VSPC Viaspace Inc (CE)

ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS

Our business is subject to a number of risks. You should carefully consider the following risk factors, together with all of the other information included or incorporated by reference in this report, before you decide whether to purchase our common stock. The risks set out below are not the only risks we face. If any of the following risks occur, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be materially adversely affected. In such case, the trading price of our common stock could decline, and you may lose all or part of your investment. We wish to caution that the following important factors, among others, in some cases have affected and in the future could affect our actual results and could cause such results to differ materially from those expressed in forward-looking statements made by or on behalf of us.

Risks Related To Our Business

We have incurred losses and anticipate continued losses for the foreseeable future.

Our net loss for the year ended December 31, 2016 was $1,201,000. We have not yet achieved profitability and expect to continue to incur net losses until we recognize increased revenues from GKG related sales. We rely solely on the GKG licensing agreement we have put in place effective March 28, 2016, to generate revenues or our GKG grass business. Because we do not have an operating history upon which an evaluation of our prospects can be based, our prospects must be considered in light of the risks, expenses and difficulties frequently encountered by companies seeking to develop new and rapidly evolving technologies. To address these risks, we must, among other things, respond to competitive factors, continue to attract, retain and motivate qualified personnel and continue to develop our technologies. We may not be successful in addressing these risks. We can give no assurance that we will achieve or sustain profitability.

Our ability to continue as a going concern is dependent on future revenues or future financing.

MaloneBailey LLC, our independent registered public accounting firm, included an explanatory paragraph in its report on our financial statements for 2016, which expresses substantial doubt about our ability to continue as a going concern. The inclusion of a going concern explanatory paragraph in MaloneBailey LLP’s report on our financial statements could have a detrimental effect on our stock price and our ability to raise additional capital if needed. However, on November 30, 2016, as discussed in Note 5, the Company entered into a Loan Agreement with Mr. Haris Basit, CEO and a member of the Company’s Board of Directors, whereby Mr. Basit agreed to fund the Company up to $100,000 over a two-year period in accordance with such agreement. In addition, on February 23, 2017, the Company entered into a Loan Agreement with Dr. Kevin Schewe, Chairman of the Company’s Board of Directors, whereby Dr. Schewe agreed to fund the Company up to $100,000 over a two-year period in accordance with such agreement. The Company expects loans from Mr. Basit and Dr. Schewe and revenue generated from future contracts using the license it has for Giant King Grass to fund operations for the foreseeable future.

Our financial statements were prepared on the basis of a going concern, which contemplates the realization of assets and the satisfaction of liabilities in the normal course of business. We have not made any adjustments to the financial statements as a result of the outcome of the uncertainty described above. Accordingly, the value of the Company in liquidation may be different from the amounts set forth in our financial statements.

Our continued success will depend on our ability to achieve profitability or to raise capital in order to fund the development and commercialization of our products. Failure to be profitable or to raise additional capital may result in substantial adverse circumstances, including our inability to continue the development of our products and our liquidation.

If we fail to comply with our obligations in our intellectual property licenses, we could lose license rights that are important to our business.

Executed on April 4, 2016 and effective as of March 28, 2016, the Company, VGE and IPA China, entered into the Global Supply, License, and Commercialization Agreement (the “New Agreement”).

Under the New Agreement, VGE and the Company terminated the VGE-VIASPACE Agreement and IPA directly granted the Company an exclusive, perpetual license to commercialize its intellectual property rights to three (3) types of high yield, non-genetically modified grasses (“Three GK Grasses”) throughout the world except Cambodia, People’s Republic of China, Taiwan, Thailand, Myanmar, Malaysia, Laos, Vietnam and Singapore (“VIASPACE Territory”). It and VGE agreed to subordinate the terms of the IPA-VGE Agreement to the terms of the New Agreement. IPA China also granted the right to use and market the name “Giant King Grass” and other related names.

The Company would owe royalty payments on the Net Sales of the Three GK Grasses. This license would be sublicenseable in the VIASPACE Territory. IPA China held all rights of ownership to the Three GK Grasses. The Company would own any grasses resulting from any modifications or improvements to the Three GK Grasses. IPA China would use commercially reasonable efforts to maintain its intellectual property rights. The Company would use commercially reasonable efforts to commercialize the Three GK Grasses throughout the VIASPACE Territory.

If the Company does not make its required royalty payments, it could lose its license.

Our growth prospects may be materially and adversely affected if we are unable to produce Giant King Grass in sufficient quantities for our customer or if our competitors develop products that are favored by our customers.

We believe the future growth of our Company will depend on the value of our grass business for biofuel, power plant, or animal feed purposes. The ability to develop orders from customers, if at all, is uncertain due to several factors, many of which are beyond our control. If we are unable to produce Giant King Grass to meet the initial demands of our customers, or if our competitors develop products that are favored by our customers, our growth will be adversely affected.

In addition, our business depends on the success of our Giant King Grass business. To mitigate this risk, the Company leases land in San Diego County, California where it grows Giant King Grass. The Company also grows GKG in Hawaii. If we are unable to generate our existing products in sufficient quantities - our growth prospects may be materially and adversely affected and our revenues and profitability may decline.

If we lose key personnel or are unable to hire additional qualified personnel, it could impact our ability to grow our business.

We believe our future success will depend in large part upon our ability to attract and retain highly skilled technical, managerial, sales and marketing, finance and operations personnel. We face intense competition for all such personnel, and we may not be able to attract and retain these individuals. Our failure to do so could delay product development, affect the quality of our products and services, and/or prevent us from sustaining or growing our business. In addition, employees may leave our company and subsequently compete against us. Key personnel include Mr. Haris Basit, our chief executive officer and Dr. Carl Kukkonen, our chief technology officer. The loss of key personnel, especially if without advanced notice, could harm our ability to maintain and build our business operations. Furthermore, we have no key man life insurance for any of our key employees.

Our revenues to date have been to a few customers, the loss of which could result in a material decline in revenues.

In 2015 and 2016, the Company has recorded a minor amount of grass revenues related to several Giant King Grass supply contract agreements to a few customers. We believe this concentration of sales made to a small number of customers will continue in the near future. A loss of any customer by the Company could significantly reduce our future revenues.

Our success depends upon market acceptance of our technologies and product development.

The markets for our renewable energy technologies are either new or non-existent at the present time. Our success will depend upon the market acceptance of Giant King Grass. This acceptance may require in certain instances a modification to the culture and behavior of customers to be more accepting of other forms of technology. Potential customers may be reluctant or slow to adopt changes or new ways of performing processes. There is no assurance that our current or future products or services will gain widespread acceptance or that we will generate sufficient revenues to allow us to ever achieve profitability.

In addition, our products require continuing improvement and development. Our products may not succeed or may not succeed as intended. As a result, we may need to change our product offerings, discontinue certain products and services or pursue alternative product strategies. There is no assurance that we will be able to successfully improve our current products or that we will continue to develop or market some of our products and services.

We operate in competitive markets against companies that have significantly greater resources than we have.

Overall, the markets for our products are highly competitive and many of our competitors have greater resources and better name recognition than we do. We intend to compete primarily by leveraging our intellectual property rights and our unique product value added features.

Due to uncertainties in our business, the capital on hand may not be sufficient to fund our operations until we achieve positive cash flow.

We have expended and will continue to expend substantial amounts of money for research and development, capital expenditures, working capital needs and manufacturing and marketing of our products and services. Although we have reduced expenses significantly, our business requires funds for operations.

The exact timing and amount of spending required cannot be accurately determined and will depend on several factors, including:

The cost of developing our technologies may require financial resources greater than we currently have available. Therefore, in order to successfully complete development of our technologies, we may be required to obtain additional financing. We cannot assure you additional financing will be available if needed or on terms acceptable to us. If adequate and acceptable financing is not available, we may have to delay development or commercialization of certain of our products and services or eliminate some or all of our development activities. We may also reduce our marketing or other resources devoted to our products and services. Any of these options could reduce our sales growth and result in continued net losses.

Failure of our internal controls over financial reporting could harm our business and financial results.

Our management is responsible for establishing and maintaining effective internal control over financial reporting. Internal control over financial reporting is a process to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting for external purposes in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States. Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting is not intended to provide absolute assurance that we would prevent or detect a misstatement of our financial statements or fraud. Any growth in our business may place significant additional pressure on our system of internal control over financial reporting. Any failure to maintain an effective system of internal control over financial reporting could limit our ability to report our financial results accurately and timely or to detect and prevent fraud. A significant financial reporting failure or material weakness in internal control over financial reporting could cause a loss of investor confidence and decline in the market price of our common stock.

Risks Related to our Grass Business

We currently have a few meaningful customers for our grass business and are starting to make progress. If we are unable to attract any customers or our existing customers do not continue operations, our grass business will suffer.

We commenced our grass business in October 2008. Our revenues increased from 2015 to 2016 but revenues are still not at a material or significant level. While we believe we will be able to attract more customers and achieve meaningful revenues, we cannot assure you we will. There is no assurance that our potential customers will determine that using GKG for biomass or animal feed purposes will be commercially viable. Further such customers may find other grass or plant products superior to GKG for their needs. Furthermore, our customers may not be able to attract their internal financing to expand or continue their project using GKG. If any of these occur, our grass business will fail.

We may be subject to intellectual property rights claims regarding the seedlings.

We are subject to the risk that the seedlings we license infringe or will infringe upon patents, copyrights, trademarks or other intellectual property rights held by third parties. We acquired rights to grow GKG from a seller which we believe held such rights.  If that party does not hold such rights, we may be subject to legal proceedings and claims relating to the intellectual property of others. If any such claim arises in the future, litigation or other dispute resolution proceedings may be necessary to retain our ability to offer our current and future products, which could result in substantial costs and diversion of our management resources and attention even if we prevail in contesting such claims. If we are found to have violated the intellectual property rights of others, we may be enjoined from using such intellectual property rights, incur additional costs to license or develop alternative products and be forced to pay fines and damages, any of which could materially and adversely affect our business and results of operations, or terminate our grass business entirely.

Natural or man-made disasters could damage our crop production, which would cause us to suffer losses of production and a material reduction of revenues.

GKG is subject to the risks associated with growing crops, including natural disasters such as drought, pestilence, plant diseases and insect infestations, and man-made disasters such as environmental contamination. Other man-made incidents may damage our products, such as arson or other acts that may adversely affect our grass inventory in the winter storage season. Furthermore, natural or man-made disasters may cause farmers to migrate from the farmland, which would decrease the number of end users of our products. We are particularly susceptible to disasters or other incidents in San Diego, California or Hawaii, where we have the greatest concentration of our operations. In the event of a widespread failure of our grass, we could likely sustain substantial loss of revenues and suffer substantial operating losses. We do not have insurance to protect against such a risk.

Our growth prospects may be materially and adversely affected if we are unable to develop or acquire new products or to produce our existing products in sufficient quantities.

We believe the future growth of our Company will depend on the value of our grass business for biofuel, power plant, or animal feed purposes. The ability to develop orders from customers, if at all, is uncertain due to several factors, many of which are beyond our control. These include changing customer preferences, competitive price pressures, the failure to adapt products to meet the evolving demands of customers, the development of higher-quality products by our competitors, and general economic conditions. If we are unable to develop or acquire additional products that meet the demands of our customers, if our competitors develop products that are favored by our customers, or if we are unable to produce our existing products in sufficient quantities, our growth prospects may be materially and adversely affected and our revenues and profitability may decline.

Our plans to increase production capacity in the grass business and expand into new markets may not be successful, which will adversely affect our operating results.

Our plans to develop our grass business and its production capacity has placed and will continue to place, substantial demands on our managerial, operational, technological and other resources. We are addressing three markets for GKG: feedstock for low-carbon liquid biofuels for transportation; fuel to burn in electricity generating power plants; and animal feed. We are also reviewing opportunities to grow grass in other areas of China, India, Indonesia, other areas of Southeast Asia and South America. These represent great opportunities for the company, but also represent a potential risk in losing focus and diluting management attention. If we fail to establish and manage the growth of our product offerings, operations and distribution channels effectively and efficiently in such business, we could suffer a material and adverse effect on our operations and our ability to capitalize on new business opportunities, either of which could materially and adversely affect our operating results.

We will need to develop new sales channels into the biofuel, electric power plant, and animal feed markets. Expansion into new markets may present operating and marketing challenges. If we are unable to anticipate the changing demands that expanding operations will impose on our production systems and distribution channels, or if we fail to develop our production systems and distribution channels to meet the demand, we could experience an increase in expenses and our results of operations could be adversely affected.

Our financial results are sensitive to fluctuations in market prices of the products that we offer.

The profitability of our operations is affected by the selling prices of our products. We intend to benchmark the prices of our grass against the prevailing domestic market prices of grass of similar quality and attributes, and set the prices accordingly. Historically, prices of grass and other agricultural products worldwide have been volatile, primarily due to fluctuations in supply and demand. If the prices for such products decline in the future, and we are unable sell more products and/or reduce our cost of sales, our revenues will decrease and our profitability will be adversely affected.

If we are unable to estimate customers’ future needs accurately and to match our production to the demand of our direct customers, our business, financial condition and results of operations may be materially and adversely affected.

Due to the nature of the grass industry, we normally grow according to our production plan before we sell and deliver grass to distributors and our direct customers. The potential end users of our grass, such as biofuel providers and livestock owners, generally make purchasing decisions for our products based on market prices, economic and weather conditions and other factors that we may not be able to anticipate accurately in advance. If we fail to accurately estimate the volume and types of products sought by our customers, we may produce more grass that is in demand by our distributors resulting in aged crops. In the event we decide not to sell the crop due to our concerns about the quality, the aged inventory could eventually be sold at greatly reduced prices. Aged inventory could result in asset impairment, in which case we would suffer a loss and incur an increase in our operating expenses. On the other hand, if we underestimate demand, we may not able to satisfy our customers’ demand for grass, and thus damage our customer relations and end-user loyalty. Our failure to estimate our customers’ future needs and to match our production to the demand of our direct customers may materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Grass prices and sales volumes may decrease in any given year with a corresponding reduction in sales, margins and profitability.

There may be periods of instability during which commodity prices and sales volumes may fluctuate greatly. Commodities can be affected by general economic conditions, weather, disease outbreaks and factors affecting demand, such as availability of financing and competition. Our attempts to differentiate our products from those of other grass producers have not prevented the grass market from having the characteristics of a commodity market. As a result, the price we are able to demand for our grass is dependent on the size of the supply of our grass and the grass of other producers. Therefore, the potential exists for fluctuation in supply, and consequently in price, in our own markets, even in the absence of significant external events that might cause volatility. As a result, the amount of revenue that we receive in any given year is subject to change. As production levels are determined prior to the time that the volume and the market price for orders is known, we may have too much or too little product available, which may materially and adversely affect our revenues, margins and profitability.

Risks Related To An Investment In Our Stock

Any future sale of a substantial number of shares of our common stock could depress the trading price of our common stock, lower our value and make it more difficult for us to raise capital.

Any sale of a substantial number of shares of our common stock (or the prospect of sales) may depress the price of our common stock. In particular, we will need to raise additional capital to maintain any ongoing business. We anticipate that the issuance of newly-issued shares to maintain our business will likely be very dilutive. In addition, these sales could lower our value and make it more difficult for us to raise capital. Further, the timing of the sale of the shares of our common stock may occur at a time when we would otherwise be able to obtain additional equity capital on terms more favorable to us.

The Company has 3,900,000,000 authorized shares of common stock, of which 2,919,472,132 were accounted for by our transfer agent as issued and outstanding as of December 31, 2016. Of these issued and outstanding shares, 1,578,776,014 shares (54.1%) are currently held by our executive officers, directors, and principal shareholders including related parties (including Mr. Haris Basit, CEO and Director; Dr. Carl Kukkonen, CTO and Director; Mr. Stephen J. Muzi, CFO; Ms. Angelina Galiteva, Director; Dr. Kevin L. Schewe, Director; Mr. Sung Hsien Chang, former director of the Company; Inter Pacific Arts Corporation, a former subsidiary of the Company; and Almaden Energy Group, a related party).  Of the shares issued and outstanding at December 31, 2016, 1,701,463,737 are accounted by our transfer agent as restricted under Rule 144.  These shares could be released in the future if requested by the holder of the shares, subject to volume and manner of sale restrictions under Rule 144.  1,218,008,395 shares of the Company’s common stock are accounted for by our transfer agent as free trading at December 31, 2016. 100,000,000 common shares are accounted for by our transfer agent as issued and outstanding, however, for accounting purposes the Company accounts for these as unissued since they are forfeitable. Outstanding common shares excluding these forfeitable shares are 1,819,472,132 at December 31, 2016.

We cannot predict the size of future issuances of our common stock or the effect, if any, that future issuances and sales of shares of our common stock will have on the market price of our common stock. Sales of substantial amounts of our common stock (including shares currently held by management and principal shareholders), or the perception that such sales could occur, may adversely affect prevailing market prices for our common stock.

Our executive officers, directors (including current and former) and principal shareholders own 54.1% of our common stock and one director holds a share of Series A Preferred Stock entitling it to votes of 50.1% on outstanding voting matters, which allows him to control substantially all matters requiring shareholder approval, and their interests may not align with the interests of our other shareholders.

Our executive officers, directors (including current and former) and principal shareholders hold 54.1% of our outstanding shares as of December 31, 2016. In addition, on May 14, 2010, the Company filed with the Secretary of State of the State of Nevada a Certificate of Designation of Series A Preferred Stock. The Certificate was approved by the Board and did not require shareholder vote. The Certificate created a new class of preferred stock known as Series A Preferred Stock. There is one share designated as Series A Preferred Stock. One share of Series A Preferred Stock is entitled to 50.1% of the outstanding votes on all shareholder voting matters. Series A Preferred Stock has no dividend rights and no rights upon a liquidation event and is subject to cancellation when certain conditions are met.

On May 14, 2010, the Company issued one share of Series A Preferred Stock to Mr. Chang related to the acquisition of IPA by VIASPACE and VGE. This empowers Chang with supermajority voting rights even after he holds less than a majority of outstanding voting securities. Under the term sheet relating to the VGE Recapitalization, Chang gave a proxy to Director Dr. Schewe during the term of any GKG sublicense from VGE. Dr. Schewe may be willing to provide additional financing to the Company. In the event he provides such financing, his ownership in the Company will further increase.

Effective as of September 30, 2012, and pursuant to an Agreement to Grant Voting Rights and Transfer Preferred Share executed by Chang and Director Kevin Schewe, Chang granted Schewe an irrevocable proxy that permitted Schewe to vote the Preferred Share. This proxy lasts so long as the License remained exclusive to the Company. Upon the earlier of (i) the expiration of five years or (ii) the date when the Company reached a market capitalization of at least $50 million, the proxy would be cancelled as the Preferred Share would be transferred from Chang to Schewe.

Our stock price is likely to be highly volatile because of several factors, including a limited public float.

The market price of our stock is likely to be highly volatile because there has been a relatively thin trading market for our stock, which causes trades of small blocks of stock to have a significant impact on our stock price. You may not be able to resell our common stock following periods of volatility because of the market’s adverse reaction to volatility.

Other factors that could cause such volatility may include:

Because our common stock is considered a “penny stock” any investment in our common stock is considered to be a high-risk investment and is subject to restrictions on marketability.

Our common stock is currently traded on the OTC Capital Markets (“OTCQB”) and is considered a “penny stock.” The OTCQB is generally regarded as a less efficient trading market than the NASDAQ Small Cap Market.

The SEC adopted rules that regulate broker-dealer practices in connection with transactions in “penny stocks.” Penny stocks generally are equity securities with a price of less than $5.00 (other than securities registered on certain national securities exchanges or quoted on the NASDAQ system, provided that current price and volume information with respect to transactions in such securities is provided by the exchange or system). The penny stock rules require a broker-dealer, prior to a transaction in a penny stock not otherwise exempt from those rules, to deliver a standardized risk disclosure document prepared by the SEC, which specifies information about penny stocks and the nature and significance of risks of the penny stock market. The broker-dealer also must provide the customer with bid and offer quotations for the penny stock, the compensation of the broker-dealer and any salesperson in the transaction, and monthly account statements indicating the market value of each penny stock held in the customer’s account. In addition, the penny stock rules require that, prior to a transaction in a penny stock not otherwise exempt from those rules; the broker-dealer must make a special written determination that the penny stock is a suitable investment for the purchaser and receive the purchaser’s written agreement to the transaction. These disclosure requirements may have the effect of reducing the trading activity in the secondary market for our common stock.

Since our common stock is subject to the regulations applicable to penny stocks, the market liquidity for our common stock could be adversely affected because the regulations on penny stocks could limit the ability of broker-dealers to sell our common stock and thus your ability to sell our common stock in the secondary market. There is no assurance our common stock will be quoted on NASDAQ or the NYSE or listed on any exchange, even if eligible.

We have additional securities available for issuance, including preferred stock, which if issued could adversely affect the rights of the holders of our common stock.

Our articles of incorporation authorize issuance of 3,900,000,000 shares of common and 10,000,000 shares of preferred stock. The common and preferred stock can be issued by, and the terms of the preferred stock, including dividend rights, voting rights, liquidation preference and conversion rights can generally be determined by, our Board of Directors (“BOD”) without shareholder approval. Any issuance of preferred stock could adversely affect the rights of the holders of common stock by, among other things, establishing preferential dividends, liquidation rights or voting powers. Accordingly, our shareholders will be dependent upon the judgment of our management in connection with the future issuance and sale of shares of our common and preferred stock, in the event buyers can be found therefore. Any future issuances of common or preferred stock would further dilute the percentage ownership of our Company held by the public shareholders. Furthermore, the issuance of preferred stock could be used to discourage or prevent efforts to acquire control of our Company through acquisition of shares of common stock.

In addition, on May 14, 2010, the Company filed with the Secretary of State of the State of Nevada a Certificate of Designation of Series A Preferred Stock. The Certificate was approved by the BOD and did not require shareholder vote. The Certificate created a new class of preferred stock known as Series A Preferred Stock. There is one share designated as Series A Preferred Stock. One share of Series A Preferred Stock is entitled to 50.1% of the outstanding votes on all shareholder voting matters. Series A Preferred Stock has no dividend rights and no rights upon a liquidation event and is subject to cancellation when certain conditions are met. On May 14, 2010, the Company issued one share of Series A Preferred Stock to Mr. Chang related to the acquisition of IPA by VIASPACE and VGE as discussed in footnotes. This empowers Chang with supermajority voting rights even after he holds less than a majority of outstanding voting securities.

Effective as of September 30, 2012, and pursuant to an Agreement to Grant Voting Rights and Transfer Preferred Share executed by Chang and Director Kevin Schewe, Chang granted Schewe an irrevocable proxy that permitted Schewe to vote the Preferred Share. This proxy lasts so long as the License (discussed in Note 2) remained exclusive to the Company. Upon the earlier of (i) the expiration of five years or (ii) the date when the Company reached a market capitalization of at least $50 million, the proxy would be cancelled as the Preferred Share would be transferred from Chang to Schewe.

Stock options issued by the Company may have an adverse impact on the market value of our common stock.

The sale of stock issuable upon exercise of the warrants issued or issuable, or even the possibility of their sale, may adversely affect the trading market for our common stock and adversely affect the prevailing market price of our common stock. The existence of rights under such warrants to acquire our common stock at fixed prices may prove a hindrance to our efforts to raise future equity and debt funding, and the exercise of such rights will dilute the percentage ownership interest of our shareholders and may dilute the value of their ownership.