ITEM 1. BUSINESS
We are a software development and services company that offers a suite of integrated computer network security products using proprietary technology. StrikeForce Technical Services Corporation was incorporated in August 2001 under the laws of the State of New Jersey. On September 3, 2004, we changed our name to StrikeForce Technologies, Inc. On November 15, 2010, we redomiciled under the laws of the State of Wyoming. We initially conducted operations as an integrator and reseller of computer hardware and telecommunications equipment and services until December 2002. In December 2002, and formally memorialized in September 2003, we acquired certain intellectual property rights and patent pending technology from NetLabs.com, Inc. (“NetLabs”) including the rights to further develop and sell their principal technology. In addition, certain officers of NetLabs joined our company as officers and directors of our company. Our ongoing strategy is developing and marketing our suite of network security products to the corporate, financial, healthcare, legal, government, technology, insurance, e-commerce and consumer sectors. We plan to continue to grow our business primarily through our globally expanding sales channel and internally generated sales, rather than by acquisitions. We hold a 49% interest in BlockSafe Technologies, Inc., and, as of April 2021, we hold a 100% interest in Cybersecurity Risk Solutions, LLC. We conduct our operations from our corporate office in Edison, New Jersey.
We began our operations in 2001 as a reseller and integrator of computer hardware and iris biometric technology. From the time we started our operations through the first half of 2003, we derived the majority of our revenues as an integrator. In December 2002, upon the acquisition of the licensing rights to certain intellectual property and patent pending technology from NetLabs, we shifted the focus of our business to developing and marketing our own suite of security products. Based upon our acquired licensing rights and additional research and development, we have developed various identification protection software products to protect computer networks from unauthorized access and to protect users from identity theft.
We completed the development of our ProtectID® platform at the end of June 2006, we completed the core development of our keyboard encryption and anti-keylogger product, GuardedID®, in December 2006 and commenced deployment of our new mobile product, MobileTrust® into the mobile stores in 2015. We finished development of our SafeVchat™ Secure Video Conferencing and PrivacyLoK™ products at the end of 2020 and deployed SafeVchat™ beta testing by some by our clients and individuals through our resellers. SafeVchat™, in management’s estimation, is one of the most secure video conferencing products on the market. PrivacyLoK™ adds security to all video conferencing tools and runs in conjunction with other applications on the same computer. We anticipate, but cannot guarantee, increased revenues from SafeVchat™ and PrivacyLoK™ in 2022, and beyond.
All are currently being sold and distributed. ProtectID® patent titled “Multi-Channel Device Utilizing a Centralized Out-of-Band Authentication System” is protected by three patents. The keystroke encryption technology we developed and use in our GuardedID® product is protected by three patents. MobileTrust® has a patent throughout Europe, as of June 2020.
Our suite of products is targeted to the financial, e-commerce, corporate, government, healthcare, legal, insurance, technology and retail markets. We seek to locate customers in a variety of ways. These primarily include contracts with value added resellers and distributors (both inside the United States and internationally), direct sales calls initiated by our internal staff, exhibitions at security and technology trade shows, through the media, through consulting agreements, and through our agent relationships. Our sales generate revenue either as an Original Equipment Manufacturer (“OEM”) model, through a Hosting/License agreement, bundled with other company’s products or through direct purchase by distributors and resellers. We price our products for cloud consumer transactions based on the number of transactions in which our software products are utilized. We also price our products for business applications based on the number of users. These pricing models provide our company with one-time, monthly, quarterly and annual recurring revenues with volume discounts.
We generated all of our revenues of $193,000 for the year ended December 31, 2021 (compared to $207,000 for the year ended December 31, 2020), from the sales of our security products. The decrease in revenues was primarily due to a reduction in the sales of our products with impairments caused by the adverse economic conditions resulting from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
We market our products globally to financial service firms, healthcare related companies, legal services companies, e-commerce companies, automotive, government agencies, multi-level marketing groups, the enterprise market in general, and with virtual private network companies, as well as technology service companies and retail distributors that service all the above markets. We seek such sales through our own direct efforts, with emphasis on retail, through distributors, resellers and third-party agents internationally. We are also seeking to license the technology as original equipment with computer hardware and software manufacturers. We are engaged in multiple production installations and pilot projects with various distributors, resellers and direct customers primarily in the United States. Our GuardedID® product is also being sold directly to consumers, primarily through the Internet as well as distributors, resellers, third party agents, affiliates and potential OEM agreements by bundling GuardedID® with their products (providing a value-add and competitive advantage to their own products and offerings). Currently this is the most active market for us with multiple programs in production. We anticipate, but cannot guarantee, increases in revenues in fiscal 2022 and/or 2023 (subject to the impairments to the economy caused by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the degree to which the economy rebounds post-pandemic, and any domestic economic impact from the war in Ukraine), from these programs.
We have incurred substantial losses since our inception. Our management believes that our products provide a cost-effective and technologically competitive solution to address the problems of network security and identity theft in general. Guidance for the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (“FFIEC”) regulations include the requirement for solutions that have Two-Factor Out-of-Band Authentication and products that stop keylogging malware, real time, which our management believes our proprietary products uniquely and directly address. This guidance went into effect as of January 1, 2012. Based on this requirement in the FFIEC update (published in June 2011 with enforcement commencing in January 2012), we have experienced a growing increase in sales orders and inquiries every year. However, there can be no assurance that our products will continue to gain acceptance and continue to grow in the commercial marketplace or that one of our competitors will not introduce technically superior products.
Because we are now experiencing a continual growing market demand (with the growth temporarily, in our opinion, curtailed by the economic consequences of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic), we are developing a reseller and distribution channel as a strategy to generate, manage and fulfill demand for our products across market segments, minimizing the requirement for an increase in our staff as we grow our distributor market. We have minimized the concentration on our initial direct sales efforts as our distribution and reseller channels continue to grow internationally and will require appropriate levels of support.
In March 2020, the World Health Organization declared the spread of COVID-19 a pandemic. This outbreak continues to spread throughout the U.S. and around the world. As a result, authorities continue to implement numerous measures to try to contain the virus, including restrictions on travel, quarantines, shelter-in-place orders, business restrictions and complete shutdowns. We are not considered an “essential business” due to the industries and customers we serve. As of, and subsequent to, September 30, 2021, we have been following the recommendations of the CDC and state/local health authorities to minimize exposure risk for our team members during the pandemic, including the temporary closure of our corporate office and having our team members work remotely. During the second quarter of 2021, we reopened our corporate office while continuing to adhere to the guidelines issued by health authorities. Many customers and vendors have transitioned to electronic submission of invoices and payments. The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in longer response times from potential new customers and certain existing customers. We cannot anticipate the effect that the impairments caused by the COVID-19 pandemic will have on our year end fiscal 2022 results or 2023 results, or the effectiveness and distributions of vaccines, boosters, and their distribution in 2022 and 2023 and changes to mask mandate policies or the shift from a pandemic to an endemic. The pandemic has significantly impacted the economic conditions both in the United States and worldwide, with accelerated effects through the date of this Annual Report, as federal, state and local governments react to the public health crisis, creating significant uncertainties in both the worldwide and the United States economies. The situation is rapidly changing, including the onset of the ongoing most recent and anticipated wave of the virus caused by the B2 Omicron variant and the possibility of other variants over time, and additional impacts to our business may arise that we are not aware of currently. We cannot predict whether, when or the manner in which, the conditions surrounding COVID-19 will change including the timing of lifting any restrictions or office closure requirements. We will continue to evaluate the nature and extent of COVID-19’s impact to our business, consolidated results of operations, financial condition and liquidity, and our results presented herein are not necessarily indicative of the results to be expected for future periods in 2022, 2023, or beyond.
Management believes that cyber security is a growing requirement as the pandemic continues and more people are working remotely as well as using digital forms on a regular basis. Consequently, the market demand, in our estimation, is increasing. However, our Company is also experiencing the impact of the pandemic. Currently our management has limited business operating from our office location and this impedes our ability to take full advantage of the increasing market demand. Many of our current clients have experienced a dramatic slowdown in their business, limiting their ability to have the resources to pay for our services. We still produce revenues and we anticipate, but cannot guarantee, our video conferencing tool, SafeVchat™, which provides authentication and security (using our existing products), will have gained acceptance in the market. Currently, we have companies doing beta testing. During the year ended December 31, 2021, we earned revenues of $74,000 from SafeVchat™ and PrivacyLoK™ and overall revenues of $193,000. We believe, but cannot guarantee, that our sales, partly as a consequence of the new work environment created by the ongoing pandemic and the need for our products, will significantly increase in fiscal 2022 and continue that substantial growth in 2023. We also are encouraged by the $65 billion dollars provided for broadband access to improve internet services that is in the recently enacted federal Infrastructure Bill of 2021, but cannot provide assurance as to how, or if, that will impact our products and services.
On November 13, 2020, our filing of an Offering Circular on Form 1-A, pursuant to Regulation A (File Number: 024-11267) was qualified by the Securities and Exchange Commission. We registered 668,449,198 shares of common stock for maximum proceeds of $2,315,000 (after deducting the maximum broker discount and costs of the offering). As of September 30, 2021, the offering was fully subscribed as we accepted the subscriptions for an aggregate of 474,453,653 shares of common stock for full satisfaction of the entire offering of $2,500,000 (of which we received $2,315,000). We announced the closing of the offering on our Current Report on Form 8-K as filed on February 8, 2021.
On May 11, 2021, our filing of an Offering Circular on Form 1-A, pursuant to Regulation A (File Number: 024-11512) was qualified by the Securities and Exchange Commission. We registered 150,000,000 shares of common stock for maximum proceeds of $7,065,000 (after deducting the maximum broker discount and costs of the offering). During the year ended December 31, 2021, we issued 119,666,450 shares of common stock to investors for cash proceeds of $5,602,158, net of fees and commission, pursuant to the May 2021 Offering Circular. In September 2021, we sold 50,000,000 warrant shares for $50,000 to two investors who purchased subscriptions through the Offering Circular. We also awarded 5,000,000 warrant shares to the broker who facilitated the Offering Circular. The warrants vest immediately and have a 5-year term with an exercise price of $0.05 per share.
Effective June 25, 2020, we completed a 1:500 reverse stock split of our issued and outstanding shares of common stock and all fractional shares were rounded up. All share and per share amounts in this report on Form 10-K have been adjusted retroactively to reflect the reverse stock split as if it had occurred at the beginning of the earliest period presented.
Our executive office is located at 1090 King Georges Post Road, Suite 603, Edison, NJ 08837. Our telephone number is (732) 661-9641. Our Company’s website is www.strikeforcetech.com (we are not including the information contained in our website as part of, nor should the information be relied upon or incorporated by reference into, this report on Form 10-K).
Our Products
StrikeForce is a software development and services company. We own and are seeking to commercially market various identification protection software products that we developed to protect computer networks from unauthorized access, real time, and to protect network owners and users from cyber security attacks and data breaches. Our principal products ProtectID®, GuardedID®, inclusive of our unique CryptoColor® technology and MobileTrust®, are proprietary authentication and keystroke encryption technologies that are intended to eliminate unauthorized access to computer networks and all mobile devices, and to prevent unauthorized individuals from copying (logging) keystrokes. Our newest products, SafeVchat™ Secure Video Conferencing and PrivacyLoK™, are in beta testing and management intends to market them after the beta testing is complete. We already earned revenues from SafeVchat™ and PrivacyLoK™ in 2021. We are increasing our market for our suite of products in the financial services, e-commerce, corporate, healthcare, government and consumer sectors. Our cyber security products are as follows:
· | ProtectID® is our multi-patented authentication platform that uses “Out-of-Band” multi-factor in-house installation, cloud service technology, a hybrid to authenticate computer network users by a variety of methods including traditional passwords combined with a telephone, iPhone, Droid, Blackberry, PDA, multiple computer secure sessions, or a Push Authentication method which was implemented in the fourth quarter of 2017, biometric identification and encrypted devices such as tokens or smartcards as examples. The authentication procedure separates authentication information such as usernames from the pin/passwords or biometric information, which are then provided to or from the network’s host server across separate communication channels. The platform allows for corporate control and client choices, per their company’s security policies, which evolves over time with newly available and customer requested technologies. |
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· | GuardedID® creates a 256-bit AES encrypted real time separate pathway for information delivery from a keyboard to a targeted application on a local computer, preventing the use of spyware/malware to collect user information. This product provides keyboard encryption and helps prevent keylogging from occurring in real time, which helps prevent the number one threat to consumers and businesses in today’s market: keylogging software, which is stealth software embedded in web sites, emails, pictures, MP3 files, videos, USB’s or other software and hardware that, once unknowingly launched, secretly monitors and records all of a user’s keystrokes on the computer and sends the data to the cyber thief without the user’s awareness. Keylogging has been reported as the one of the major causes of major data breaches that occurred from 2010 to 2016, as reported in the 2010-2016 Verizon Data Breach Reports. (Patent No: 8,566,608, 8,732,483 and 8,973,107). |
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· | MobileTrust® is an advanced iPhone/iPad and Android device password vault that includes a strong password generator. MobileTrust® also provides for Mobile Multi-Factor One Time Password authentication, a secured browser and keystroke encryption between its virtual keyboard and secured browser, which is critical to all confidential online transactions and other features, which is now in production. This new feature for mobile devices, which helps prevent data breaches and stolen credentials is a critical and vital addition to all enterprise mobile users, as enterprises transition to “Bring Your Own Devices” (BYOD). (International European Patent No: Application #14763895.1) |
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· | GuardedID® Mobile SDK is a software development kit that provides developers our patent protected keystroke encryption protection for all Apple and Android mobile device’s secure keyboards, allowing our keystroke encryption software to be embedded in any mobile applications, utilizing DES 256 Encryption. |
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· | SafeVchat™ is, in our estimation, one of the best and most secure video conferencing products in the marketplace and we believe at a time when it is most needed due to the remote workplace environment brought on by the work conditions arising from the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. The product is a two-factor authentication application, with out-of-band authentication capability, including push transactions to cell phones or a one-time passcode, and only invitees to the conference will gain access. The application also runs on any Apple or Android device. and operates on any browser because it does not require an application. SafeVchat™ also has a premium version available which utilizes PrivacyLok™ for added security. |
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· | PrivacyLok™ offers protective mechanisms that are far more encompassing than what other video conferencing platforms currently provide, such as camera locking, keyboard protection, clipboard protection, microphone protection and audio input/output locking. The application also runs on the user’s computer and protects all applications, not just video conferencing. The application is offered a part of the of SafeVchat™ Premium, or as a separate standalone application. |
Our products sometimes include software and hardware that we contractually license from other vendors. These products include additional authentication and telecommunication software devices.
The ProtectID® Cloud Service can be hosted by our service provider (we have a strategic arrangement with a third party SAS70 hosting service) as well as the ProtectID® Out-of-Band and Multi-Factor Platform, which can be installed internally in a customer’s infrastructure or as a hybrid implementation. With the exception of our free redistributable Microsoft software components.
Factors that are considered important to our success include, but are not limited to, the following:
· | Our products address the needs of a broad variety of customers for authentication and cyber security overall. One of the biggest problems facing the world is Cyber Theft, the effects of which, our management contends, total an estimated $221 billion per year in business losses and more recently, based on anecdotal evidence provided to management, stated to be in the trillions going forward (with the full effect of the increased use in remote access due to COVID-19 still undeterminable). |
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· | For illustration (while historic), in 2011, it was reported that RSA Security’s data was breached from which Lockheed Martin and others were affected and lost millions of dollars. This event caused many companies to look to other means of two-factor authentication, such as Out-of-Band. The RSA Data Breach started with a keylogging virus which our GuardedID® product, management believes, would most likely have prevented. |
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· | The 2017 Verizon Data Breach report, published in April 2018, stated that 80% of all the data breaches they reported would not have occurred if the corporations used two factor authentications. |
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· | In February 2015, the New York Times reported that a Global Bank heist occurred in banks around the globe from a keylogger. This was the first known time that a large hack was reported that included a keylogger, which our management believes GuardedID® would have prevented. The article was noted as caused by keystroke encryption in a picture on the front page of the New York Times. |
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· | The Effectiveness of Our Products: Our products have been designed to provide, we believe, a high available level of security for computer networks and individual users. In particular, we believe that the now Patented “Out-of-Band” authentication process is an innovative technology that will greatly prevent unauthorized access to computer networks and will provide effective security products to drastically reduce the incidence of identity fraud for our customers. We have contractually commenced implementation of our products on a large global scale, yet there can be no assurance that they will function in all aspects as intended. Likewise, a high level of innovation characterizes the software industry and there can be no assurance that our competitors will not develop and introduce a superior product. The effective functioning of our products once deployed is an important factor in our future success. |
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· | Ability to Integrate our Software with Customer Environments: There are numerous operating systems that are used by computer networks. The ability of a software product to integrate with multiple operating systems is likely to be a significant factor in customer acceptance of particular products. Our ProtectID® operates on an independent Cloud Service platform and is also able to integrate with multiple operating systems and user interfaces for an in-house implementation. ProtectID® has been designed to use multiple authentication devices that are currently on the market (including, but not limited to, biometrics, key-fob tokens, iPhones, iPads, Androids, PDA’s, smart cards, face biometric, fingerprint and other mobile devices). Our ability to integrate our products with multiple existing and future technologies is currently a key factor in the growth of our product’s acceptance and is demonstrated by our success with recent clients and installations. Our GuardedID® product currently operates with Windows Internet Explorer (IE), Firefox, Chrome and Safari browsers and our upgraded Premium version works with almost all applications running on a Windows desktop platform, inclusive of Microsoft Office and the MAC. New features and functions for both products continue to be developed via our research and development. We continue to be live with our MobileTrust® and GuardedID® Mobile SDK products, which work on all Apple and Android devices. |
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· | Relative Cost: We have attempted to design our products to provide a cost-effective suite of products for financial services, e-commerce, commercial, healthcare, government and direct-consumer customers. Our ability to offer our products at a competitive price is likely in our opinion, to be a key factor in the acceptance of our product as we have seen with many of our clients. |
Business Model
We are focusing primarily on developing sales through “channel” relationships in which our products are offered by other manufacturers, distributors, value-added resellers and agents, internationally. In 2016, we added and publicly announced additions to our global distribution sales channel, which provides additional presence for us in the United States, Canada, Europe and Africa. We continue to add additional channel partners, especially on the consumer side and developed a new retail business. We also sell our suite of security products directly from our Edison, New Jersey office, which also augments our channel partner relationships. It is our strategy that these “channel” relationships will provide the greater percentage of our revenues ongoing, as was the case in the past two years. Examples of the channel relationships that we are seeking include already established original equipment manufacturer (“OEM”) and bundled relationships with other security technology and software providers that would integrate or bundle the enhanced security capabilities of ProtectID®, GuardedID® and/or MobileTrust® into their own product lines, including SafeVchat™ and PrivacyLoK™ and our SafeVchat™ API’s, thereby providing greater value to their clients. These would include providers of networking software and manufacturers of computer and telecommunications hardware and software that provide managed services, and multi-level marketing groups, as well as all markets interested in increasing the value of their products and packages, such as financial services software, anti-virus, government integrators and identity theft product companies. We contracted with various new distributors during 2020 and 2021, and we anticipate, but cannot guarantee, an increase in revenues in 2022 and/or 2023 (subject to the impairments caused by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the degree to which the economy rebounds post-pandemic).
We believe, but cannot guarantee, the revenues of SafeVchat™, our secure Video Conferencing Tool, and PrivacyLok™, which adds five levels of security for SafeVchat™, should be profitable during 2022 and beyond, although we cannot guarantee such profitability. While the full effect of the increased use in remote access in employment due to COVID-19 is still undeterminable, it has become evident, in managements estimation, clear that people will be working remotely for a long time, perhaps with some hybrid level of permanence. In a February 2021 New York Times article, Google announced that they will no longer require that their employees to come into the attainment office, as stated in the New York Times, Video conference sales are projected to be over $100 billion, more than double of what was originally projected. We believe that SafeVchat™ and PrivacyLok™ are perfectly timed for introduction into the market and we anticipate, but cannot guarantee, our market share will grow over the next several years.
From our MobileTrust® security application, built with our sCloud registration process, we created and announced two additional products in 2020: our ProtectID® Mobile OTP (One Time Password) to be used with ProtectID®; and our GuardedID® Mobile keystroke encryption software development kit (SDK). Both products are now in production. With the creation of GuardedID® Mobile SDK, we now focus the sales of this software product to the development groups of our target markets for it to be added to their mobile applications. We are in discussions with many large-scale parties that are interested in this software, although no assurances can be provided as to acceptance and profitability. Management has already received requests for this software, as keystroke encryption malware grows and remains a major problem for the mobile-cyber security market, particularly with anti-virus products being viewed as non-effective against malware threats.
Our primary target markets include financial services such as banks and insurance companies, healthcare providers, legal services, government agencies through integrators, technology platforms, e-commerce-based services companies, telecommunications and cellular carriers, technology software companies, government agencies and consumers, especially for our mobile and keystroke encryption products. We are focusing our concentration on cyber security and data breach strategic problem areas, such as where compliance with financial, healthcare, legal and government regulations are key and stolen passwords are used to acquire private information illegally. In 2020 and 2021, several of our channel partners had pilots and client implementations in place that are expected, although no assurances can be provided, to increase our revenues in 2022 and/or 2023 (subject to the impairments caused by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the degree to which the economy rebounds post-pandemic). There is no guarantee as to the timing and continued success of these efforts.
Because we are now expecting a continual, recurring growing market demand, especially in the mobility and encryption retail markets, we continue to develop a reseller and distribution channel as a strategy to generate, manage and fulfill demand for our products across market segments, minimizing the requirement for an increase in our staff as we grow our distributor market. We continue to minimize the concentration on our initial direct sales efforts as our distribution and reseller channels continue to grow internationally and provide appropriate levels of sales and support to the growing Cyber Security market.
We seek to generate revenues through recurring fees for SafeVchat™, PrivacyLok™, GuardedID® and ProtectID® based on client consumer usage in the financial, healthcare services and legal services markets, as well as enterprises in general. We provide our clients a choice of operating our ProtectID® software internally by licensing it or through our hosted Cloud Service or a hybrid that some clients have implemented and none of our competitors presently offer. GuardedID® requires a download on each and every computer it protects, whether for employees or consumers. We have four GuardedID® products, (i) a standard version which protects browser data entry only, (ii) a premium version which protects almost all the applications running under Microsoft Windows on the desktop, including Microsoft Office Suite and almost all applications running on the desktop, (iii) an Enterprise version which, in addition, provides the Enterprise administrative rights and the use of Microsoft’s Enterprise tools for the product’s deployment, and (iv) an Apple version for all the latest MAC operating systems and for the browsers and entire desktop. Our GuardedID® Mobile SDK (software development kit) is priced for the consumer through the appropriate mobile phone stores, as well as direct, distribution and OEM sales for higher volume enterprises, including volume discounts to the degree allowed by the telecommunications providers. We anticipate, but cannot guarantee, steadily increasing revenues from these product offerings.
Our management believes that our products provide a cost-effective and technologically competitive solution to address the increasing problems of network security and cyber security in general.
Marketing
Our multi-channel marketing strategy includes:
1. The addition of resellers, agents & distributors (our strategic sales channel) who distribute and resell our products and services to enterprise and commercial customers globally (technology and software product distributors, systems integrators, managed service companies, other security technology and software vendors, telecom companies, cyber security related product companies, etc.).
2. Application Service Provider (ASP) Partners: Our third-party service provides a hosting platform that facilitates faster implementations at competitive prices for our Cloud Service option
3. Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM): SFT products are sold to other security technology vendors that integrate ProtectID®, GuardedID® and, now, GuardedID® Mobile SDK into their products (bundling) and services providing for monthly/annual increasing recurring revenues. They are also now able to sell and bundle SafeVchat™ and PrivacyLok™.
4. Technology and other providers and resellers, agents and distributors are interested in purchasing and or selling our new SafeVchat™ and PrivacyLok™ products as secure video conferencing products
5. Outside Independent consultants selling our products for commission only, focusing on the video conferencing, healthcare, legal, travel and consumer markets
Intellectual Property
In November 2010, we received notice that the United States Patent and Trademark Office (“USPTO”) had issued an official Notice of Allowance for the patent application for the technology relating to our ProtectID® product, titled “Multi-Channel Device Utilizing a Centralized Out-of-Band Authentication System”. In January 2011, we received notice that the USPTO issued to us Patent No. 7,870,599. This “Out-of-Band” Patent went through a USPTO Re-Examination process starting on August 16, 2011 and concluded on December 27, 2011, with all of our patent claims remaining intact and eight additional patent claims being added. Since 2011, we submitted additional continuation patents on the “Out-of-Band” Patent. The keystroke encryption technology we developed and use in our GuardedID® product is protected by three patents and one continuation pending.
In January 2013, we were assigned the entire right, title and interest in the “Out-of-Band” Patent from NetLabs, with the agreement of the developer, and the assignment was recorded with the USPTO.
In February 2013, we executed a retainer agreement with our patent attorneys to aggressively enforce our patent rights as “Out-of-Band Authentication” was becoming the standard for authenticating consumers in the financial market and for many SaaS application users (e.g., SalesForce, Quickbooks, etc.). In February 2013, our patent attorneys submitted a new “Out-of-Band” Patent continuation, which was granted.
In March 2013, our patent attorneys submitted a new “Methods and Apparatus for securing user input in a mobile device” Patent, which is now patent pending. Our MobileTrust® product is the invention supporting the patent pending.
In July 2013, we received notice that the USPTO had added 54 additional patent claims for our Out-of-Band patent we received in January 2011, by issuing to us Patent No. 8,484,698 thereby strengthening our position with clients and our current and potential lawsuits.
In October 2013, we received notice that the USPTO issued to us Patent No. 8,566,608 “Methods and apparatus for securing keystrokes from being intercepted between the keyboard and a browser.” This protects our GuardedID® product and the keystroke encryption portion of our MobileTrust® products.
In February 2014, we received a Notice of Allowance from the USPTO for our third patent relating to our “Multi-Channel Device Utilizing a Centralized Out-of-Band Authentication System” Patent No. 7,870,599. Upon receipt of this Out-of-Band patent we filed another continuation patent.
In March 2014, we received Notice of Allowance from the USPTO for our second patent and first continuation of our Keystroke Encryption patent, which only furthers our protection for all mobile devices when utilizing any keyboard for data entry. Upon receipt of this Notice, we also filed another continuation patent for Patent No. 8,566,608.
In April 2014, we were granted our third patent relating to our “Multi-Channel Device Utilizing a Centralized Out-of-Band Authentication System” Patent No. 8,713,701.
In September 2014, we filed an International Patent for MobileTrust® (PCT/US20114/029905).
In March 2015, we received our third patent from the USPTO, Patent No. 8,973,107, of our Keystroke Encryption patent. This enhances our position for our Keystroke Encryption product, GuardedID®, and our MobileTrust® product.
On March 28, 2013, the Company initiated patent litigation against PhoneFactor, Inc., a subsidiary of Microsoft Corporation, for alleged infringement of United States Patent No. 7,870,599 (the “‘599 Patent”). The Company filed a separate action against Microsoft Corporation based on its alleged infringement of the ‘599 Patent and two additional patents for out-of-band user authentication (U.S. Patent Nos.: 8,484,698 & 8,713,701). Both actions were filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware. On January 15, 2016, the litigation was settled and the parties executed a settlement agreement in the form of a Release and License Agreement. The terms and conditions of the Release and License Agreement are confidential except under limited conditions. As a consequence of the Release and License Agreement, the parties have moved to dismiss the action with prejudice, the Company has licensed the patents to Microsoft Corporation, and the Company received a non-disclosable one-time lump sum payment.
In June 2020, we were awarded an International European Patent, Application #14763895.1, for MobileTrust®. While the MobileTrust® International Patent was granted in Europe, the patent application in the United States was rejected.
Our patent attorneys filed our fourth, fifth and sixth “Out of Band” continuation patents. We currently have three patents granted to us for Out-of-Band ProtectID® (Patent Nos.: 7,870,599, 8,484,698 and 8,713,701). MobileTrust® is also covered by our GuardedID® patents. We cannot provide assurances that the latter patents will be granted in fiscal 2022.
We plan to continue our strategy to aggressively enforce the patent rights relating to our granted Keystroke Encryption patents that help protect our GuardedID® and MobileTrust® products. We were granted three related keystroke encryption patents for which we received the most recent patent on March 3, 2015 (Patent Nos.: 8,566,608, 8,732,483 and 8,973,107). In June 2020, we also received an International Patent in Europe for MobileTrust® (Patent Approved: Application #14763895.1).
We have four trademarks that have been approved and registered: GuardedID®, MobileTrust® and CryptoColor®. Also, BlockSafe Technologies, Inc. has one registered trademark: CyberDefender®. A portion of our software is licensed from third parties and the remainder is developed by our own team of developers while leveraging some external consultant expertise as necessitated. We rely upon confidentiality agreements signed by our employees, consultants, and third parties to protect the intellectual property rights.
Business Strategy
Our primary strategy throughout 2022 is to focus on the growth and support of our channel partners, including distributors, resellers and original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) (subject to the impairments caused by COVID-19). Our internal sales team targets potential direct sales in industries that management believes provides the greatest potential for short term sales. These include small to medium sized financial institutions, government agencies, e-commerce, healthcare, legal and enterprise businesses. We are also executing agreements with strategic resellers and distributors for marketing, selling and supporting our products internationally. We primarily work with distributors, resellers and agents to generate the bulk of our sales internationally, realizing that this strategy takes longer to nurture, however it is progressing well. We are starting to realize positive results, however slowly, with our sales channel and anticipate, but cannot guarantee, a successful fiscal 2022, through the sales channel and from our new mobile and GuardedID® MAC, SafeVchat™ and PrivacyLoK™ products with a concentration of sales already contracted. There can be no assurances, however, that we will succeed in implementing our sales strategy. Although management believes that there is an increasingly strong market for our products as the need for cyber security solutions increases globally, we have not generated substantial revenue from the sale of our products and there is no assurance we can secure a market sufficient to permit us to achieve profitability in fiscal 2022 (subject to the impairments caused by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the degree to which the economy rebounds post-pandemic).
Most of the costs that we incur are related to salaries, professional fees, marketing, sales and research & design. Our operations presently require funding of approximately $235,000 per month based on the hiring of four additional sales staff members in 2022. We expect that our monthly cash usage for operations will increase slightly due to contracted and anticipated increased volumes and adding some targeted channel marketing programs. We anticipate that the areas in which we will experience the greatest increase in operating expenses is in marketing, selling, product support, product research and new technology development in the growing cyber security market. We are committed to maintaining our current level of operating costs until we reach the level of revenues needed to absorb any potential increase in costs.
Competition
The software development and services market is characterized by innovation and competition. There are several well-established companies within the authentication market that offer network security systems in our product market and newer companies with emerging technologies. We believe that our multi-patented “Out-of-Band” multi-factor identity authentication platform is an innovative, secure, adaptable, competitively priced, integrated network authentication platform. The main features of ProtectID® include: an open architecture “Out-of-Band” platform for user authentication; operating system independence; biometric layering; soft mobile tokens; mobile authentication; secure website logon; Virtual Private Network (“VPN”) access; domain authentication; newly added Office 365 authentication and multi-level authentication. Unlike other techniques for increased network security, ProtectID® does not rely on a specific authentication device or method (e.g., phone, tokens, smart cards, digital certificates, soft mobile tokens, or biometrics, such as a retinal or fingerprint scan). Rather ProtectID® has been developed as an “open platform” that incorporates an unlimited number of authentication devices and methods. For example, once a user has been identified to a computer network, a system deploying our ProtectID® authentication system permits the “Out-of-Band” authentication of that user by a telephone, iPhone, iPad, PDA, email, hard token, SSL client software, a biometric device such as a voice biometric, or others, before that user is permitted to access the network. By using “Out-of-Band” authentication methods, management believes that ProtectID®, now protected through our ongoing litigation, with plans for additional litigation, provides a competitive product for customers with security requirements greater than typical name and password schemes for virtual private networks and computer systems with multiple users at remote locations, as examples. We also believe that our multi-patented keystroke encryption product, GuardedID®, offers an additional competitive edge for network security and e-commerce applications that should provide greater levels of security and the ability to evolve over time based on newer technologies when made available. There is less competition for the keystroke encryption product and there are no well-established companies in this space, which explains our current growth in pilots and sales for GuardedID®, especially relating to bundled channel partner programs. GuardedID® is critical to help prevent key logging viruses, one of the largest sources of cyberattacks and data breaches. GuardedID® also is protected with three patents.
Our patented technologies are used in SafeVchat™, our secure Video Conferencing Tool and PrivacyLok™, which adds five levels of security for SafeVchat™ Premium, which we believe are more secure than Zoom, Teams and other competitors’ products available in the growing marketplace.
Although we believe that our suite of products offers competitive advantages, there is no assurance that any of these products will continue to increase its market share in the marketplace. Our competitors include established software and hardware companies that are likely to be better financed and to have established sales channels. Due to the high level of innovation in the software development industry, it is also possible that a competitor will introduce a product that provides a higher level of security than our products or which can be offered at prices that are more advantageous to the customer.
BlockSafe Technologies, Inc.
BlockSafe Technologies, Inc. (“BlockSafe”) was formed on December 1, 2017 in the State of Wyoming. BlockSafe is in the business of providing total cyber security solutions and has the licensee from our company of our desktop anti-malware product called “GuardedID®” and our one of a kind mobile application called “MobileTrust®”. BlockSafe is intended to be developed as an enterprise focused on using our licensed technology in the field of cryptocurrency and its use of blockchains. Small revenues have been generated to date, primarily due to the effects of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. There can be no assurances on the success of this project or any profitability arising from BlockSafe.
As of December 31, 2021, no tokens have been developed or issued. There is no assurance as to whether, or at what amount, or on what terms, tokens will be available. Moreover, there can be no assurance how such technology will function, which could expose us to legal and regulatory issues. Cryptocurrency and its use of blockchains is still in the development stage and receiving mixed results. The Securities and Exchange Commission has, in its dissemination of information to the public, expressed that tokens in the United States would be treated as securities pursuant to the Howey Test. This standard has been adopted, in various forms, in numerous other jurisdictions. The European Union and China are contemplating their own form of cryptocurrency and Facebook Libra cryptocurrency recently lost the support of PayPal (see https://www.independent.co.uk/topic/cryptocurrency, which article is not incorporated by reference to this filing). On March 30, 2022, the Securities and Exchange Commission’s Division of Examinations announced its 2022 examination priorities which included the review of the use of crypto-assets as one of its top five priorities for review. This review and any regulatory rules and regulations arising from this review may impact the BlockSafe business. In addition, legal and regulatory developments could render the technology impermissible, which could have a material adverse effect on BlockSafe and us.
At December 31, 2021, noncontrolling interests represents 51% of BlockSafe that we do not directly own. The Company and BlockSafe have a management agreement pursuant to which BlockSafe shall remit a management fee of $36,000 per month to the Company, and when BlockSafe reaches a milestone of $1,000,000 in financing, an additional management fee of $5,000,000 shall be owed to the Company, payable monthly over three years. The management fee is eliminated in consolidation. At December 31, 2021 and 2020, the amount of VIE cash on the accompanying consolidated balance sheets can be used only to settle obligations of BlockSafe, and the amounts of VIE accounts payable, VIE Notes Payable, VIE Accrued Interest, and VIE Financing Obligation have no recourse to the general credit of the Company.
In June 2018, two members of our management team, George Waller, our Executive Vice President and Ramarao Pemmaraju, our Chief Technical Officer, were appointed to BlockSafe to serve as the Chief Executive Officer and Chief Technical Officer, respectively. Additionally, our Chief Executive Officer of StrikeForce, Mark L. Kay, also an appointee to the Board of Directors of BlockSafe, was appointed as Chairman and President of BlockSafe.
In 2018, the Company’s consolidated subsidiary BlockSafe issued promissory notes to investors in the aggregate of $775,500. As part of each promissory note agreement BlockSafe agreed to pay a financing obligation to the note holders equal to the note principal in tokens, as defined, to be issued by BlockSafe. In December 2018, BlockSafe agreed to issue 200,000 cryptocurrency tokens to an unrelated party for receipt of $50,000. In February 2019, the agreement was amended and the unrelated party is to receive an additional 100,000 tokens. No such tokens have been developed or issued as of December 31, 2021.
From February 2019 to March 2019, BlockSafe agreed to issue 450,000 cryptocurrency tokens and 56,250 restricted shares of BlockSafe common stock to four unrelated parties for receipt of $122,500. The tokens or restricted stock of BlockSafe have not been issued as of December 31, 2021.
From March to April 2019, five of the BlockSafe noteholders agreed to convert $295,500 of principal and $19,700 of accrued interest into 1,845,041 cryptocurrency tokens to be issued by BlockSafe. The tokens have not been issued as of December 31, 2021.
We have used the funds received from investors pursuant to the promissory notes for the efforts mentioned below to develop the Tokens and to develop an additional product and prepare it for sale. We currently do not require additional funds for the development efforts.
The steps we have taken to date in our efforts to develop tokens include completing a formal plan for the Tokens, obtaining professional advice regarding the legal implications of developing tokens, and we have a blockchain for our Tokens (BSAFE®). We have not yet finalized a budget for the development of Tokens, we have not yet hired a full development team, we have not yet completed the development of Tokens, and we have not yet developed any payment, trading, or custody platform or infrastructure related to the Tokens. The failure to develop or issue these Tokens as of December 31, 2021 does not constitute an event of default under the promissory notes. It should be noted however that the promissory notes were not repaid pursuant to their terms and are currently in default.
At December 31, 2021, the Company’s consolidated subsidiary, BlockSafe, had recorded a financing obligation of $1,263,000 to be paid in tokens, as defined. At December 31, 2021 and through the date of this filing, BlockSafe. has not completed the development or issued any tokens. At December 31, 2021, as the development of the tokens has not been completed and tokens do not exist, and any amounts received for tokens are not considered equity or revenue, management determined that 100% of the obligation of $1,263,000 is a liability to be settled by BlockSafe., through the issuance of tokens, or through other means if tokens are never issued.
We have stated to the note holders that once StrikeForce has the funds or BlockSafe sells the Tokens, the intent is to satisfy the outstanding balances as soon as possible. In the event that we are unable to satisfy the outstanding balances of the Notes, it could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
In March 2019, an increase of the authorized shares of BlockSafe’s common stock from one thousand (1,000) to one hundred million (100,000,000), $0.0001 par value, was ratified, effective upon the filing of an amendment to BlockSafe’s Certificate of Incorporation with the Wyoming Secretary of State. The amendment was adopted in March 2019.
In March 2019, a 1:15,000 forward stock split of BlockSafe’s issued and outstanding shares of common stock was ratified, effective upon the filing of an amendment to BlockSafe’s Certificate of Incorporation with the Wyoming Secretary of State. The amendment was adopted in March 2019.
Cybersecurity Risk Solutions, LLC
On April 15, 2021, StrikeForce formally closed a Member Interest Purchase Agreement in which StrikeForce acquired the entire Member Interests of Cybersecurity Risk Solutions, LLC, a New Jersey limited liability company. In April 2021, we issued 500,000 shares of common stock with a fair value of $36,000, for the purchase of Cybersecurity Risk Solutions, LLC. At the date of acquisition, Cybersecurity Risk Solutions, LLC had nominal assets and liabilities, no revenues and limited operating history. Furthermore, the Company also determined that the acquisition did not meet the requirement of a significant acquisition pursuant to the regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Cybersecurity Risk Solutions, LLC is a cybersecurity firm offering cyber, privacy & data protection services including a personal cyber risk assessment, the industry’s first cyber health score, report and custom action plan, as well as ongoing vulnerability scanning, hack monitoring and dark web intelligence monitoring. For more information, go to https://SecureCyberID.com (which website is expressly not included in this filing). Will Lynch, the prior sole member of Cybersecurity Risk Solutions, LLC was hired by StrikeForce as the Director of Channel Distribution and not as a Named Executive Officer. A Director of Channel Distribution develops, services, and grows relationships with clients. Mr. Lynch has an annual salary of $100,000 and will also receive 2% net of all Channel sales. Mr. Lynch reports to our Executive Vice President and Marketing Director.
Employees
As of fiscal year ended December 31, 2021, we had 10 employees and our relations with employees are good.
WHERE YOU CAN FIND MORE INFORMATION
You are advised to read this Form 10-K in conjunction with other reports and documents that we file from time to time with the SEC. In particular, please read our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q and Current Reports on Form 8-K that we file from time to time. You may obtain copies of these reports directly from us or from the SEC at the SEC’s Public Reference Room at 100 F. Street, N.E. Washington, D.C. 20549, and you may obtain information about obtaining access to the Reference Room by calling the SEC at 1-800-SEC-0330. In addition, the SEC maintains information for electronic filers at its website http://www.sec.gov.
ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS
The risk factors required pursuant to Regulation S-K, Item 503(c) are not required for smaller reporting companies. Accordingly, the Company has determined to provide particular risk factors at this time. The risks and uncertainties described below are not the only ones facing us. Other events that we do not currently anticipate or that we currently deem immaterial also may affect our results of operations and financial condition. If any events described in the risk factors actually occur, our business, operating results, prospects and financial condition could be materially harmed. In connection with the forward looking statements that appear elsewhere in this annual report, you should also carefully review the cautionary statement referred to under “Special Note Regarding Forward Looking Statements.” The forward-looking statements made in this report relate only to events as of the date on which the statements are made. We undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statement to reflect events or circumstances after the date on which the statement is made or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.
SHOULD ONE OR MORE OF THE FOREGOING RISKS OR UNCERTAINTIES MATERIALIZE, OR SHOULD THE UNDERLYING ASSUMPTIONS OF OUR BUSINESS PROVE INCORRECT, ACTUAL RESULTS MAY DIFFER SIGNIFICANTLY FROM THOSE ANTICIPATED, BELIEVED, ESTIMATED, EXPECTED, INTENDED OR PLANNED.
OUR INDEPENDENT REGISTERED PUBLIC ACCOUNTING FIRM HAS EXPRESSED SUBSTANTIAL DOUBT ABOUT OUR ABILITY TO CONTINUE AS A GOING CONCERN, WHICH MAY HINDER OUR ABILITY TO OBTAIN FUTURE FINANCING.
We have yet to establish any history of profitable operations. For the year ended December 31, 2021, we incurred a net loss of $17,245,000 and used cash in operating activities of $3,063,000, and at December 31, 2021, we had a stockholders’ deficit of $11,589,000. Also, at December 31, 2021, we are in default on notes payable and convertible notes payable in the aggregate amount of $2,867,000. These factors raise substantial doubt about the Company’s ability to continue as a going concern within one year of the date that these financial statements are issued. As a result, our independent registered public accounting firm included an explanatory paragraph in its report on our financial statements as of and for the year ended December 31, 2021 with respect to this uncertainty. This going concern opinion could materially limit our ability to raise additional funds through the issuance of new debt or equity securities and future reports on our financial statements may also include an explanatory paragraph with respect to our ability to continue as a going concern.
At December 31, 2021, we had cash on hand in the amount of $2,084,000. Management estimates that the current funds on hand will be sufficient to continue operations through the next eighteen months. Our ability to continue as a going concern is dependent upon our ability to continue to implement our business plan. Currently, management is attempting to increase revenues by selling through a channel of distributors, value added resellers, strategic partners and original equipment manufacturers. While we believe in the viability of our strategy to increase revenues, there can be no assurances to that effect. Our ability to continue as a going concern is dependent upon our ability to increase our customer base and realize increased revenues. No assurance can be given that any future financing, if needed, will be available or, if available, that it will be on terms that are satisfactory to us. Even if we are able to obtain additional financing, if needed, it may contain undue restrictions on our operations, in the case of debt financing, or cause substantial dilution for our stockholders, in the case of equity financing.
We completed the development of our ProtectID® platform at the end of June 2006, we completed the core development of our keyboard encryption and anti-keylogger product, GuardedID®, in December 2006 and commenced deployment of our new mobile product, MobileTrust® into the mobile stores in 2015. We completed GuardedID® in 2016 and SafeVchat™ and PrivacyLok™ in 2021. Presently, (except for SafeVchat™ and PrivacyLok™ which are in beta testing although we already earned revenues from SafeVchat™ and PrivacyLoK™ in 2021), all of the products are being sold and distributed. Our suite of products is targeted to the financial, e-commerce, corporate, government, healthcare, legal, insurance, technology and retail markets. We seek to locate customers in a variety of ways. These primarily include contracts with value added resellers and distributors (both inside the United States and internationally), direct sales calls initiated by our internal staff, exhibitions at security and technology trade shows, through the media, through consulting agreements, and through our agent relationships. Our sales generate revenue either as an Original Equipment Manufacturer (“OEM”) model, through a Hosting/License agreement, bundled with other company’s products or through direct purchase by distributors and resellers. We price our products for cloud consumer transactions based on the number of transactions in which our software products are utilized. We also price our products for business applications based on the number of users. These pricing models provide our company with one-time, monthly, quarterly and annual recurring revenues with volume discounts. We are also generating revenues from annual maintenance contracts, renewal fees and expect, but cannot guarantee, an increase in revenues based upon the execution of various agreements that we have recently concluded, primarily in the retail and insurance sectors.
WE WILL FACE INTENSE COMPETITION FROM COMPETITORS THAT HAVE GREATER FINANCIAL, TECHNICAL AND MARKETING RESOURCES. THESE COMPETITIVE FORCES MAY IMPACT OUR PROJECTED GROWTH AND ABILITY TO GENERATE REVENUES AND PROFITS, WHICH WOULD HAVE A NEGATIVE IMPACT ON OUR BUSINESS AND THE VALUE OF YOUR INVESTMENT.
We likely will face competition from alternate security software programs and services. As is typical of a new industry, demand and market acceptance for recently introduced services are subject to a high level of uncertainty and risk. In addition, the software industry is characterized by frequent innovation. As the market for computer security products evolves, it will be necessary for us to continually modify and enhance our existing products and develop new products. We believe that our competitors will enhance existing product lines and introduce new products. If we are unable to update our software to compete or to meet announced schedules for improvements and enhancements, it is likely that our sales will suffer and that potential customers will be lost to a competing company’s product.
Because the market for our services is new and evolving, it is difficult to predict the future growth rate, if any, and the size of this market. Substantial marketing activities have been implemented and will continue to be required to meet our revenue and profit goals. There can be no assurance we will be successful in such marketing efforts. There can be no assurance either that the market for our services will develop or become sustainable. Further, other companies may decide to provide services similar to ours. These companies may be better capitalized than us and we could face significant competition in pricing and services offered.
IF WE DO NOT ADEQUATELY PROTECT THE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY RIGHTS, WE MAY EXPERIENCE A LOSS OF REVENUE AND OUR OPERATIONS MAY BE MATERIALLY IMPAIRED.
We rely upon confidentiality agreements signed by our employees, consultants and third parties to protect the intellectual property. These agreements generally provide that the individual must keep confidential and not disclose to other parties any confidential information developed or learned by the individual during the course of the individual’s relationship with us except in limited circumstances. These agreements generally also provide that we shall own all inventions conceived by the individual in the course of rendering services to us. These agreements may not effectively prevent disclosure of confidential information or result in the effective assignment to us of intellectual property and may not provide an adequate remedy in the event of unauthorized disclosure of confidential information or other breaches of the agreements. In addition, others may independently discover trade secrets and proprietary information that have been licensed to us or that we own, and in such case we could not assert any trade secret rights against such party.
We cannot assure that we can adequately protect the intellectual property or successfully prosecute potential infringement of the intellectual property rights. Also, we cannot assure that others will not assert rights in, or ownership of, trademarks and other proprietary rights of ours or that we will be able to successfully resolve these types of conflicts to our satisfaction. Failure to protect the intellectual property rights would result in a loss of revenue and could adversely affect our operations and financial condition.
OUR INABILITY TO RETAIN OUR KEY EXECUTIVE OFFICERS WOULD IMPEDE OUR BUSINESS PLAN AND GROWTH STRATEGIES, WHICH COULD HAVE A NEGATIVE IMPACT ON OUR BUSINESS AND THE VALUE OF YOUR INVESTMENT.
Our success depends, to a critical extent, on the continued efforts and services of our Chief Executive Officer, Mark L. Kay, our Chief Technical Officer and Inventor, Ramarao Pemmaraju, our Chief Technical Officer, and our Executive Vice President and Head of Marketing, George Waller. Were we to lose two or more of these key executive officers, we would be forced to expend significant time and money in the pursuit of a replacement, which would result in both a delay in the implementation of our business plan and the diversion of limited working capital. We can give you no assurance that we can find satisfactory replacements for these key executive officers at all, or on terms that are not unduly expensive or burdensome to our Company. We do not currently carry key-man life insurance policies on any of our employees, which would assist us in recouping our costs in the event of the loss of those officers.
THE INABILITY TO MANAGE OUR GROWTH COULD IMPEDE OUR ABILITY TO GENERATE REVENUES AND PROFITS AND TO OTHERWISE IMPLEMENT OUR BUSINESS PLAN AND GROWTH STRATEGIES, WHICH WOULD HAVE A NEGATIVE IMPACT ON OUR BUSINESS AND THE VALUE OF YOUR INVESTMENT.
We plan to grow rapidly, which will place strains on our management team and other Company resources to both implement more sophisticated managerial, operational and financial systems, procedures and controls and to hire, train and manage the personnel necessary to implement those functions. Our staff is currently comprised of ten people and we believe that in order for us to achieve our goals, it will be necessary to further expand our personnel, particularly in the area of sales, support services, technology development and client support. As we grow, we also expect to increase detailed and pertinent internal and administrative controls and procedures, require further product enhancements and customization of our existing products for specific clients, as well as enter new geographic markets. We do not presently have in place the corporate infrastructure common to larger organizations. We do not, for example, have a separate human resources department or purchasing department designed for a larger organization. Some of our key personnel do not have experience managing large numbers of personnel. Substantial expansion of our organization will require the acquisition of additional information systems and equipment, a larger physical space and formal management of human resources. It will require that we expand the number of people within our organization providing additional administrative support (or consider outsourcing) and to develop and implement additional internal controls appropriate for a larger organization. Our experience to date in managing the minimal growth of our Company has been positive, without product failures or breakdowns of internal controls.
The time and costs to effectuate our business development process may place a significant strain on our management personnel, systems and resources, particularly given the limited amount of financial resources and skilled employees that may be available at the time. There can be no assurance that we will integrate and manage successfully new systems, controls and procedures for our business, or that our systems, controls, procedures, facilities and personnel, even if successfully integrated, will be adequate to support our projected future operations. There can be no assurance that any expenditure incurred during this expansion will ever be recouped. Any failure to implement and maintain such changes could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
THE REGULATION OF PENNY STOCKS BY SEC AND FINRA (FINANCIAL INDUSTRY REGULATORY AUTHORITY, INC.) MAY DISCOURAGE THE TRADABILITY OF OUR SECURITIES AND THEREBY MAKE IT HARD FOR INVESTORS TO SELL THEIR SHARES AT THE TIME AND PRICES THEY MIGHT OTHERWISE EXPECT.
We are a “penny stock” company. We are subject to a Securities and Exchange Commission rule that imposes special sales practice requirements upon broker-dealers who sell such securities to persons other than established customers or accredited investors. For purposes of the rule, the phrase “accredited investors” means, in general terms, institutions with assets in excess of $5,000,000, or individuals having a net worth in excess of $1,000,000 or having an annual income that exceeds $200,000 (or that, when combined with a spouse’s income, exceeds $300,000). For transactions covered by the rule, the broker-dealer must make a special suitability determination of the purchaser and receive the purchaser’s written agreement to the transaction prior to the sale. Effectively, this discourages broker-dealers from executing trades in penny stocks. Consequently, the rule will affect the ability of purchasers in this offering to sell their securities in any market that might develop, because it imposes additional regulatory burdens on penny stock transactions.
In addition, the Securities and Exchange Commission has adopted a number of rules to regulate “penny stocks”. Such rules include Rules 3a51-1, 15g-1, 15g-2, 15g-3, 15g-4, 15g-5, 15g-6, and 15g-9 under the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Because our securities constitute “penny stocks” within the meaning of the rules, the rules would apply to us and to our securities. The rules will further affect the ability of owners of shares to sell their securities in a market that might develop for them because it imposes additional regulatory burdens on penny stock transactions.
Shareholders should be aware that, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission Release No. 34-29093, the market for penny stocks has suffered in recent years from patterns of fraud and abuse. Such patterns include (i) control of the market for the security by one or a few broker-dealers that are often related to the promoter or issuer; (ii) manipulation of prices through prearranged matching of purchases and sales and false and misleading press releases; (iii) “boiler room” practices involving high-pressure sales tactics and unrealistic price projections by inexperienced sales persons; (iv) excessive and undisclosed bid-ask differentials and markups by selling broker-dealers; and (v) the wholesale dumping of the same securities by promoters and broker-dealers after prices have been manipulated to a desired level, leaving investors with losses. Our management is aware of the abuses that have occurred historically in the penny stock market. Although we do not expect to be in a position to dictate the behavior of the market or of broker-dealers who participate in the market, management will strive within the confines of practical limitations to prevent the described patterns from being established with respect to our securities.
RULE 144 SALES IN THE FUTURE MAY HAVE A DEPRESSIVE EFFECT ON OUR STOCK PRICE AS AN INCREASE IN SUPPLY OF SHARES FOR SALE, WITH NO CORRESPONDING INCREASE IN DEMAND WILL CAUSE PRICES TO FALL.
All of the outstanding shares of common stock held by the present officers, directors, and affiliate stockholders are “restricted securities” within the meaning of Rule 144 under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended. As restricted shares, these shares may be resold only pursuant to an effective registration statement or under the requirements of Rule 144 or other applicable exemptions from registration under the Act and as required under applicable state securities laws. Rule 144 provides in essence that a person who is an affiliate or officer or director who has held restricted securities for six months may, under certain conditions, sell every three months, in brokerage transactions, a number of shares that does not exceed the greater of 1.0% of a company’s outstanding common stock. There is no limit on the amount of restricted securities that may be sold by a non-affiliate after the owner has held the restricted securities for a period of six months if the company is a current reporting company under the 1934 Act. A sale under Rule 144 or under any other exemption from the Act, if available, or pursuant to subsequent registration of shares of common stock of present stockholders, may have a depressive effect upon the price of the common stock in any market that may develop.
FINRA SALES PRACTICE REQUIREMENTS MAY ALSO LIMIT A STOCKHOLDER’S ABILITY TO BUY AND SELL OUR STOCK.
In addition to the “penny stock” rules described above, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has adopted rules that require that in recommending an investment to a customer, a broker-dealer must have reasonable grounds for believing that the investment is suitable for that customer. Prior to recommending speculative low-priced securities to their non-institutional customers, broker-dealers must make reasonable efforts to obtain information about the customer’s financial status, tax status, investment objectives and other information. Under interpretations of these rules, FINRA believes that there is a high probability that speculative low-priced securities will not be suitable for at least some customers. FINRA requirements make it more difficult for broker-dealers to recommend that their customers buy our common stock, which may limit your ability to buy and sell our stock and have an adverse effect on the market for our shares.
BECAUSE WE ARE QUOTED ON THE OTCMARKETS.COM INSTEAD OF AN EXCHANGE OR NATIONAL QUOTATION SYSTEM, OUR INVESTORS MAY HAVE A MORE DIFFICULT TIME SELLING THEIR STOCK OR EXPERIENCE NEGATIVE VOLATILITY ON THE MARKET PRICE OF OUR STOCK.
Our common stock is traded on OTCMarkets.com. The OTCMarkets.com is often highly illiquid. There is a greater chance of volatility for securities that trade on the OTCMarkets.com as compared to a national exchange or quotation system. This volatility may be caused by a variety of factors, including the lack of readily available price quotations, the absence of consistent administrative supervision of bid and ask quotations, lower trading volume, and market conditions. Investors in our common stock may experience high fluctuations in the market price and volume of the trading market for our securities. These fluctuations, when they occur, have a negative effect on the market price for our securities. Accordingly, for the reasons above, our stockholders may not be able to realize a fair price from their shares when they determine to sell them or may have to hold them for a substantial period of time until the market for our common stock improves.
WE HAVE IDENTIFIED MATERIAL WEAKNESSES IN OUR DISCLOSURE CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES AND INTERNAL CONTROL OVER FINANCIAL REPORTING.
Maintaining effective internal control over financial reporting and effective disclosure controls and procedures are necessary for us to produce reliable financial statements. As discussed in Item 9A – “Controls and Procedures” of this Form 10-K, we have evaluated our internal control over financial reporting and our disclosure controls and procedures and concluded that they were not effective as of December 31, 2021.
A material weakness is defined as a deficiency, or a combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of our annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis. The material weaknesses we identified are (1) We do not have written documentation of our internal control policies and procedures. Written documentation of key internal controls over financial reporting is a requirement of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act which is applicable to us as of and for the year ended December 31, 2021. Management evaluated the impact of our failure to have written documentation of our internal controls and procedures on our assessment of our disclosure controls and procedures and has concluded that the control deficiency that resulted represented a material weakness; (2) Our board of directors has no independent director or member with financial expertise which causes ineffective oversight of our external financial reporting and internal control over financial reporting; (3) We do not have sufficient segregation of duties within accounting functions, which is a basic internal control. Due to our size and nature, segregation of all conflicting duties may not always be possible and may not be economically feasible. However, to the extent possible, the initiation of transactions, the custody of assets and the recording of transactions should be performed by separate individuals. Management evaluated the impact of our failure to have segregation of duties on our assessment of our disclosure controls and procedures and has concluded that the control deficiency that resulted represented a material weakness.
The Company is committed to remediating its material weaknesses as promptly as possible. Implementation of the Company’s remediation plans has commenced and is being overseen by the board. However, there can be no assurance as to when these material weaknesses will be remediated or that additional material weaknesses will not arise in the future. Even effective internal control can provide only reasonable assurance with respect to the preparation and fair presentation of financial statements. Any failure to remediate the material weaknesses, or the development of new material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting, could result in material misstatements in our financial statements, which in turn could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and the trading price of our common stock and we could fail to meet our financial reporting obligations. We have identified weaknesses in our internal controls, and we cannot provide assurances that these weaknesses will be effectively remediated or that additional material weaknesses will not occur in the future.
If not remediated, our failure to establish and maintain effective disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting could result in material misstatements in our financial statements and a failure to meet our reporting and financial obligations, each of which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and the trading price of our common stock.
VOLATILITY IN OUR COMMON SHARE PRICE MAY SUBJECT US TO SECURITIES LITIGATION, THEREBY DIVERTING OUR RESOURCES THAT MAY HAVE A MATERIAL EFFECT ON OUR PROFITABILITY AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS.
As discussed in the preceding risk factors, the market for our common shares is characterized by significant price volatility when compared to seasoned issuers, and we expect that our share price will continue to be more volatile than a seasoned issuer for the indefinite future. In the past, plaintiffs have often initiated securities class action litigation against a company following periods of volatility in the market price of its securities. We may in the future be the target of similar litigation. Securities litigation could result in substantial costs and liabilities and could divert management’s attention and resources.
COMPLIANCE WITH CHANGING REGULATION OF CORPORATE GOVERNANCE AND PUBLIC DISCLOSURE WILL RESULT IN ADDITIONAL EXPENSES AND POSE CHALLENGES FOR OUR MANAGEMENT TEAM.
Changing laws, regulations and standards relating to corporate governance and public disclosure, including the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and the rules and regulations promulgated thereunder, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and SEC regulations, have created uncertainty for public companies and significantly increased the costs and risks associated with accessing the U.S. public markets. In addition, the current federal administration has indicated significant regulatory modifications and we cannot foresee the impact of any revised regulations. Our management team will need to devote significant time and financial resources to comply with both existing and evolving standards for public companies, including the policies of the recently appointed Chairman of the SEC, which will lead to increased general and administrative expenses and a diversion of management time and attention from revenue generating activities to compliance activities.
COVID-19.
We cannot, at this point, determine the extent to which ongoing COVID-19 pandemic will impact business or the economy as both are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted.
THE OUTBREAK OF THE CORONAVIRUS MAY NEGATIVELY IMPACT SOURCING AND MANUFACTURING OF THE PRODUCTS THAT WE SELL AS WELL AS CONSUMER SPENDING, WHICH COULD ADVERSELY AFFECT OUR BUSINESS, RESULTS OF OPERATIONS AND FINANCIAL CONDITION.
In December 2019, a novel strain of coronavirus was reported to have surfaced in Wuhan, China, which has and is continuing to spread throughout China and other parts of the world, including the United States. On January 30, 2020, the World Health Organization declared the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) a “Public Health Emergency of International Concern.” On January 31, 2020, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex M. Azar II declared a public health emergency for the United States to aid the U.S. healthcare community in responding to COVID-19, and on March 11, 2020 the World Health Organization characterized the outbreak as a “pandemic”. The significant outbreak of COVID-19 has resulted in a widespread health crisis that could adversely affect the economies and financial markets worldwide, and could adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.
In addition, we applied for funding pursuant to the Small Business Administration program. The Paycheck Protection Program provided forgivable funding for payroll and related costs as well as some non-payroll costs. We applied for funding and we received (on April 17, 2020) funding in the amount of $313,000. In June 2021, the April 2020 PPP loan of $313,000 was forgiven by the SBA. Pursuant to ASC 470, Debt, we recorded a gain of $313,000 to extinguish the PPP loan and accrued interest of $4,000. The Economic Injury Disaster Loan provides low-interest, long-term financing. We applied for funding and received (on May 18, 2020) funding in the amount of $150,000. In March 2021, we applied for funding and were approved for a second round of Paycheck Protection Program forgivable financing in the amount of $177,000. In November 2021, the March 2021 PPP loan of $177,000 was forgiven by the SBA. Pursuant to ASC 470, Debt, the Company recorded a gain of $177,000 to extinguish the PPP loan and accrued interest of $1,000.
THE OUTBREAK OF THE COVID-19 MAY ADVERSELY AFFECT OUR CUSTOMERS.
Further, such risks as described above could also adversely affect our customers’ financial condition, resulting in reduced spending for the merchandise we sell. Risks related to an epidemic, pandemic or other health crisis, such as COVID-19, could also lead to the complete or partial closure of one or more of our facilities or operations of our sourcing partners. The ultimate extent of the impact of any epidemic, pandemic or other health crisis on our business, financial condition and results of operations will depend on future developments, which are highly uncertain and cannot be predicted, including new information that may emerge concerning the severity of such epidemic, pandemic or other health crisis and actions taken to contain or prevent their further spread, among others. These and other potential impacts of an epidemic, pandemic or other health crisis, such as COVID-19, could therefore materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
An economic recession had set in from the pandemic in 2020 and continued into 2021. Some companies are not receiving payments and in turn, as a consequence of limited cash flow, are not prepared to purchase our products. COVID-19 has led to some of our customers and potential customers being stricken with the virus causing them to not be able to work for many weeks and therefore causing delays for us in our marketing decisions. This outbreak could decrease spending, adversely affect demand for our products, and harm our business and results of operations. It is not possible for us to predict the duration or magnitude of the adverse results of the outbreak or the timing and the degree to which economic recovery will be realized post-pandemic and, consequently, its effects on our business or results of operations, financial condition, or liquidity, at this time.
The global impact of COVID-19 and actions taken to reduce its spread continues to rapidly evolve and we will continue to monitor the situation and the effects on our business and operations closely. We do not yet know the full extent of potential impacts on our business or operations or on the global economy as a whole, particularly if the COVID-19 pandemic continues and persists for an extended period of time. The length of time it may take for global vaccine distribution and more normal economic and operating conditions to resume remains uncertain and the economic recovery period could continue for a prolonged period even after the health risks of the pandemic subside. Given the uncertainty, we cannot reasonably estimate the impact on our future results of operations, cash flows or financial condition. To the extent the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic adversely affects our business and results of operations, it may also have the effect of heightening many of the other risks and uncertainties described in this “Risk Factors” section of this Annual Report. We will continue to evaluate the nature and extent of COVID-19’s impact to our business, consolidated results of operations, financial condition and liquidity, and our results presented herein are not necessarily indicative of the results to be expected for future years.
THE OUTBREAK OF COVID-19 HAS RESULTED IN A WIDESPREAD HEALTH CRISIS THAT COULD ADVERSELY AFFECT THE ECONOMIES AND FINANCIAL MARKETS WORLDWIDE AND COULD EXPONENTIALLY INCREASE THE RISK FACTORS DESCRIBED IN OUR PRIOR FILINGS.
SHOULD ONE OR MORE OF THE FOREGOING RISKS OR UNCERTAINTIES MATERIALIZE, OR SHOULD THE UNDERLYING ASSUMPTIONS PROVE INCORRECT, ACTUAL RESULTS MAY DIFFER SIGNIFICANTLY FROM THOSE ANTICIPATED, BELIEVED, ESTIMATED, EXPECTED, INTENDED OR PLANNED.
Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This Annual Report contains forward-looking statements about our business, financial condition and prospects that reflect our management’s assumptions and good faith beliefs based on information currently available. We can give no assurance that the expectations indicated by such forward-looking statements will be realized. If any of our assumptions should prove incorrect, or if any of the risks and uncertainties underlying such expectations should materialize, our actual results may differ materially from those indicated by the forward-looking statements.
The key factors that are not within our control and that may have a direct bearing on operating results include, but are not limited to, acceptance of our proposed services and the products we expect to market, our ability to establish a customer base, managements’ ability to raise capital in the future, the retention of key employees and changes in the regulation of our industry.
There may be other risks and circumstances that management may be unable to predict. When used in this filing, words such as, “believes,” “expects,” “intends,” “plans,” “anticipates,” “estimates” and similar expressions are intended to identify and qualify forward-looking statements, although there may be certain forward-looking statements not accompanied by such expressions.
