant to enter into an initial business combination 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 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 would 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 are 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 amount of the deferred underwriting commissions payable to the underwriters will not be adjusted for any shares that are redeemed in connection with an initial business combination. The per-share
amount we will distribute to stockholders that properly exercise their redemption rights will not be reduced by the deferred underwriting commissions and after such redemptions, the per-share
value of shares held by non-redeeming
stockholders will reflect our obligation to pay the deferred underwriting commissions.
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 is increased. 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 timeframe may give potential target businesses leverage over us in negotiating an initial business combination and may decrease our ability to conduct due diligence on potential business combination targets 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 an initial business combination will be aware that we must complete our initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering or 27 months from the closing of our initial public offering if we have executed a letter of intent, agreement in principle or definitive agreement for an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering. Consequently, such target business may obtain leverage over us in negotiating an initial 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.
Our search for a business combination, and any target business with which we ultimately consummate a business combination, may be materially adversely affected by the ongoing coronavirus (COVID-19)
pandemic and the status of debt and equity markets.
Since December 2019, a novel strain of coronavirus that causes COVID-19
has spread throughout the world, including the United States. On January 30, 2020, the World Health Organization declared the outbreak of COVID-19
a “Public Health Emergency of International Concern.” On January 31, 2020, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex M. Azar II declared a public health emergency for the United States to aid the U.S. healthcare community in responding to COVID-19,
and on March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization characterized the COVID-19
outbreak as a “pandemic.” The COVID-19
pandemic has resulted in, and other infectious diseases could result in, a widespread health crisis that has and will continue to adversely affect economies and financial markets worldwide, and the business of any potential target business with which we consummate a business combination may also be materially and adversely affected. Furthermore, we may be unable to complete a business combination if continued concerns relating to COVID-19
restrict travel, limit the ability to have meetings with potential investors or the target company’s personnel, vendors and services providers are unavailable to negotiate and consummate a transaction in a timely manner, or if COVID-19
causes a prolonged economic downturn. The effects of the COVID-19
pandemic on businesses, and the inability to accurately predict the future impact of the pandemic on businesses, has also made determinations and negotiations of valuation more difficult, which could make it more difficult to consummate a business combination transaction. Although certain governmental entities have begun to ease COVID-19 related restrictions, caseloads continue to fluctuate in various parts of the world. New strains of the virus, outbreaks of existing strains of the virus and the continued efficacy of available vaccines creates uncertainty which can adversely affect economic conditions, supply chains, the availability of capital and, ultimately, our ability to consummate a business combination.
The extent to which COVID-19
ultimately impacts our identification and consummation of a business combination will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted, including new information which may emerge concerning the severity and spread of COVID-19
and actions to contain the virus or treat its impact, among others. If the disruptions posed by COVID-19
or other matters of global concern continue for an extended 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.
In addition, our ability to consummate a business combination may be dependent on the ability to raise equity and debt financing which may be adversely impacted by COVID-19
and other events, including as a result of increased market volatility, decreased market liquidity and third-party financing not being available on terms acceptable to us or at all.
We may not be able to complete our initial business combination within the prescribed timeframe, 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 only receive $10.00 per share, or less than such amount in certain circumstances, and our warrants will expire worthless.
We may not be able to find a suitable target business and complete our initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering or 27 months from the closing of our initial public offering if we have executed a letter of intent, agreement in principle or definitive agreement for an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering. If we have not completed our initial business combination within such time period, we will: (i) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up, (ii) as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, redeem the public shares, at a per-share
price, payable in cash and out of funds legally available therefor, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our franchise and income tax obligations (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), subject to applicable law, and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining stockholders and our board of directors, dissolve and liquidate, subject in each case to our obligations under Delaware law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law. In such case, our public stockholders may only receive $10.00 per share, and our warrants will expire worthless. In certain circumstances, our public stockholders may receive less than $10.00 per share on the redemption of their shares. See “-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 above and below.
If we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination, our sponsor, directors, officers, advisors and their affiliates may elect to purchase public shares or warrants from public stockholders, which may influence a vote on a proposed initial business combination and reduce the public “float” of our Class A common stock or warrants.
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 their 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 to do so. However, they have no current commitments, plans or intentions to engage in such transactions and have not formulated any terms or conditions for any such transactions. None of the funds in the trust account will be used to purchase public shares or public warrants in such transactions.
Such a purchase may include a contractual acknowledgement that such 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 their affiliates purchase public shares in privately negotiated transactions from public stockholders which have already elected to exercise their redemption rights, such selling stockholders would be required to revoke their prior elections to redeem their shares. The purpose of such purchases could be to vote such shares in favor of the initial business combination and thereby increase the likelihood of obtaining stockholder approval of the initial business combination, or to satisfy a closing condition in an agreement with a target that requires us to have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash at the closing of our initial business combination, where it appears that such requirement would otherwise not be met. The purpose of any such purchases of public warrants could be to reduce the number of warrants outstanding held by the public or vote such warrants on any matters submitted to the warrant holders for approval in connection with our initial business combination. Any such purchases of our securities may result in the completion of our initial business combination that may not otherwise have been possible. Any such purchases will be reported pursuant to Section 13 and Section 16 of the Exchange Act to the extent such purchasers are subject to such reporting requirements. 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 obtain or maintain the quotation, listing or trading of our securities on a national securities exchange.
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, proxy materials or tender offer documents, 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, which may include the requirement that a beneficial holder must identify itself. 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 documents given to such holders, or up to two business days prior to the initial 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 or any other procedures, its shares may not be redeemed. For additional information, please see the section of our final prospectus filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 2, 2021 titled “Proposed Business-Redemption Rights for Public Stockholders upon Completion of our Initial Business Combination or Certain Stockholder Votes to Amend our Amended and Restated Certificate of Incorporation-Tendering Stock Certificates in Connection with a Tender Offer or Redemption Rights.”
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 seeking redemption rights with respect to more than an aggregate of 15% of the shares sold in our initial public offering without our prior consent, which we refer to as the “Excess Shares.” However, we would not be restricting our stockholders’ ability to vote all of their shares (including Excess Shares) for or against our initial business combination. 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.
Because of our special purpose acquisition company structure and 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 do not complete our initial business combination, our public stockholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per share on our redemption of our public shares, or less than such amount in certain circumstances, and our warrants will expire worthless.
We expect to 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 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 similar or greater technical, human and other resources to ours, 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 SCALE units, our ability to compete with respect to the acquisition of certain target businesses that are sizable will be limited by our available financial resources. This inherent competitive limitation gives others an advantage in pursuing the acquisition of certain target businesses. Furthermore, because we are obligated to pay cash for the shares of Class A common stock which our public stockholders redeem in connection with our initial business combination, target companies will be aware that this may present closing risk by reducing the resources available to us for our initial business combination. Additionally, potential target companies may be less inclined to consummate a transaction with us because definitive documentation for such a transaction will preclude any recourse against our trust account, meaning that potential counterparties may determine that they do not have adequate contractual remedies in the event a transaction fails to close. Furthermore, potential target companies may decide to pursue other types of transactions, such as traditional underwritten initial public offerings, or direct listings. These factors may place us at a competitive disadvantage in successfully negotiating an initial business combination. If we do not complete our initial business combination, our public stockholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per share on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless. In certain circumstances, our public stockholders may receive less than $10.00 per share upon our liquidation. See “-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 above and below.
As the number of special purpose acquisition companies evaluating targets has increased, attractive targets may become scarcer and there may be more competition for attractive targets. 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, 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.
If the net proceeds of our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement SCALE units not being held in the trust account are insufficient to allow us to operate for at least 24 months following the closing of our initial public offering, or 27 months from the closing of our initial public offering if we have executed a letter of intent, agreement in principle or definitive agreement for an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering, we may be unable to complete our initial business combination, in which case our public stockholders may only receive $10.00 per share, or less than such amount in certain circumstances, and our warrants will expire worthless.
The funds available to us outside of the trust account may not be sufficient to allow us to operate for at least 24 months following the closing of our initial public offering, or 27 months from the closing of our initial public offering if we have executed a letter of intent, agreement in principle or definitive agreement for an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering, assuming that our initial business combination is not completed during that time. We believe that, upon the closing of our initial public offering, the funds available to us outside of the trust account will be sufficient to allow us to operate for at least 24 months after the closing of our initial public offering, or 27 months from the closing of our initial public offering if we have executed a letter of intent, agreement in principle or definitive agreement for an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering; however, we cannot assure you that our estimate is accurate. We could use a portion of the funds available to us to pay fees to consultants to assist us with our search for a target business. We could also use a portion of the funds 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 on terms more favorable to such target businesses) with respect to a particular proposed initial business combination, although we do not have any current intention to do so. If we entered into a letter of intent or other 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 target business. If we do not complete our initial business combination, our public stockholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per share on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless. In certain circumstances, our public stockholders may receive less than $10.00 per share upon our liquidation. See “-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 above and below.
If the net proceeds of our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement SCALE units 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 for an initial business combination, to pay our franchise and income tax obligations and to complete our initial business combination. If we are unable to obtain these loans, we may be unable to complete our initial business combination.
Of the net proceeds of our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement SCALE units, only approximately $1,500,000 will be available to us initially outside the trust account to fund our working capital requirements. In the event that our offering expenses exceed our estimate of $1,950,000, we may fund such excess with funds not to be held in the trust account. In such case, the amount of funds we intend to be held outside the trust account would decrease by a corresponding amount. The amount held in the trust account will not be impacted as a result of such increase or decrease. Conversely, in the event that the offering expenses are less than our estimate of $1,950,000, the amount of funds we intend to be held outside the trust account would increase by a corresponding amount. 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. None of our sponsor, members of our management team nor any of their affiliates is under any obligation to advance funds to us in such circumstances. Any such advances would be repaid only from funds held outside the trust account or from funds released to us upon completion of our initial business combination. Up to $1,500,000 of such loans may be convertible into SCALE units at a price of $10.00 per SCALE unit. The SCALE units would be identical to the private placement SCALE units. Prior to the completion of our initial business combination, we do not expect to seek loans from parties other than our sponsor or members of our management team or their affiliates 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. If we are unable to obtain these loans, we may be unable to complete our initial business combination. If we do not 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. Consequently, our public stockholders may only receive approximately $10.00 per share on our redemption of our public shares, and our warrants will expire worthless. In certain circumstances, our public stockholders may receive less than $10.00 per share on the redemption of their shares. See “-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 above and below.
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 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. Our independent registered public accounting firm, and the underwriters of the offering, will not execute agreements with us waiving such claims to the monies held in the trust account.
Examples of possible instances where we may engage a third party that refuses to execute a waiver include the engagement of a third-party consultant whose particular expertise or skills are believed by management to be significantly superior to those of other consultants that would agree to execute a waiver or in cases where management is unable to find a service provider willing to execute a waiver. 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 do not complete 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 ten 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. Pursuant to the letter agreement, the form of which is filed as an exhibit to this report, our sponsor has agreed that it will be liable to us if and to the extent any claims by a third party (other than our independent registered public accounting firm) for services rendered or products sold to us, or a prospective target business with which we have entered into a written letter of intent, confidentiality or similar agreement or business combination agreement, reduce the amount of funds in the trust account to below the lesser of (i) $10.00 per public share and (ii) the actual amount per public share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account, if less than $10.00 per share due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, less taxes payable, provided that such liability will not apply to any claims by a third party or prospective target business who executed a waiver of any and all rights to the monies held in the trust account (whether or not such waiver is enforceable) nor will it apply to any claims under our indemnity of the underwriters of our initial public offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. However, we have not asked our sponsor to reserve for such indemnification obligations, nor have we independently verified whether our sponsor has sufficient funds to satisfy its indemnity obligations and believe that our sponsor’s only assets are securities of our company. Therefore, we cannot assure you that our sponsor would be able to satisfy those obligations. 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, directors or members of our sponsor will indemnify us for claims by third parties including, without limitation, claims by vendors and prospective target businesses.
Our 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 (i) $10.00 per share and (ii) the actual amount per share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account if less than $10.00 per share due to reductions in the value of the trust assets, in each case net of the 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 and subject to their fiduciary duties may choose not to do so in any particular instance if, for example, the cost of such legal action is deemed by the independent directors to be too high relative to the amount recoverable or if the independent directors determine that a favorable outcome is not likely. 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.
We may not have sufficient funds to satisfy indemnification claims of our directors and officers.
We have agreed to indemnify our officers and directors to the fullest extent permitted by law. However, our officers and directors have agreed to waive (and any other persons who may become an officer or director prior to the initial business combination will also be required to waive) any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to any monies in the trust account and not to seek recourse against the trust account for any reason whatsoever (except to the extent they are entitled to funds from the trust account due to their ownership of public shares). Accordingly, any indemnification provided will be able to be satisfied by us only if (i) we have sufficient funds outside of the trust account or (ii) we consummate an initial business combination. Our obligation to indemnify our officers and directors may discourage stockholders from bringing a lawsuit against our officers or directors for breach of their fiduciary duty. These provisions also may have the effect of reducing the likelihood of derivative litigation against our officers and directors, even though such an action, if successful, might otherwise benefit us and our stockholders. Furthermore, a stockholder’s investment may be adversely affected to the extent we pay the costs of settlement and damage awards against our officers and directors pursuant to these indemnification provisions.
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.
In recent months, the market for directors and officers liability insurance for SPACs has changed. The premiums charged for such policies have generally increased and the terms of such policies have generally become less favorable to the SPAC. 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 completion of 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 would likely need to purchase additional insurance with respect to any such claims. The need for such 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.
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 we and our board may be exposed 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 and/or having acted in bad faith, thereby exposing itself and us to claims of punitive damages, by paying public stockholders from the trust account prior to addressing the claims of creditors.
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 stockholders in connection with our liquidation may be reduced.
If we are deemed to be an investment company under the Investment Company Act, we may be required to institute burdensome compliance requirements and our activities may be restricted, which may make it difficult for us to complete our initial business combination.
If we are deemed to be an investment company under the Investment Company Act, our activities may be restricted, including:
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restrictions on the nature of our investments; and
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restrictions on the issuance of securities, each of which may make it difficult for us to complete our initial business combination.
In addition, we may have imposed upon us burdensome requirements, including:
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registration as an investment company with the Securities and Exchange Commission;
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adoption of a specific form of corporate structure; and
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reporting, record keeping, voting, proxy and disclosure requirements and other rules and regulations to which we are currently not subject.
In order not to be regulated as an investment company under the Investment Company Act, unless we can qualify for an exclusion, we must ensure that we are engaged primarily in a business other than investing, reinvesting or trading in securities and that our activities do not include investing, reinvesting, owning, holding or trading “investment securities” constituting more than 40% of our total assets (exclusive of U.S. government securities and cash items) on an unconsolidated basis. Our business will be to identify and complete an initial business combination and thereafter to operate the post-transaction business or assets for the long term. We do not plan to buy businesses or assets with a view to resale or profit from their resale, nor do we plan to buy any business that would be deemed an investment company under the Investment Company Act. We do not plan to buy unrelated businesses or assets or to be a passive investor.
We do not believe that our anticipated principal activities will subject us to the Investment Company Act. To this end, the proceeds held in the trust account may only be invested in United States “government securities” within the meaning of Section 2(a)(16) of the Investment Company Act having a maturity of 185 days or less or in money market funds meeting certain conditions under Rule2a-7promulgated under the Investment Company Act which invest only in direct U.S. government treasury obligations. Pursuant to the trust agreement, the trustee is not permitted to invest in other securities or assets. By restricting the investment of the proceeds to these instruments, and by having a business plan targeted at acquiring and growing businesses for the long term (rather than on buying and selling businesses in the manner of a merchant bank or private equity fund), we intend to avoid being deemed an “investment company” within the meaning of the Investment Company Act. Our initial public offering was not intended for persons who are seeking a return on investments in government securities or investment securities. The trust account is intended as a holding place for funds pending the earliest to occur of: (i) the completion of our initial business combination; (ii) 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 redemption in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering, or 27 months from the closing of our initial public offering if we have executed a letter of intent, agreement in principle or definitive agreement for an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering, or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial
business combination activity; or (iii) absent an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering, or 27 months from the closing of our initial public offering if we have executed a letter of intent, agreement in principle or definitive agreement for an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering, our return of the funds held in the trust account to our public stockholders as part of our redemption of the public shares. If we do not invest the proceeds as discussed above, we may be deemed to be subject to the Investment Company Act. If we were deemed to be subject to the Investment Company Act, compliance with these additional regulatory burdens would require additional expenses for which we have not allotted funds and may hinder our ability to complete an initial business combination or may result in our liquidation. If we do not 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.
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 will be 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.
If we have not completed an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering, or 27 months from the closing of our initial public offering if we have executed a letter of intent, agreement in principle or definitive agreement for an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering, our public stockholders may be forced to wait beyond such 24 months before redemption from our trust account.
If we have not completed an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering, or 27 months from the closing of our initial public offering if we have executed a letter of intent, agreement in principle or definitive agreement for an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering, the proceeds then on deposit in the trust account, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our franchise and income tax obligations (less up to $100,000 of the interest to pay dissolution expenses), will be used to fund the redemption of our public shares, as further described herein. Any redemption of public stockholders from the trust account will be effected automatically by function of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation prior to any voluntary winding up. If we are required to wind-up,
liquidate the trust account and distribute such amount therein, pro rata, to our public stockholders, as part of any liquidation process, such winding up, liquidation and distribution must comply with the applicable provisions of the DGCL. In that case, investors may be forced to wait beyond 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering or 27 months from the closing of our initial public offering if we have executed a letter of intent, agreement in principle or definitive agreement for an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering before the redemption proceeds of our trust account become available to them, and they receive the return of their pro rata portion of the proceeds from our trust account. We have no obligation to return funds to investors prior to the date of our redemption of public shares or liquidation unless we complete our initial business combination prior thereto and only then in cases where investors have sought to redeem their Class A common stock. Only upon our redemption or any liquidation will public stockholders be entitled to distributions if we do not complete our initial business combination.
Our sponsor may receive additional Class A common stock in connection with our initial business combination, if our Class A common stock trades at certain specified price levels following our initial business combination and if a specified strategic transaction occurs following our initial business combination.
One-quarter
of the shares of Class B common stock will automatically convert into Class A common stock on a 1-for-1
basis (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, rights issuances, subdivisions, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) upon the consummation of our initial business combination, or the Combination Closing Vesting. If prior to the ten year anniversary of our initial business combination the closing price of our Class A common stock equals or exceeds one or more of the per share price targets described below, one-quarter
of the shares of Class B common stock outstanding as of immediately prior to the closing of the initial business combination will, upon such target achievement, automatically convert into Class A common stock on a1-for-1basis
(as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, rights issuances, subdivisions, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like):
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$12.00 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, rights issuances, subdivisions, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 20 trading days within a 30-trading
day period, or the First Price Vesting;
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$15.00 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, rights issuances, subdivisions, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 20 trading days within a 30-trading
day period, or the Second Price Vesting; and
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$20.00 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, rights issuances, subdivisions, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 20 trading days within a 30-trading
day period, or the Third Price Vesting.
For example, if following the consummation of our initial business combination the closing price of our Class A common stock equals or exceeds $15.00 but does not equal or exceed $20.00 for 20 trading days within a 30-trading
day period, both the First Price Vesting and Second Price Vesting target achievements will be met, resulting in a total of 4,312,500 shares of Class B common stock converting into 4,312,500 shares of Class A common stock, representing 2,156,250 shares associated with the First Price Vesting and 2,156,250 shares associated with the Second Price Vesting (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, rights issuances, subdivisions, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like). Together with the 2,156,250 shares of Class B common stock already vested and converted to Class A common stock associated with the Combination Closing Vesting, a total of 6,468,750 shares of Class B common stock will have vested and converted into Class A common stock in this example.
In the event of any liquidation, merger, reorganization or other similar transaction consummated after our initial business combination, which we refer to as a Strategic Transaction, that results in all of our public stockholders having the right to exchange their Class A common stock for cash, securities or other property at an effective price of at least $12.00 per share of Class A common stock, all of the then-outstanding shares of Class B common stock will convert into an equivalent number of shares of Class A common stock (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, rights issuances, subdivisions, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like). If the effective price in such Strategic Transaction is less than $12.00 per share of Class A common stock, all of the then-outstanding shares of Class B common stock will be automatically forfeited.
All shares of Class B common stock that are issued and outstanding on the 10th anniversary of our initial business combination will be automatically forfeited.
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 DGCL, in certain circumstances, 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 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering, or 27 months from the closing of our initial public offering if we have executed a letter of intent, agreement in principle or definitive agreement for an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering, 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 and a 90-day
period during which the corporation may reject any claims brought, 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 end of the 24th month after the closing of our initial public offering, or 27 months from the closing of our initial public offering if we have executed a letter of intent, agreement in principle or definitive agreement for an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering, in the event we do not complete our initial business combination and, therefore, we do not intend to comply with the foregoing procedures.
If we dissolve in a manner that does not comply with Section 280, Section 281(b) of the DGCL would require 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 ten years following our dissolution. However, because we are a blank check company, rather than an operating company, and our operations will be limited to searching for prospective target businesses to acquire, the only likely claims to arise may be from our vendors (such as lawyers, investment bankers, 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, even outside of the dissolution context, 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 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering or 27 months from the closing of our initial public offering if we have executed a letter of intent, agreement in principle or definitive agreement for an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering is not considered a liquidating distribution under Delaware law and such redemption distribution is deemed to be unlawful (potentially due to the imposition of legal proceedings that a party may bring or due to other circumstances that are currently unknown), then pursuant to Section 174 of the DGCL, creditors could bring a claim within six years of the unlawful redemption distribution, instead of three years, as is the relevant statute of limitations period in the case of a liquidating distribution.
We may seek business combination opportunities in industries or sectors which may or may not be outside of our management team’s area of expertise.
Although we intend to focus on identifying companies in the cybersecurity, safety, security and privacy, or CSSP, sector, we will consider an initial business combination outside of our management team’s area of expertise if an initial business combination candidate is presented to us and we determine that such candidate offers an attractive business combination opportunity for our company or we are unable to identify a suitable candidate in this sector after having expanded a reasonable amount of time and effort in an attempt to do so. Although our management will endeavor to evaluate the risks inherent in any particular business combination candidate, we cannot assure you that we will adequately ascertain or assess all of the significant risk factors. We also cannot assure you that an investment in our SCALE units will not ultimately prove to be less favorable to investors in our initial public offering than a direct investment, if an opportunity were available, in an initial business combination candidate. In the event we elect to pursue a business combination outside of the areas of our management team’s expertise, our management team’s expertise may not be directly applicable to its evaluation or operation. As a result, our management may not be able to adequately ascertain or assess all of the significant risk factors. Accordingly, any stockholders who choose to remain stockholders following our initial business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their shares. Such stockholders 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 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 these positive attributes. If we complete our initial business combination with a target that does not meet some or all of these 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 law, 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 do not complete our initial business combination, our public stockholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per share on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless. In certain circumstances, our public stockholders may receive less than $10.00 per share on the redemption of their shares. See “-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 above and below.
We may seek business combination opportunities with a financially unstable business or an entity lacking an established record of revenue, cash flow or earnings, which could subject us to volatile revenues, cash flows or earnings or difficulty in retaining key personnel.
To the extent we complete our initial business combination with a financially unstable business or an entity lacking an established record of revenues or earnings, we may be affected by numerous risks inherent in the operations of the business with which we combine. These risks include volatile revenues or earnings and difficulties in obtaining and retaining key personnel. Although our officers and directors will 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 and we may not 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 are not required to obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm, and 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 an affiliated entity or our board cannot independently determine the fair market value of the target business or businesses, we are not required to obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking 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 proxy materials or tender offer documents, as applicable, related to our initial business combination.
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. 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 280,000,000 shares of Class A common stock, par value $0.00001 per share, 20,000,000 shares of Class B common stock, par value $0.00001 per share and 1,000,000 shares of preferred stock, par value $0.00001 per share. Immediately after our initial public offering, there were 244,465,000 and 12,500,000 authorized but unissued shares of Class A common stock and Class B common stock, respectively, available for issuance, which amount includes shares reserved for issuance upon exercise of outstanding warrants and shares issuable upon conversion of the Class B common stock, if any. As of the date of this report, there are no shares of preferred stock issued and outstanding. The shares of Class B common stock will convert into shares of our Class A common stock based on the occurrence of certain triggering events, one of which will occur upon the consummation of our initial business combination, three of which will be based on shares of our Class A common stock trading at $12.00, $15.00 and $20.00 per share for 20 trading days within a 30-day
trading period following our initial business combination, and one of which will be based upon a specified strategic transaction following our initial business combination if the effective price per share of our Class A common stock is at least equal to $12.00 in such transaction, in each case prior to the 10th anniversary of our initial business combination, as described in the section of our final prospectus filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 2, 2021 titled “Description of Securities.” Notwithstanding the foregoing, all Class B common stock that is issued and outstanding on the 10th anniversary of our initial business combination will be automatically forfeited.
We may issue a substantial number of 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 to redeem the warrants. However, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides, among other things, that prior to or in connection with our initial business combination, we may not issue additional shares of capital stock that would entitle the holders thereof to (i) receive funds from the trust account or (ii) vote on any initial business combination. These provisions of our
amended and restated certificate of incorporation, like all provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, may be amended with the approval of our stockholders. However, our sponsor and our officers, directors and advisors have agreed, pursuant to a letter agreement with us, 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 redemption in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within the prescribed timeframe 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 common stock upon approval of any such amendment at a per-share
price, payable in cash and out of funds legally available therefor, 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.
The issuance of additional shares of Class A common stock or preferred stock:
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may significantly dilute the equity interest of investors in our initial public offering;
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may subordinate the rights of holders of Class A common stock if preferred stock is issued with rights senior to those afforded our Class A common stock;
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could cause a change of control if a substantial number of shares of our Class A common stock are 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;
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may adversely affect prevailing market prices for our SCALE units, Class A common stock and/or warrants;
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may have the effect of delaying or preventing a change of control of us by diluting the share ownership or voting rights of a person seeking to obtain control of us; and
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may not result in adjustment to the exercise price of our warrants
Resources could be wasted in researching business combinations that are not completed, which could materially adversely affect subsequent attempts to locate and acquire or merge with another business. If we do not 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, consultants 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 do not complete our initial business combination, our public stockholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per share on the liquidation of our trust account and our warrants will expire worthless. In certain circumstances, our public stockholders may receive less than $10.00 per share on the redemption of their shares. See “-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 above and below.
We may reincorporate in another jurisdiction in connection with our initial business combination and such reincorporation may result in taxes imposed on stockholders.
We may, in connection with our initial business combination and subject to requisite stockholder approval, reincorporate in the jurisdiction in which the partner company or business is located or in another jurisdiction. The transaction may require a stockholder or warrant holder (or its members) to recognize taxable income in the jurisdiction in which the stockholder or warrant holder is a tax resident (or in which its members are resident, if it is a tax transparent entity). We do not intend to make any cash distributions to stockholders or warrant holders to pay such taxes. Stockholders or warrant holders may be subject to withholding taxes or other taxes with respect to their ownership of us after the reincorporation.
After our initial business combination, it is possible that a majority of our directors and officers will live outside the United States and all of our assets will be located outside the United States; therefore investors may not be able to enforce federal securities laws or their other legal rights.
It is possible that after our initial business combination, a majority of our directors and officers will reside outside of the United States and all of our assets will be located outside of the United States. As a result, it may be difficult, or in some cases not possible, for investors in the United States to enforce their legal rights, to effect service of process upon all of our directors or officers or to enforce judgments of United States courts predicated upon civil liabilities and criminal penalties on our directors and officers under United States laws.
In particular, there is uncertainty as to whether the courts of certain jurisdictions would recognize and enforce judgments of U.S. courts obtained against us or our directors or officers predicated upon the civil liability provisions of the securities laws of the United States or any state in the United States or entertain original actions brought in the applicable jurisdiction’s courts against us or our directors or officers predicated upon the securities laws of the United States or any state in the United States.
Our ability to successfully effect our initial business combination and to be successful thereafter will be totally 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, it is likely that some or all of the management of the target business will remain in place. While we intend to closely scrutinize any individuals we employ 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 initial business combination candidate may resign upon completion of our initial business combination. The departure of an initial business combination target’s key personnel could negatively impact the operations and profitability of our post-combination business. The role of an initial business combination 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 initial business combination candidate’s management team will remain associated with the initial business combination candidate following our initial business combination, it is possible that members of the management of an initial business combination 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 as well as reimbursement of out-of-pocket
expenses, if any, with a target business in connection with a particular business combination. These agreements may provide for them to receive compensation or reimbursement for out-of-pocket
expenses, if any, following our initial business combination and as a result, may cause them to have conflicts of interest in determining whether a particular business combination is the most advantageous.
Our key personnel may be able to remain with the company after the completion of our initial business combination only if they are able to negotiate employment or consulting agreements in connection with the initial business combination. Additionally, they may negotiate reimbursement of any out-of-pocket
expenses incurred on our behalf prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, should they choose to do so. Such negotiations would take place simultaneously with the negotiation of the initial 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 initial business combination, or as reimbursement for such out-of-pocket
expenses. 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. There is no certainty, however, that any of our key personnel will remain with us after the completion of our initial business combination. We cannot assure you that any of our key personnel will remain in senior management or advisory positions with us. 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. In addition, following completion of our initial business combination, our sponsor will be entitled to designate three individuals for nomination for election to our board of directors pursuant to a registration and stockholder rights agreement.
We may have a limited ability to assess the management of a prospective target business and, as a result, may affect our initial business combination with a target business whose management may not have the skills, qualifications or abilities to manage a public company, which could, in turn, negatively impact the value of our stockholders’ investment in us.
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 who choose to remain stockholders following the initial business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their shares. Such stockholders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value.
Our officers and directors will 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 will 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 an initial business combination and their other businesses. We do not intend to have any full-time employees prior to the completion of our initial business combination. Each of our officers and directors is engaged in 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 may also serve as officers 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. For additional information regarding our officers’ and directors’ other business affairs, please see the section of this
report titled “Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance.”
We may issue notes or other debt securities, or otherwise incur substantial debt, to complete an initial 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 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:
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default and foreclosure on our assets if our operating revenues after an initial business combination are insufficient to repay our debt obligations;
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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;
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our immediate payment of all principal and accrued interest, if any, if the debt is payable on demand;
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our inability to obtain necessary additional financing if the debt contains covenants restricting our ability to obtain such financing while the debt is outstanding;
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our inability to pay dividends on our Class A common stock;
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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 Class A common stock if declared, and will reduce our ability to pay expenses, make capital expenditures and acquisitions, and fund other general corporate purposes;
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limitations on our flexibility in planning for and reacting to changes in our business and in the industry in which we operate;
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increased vulnerability to adverse changes in general economic, industry and competitive conditions and adverse changes in government regulation;
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limitations on our ability to borrow additional amounts for expenses, capital expenditures, acquisitions, debt service requirements, and execution of our strategy; and
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other disadvantages compared to our competitors who have less debt.
Our warrants are accounted for as liabilities and the changes in value of our warrants could have an adverse effect on the market price of our Class A common stock or make it more difficult for us to consummate an initial business combination.
On April 12, 2021, the staff of the SEC, or the SEC Staff, issued a public statement titled “Staff Statement on Accounting and Reporting Considerations for Warrants issued by Special Purpose Acquisition Companies,” or the SEC Staff Statement. In the SEC Staff Statement, 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 equity. In light of the SEC Staff Statement, we reevaluated the terms of the warrants issued in connection with our initial public offering, including 6,900,000 warrants sold to the public and 207,000 warrants sold to our sponsor in a simultaneous private placement, and determined that the warrants should be classified as liabilities measured at fair value upon issuance, with subsequent changes in fair value reported in earnings each reporting period. The impact of changes in fair value on earnings may have an adverse effect on the market price of our securities and/or our financial results. In addition, potential targets may seek a SPAC that does not have warrants that are accounted for as a warrant liability, which may make it more difficult for us to consummate an initial business combination with a target business.
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 SCALE units, which will cause us to be solely dependent on a single business which may have a limited number of products or services and limited operating activities. This lack of diversification may negatively impact our operating results and profitability.
Of the net proceeds from our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement SCALE units, $345,000,000 will be available to complete our initial business combination and pay related fees and expenses (which includes up to $12,075,000 for the payment of deferred underwriting commissions).
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 developments. 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. In addition, we intend to focus our search for an initial business combination in the CSSP industry. Accordingly, the prospects for our success may be:
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solely dependent upon the performance of a single business, property or asset, or
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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.
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. We do not, however, intend to purchase multiple businesses in unrelated industries in conjunction with 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 an initial business combination with a company that is not as profitable as we suspected, if at all.
In pursuing our initial business combination 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 an initial business combination with a company that is not as profitable as we suspected, if at all.
We do not have a specified maximum redemption threshold. The absence of such a redemption threshold may make it possible for us to complete an 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, except that in no event will we redeem our public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 upon consummation of our initial business combination and after payment of deferred underwriting commissions (such that we are not subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules) or any greater net tangible asset or cash requirement which may be contained in the agreement relating to our initial business combination. 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 their affiliates. In the event the aggregate cash consideration we would be required to pay for all shares of Class A common stock that are validly submitted for redemption plus any amount required to satisfy cash conditions pursuant to the terms of the proposed initial business combination exceed the aggregate amount of cash available to us for such purpose, we will not complete the initial business combination or redeem any shares, all shares of Class A common stock submitted for redemption will be returned to the holders thereof, and we instead may search for an alternate business combination.
In order to effectuate an initial business combination, blank check companies have, in the recent past, amended various provisions of their charters and other 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 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 governing instruments, including their warrant agreements. For example, blank check companies have amended the definition of business combination, increased redemption thresholds and extended the time to consummate an initial business combination. We cannot assure you that we will not seek to amend our charter or governing instruments, including to extend the time to consummate an initial business combination in order to effectuate our initial business combination.
The 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, including in the form of an amendment to permit us to withdraw funds from the trust account such that the per share amount investors will receive upon any redemption or liquidation is substantially reduced or eliminated, with the approval of holders of 65% of the voting power of our outstanding Class A common stock and Class B common stock voting together as a single class, which is a lower amendment threshold than that of some other blank check companies. It may be easier for us than for certain other blank check companies, 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.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that any of its provisions related to pre-initial
business combination activity (including the requirement to deposit proceeds of our initial public offering and the private placement shares into the trust account and not release such amounts except in specified circumstances, and to provide redemption rights to public stockholders as described herein and including to permit us to withdraw funds from the trust account such that the per share amount investors will receive upon any redemption or liquidation is substantially reduced or eliminated) may be amended if approved by holders of 65% of the voting power of
our outstanding Class A common stock and Class B common stock voting together as a single class, and corresponding provisions of the trust agreement governing the release of funds from our trust account may be amended if approved by holders of 65% of the voting power of our outstanding Class A common stock and Class B common stock voting together as a single class. In all other instances, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation may be amended by holders of a majority of the voting power of our outstanding Class A common stock and Class B common stock voting together as a single class entitled to vote thereon, subject to applicable provisions of the DGCL or applicable stock exchange rules. We may not issue additional securities that can vote on amendments to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation. Our sponsor, who beneficially owns, on an as-converted
to Class A common stock basis, 21.9% of our shares of Class A common stock (including the private placement shares), will 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 govern our pre-initial
business combination behavior more easily than some other blank check companies, and this may increase our ability to complete an initial business combination with which you do not agree. Our stockholders may pursue remedies against us for any breach of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation.
Our sponsor and our officers, directors and advisors have agreed, pursuant to a letter agreement with us, that they will not propose any amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (i) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemption in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering, or 27 months from the closing of our initial public offering if we have executed a letter of intent, agreement in principle or definitive agreement for an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering, or (ii) with respect to any other provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial
business combination activity, unless we provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem their shares of Class A common stock upon approval of any such amendment at a per-share
price, payable in cash and out of funds legally available therefor, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our franchise and income tax obligations divided by the number of then outstanding public shares. Persons who are not party to, or third-party beneficiaries of, this letter agreement will not have the ability to pursue remedies against our sponsor for any breach of these agreements. As a result, in the event of a breach, such persons 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, our sponsor and our officers, directors and advisors, and the registration and stockholder rights agreement among us and our sponsor, may be amended without stockholder approval. These agreements contain various provisions that our public stockholders might deem to be material. While we do not currently 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, including 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.
We have not selected any specific business combination target but intend to target businesses larger than we could acquire with the net proceeds of our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement SCALE units. As a result, we may be required to seek additional financing to complete such proposed initial business combination. We cannot assure you that such financing will be available on acceptable terms, if at all. 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. Further, the amount of additional financing we may be required to obtain could increase as a result of future growth capital needs for any particular transaction, the depletion of the available net proceeds in search of a target business, the obligation to repurchase for cash a significant number of public shares from stockholders who elect redemption in connection with our initial business combination and/or the terms of negotiated transactions to purchase public shares in connection with our initial business combination. If we do not complete our initial business combination, our public stockholders may receive only approximately $10.00 per share plus any pro rata interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our franchise and income tax obligations, on the liquidation of our trust account, and our warrants will expire worthless. 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 do not complete our initial business combination, our public stockholders may only receive approximately $10.00 per share on the liquidation of our trust account, and our warrants will expire worthless. Furthermore, as described in the risk factor titled “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,” under certain circumstances our public stockholders may receive less than $10.00 per share upon the liquidation of the trust account.
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 an initial business combination meeting certain financial significance tests include historical and/or pro forma financial statement disclosure in periodic reports. We would include the same financial statement disclosure in connection with any tender offer documents. 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 statements in accordance with federal proxy or tender offer rules and complete our initial business combination within the prescribed timeframe.
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 initial business combination.
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. Further, for as long as we remain an emerging growth company, we will not 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 company 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 business combination.
We have identified a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting. This material weakness could continue to adversely affect our ability to report our results of operations and financial condition accurately and in a timely manner.
After consultation with our independent registered public accounting firm following the issuance of the SEC Staff Statement on April 12, 2021, our management and audit committee concluded that, in light of the SEC Staff Statement, our audited balance sheet as of March 4, 2021 filed as Exhibit 99.1 to our Current Report on Form 8-K
filed with the SEC on March 10, 2021, as restated pursuant to the Company’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q
for the quarterly period ended March 31, 2021 filed with the SEC on June 11, 2021 (the “Current Report”) (the “Q1 Form 10-Q”)
should no longer be relied upon due to changes required to reclassify the warrants as liabilities to align with the SEC Staff Statement.
Our management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal controls over financial reporting designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with GAAP. Our management is likewise required, on a quarterly basis, to evaluate the effectiveness of our internal controls and to disclose any changes and material weaknesses identified through such evaluation of those internal controls. A material weakness is a deficiency, or a combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting, such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of our annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected and corrected on a timely basis.
As described elsewhere in this Annual Report, in connection with the Company’s Initial Public Offering, the Company accounted for a portion of the proceeds received from the offering as stockholders’ equity. Following the SEC’s guidance on this issue, management has identified errors in its historical financial statements and performed a quantitative assessment under SAB 99 concluding a restatement of the financial statements is required to reclassify such amounts as Class A common stock subject to possible redemption and a material weakness in our internal controls over financial reporting. As a result of this material weakness, our management has concluded that our internal control over financial reporting was not effective. This material weakness resulted in a material misstatement of our balance sheet as of March 4, 2021, March 31, 2021 and June 30, 2021, as well on our Statements of Operations, Statements of Shareholder’s Equity and Statements of Cash Flows for the Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q
issued for the periods ended March 30, 2021 and June 30, 2021. For a
discussion of management’s consideration of the material weakness identified related to our accounting for a Note 2. Restatement significant and unusual transaction related to the warrants we issued in connection with our IPO, see “Note 2. Restatement of Previously Issued Financial Statement” to the financial statements in our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q
filed with the SEC on June 11, 2021, as well as Part II, Item 9A., “Controls and Procedures,” included in this Annual Report.
Additionally, following recent commentary from the SEC (the “SEC Commentary”), and after consultation with our independent registered public accounting firm, our management and our audit committee, we have re-evaluated
our application of ASC 480-10-S99-3A
to our accounting classification of the redeemable shares of Class A common stock, par value $0.00001 per share (the “Public Shares”), issued as part of the units sold in our initial public offering on March 4, 2021. Historically, a portion of the Public Shares was classified as permanent equity to maintain net tangible assets greater than $5,000,000 on the basis that we will consummate our initial business combination only if we have net tangible assets of at least $5,000,001. Pursuant to such re-evaluation,
our management has determined that the Public Shares include certain provisions that require classification of the Public Shares as temporary equity regardless of the minimum net tangible assets required to complete our initial business combination.
Therefore, on November 16, 2021, our management and the audit committee, after consultation with our independent registered public accounting firm, concluded that our previously issued (i) audited balance sheet attached as Exhibit 99.1 to the Current Report, (ii) unaudited interim financial statements included in the Q1 Form 10-Q
and (iii) unaudited interim financial statements included in the Company’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q
for the quarterly period ended June 30, 2021, filed with the SEC on August 13, 2021 (collectively, the “Affected Periods”), should be restated to report all Public Shares as temporary equity and should no longer be relied upon. As such, we restated our financial statements for the Affected Periods in our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q
for the quarterly period ended September 30, 2021.
As described in Item 9A. “Controls and Procedures,” we have concluded that our internal controls over financial reporting was ineffective as of December 31, 2021 because a material weakness existed in our internal control over financial reporting. We have taken a number of measures to remediate the material weakness described therein; however, if we are unable to remediate our material weakness in a timely manner or we identify additional material weaknesses, we may be unable to provide required financial information in a timely or reliable manner and we may incorrectly report financial information. Likewise, if our financial statements are not filed on a timely basis, we could be subject to sanctions or investigations by the stock exchange on which our common stock is listed, the SEC or other regulatory authorities. In such a case, there could result a material adverse effect on our business. The existence of material weaknesses or significant deficiencies in internal control over financial reporting could adversely affect our reputation or investor perceptions of us, which could have a negative effect on the trading price of our stock. In addition, we may incur additional costs to remediate the material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting, as described in Part II, Item 9A., “Controls and Procedures.”
We can give no assurance that the measures we have taken and plan to take in the future will remediate the material weakness identified or that any additional material weaknesses or restatements of financial results will not arise in the future due to a failure to implement and maintain adequate internal control over financial reporting or circumvention of these controls or otherwise.
We may face litigation and other risks as a result of the material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting.
Following the issuance of the SEC Staff Statement and the SEC Commentary, after consultation with our independent registered public accounting firm, our management and our audit committee concluded that our financial statements in the certain periods described elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K
should no longer be relied upon due to (i) changes required to reclassify the warrants as liabilities to align with the SEC Staff Statement and (ii) changes required to reclassify the Public Shares as temporary equity to align with the SEC Commentary. As a result, we identified a material weakness in our internal controls over financial reporting as described further in Part II, Item 9A. “Controls and Procedures” and the risk factor titled “We have identified a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting. This material weakness could continue to adversely affect our ability to report our results of operations and financial condition accurately and in a timely manner.”
As a result of such material weakness, the restatement, the change in accounting for the warrants, and other matters raised or that may in the future be raised by the SEC, we face potential litigation or other disputes, which may include, among other things, claims invoking the federal and state securities laws, contractual claims or other claims arising from, among other things, the restatement and material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting and the preparation of our financial statements. As of the date of this Annual Report, we have no knowledge of any such litigation or dispute. However, we can provide no assurance that such litigation or dispute will not arise in the future. Any such litigation or dispute, whether successful or not, could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition or our ability to complete a business combination.
Risks Relating to the Post-Business Combination Company
Subsequent to the completion of our initial business combination, we may be required to 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 our stock price, 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, we cannot assure you that this diligence will surface all material issues that may be present inside 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 debt financing to partially finance the initial business combination. Accordingly, any stockholders who choose to remain stockholders following the initial business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their shares. Such stockholders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value unless they are able to successfully claim that the reduction was due to the breach by our officers or directors of a duty of care or other fiduciary duty owed to them, or if they are able to successfully bring a private claim under securities laws that the proxy solicitation or tender offer materials, as applicable, relating to the initial business combination constituted an actionable material misstatement or omission.
Our management may not be able to maintain control of a target business after our initial business combination.
We may structure an initial business combination so that the post-transaction company in which our public stockholders own shares will own less than 100% of the 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 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 50% or more of the voting securities of the target, our stockholders prior to the initial business combination may collectively own a minority interest in the post business combination company, depending on valuations ascribed to the target and us in the initial business combination. For example, we could pursue a transaction in which we issue a substantial number of new shares of Class A common stock in exchange for all of the outstanding capital stock of a target. In this case, 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 capital 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 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.
Risks Relating to Potential Conflicts of Interest
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 allocating their time and determining to which entity a particular business opportunity should be presented.
Until we consummate our initial business combination, we intend to engage in the business of identifying and combining with one or more businesses. Our officers and directors are, and may in the future become, affiliated with entities (such as operating companies or investment vehicles) that are engaged in a similar business.
There could be overlap between companies that would be suitable for a business combination with us and companies that present an attractive investment opportunity for our sponsor, our directors or our officers, and entities with which they currently are or may in the future be affiliated.
Our officers and directors also may become aware of business opportunities which may be appropriate for presentation to us and other entities to which they owe certain fiduciary or contractual duties. Any such opportunities may present additional conflicts of interest in pursuing an acquisition target, and our directors and officers may have conflicts of interest in determining to which entity a particular business opportunity should be presented. 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, and to the extent the director or officer is permitted to refer that opportunity to us without violating another legal obligation.
For a discussion of our officers’ and directors’ business affiliations and the potential conflicts of interest that you should be aware of, please see Part III, Item 10. of this report titled “Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance” and Part III, Item 13. of this report titled “Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence.”
Our officers, directors, advisors, securityholders 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, advisors, 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 an initial business combination with a target business that is affiliated with our sponsor, our directors or our officers, although we do not intend to do so. 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.
We may engage in an initial business combination with one or more target businesses that have relationships with entities that may be affiliated with our sponsor, officers, directors, advisors or existing holders which may raise potential conflicts of interest.
In light of the involvement of our sponsor, officers, directors and advisors with other entities, we may decide to acquire one or more businesses with which our sponsor or one or more of our officers or directors is affiliated or in which they or their affiliates have invested or have an economic interest. Our officers and directors also serve as officers and board members for other entities, including, without limitation, those described under their respective biographies in Part I, Item 1. of this report titled “Business - Key Members of Management and Board.” Such entities may compete with us for business combination opportunities. Our sponsor, officers and directors are not currently aware of any specific opportunities for us to complete our initial business combination with any entities with which they are affiliated or have an investment or economic interest, and there have been no preliminary discussions concerning an initial business combination with any such entity or entities. Although we will not be 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 an initial business combination as set forth in the section of our final prospectus filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 2, 2021 titled “Proposed Business-Selection of a Target Business and Structuring of our Initial Business Combination” and such transaction was approved by a majority of our disinterested directors. We may take other appropriate steps consistent with Delaware law to address any potential conflicts of interest. Despite our agreement to obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm regarding the fairness to our company from a financial point of view of an initial business combination with one or more domestic or international businesses affiliated with our sponsor, officers, directors, advisors or existing holders, potential conflicts of interest still may exist and, as a result, the terms of the initial 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 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 issuing equity to any such parties, which may give rise to certain conflicts of interest.
Since our sponsor and its investors will lose their entire at-risk
investment in us if our initial business combination is not completed, a conflict of interest may arise in determining whether a particular business combination target is appropriate for our initial business combination.
On December 14, 2020, our sponsor paid approximately $25,000 to cover certain offering costs in consideration for 8,625,000 founder shares. On January 28, 2021, these founder shares were reclassified and retroactively converted to 8,625,000 shares of Class B common stock. Prior to the initial investment in the company of approximately $25,000 by our sponsor, our company had no assets, tangible or intangible. Such shares will be worthless if we do not complete an initial business combination. In addition, our sponsor purchased an aggregate of 1,035,000 private placement SCALE units at $10.00 per share, for a purchase price of approximately $10,350,000, 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.
In addition, the underwriters for our initial public offering agreed to defer certain commissions in an amount equal to $0.35 per SCALE unit, or $12,075,000, and have agreed to waive their rights to their deferred underwriting commissions held in the trust account in the event we do not complete our initial business combination and subsequently liquidate and, in such event, such amounts will be included with the funds held in the trust account that will be available to fund the redemption of our public shares. Accordingly, to the extent, if any, that the underwriters are involved in identifying and selecting a target business combination or are otherwise involved in the initial business combination, the financial interests of the underwriters may influence their motivation with respect to such involvement.
Risks Relating to Our Securities
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: (i) our completion of an 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, (ii) 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 redemption in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering, or 27 months from the closing of our initial public offering if we have executed a letter of intent, agreement in principle or definitive agreement for an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering or (B) with respect to any other provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial
business combination activity and (iii) the redemption of our public shares if we do not complete an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering, or 27 months from the closing of our initial public offering if we have executed a letter of intent, agreement in principle or definitive agreement for an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering, subject to applicable law and as further described herein. In no other circumstances will a public stockholder have any right or interest of any kind in 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.
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.
Our SCALE units, Class A common stock and warrants are listed on Nasdaq. However, we cannot assure you that our securities will continue to be listed on Nasdaq in the future or prior to our initial business combination. In order to continue listing our securities on Nasdaq prior to our initial business combination, we must maintain certain financial, distribution and stock price levels. In general, we must maintain a minimum amount in stockholders’ equity (generally $2,500,000) and a minimum of 300 public holders. Additionally, in connection with our initial business combination, we are required to demonstrate compliance with Nasdaq’s initial listing requirements, which are more rigorous than Nasdaq’s continued listing requirements, in order to continue to maintain the listing of our securities on Nasdaq. For instance, our stock price would generally be required to be at least $4.00 per share, our stockholders’ equity would generally be required to be at least $5.0 million and we would be required to have a minimum of 300 round lot holders of our unrestricted securities (with at least 50% of such round-lot
holders holding unrestricted securities with a market value of at least $2,500). We cannot assure you that we will be able to meet those initial listing requirements at that time. 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 preempts the states from regulating the sale of certain securities, which are referred to as “covered securities.” Because our SCALE units, Class A common stock and warrants are listed on Nasdaq, our SCALE units, Class A common stock and warrants are covered securities. Although the states are preempted from regulating the sale of our 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 be covered securities and we would be subject to regulation in each state in which we offer our securities, including in connection with our initial business combination.
We previously received a notice of failure to satisfy a continued listing rule from Nasdaq, and while we have since regained compliance with the listing rule, we may in the future fail to comply with applicable Nasdaq rules.
On May 28, 2021, we received a notice, or the Notice, from the Listing Qualifications Department of Nasdaq stating that we were not in compliance with Nasdaq Listing Rule 5250(c)(1), or the Rule, because we did not timely file our Form 10-Q
for the period ended March 31, 2021 with the SEC. The Rule requires listed companies to timely file all required periodic financial reports with the SEC. On June 11, 2021, we filed our Form 10-Q
for the period ended March 31, 2021 and regained compliance with the Rule. We were unable to file the Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q
for the period ended September 30, 2021 by the initial deadline of November 15, 2021, due to the reasons described in the Notification of Late Filing on Form 12b-25,
filed with the SEC on November 16, 2021. While we were able to file the Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q
for the period ended September 30, 2021 within the extension period provided pursuant to SEC rules, there can be no assurance that we will be able to remain in compliance with the Rule or with other Nasdaq listing requirements in the future. If we are unable to remain in compliance with the Rule or with any of the other continued listing requirements, Nasdaq may take steps to delist our securities, which could have adverse results, as described above in: “-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 will not be 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 SCALE units are intended to be used to complete an initial business combination with a target business that has not been identified, we may be deemed to be a “blank check” company under the United States securities laws. However, because we had net tangible assets in excess of $5,000,000 upon the completion of our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement SCALE units, 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 our SCALE units will be immediately tradable and 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 an initial business combination. For a more detailed comparison of our initial public offering to offerings that comply with Rule 419, please see the section of our final prospectus filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 2, 2021 titled “Proposed Business-Comparison of This Offering to Those of Blank Check Companies Subject to Rule 419.”
The securities in which we invest the proceeds held in the trust account could bear a negative rate of interest, which could reduce the interest income available for payment of taxes or reduce the value of the assets held in trust such that the per share redemption amount received by public stockholders may be less than $10.00 per share.
The net proceeds of our initial public offering and certain proceeds from the sale of the private placement SCALE units, in the amount of $345,000,000, are held in an interest-bearing trust account. The proceeds held in the trust account may only be invested in direct U.S. government securities with a maturity of 185 days or less, or in certain money market funds which invest only in direct U.S. Treasury obligations. While short-term U.S. government treasury obligations currently yield a positive rate of interest, they have briefly yielded negative interest rates in recent years. Central banks in Europe and Japan pursued interest rates below zero in recent years, and the Open Market Committee of the Federal Reserve has not ruled out the possibility that it may in the future adopt similar policies in the United States. In the event of very low or negative yields, the amount of interest income (which we may withdraw to pay income taxes, if any) would be reduced. In the event that we are unable to complete our initial business combination, our public stockholders are entitled to receive their share of the proceeds held in the trust account, plus any interest income. If the balance of the trust account is reduced below $345,000,000 as a result of negative interest rates, the amount of funds in the trust account available for distribution to our public stockholders may be reduced below $10.00 per share.
We may not hold an annual meeting of stockholders until after the consummation of our initial business combination, which could delay the opportunity for our stockholders to elect directors.
In accordance with Nasdaq corporate governance requirements, we are not required to hold an annual meeting until no later than one year after our first fiscal year end following our listing on Nasdaq. Under Section 211(b) of the DGCL, we are, however, required to hold an annual meeting of stockholders for the purposes of electing directors in accordance with our amended and restated bylaws unless such election is made by written consent in lieu of such a meeting. We may not hold an annual meeting of stockholders to elect new directors prior to the consummation of our initial business combination, and thus we may not be in compliance with Section 211 of the DGCL, which requires an annual meeting be held no later than 13 months after the latest to occur of the organization of the corporation, its last annual meeting, or the last action by written consent to elect directors in lieu of an annual meeting. Therefore, if our stockholders want us to hold an annual meeting prior to our consummation of a business combination, they may attempt to force us to hold one by submitting an application to the Delaware Court of Chancery in accordance with Section 211(c) of the DGCL.
Holders of Class A common stock will not be entitled to vote on any election of directors we hold prior to our initial business combination and, upon consummation of our initial business combination, our sponsor will have certain rights to designate individuals for nomination for election as directors.
Prior to our initial business combination, only holders of our shares of Class B common stock will have the right to vote on the election of directors. Holders of our public shares will not be entitled to vote on the election of directors during such time. In addition, prior to the completion of an initial business combination, holders of a majority of our shares of Class B common stock may remove a member of the board of directors for any reason. Accordingly, you may not have any say in the management of our company prior to the consummation of an initial business combination.
Further, following completion of our initial business combination, our sponsor will be entitled to designate three individuals for nomination for election to our board of directors pursuant to a registration and stockholder rights agreement. This may result in such holder having significant control over our business.
We are not registering the Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants under the Securities Act or any state securities laws at this time, 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 and causing such warrants to expire worthless.
We are not registering the Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants under the Securities Act or any state securities laws at this time. However, under the terms of the warrant agreement, we have agreed to use our commercially reasonable efforts to file a registration statement under the Securities Act covering such shares and to maintain the effectiveness of such registration statement and a current prospectus relating to the Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants until the expiration or redemption of the warrants in accordance with the provisions of the warrant agreement. We may not 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, unless an exemption is available. Notwithstanding the above, if our shares of Class A common stock are at the time of any exercise of a warrant not listed on a national securities exchange such that they do not satisfy the definition of a “covered security” under Section 18(b)(1) of the Securities Act, we may, at our option, require holders of 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 best 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 the Securities Act or applicable state securities laws. 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 will 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 SCALE units will have paid the full SCALE unit purchase price solely for the Class A common stock included in the SCALE units. 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.
Our ability to require holders of our warrants to exercise such warrants on a cashless basis after we call the warrants for redemption or if there is no effective registration statement covering the Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of these warrants will cause holders to receive fewer shares of Class A common stock upon their exercise of the warrants than they would have received had they been able to pay the exercise price of their warrants in cash.
If we call the warrants for redemption for cash, we will have the option, in our sole discretion, to require all holders that wish to exercise warrants to do so on a cashless basis. If we choose to require holders to exercise their warrants on a cashless basis or if holders elect to do so when there is no effective registration statement, the number of shares of Class A common stock received by a holder upon exercise will be fewer than it would have been had such holder exercised his or her warrant for cash.
For example, if the holder is exercising 875 warrants at $11.50 per share through a cashless exercise when the shares of Class A common stock have a fair market value of $17.50 per share, then upon the cashless exercise, the holder will receive 300 shares of Class A common stock. The holder would have received 875 shares of Class A common stock if the exercise price was paid in cash. This will have the effect of reducing the potential “upside” of the holder’s investment in our company because the warrant holder will hold a smaller number of shares of Class A common stock upon a cashless exercise of the warrants they hold.
The warrants may become exercisable and redeemable for a security other than the shares of Class A common stock, and you will not have any information regarding such other security at this time.
In certain situations, including if we are not the surviving entity in our initial business combination, the warrants may become exercisable for a security other than the shares of Class A common stock. As a result, if the surviving company redeems your warrants for securities pursuant to the warrant agreement, you may receive a security in a company of which you do not have information at this time. Pursuant to the warrant agreement, the surviving company will be required to use commercially reasonable efforts to register the issuance of the security underlying the warrants within 20 business days of the closing of an initial business combination.
The grant of registration rights to our sponsor 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 an agreement entered into concurrently with the issuance and sale of the securities in our initial public offering, our sponsor and its permitted transferees can demand that we register its shares of Class B common stock, the shares of Class A common stock into which its shares of Class B common stock are convertible, the private placement SCALE units, the private placement shares, the private placement warrants and the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of the private placement warrants, and holders of SCALE units that may be issued upon conversion of working capital loans may demand that we register such SCALE units. 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 conclude. 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 owned by our sponsor or holders of working capital loans or their respective permitted transferees are registered.
Any stockholders who choose to remain stockholders following our initial business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their securities.
We will seek to complete an initial business combination with companies in the CSSP sector, but may also pursue other business combination opportunities, except that we will not, under our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, be permitted to effectuate our initial business combination with another blank check company or similar company with nominal operations. Because we have not yet selected any specific target business with respect to a business combination, there is no basis to evaluate the possible merits or risks of any particular target business’s operations, results of operations, cash flows, liquidity, financial condition or prospects. 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. See “-We
may seek business combination opportunities with a financially unstable business or an entity lacking an established record of revenue, cash flow or earnings, which could subject us to volatile revenues, cash flows or earnings or difficulty in retaining key personnel.” We also cannot assure you that an investment in our SCALE units 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 who choose to remain stockholders following our initial business combination could suffer a reduction in the value of their securities. Such stockholders are unlikely to have a remedy for such reduction in value unless they are able to successfully claim that the reduction was due to the breach by our officers or directors of a duty of care or other fiduciary duty owed to them, or if they are able to successfully bring a private claim under securities laws that the proxy solicitation or tender offer materials, as applicable, relating to the business combination contained an actionable material misstatement or material omission.
Our sponsor holds a substantial interest in us and will control the appointment of our board of directors until consummation of our initial business combination. As a result, our sponsor will appoint 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 sponsor owns shares of our common stock that represent, on an as-converted
to Class A common stock basis, approximately 21.9% of our outstanding capital stock immediately following the completion of our initial public offering (including the private placement shares).
Accordingly, our sponsor may exert a substantial influence on 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 sponsor purchases any additional shares of Class A common stock in the aftermarket or in privately negotiated transactions, this would increase its control. 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, prior to our initial business combination, our sponsor will have the right to appoint all of our directors and may remove members of the board of directors for any reason. Holders of our public shares will have no right to vote on the appointment of directors during such time. These provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation may only be amended with the approval of holders of a majority of the shares of Class B common stock. As a result, you will not have any influence over, and our sponsor will continue to exert control over, the appointment of directors prior to our initial business combination.
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 (at a ratio different than initially provided), 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 are issued in registered form under a warrant agreement between AST, 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 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 Class A common stock purchasable upon exercise of a warrant.
A provision of our warrant agreement may make it more difficult for us to consummate an initial business combination.
If (i) 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 (as defined in the warrant agreement) of less than $9.20 per share; (ii) 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 consummation of our initial business combination (net of redemptions), and (iii) the Market Value (as defined in the warrant agreement) is below $9.20 per share, then the exercise price of the warrants will be adjusted 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 prices described in the section of our final prospectus filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 2, 2021 titled “Description of Securities-Warrants” will be adjusted (to the nearest cent) to be equal to 180% of the higher of the Market Value and the Newly Issued Price, and the $10.00 per share redemption trigger price will be adjusted (to the nearest cent) to be equal to 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.
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, provided that the closing price of our Class A common stock equals or exceeds $18.00 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, rights issuances, subdivisions, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) for any 20 trading days within a 30 trading day period ending on the third trading day prior to proper notice of such redemption and provided that certain other conditions are met. 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 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 (i) exercise your warrants and pay the exercise price therefor at a time when it may be disadvantageous for you to do so, (ii) sell your warrants at the then-current market price when you might otherwise wish to hold your warrants or (iii) accept the nominal redemption price which, at the time the outstanding warrants are called for redemption, is likely to be substantially less than the market value of your warrants. In addition, we may redeem your warrants at any time after they become exercisable and prior to their expiration at a price of $0.10 per
warrant upon a minimum of 30 days’ prior written notice of redemption provided that the closing price of our Class A common stock equals or exceeds $10.00 per share (as adjusted for stock splits, stock dividends, rights issuances, subdivisions, reorganizations, recapitalizations and the like) on the trading day before we send the notice of redemption to the warrant holders and provided that during the 30 day period following delivery of such notice holders will be able to exercise their warrants prior to redemption for a number of shares of Class A common stock determined based on the redemption date and the fair market value of our Class A common stock. 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 because the number of shares of Class A common stock 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 our officers or directors (or its or their permitted transferees).
Our warrants and shares of Class B common stock may have an adverse effect on the market price of our Class A common stock and make it more difficult to effectuate our initial business combination.
We issued warrants to purchase 6,900,000 shares of our Class A common stock as part of the SCALE units offered in our initial public offering and, simultaneously with the closing of our initial public offering, we issued in a private placement 1,035,000 SCALE units that consist of 1,035,000 shares of Class A common stock and private placement warrants to purchase an aggregate of 207,000 shares of Class A common stock. In addition, if the sponsor makes any working capital loans, it may convert up to $1,500,000 of such loans into private placement SCALE units, at the price of $10.00 per private placement SCALE unit. Our warrants are also redeemable by us for Class A common stock. To the extent we issue common stock to effectuate a business transaction, the potential for the issuance of a substantial number of additional shares of Class A common stock upon exercise of these warrants could make us a less attractive acquisition vehicle to a target business. Such warrants, when exercised, will increase the number of issued and outstanding shares of Class A common stock and reduce the value of the Class A common stock issued to complete the business transaction. Therefore, our warrants and private placement securities may make it more difficult to effectuate a business transaction or increase the cost of acquiring the target business.
The private placement warrants are identical to the warrants sold as part of the SCALE units in our initial public offering except that, so long as they are held by our sponsor or our officers or directors (or its or their permitted transferees), (i) they will not be redeemable by us, (ii) they (including the Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of these warrants) may not, subject to certain limited exceptions, be transferred, assigned or sold by our sponsor until 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination, (iii) they may be exercised by the holders on a cashless basis, (iv) they will not be exercisable more than five years from March 1, 2021 and (v) they will be entitled to registration rights.
Because each SCALE unit contains one-fifth
of one redeemable warrant and only a whole warrant may be exercised, the SCALE units may be worth less than units of other blank check companies.
Each SCALE unit contains one-fifth
of one redeemable warrant. No fractional warrants will be issued upon separation of the SCALE units and only whole warrants will trade. Accordingly, unless you hold at least five SCALE units, you will not be able to receive or trade a whole warrant. This is different from other offerings similar to ours whose units include one share of common stock and one warrant to purchase one whole share. We have established the components of the SCALE units in this way in order to reduce the dilutive effect of the warrants upon completion of an initial business combination since the warrants will be exercisable in the aggregate for one-fifth
of the number of shares compared to SCALE units that each contain a whole warrant to purchase one share, thus making us, we believe, a more attractive merger partner for target businesses. Nevertheless, this SCALE unit structure may cause our SCALE units to be worth less than if they included a warrant to purchase one whole share.
The determination of the offering price of our SCALE units and the size of our initial public offering was more arbitrary than the pricing of securities and size of an offering of an operating company in a particular industry. You may have less assurance, therefore, that the offering price of our SCALE units properly reflects the value of such SCALE units than you would have in a typical offering of an operating company.
Prior to our initial public offering there was no public market for any of our securities. The public offering price of the SCALE units and the terms of the warrants were negotiated between us and the underwriters. In determining the size of our initial public offering, management held customary organizational meetings with the underwriters, both prior to our inception and thereafter, with respect to the state of capital markets, generally, and the amount the underwriters believed they reasonably could raise on our behalf. Factors considered in determining the size of our initial public offering, prices and terms of the SCALE units, including the Class A common stock and warrants underlying the SCALE units, include:
•
the history and prospects of companies whose principal business is the acquisition of other companies;
•
prior offerings of those companies;
•
our prospects for acquiring an operating business;
•
a review of debt to equity ratios in leveraged transactions;
•
our capital structure;
•
an assessment of our management and their experience in identifying operating companies;
•
general conditions of the securities markets at the time of our initial public offering; and
•
other factors as were deemed relevant.
Although these factors were considered, the determination of our initial public offering price was more arbitrary than the pricing of securities of an operating company in a particular industry since we have limited historical operations or financial results.
An active market for our securities may never develop or, if developed, it may not be sustained, which would adversely affect the liquidity and price of our securities.
Prior to our initial public offering, there was no market for our securities. Following our initial public offering, the price of our securities has varied and may continue to vary significantly due to one or more potential business combinations and general market or economic conditions. Furthermore, an active trading market for our securities may never develop or, if developed, it may not be sustained. You may be unable to sell your securities unless a market can be established and sustained.
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 the ability of the board of directors to designate the terms of and issue new series of preferred stock, and the fact that prior to the completion of our initial business combination, only holders of shares of our Class B common stock will vote for the election of directors, which may make the removal of management more difficult 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 the removal of management more difficult 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 provides, to the fullest extent permitted by law, that the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware and the federal district courts of the United States are the exclusive forums for substantially all disputes between us and our stockholders, which could limit our stockholders’ ability to obtain a favorable judicial forum for disputes with us or our directors, officers or employees, and which may have the effect of discouraging lawsuits against our directors, officers or employees.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that, to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, the Court of Chancery of the State of Delaware will be the exclusive forum for any derivative action or proceeding brought on our behalf; any action asserting a breach of fiduciary duty; any action asserting a claim against us arising under the Delaware General Corporation Law, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or our amended and restated bylaws; and any action asserting a claim against us or our directors, officers or employees that is governed by the internal affairs doctrine. This exclusive forum provision will not apply to suits brought to enforce any duty or liability created by the Exchange Act or any other claim for which the federal courts have exclusive jurisdiction.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation further provides that, to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, the federal district courts of the United States will be the exclusive forum for resolving any complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act. The enforceability of similar exclusive federal forum provisions in other companies’ organizational documents has been challenged in legal proceedings, and while the Delaware Supreme Court and certain other state courts have ruled that this type of exclusive federal forum provision is facially valid under Delaware law, there is uncertainty as to whether other courts would enforce such provisions and that investors cannot waive compliance with the federal securities laws and the rules and regulations thereunder. The foregoing provisions would not apply to suits brought to enforce a duty or liability created by the Exchange Act or any other claim for which the U.S. federal courts have exclusive jurisdiction.
These exclusive forum provisions may limit a stockholder’s ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum that it finds favorable for disputes with us or our directors, officers or other employees, which may discourage such lawsuits against us and our directors, officers and other employees. Alternatively, if a court were to find either exclusive forum provision in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation to be inapplicable or unenforceable in an action, we may incur further significant additional costs associated with resolving such action in other jurisdictions, all of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
Since only holders of our shares of Class B common stock will have the right to vote on the election of directors, upon the listing of our shares on Nasdaq, Nasdaq may consider us to be a “controlled company” within the meaning of Nasdaq rules and, as a result, we may qualify for exemptions from certain corporate governance requirements.
Only holders of our shares of Class B common stock will have the right to vote on the election of directors. As a result, Nasdaq may consider us to be a “controlled company” within the meaning of the Nasdaq corporate governance standards. Under Nasdaq corporate governance standards, a company of which more than 50% of the voting power is held by an individual, group or another company is a “controlled company” and may elect not to comply with certain corporate governance requirements, including the requirements that:
•
we have a board that includes a majority of “independent directors,” as defined under the rules of Nasdaq;
•
we have a compensation committee of our board that is comprised entirely of independent directors with a written charter addressing the committee’s purpose and responsibilities; and
•
to the extent we have one, we have a nominating and corporate governance committee of our board that is comprised entirely of independent directors with a written charter addressing the committee’s purpose and responsibilities.
We do not intend to utilize these exemptions and intend to comply with the corporate governance requirements of Nasdaq, subject to applicable phase-in
rules. However, if we determine in the future to utilize some or all of these exemptions, you will not have the same protections afforded to stockholders of companies that are subject to all of Nasdaq corporate governance requirements.
An investment in our securities may result in uncertain or adverse U.S. federal income tax consequences.
An investment in our securities may result in uncertain U.S. federal income tax consequences. For instance, because there are no authorities that directly address instruments similar to the SCALE units, the allocation an investor makes with respect to the purchase price of a SCALE unit between the share of Class A common stock and the one-fifth
of one redeemable warrant to purchase one share of our Class A common stock included in each SCALE unit could be challenged by the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, or the IRS, or the courts. Furthermore, the U.S. federal income tax consequences of a cashless exercise of warrants included in the SCALE units are unclear under current law. Finally, it is unclear whether the redemption rights with respect to our shares of common stock suspend the running of a U.S. holder’s holding period for purposes of determining whether any gain or loss realized by such holder on the sale or exchange of common stock is long-term capital gain or loss and for determining whether any dividend we pay would be considered “qualified dividends” for U.S. federal income tax purposes. Prospective investors are urged to consult their tax advisors with respect to the tax consequences applicable to their specific circumstances when purchasing, holding or disposing of our securities.
General Risk Factors
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 aggregate worldwide market value of our Class A common stock held by non-affiliates
equals or exceeds $700 million as of any June 30 before that time, in which case we would no longer be an emerging growth company as of the following December 31. 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 an 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
equals or exceeds $250 million as of the prior June 30, or (2) our annual revenues equal or exceed $100 million during such completed fiscal year and the market value of our common stock held by non-affiliates
equals or exceeds $700 million as of the prior June 30. To the extent we take advantage of such reduced disclosure obligations, it may also make comparison of our financial statements and other disclosures with other public companies difficult or impossible.
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 and, in particular, our officers, directors and advisors. 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.
Cyber incidents or attacks directed at us could result in information theft, data corruption, operational disruption and/or financial loss.
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 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 security protection, we may not be sufficiently protected against such occurrences. We may not have sufficient resources to adequately protect against, or to investigate and remediate any vulnerability to, cyber incidents. It is possible that any of these occurrences, or a combination of them, could have adverse consequences on our business and lead to financial loss.
If we effect our initial business combination with a company with operations or opportunities outside of the United States, we would be subject to a variety of additional risks that may negatively impact our operations.
If we effect our initial business combination with a company with operations or opportunities outside of the United States, we would be subject to any special considerations or risks associated with companies operating in an international setting, including any of the following:
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higher costs and difficulties inherent in managing cross-border business operations and complying with different commercial and legal requirements of overseas markets;
•
rules and regulations regarding currency redemption;
•
complex corporate withholding taxes on individuals;
•
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 and challenges in collecting accounts receivable;
•
tax issues, including but not limited to tax law changes and variations in tax laws as compared to the United States;
•
currency fluctuations and exchange controls;
•
rates of inflation;
•
cultural and language differences;
•
employment regulations;
•
data privacy;
•
changes in industry, regulatory or environmental standards within the jurisdictions where we operate;
•
public health or safety concerns and governmental restrictions, including those caused by outbreaks of pandemic disease such as the COVID-19
pandemic;
•
crime, strikes, riots, civil disturbances, terrorist attacks, natural disasters and wars;
•
deterioration of political relations with the United States; and
•
government appropriations of assets.
We may not be able to adequately address these additional risks. If we were unable to do so, our operations might suffer, which may adversely impact our results of operations and financial condition.

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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 do not own any real estate or other physical properties materially important to our operation.
Our executive offices are located at 101 Second Street, Suite 1275, San Francisco, California 94105, and our telephone number is (510) 306-7780. Our executive offices are provided to us by our sponsor. We consider our current office space adequate for our current operations.

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ITEM 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS
Item 3.
Legal Proceedings.
To the knowledge of our management, there is no litigation currently pending against us, any of our officers or directors in their capacity as such or against any of our property.

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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.
Market Information
Our SCALE units, Class A common stock and warrants are each traded on the Nasdaq Capital Market under the symbols “NDACU,” “NDAC” and “NDACW,” respectively. Our units commenced public trading on March 4, 2021. Our Class A common stock and warrants began separate trading on April 22, 2021.
Holders
As of December 31, 2021, there was one holder of record of our SCALE units, one holder of record of our Class A common stock, one holder of record of our Class B common stock and one holder of record of our warrants.
Dividends
We have not paid or declared 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 the board of directors at such time. Our board of directors is not currently contemplating and does not anticipate declaring any stock dividends in the foreseeable future.
Securities Authorized for Issuance Under Equity Compensation Plans
None.
Recent Sales of Unregistered Equity Securities
None.
Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities
None.
Use of Proceeds
On March 4, 2021, we consummated our initial public offering of 34,500,000 SCALE units, which included 4,500,000 units issued pursuant to the full exercise by the underwriters of their over-allotment option. The SCALE units were sold at a price of $10.00 per SCALE unit, generating gross proceeds to us of $345,000,000. The securities sold in the offering were registered under the Securities Act on registration statement on Form S-1
(No.333-252909).
The SEC declared the registration statement effective on March 1, 2021.
Simultaneously with the closing of our initial public offering, we consummated the private placement of an aggregate of 1,035,000 SCALE units at a price of $10.00 per SCALE Unit, sold to our sponsor, generating total proceeds of $10,350,000. The issuance was made pursuant to the exemption from registration contained in Section 4(a)(2) of the Securities Act.
Of the gross proceeds received from the initial public offering, the exercise of the over-allotment option and the private placement SCALE Units, an aggregate of $345,000,000 was placed in a trust account.
Transaction costs for the initial public offering amounted to a total of $19,601,538, consisting of $6,900,000 of underwriting fees, $12,075,000 of deferred underwriting fees and $626,538 for other costs and expenses related to the initial public offering.
There has been no material change in the planned use of the proceeds from the initial public offering and the sale of the private placement warrants as is described in our final prospectus related to the initial public offering. For a description of the use of the proceeds generated in our initial public offering, see Part II, Item 7 of this Form 10-K.

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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 on Form 10-K.
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 on Form 10-K.
Overview
We are a blank check company incorporated under the laws of the State of Delaware on December 8, 2020 for the purpose of effectuating a merger, capital stock exchange, asset acquisition, stock purchase, reorganization or other similar business combination with one or more businesses, collectively referred to as the Business Combination. We intend to effectuate our Business Combination using cash from the proceeds of our initial public offering, or the Initial Public Offering, and the sale of the private placement SCALE units, or the Private Placement SCALE Units, 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 a Business Combination will be successful.
Results of Operations
We have neither engaged in any operations nor generated any revenues to date. Our only activities from December 8, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2021 were organizational activities, those necessary to prepare for the Initial Public Offering, described below, and 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, or the Trust Account. 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, 2021, we had net income of $2,275,306 which consists of the change in fair value of warrant liability of $4,346,302 and interest earned on marketable securities held in the Trust Account of $30,690 offset by operating and formation costs of $1,491,240, transaction cost allocated to warrants of $579,585, and compensation expense allocated to warrants of $30,861.
For the period from December 8, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020, we had net loss of $5,000 which consisted of formation and operational costs.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
On March 4, 2021, we consummated the Initial Public Offering of 34,500,000 SCALE (Stakeholder-Centered Aligned Listed Equity) Units, which includes the full exercise by the underwriter of its over-allotment option in the amount of 4,500,000 SCALE Units, at $10.00 per SCALE Unit, generating gross proceeds of $345,000,000. Simultaneously with the closing of the Initial Public Offering, we consummated the sale of 1,035,000 Private Placement SCALE Units at a price of $10.00 per Private Placement SCALE Unit in a private placement to NightDragon Acquisition Sponsor, LLC, generating gross proceeds of $10,350,000.
Following the Initial Public Offering, the full exercise of the over-allotment option, and the sale of the Private Placement SCALE Units, a total of $345,000,000 was placed in the Trust Account. We incurred $19,601,538 in Initial Public Offering related costs, including $6,900,000 of underwriting fees, $12,075,000 of deferred underwriting fees and $626,538 of other offering costs.
For the year ended December 31, 2021, cash used in operating activities was $1,745,543. Net income of $2,275,306 was affected by change (non-cash
gain) in fair value of warrant liability of $4,346,302, transaction costs associated with the Initial Public Offering of $579,585, compensation expense allocated to warrants of $30,861, and interest income on marketable securities held in the Trust Account of $30,690. Changes in operating assets and liabilities used $254,303 of cash for operating activities.
For the period from December 8, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020, cash used in operating activities was $0. Net loss of $5,000 was offset by the changes in operating assets and liabilities.
As of December 31, 2021, we had marketable securities held in the Trust Account of $345,030,690 (including approximately $30,690 of interest income) consisting of U.S. Treasury Bills with a maturity of 185 days or less. Interest income on the balance in the Trust Account may be used by us to pay taxes. Through December 31, 2021, we have not withdrawn any interest earned from the Trust Account.
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 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, 2021, we had cash of $1,102,919. 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 SCALE Units at a price of $10.00 per SCALE Unit, at the option of the lender. The SCALE Units would be identical to the Private Placement SCALE Units.
We do not believe we will need to raise additional funds in order to meet the expenditures required for operating our business. However, 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.
Off-Balance
Sheet Financing Arrangements
We have no obligations, assets or liabilities, which would be considered off-balance
sheet arrangements as of December 31, 2021. 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.
Liquidity and Going Concern
We may need to raise additional capital through loans or additional investments from our Sponsor, or an affiliate of our Sponsor, shareholders, officers or directors, or third parties. Our officers, directors and Sponsor may, but are not obligated to loan us additional funds, from time to time or at any time, in whatever amount they deem reasonable in their sole discretion, to meet our working capital needs. Accordingly, we may not be able to obtain such additional financing. If we are unable to raise such additional capital, we may be required to take additional measures to conserve liquidity, which could include, but not necessarily be limited to, curtailing operations, suspending the pursuit of a potential transaction, and reducing overhead expenses. We cannot provide any assurance that new financing will be available to us on commercially acceptable terms, if at all. These conditions raise substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern. Management’s plans in regard to these matters are also described in Note 1. The financial statements do not include any adjustments that might result from the outcome of this uncertainty.
In connection with our assessment of going concern considerations in accordance with Financial Accounting Standard Board (the “FASB”)’s Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) 2014-15, “Disclosures of Uncertainties about an Entity’s Ability to Continue as a Going Concern,” have until March 4, 2023 to consummate an initial business combination, or June 4, 2023 if we have executed a letter of intent, agreement in principle or definitive agreement for an initial business combination by March 4, 2023. It is uncertain that we will be able to consummate an initial business combination by this time or any extended deadline, if approved. If an initial business combination is not consummated by our initial deadline date or an extended deadline date (if approved), there will be a mandatory liquidation and subsequent dissolution of our company. Management has determined that the mandatory liquidation, should an initial business combination not occur and an extension is not requested by our sponsor, and potential subsequent dissolution raises substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern. No adjustments have been made to the carrying amounts of assets or liabilities should we be required to liquidate after March 4, 2023.
Contractual Obligations
We do not have any long-term debt, capital lease obligations, operating lease obligations or long-term liabilities.
The underwriters are entitled to a deferred fee of $0.35 per SCALE Unit, or $12,075,000 in the aggregate. The deferred fee will become payable to the underwriters from the amounts held in the Trust Account solely in the event that we complete a Business Combination, subject to the terms of the underwriting agreement.
Critical Accounting Policies
The preparation of 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 815-40-15-7D
and 7F 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 statement of operations. The Private Placement Warrants and the Public Warrants for periods where no observable traded price was available are valued using a Monte Carlo simulation. 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.
Class A 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.” Shares of Class A 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, shares of Class A Common Stock subject to possible redemption is presented at redemption value as temporary equity, outside of the stockholders’ equity section of our balance sheet.
Net Income (Loss) Per Common Share
Net income (loss) per share of common stock is computed by dividing net income (loss) by the weighted average number of share of common stock outstanding for the period. The Company applies the two-class
method in calculating earnings per share. Accretion associated with the redeemable shares of Class A common stock is excluded from earnings per share as the redemption value approximates fair value. The Company complies with accounting and disclosure requirements of FASB ASC Topic 260, “Earnings Per Share.”
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 Company is currently assessing the impact, if any, that ASU 2020-06
would have on its financial position, results of operations or cash flows. Management does not believe that any other recently issued, but not yet effective, accounting standards, if currently adopted, would have a material effect on our 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.
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, 2021. 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 U.S. generally accepted accounting principles. Accordingly, management believes that the financial statements included in this Form 10-K
present fairly in all material respects our financial position, results of operations and cash flows for the period presented.
Management has implemented remediation steps to improve our internal control over financial reporting. Specifically, we expanded and improved our review process for complex financial instruments and related accounting standards. We plan to further improve this process by enhancing access to accounting literature, identification of third-party professionals with whom to consult regarding complex accounting applications and consideration of additional staff with the requisite experience and training to supplement existing accounting professionals.
Management’s Report on Internal Controls Over Financial Reporting
This Annual Report on Form 10-K
does not include a report of management’s assessment regarding internal control over financial reporting or an attestation report of our independent registered public accounting firm due to a transition period established by rules of the SEC for newly public companies.
Changes in Internal Control over Financial Reporting
The Company has made changes in its internal control over financial reporting to enhance our processes to identify and appropriately apply applicable accounting requirements to better evaluate and understand the nuances of the complex accounting standards that apply to our condensed consolidated financial statements, including providing enhanced access to accounting literature, research materials and documents and increased communication among our personnel and third-party professionals with whom we consult regarding complex accounting applications. The Company can offer no assurance that these changes will ultimately have the intended effects.

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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
As of the date of this Report, our directors and officers are as follows:
Name
Age
Title
David G. DeWalt
Director, Chairman of the Board of Directors
Mark Garrett
Director, Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors(1)(2)(3)
Kenneth Gonzalez
Director(1)(2)(3)
Barbara Massa
Director(1)
Morgan Kyauk
Chief Executive Officer and Corporate Secretary
Steve Simonian
Chief Financial Officer
(1) Member of the audit committee
(2) Member of the compensation committee
(3) Member of the nominating and corporate governance committee
See “Item 1. Business-Key Members of Management and Board” for biographies of each of Mr. DeWalt, Mr. Garrett, Mr. Gonzalez, Ms. Massa, Mr. Kyauk and Mr. Simonian.
Number and Terms of Office of Officers and Directors
Our board of directors consists of four members, with each director holding office for a one-year
term. Prior to the completion of an initial business combination, any vacancy on the board of directors may be filled by a nominee chosen by holders of a majority of the Class B common stock. In addition, prior to the completion of an initial business combination, holders of a majority of our Class B common stock may remove a member of the board of directors for any reason.
Following completion of our initial business combination, our sponsor will be entitled to designate three individuals for nomination for election to our board of directors pursuant to a registration and stockholder rights agreement.
Our officers are appointed by the board of directors and serve at the discretion of the board of directors.
Compensation Paid to Members of the Board of Directors
None of our directors are compensated for their service on our board of directors.
Director Independence
Nasdaq listing rules require that a majority of our board of directors be independent. 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. Our board of directors has determined that each of Mark Garrett, Ken Gonzalez and Barbara Massa are independent directors under applicable SEC and Nasdaq listing rules. Our independent directors have regularly scheduled meetings at which only independent directors are present.
Committees of the Board of Directors
Our board of directors has three standing committees: an audit committee, a nominating and corporate governance committee and a compensation committee. Subject to phase-in
rules and a limited exception, the rules of Nasdaq and Rule 10A-3
of the Exchange Act require that the audit committee of a listed company be comprised solely of independent directors. Subject to phase-in
rules and a limited exception, the rules of Nasdaq require that the compensation committee of a listed company be comprised solely of independent directors. Each committee operates under a charter that has been approved by our board and has the composition and responsibilities described below.
Audit Committee
We have established an audit committee of the board of directors. Under Nasdaq listing standards and applicable SEC rules, we are required to have at least three members of the audit committee, all of whom must be independent, subject to certain phase-in
provisions. The members of our audit committee are Mark Garrett, Ken Gonzalez and Barbara Massa. Mark Garrett serves as chairman of the audit committee. Our board of directors has determined that each of Mark Garrett, Ken Gonzalez and Barbara Massa are independent.
We have adopted an audit committee charter, which details the purpose and principal functions of the audit committee, including:
•
selecting, retaining, compensating, evaluating, overseeing and, where appropriate, terminating our independent registered public accounting firm;
•
reviewing and approving the scope and plans for the audits and the audit fees and approve all non-audit
and tax services to be performed by the independent audit;
•
evaluating the independence and qualification of the independent registered public accounting firm;
•
reviewing internal controls and integrity of financial statements;
•
reviewing financial information presentation, earnings press releases and guidance;
•
overseeing the design, implementation and performance of our internal audit function, if any;
•
setting hiring policies with regard to the hiring of employees and former employees of our independent auditor and oversee compliance with such policies;
•
reviewing, approving and monitoring related party transactions;
•
adopting and overseeing procedures to address complaints regarding accounting, internal accounting controls or auditing matters;
•
reviewing and discussing with our management and the independent auditor our compliance with various laws;
•
reviewing and discussing with management our independent auditor guidelines and policies to identify, monitor, and address enterprise risks;
•
engaging independent legal, accounting and other advisors;
•
providing appropriate funding for compensation to independent registered accounting firm, advisors and related expenses; and
•
reviewing the adequacy of the audit committee charter and recommend any proposed changes to our board of directors.
Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee
We have established a nominating and corporate governance committee of the board of directors. The members of our nominating and corporate governance committee are Mark Garrett and Ken Gonzalez. Ken Gonzalez serves as chairman of the nominating and corporate governance committee. Our board of directors has determined that each of Mark Garrett and Ken Gonzalez are independent.
The nominating and corporate governance committee is responsible for overseeing the selection of persons to be nominated to serve on our board of directors. The nominating and corporate governance committee considers persons identified by its members, management, stockholders, investment bankers and others.
Guidelines for selecting director nominees
The guidelines for selecting nominees, which are specified in a charter to be adopted by us, generally provide that persons to be nominated:
•
should have demonstrated notable or significant achievements in business, education or public service;
•
should possess the requisite intelligence, education and experience to make a significant contribution to the board of directors and bring a range of skills, diverse perspectives and backgrounds to its deliberations; and
•
should have the highest ethical standards, a strong sense of professionalism and intense dedication to serving the interests of the stockholders.
The nominating and corporate governance committee considers a number of qualifications relating to management and leadership experience, background and integrity and professionalism in evaluating a person’s candidacy for membership on the board of directors. The nominating and corporate governance committee may require certain skills or attributes, such as financial or accounting experience, to meet specific board needs that arise from time to time and will also consider the overall experience and makeup of its members to obtain a broad and diverse mix of board members. The nominating and corporate governance committee does not distinguish among nominees recommended by stockholders and other persons.
Compensation Committee
We have established a compensation committee of the board of directors. The members of our compensation committee are Mark Garrett and Ken Gonzalez. Ken Gonzalez will serve as chairman of the compensation committee. Our board of directors has determined that each of Mark Garrett and Ken Gonzalez are independent.
We have adopted a compensation committee charter, which details the purpose and responsibility of the compensation committee, including:
•
reviewing and approving the corporate goals and objectives applicable to the compensation of our chief executive officer;
•
reviewing and approving the compensation and benefits for our executive officers;
•
reviewing, approving, and administering employee compensation plans;
•
advising on proposals to stockholders on executive compensation matters;
•
overseeing compensation plans and programs;
•
reviewing and discussing our compensation policies and practices and the risks related thereto;
•
monitoring compliance with any stock ownership guidelines;
•
approving the creation or revision of any clawback policy allowing us to recoup compensation paid to employees;
•
overseeing regulatory compliance with respect to compensation matters;
•
retaining or obtaining the advice of compensation consultants; and
•
reviewing the adequacy of the compensation committee charter and recommend any proposed changes to our board of directors.
Code of Business Conduct and Ethics
We have adopted a Code of Business Conduct and Ethics applicable to our directors, officers and employees, a copy of which is available on our corporate website at https://www.ndac.com. In addition, a copy of the Code of Business Conduct and Ethics will be provided without charge upon request from us. We intend to disclose any amendments to or waivers of certain provisions of our Code of Business Conduct and Ethics in a Current Report on Form 8-K.
See “Where You Can Find Additional Information.”
Corporate Governance Guidelines
Our board of directors has adopted corporate governance guidelines in accordance with the corporate governance rules of Nasdaq that serve as a flexible framework within which our board of directors and its committees operate. These guidelines cover a number of areas, including board membership criteria and director qualifications, director responsibilities, board agenda, roles of the chairman of the board, chief executive officer and presiding director, meetings of independent directors, committee responsibilities and assignments, board member access to management and independent advisors, director communications with third parties, director compensation, director orientation and continuing education, evaluation of senior management and management succession planning. A copy of our corporate governance guidelines will be posted on our website.
Compliance with Section 16(a) of the Exchange Act
Section 16(a) of the Exchange Act requires our executive officers, directors and persons who beneficially own more than 10% of a registered class of our equity securities to file with the SEC initial reports of ownership and reports of changes in ownership of our common stock and other equity securities. These executive officers, directors, and greater than 10% beneficial owners are required by SEC regulation to furnish us with copies of all Section 16(a) forms filed by such reporting persons. Based solely on our review of such forms furnished to us and written representations from certain reporting persons, we believe that all reports applicable to our executive officers, directors and greater than 10% beneficial owners were filed in a timely manner in accordance with Section 16(a) of the Exchange Act.

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ITEM 11. EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION
Item 11.
Executive Compensation.
None of our officers has received any cash compensation for services rendered to us. No other compensation of any kind, including any finder’s fee, reimbursement, consulting fee or monies in respect of any payment of a loan, will be paid by us to our sponsor, officers and directors, or any affiliate of our sponsor or officers, prior to, or in connection with, any services rendered in order to effectuate the consummation of our initial business combination (regardless of the type of transaction that it is). However, these individuals will be 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. We do not have a policy that prohibits our sponsor, officers or directors, or any of their respective affiliates, from negotiating for the reimbursement of out-of-pocket
expenses by a target business. Our audit committee reviews on a quarterly basis all payments that were made to our sponsor, officers or directors, or our or their affiliates. Any such payments prior to an initial business combination will be made using funds held outside the trust account. Other than quarterly audit committee review of such payments, we do not have any additional controls in place governing our reimbursement payments to our directors and officers for their out-of-pocket
expenses incurred in connection with identifying and consummating an initial business combination.
After the completion of our initial business combination, directors or members of our management team who remain with us may be paid consulting or management fees from the combined company. These fees will be disclosed to stockholders in accordance with applicable rules and regulations, to the extent then known, in the tender offer materials or proxy solicitation materials furnished to our stockholders in connection with a proposed initial business combination. We have not established any limit on the amount of such fees that may be paid by the combined company to our directors or members of management. It is unlikely the amount of such compensation will be known at the time of the proposed initial business combination, because the directors of the post-combination business will be responsible for determining officer and director compensation. Any compensation to be paid to our officers will be determined, or recommended to the board of directors for determination, either by a compensation committee constituted solely by independent directors or by a majority of the independent directors on our board of directors.
We do not intend to take any action to ensure that members of our management team maintain their positions with us after the consummation of our initial business combination, although it is possible that some or all of our officers and directors may negotiate employment or consulting arrangements to remain with us after our initial business combination. The existence or terms of any such employment or consulting arrangements to retain their positions with us may influence our management team’s motivation in identifying or selecting a target business but we do not believe that the ability of our management to remain with us after the consummation of our initial business combination will be a determining factor in our decision to proceed with any potential business combination. We are not party to any agreements with our officers and directors that provide for benefits upon termination of employment.

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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 common stock as of March 15, 2022 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 our outstanding shares of common stock;
•
each of our executive officers and directors that beneficially owns shares of our 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. The table does not reflect record of beneficial ownership of any common stock issuable upon exercise of warrants as such securities are not exercisable or convertible within 60 days of March 15, 2022. Information is based on 35,535,000 shares of Class A common stock and 8,625,000 shares of Class B common stock outstanding as of March 15, 2022.
Unless otherwise noted, the business address of each of the following entities and individuals is c/o NightDragon Acquisition Corp., 101 Second Street, Suite 1275, San Francisco, California 94105.
Class A Common Stock
Class B Common Stock(1)
Approximate
Percentage of
Outstanding
Common Stock
Name and Address of Beneficial Owner
Number of
Shares
Beneficially
Owned
Approximate
Percentage of
Class
Number of
Shares
Beneficially
Owned
Approximate
Percentage of
Class
5% Beneficial Owners
NightDragon Acquisition Sponsor, LLC(2)
1,035,000
2.9 %
8,625,000
%
21.9 %
David G. DeWalt(2)
1,035,000
2.9 %
8,625,000
%
21.9 %
Integrated Core Strategies (US) LLC(3)
2,061,808
5.8 %
-
*
4.66 %
Directors and Named Executive Officers
David G. DeWalt(2)
1,035,000
2.9 %
8,625,000
%
21.9 %
Ken Gonzalez
-
*
-
*
Mark Garrett
-
*
-
*
Morgan Kyauk
-
*
-
*
Steve Simonian
-
*
-
*
Barbara Massa
-
*
-
*
All officers and directors as a group (6 individuals)
1,035,000
2.9 %
8,625,000
%
21.9 %
* Less than one percent.
(1) Shares of our Class B common stock will convert into shares of our Class A common stock only upon the occurrence of certain triggering events, one of which will occur upon the consummation of our initial business combination, three of which will be based on shares of our Class A common stock trading at $12.00, $15.00 and $20.00 per share following our initial business combination, and one of which will be based upon a specified strategic transaction following our initial business combination if the effective price per share of our Class A common stock is at least equal to $12.00 in such transaction, in each case prior to the 10th anniversary of our initial business combination.
(2) NightDragon Acquisition Sponsor, LLC, our sponsor, is the record holder of all of our Class B common stock. Each of our officers, directors and advisors is, directly or indirectly, a member of our sponsor. Our sponsor is governed by its managers, David G. DeWalt and Morgan Kyauk. The managers of our sponsor may be removed by a majority in interest of our sponsor’s Class M members, and as such, Mr. DeWalt has voting and investment discretion with respect to the shares of common stock held of record by our sponsor and may be deemed to have shared beneficial ownership of the shares of common stock held directly by our sponsor.
(3) The business address of this entity is 399 Park Avenue, New York, New York 10022. Information was derived from a Schedule 13G/A jointly filed on January 18, 2022 by Integrated Core Strategies (US) LLC (“ICS”), Riverview Group LLC (“Riverview”), ICS Opportunities II LLC (“ICSO II”), ICS Opportunities, Ltd. (“ICSO”), Millennium International Management LP (“MIM”), Millennium Management LLC (“MM”), Millennium Group Management LLC (“MGM”) and Israel A. Englander, a United States citizen (“Englander”) (collectively, the “Reporting Persons”) with respect to an aggregate of 2,061,808 shares of Class A common stock beneficially owned by the Reporting Persons. MIM is the investment manager to ICSO II and ICS Opportunities and may be deemed to have shared voting control and investment discretion over securities owned by ICSO II and ICSO. MM is the general partner of the managing member of ICS and Riverview. MM is also the general partner of the 100% owner of ICSO II and ICSO and may also be deemed to have shared voting control and investment discretion over securities owned by ICSO II and ICSO. MGM is the managing member of MM and may also be deemed to have shared voting control and investment discretion over securities owned by ICS and Riverview. MGM is also the general partner of MIM and may also be deemed to have shared voting control and investment discretion over securities owned by ICSO II and ICSO. The managing member of MGM is a trust of which Englander currently serves as the sole voting trustee. Therefore, Englander may also be deemed to have shared voting control and investment discretion over securities owned by ICS, Riverview, ICSO II and ICSO.
Our sponsor beneficially owns shares of our common stock that represent, on an as-converted
to Class A common stock basis, approximately 21.9% of our shares of Class A common stock. Neither our sponsor nor any of our officers or directors have expressed an intention to purchase any SCALE units, other than the private placement SCALE units. Because of this ownership block, our sponsor may be able to effectively influence the outcome of all matters requiring approval by our stockholders, including amendments to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and approval of significant corporate transactions, including approval of our initial business combination.

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ITEM 13. CERTAIN RELATIONSHIPS AND RELATED TRANSACTIONS
Item 13. Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence.
On December 14, 2020, our sponsor paid approximately $25,000 to cover certain offering costs in consideration for 8,625,000 founder shares. On January 28, 2021, the 8,625,000 founder shares were reclassified and changed into 8,625,000 shares of Class B common stock. The number of shares of Class B common stock into which certain of the founder shares were reclassified and changed was determined based on the expectation that such Class B common stock would represent approximately 20% of our outstanding capital stock immediately following the completion of the Initial Public Offering (excluding the private placement shares).
Only holders of Class B common stock will have the right to vote on the election of directors and to remove directors prior to our initial business combination. On all other matters submitted to a vote of our stockholders, holders of our Class B common stock and holders of our Class A common stock will vote together as a single class, with each share of Class A common stock and Class B common stock entitling the holder to one vote per share.
The shares of Class B common stock will convert into shares of our Class A common stock based on the occurrence of certain triggering events, one of which will occur upon the consummation of our initial business combination, three of which will be based on shares of our Class A common stock trading at $12.00, $15.00 and $20.00 per share for 20 trading days within a 30-day trading period following our initial business combination, and one of which will be based upon a specified strategic transaction following our initial business combination if the effective price per share of our Class A common stock is at least equal to $12.00 in such transaction, in each case prior to the 10th anniversary of our initial business combination and as described in the section titled “Description of Securities” in our prospectus filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission on March 2, 2021. All shares of Class B common stock that remain issued and outstanding on the 10th anniversary of our initial business combination will be automatically forfeited.
Simultaneously with the closing of the Initial Public Offering, our sponsor purchased an aggregate of 1,035,000 private placement SCALE units at a price of $10.00 per SCALE unit in a private placement for an aggregate purchase price of $10,350,000. These private placement SCALE units are identical to the SCALE units sold in the Initial Public Offering, subject to certain limited exceptions as described in this prospectus.
If any of our officers or directors becomes aware of an initial business combination opportunity that falls within the line of business of any entity to which he or she has then-current fiduciary or contractual obligations, he or she will honor his or her fiduciary or contractual obligations to present such business combination opportunity to such other entity. Our officers and directors currently have certain relevant fiduciary duties or contractual obligations that may take priority over their duties to us.
No compensation of any kind, including any finder’s fee, reimbursement, consulting fee or monies in respect of any payment of a loan, will be paid by us to officers or directors prior to, or in connection with, any services rendered in order to effectuate the consummation of an initial business combination (regardless of the type of transaction that it is). We do not have a policy that prohibits our sponsor, officers, advisors or directors, or any of their respective affiliates, from negotiating for the reimbursement of out-of-pocket expenses by a target business.
Our audit committee will review on a quarterly basis all payments that were made to our sponsor, officers, directors or our or their affiliates and will 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.
Our sponsor agreed to loan us up to $750,000 to be used for a portion of the expenses of the Initial Public Offering, pursuant to a promissory note, as amended. We repaid the loan balance of $188,890 outstanding under the promissory note, as amended, upon the closing of the Initial Public Offering.
In addition, in order to finance transaction costs in connection with an intended initial business combination, our sponsor or an affiliate of our sponsor or certain of our officers and directors may, but are not obligated to, loan us funds as may be required. If we complete an initial business combination, we would repay such loaned amounts. In the event that the 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 may be convertible into SCALE units, at a price of $10.00 per SCALE unit at the option of the lender. The SCALE units would be identical to the private placement SCALE units. The terms of such loans by our officers and directors, if any, have not been determined and no written agreements exist with respect to such loans. We do not expect to seek loans from parties other than our sponsor or an affiliate of our sponsor 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 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 and director compensation.
We have entered into a registration and stockholder rights agreement with respect to the registration for resale under the Securities Act of the Class B common stock, private placement shares, including any private placement shares that may be issued upon conversion of working capital loans, private placement warrants and Class A common stock issuable upon exercise or conversion of the Class B common stock and private placement warrants, and, with respect to the right of our sponsor, the right to designate three individuals for nomination for election to our board of directors.
Our sponsor and our directors, officers and advisors have entered into a letter agreement with us pursuant to which they have agreed to vote any shares owned by them in favor of any proposed initial business combination and to waive their redemption rights with respect to their private placement shares and public shares in connection with (i) the consummation of our initial business combination or (ii) a stockholder vote to approve an amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (A) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to allow redemption in connection with our initial business combination or to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering, or 27 months from the closing of our initial public offering if we have executed a letter of intent, agreement in principle or definitive agreement for an initial business combination within 24 months from the closing of our initial public offering, 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 and out of funds legally available therefor, 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.
Our sponsor is deemed to be our “promoter” as such term is defined under the federal securities laws.
Related Party Transactions Policy
Our board of directors has adopted a policy setting forth the policies and procedures for the audit committee’s review and approval or ratification of “related party transactions.” A “related party transaction” is any consummated or proposed transaction or series of transactions: (i) in which the company was or is to be a participant; (ii) the amount of which exceeds (or is reasonably expected to exceed) the lesser of $120,000 or 1% of the average of the company’s total assets at year end for the prior two completed fiscal years in the aggregate over the duration of the transaction (without regard to profit or loss); and (iii) in which a “related party” had, has or will have a direct or indirect material interest. “Related parties” under this policy will include: (i) our directors, nominees for director or executive officers; (ii) any record or beneficial owner of more than 5% of any class of our voting securities; (iii) any immediate family member of any of the foregoing if the foregoing person is a natural person; and (iv) any other person who may be a “related person” pursuant to Item 404 of Regulation S-K under the Exchange Act. Pursuant to the policy, the audit committee will consider (1) the relevant facts and circumstances of each related party transaction, including if the transaction is on terms comparable to those that could be obtained in arm’s-length dealings with an unrelated third party; (2) the extent of the related party’s interest in the transaction; (3) whether the transaction contravenes our code of ethics or other policies; (4) whether the audit committee believes the relationship underlying the transaction to be in the best interests of the company and its stockholders; and (5) the effect that the transaction may have on a director’s status as an independent member of the board and on his or her eligibility to serve on the board’s committees. Management will present to the audit committee each proposed related party transaction, including all relevant facts and circumstances relating thereto. Under the policy, we may consummate related party transactions only if our audit committee approves or ratifies the transaction in accordance with the guidelines set forth in the policy. The policy will not permit any director or executive officer to participate in the discussion of, or decision concerning, a related person transaction in which he or she is the related party.
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 directors, have obtained an opinion from an independent investment banking firm that our initial business combination is fair to our company from a financial point of view. In addition, our initial business combination will be approved by a majority of independent and disinterested directors. We may take other appropriate steps consistent with Delaware law to address any potential conflicts of interest. No finder’s fees, reimbursements, consulting fee, monies in respect of any payment of a loan or other compensation will be paid by us to our sponsor, officers or directors, or any affiliate of our sponsor or officers, for services rendered to us prior to, or in connection with, any services rendered in order to effectuate the consummation of our initial business combination (regardless of the type of transaction that it is). However, the following payments will be made to our sponsor, officers or directors, or our or their affiliates, 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:
•
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 or an affiliate of our sponsor or certain of 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 SCALE units at a price of $10.00 per SCALE unit.
Our audit committee will review on a quarterly basis all payments that were made to our sponsor, officers or directors, or our or their affiliates.

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ITEM 14. PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTING FEES AND SERVICES
Item 14
.
Principal Accountant Fees and Services.
The following is a summary of fees paid or to be paid to Marcum LLP, or Marcum, for services rendered.
Audit Fees
. Audit fees consist of fees billed for professional services rendered for the audit of our year-end
financial statements and services that are normally provided by Marcum in connection with regulatory filings. The aggregate fees billed by Marcum for professional services rendered for the audit of our annual financial statements, review of the financial information included in our Forms 10-Q
for the respective periods and other required filings with the SEC for the year ended December 31, 2021, totaled $98,880. The Company did not incur any audit expenses during the period ended December 31, 2020. The above amounts include interim procedures and audit fees, as well as attendance at audit committee meetings.
Audit-Related Fees.
Audit-related services consist of fees billed for assurance and related services that are reasonably related to performance of the audit or review of our financial statements and are not reported under “Audit Fees.” These services include attest services that are not required by statute or regulation and consultations concerning financial accounting and reporting standards. We did not pay Marcum for consultations concerning financial accounting and reporting standards for the year ended December 31, 2021 and for the period from December 8, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020.
Tax Fees
. We paid Marcum for tax planning and tax advice $7,210 for the year ended December 31, 2021. We did not pay Marcum any tax planning or tax advice for the period from December 8, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020.
All Other Fees
. We did not pay Marcum for other services for the year ended December 31, 2021 and for the period from December 8, 2020 (inception) through December 31, 2020.
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).
PART IV

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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
Balance Sheets
Statements of Operations
Statements of Changes in Stockholders’ Equity (Deficit)
Statements of Cash Flows
Notes to 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.