PROPOSAL 4
APPROVAL OF AN AMENDMENT TO THE COMPANY’S
CERTIFICATE OF INCORPORATION TO INCREASE THE NUMBER OF AUTHORIZED
SHARES OF COMMON STOCK
Our Board has approved, subject to stockholder approval, an
amendment to our Certificate of Incorporation to increase the
number of authorized shares of common stock, par value $0.0001,
from 40,000,000 shares to 160,000,000 shares, and to make a
corresponding change to the number of authorized shares of capital
stock. The form of the proposed amendment is included in
Appendix A of this Proxy Statement (the “Common Stock
Amendment”).
We currently have a total of 40,000,000 shares of capital stock
authorized under our Certificate of Incorporation, consisting of
40,000,000 shares of common stock and no shares of preferred stock.
Our Board is asking our stockholders to approve an amendment that
will increase the number of authorized shares of common stock from
40,000,000 to 160,000,000 shares. If this Proposal 4 is approved,
we will amend the Certificate of Incorporation to authorize the
issuance of up to 160,000,000 shares of common stock. As provided
in more detail below, if Proposal 5 is approved we will amend the
Certificate of Incorporation to authorize the issuance of up to
5,000,000 shares of preferred stock. If both of Proposal 4 and
Proposal 5 are approved, the authorized shares of all classes of
our capital stock would be increased from 40,000,000 to 165,000,000
shares. Additionally, if Proposal 6 is approved we will have the
authority to amend the Certificate of Incorporation to effect a
reverse stock split, which, if effected, would reduce the number of
our outstanding shares of common stock and the number of shares of
common stock that we may issue in the future pursuant to our
current obligations, but would not reduce our authorized shares of
common stock.
Background and Purpose of the
Proposal
Our Board has determined that it would be in the Company’s best
interests and in the best interests of our stockholders to increase
the number of authorized shares of common stock in order to provide
the Company with the flexibility to pursue all financing and
corporate opportunities involving our common stock, which may
include private or public offerings of our equity securities,
without the need to obtain additional stockholder approvals. Each
additional authorized share of common stock would have the same
rights and privileges as each share of currently authorized common
stock.
In December of 2021, we filed an amendment to our Certificate of
Incorporation to increase our authorized shares of common stock
from 10,000,000 to 40,000,000 shares, following stockholder
approval of this increase at our 2021 Annual Meeting of
Stockholders. On September 15, 2022, we closed the Offering.
In connection with the Offering, we sold an aggregate of 17,637,843
shares of common stock, 12,171,628 Pre-Funded Warrants, and 29,809,471
Series 2 Warrants exercisable for shares of our common stock at an
exercise price of $0.66 per share. While such public offering
provided the Company with much needed equity financing, the
Offering required us to utilize substantially all of our remaining
authorized shares of common stock that were unreserved and
available for issuance or future reserve. As discussed in more
detail below, the Series 2 Warrants cannot be exercised until we
increase our authorized shares of common stock.
The Board believes that unless we obtain stockholder approval to
amend our Certificate of Incorporation to increase the number of
authorized shares of common stock, we will be severely limited by
the inability to issue additional shares in connection with future
capital raising transactions or strategic transactions, or to
provide additional equity compensation to our officers, board
members, and employees. This may cause a delay in our future
capital raising or other strategic transactions and may have a
material adverse effect on our business and financial
condition.
As of October 12, 2022, 25,809,533 shares of common stock were
outstanding, and 14,190,467 shares of authorized common stock
reserved for issuance pursuant to our equity compensation plans and
outstanding warrants and Pre-Funded Warrants. As of October 12,
2022, we had reserved, pursuant to our equity
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