EDGAR 10-K Filing

Company CIK: 1841586
Filing Year: 2023
Filename: 1841586_10-K_2023_0001213900-23-023825.json

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ITEM 1. BUSINESS
Item 1. Business.
Overview
We are a blank check company incorporated in Delaware for the purpose of effecting our initial business combination.
While we may pursue an initial business combination target in any business, industry or geographical location, we focus our search on targets operating in the technology-focused areas including software, mobile and Internet of Things (“IoT”) applications, digital and energy transformation, cloud and cyber communications as well as high bandwidth services, including LTE, remote sensing and 5G communications.
Initial Public Offering
On January 14, 2022, we consummated our initial public offering of 17,250,000 units, including 2,250,000 additional units issued pursuant to the full exercise of the underwriters’ over-allotment option. Each unit consists of one share of one Class A common stock, and one-half of one redeemable warrant of the Company, with each whole warrant entitling the holder thereof to purchase one share of Class A common stock for $11.50 per whole share. The units were sold at a price of $10.00 per unit, generating gross proceeds to the Company of $172,500,000.
Simultaneously with the closing of the initial public offering, we completed the private sale of an aggregate of 8,037,500 warrants to our sponsor at a purchase price of $1.00 per private placement warrant, generating gross proceeds of $8,037,500.
A total of $175,950,000, comprised of $169,050,000 of the proceeds from the initial public offering and $6,900,000 of the proceeds of the sale of the private placement warrants was placed in the trust account maintained by Continental, acting as trustee.
It is the job of our sponsor and management team to complete our initial business combination. Our management team is led by Scott Crist, our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, and R. Greg Smith, our Chief Financial Director and director, who have many years of experience in technology entrepreneurship, venture capital, private equity, and investment banking. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that we must complete our initial business combination by April 14, 2023, 15 months from the closing of our initial public offering. If the Extension Amendment Proposal (as defined below) is not approved and our initial business combination is not consummated by April 14, 2023, then our existence will terminate, and we will distribute all amounts in the trust account. However, if we anticipate that we may not be able to consummate our initial business combination by April 14, 2023, we may, by resolution of our board if requested by our sponsor, extend the period of time to consummate a business combination by an additional three months (for a total of up to 18 months to complete a business combination until July 14, 2023), subject to the sponsor depositing into the trust account, upon five days advance notice prior to the applicable deadline, $1,725,000 ($0.10 per unit), for the available three month extension. Our public shareholders will not be afforded an opportunity to vote on our extension of time to consummate an initial business combination from 15 months to 18 months described above or to redeem their shares in connection with such extension.
Extension Amendment Proposal
Since our initial business combination will not be consummated by April 14, 2023, we are holding a special meeting of stockholders on April 10, 2023, to vote on a proposal to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation to extend the date by which we must complete an initial business combination (the “Extension”) from April 14, 2023 to December 14, 2023, or such earlier date as determined by the Company’s board of directors (the "Extension Amendment Proposal”). If the Extension Amendment Proposal is approved and the board of directors decides to implement the Extension, the sponsor or its designees have agreed to contribute to us loans equal to the lesser of (x) $35,000 or (y) $0.035 for each public share that is not redeemed for each calendar month (commencing on April 15, 2023 and ending on the 14th day of each subsequent month), or portion thereof, that is needed by the Company to complete the business combination until December 14, 2023. For more information, please see our proxy statement on Schedule 14A filed with the SEC on March 22, 2023.
If the Extension Amendment Proposal is not approved and we do not consummate an initial business combination by April 14, 2023, then our existence will terminate, and we will distribute all amounts in the trust account.
NEXT Business Combination
General Terms and Effects; Merger Consideration
On November 21, 2022, the Company entered into the NEXT Merger Agreement with NEXT and Merger Sub.
Pursuant to the NEXT Merger Agreement, subject to the terms and conditions set forth therein, following the closing (the “Closing”) of the NEXT Business Combination, Merger Sub will merge with and into NEXT, with NEXT continuing as the surviving entity and wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company, and with each stockholder of NEXT (collectively, the “NEXT Securityholders”) receiving newly-issued Company securities, including, as applicable, shares of our Class A common stock and/or options or warrants pursuant to which our Class A common stock will be issued, as further described below.
Prior to, and contingent upon, the Closing, NEXT is to effect a recapitalization (the “Recapitalization”) pursuant to which all convertible debt shall be converted into common stock. The total number of shares of our Class A common stock to be issued to the NEXT stockholders, including holders of NEXT Options and NEXT Warrants (the “Merger Consideration”) shall be determined by dividing (i) $450,000,000, which is the value of the Merger Consideration, by (ii) the Redemption Price, which is an amount equal to the price at which each public share of our Class A common stock may be redeemed pursuant to the redemption provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation. The number of shares of our Class A common stock to be issued in respect of each share of NEXT Common Stock, determined after completion of the Recapitalization (the “Conversion Ratio”), shall be determined by dividing the Merger Consideration by the Total NEXT Shares. The “Total NEXT Shares” shall mean the sum of (i) the number of shares of NEXT Common Stock outstanding after giving effect to the Recapitalization (excluding (x) any shares held by NEXT or a subsidiary of NEXT, and (y) any shares of NEXT Common Stock issuable upon conversion or exercise of the certain specified convertible securities and warrants), (ii) the number of shares of NEXT Common Stock issued pursuant to a proposed equity financing by NEXT (iii) the number of shares of NEXT Common Stock issuable upon exercise of outstanding NEXT Options, and, with certain exclusions, NEXT Warrants. No fractional shares of our Class A common stock shall be issued to holders of NEXT Common Stock, and any fractional shares will be rounded down in the aggregate to the nearest whole share of Class A common stock.
Each option or warrant exercisable for NEXT common stock that is not exercised prior to the Closing will be assumed by the Company and automatically converted into an option or warrant exercisable for shares of our Class A common stock, in each case subject to the equivalent terms and conditions as the option or warrant exercisable for NEXT common stock, with the number of shares of our Class A common stock and the exercise price being adjusted to reflect the Conversion Ratio.
Representations and Warranties
The NEXT Merger Agreement contains representations and warranties made by each of NEXT and the Company as of the date of the NEXT Merger Agreement or other specified dates. Certain of the representations and warranties are qualified by materiality or Material Adverse Effect (as hereinafter defined), as well as information provided in the disclosure schedules to the NEXT Merger Agreement. As used in the NEXT Merger Agreement, “Material Adverse Effect” means, with respect to any specified person or entity, any change or effect that has had, or would reasonably be expected to have, individually or in the aggregate, a material adverse effect upon (i) the business, assets, liabilities, results of operations or condition (financial or otherwise) of such person or entity and its subsidiaries, taken as a whole, or (ii) the ability of such person or entity or any of its subsidiaries on a timely basis to consummate the transactions contemplated by the NEXT Merger Agreement or the ancillary documents relating to the NEXT Merger Agreement to which such person or entity is a party or bound or to perform the obligations of such person or entity thereunder, in each case, subject to certain customary exceptions.
No Survival
The representations and warranties of the parties contained in the NEXT Merger Agreement terminate as of, and do not survive, the Closing, and there are no indemnification rights for another party’s breach. The covenants and agreements of the parties contained in the NEXT Merger Agreement do not survive the Closing, except those covenants and agreements to be performed after the Closing, which covenants and agreements will survive until fully performed.
Covenants of the Parties
Each party agreed in the NEXT Merger Agreement to use its commercially reasonable efforts to effectuate the Closing. The NEXT Merger Agreement also contains certain customary covenants by each of the parties during the Interim Period, including (i) the provision of access to their properties, books and personnel; (ii) the operation of their respective businesses in the ordinary course of business; (iii) the delivery of certain specified financial statements by NEXT to the Company, including the delivery by December 15, 2022 of audited financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2021; (iv) the Company’s public filings; (v) no insider trading; (vi) notifications of certain breaches, consent requirements or other matters; (vii) efforts to consummate the Closing; (viii) tax matters; (ix) further assurances; (x) public announcements; and (xi) confidentiality. During the Interim Period, the Company with the assistance of NEXT, will use its commercially reasonable efforts to enter into agreements with investors pursuant to which the Investors will agree to purchase from the Company at the Closing the securities to have such terms and conditions as shall be acceptable to the Company subject to the approval of NEXT, such approval not to be unreasonably withheld, delayed or conditioned, of up to $50,000,000 or such other amount as may be acceptable to the Company, and the Company agreed to obtain the waiver of the deferred underwriters’ fees due to the underwriters of its initial public offering in connection with the NEXT Business Combination. The NEXT Merger Agreement also contains certain customary post-Closing covenants regarding (a) indemnification of directors and officers and the purchase of tail directors’ and officers’ liability insurance; and (b) use of Trust Account proceeds. In addition, NEXT agreed to obtain its required stockholder approvals in the manner required under its organizational documents and applicable law for, among other things, the adoption and approval of the NEXT Merger Agreement, Ancillary Documents and the Transaction, and agreed to enforce the NEXT Voting Agreements (as defined below) in connection therewith.
NEXT Registration Statement
The parties made customary covenants regarding the NEXT Registration Statement. The NEXT Registration Statement also will contain the Company proxy statement to solicit proxies from the Company’s stockholders to approve, among other things, (i) the NEXT Merger Agreement and the Transactions, including the Merger and the issuance of the Company’s securities in connection with the Transaction; (ii) the amendment of the Company’s amended and restated certificate of incorporation to change the name of the Company to “NXTCLEAN Fuels Inc.,” or such other name as mutually agreed to by the Company and NEXT, to eliminate provisions relating to the Company’s status as a SPAC and include provisions appropriate for a privately-owned corporation; (iii) the adoption the Equity Incentive Plan with terms acceptable to the Company and NEXT; and (iv) the election of the members of the Company’s board of directors following the closing, as described below.
Directors and Officers of the Company
The parties will take all necessary action to designate and nominate to the Company’s board of directors seven directors, of which one person shall be designated by the Company prior to the closing and (ii) six persons that are designated by NEXT prior to the Closing, at least four of whom shall qualify as independent directors under Nasdaq rules. The Company will provide each director with a customary director indemnification agreement, in form and substance reasonably acceptable to such director. The parties further agreed to take all action necessary, including causing the executive officers of the Company to resign, so that the individuals serving as the chief executive officer and chief financial officer, respectively, of NEXT immediately prior to the Closing shall become the chief executive officer and chief financial officer of the Company on the Closing Date (unless, at its sole discretion, NEXT desires to appoint another qualified person reasonably acceptable to the Company to either such role, in which case, such other person identified by NEXT shall serve in such role).
Effective on the Closing Date, the Company and certain key employees of NEXT will enter into employment agreements, effective as of the Closing, in form and substance reasonably acceptable to the Company and NEXT. The agreement with NEXT’s chief executive officer includes the grant of options, which are not included in the Total Company Shares used to compute the Conversion Ratio.
NEXT Equity Financing
NEXT agreed to use its commercially reasonable efforts to enter into agreements with accredited investors with respect to the NEXT Equity Financing, the proceeds of which may be used by NEXT for working capital. A NEXT Equity Financing means a private placement of NEXT securities pursuant to subscription agreements entered into between NEXT and investors prior to the Closing on terms reasonably acceptable to the Company. To the extent that the NEXT Equity Financing involves the issuance of convertible securities, all such convertible securities shall be converted into NEXT Common Stock on or prior to the Closing Date. Such shares of NEXT Common Stock and any shares of NEXT Common Stock issuable upon exercise of any warrants which issued as part of the NEXT Equity Financing and not exercised prior to the Closing Date shall be included in computing the Total NEXT Shares.
Investor Notes
In November 2022, NEXT entered into a strategic investment agreement with United Airlines Ventures, a subsidiary of United Airlines Holdings, Inc. (“United”), pursuant to which NEXT issued to United 500,000 shares of NEXT Common Stock at $5.00 per share and warrants to purchase up to 4,000,000 shares of NEXT Common Stock at exercise price of $5.00 per share and United could continue to invest up to a total of $37.5 million, as long as NEXT meets certain milestones.
The agreement contemplates that NEXT and its operating subsidiary would issue to United $15 million in secured convertible notes (the “Investor Notes”), which would be jointly issued by NEXT and its operating subsidiary and would be convertible into Company Class A common stock at an agreed upon discount, with NEXT issuing notes of like tenor to strategic investors and other approved investors as part of an issuance of notes in the maximum principal amount of $50,000,000 or such other amount as is acceptable to NEXT, the Company and, if the amount is less than $50,000,000, United. The terms of the Notes are to be acceptable to NEXT subject to the consent of the Company, such consent not to be unreasonably delayed, denied or conditioned. The Company agreed that it would consent to the issuance of the Company Class A common stock in connection with the conversion of these notes. See “Agreement with United” below.
No Solicitation of Acquisition Proposals
Each party also agreed during the Interim Period not to solicit or enter into any inquiry, proposal or offer, or any indication of interest in making an offer or proposal for an alternative competing transactions, to notify the others as promptly as practicable in writing of the receipt of any inquiries, proposals or offers, requests for information or requests relating to an alternative competing transaction or any requests for non-public information relating to such transaction, and to keep the other party informed of the status of any such inquiries, proposals, offers or requests for information.
Conduct of NEXT and the Company Pending Closing
Under the NEXT Merger Agreement, during the Interim Period, NEXT has agreed, except as expressly contemplated by other provisions of the NEXT Merger Agreement, or as set forth in disclosure schedules, required by applicable law, or unless the Company otherwise consents in writing (such consent not to be unreasonably withheld, conditioned or delayed), to, and to cause each of its subsidiaries to, conduct its business in the ordinary course and in material compliance with law and to in all material respects use commercially reasonable efforts necessary or appropriate to maintain its business and organization, including refraining from doing any of the following (subject to certain exceptions contained in the NEXT Merger Agreement and the disclosure schedules thereto):
● amend, waive or otherwise change, in any respect, its organizational documents, except as required by applicable law;
● authorize for issuance, issue, grant, sell, pledge, dispose of or propose to issue, grant, sell, pledge or dispose of any of its equity securities or any options, warrants, commitments, subscriptions or rights of any kind to acquire or sell any of its equity securities, or other securities, including any securities convertible into or exchangeable for any of its shares or other equity securities or securities of any class and any other equity-based awards, except for certain exceptions as contemplated by the NEXT Merger Agreement, or engage in any hedging transaction with a third Person with respect to such securities;
● split, combine, recapitalize or reclassify any of its shares or other equity interests or issue any other securities in respect thereof or pay or set aside any dividend or other distribution (whether in cash, equity or property or any combination thereof) in respect of its equity interests, or directly or indirectly redeem, purchase or otherwise acquire or offer to acquire any of its securities;
● incur, create, assume, prepay or otherwise become liable for any indebtedness (directly, contingently or otherwise) in excess of $200,000 individually or $500,000 in the aggregate, make a loan or advance to or investment in any third party (other than advancement of expenses to employees in the ordinary course of business), or guarantee or endorse any indebtedness, liability or obligation of any person in excess of $200,000 individually or $500,000 in the aggregate;
● increase the wages, salaries or compensation of its employees other than in the ordinary course of business, consistent with past practice, and in any event not in the aggregate by more than five percent (5%), or make or commit to make any bonus payment (whether in cash, property or securities) to any employee, or materially increase other benefits of employees generally, or enter into, establish, materially amend or terminate any Benefit Plan with, for or in respect of any current consultant, officer, manager director or employee, in each case other than as required by applicable Law;
● make or rescind any material election relating to taxes, settle any claim, action, suit, litigation, proceeding, arbitration, investigation, audit or controversy relating to material taxes, file any amended tax return or claim for refund, or make any material change in its method of tax accounting, in each case except as required by applicable law or in compliance with GAAP;
● transfer or license to any person or otherwise extend, materially amend or modify, permit to lapse or fail to preserve any material NEXT intellectual property, NEXT licensed intellectual property or other NEXT intellectual property (excluding non-exclusive licenses of NEXT IP to customers in the ordinary course of business consistent with past practice), or disclose to any Person who has not entered into a confidentiality agreement any trade secrets;
● terminate, waive or assign any material right under any NEXT material contract or enter into any contract that would be a NEXT material contract, in any case outside of the ordinary course of business consistent with past practice;
● fail to maintain its books, accounts and records in all material respects in the ordinary course of business consistent with past practice;
● establish any subsidiary other than in the ordinary course of business as currently conducted or enter into any new line of business;
● revalue any of its material assets or make any material change in accounting methods, principles or practices, except to the extent required to comply with GAAP and after consulting with NEXT’s outside auditors;
● waive, release, assign, settle or compromise any claim, action or proceeding (including any suit, action, claim, proceeding or investigation relating to the NEXT Merger Agreement or the transactions contemplated hereby), other than waivers, releases, assignments, settlements or compromises that involve only the payment of monetary damages (and not the imposition of equitable relief on, or the admission of wrongdoing by NEXT, its subsidiaries or its Affiliates) not in excess of $200,000 individually or $500,000 in the aggregate;
● close or materially reduce its activities, or effect any layoff or other personnel reduction or change, at any of its facilities;
● acquire, including by merger, consolidation, acquisition of equity interests or assets, or any other form of business combination, any corporation, partnership, limited liability company, other business organization or any division thereof, or any material amount of assets outside the ordinary course of business consistent with past practice;
● make capital expenditures in excess of $200,000 individually for any project (or set of related projects) or $500,000 in the aggregate;
● adopt a plan of complete or partial liquidation, dissolution, merger, consolidation, restructuring, recapitalization or other reorganization other than as provided in the NEXT Merger Agreement;
● enter into any agreement or understanding, including any informal agreement, which could result in the payment of a transaction bonus to any person whether prior to or subsequent to the Closing
● other than with respect to the Investor Notes voluntarily incur any liability or obligation (whether absolute, accrued, contingent or otherwise) in excess of $200,000 individually or $500,000 in the aggregate other than pursuant to the terms of a NEXT material contract or NEXT Benefit Plan or otherwise in the ordinary course of business;
● sell, lease, license, transfer, exchange or swap, mortgage or otherwise pledge or encumber (including securitizations), or otherwise dispose of any material portion of its properties, assets or rights;
● enter into any agreement, understanding or arrangement with respect to the voting of equity securities of NEXT;
● take any action that would reasonably be expected to significantly delay or impair the obtaining of any consents of any governmental authority to be obtained in connection with the NEXT Merger Agreement, including, but not limited to the Key Environmental Permits;
● accelerate the collection of any trade receivables or delay the payment of trade payables or any other liabilities other than in the ordinary course of business consistent with past practice;
● incur any Indebtedness unless such Indebtedness is convertible into NEXT Common Stock pursuant to the Recapitalization on terms reasonably acceptable to the Company;
● enter into, amend, waive or terminate (other than terminations in accordance with their terms) any transaction with any Related Person (other than compensation and benefits and advancement of expenses, in each case, provided in the ordinary course of business consistent with past practice); or
● authorize or agree to do any of the foregoing actions.
Additionally, under the NEXT Merger Agreement, during the Interim Period, the Company has agreed, except as expressly contemplated by other provisions of the NEXT Merger Agreement, required by applicable law, or unless NEXT otherwise consents in writing (such consent not to be unreasonably withheld, delayed or conditioned), to, and to cause each of its subsidiaries to, conduct its business in the ordinary course and in material compliance with law and to use commercially reasonable efforts to maintain its business and organization and existing relationships intact, including refraining from doing any of the following (subject to certain exceptions contained in the NEXT Merger Agreement and the disclosure schedules thereto):
● amend, waive or otherwise change, in any respect, its organizational documents except as required by applicable law;
● authorize for issuance, issue, grant, sell, pledge, dispose of or propose to issue, grant, sell, pledge or dispose of any of its equity securities or any options, warrants, commitments, subscriptions or rights of any kind to acquire or sell any of its equity securities, or other securities, including any securities convertible into or exchangeable for any of its equity securities or other security interests of any class and any other equity-based awards, or engage in any hedging transaction with a third Person with respect to such securities;
● split, combine, recapitalize or reclassify any of its shares or other equity interests or issue any other securities in respect thereof or pay or set aside any dividend or other distribution (whether in cash, equity or property or any combination thereof) in respect of its shares or other equity interests, or directly or indirectly redeem, purchase or otherwise acquire or offer to acquire any of its securities;
● incur, create, assume, prepay or otherwise become liable for any Indebtedness (directly, contingently or otherwise) in excess of $200,000 individually or $500,000 in the aggregate, make a loan or advance to or investment in any third party, or guarantee or endorse any Indebtedness, Liability or obligation of any Person (provided, that the Company shall not be prevented from borrowing funds, including from the sponsor necessary to finance its ordinary course administrative costs and expenses and Expenses incurred in connection with the consummation of the Merger and the other transactions contemplated by the NEXT Merger Agreement, including the PIPE financing transactions and any Extension Expenses);
● make or rescind any material election relating to Taxes, settle any claim, action, suit, litigation, proceeding, arbitration, investigation, audit or controversy relating to Taxes, file any amended Tax Return or claim for refund, or make any material change in its accounting or Tax policies or procedures, in each case except as required by applicable Law or in compliance with GAAP;
● amend, waive or otherwise change the Trust Agreement in any manner adverse to the Company;
● terminate, waive or assign any material right under any Company material contract or enter into any Contract that would be a Company material contract;
● fail to maintain its books, accounts and records in all material respects in the ordinary course of business consistent with past practice;
● fail to use commercially reasonable efforts to keep in force insurance policies or replacement or revised policies providing insurance coverage with respect to its assets, operations and activities in such amount and scope of coverage substantially similar to that which is currently in effect;
● revalue any of its material assets or make any material change in accounting methods, principles or practices, except to the extent required to comply with GAAP and after consulting the Company’s outside auditors;
● waive, release, assign, settle or compromise any claim, action or proceeding (including any suit, action, claim, proceeding or investigation relating to the NEXT Merger Agreement or the transactions contemplated thereby), other than waivers, releases, assignments, settlements or compromises that involve only the payment of monetary damages (and not the imposition of equitable relief on, or the admission of wrongdoing by, the Company or its Subsidiary) not in excess of $200,000 (individually or in the aggregate), or otherwise pay, discharge or satisfy any Actions, Liabilities or obligations, unless such amount has been reserved in the Company financials;
● acquire, including by merger, consolidation, acquisition of equity interests or assets, or any other form of business combination, any corporation, partnership, limited liability company, other business organization or any division thereof, or any material amount of assets outside the ordinary course of business;
● make capital expenditures in excess of $200,000 individually for any project (or set of related projects) or $500,000 in the aggregate (excluding for the avoidance of doubt, incurring any Expenses);
● adopt a plan of complete or partial liquidation, dissolution, merger, consolidation, restructuring, recapitalization or other reorganization (other than with respect to the Merger);
● except with respect to the PIPE financing, voluntarily incur any Liability or obligation (whether absolute, accrued, contingent or otherwise) in excess of $200,000 individually or $500,000 in the aggregate (excluding the incurrence of any Expenses) other than pursuant to the terms of a Contract in existence as of the date of the NEXT Merger Agreement or entered into in the ordinary course of business or in accordance with the terms of the NEXT Merger Agreement during the Interim Period;
● sell, lease, license, transfer, exchange or swap, mortgage or otherwise pledge or encumber (including securitizations), or otherwise dispose of any material portion of its properties, assets or rights;
● enter into any agreement, understanding or arrangement with respect to the voting of Company securities;
● take any action that would reasonably be expected to significantly delay or impair the obtaining of any Consents of any Governmental Authority to be obtained in connection with the NEXT Merger Agreement; or
● authorize or agree to do any of the foregoing actions.
Conditions to Closing
The NEXT Merger Agreement contains conditions to Closing, including the following mutual conditions of the parties (unless waived): (i) approval of the stockholders of the Company and NEXT; (ii) approvals of, or completion of any filings required to be made with, any governmental authorities (“Regulatory Approvals”) and completion of any antitrust expiration periods, in each case, as applicable; (iii) no law or order preventing the Transaction; (iv) upon the Closing, the Company having net tangible assets of at least $5,000,001 after redemptions and any PIPE investment; (v) the members of the post-Closing Company board of directors shall have been elected or appointed as of the Closing consistent with the requirements of the NEXT Merger Agreement, and (vi) the NEXT Registration Statement shall have been declared effective by the SEC and no stop-order being in effect.
In addition, unless waived by NEXT, the obligations of NEXT to consummate the Transaction are subject to the satisfaction of the following additional Closing conditions, in addition to the delivery by the Company of customary certificates and other Closing deliverables: (i) the representations and warranties of the Company being true and correct as of the date of the NEXT Merger Agreement and the date of the Closing, except to the extent made as of a particular date (subject to certain materiality qualifiers); (ii) the Company having performed in all material respects its obligations and complied in all material respects with its covenants and agreements under the NEXT Merger Agreement required to be performed or complied with by it on or prior to the date of the Closing; (iii) the absence of any Material Adverse Effect with respect to the Company since the date of the NEXT Merger Agreement which is continuing and uncured; (iv) the total of the proceeds from the PIPE Offering plus the amount remaining in the Trust Account after Redemptions, net of expenses, not being less than $50,000,000.
Unless waived by the Company, the obligations of the Company and Merger Sub to consummate the Transaction are subject to the satisfaction of the following additional Closing conditions, in addition to the delivery by NEXT of customary certificates and other Closing deliverables: (i) the representations and warranties of NEXT being true and correct as of the date of the NEXT Merger Agreement and the date of the Closing, except to the extent made as of a particular date (subject to certain materiality qualifiers); (ii) NEXT having performed in all material respects its obligations and complied in all material respects with its covenants and agreements under the NEXT Merger Agreement required to be performed or complied with or by it on or prior to the date of the Closing; (iii) the absence of any Material Adverse Effect with respect to NEXT and its subsidiaries since the date of the NEXT Merger Agreement which is continuing and uncured; and (iv) the execution of the Lock-Up Agreements, Employment Agreements and Non-Competition Agreements being in full force and effect and the Recapitalization having been completed as required under the NEXT Merger Agreement.
Termination
The NEXT Merger Agreement may be terminated under certain customary and limited circumstances at any time prior to the Closing, including: (a) by mutual written consent of the Company and NEXT; (b) by either the Company or NEXT if any of the conditions to Closing have not been satisfied or waived by July 14, 2023 (the “Outside Date,” (provided that, if (A) the Company obtains an extension of the period of time in which it is required to complete an initial business combination, the Company may extend the Outside Date for additional periods equal to the shortest of (i) three additional months in the aggregate, (ii) the period ending on the last date for the Company to consummate a business combination pursuant to the latest of any such extensions, or (iii) such period as determined by the Company, and (B) if, on or prior to July 14, 2023, the SEC has not declared the NEXT Registration Statement effective, the Outside Date shall be automatically extended to August 31, 2023, provided that a breach or violation of the NEXT Merger Agreement shall not give rise to a right of termination of the NEXT Merger Agreement by either party; (c) by either the Company or NEXT if a governmental authority of competent jurisdiction has issued an order or taken any other action permanently restraining, enjoining or otherwise prohibiting the Transaction, and such order or other action has become final and non-appealable; (d) by either the Company or NEXT in the event of the other party’s uncured breach, if such breach would result in the failure of a closing condition (and so long as the terminating party is not also in breach under the NEXT Merger Agreement); (e) by the Company if there has been a Material Adverse Effect on NEXT and its subsidiaries following the date of the NEXT Merger Agreement that is uncured and continuing; (f) by either the Company or NEXT if the stockholders of the Company do not approve the NEXT Merger Agreement and the Transaction at a special meeting held by the Company; and (g) by either the Company or NEXT if NEXT holds a general meeting or special meeting of stockholders, as applicable, to approve the NEXT Merger Agreement and the Transaction and such approval is not obtained.
If the NEXT Merger Agreement is terminated, all further obligations of the parties under the NEXT Merger Agreement (except for certain obligations related to publicity, confidentiality, fees and expenses, trust fund waiver, no recourse, termination and general provisions) will terminate, and no party to the NEXT Merger Agreement will have any further liability to any other party thereto except for liability for actual fraud (as defined under Delaware corporate law) or for willful breach of the NEXT Merger Agreement prior to termination. The NEXT Merger Agreement does not provide for any termination fees. The Company and NEXT agreed to each be responsible for 50% of any filing fees and expenses under any applicable antitrust laws.
Trust Account Waiver
NEXT agreed on behalf of itself and its affiliates that neither it nor its affiliates will have any right, title, interest of any kind in or to any monies in the Company’s Trust Account held for its public stockholders, and agreed not to, and waived any right to, make any claim against the Trust Account (including any distributions therefrom) other than in connection with the Closing.
Related Agreements
Voting and Support Agreements
Simultaneously with the execution and delivery of the NEXT Merger Agreement, the Company and NEXT have entered into Voting and Support Agreements (collectively, the “NEXT Voting Agreements”) with certain stockholders of NEXT required to approve the Transaction. Under the NEXT Voting Agreements, each NEXT Securityholder party thereto unconditionally and irrevocably agreed to vote all of such stockholder’s shares of NEXT (i) in favor of the Merger, the NEXT Merger Agreement and the Transaction and the other matters to be submitted to the NEXT Securityholder for approval in connection with the Transaction and each NEXT Securityholder party thereto has agreed to take (or not take, as applicable) certain other actions in support of the NEXT Merger Agreement and the Transaction, and (ii) to vote the shares in opposition to: (A) any acquisition proposal and any and all other proposals (x) for the acquisition of NEXT, or (y) which are in competition with or materially inconsistent with the NEXT Merger Agreement or the Ancillary Documents in each case in the manner and subject to the conditions set forth in the NEXT Voting Agreements. The NEXT Voting Agreements prevent transfers of the NEXT shares held by the NEXT Securityholder party thereto between the date of the Voting Agreement and the date of Closing, except for certain permitted transfers where the recipient also agrees to comply with the Voting Agreement.
Lock-Up Agreements
NEXT agreed that promptly following the execution and delivery of the NEXT Merger Agreement, certain stockholders of the Company entered into Lock-Up Agreements with the Company (the “NEXT Lock-Up Agreements”). Pursuant to the Lock-Up Agreements, each NEXT Securityholder party thereto agreed not to, during the period commencing from the Closing and ending upon the earlier to occur of the one (1) year anniversary of the Closing (subject to early release if NEXT consummates a liquidation, merger, share exchange or other similar transaction with an unaffiliated third party): (i) lend, offer, pledge, hypothecate, encumber, donate, assign, sell, contract to sell, sell any option or contract to purchase, purchase any option or contract to sell, grant any option, right or warrant to purchase, or otherwise transfer or dispose of, directly or indirectly, any Company restricted securities, (ii) enter into any swap or other arrangement that transfers to another, in whole or in part, any of the economic consequences of ownership of such Company restricted securities, or (iii) publicly disclose the intention to do any of the foregoing, whether any such transaction described in clauses (i) or (ii) above is to be settled by delivery of the Company restricted securities or other securities, in cash or otherwise (in each case, subject to certain limited permitted transfers where the recipient takes the shares subject to the restrictions in the Lock-Up Agreement).
Non-Competition Agreements
NEXT agreed that promptly following the execution and delivery of the NEXT Merger Agreement, certain NEXT executive officers will enter into Non-Competition Agreements in favor of NEXT and the Company and their respective present and future successors and direct and indirect subsidiaries. Under the Non-Competition Agreements, the NEXT executive officers signatory thereto will agree not to compete with the Company, NEXT and their respective affiliates during the three-year period following the Closing and, during such three-year restricted period, not to solicit employees or customers of such entities. The Non-Competition Agreements also contain customary confidentiality and non-disparagement provisions.
Sponsor Voting Agreement
Simultaneously with the execution and delivery of the NEXT Merger Agreement, NEXT and the Company entered into a Sponsor Voting Agreement (the “Sponsor Voting Agreement”) with the sponsor, pursuant to, and on the terms and subject to the conditions of which, the sponsor has agreed among other things to vote its shares of the Company, and take certain other actions, in support of the Business Combination.
Agreement with United
On November 10, 2022, NEXT executed an agreement with United Airlines Ventures, a subsidiary of United Airlines Holdings, Inc. (“United”), pursuant to which United purchased 500,000 shares of NEXT common stock at $5.00 per shares and NEXT issued to United warrants to purchase 4,000,000 shares of NEXT Common Stock at an exercise price of $5.00 per share. Pursuant to the agreement, United could invest as much as a total of $37.5 million into NEXT, as long as NEXT meets certain milestone targets. In connection with the initial United investment NEXT and its operating subsidiary would issue United up to $15 million in secured convertible notes which would be jointly issued by NEXT and NEXT’s operating subsidiary, and would be convertible into Company Class A common stock at an agreed upon discount, with NEXT issuing notes of like tenor to strategic investors and other approved investors as part of an issuance of notes in the maximum principal amount of $50 million or such other amount, the terms of the notes to be acceptable to NEXT subject to the consent of the Company, such consent not to be unreasonably delayed, denied or conditioned.
The foregoing descriptions of the NEXT Voting Agreements, NEXT Lock-Up Agreements, NEXT Non-Competition Agreements, and Sponsor Voting Agreement, and the transactions and documents contemplated thereby, is not complete and is subject to and qualified in its entirety by reference to the NEXT Voting Agreements, NEXT Lock-Up Agreements, NEXT Non-Competition Agreements, and Sponsor Voting Agreement, copies of which are filed with this Report as Exhibits 10.8, 10.9, 10.10, and 10.11, respectively, and the terms of which are incorporated by reference herein.
Other than as specifically discussed, this Report does not assume the closing of the NEXT Business Combination.
Business Combination Criteria
Our business combination criteria are not limited to a particular industry or geographic sector, however, given the experience of our management team and board, we have focused our search on industrial technology companies with an enterprise value of approximately $200 million to $900 million. Management believes that this relative size of target opportunities has enabled the Company to pursue companies, such as NEXT, that are the most attractive from a return standpoint and are less pursued by larger, more established sources of capital.
We have identified the following general criteria and guidelines that we believe are consistent with our acquisition philosophy and our management’s experience, and that we believe are important in evaluating prospective business combination opportunities. While we have used and will continue to use these criteria and guidelines to evaluate business combination opportunities including the NEXT Business Combination, we may decide to consummate our initial business combination with a target business that meets some but not all of these criteria and guidelines.
● Large and Compelling Growth Market. We are focused on investments in industry segments that we believe demonstrate attractive long-term growth prospects and reasonable overall size or potential. We view growth as an important driver of value and will seek companies whose growth potential can generate meaningful upside.
● Attractive, Inherently Profitable Business with High Operating Leverage. We seek to invest in companies that we believe possess not only established business models and sustainable competitive advantages, but also have inherently profitable unit economics.
● Strong Management Teams. We seek to acquire a business that has an experienced management team with a proven track record for producing rapid growth and with an ability to clearly and confidently articulate the business and market opportunities to public market investors. As such, we spend significant time assessing a company’s leadership and personnel and evaluating what we can do to augment and/or upgrade the team over time as needed.
● Opportunity for Operational Improvements. We identify businesses that we believe are stable but at an inflection point and would benefit from our ability to drive improvements in the target’s processes, go-to-market strategy, product or service offering, sales and marketing efforts, geographical presence and/or leadership team.
● Differentiated Products or Services. We evaluate metrics such as recurring revenues, product life cycle, cohort consistency, pricing per product or customer, cross-sell success and churn rates to focus on businesses whose products or services are differentiated or where we see an opportunity to create value by implementing best practices.
● Limited Technology Risk. We seek to invest in companies that have established market-tested products or service offerings, and do not lend themselves to erratic technology risks.
● Appropriate Valuations. We seek target companies for our initial business combination based on disciplined valuation-centric metrics. Management has significant negotiating and operating experience and recognizes the initial valuation is an important component of the ultimate rate of return.
● Benefit From Being a Public Company. We intend to pursue a business combination with a company that we believe will benefit from being publicly traded and can effectively utilize the broader access to capital and public profile that are associated with being a publicly traded company.
● Leading Industry Position and Competitive Market Advantage. We focus our search on one or more businesses based in the market and within industries that we believe have strong fundamentals, favorable prospects and a high likelihood of generating strong risk-adjusted returns for our stockholders. We seek to acquire a business whose products utilize a proprietary or patented technology, have dominate market position in a specific geographic or technological niche, or have some other form of distinct competitive advantage. The factors we consider include management’s credentials, growth prospects, competitive dynamics, level of industry consolidation, need for capital investment, intellectual property, barriers to entry, and merger terms.
● Potential to Grow, Including Through Further Acquisition Opportunities. We seek to acquire a business which has the potential to supplement its organic growth with a pipeline of potentially actionable acquisitions. We expect to work with the ongoing management team to develop the business strategy around geographic expansion, new products, high-return capital expenditure projects and acquisitions, as well as creating and maintaining the optimal capital structure for growth.
● High Organic Revenue Growth, Attractive Gross Margins, Prudent Debt. We seek to acquire a business that has the ability to grow rapidly across various market conditions and in varying economic cycles and the near-term potential to generate significant increases in revenue as well as strong and sustainable operating margins. To provide reliable guidance, we also seek to acquire a business that has strong visibility on forward financial performance and straightforward operating metrics.
● Sourced on a Proprietary Basis. We do not expect to participate in broadly marketed processes, but rather will leverage our extensive network to source a proprietary initial business combination. Notwithstanding the foregoing, we would consider participating in a process that is focused primarily on special purpose acquisition companies, where we would not compete with a conventional initial public offering or private equity acquisition, or at the tail end of a process when other alternatives have been eliminated, on the strength of our prior experience in closing business combinations or because our company is most appropriately sized to the target.
● Preparedness for the Process and Public Markets. We seek to acquire a business that has or can put in place prior to the closing of a business combination the governance, financial systems and controls required in the public 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 team may deem relevant. In the event that we decide to enter into a business combination with a target business that meets some but not all of the above criteria and guidelines, we will disclose that the target business does not meet the above criteria if our shareholder communications related to our initial business combination, which, as discussed in this Report, would be in the form of proxy solicitation or tender offer materials, as applicable, that we would file with the SEC, such as the NEXT Registration Statement.
Competitive Strengths and Advantages
We believe that our management team is well positioned to consummate an initial business combination, such as the NEXT Business Combination, due to its combination of operating and investing expertise. We believe that the most likely business combination targets have been those companies at a strategic inflection point, such as rapidly growing companies stepping out from the control of private equity or venture capital owners, family-owned businesses seeking some liquidity, or business units being carved out from larger conglomerates. In these scenarios in particular, we believe the experience our management team brings in successfully scaling companies, especially those in the public markets, have been and will continue to be looked upon favorably by both the target company as well as public stockholders.
Specifically, we believe our competitive strengths to be the following:
● Experienced Management Team. Our management team and strategic advisors have a substantial investment track record and advisory experience, significant knowledge of international energy and technology markets, access to proprietary deal flow, and strong relationships with business leaders and entrepreneurs in the industrial production, technology, and telecommunications industries. We believe their backgrounds allow us access to proprietary investment opportunities and position us to successfully complete an initial business combination. In addition, our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer has prior experience in entrepreneurship, venture capital, public offerings, and acquisition led growth strategies across multiple industries but with a focus in the energy, industrial, technology and telecommunications space.
● Flexible Structure. With a public market for our common stock and approximately $178.5 million in trust at December 31, 2022, we have flexibility to be able to offer a target business a variety of options in structuring a transaction and funding future growth. Flexibility in using our capital stock, debt, cash or a mixture of the foregoing, allows us to work with a target company to accommodate their needs.
● Public Company Status. We believe our status as a public company makes us an attractive transaction partner to prospective target businesses. As a public company, we believe the target business would benefit from greater access to capital to fund future growth initiatives, further means of creating incentive and compensation plans for management that are closely aligned with stockholder’s interests, and increased recognition and awareness potentially benefitting sales and recruiting.
● Established Deal Sourcing Network and Personal Contacts. We intend to maximize our pipeline of potential target investments by proactively approaching our extensive network of contacts, including private equity and venture capital sponsors, family offices, executives of public and private companies, merger and acquisition advisory firms, investment banks, capital markets desks, lenders and other financial intermediaries. We believe the prior investment experience and track record of our team, including our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer’s prior involvement in successful investments, will give us a competitive advantage when sourcing potential initial business combination opportunities. Existing relationships with private equity and venture capital firms, and those through investment bankers are likely to provide us with potential combination targets.
● Deal-making and Capital Markets Experience through all Market Cycles. Our management team and strategic advisors consist of seasoned dealmakers with experience in a wide variety of industries, structures and market conditions, as well as experienced equity and debt capital markets professionals. Most have worked in the industrial technology markets globally, as principal investors and as advisors, through different market cycles. Our management team and strategic advisors apply the same disciplined approach to acquire a business that they have used in connection with their current advisory services and principal investment activities.
● Experience with Complex Transactions. Members of our management team and strategic advisors have a track record of completing transactions that involve an element of complexity not well-served by a competitive auction process and on educating counterparties about the benefits of the special purpose acquisition company structure and process. We believe that our management team and strategic advisors’ experience with complex situations requiring creative solutions is expected to lead to less competitive transactions. Members of our management team and strategic advisors also have a history of leveraging their relationship networks for due diligence and to develop a unique perspective and comfort with the issues faced in such complex opportunities.
● Public Company Operating Expertise. Our team has over 60 cumulative years of experience as either executive officers or directors of private and publicly traded companies, have the ability to shepherd targets through the “going public” process, and to navigate the ongoing challenges of operating as a public company. We anticipate that one or more members of our management team or board, would remain on the board of the company post business combination. In addition, some of the potential acquisition targets we consider may operate within a closely regulated industry. We believe that the expertise within our management team around closely regulated energy and telecommunications industries has been advantageous when evaluating certain acquisition targets.
● Investment Expertise. Our management team has extensive experience in identifying, evaluating, structuring, acquiring, and investing in privately held companies. Collectively, the members of our management team alone have been involved with or led multiple acquisitions and investments.
● Broad Sector Focused Expertise. Our management team brings deep expertise in a wide range of sub-sectors within our target industries. We believe that our diverse range of expertise increases our chances of identifying a business combination target where we have the expertise to appropriately diligence the investment and to provide value post business combination. Specifically, members of our management team have experience operating, investing or serving on boards of companies in the following sub-sectors: oil & gas upstream, downstream and production, renewable and transition fuels, refineries, terminals and network integration.
Initial Business Combination
We have until April 14, 2023 to consummate an initial business combination. However, if we anticipate that we may not be able to consummate our initial business combination by April 14, 2023, we may, by resolution of our board if requested by our sponsor, extend the period of time to consummate a business combination by an additional three months (or until July 14, 2023) to complete a business combination, subject to the sponsor depositing additional funds into the trust account, upon five days advance notice prior to the deadline, $1,725,000 ($0.10 per unit), for the available three month extension. Any such payments would be made in the form of non-interest bearing loans. If we complete our initial business combination, we will, at the option of our sponsor, repay such loaned amounts out of the proceeds of the trust account released to us or convert a portion or all of the total loan amount into units at a price of $10.00 per unit, which units will be identical to the private units. If we do not complete a business combination, we will repay such loans only from funds held outside of the trust account. Our stockholders will not be entitled to vote or redeem their shares in connection with any such extension.
On March 22, 2023, we filed with the SEC a proxy statement on Schedule 14A in connection with a proposal to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation to extend the date by which we must complete an initial business combination from April 14, 2023 to December 14, 2023, or such earlier date as determined by the Company’s board of directors. If the Extension Amendment Proposal is approved and the board of directors decides to implement the Extension, the sponsor or its designees have agreed to contribute to us loans equal to the lesser of (x) $35,000 or (y) $0.035 for each public share that is not redeemed for each calendar month (commencing on April 15, 2023 and ending on the 14th day of each subsequent month), or portion thereof, that is needed by the Company to complete the business combination until December 14, 2023. Our shareholders will vote on the Extension Amendment Proposal at the special meeting of stockholder scheduled to be held on April 10, 2023.
Our stockholders will be entitled to vote and redeem their shares in connection with a stockholder meeting held to approve an initial business combination or in a tender offer undertaken in connection with such an initial business combination if we propose such a business combination during any three-month extension period. If we are unable to consummate our initial business combination within such time period, we will, as promptly as possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, redeem 100% of our outstanding public shares for a pro rata portion of the funds held in the trust account, including a pro rata portion of any interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our taxes, and then seek to dissolve and liquidate. However, we may not be able to distribute such amounts as a result of claims of creditors which may take priority over the claims of our public stockholders. In the event of our dissolution and liquidation, the private units will expire and will be worthless.
Nasdaq rules require that we must complete one or more business combinations having an aggregate fair market value of at least 80% of the value of the assets held in the trust account (excluding the deferred underwriting commissions and taxes payable on the interest earned on the trust account) at the time of our signing a definitive agreement in connection with our initial business combination. Our board of directors will make the determination as to the fair market value of our initial business combination. If our board of directors is not able to independently determine the fair market value of our initial business combination, we will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm that is a member of FINRA or an independent accounting firm with respect to the satisfaction of such criteria. While we consider it unlikely that our board of directors will not be able to make an independent determination of the fair market value of our initial business combination, it may be unable to do so if it is less familiar or experienced with the business of a particular target or if there is a significant amount of uncertainty as to the value of a target’s assets or prospects. Additionally, pursuant to Nasdaq rules, any initial business combination must be approved by a majority of our independent directors.
We anticipate structuring our initial business combination either (i) in such a way so that the post-transaction company in which our public stockholders own shares will own or acquire 100% of the equity interests or assets of the target business or businesses, or (ii) in such a way so that the post-transaction company owns or acquires less than 100% of such interests or assets of the target business in order to meet certain objectives of the target management team or stockholders, or for other reasons. However, we will only complete an initial business combination if the post-transaction company owns or acquires 50% or more of the outstanding voting securities of the target or otherwise acquires a controlling interest in the target sufficient for it not to be required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act. Even if the post-transaction company owns or acquires 50% or more of the voting securities of the target, our stockholders prior to the initial business combination may collectively own a minority interest in the post-transaction company, depending on valuations ascribed to the target and us in the initial business combination. For example, we could pursue a transaction in which we issue a substantial number of new shares in exchange for all of the outstanding capital stock of a target. In this case, we would acquire a 100% controlling interest in the target. However, as a result of the issuance of a substantial number of new shares, our stockholders immediately prior to our initial business combination could own less than a majority of our outstanding shares subsequent to our initial business combination. If less than 100% of the equity interests or assets of a target business or businesses are owned or acquired by the post-transaction company, the portion of such business or businesses that is owned or acquired is what will be taken into account for purposes of Nasdaq’s 80% of net assets test. If the initial business combination involves more than one target business, the 80% of net assets test will be based on the aggregate value of all of the transactions and we will treat the target businesses together as the initial business combination for purposes of a tender offer or for seeking stockholder approval, as applicable. Based on the valuation analysis of our management and board of directors, we have determined that the fair market value of NEXT was substantially in excess of 80% of the funds in the trust account and that the 80% test was therefore satisfied.
Our Business Combination Process
In evaluating prospective business combinations such as the NEXT Business Combination, we 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), on-site inspection of facilities and assets, discussion with customers and suppliers, legal reviews and other reviews as we deem appropriate.
We are not prohibited from pursuing an initial business combination with a company that is affiliated with our sponsor or our officers or directors. While NEXT is not affiliated with our sponsor, executive officers or directors, in the event we do not consummate the NEXT Business Combination, and we seek to complete our initial business combination with a company that is affiliated with our sponsor, officers or directors, we, or a committee of independent directors, will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm that is a member of FINRA or an independent accounting firm that our initial business combination is fair to our company from a financial point of view.
Our officers and directors indirectly own founder shares and/or private placement warrants following our initial public offering. Because of this ownership, our sponsor and our officers and directors have a conflict of interest in determining whether a particular target business is an appropriate business with which to effectuate our initial business combination. Further, each of our officers and directors may have a conflict of interest with respect to evaluating a particular business combination if the retention or resignation of any such officers and directors were to be included by a target business as a condition to any agreement with respect to our initial business combination.
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 that is suitable for an entity to which he or she has then-current fiduciary or contractual obligations, he or she will honor his or her fiduciary or contractual obligations to present such opportunity to such entity. We believe, however, that the fiduciary duties or contractual obligations of our officers or directors has not and will not materially affect our ability to complete our initial business combination. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that we renounce our interest in any corporate opportunity offered to any director or officer unless such opportunity is expressly offered to such person solely in his or her capacity as a director or officer of our company and such opportunity is one we are legally and contractually permitted to undertake and would otherwise be reasonable for us to pursue, and to the extent the director or officer is permitted to refer that opportunity to us without violating another legal obligation.
Our Management Team
Members of our management team are not obligated to devote any specific number of hours to our matters, but they devote as much of their time as they deem necessary to our affairs until we have completed our initial business combination. The amount of time that any member of our management team devotes in any time period will vary based on the current stage of the business combination process.
We believe our management team’s operating and transaction experience and relationships with companies have provided us with a substantial number of potential business combination targets. Over the course of their careers, the members of our management team have developed a broad network of contacts and corporate relationships in various industries. This network has grown through the activities of our management team sourcing, acquiring and financing businesses, our management team’s relationships with sellers, financing sources and target management teams and the experience of our management team in executing transactions under varying economic and financial market conditions.
Status as a Public Company
We believe our structure as a public company makes us an attractive business combination partner to target businesses. As a public company, we offer a target business, such as NEXT, an alternative to the traditional initial public offering through a merger or other business combination with us. Following an initial business combination, we believe the target business would have greater access to capital and additional means of creating management incentives that are better aligned with stockholders’ interests than it would as a private company. A target business can further benefit by augmenting its profile among potential new customers and vendors and aid in attracting talented employees. In a business combination transaction with us, the owners of the target business may, for example, exchange their shares of stock in the target business for our shares of Class A common stock (or shares of a new holding company) or for a combination of our shares of Class A common stock and cash, allowing us to tailor the consideration to the specific needs of the sellers. See “NEXT Business Combination” above for more information regarding such exchange in the NEXT Business Combination.
Although there are various costs and obligations associated with being a public company, we believe target businesses, such as NEXT, will find this method a more expeditious and cost effective method to becoming a public company than the typical initial public offering. The typical initial public offering process takes a significantly longer period of time than the typical business combination transaction process, and there are significant expenses in the initial public offering process, including underwriting discounts and commissions, marketing and road show efforts that may not be present to the same extent in connection with an initial business combination with us.
Furthermore, once a proposed initial business combination is completed, the target business will have effectively become public, whereas an initial public offering is always subject to the underwriters’ ability to complete the offering, as well as general market conditions, which could delay or prevent the offering from occurring or could have negative valuation consequences. Following an initial business combination, we believe the target business would then have greater access to capital and an additional means of providing management incentives consistent with stockholders’ interests and the ability to use its shares as currency for acquisitions. Being a public company can offer further benefits by augmenting a company’s profile among potential new customers and vendors and aid in attracting talented employees.
While we believe that our structure and our management team’s backgrounds make us an attractive business partner, some potential target businesses may view our status as a blank check company, such as our lack of an operating history and our ability to seek stockholder approval of any proposed initial business combination, negatively.
We are an “emerging growth company,” as defined in Section 2(a) of the Securities Act, as modified by the JOBS Act. As such, we are eligible to take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not “emerging growth companies” including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the independent registered public accounting firm attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a non-binding advisory vote on executive compensation and stockholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. If some investors find our securities less attractive as a result, there may be a less active trading market for our securities and the prices of our securities may be more volatile.
In addition, Section 107 of the JOBS Act also provides that an “emerging growth company” can take advantage of the extended transition period provided in Section 7(a)(2)(B) of the Securities Act for complying with new or revised accounting standards. In other words, an “emerging growth company” can delay the adoption of certain accounting standards until those standards would otherwise apply to private companies. We intend to take advantage of the benefits of this extended transition period.
We will remain an emerging growth company until the earlier of (1) the last day of the fiscal year (a) following January 14, 2026, (b) in which we have total annual gross revenue of at least $1.235 billion, or (c) in which we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer, which means the market value of our Class A common stock that is held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of the prior June 30th, and (2) the date on which we have issued more than $1.0 billion in non-convertible debt securities during the prior three-year period.
Additionally, we are a “smaller reporting company” as defined in Rule 10(f)(1) of Regulation S-K. Smaller reporting companies may take advantage of certain reduced disclosure obligations, including, among other things, providing only two years of audited financial statements. We will remain a smaller reporting company until the last day of the fiscal year in which (1) the market value of our common stock held by non-affiliates exceeds $250 million as of the end of the prior June 30th, or (2) our annual revenues exceeded $100 million during such completed fiscal year and the market value of our common stock held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of the prior June 30th.
Financial Position
With funds available for an initial business combination in the amount of approximately $178.5 million as of December 31, 2022, we offer a target business such as NEXT a variety of options such as creating a liquidity event for its owners, providing capital for the potential growth and expansion of its operations or strengthening its balance sheet by reducing its debt or leverage ratio. Because we are able to complete our initial business combination using our cash, debt or equity securities, or a combination of the foregoing, we have the flexibility to use the most efficient combination that will allow us to tailor the consideration to be paid to the target business to fit its needs and desires. However, we have not taken any steps to secure third party financing and there can be no assurance it will be available to us.
Effecting Our Initial Business Combination
We are not presently engaged in, and we will not engage in, any operations until we consummate our initial business combination. We intend to effectuate our initial business combination using cash from the proceeds of our initial public offering and the private placement of the private placement warrants, the proceeds of the sale of our shares in connection with our initial business combination (including pursuant to forward purchase agreements or backstop agreements we may enter into following the consummation of our initial public offering or otherwise), shares issued to the owners of the target, debt issued to bank or other lenders or the owners of the target, or a combination of the foregoing. We may seek to complete our initial business combination with a company or business that may be financially unstable or in its early stages of development or growth, which would subject us to the numerous risks inherent in such companies and businesses.
If our initial business combination is paid for using equity or debt securities, or not all of the funds released from the trust account are used for payment of the consideration in connection with our initial business combination or used for redemptions of our Class A common stock, we may apply the balance of the cash released to us from the trust account for general corporate purposes, including for maintenance or expansion of operations of the post-transaction company, the payment of principal or interest due on indebtedness incurred in completing our initial business combination, to fund the purchase of other companies or for working capital.
We may seek to raise additional funds through a private offering of debt or equity securities in connection with the completion of our initial business combination, and we may effectuate our initial business combination using the proceeds of such offering rather than using the amounts held in the trust account. In addition, we target businesses larger than we could acquire with the net proceeds of our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement warrants, and may as a result, be required to seek additional financing to complete such proposed initial business combination. Subject to compliance with applicable securities laws, we would expect to complete such financing only simultaneously with the completion of our initial business combination. In the case of an initial business combination funded with assets other than the trust account assets, our proxy materials or tender offer documents disclosing the initial business combination would disclose the terms of the financing and, only if required by law, we would seek stockholder approval of such financing. There are no prohibitions on our ability to raise funds privately, or through loans in connection with our initial business combination. At this time, we are not a party to any arrangement or understanding with any third party with respect to raising any additional funds through the sale of securities or otherwise.
See “NEXT Business Combination” above for more information regarding the financing of and the agreements related to the NEXT Business Combination.
Sources of Target Businesses
Target business candidates, such as NEXT, may be brought to our attention from various unaffiliated sources, including investment bankers and investment professionals. Target businesses may be brought to our attention by such unaffiliated sources as a result of being solicited by us by calls or mailings. These sources may also introduce us to target businesses in which they think we may be interested on an unsolicited basis, since many of these sources will have read our prospectus in connection with our initial public offering or this Report and know what types of businesses we are targeting. Our officers and directors, as well as our sponsor and their affiliates, may also bring to our attention target business candidates that they become aware of through their business contacts as a result of formal or informal inquiries or discussions they may have, as well as attending trade shows or conventions. In addition, we may receive a number of proprietary deal flow opportunities that would not otherwise necessarily be available to us as a result of the business relationships of our officers and directors and our sponsor and their affiliates. We may engage the services of professional firms or other individuals that specialize in business acquisitions, in which event we may pay a finder’s fee, consulting fee, advisory fee or other compensation to be determined in an arm’s length negotiation based on the terms of the transaction. We will engage a finder only to the extent our management determines that the use of a finder may bring opportunities to us that may not otherwise be available to us or if finders approach us on an unsolicited basis with a potential transaction that our management determines is in our best interest to pursue. Payment of finder’s fees is customarily tied to completion of a transaction, in which case any such fee will be paid out of the funds held in the trust account. In no event, however, will our sponsor or any of our existing officers or directors, or any entity with which our sponsor or officers are affiliated, be paid any finder’s fee, reimbursement, consulting fee, monies in respect of any payment of a loan or other compensation by the company prior to, or in connection with any services rendered for any services they render in order to effectuate, the completion of our initial business combination (regardless of the type of transaction that it is). None of our sponsor, executive officers or directors, or any of their respective affiliates, will be allowed to receive any compensation, finder’s fees or consulting fees from a prospective business combination target in connection with a contemplated initial business combination. We pay our sponsor a total of $10,000 per month for office space, utilities and secretarial and administrative support and reimburse our sponsor for any out-of-pocket expenses related to identifying, investigating and completing an initial business combination. Some of our officers and directors may enter into employment or consulting agreements with the post-transaction company following our initial business combination. The presence or absence of any such fees or arrangements will not be used as a criterion in our selection process of an initial business combination candidate.
We are not prohibited from pursuing an initial business combination with an initial business combination target that is affiliated with our sponsor, officers or directors or making the initial business combination through a joint venture or other form of shared ownership with our sponsor, officers or directors. While NEXT is not affiliate with our sponsor, officers or directors, in the event that we do not consummate the NEXT Business Combination and we seek to complete our initial business combination with an initial business combination target that is affiliated with our sponsor, officers or directors, we, or a committee of independent directors, would obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm which is a member of FINRA or an independent accounting firm that such an initial business combination is fair to our company from a financial point of view. We are not required to obtain such an opinion in any other context.
If any of our officers or directors becomes aware of an initial business combination opportunity that falls within the line of business of any entity to which he or she has pre-existing fiduciary or contractual obligations, he or she may be required to present such business combination opportunity to such entity prior to presenting such business combination opportunity to us. Our officers and directors currently have certain relevant fiduciary duties or contractual obligations that may take priority over their duties to us.
Selection of a Target Business and Structuring of our Initial Business Combination
Nasdaq rules require that we must complete one or more business combinations having an aggregate fair market value of at least 80% of the value of the assets held in the trust account (excluding the deferred underwriting commissions and taxes payable on the interest earned on the trust account) at the time of our signing a definitive agreement in connection with our initial business combination. The fair market value of our initial business combination will be determined by our board of directors based upon one or more standards generally accepted by the financial community, such as discounted cash flow valuation, a valuation based on trading multiples of comparable public businesses, or a valuation based on the financial metrics of M&A transactions of comparable businesses. If our board of directors is not able to independently determine the fair market value of our initial business combination, we will obtain an opinion from an independent investment banking firm that is a member of FINRA or an independent accounting firm with respect to the satisfaction of such criteria. While we consider it unlikely that our board of directors will not be able to make an independent determination of the fair market value of our initial business combination, it may be unable to do so if it is less familiar or experienced with the business of a particular target or if there is a significant amount of uncertainty as to the value of a target’s assets or prospects. We do not intend to purchase multiple businesses in unrelated industries in conjunction with our initial business combination. Subject to this requirement, our management will have virtually unrestricted flexibility in identifying and selecting one or more prospective target businesses, although we will not be permitted to effectuate our initial business combination with another blank check company or a similar company with nominal operations.
In any case, we will only complete an initial business combination in which we own or acquire 50% or more of the outstanding voting securities of the target or otherwise acquire a controlling interest in the target sufficient for it not to be required to register as an investment company under the Investment Company Act. If we own or acquire less than 100% of the equity interests or assets of a target business or businesses, the portion of such business or businesses that are owned or acquired by the post-transaction company is what will be taken into account for purposes of Nasdaq’s 80% of net assets test.
To the extent we effect our initial business combination with a company or business that may be financially unstable or in its early stages of development or growth we may be affected by numerous risks inherent in such company or business. Although our management endeavors to evaluate the risks inherent in a particular target business, we cannot assure you that we will properly ascertain or assess all significant risk factors.
In evaluating a prospective business target, such as NEXT, we conduct a thorough due diligence review, which encompasses, among other things, meetings with incumbent management and employees, document reviews, interviews of customers and suppliers, inspection of facilities, as well as a review of financial and other information that will be made available to us.
Any costs incurred with respect to the identification and evaluation of a prospective target business with which our initial business combination is not ultimately completed will result in our incurring losses and will reduce the funds we can use to complete another business combination.
Lack of Business Diversification
For an indefinite period of time after the completion of our initial business combination, the prospects for our success may depend entirely on the future performance of a single business. Unlike other entities that have the resources to complete business combinations with multiple entities in one or several industries, it is probable that we will not have the resources to diversify our operations and mitigate the risks of being in a single line of business. In addition, we are focusing our search for an initial business combination in a single industry. By completing our initial business combination with only a single entity, our lack of diversification may:
● subject us to negative economic, competitive and regulatory developments, any or all of which may have a substantial adverse impact on the particular industry in which we operate after our initial business combination, and
● cause us to depend on the marketing and sale of a single product or limited number of products or services.
Limited Ability to Evaluate the Target’s Management Team
Although we closely scrutinize the management of a prospective target business, including the management team of NEXT, when evaluating the desirability of effecting our initial business combination with that business, and plan to continue to do so if the NEXT Business Combination is not consummated and we seek other business combination opportunities, our assessment of the target business’ management may not prove to be correct. In addition, the future management may not have the necessary skills, qualifications or abilities to manage a public company. Furthermore, the future role of members of our management team, if any, in the target business cannot presently be stated with any certainty. The determination as to whether any of the members of our management team will remain with the combined company will be made at the time of our initial business combination. While it is possible that one or more of our directors will remain associated in some capacity with us following our initial business combination, including the NEXT Business Combination in which Scott Crist, our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, will be on the board of directors of the combined company following completion of the merger, it is unlikely that he or any other director will devote their full efforts to our affairs subsequent to our initial business combination. Moreover, we cannot assure you that members of our post-closing management team will have significant experience or knowledge relating to the operations of the particular target business.
We cannot assure you that any of our key personnel will remain in senior management or advisory positions with the combined company. The determination as to whether any of our key personnel will remain with the combined company will be made at the time of our initial business combination.
Following an initial business combination, we may seek to recruit additional managers to supplement the incumbent management of the target business. We cannot assure you that we will have the ability to recruit additional managers, or that additional managers will have the requisite skills, knowledge or experience necessary to enhance the incumbent management.
Stockholders May Not Have the Ability to Approve Our Initial Business Combination
We may conduct redemptions without a stockholder vote pursuant to the tender offer rules of the SEC. However, we will seek stockholder approval if it is required by law or applicable stock exchange rule (as is the case with the NEXT Business Combination), or we may decide to seek stockholder approval for business or other legal reasons. Presented in the table below is a graphic explanation of the types of initial business combinations we may consider and whether stockholder approval is currently required under Delaware law for each such transaction.
TYPE OF TRANSACTION WHETHER
STOCKHOLDER
APPROVAL IS
REQUIRED
Purchase of assets No
Purchase of stock of target not involving a merger with the company No
Merger of target into a subsidiary of the company No
Merger of the company with a target Yes
Under Nasdaq’s listing rules, stockholder approval would be required for our initial business combination if, for example:
● we issue shares of Class A common stock that will be equal to or in excess of 20% of the number of shares of our Class A common stock then outstanding;
● any of our directors, officers or substantial stockholders (as defined by Nasdaq rules) has a 5% or greater interest (or such persons collectively have a 10% or greater interest), directly or indirectly, in the target business or assets to be acquired or otherwise and the present or potential issuance of common stock could result in an increase in outstanding common shares or voting power of 5% or more; or
● the issuance or potential issuance of common stock will result in our undergoing a change of control.
See “NEXT Business Combination” above for more information regarding the requisite approvals needed in the NEXT Business Combination.
Permitted Purchases of our Securities
If we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our sponsor, initial stockholders, directors, officers, advisors or their affiliates may purchase shares or public warrants in privately negotiated transactions or in the open market either prior to or following the completion of our initial business combination. There is no limit on the number of shares our initial stockholders, directors, officers, advisors or their affiliates may purchase in such transactions, subject to compliance with applicable law and Nasdaq rules. However, they have no current commitments, plans or intentions to engage in such transactions and have not formulated any terms or conditions for any such transactions. If they engage in such transactions, they will not make any such purchases when they are in possession of any material nonpublic information not disclosed to the seller or if such purchases are prohibited by Regulation M under the Exchange Act. We do not currently anticipate that such purchases, if any, would constitute a tender offer subject to the tender offer rules under the Exchange Act or a going-private transaction subject to the going-private rules under the Exchange Act; however, if the purchasers determine at the time of any such purchases that the purchases are subject to such rules, the purchasers will comply with such rules. Any such purchases will be reported pursuant to Section 13 and Section 16 of the Exchange Act to the extent such purchasers are subject to such reporting requirements. None of the funds held in the trust account will be used to purchase shares or public warrants in such transactions prior to completion of our initial business combination.
The purpose of any such purchases of shares could be to vote such shares in favor of the initial business combination and thereby increase the likelihood of obtaining stockholder approval of the initial business combination or to satisfy a closing condition in an agreement with a target that requires us to have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash at the closing of our initial business combination, where it appears that such requirement would otherwise not be met. The purpose of any such purchases of public warrants could be to reduce the number of public warrants outstanding or to vote such warrants on any matters submitted to the warrant holders for approval in connection with our initial business combination. Any such purchases of our securities may result in the completion of our initial business combination that may not otherwise have been possible. In addition, if such purchases are made, the public “float” of our shares of Class A common stock or warrants may be reduced and the number of beneficial holders of our securities may be reduced, which may make it difficult to maintain or obtain the quotation, listing or trading of our securities on a national securities exchange.
Our sponsor, officers, directors and/or their affiliates anticipate that they may identify the stockholders with whom our sponsor, officers, directors or their affiliates may pursue privately negotiated purchases by either the stockholders contacting us directly or by our receipt of redemption requests submitted by stockholders following our mailing of proxy materials in connection with our initial business combination. To the extent that our sponsor, officers, directors, advisors or their affiliates enter into a private purchase, they would identify and contact only potential selling stockholders who have expressed their election to redeem their shares for a pro rata share of the trust account or vote against our initial business combination, whether or not such stockholder has already submitted a proxy with respect to our initial business combination. Our sponsor, officers, directors, advisors or their affiliates will only purchase shares if such purchases comply with Regulation M under the Exchange Act and the other federal securities laws.
Any purchases by our sponsor, officers, directors and/or their affiliates who are affiliated purchasers under Rule 10b-18 under the Exchange Act will only be made to the extent such purchases are able to be made in compliance with Rule 10b-18, which is a safe harbor from liability for manipulation under Section 9(a)(2) and Rule 10b-5 of the Exchange Act. Rule 10b-18 has certain technical requirements that must be complied with in order for the safe harbor to be available to the purchaser. Our sponsor, officers, directors and/or their affiliates will not make purchases of common stock if the purchases would violate Section 9(a)(2) or Rule 10b-5 of the Exchange Act. Any such purchases will be reported pursuant to Section 13 and Section 16 of the Exchange Act to the extent such purchases are subject to such reporting requirements.
See “NEXT Business Combination” above for more information regarding such purchases in the NEXT Business Combination.
Redemption Rights for Public Stockholders upon Completion of our Initial Business Combination
We will provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their shares of Class A common stock upon the completion of our initial business combination at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account as of two business days prior to the consummation of the initial business combination, such as the NEXT Business Combination, including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our franchise and income taxes, divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, subject to the limitations described herein. As of December 31, 2022, the amount in the trust account was approximately $10.31 per public share, without taking into account any interest earned on such funds or additional funds, if any, deposited into the trust account in connection with extensions of the period of time to consummate a business combination (as described in more detail in this Report). The per-share amount we will distribute to investors who properly redeem their shares will not be reduced by the deferred underwriting commissions we will pay to the underwriters. Our sponsor, officers and directors have entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which they have agreed to waive their redemption rights with respect to any founder shares and any public shares held by them in connection with the completion of our initial business combination.
Manner of Conducting Redemptions
We will provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem all or a portion of their shares of Class A common stock upon the completion of our initial business combination either (i) in connection with a stockholder meeting called to approve the initial business combination, such as the NEXT Business Combination, or (ii) by means of a tender offer, if the NEXT Business Combination is not consummated. The decision as to whether we will seek stockholder approval of a proposed initial business combination or conduct a tender offer will be made by us, solely in our discretion, and will be based on a variety of factors such as the timing of the transaction and whether the terms of the transaction would require us to seek stockholder approval under the law or stock exchange listing requirement. Under Nasdaq rules, asset acquisitions and stock purchases would not typically require stockholder approval while direct mergers with our company where we do not survive and any transactions where we issue more than 20% of our outstanding common stock or seek to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation would require stockholder approval. If we structure an initial business combination with a target company in a manner that requires stockholder approval, we will not have discretion as to whether to seek a stockholder vote to approve the proposed initial business combination. We may conduct redemptions without a stockholder vote pursuant to the tender offer rules of the SEC unless stockholder approval is required by law or stock exchange listing requirements or we choose to seek stockholder approval for business or other legal reasons. So long as we obtain and maintain a listing for our securities on Nasdaq, we will be required to comply with such rules.
If a stockholder vote is not required and we do not decide to hold a stockholder vote for business or other legal reasons, we will, pursuant to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation:
● conduct the redemptions pursuant to Rule 13e-4 and Regulation 14E of the Exchange Act, which regulate issuer tender offers, and
● file tender offer documents with the SEC prior to completing our initial business combination which contain substantially the same financial and other information about the initial business combination and the redemption rights as is required under Regulation 14A of the Exchange Act, which regulates the solicitation of proxies.
In the event we conduct redemptions pursuant to the tender offer rules, our offer to redeem will remain open for at least 20 business days, in accordance with Rule 14e-1(a) under the Exchange Act, and we will not be permitted to complete our initial business combination until the expiration of the tender offer period. In addition, the tender offer will be conditioned on public stockholders not tendering more than a specified number of public shares which are not purchased by our sponsor, which number will be based on the requirement that we may not redeem public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 either immediately prior to or upon consummation of our initial business combination and after payment of underwriters’ fees and commissions (so that we are not subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules) or any greater net tangible asset or cash requirement which may be contained in the agreement relating to our initial business combination. If public stockholders tender more shares than we have offered to purchase, we will withdraw the tender offer and not complete the initial business combination.
If, however, stockholder approval of the transaction is required by law or stock exchange listing requirement, or we decide to obtain stockholder approval for business or other legal reasons, we will, pursuant to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation:
●
conduct the redemptions in conjunction with a proxy solicitation pursuant to Regulation 14A of the Exchange
Act, which regulates the solicitation of proxies, and not pursuant to the tender offer rules, and
● file proxy materials with the SEC.
In the event that we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination, we will distribute proxy materials and, in connection therewith, provide our public stockholders with the redemption rights described above upon completion of the initial business combination.
If we seek stockholder approval, we will complete our initial business combination only if a majority of the outstanding shares of common stock voted are voted in favor of the initial business combination. A quorum for such meeting will consist of the holders present in person or by proxy of shares of outstanding capital stock of the company representing a majority of the voting power of all outstanding shares of capital stock of the company entitled to vote at such meeting. Our initial stockholders will count toward this quorum and pursuant to the letter agreement, our sponsor, officers and directors have agreed to vote their founder shares and any public shares purchased during or after our initial public offering (including in open market and privately negotiated transactions) in favor of our initial business combination. For purposes of seeking approval of the majority of our outstanding shares of common stock voted, non-votes will have no effect on the approval of our initial business combination once a quorum is obtained. As a result, in addition to our initial stockholders’ founder shares, we need only 6,468,751, or 37.5%, of the 17,250,000 public shares sold in our initial public offering to be voted in favor of an initial business combination (assuming all outstanding shares are voted) in order to have our initial business combination approved. We intend to give approximately 30 days (but not less than 10 days nor more than 60 days) prior written notice of any such meeting, if required, at which a vote shall be taken to approve our initial business combination. These quorums and voting thresholds, and the voting agreements of our initial stockholders, may make it more likely that we will consummate our initial business combination. Each public stockholder may elect to redeem its public shares irrespective of whether they vote for or against the proposed transaction.
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that 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 either immediately prior to or upon consummation of our initial business combination and after payment of underwriters’ fees and commissions (so that we are not subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules) or any greater net tangible asset or cash requirement which may be contained in the agreement relating to our initial business combination. For example, the proposed initial business combination may require: (i) cash consideration to be paid to the target or its owners, (ii) cash to be transferred to the target for working capital or other general corporate purposes or (iii) the retention of cash to satisfy other conditions in accordance with the terms of the proposed initial business combination. In the event the aggregate cash consideration we would be required to pay for all shares of Class A common stock that are validly submitted for redemption plus any amount required to satisfy cash conditions pursuant to the terms of the proposed initial business combination exceed the aggregate amount of cash available to us, we will not complete the initial business combination or redeem any shares, and all shares of Class A common stock submitted for redemption will be returned to the holders thereof.
See “NEXT Business Combination” above for more information regarding the requisite approvals needed for the NEXT Business Combination.
Limitation on Redemption upon Completion of our Initial Business Combination if we Seek Stockholder Approval
Notwithstanding the foregoing, if we seek stockholder approval of our initial business combination and we do not conduct redemptions in connection with our initial business combination pursuant to the tender offer rules, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that a public stockholder, together with any affiliate of such stockholder or any other person with whom such stockholder is acting in concert or as a “group” (as defined under Section 13 of the Exchange Act), will be restricted from seeking redemption rights with respect to more than an aggregate of 15% of the shares sold in our initial public offering (the “Excess Shares”). Such restriction shall also be applicable to our affiliates. We believe this restriction will discourage stockholders from accumulating large blocks of shares, and subsequent attempts by such holders to use their ability to exercise their redemption rights against a proposed initial business combination as a means to force us or our management to purchase their shares at a significant premium to the then-current market price or on other undesirable terms. Absent this provision, a public stockholder holding more than an aggregate of 15% of the shares sold in our initial public offering could threaten to exercise its redemption rights if such holder’s shares are not purchased by us or our management at a premium to the then-current market price or on other undesirable terms. By limiting our stockholders’ ability to redeem no more than 15% of the shares sold in our initial public offering without our prior consent, we believe we will limit the ability of a small group of stockholders to unreasonably attempt to block our ability to complete our initial business combination, particularly in connection with an initial business combination with a target that requires as a closing condition that we have a minimum net worth or a certain amount of cash. However, we would not be restricting our stockholders’ ability to vote all of their shares (including Excess Shares) for or against our initial business combination.
See “NEXT Business Combination” above for more information regarding the requisite approvals needed for the NEXT Business Combination.
Tendering Stock Certificates in Connection with a Tender Offer or Redemption Rights
We may require our public stockholders seeking to exercise their redemption rights, whether they are record holders or hold their shares in “street name,” to either tender their certificates to our transfer agent prior to the date set forth in the tender offer documents or proxy materials mailed to such holders, or up to two business days prior to the vote on the proposal to approve the initial business combination in the event we distribute proxy materials, or to deliver their shares to the transfer agent electronically using the DWAC System, at the holder’s option. The tender offer or proxy materials, as applicable, that we will furnish to holders of our public shares in connection with our initial business combination will indicate whether we are requiring public stockholders to satisfy such delivery requirements. Accordingly, a public stockholder would have from the time we send out our tender offer materials until the close of the tender offer period, or up to two days prior to the vote on the initial business combination if we distribute proxy materials, as applicable, to tender its shares if it wishes to seek to exercise its redemption rights. Given the relatively short exercise period, it is advisable for stockholders to use electronic delivery of their public shares.
There is a nominal cost associated with the above-referenced tendering process and the act of certificating the shares or delivering them through the DWAC System. The transfer agent will typically charge the tendering broker $100.00 and it would be up to the broker whether or not to pass this cost on to the redeeming holder. However, this fee would be incurred regardless of whether or not we require holders seeking to exercise redemption rights to tender their shares. The need to deliver shares is a requirement of exercising redemption rights regardless of the timing of when such delivery must be effectuated.
The foregoing is different from the procedures used by many blank check companies. In order to perfect redemption rights in connection with their business combinations, many blank check companies would distribute proxy materials for the stockholders’ vote on an initial business combination, and a holder could simply vote against a proposed initial business combination and check a box on the proxy card indicating such holder was seeking to exercise his or her redemption rights. After the initial business combination was approved, the company would contact such stockholder to arrange for him or her to deliver his or her certificate to verify ownership. As a result, the stockholder then had an “option window” after the completion of the initial business combination during which he or she could monitor the price of the company’s stock in the market. If the price rose above the redemption price, he or she could sell his or her shares in the open market before actually delivering his or her shares to the company for cancellation. As a result, the redemption rights, to which stockholders were aware they needed to commit before the stockholder meeting, would become “option” rights surviving past the completion of the initial business combination until the redeeming holder delivered its certificate. The requirement for physical or electronic delivery prior to the meeting ensures that a redeeming holder’s election to redeem is irrevocable once the initial business combination is approved.
Any request to redeem such shares, once made, may be withdrawn at any time up to the date set forth in the tender offer materials or the date of the stockholder meeting set forth in our proxy materials, as applicable. Furthermore, if a holder of a public share delivered its certificate in connection with an election of redemption rights and subsequently decides prior to the applicable date not to elect to exercise such rights, such holder may simply request that the transfer agent return the certificate (physically or electronically). It is anticipated that the funds to be distributed to holders of our public shares electing to redeem their shares will be distributed promptly after the completion of our initial business combination.
If our initial business combination is not approved or completed for any reason, then our public stockholders who elected to exercise their redemption rights would not be entitled to redeem their shares for the applicable pro rata share of the trust account. In such case, we will promptly return any certificates delivered by public holders who elected to redeem their shares.
If our initial proposed initial business combination is not completed, we may continue to try to complete an initial business combination with a different target within the Combination Period.
Redemption of Public Shares and Liquidation if no Initial Business Combination
Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides that we will have only until the end of the Combination Period to complete our initial business combination. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination within the Combination Period, we will: (i) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up, (ii) as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, redeem the public shares, at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our franchise and income taxes (less up to $50,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, which redemption will completely extinguish public stockholders’ rights as stockholders (including the right to receive further liquidating distributions, if any), subject to applicable law, and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining stockholders and our board of directors, dissolve and liquidate, subject in each case to our obligations under Delaware law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law. There will be no redemption rights or liquidating distributions with respect to our warrants, which will expire worthless if we fail to complete our initial business combination during the Combination Period.
Our sponsor, officers and directors have entered into a letter agreement with us, pursuant to which they have waived their rights to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to any founder shares held by them if we fail to complete our initial business combination during the Combination Period. However, if our sponsor, officers or directors acquire public shares in or after our initial public offering, they will be entitled to liquidating distributions from the trust account with respect to such public shares if we fail to complete our initial business combination during the Combination Period.
Our sponsor, officers and directors have agreed, pursuant to a written agreement with us, that they will not propose any amendment to our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (i) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination during the Combination Period or (ii) with respect to any other provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity, unless we provide our public stockholders with the opportunity to redeem their shares of Class A common stock upon approval of any such amendment at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our franchise and income taxes divided by the number of then outstanding public shares. However, we may not redeem our public shares in an amount that would cause our net tangible assets to be less than $5,000,001 either immediately prior to or upon consummation of our initial business combination and after payment of underwriters’ fees and commissions (so that we are not subject to the SEC’s “penny stock” rules). If this optional redemption right is exercised with respect to an excessive number of public shares such that we cannot satisfy the net tangible asset requirement (described above), we would not proceed with the amendment or the related redemption of our public shares at such time.
If we do not consummate our initial business combination by the deadline set forth in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, we expect that all costs and expenses associated with implementing our plan of dissolution, as well as payments to any creditors, will be funded from amounts remaining out of the approximately $451,473 of proceeds held outside the trust account as of December 31, 2022, although we cannot assure you that there will be sufficient funds for such purpose. We will depend on sufficient interest being earned on the proceeds held in the trust account to pay any franchise and income tax obligations we may owe. However, if those funds are not sufficient to cover the costs and expenses associated with implementing our plan of dissolution, to the extent that there is any interest accrued in the trust account not required to pay franchise and income taxes on interest income earned on the trust account balance, we may request the trustee to release to us an additional amount of up to $50,000 of such accrued interest to pay those costs and expenses. However, if we anticipate that we may not be able to consummate our initial business combination by April 14, 2023, we may, by resolution of our board if requested by our sponsor, extend the period of time to consummate a business combination by an additional three months (for a total of up to 18 months to complete a business combination until July 14, 2023), subject to the sponsor depositing into the trust account, upon five days advance notice prior to the applicable deadline, $1,725,000 ($0.10 per unit), for the available three month extension. Our public shareholders will not be afforded an opportunity to vote on our extension of time to consummate an initial business combination from 15 months to 18 months described above or to redeem their shares in connection with such extension.
On March 22, 2023, we filed with the SEC a proxy statement on Schedule 14A in connection with a proposal to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation to extend the date by which we must complete an initial business combination from April 14, 2023 to December 14, 2023, or such earlier date as determined by the Company’s board of directors. If the Extension Amendment Proposal is approved and the board of directors decides to implement the Extension, the sponsor or its designees have agreed to contribute to us loans equal to the lesser of (x) $35,000 or (y) $0.035 for each public share that is not redeemed for each calendar month (commencing on April 15, 2023 and ending on the 14th day of each subsequent month), or portion thereof, that is needed by the Company to complete the business combination until December 14, 2023. Our shareholders will vote on the Extension Amendment Proposal at the special meeting of stockholder scheduled to be held on April 10, 2023. In connection with the Extension Amendment Proposal, holders of our public shares are entitled to redeem their public shares at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest (which interest shall be net of taxes payable), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares. For more information, please see our proxy statement on Schedule 14A filed with the SEC on March 22, 2023.
If we were to expend all of the net proceeds of our initial public offering and the sale of the private placement warrants, other than the proceeds deposited in the trust account, and without taking into account interest, if any, earned on the trust account, the per-share redemption amount received by stockholders upon our dissolution would be approximately $10.31. The proceeds deposited in the trust account could, however, become subject to the claims of our creditors which would have higher priority than the claims of our public stockholders. We cannot assure you that the actual per-share redemption amount received by stockholders will not be substantially less than $10.31. Under Section 281(b) of the DGCL, our plan of dissolution must provide for all claims against us to be paid in full or make provision for payments to be made in full, as applicable, if there are sufficient assets. These claims must be paid or provided for before we make any distribution of our remaining assets to our stockholders. While we intend to pay such amounts, if any, we cannot assure you that we will have funds sufficient to pay or provide for all creditors’ claims.
Although we seek to have all vendors, service providers, prospective target businesses or other entities with which we do business execute agreements with us waiving any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to any monies held in the trust account for the benefit of our public stockholders, there is no guarantee that they will execute such agreements or even if they execute such agreements that they would be prevented from bringing claims against the trust account including but not limited to fraudulent inducement, breach of fiduciary responsibility or other similar claims, as well as claims challenging the enforceability of the waiver, in each case in order to gain an advantage with respect to a claim against our assets, including the funds held in the trust account. If any third party refuses to execute an agreement waiving such claims to the monies held in the trust account, our management will perform an analysis of the alternatives available to it and will only enter into an agreement with a third party that has not executed a waiver if management believes that such third party’s engagement would be significantly more beneficial to us than any alternative. Examples of possible instances where we may engage a third party that refuses to execute a waiver include the engagement of a third party consultant whose particular expertise or skills are believed by management to be significantly superior to those of other consultants that would agree to execute a waiver or in cases where management is unable to find a service provider willing to execute a waiver. Marcum, our independent registered public accounting firm, and the underwriters of the offering, will not execute agreements with us waiving such claims to the monies held in the trust account.
In addition, there is no guarantee that such entities will agree to waive any claims they may have in the future as a result of, or arising out of, any negotiations, contracts or agreements with us and will not seek recourse against the trust account for any reason. Our sponsor has agreed that it will be liable to us if and to the extent any claims by a third party for services rendered or products sold to us, or a prospective target business with which we have entered into a written letter of intent, confidentiality or similar agreement or business combination agreement, reduce the amount of funds in the trust account to below the lesser of (i) $10.20 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 $10.20 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. None of our officers or directors will indemnify us for claims by third parties including, without limitation, claims by vendors and prospective target businesses.
In the event that the proceeds in the trust account are reduced below (i) $10.20 per public share or (ii) such lesser amount per public share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account, due to reductions in value of the trust assets, in each case net of the amount of interest which may be withdrawn to pay taxes, and our sponsor asserts that it is unable to satisfy its indemnification obligations or that it has no indemnification obligations related to a particular claim, our independent directors would determine whether to take legal action against our sponsor to enforce its indemnification obligations. While we currently expect that our independent directors would take legal action on our behalf against our sponsor to enforce its indemnification obligations to us, it is possible that our independent directors in exercising their business judgment may choose not to do so if, for example, the cost of such legal action is deemed by the independent directors to be too high relative to the amount recoverable or if the independent directors determine that a favorable outcome is not likely. We have not asked our sponsor to reserve for such indemnification obligations and we cannot assure you that our sponsor would be able to satisfy those obligations. Accordingly, we cannot assure you that due to claims of creditors the actual value of the per-share redemption price will not be less than $10.20 per public share.
We have sought and will continue to seek to reduce the possibility that our sponsor will have to indemnify the trust account due to claims of creditors by endeavoring to have all vendors, service providers, prospective target businesses or other entities with which we do business execute agreements with us waiving any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to monies held in the trust account. Our sponsor will also not be liable as to any claims under our indemnity of the underwriters of our initial public offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. As of December 31, 2022, we have access to up to approximately $178.5 million from the proceeds of our initial public offering with which to pay any such potential claims (including costs and expenses incurred in connection with our liquidation, currently estimated to be no more than approximately $50,000). In the event that we liquidate and it is subsequently determined that the reserve for claims and liabilities is insufficient, stockholders who received funds from our trust account could be liable for claims made by creditors. As of December 31, 2022, the amount held outside the trust account was $451,473.
Under the DGCL, stockholders may be held liable for claims by third parties against a corporation to the extent of distributions received by them in a dissolution. The pro rata portion of our trust account distributed to our public stockholders upon the redemption of our public shares in the event we do not complete our initial business combination during the Combination Period may be considered a liquidating distribution under Delaware law. If the corporation complies with certain procedures set forth in Section 280 of the DGCL intended to ensure that it makes reasonable provision for all claims against it, including a 60-day notice period during which any third-party claims can be brought against the corporation, a 90-day period during which the corporation may reject any claims brought, and an additional 150-day waiting period before any liquidating distributions are made to stockholders, any liability of stockholders with respect to a liquidating distribution is limited to the lesser of such stockholder’s pro rata share of the claim or the amount distributed to the stockholder, and any liability of the stockholder would be barred after the third anniversary of the dissolution.
Furthermore, if the pro rata portion of our trust account distributed to our public stockholders upon the redemption of our public shares in the event we do not complete our initial business combination during the Combination Period, is not considered a liquidating distribution under Delaware law and such redemption distribution is deemed to be unlawful (potentially due to the imposition of legal proceedings that a party may bring or due to other circumstances that are currently unknown), then pursuant to Section 174 of the DGCL, the statute of limitations for claims of creditors could then be six years after the unlawful redemption distribution, instead of three years, as in the case of a liquidating distribution. If we are unable to complete our initial business combination during the Combination Period, we will: (i) cease all operations except for the purpose of winding up, (ii) as promptly as reasonably possible but not more than ten business days thereafter, redeem the public shares, at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account including interest earned on the funds held in the trust account and not previously released to us to pay our franchise and income taxes (less up to $50,000 of interest to pay dissolution expenses), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares, which redemption will completely extinguish public stockholders’ rights as stockholders (including the right to receive further liquidating distributions, if any), subject to applicable law, and (iii) as promptly as reasonably possible following such redemption, subject to the approval of our remaining stockholders and our board of directors, dissolve and liquidate, subject in each case to our obligations under Delaware law to provide for claims of creditors and the requirements of other applicable law. Accordingly, it is our intention to redeem our public shares as soon as reasonably possible following the end of the Combination Period and, therefore, we do not intend to comply with those procedures. As such, our stockholders could potentially be liable for any claims to the extent of distributions received by them (but no more) and any liability of our stockholders may extend well beyond the third anniversary of such date.
Because we will not be complying with Section 280, Section 281(b) of the DGCL requires us to adopt a plan, based on facts known to us at such time that will provide for our payment of all existing and pending claims or claims that may be potentially brought against us within the subsequent 10 years. However, because we are a blank check company, rather than an operating company, and our operations will be limited to searching for prospective target businesses to acquire, the only likely claims to arise would be from our vendors (such as lawyers, investment bankers, etc.) or prospective target businesses. As described above, pursuant to the obligation contained in our underwriting agreement, we will seek to have all vendors, service providers, prospective target businesses or other entities with which we do business execute agreements with us waiving any right, title, interest or claim of any kind in or to any monies held in the trust account. As a result of this obligation, the claims that could be made against us are significantly limited and the likelihood that any claim that would result in any liability extending to the trust account is remote. Further, our sponsor may be liable only to the extent necessary to ensure that the amounts in the trust account are not reduced below (i) $10.20 per public share or (ii) such lesser amount per public share held in the trust account as of the date of the liquidation of the trust account, due to reductions in value of the trust assets, in each case net of the amount of interest withdrawn to pay taxes and will not be liable as to any claims under our indemnity of the underwriters of our initial public offering against certain liabilities, including liabilities under the Securities Act. In the event that an executed waiver is deemed to be unenforceable against a third party, our sponsor will not be responsible to the extent of any liability for such third-party claims.
If we file a bankruptcy petition or an involuntary bankruptcy petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, the proceeds held in the trust account could be subject to applicable bankruptcy law, and may be included in our bankruptcy estate and subject to the claims of third parties with priority over the claims of our stockholders. To the extent any bankruptcy claims deplete the trust account, we cannot assure you we will be able to return $10.20 per share to our public stockholders. Additionally, if we file a bankruptcy petition or an involuntary bankruptcy petition is filed against us that is not dismissed, any distributions received by stockholders could be viewed under applicable debtor/creditor and/or bankruptcy laws as either a “preferential transfer” or a “fraudulent conveyance.” As a result, a bankruptcy court could seek to recover some or all amounts received by our stockholders. Furthermore, our board of directors may be viewed as having breached its fiduciary duty to our creditors and/or may have acted in bad faith, thereby exposing itself and our company to claims of punitive damages, by paying public stockholders from the trust account prior to addressing the claims of creditors. We cannot assure you that claims will not be brought against us for these reasons.
Our public stockholders will be entitled to receive funds from the trust account only upon the earlier to occur of: (i) the completion of our initial business combination, (ii) the redemption of any public shares properly tendered in connection with a stockholder vote to amend any provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation (A) to modify the substance or timing of our obligation to redeem 100% of our public shares if we do not complete our initial business combination by the end of the Combination Period (B) with respect to any other provision relating to stockholders’ rights or pre-initial business combination activity, and (iii) the redemption of all of our public shares if we are unable to complete our business combination during the Combination Period, subject to applicable law. In no other circumstances will a stockholder have any right or interest of any kind to or in the trust account. In the event we seek stockholder approval in connection with our initial business combination, a stockholder’s voting in connection with the initial business combination alone will not result in a stockholder’s redeeming its shares to us for an applicable pro rata share of the trust account. Such stockholder must have also exercised its redemption rights as described above. These provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, like all provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, may be amended with a stockholder vote.
Competition
In identifying, evaluating and selecting a target business, such as NEXT, for our initial business combination, we may encounter intense competition from other entities having a business objective similar to ours, including other blank check companies, private equity groups and leveraged buyout funds, and operating businesses seeking strategic business combinations. Many of these entities are well established and have extensive experience identifying and effecting business combinations directly or through affiliates. Moreover, many of these competitors possess greater financial, technical, human and other resources than we do. Our ability to acquire larger target businesses will be limited by our available financial resources. This inherent limitation gives others an advantage in pursuing the initial business combination of a target business. Furthermore, our obligation to pay cash in connection with our public stockholders who exercise their redemption rights may reduce the resources available to us for our initial business combination and our outstanding rights, warrants and unit purchase option, and the future dilution they potentially represent, may not be viewed favorably by certain target businesses. Either of these factors may place us at a competitive disadvantage in successfully negotiating an initial business combination.
Employees
We currently have two officers. These individuals are not obligated to devote any specific number of hours to our matters, but they devote as much of their time as they deem necessary to our affairs until we have completed our initial business combination. The amount of time they devote in any time period varies based on the stage of the initial business combination process we are in. We have no full-time employees and do not intend to have any full-time employees prior to the completion of our initial business combination.
Periodic Reporting and Financial Information
Our units, Class A common stock and warrants are registered under the Exchange Act, and as a result, we have reporting obligations, including the requirement that we file annual, quarterly and current reports with the SEC. In accordance with the requirements of the Exchange Act, our annual reports, including this Report, will contain financial statements audited and reported on by our independent registered public accountants.
We will provide stockholders with audited financial statements of the prospective target business as part of the tender offer materials or proxy solicitation materials sent to stockholders to assist them in assessing the target business, such as the NEXT Registration Statement. In all likelihood, these financial statements will need to be prepared in accordance with, or reconciled to, GAAP, or IFRS, depending on the circumstances, and the historical financial statements may be required to be audited in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. These financial statement requirements may limit the pool of potential targets we may conduct an initial business combination with because some targets may be unable to provide such statements in time for us to disclose such statements in accordance with federal proxy rules and complete our initial business combination within the prescribed time frame. We cannot assure you that any particular target business identified by us as a potential business combination candidate will have financial statements prepared in accordance with GAAP or that the potential target business will be able to prepare its financial statements in accordance with the requirements outlined above. To the extent that these requirements cannot be met, we may not be able to acquire the proposed target business. While this may limit the pool of potential business combination candidates, we do not believe that this limitation will be material.
We are required to evaluate our internal control procedures for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2022 as required by the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Only in the event we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer or an accelerated filer, and no longer qualify as an emerging growth company, will we be required to have our internal control procedures audited. A target company may not be in compliance with the provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act regarding adequacy of their internal controls. The development of the internal controls of any such entity to achieve compliance with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act may increase the time and costs necessary to complete any such business combination. We have filed a Registration Statement on Form 8-A with the SEC to voluntarily register our securities under Section 12 of 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.
We will remain an emerging growth company until the earlier of (1) (a) December 31, 2027, (b) the last day of the fiscal year in which we have total annual gross revenue of at least $1.235 billion, or (c) the last day of the fiscal year in which we are deemed to be a large accelerated filer, which means the market value of our shares of Class A common stock that are held by non-affiliates exceeds $700 million as of the prior June 30th, and (2) the date on which we have issued more than $1.0 billion in non-convertible debt during the prior three-year period.

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ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS
Item 1A. Risk Factors.
As a smaller reporting company, we are not required to include risk factors in this Report. However, below is a partial list of material risks, uncertainties and other factors that could have a material effect on the Company and its operations:
● we are a blank check company with no revenue or basis to evaluate our ability to select a suitable business target;
● we may not be able to select an appropriate target business or businesses and complete our initial business combination, including the NEXT Business Combination, in the prescribed time frame;
● our ability to consummate an initial business combination may be adversely affected by economic uncertainty and volatility in the financial markets;
● our expectations around the performance of a prospective target business or businesses, such as NEXT, may not be realized;
● we may not be successful in retaining or recruiting required officers, key employees or directors following our initial business combination;
● our officers and directors may have difficulties allocating their time between the Company and other businesses and may potentially have conflicts of interest with our business or in approving our initial business combination;
● we may not be able to obtain additional financing to complete our initial business combination, including the NEXT Business Combination, or reduce the number of shareholders requesting redemption;
● we may issue our shares to investors in connection with our initial business combination at a price that is less than the prevailing market price of our shares at that time;
● you may not be given the opportunity to choose the initial business target or to vote on the initial business combination;
● trust account funds may not be protected against third party claims or bankruptcy;
● an active market for our public securities may not develop and you will have limited liquidity and trading;
● the availability to us of funds from interest income on the trust account balance may be insufficient to operate our business prior to the business combination;
● our financial performance following a business combination with an entity may be negatively affected by their lack an established record of revenue, cash flows and experienced management;
● there may be more competition to find an attractive target for an initial business combination, which could increase the costs associated with completing our initial business combination;
● 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;
● if we do not complete the NEXT 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;
● we may engage one or more of our underwriters or one of their respective affiliates to provide additional services to us after the initial public offering, which may include acting as a financial advisor in connection with an initial business combination or as placement agent in connection with a related financing transaction. Our underwriters are entitled to receive deferred underwriting commissions that will be released from the trust account only upon a completion of an initial business combination. These financial incentives may cause them to have potential conflicts of interest in rendering any such additional services to us after the initial public offering, including, for example, in connection with the sourcing and consummation of an initial business combination;
● we may attempt to complete our initial business combination with a private company about which little information is available, which may result in a business combination with a company that is not as profitable as we suspected, if at all;
● our private placement warrants are accounted for as derivative liabilities and are recorded at fair value upon issuance with changes in fair value each period reported in earnings, which may have an adverse effect on the market price of our common stock or may make it more difficult for us to consummate an initial business combination;
● since our initial stockholders will lose their entire investment in us if our initial business combination is not completed (other than with respect to any public shares they may acquire during or after our initial public offering), and because our sponsor, officers and directors may profit substantially even under circumstances in which our public stockholders would experience losses in connection with their investment, a conflict of interest may arise in determining whether a particular business combination target is appropriate for our initial business combination;
● changes in laws or regulations or how such laws or regulations are interpreted or applied, or a failure to comply with any laws or regulations, may adversely affect our business, including our ability to negotiate and complete our initial business combination, and results of operations;
● the value of the founder shares following completion of our initial business combination is likely to be substantially higher than the nominal price paid for them, even if the trading price of our common stock at such time is substantially less than $10.00 per share;
● resources could be wasted in researching acquisitions that are not completed, which could materially adversely affect subsequent attempts to locate and acquire or merge with another business. If we have not completed our initial business combination within the Combination Period, 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;
● in March 2022,the SEC issued proposed rules relating to certain activities of SPACs. Certain of the procedures that we, a potential business combination target, or others may determine to undertake in connection with such proposals may increase our costs and the time needed to complete our initial business combination and may constrain the circumstances under which we could complete an initial business combination. The need for compliance with such proposals may cause us to liquidate the funds in the trust account or liquidate the Company at an earlier time than we might otherwise choose;
● if we are deemed to be an investment company for purposes of the Investment Company Act, we would be required to institute burdensome compliance requirements and our activities would be severely restricted. As a result, in such circumstances, unless we are able to modify our activities so that we would not be deemed an investment company, we may abandon our efforts to complete an initial business combination and instead liquidate the Company;
● to mitigate the risk that we might be deemed to be an investment company for purposes of the Investment Company Act, we may at any time instruct the trustee to liquidate the investments held in the trust account and instead to hold the funds in the trust account in an interest bearing demand deposit account until the earlier of the consummation of our initial business combination or our liquidation. As a result, following the liquidation of investments in the trust account, we would likely receive less interest on the funds held in the trust account, which would likely reduce the dollar amount our public stockholders would receive upon any redemption or liquidation of the Company;
●
we may not be able to complete an initial business combination with certain potential target companies if a proposed transaction with the target company may be subject to review or approval by regulatory authorities pursuant to certain U.S. or foreign laws or regulations, including the Committee of Foreign Investment in the United States;
● recent increases in inflation and interest rates in the United States and elsewhere could make it more difficult for us to consummate an initial business combination;
● military conflict in Ukraine or elsewhere may lead to increased price volatility for publicly traded securities, which could make it more difficult for us to consummate an initial business combination;
● A 1% U.S. federal excise tax may be imposed on us in connection with our redemptions of shares in connection with a business combination or other stockholder vote pursuant to which stockholders would have a right to submit their shares for redemption.
● there is substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a “going concern”;
● we have identified a material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2022. If we are unable to develop and maintain an effective system of internal control over financial reporting, we may not be able to accurately report our financial results in a timely manner, which may adversely affect investor confidence in us and materially and adversely affect our business and operating results;
● Since all public shareholders have the right to have their public shares redeemed in connection with the Extension, depending on the number public shares that are redeemed, the percentage ownership and voting interest of the sponsor will increase. If 12,937,500 or more of the public shares are redeemed in connection with the Extension, the sponsor’s percentage voting and equity interest in the Company will increase from 20% to more than 50% in which event, since the Class A and Class B common stock vote as a single class on the business combination, the sponsor may be able to approve the business combination even if no public stockholder vote in favor of the business combination.
For the complete list of risks relating to our operations, see the section titled “Risk Factors” contained in our (i) IPO Registration Statement, (ii) Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021, as filed with the SEC on April 11, 2022, and (iii) Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the quarterly periods ended March 31, 2022, June 30, 2022 and September 30, 2022, as filed with the SEC on May 23, 2022, August 15, 2022, and November 9, 2022, respectively. Any of these factors could result in a significant or material adverse effect on our results of operations or financial condition. Additional risks could arise that may also affect our business or ability to consummate an initial business combination. We may disclose changes to such risk factors or disclose additional risk factors from time to time in our future filings with the SEC.
For risks related to NEXT and the NEXT Business Combination, please see the NEXT Registration Statement once filed.

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ITEM 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS
Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments.
Not applicable.

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ITEM 2. PROPERTIES
Item 2. Properties.
Our executive offices are located at 5090 Richmond Ave, Suite 319, Houston, Texas 77056, with additional space at 5051 Westheimer Ave, Suite 1700, Houston Texas 77056, and our telephone number is 713-599-1300. The cost for our use of this space is included in the $10,000 per month fee we pay to our sponsor for office space, administrative and shared personnel support services. 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 team, there is no litigation currently pending or contemplated 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.
(a) Market Information
Our units, public shares and public warrants are each traded on Nasdaq under the symbols ITAQU, ITAQ, and ITAQW, respectively. Our units commenced public trading on January 12, 2022, and our public shares and public warrants commenced separate public trading on March 4, 2022.
(b) Holders
On March 28, 2023, there was one holder of record of our units, one holder of record of shares of our Class A common stock and two holders of record of our warrants.
(c) Dividends
We have not paid any cash dividends on our common stock to date and do not intend to pay cash dividends prior to the completion of our initial business combination. The payment of cash dividends in the future will be dependent upon our revenues and earnings, if any, capital requirements and general financial condition subsequent to completion of our initial business combination. The payment of any cash dividends subsequent to our initial business combination will be within the discretion of our board of directors at such time. In addition, our board of directors is not currently contemplating and does not anticipate declaring any stock dividends in the foreseeable future. Further, if we incur any indebtedness in connection with our initial business combination, our ability to declare dividends may be limited by restrictive covenants we may agree to in connection therewith.
(d) Securities Authorized for Issuance Under Equity Compensation Plans
None.
(e) Recent Sales of Unregistered Securities
None.
(f) Use of Proceeds from the Initial Public Offering
None. For a description of the use of proceeds generated in our initial public offering and private placement, see Part II, Item 5 of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2021, as filed with the SEC on April 11, 2022. There has been no material change in the planned use of proceeds from our initial public offering and private placement as described in the IPO Registration Statement.
(g) Purchases of Equity Securities by the Issuer and Affiliated Purchasers
None.

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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.
Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
All statements other than statements of historical fact included in this Report including, without limitation, statements in this section regarding our financial position, business strategy and the plans and objectives of management for future operations, are forward-looking statements. When used in this Report, words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend” and similar expressions, as they relate to us or our management, identify forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are based on the beliefs of management, as well as assumptions made by, and information currently available to, our management. Actual results could differ materially from those contemplated by the forward- looking statements as a result of certain factors detailed in our filings with the SEC. All subsequent written or oral forward-looking statements attributable to us or persons acting on our behalf are qualified in their entirety by this paragraph.
The following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations should be read in conjunction with the financial statements and the notes thereto contained elsewhere in this Report.
Recent Developments
On November 21, 2022, the Company, NEXT and Merger Sub entered into the NEXT Merger Agreement pursuant to which (i) Merger Sub will be merged with and into NEXT, and NEXT will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Company, which will change its name to “NXTCLEAN Fuels Inc.,” or such other name as mutually agreed to by the Company and NEXT; and (ii) each stockholder of NEXT will receive newly-issued Company securities, including, as applicable, shares of Class A common stock and/or options or warrants pursuant to which Class A common stock will be issued. Prior to, and contingent upon, the closing of the NEXT Business Combination, the Company is to effect a recapitalization pursuant to which all convertible debt shall be converted into common stock.
On March 1, 2023, NEXT announced Lisa A. Holmes, MSHR, has been appointed to the board of directors.
For a full description of the NEXT Merger Agreement and the proposed NEXT Business Combination, please see “Item 1. Business.”
On March 22, 2023, we filed with the SEC a proxy statement on Schedule 14A in connection with a proposal to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation to extend the date by which we must complete an initial business combination from April 14, 2023 to December 14, 2023, or such earlier date as determined by the Company’s board of directors. If the Extension Amendment Proposal is approved and the board of directors decides to implement the Extension, the sponsor or its designees have agreed to contribute to us loans equal to the lesser of (x) $35,000 or (y) $0.035 for each public share that is not redeemed for each calendar month (commencing on April 15, 2023 and ending on the 14th day of each subsequent month), or portion thereof, that is needed by the Company to complete the business combination until December 14, 2023. Our shareholders will vote on the Extension Amendment Proposal at the special meeting of stockholder scheduled to be held on April 10, 2023. In connection with the Extension Amendment Proposal, holders of our public shares are entitled to redeem their public shares at a per-share price, payable in cash, equal to the aggregate amount then on deposit in the trust account, including interest (which interest shall be net of taxes payable), divided by the number of then outstanding public shares. For more information, please see our proxy statement on Schedule 14A filed with the SEC on March 22, 2023.
Results of Operations
We have neither engaged in any operations nor generated any revenues to date. Our only activities from January 4, 2021 (inception) through December 31, 2022 were organizational activities, those necessary to prepare for our initial public offering, 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. 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, 2022, we had a net income of $4,892,914, which consists of interest income on marketable securities held in the trust account and bank account of $2,539,764 and change in fair value of warrant liability of $4,420,646, offset by operating costs of $1,548,829 and offering costs allocated to warrants at the IPO date of $27,670.
For the period from January 4, 2021 (inception) through December 31, 2021, we had net loss of $3,758, which consisted of formation and operating costs of $3,768, partially offset by bank interest income of $10.
Liquidity, Going Concern and Capital Resources
On January 14, 2022, we consummated our initial public offering of 17,250,000 units, at $10.00 per unit, generating gross proceeds of $172,500,000. Simultaneously with the closing of the IPO, we completed the private placement of an aggregate of 8,037,500 private placement warrants at a price of $1.00 per private placement warrant, generating gross proceeds of $8,037,500.
Following the IPO, the full exercise of the over-allotment option, and the sale of the private placement warrants, a total of $175,950,000 was placed in the trust account. We incurred $10,799,030 in IPO-related costs, including $3,450,000 of underwriting commissions, $6,900,000 of deferred underwriting commissions, and $449,030 of other offering costs, partially offset by the reimbursement of $1,035,000 of offering expenses by the underwriters.
For the year ended December 31, 2022, cash used in operating activities was $1,378,921. Net income of $4,892,914 was affected by interest earned on marketable securities held in the trust account of $2,537,410, financing costs of warrant issuance of $27,670, deferred tax benefit of $119,625 and change in fair value of the warrant liability of $4,420,646. Changes in operating assets and liabilities provided $538,926 in cash for operating activities.
For the period from January 4, 2021 (inception) through December 31, 2021, cash used in operating activities was $2,121.
As of December 31, 2022, we had marketable securities held in the trust account of $178,487,410 (including approximately $2,537,410 of interest income) consisting of securities held in a money market fund with a maturity of 180 days or less. Interest income on the balance in the trust account may be used by us to pay taxes. Through December 31, 2022, 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 income taxes payable), to complete our business combination. To the extent that our capital stock or debt is used, in whole or in part, as consideration to complete our business combination, the remaining proceeds held in the trust account will be used as working capital to finance the operations of the target business or businesses, make other acquisitions and pursue our growth strategies.
As of December 31, 2022, we had cash of $451,473. 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 Working Capital Loans may be convertible into private placement-equivalent warrants at a price of $1.00 per warrant at the option of the lender. The warrants would be identical to the private placement warrants.
In connection with the Company’s assessment of going concern considerations in accordance with Financial Accounting Standard Board’s Accounting Standards Update 2014-15, “Disclosures of Uncertainties about an Entity’s Ability to Continue as a Going Concern,” the Company has until April 2023, to consummate a business combination. It is uncertain that the Company will be able to consummate a business combination by this time. Additionally, the Company may not have sufficient liquidity to fund the working capital needs of the Company until one year from the issuance of these financial statements. If a business combination is not consummated by this date, there will be a mandatory liquidation and subsequent dissolution of the Company. Management has determined that the mandatory liquidation, should a business combination not occur, and potential subsequent dissolution, raises substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern. No adjustments have been made to the carrying amounts of assets or liabilities should the Company be required to liquidate in April 2023. The Company intends to complete a business combination before the mandatory liquidation date.
Off-Balance Sheet Financing Arrangements
We have no obligations, assets or liabilities, which would be considered off-balance sheet arrangements as of December 31, 2022. We do not participate in transactions that create relationships with entities or financial partnerships, often referred to as variable interest entities, which would have been established for the purpose of facilitating off-balance sheet arrangements. We have not entered into any off-balance sheet financing arrangements, established any special purpose entities, guaranteed any debt or commitments of other entities, or purchased any non-financial assets.
Contractual Obligations
We do not have any long-term debt, capital lease obligations, operating lease obligations or long-term liabilities, other than an agreement to pay an affiliate of the sponsor a total of $10,000 per month for office space, utilities and secretarial and administrative support. Upon completion of the initial business combination or liquidation, the Company will cease paying these monthly fees.
The underwriters are entitled to a deferred underwriting discount of 4.0% of the gross proceeds of the IPO upon the completion of the Company’s initial business combination.
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 Liability
The Company accounts for private placement warrants for shares of the Company’s common stock that are not indexed to its own shares as liabilities at fair value on the balance sheet. The private placement warrants are subject to remeasurement at each balance sheet date and any change in fair value is recognized as a component of other income (expense), net on the statement of operations. The Company will continue to adjust the liability for changes in fair value until the earlier of the exercise or expiration of the warrants. At that time, the portion of the warrant liability related to the warrants will be reclassified to additional paid-in capital.
Class A Common Stock Subject to Possible Redemption
The Company’s Class A common stock sold as part of the units in the IPO contains a redemption feature which allows for the redemption of such public shares in connection with the Company’s liquidation, or if there is a stockholder vote or tender offer in connection with the Company’s initial business combination. In accordance with ASC 480-10-S99, the Company classifies such public shares subject to redemption outside of permanent equity as the redemption provisions are not solely within the control of the Company. The public shares sold as part of the units in the IPO will be issued with other freestanding instruments (i.e., public warrants) and as such, the initial carrying value of public shares classified as temporary equity will be the allocated proceeds determined in accordance with ASC 470-20. The public shares are subject to ASC 480-10-S99 and are currently not redeemable as the redemption is contingent upon the occurrence of events mentioned above. According to ASC 480-10-S99-15, no subsequent adjustment is needed if it is not probable that the instrument will become redeemable.
Net Income (Loss) Per Share of Common Stock
Net income (loss) per share of common stock is computed by dividing net income (loss) by the weighted average number of shares of common stock outstanding for the period. Remeasurement adjustment associated with the redeemable shares of Class A common stock is excluded from income (loss) per share of common stock as the redemption value approximates fair value.
Recent Accounting Standards
In August 2020, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued Accounting Standards Update (“ASU”) 2020-06- “Contracts in Entity’s Own Equity (Subtopic 815-40) (“ASU 2020-06”)”, to simplify accounting for certain financial instruments. ASU 2020-06 eliminates the current models that require separation of beneficial conversion and cash conversion features from convertible instruments and simplifies the derivative scope exception guidance pertaining to equity classification of contracts in an entity’s own equity. The new standard also introduces additional disclosures for convertible debt and freestanding instruments that are indexed to and settled in an entity’s own equity. ASU 2020-06 amends the diluted earnings per share guidance, including the requirement to use the if-converted method for all convertible instruments. 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.
Factors That May Adversely Affect our Results of Operations
Our results of operations and our ability to complete an initial business combination may be adversely affected by various factors that could cause economic uncertainty and volatility in the financial markets, many of which are beyond our control. Our business could be impacted by, among other things, downturns in the financial markets or in economic conditions, increases in oil prices, inflation, increases in interest rates, supply chain disruptions, declines in consumer confidence and spending, the ongoing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, including resurgences and the emergence of new variants, and geopolitical instability, such as the military conflict in Ukraine. We cannot at this time fully predict the likelihood of one or more of the above events, their duration or magnitude or the extent to which they may negatively impact our business and our ability to complete an initial business combination.

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ITEM 7A. QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURES ABOUT MARKET RISK
Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk.
We are a smaller reporting company as defined by Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act and are not required to provide the information otherwise required under this Item.

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ITEM 8. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND SUPPLEMENTARY DATA
Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data.
Reference is made to pages through comprising a portion of this Report, which are incorporated 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
Disclosure controls and procedures are controls and other procedures designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed in our reports filed or submitted under the Exchange Act is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in the SEC’s rules and forms. Disclosure controls and procedures include, without limitation, controls and procedures designed to ensure that information required to be disclosed in our reports filed or submitted under the Exchange Act is accumulated and communicated to management, including our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer (together, the “Certifying Officers”), or persons performing similar functions, as appropriate, to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.
Under the supervision and with the participation of our management, including our Chief Executive Officer and our Chief Financial Officer (together, the “Certifying Officers”), we carried out an evaluation of the effectiveness of the design and operation of our disclosure controls and procedures as defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) under the Exchange Act. Based on the foregoing, our Certifying Officers concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures were not effective, due to the lack of controls needed to assure we are differentiating expenses incurred in connection with business combination transactions and should be expensed, from those that apply to financing transactions which should be deferred and recorded as a reduction of proceeds upon the completion of a financing transaction. As a result, we performed additional analysis as deemed necessary to ensure that our financial statements were prepared in accordance with GAAP. Accordingly, management believes that the financial statements included in this Annual Report present fairly in all material respects our financial position, results of operations and cash flows for the period presented..
We do not expect that our disclosure controls and procedures will prevent all errors and all instances of fraud. Disclosure controls and procedures, no matter how well conceived and operated, can provide only reasonable, not absolute, assurance that the objectives of the disclosure controls and procedures are met. Further, the design of disclosure controls and procedures must reflect the fact that there are resource constraints, and the benefits must be considered relative to their costs. Because of the inherent limitations in all disclosure controls and procedures, no evaluation of disclosure controls and procedures can provide absolute assurance that we have detected all our control deficiencies and instances of fraud, if any. The design of disclosure controls and procedures also is based partly on certain assumptions about the likelihood of future events, and there can be no assurance that any design will succeed in achieving its stated goals under all potential future conditions.
Management’s Annual Report on Internal Controls over Financial Reporting
As required by SEC rules and regulations implementing Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, our management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting. Our internal control over financial reporting is designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of our financial statements for external reporting purposes in accordance with GAAP. Our internal control over financial reporting includes those policies and procedures that:
(1) pertain to the maintenance of records that, in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of the assets of our company,
(2) provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of consolidated financial statements in accordance with GAAP, and that our receipts and expenditures are being made only in accordance with authorizations of our management and directors, and
(3) provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use or disposition of our assets that could have a material effect on the consolidated financial statements.
Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect errors or misstatements in our financial statements. Also, projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risk that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree or compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate. Management assessed the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2022. In making these assessments, management used the criteria set forth by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO) in Internal Control - Integrated Framework (2013). Based on our assessments and those criteria, management determined that we did not maintain effective internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2022, due to the previously discussed material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting related to the differentiation between expenses incurred in connection with a business combination and those that apply to financing transactions that should be deferred and recorded as a reduction of proceeds upon completion of a financing transaction.
Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements. Also, projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risk that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate.
This Report does not include an attestation report of our internal controls from our independent registered public accounting firm due to our status as an emerging growth company under the JOBS Act.
Changes in Internal Control over Financial Reporting
Other than as discussed above, there have been no changes to our internal control over financial reporting during the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022 that materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.

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ITEM 9B. OTHER INFORMATION
Item 9B. Other Information.
None.

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ITEM 10. DIRECTORS, EXECUTIVE OFFICERS AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE
Item 10. Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance.
Directors and Executive Officers
As of the date of this Report, our directors and officers are as follows:
NAME
AGE
POSITION
E. Scott Crist
Chief Executive Officer and Chairman
R. Greg Smith
Chief Financial Officer and Director
Andrew Clark
Independent Director
Harvin Moore
Independent Director
Aruna Viswanathan
Independent Director
The experience of our directors and executive officers is as follows:
E. Scott Crist, our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer since January 2021, has over 30 years of business experience and an extensive background as an entrepreneur, venture capitalist and chief executive officer. He has founded, built and successfully exited a number of businesses in the technology, telecommunications, and industrial sectors, including companies involved in emerging 5G, AI and IoT technologies. He has been a partner at Texas Ventures, a leading technology venture firm since March 2000, and the Chief Executive Officer of Osperity, Inc. a market leader in AI-assisted industrial computer vision since August 2019. In addition, Mr. Crist served as the CEO of Industrial Tech Acquisitions, Inc., a blank check company that raised over $75 million in its initial public offering in September 2020 which is consummated an initial business combination with Arbe Robotics Ltd. in October 2021. Following the business combination, Mr. Crist has been serving as a member of the board of directors of Arbe Robotics Ltd. In 2012, Mr. Crist founded VA-Gov Housing Fund, a partnership of profit and non-profit companies advocating for US veterans and their families and has been serving as its Chairman since then. In this capacity, he became a large lender for the US government’s homeless shelter program for veterans while deploying significant capital and achieving a blended internal rate of return of approximately 15% for the “for-profit” limited partners. From April 2016 to September 2019, Mr. Crist was Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of Infrastructure Networks, a leading 4G and 5G-LTE wireless broadband provider for the energy industry, until its control position sale to Apollo Global Management, and has been serving as a member of its board since then. From 2000 to 2002, Mr. Crist was founding chairman of Asset Nation Inc., formerly known as SalvageSale, Inc., (“SalvageSale”) an ecommerce leader in the surplus and salvage industry for the insurance brokerage and underwriting industry. The company was acquired by Ritchie Bros Auctioneers Inc. (NYSE: RBA) (“Ritchie Brothers”) in May 2012. The original SalvageSale platform served as a cornerstone of the Ritchie Brothers ecommerce strategy. Earlier in his career, from 1994 to 2000, Mr. Crist was the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Telscape International Inc., a telecommunications company focused on emerging global markets and built Telscape from its start-up stage through multiple acquisitions, into a publicly traded industry leader with a market cap in excess of $100 million. From 1991 to 1995, he was President and Chief Executive Officer of Matrix Telecom, Inc., a long-distance telecommunications company, which ranked 7th on the list of the 500 fastest growing private companies in the US by Inc. Magazine in 1995. Mr. Crist was named an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year in 2000 for the Texas region, and holds a BS in Electrical & Computer Engineering from North Carolina State University. He has an MBA from the Kellogg School at Northwestern University, and is a former adjunct professor and current lecturer at Rice University’s Jones Graduate School of Business. We believe this experience makes us well suited to identify, source, negotiate and execute an initial business combination with the goal of pursuing exceptional risk-adjusted returns for our stockholders. We believe Mr. Crist is well suited to serve on our board due to his extensive business experience cited above.
R. Greg Smith, our Chief Financial Officer since January 2021 and one of our directors since January 2022, has more than 30 years of corporate finance and management experience, including the last 25 years in capacities of Chief Financial Officer, Senior Vice President Mergers and Acquisitions, Executive Vice President and Director of venture and private equity-backed private and public companies and their respective subsidiaries. In addition, Mr. Smith served as the CFO of Industrial Tech Acquisitions, Inc., a blank check company that raised over $75 million in its initial public offering in September 2020 which consummated an initial business combination with Arbe Robotics Ltd. in October 2021. He has extensive experience in mergers, acquisitions and divestitures including due diligence, valuation analysis, transaction negotiations, term sheets, letters of intent and definitive agreements. He served as Chief Financial Officer for Infrastructure Networks, Inc., a leading 5G-LTE wireless & IoT communications platform digitizing the energy patch in North America from February 2017 through May 2020 and subsequently served as a special advisor. In his capacity as chief financial officer of Infrastructure Networks Inc., he helped grow the company organically during his tenure. From June 2004 to January 2017, he worked for various companies in the wireless broadband industry, including as the founder, Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer, Executive Vice president and member of its board of directors of ERF Wireless, Inc. (OTC:ERFB) from August 2004 through July 2015, which provided high-speed broadband and remote connectivity for mission-critical applications to energy companies, banks, and hospitals. Mr. Smith received a BBA degree in Finance and minor in Economics from Sam Houston State University. We believe that Mr. Smith is well qualified to serve on our board due to his extensive business experience cited above.
Andrew Clark, one of our directors since January 2022, has over 30 years of business experience spanning many facets of technology, industrial and energy businesses. He has been a founder and principal with The Castell Group since 2003, an investment and advisory firm assisting companies in technology businesses. On a daily basis he interacts with some of the region’s top entrepreneurs assisting them with their businesses while identifying the best of breed in which to invest. In addition, Mr. Clark was a director of Industrial Tech Acquisitions, Inc., a blank check company that raised over $75 million in its initial public offering in September 2020 which consummated an initial business combination with Arbe Robotics Ltd. in October 2021. He also served as a director of Texas Halo Fund I, LLC since 2012, of AETolls, LLC since 2018 and of TapNpay, Inc. since 2020. Mr. Clark also served as a director of Surge Accelerator, LLC (2011 to 2013), Quarri, Inc. (2010 to 2017), Onit, Inc. (2010 to 2012), and Metal Networks (2013 to 2016). His corporate career includes positions at Reliant Energy (now NRG) as VP of Interactive Marketing from 2000 to 2003, Director of Strategy at Compaq Computer (now Hewlett Packard) from 1989 to 2000, and a consultant with Coopers & Lybrand (now Pricewaterhouse Coopers) 1985 to 1989. He began his private equity investment experience at Compaq Computer where he served as an observer on various boards. He is a graduate of The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania where he received his BS degree in Economics with a concentration in Entrepreneurship, and was both a Benjamin Franklin Scholar and a University Scholar. We believe that Mr. Clark is well qualified to serve on our board due to his extensive business experienced cited above.
Harvin Moore, one of our directors since January 2022, has been a principal of Frontera Technology Ventures (“Frontera”) since July 1991. From December 2018 until January 2021, Mr. Moore served on the governing board of the Houston Angel Network, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting startups with financial resources and mentorship. From June 2019 until July 2021, he served as a President, Director, member of the Audit Committee and Chief Executive Officer of Houston Exponential, an independent non-profit focused on accelerating the growth of the technology innovation ecosystem of Houston, Texas, and as the co-chairman of the Houston Aerospace and Aviation Regional Task Force, a committee of the Greater Houston Partnership, that pursues commercial arrangements in aerospace and aviation for the Houston region, from August 2020 until July 2021. In addition, Mr. Moore was a director of Industrial Tech Acquisitions, Inc., a blank check company that raised over $75 million in its initial public offering in September 2020 which consummated an initial business combination with Arbe Robotics Ltd. in October 2021. Mr. Moore has been involved in the technology innovation movement in Texas since the 1990s as entrepreneur, advisor, and venture investor. As a Principal of Frontera, Mr. Moore has invested in and/or advised growth-stage technology companies, holding equity stakes in many of Frontera’s portfolio clients. Mr. Moore has also been a director of Frontera Furniture Company since October 1991 and Emeritus International Education since August 2017. In addition, Mr. Moore has been deeply involved with K12 education since 1996, having worked with several prominent education reform organizations, including KIPP, Inc., a public charter school network, as a founding director, Treasurer, and Vice Chairman from 1997 to 2003. Mr. Moore was elected to the Board of Education of Houston Independent School District in 2003, and was re-elected three subsequent times before retiring as the longest serving member in 2017. Mr. Moore was the Chief Operating Officer and Director of both Space Service Holdings, Inc. (2003-2015), and Sentinel Satellite Inc. (2008-2014). Mr. Moore currently serves on the governing boards of TXRX Labs, a non-profit makerspace and job training organization, since December 2018, The Manned Spaceflight Educational Foundation Inc, d/b/a Space Center Houston, a nonprofit which operates the visitor center for NASA’s Johnson Space Center Space Center Houston, since September 2012, and the Powell Foundation, a private charitable foundation supporting public education, arts, conservation and human services, since December 2000, where he also serves on the audit committee and as Treasurer. He holds a Master of Business Administration in Finance from New York University, and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Northwestern University. We believe Mr. Moore is well qualified to serve on our board due to his extensive operational and management experience in technology and finance related organizations.
Aruna Viswanathan, one of our directors since January 2022, has been serving as the Chief Operating Officer of AlphaX Decision Sciences (“AlphaX”), a provider of artificial intelligence software and cloud infrastructure solutions, since August 2017. In addition, Ms. Viswanathan was a director of Industrial Tech Acquisitions, Inc., a blank check company that raised over $75 million in its initial public offering in September 2020 which consummated an initial business combination with Arbe Robotics Ltd. in October 2021. Prior to her position at AlphaX, from July 2016 to August 2017, she was the Chief Operating Officer of The RBR Group, a technology development and commercialization firm. From April 2006 through June 2016, Ms. Viswanathan was a partner at Clearspring Capital Group and involved in managing two private equity funds that provided growth financing across a broad range of industries. Notable exits from the funds includes BorderComm/XC Networks (acquired by Transtelco in 2013), Softlayer Technologies, Inc. (acquired by International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) (NASDAQ: IBM) in 2013), and Sweet Leaf Tea Company (acquired by Nestle S.A. (OTCMKTS: NSRGY in 2011). In addition, as the former Director of Operations and board member for the Houston Technology Center from 2001 through 2006, Ms. Viswanathan helped direct the growth of the organization and launched the Gulf Coast Regional Center for Innovation and Commercialization. She was employed by Motorola Solutions Inc’s (NYSE: MSI) Wireless Signal Processing Division from 1994 through 1999 and began her career at Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMD) as an Associate Engineer from 1991 to 1993. Appointed by Texas Governor Rick Perry, Ms. Viswanathan served a five-year term beginning in 2007 on the Texas Emerging Technology Fund Committee, is a former Director for the Houston Angel Network and has been a current board member and past-President of the Houston Chapter of The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE) since January 2014, a global entrepreneurship organization, since 2014 and was on the Board of Advisors for the Cullen College of Engineering at the University of Houston from 2005 through 2013. Ms. Viswanathan is the 2018 recipient of the Indo American Chamber of Commerce “Women in Business Award” in Houston, the recipient of the 2011 Houston Business Journal’s 40 under 40 awards and the 2003 Women in Technology award from the Association of Women in Computing. Ms. Viswanathan, graduated with a Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from University of Texas, Austin and a Master of Business Administration from Rice University. We believe Ms. Viswanathan is well qualified to serve on our board due to her extensive operational and management experience in technology and finance related organizations.
Number and Terms of Office of Officers and Directors
We currently have five directors. Our board of directors is divided into two classes with only one class of directors being elected in each year and each class (except for those directors appointed prior to our first annual meeting of stockholders) serving a two-year term. In accordance with Nasdaq corporate governance requirements, we are not required to hold an annual meeting until one year after our first fiscal year end following our listing on Nasdaq. The term of office of the first class of directors, consisting of Messrs. Clark and Moore will expire at our first annual meeting of stockholders. The term of office of the second class of directors, consisting of Messrs. Crist and Smith, and Ms. Viswanathan, will expire at the second annual meeting of stockholders.
Our officers are appointed by the board of directors and serve at the discretion of the board of directors, rather than for specific terms of office. Our board of directors is authorized to appoint persons to the offices set forth in our bylaws as it deems appropriate. Our bylaws provide that our officers may consist of a Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer, President, Vice Presidents, Secretary, Treasurer, Assistant Secretaries and such other offices as may be determined by the board of directors.
Committees of the Board of Directors
Our board of directors has two standing committees: an audit committee and a compensation committee. Subject to phase-in rules and a limited exception, Nasdaq rules and Rule 10A-3 of the Exchange Act require that the audit committee of a listed company be comprised solely of independent directors, and Nasdaq rules require that the compensation committee of a listed company be comprised solely of independent directors.
Audit Committee
We have established an audit committee of the board of directors. Messrs. Moore and Clark and Ms. Viswanathan serve as members of our audit committee, and Mr. Moore chairs the audit committee. Under the 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. Each of Messrs. Moore and Clark and Ms. Viswanathan meet the independent director standard under Nasdaq listing standards and under Rule 10-A-3(b)(1) of the Exchange Act.
Each member of the audit committee is financially literate and our board of directors has determined that Mr. Moore qualifies as an “audit committee financial expert” as defined in applicable SEC rules.
We have adopted an audit committee charter, which details the principal functions of the audit committee, including:
● the appointment, compensation, retention, replacement, and oversight of the work of the independent registered public accounting firm engaged by us;
● pre-approving all audit and permitted non-audit services to be provided by the independent registered public accounting firm engaged by us, and establishing pre-approval policies and procedures;
● setting clear hiring policies for employees or former employees of the independent registered public accounting firm, including but not limited to, as required by applicable laws and regulations;
● setting clear policies for audit partner rotation in compliance with applicable laws and regulations;
● obtaining and reviewing a report, at least annually, from the independent registered public accounting firm describing (i) the independent registered public accounting firm’s internal quality-control procedures, (ii) any material issues raised by the most recent internal quality-control review, or peer review, of the audit firm, or by any inquiry or investigation by governmental or professional authorities within the preceding five years respecting one or more independent audits carried out by the firm and any steps taken to deal with such issues and (iii) all relationships between the independent registered public accounting firm and us to assess the independent registered public accounting firm’s independence;
● reviewing and approving any related party transaction required to be disclosed pursuant to Item 404 of Regulation S-K promulgated by the SEC prior to us entering into such transaction; and
● reviewing with management, the independent registered public accounting firm, and our legal advisors, as appropriate, any legal, regulatory or compliance matters, including any correspondence with regulators or government agencies and any employee complaints or published reports that raise material issues regarding our financial statements or accounting policies and any significant changes in accounting standards or rules promulgated by the Financial Accounting Standards Board, the SEC or other regulatory authorities.
Compensation Committee
We have established a compensation committee of the board of directors. Messrs. Moore and Clark serve as members of our compensation committee. Under the Nasdaq listing standards and applicable SEC rules, we are required to have at least two members of the compensation committee, all of whom must be independent Messrs. Moore and Clark are independent, and Mr. Moore chairs the compensation committee.
We have adopted a compensation committee charter, which details the principal functions of the compensation committee, including:
● reviewing and approving on an annual basis the corporate goals and objectives relevant to our Chief Executive Officers’ compensation, if any is paid by us, evaluating our Chief Executive Officer’s performance in light of such goals and objectives and determining and approving the remuneration (if any) of our Chief Executive Officer based on such evaluation;
● reviewing and approving on an annual basis the compensation, if any is paid by us, of all of our other officers;
● reviewing on an annual basis our executive compensation policies and plans;
● implementing and administering our incentive compensation equity-based remuneration plans;
● assisting management in complying with our proxy statement and annual report disclosure requirements;
● approving all special perquisites, special cash payments and other special compensation and benefit arrangements for our officers and employees;
● if required, producing a report on executive compensation to be included in our annual proxy statement; and
● reviewing, evaluating and recommending changes, if appropriate, to the remuneration for directors.
Notwithstanding the foregoing, as indicated above, other than the payment to our sponsor of $10,000 per month, for up until the end of the Combination Period, for office space, utilities and secretarial and administrative support and reimbursement of expenses, no compensation of any kind, including finders, consulting or other similar fees, has been or will be paid to any of our existing stockholders, officers, directors or any of their respective affiliates, prior to, or for any services they render in order to effectuate the consummation of an initial business combination. Accordingly, it is likely that prior to the consummation of an initial business combination, the compensation committee will only be responsible for the review and recommendation of any compensation arrangements to be entered into in connection with such initial business combination.
The charter also provides that the compensation committee may, in its sole discretion, retain or obtain the advice of a compensation consultant, legal counsel or other adviser and will be directly responsible for the appointment, compensation and oversight of the work of any such adviser. However, before engaging or receiving advice from a compensation consultant, external legal counsel or any other adviser, the compensation committee will consider the independence of each such adviser, including the factors required by Nasdaq and the SEC.
Director Nominations
We do not have a standing nominating committee though we intend to form a corporate governance and nominating committee as and when required to do so by law or Nasdaq rules. In accordance with Rule 5605 of the Nasdaq rules, a majority of the independent directors may recommend a director nominee for selection by the board of directors. The board of directors believes that the independent directors can satisfactorily carry out the responsibility of properly selecting or approving director nominees without the formation of a standing nominating committee. The directors who will participate in the consideration and recommendation of director nominees are Messrs. Moore and Clark and Ms. Viswanathan. In accordance with Rule 5605 of the Nasdaq rules, all such directors are independent. As there is no standing nominating committee, we do not have a nominating committee charter in place.
The board of directors will also consider director candidates recommended for nomination by our stockholders during such times as they are seeking proposed nominees to stand for election at the next annual meeting of stockholders (or, if applicable, a special meeting of stockholders). Our stockholders that wish to nominate a director for election to our board of directors should follow the procedures set forth in our bylaws.
We have not formally established any specific, minimum qualifications that must be met or skills that are necessary for directors to possess. In general, in identifying and evaluating nominees for director, the board of directors considers educational background, diversity of professional experience, knowledge of our business, integrity, professional reputation, independence, wisdom, and the ability to represent the best interests of our stockholders.
Code of Ethics
We have adopted a code of ethics applicable to our directors, officers and employees. We have filed a copy of our code of ethics and our audit and compensation committee charters as exhibits to the IPO Registration Statement. You can review these documents by accessing our public filings at the SEC’s web site at www.sec.gov. In addition, a copy of the code of 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 ethics in a Current Report on Form 8-K.

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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. We pay our sponsor a total of $10,000 per month for office space, utilities and secretarial and administrative support. Upon completion of our initial business combination or our liquidation, we will cease paying these monthly fees. 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 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 are reimbursed for any out-of-pocket expenses incurred in connection with activities on our behalf such as identifying potential target businesses and performing due diligence on suitable business combinations. Our audit committee reviews on a quarterly basis all payments that were made to our sponsor, officers or directors, or our or their affiliates. Any such payments prior to an initial business combination are made using funds held outside the trust account. Other than quarterly audit committee review of such payments, we do not expect to have any additional controls in place governing our reimbursement payments to our directors and executive 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. All of these fees will be fully disclosed to stockholders, to the extent then known, in the tender offer materials or proxy solicitation materials furnished to our stockholders in connection with a proposed 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 NEXT Merger Agreement provides for the Company to designate one member of our post-closing Board of Directors, which designee may be one of our current directors or executive officers. The existence or terms of any such employment or consulting arrangements to retain their positions with us may influence our management’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 28, 2023 based on information obtained from the persons named below, with respect to the beneficial ownership of common stock, by:
● each person known by us to be the beneficial owner of more than 5% of our outstanding common stock;
● each of our executive officers and directors that beneficially owns our common stock; and
● all our executive officers and directors as a group.
In the table below, percentage ownership is based on 21,562,500 shares of our common stock, consisting of (i) 17,250,000 shares of our Class A common stock and (ii) 4,312,500 shares of our Class B common stock, issued and outstanding as of March 28, 2023. On all matters to be voted upon, except for the election of directors of the board, holders of the shares of Class A common stock and shares of Class B common stock vote together as a single class. Currently, all of the shares of Class B common stock are convertible into Class A common stock on a one-for-one basis.
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 following table does not reflect record or beneficial ownership of the private placement warrants as these warrants are not exercisable within 60 days of the date of this Report.
Class A Common Stock Class B Common Stock Approximate
Name and Address of Beneficial Owner (1) Number of
Shares
Beneficially
Owned
Approximate
Percentage
of Class Number of
Shares
Beneficially
Owned
Approximate
Percentage
of Class Percentage
of Outstanding
Common
Stock
Industrial Tech Partners II, LLC (2) - - 4,312,500 100 % 20 %
E. Scott Crist (2) - - 4,312,500 100 % 20 %
R. Greg Smith (3) - - - - -
Andrew Clark (3) - - - - -
Aruna Viswanathan (3) - - - - -
Harvin Moore (3) - - - - -
All executive officers and directors as a group (5 individuals) - - 4,312,500 100 % 20 %
Other 5% Stockholders
Saba Capital Management, L.P. (4) 1,706,200 9.89 % - - 7.91 %
(1) Unless otherwise noted, the business address of each of the following entities or individuals is c/o Industrial Tech Acquisitions II, Inc., 5090 Richmond Ave, Suite 319, Houston, Texas 77056.
(2) Represents shares held by Industrial Tech Partners II, LLC, our sponsor. E. Scott Crist is the managing member of our sponsor and may be deemed to have beneficial ownership of the common stock held directly by our sponsor. Each such person disclaims any beneficial ownership of the reported shares other than to the extent of any pecuniary interest they may have therein, directly or indirectly.
(3) Does not include any shares held by our sponsor. This individual is a member of our sponsor, as described in footnote 3, but does not have voting or dispositive control over the shares held by our sponsor.
(4) According to a Schedule 13G/A filed on February 14, 2023, Saba Capital Management, L.P., Boaz R. Weinstein, and Saba Capital Management GP, LLC acquired 1,706,200 shares of Class A common stock. The business address for the reporting persons is 405 Lexington Avenue, 58th Floor, New York, New York 10174.
Securities Authorized for Issuance under Equity Compensation Plans
None.
Changes in Control
For more information on the NEXT Business Combination, please see “Item 1. Business.”

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ITEM 13. CERTAIN RELATIONSHIPS AND RELATED TRANSACTIONS
Item 13. Certain Relationships and Related Transactions, and Director Independence.
On January 12, 2021, we issued an aggregate of 4,312,500 founder shares to our sponsor for an aggregate purchase price of $25,000 in cash, or approximately $0.006 per share. The number of founder shares issued was determined based on the expectation that such founder shares would represent 20% of the outstanding shares upon completion of our initial public offering. Up to 562,500 founder shares were subject to forfeiture by our sponsor depending on the extent to which the underwriters’ over-allotment option was exercised. The founder shares (including the Class A common stock issuable upon exercise thereof) may not, subject to certain limited exceptions, be transferred, assigned or sold by the holder. As a result of the full exercise of which the underwriters’ over-allotment option, no founder shares are subject to forfeiture.
Our sponsor purchased an aggregate of 8,037,500 warrants at a price of $1.00 per warrant, for an aggregate purchase price of $8,037,500. The private placement warrants are identical to the units sold in our initial public offering except that the private placement warrants, so long as they are held by our sponsor, the underwriters or their permitted transferees, (i) will not be redeemable by us, (ii) may not (including the Class A common stock issuable upon exercise of these warrants), subject to certain limited exceptions, be transferred, assigned or sold by the holders until 30 days after the completion of our initial business combination, (iii) may be exercised by the holders on a cashless basis and (iv) will be entitled to registration rights. The private placement warrants (including the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise thereof) may not, subject to certain limited exceptions, be transferred, assigned or sold by the holder.
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.
We pay our sponsor a total of $10,000 per month for office space, utilities and secretarial and administrative support. Upon completion of our initial business combination or our liquidation, we will cease paying these monthly fees.
Other than the foregoing, no compensation of any kind, including any finder’s fee, reimbursement, consulting fee or monies in respect of any payment of a loan, has been or 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 an initial business combination (regardless of the type of transaction that it is). However, these individuals are reimbursed for any out-of-pocket expenses incurred in connection with activities on our behalf such as identifying potential target businesses and performing due diligence on suitable business combinations. Our audit committee reviews on a quarterly basis all payments that were made 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 $300,000 to be used for a portion of the expenses of our initial public offering. This loan was non-interest bearing, unsecured and due at the earlier of March 31, 2022 or the closing of our initial public offering. As of December 31, 2021, $127,385 was outstanding under the promissory note. The loan was repaid in full upon the closing of our initial public offering out of the offering proceeds that were allocated to the payment of offering expenses (other than underwriting commissions). The Company overpaid $26,615 to the sponsor upon the closing of our initial public offering, which was returned by the sponsor on January 19, 2022.
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 Working Capital Loans may be convertible into private placement-equivalent warrants at a price of $1.00 per warrant (which, for example, would result in the holders being issued warrants to purchase 1,500,000 shares if $1,500,000 of notes were so converted), at the option of the lender. Such warrants would be identical to the private placement warrants, including as to exercise price, exercisability and exercise period. The terms of such Working Capital Loans by our sponsor or its affiliates, or 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 rights agreement with respect to the private placement warrants, the securities underlying the unit purchase option, the securities issuable upon conversion of Working Capital Loans (if any) and the shares of Class A common stock issuable upon exercise or conversion or exercise of the foregoing and upon conversion of the founder shares.
For more information on the agreements entered into in connection with the NEXT Business Combination, please see “Item 1. Business.”
Director Independence
Nasdaq listing standards 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 Messrs. Clark and Moore and Ms. Viswanathan are “independent directors” as defined in the Nasdaq listing standards and applicable SEC rules. Our independent directors have regularly scheduled meetings at which only independent directors are present.

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ITEM 14. PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTING FEES AND SERVICES
Item 14. Principal Accountant Fees and Services.
The following is a summary of fees paid or to be paid to Marcum, for services rendered.
Audit Fees
Audit fees consist of fees 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 of Marcum for professional services rendered for the audit of our annual financial statements, review of the financial information include in our Forms 10-Q for the respective periods and other required filings with the SEC for the year ended December 31, 2022 and for the period from January 4, 2021 (inception) through December 31, 2021 totaled approximately $184,684 and $70,545, respectively. The above amounts include interim procedures and audit fees, as well as attendance at audit committee meetings.
Audit-Related Fees
Audit-related fees 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, 2022 and for the period from January 4, 2021 (inception) through December 31, 2021.
Tax Fees
We did not pay Marcum for tax services, planning or advice for the year ended December 31, 2022 and for the period from January 4, 2021 (inception) through December 31, 2021.
All Other Fees
We did not pay Marcum for any other services for the year ended December 31, 2022 and for the period from January 4, 2021 (inception) through December 31, 2021.
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. Exhibit and Financial Statement Schedules.
(a) The following documents are filed as part of this Report:
(1) Financial Statements
PAGE
Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm
Balance Sheets as of December 31, 2022 and 2021
Statements of Operations for the year ended December 31, 2022 and for the period from January 4, 2021 (inception) through December 31, 2021
Statements of Changes in Stockholders’ (Deficit) Equity for the year ended December 31, 2022 and for the period from January 4, 2021 (inception) through December 31, 2021
Statements of Cash Flows for the year ended December 31, 2022 and for the period from January 4, 2021 (inception) through December 31, 2021
Notes to Financial Statements
The Company’s independent registered public accounting firm is Marcum LLP (PCAOB ID Number 688) of Houston, Texas.
(2) Financial Statement Schedules
All financial statement schedules are omitted because they are not applicable or the amounts are immaterial and not required, or the required information is presented in the financial statements and notes thereto beginning on page of this Report.
(3) Exhibits
We hereby file as part of this Report the exhibits listed in the attached Exhibit Index. Exhibits that are incorporated herein by reference can be inspected on the SEC website at www.sec.gov.